Category: Outside the Box

Non-mainstream thoughts and musings

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Supporting Bad Theology

In the last year or two, God has opened my eyes to a LOT of false teaching that goes on in the church today. (By “church” I mean the Christian church in whole- not a specific denomination.)

Suddenly realizing that you’re surrounded by false self-proclaimed “prophets” is not something you take lightly. And it’s not light conversation to bring up over coffee.

But like it or not, there is a rash of bad (and straight-up false) teaching being propagated all around you at this very moment. At best, it’s misguided. At worst, it’s heresy. And what’s more, these churches/teachers/pastors/celebrities/leaders are spreading their influence of bad theology everywhere they can. In fact, that’s a major part of their modus operandi.

“So what’s the big deal?” you’re probably wondering. “Why does that matter to me? I don’t watch them, so I don’t listen to their theology.”

Well, in fact you probably do, without even realizing it. I know I was. Continue reading “Supporting Bad Theology”

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The Nine Laws: Part Six

If you haven’t read my previous installments and review of Ivan Throne’s The Nine Laws, you can begin by clicking here.

Today, we’re going to discuss a very interesting topic. And it will be long.

The Sixth Law is Freedom.

“Freedom” for the Christian is a juxtaposition. We are indeed free from bondage of sin, free from our old Dark Worldly natures. We are free in ways that most people aren’t. We are free in the eternal sense. In a spiritual sense.

But of course, that comes at the price of our entire lives. When we submit our lives to God, we no longer belong to ourselves.

So what does “freedom” mean to the believer? What did that look like in Jesus’ life?

This is an issue I really struggled with as a new believer. I didn’t really want to give up control of my life. I wanted freedom, but on my own terms! Which as anybody knows, doesn’t normally work out that well. Just saying “I’m free!” doesn’t make it so.

So how do we reconcile this?

Let’s define what we mean by “Freedom” from both a Nine Laws perspective and a Christian perspective. Then we’ll compare them and see if they’re compatible. And if so, we’ll explore how that works. Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Six”

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Navigating The Manosphere

“Manosphere” may not be a term you’ve heard used often, if at all. It is, essentially, a group of websites and blogs directed towards men:

Manosphere- The name given to a loose and informal network of blogs, forums and websites, with internet commentators focusing on issues relating to men and masculinity, as a male counterpart to feminism or in opposition to it.

The problem with grouping such a variety of websites under a single moniker is of course, there are many different opinions on what constitutes “masculine” behavior. You have everything from The Art Of Manliness (which is very broad and general) to very misogynistic PUA (Pick-Up Artist) websites, and all sorts of others in between.

There are plenty of websites that give bad advice about money, politics, relationships, and so forth, but for some reason, masculinity-related sites are frequently targeted for criticism, and I think it’s directly tied in to society’s increasingly twisted views on normalcy and masculinity as a whole.

So what should you do if you’re a man looking for advice on how to improve specific areas in your life? Here’s a couple of guidelines to help you navigate the iceberg-littered sea to manhood. Continue reading “Navigating The Manosphere”

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I Want To Be Better But I Can’t

“Poor Tomato. He wishes he could sing strong and sweet like the cucumber; but he can’t! He can’t even whistle!”

Have you ever felt like you wanted to become a better person, but simply couldn’t? Have you ever wanted to accomplish something big, and then realized that you didn’t have the resources to make it happen?

Have you ever gone so far as to say to yourself “I probably shouldn’t even try this”?

If this has happened to you (as it’s happened to me numerous times) you may feel like giving up on everything, and Netflix binging until you feel better about life in general.

That doesn’t work. But I can tell you what does work: looking to something stronger than yourself. Continue reading “I Want To Be Better But I Can’t”

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How To Ignore God and Fail Miserably

As a Christian, I’m always in tension. I’m torn between being absorbed in self-improvement, and being fully submitted to God. And as an added complication, I’m supposed to protect myself- but not on my own strength? And what does that even mean?

More importantly, where do we draw the line between what we should do and what God should do?

You see these conflicts between Man and God all the time- every time you hear about a Christian entrepreneur going out of business. Every time someone says “God helps those who help themselves.” Or a loved one, whom you’ve prayed for healing over, dies from a degenerative disease and your church family says “it’s because you didn’t have enough faith.” (That’s horrible, by the way. Don’t ever say that to someone. Jesus should punch you in the mouth if you do.)

What does it mean to fully, completely, unquestioningly rely on God for absolutely everything? I don’t really know, and I won’t stop seeking until I find out.

But what I do know, I’ve learned from years of trying to do certain things on my own, and failing miserably.

This is what I want to discuss today: how to fail at listening to God. (I’m an expert.)

Continue reading “How To Ignore God and Fail Miserably”

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Closed Software

I’ve come to a logical but painful decision.

I’m not going to use software under Windows or Mac OSX any more. And I don’t really want to use Android, either.

After trying to get Windows 7 running in a virtual machine in Linux, I discovered that Microsoft now cripples the activation process for OS’s that aren’t OE supplied.

If I can’t get it to run in Linux in some form, then I pretty much don’t want to use it.

Here’s my dilemma: I actually have software that won’t run in Linux, that I use on a semi-regular basis (hence the reason I was trying to get Windows running in a virtual machine). In particular, I use HPTuners software (for tuning my car) and SoundTower’s Adrenalinn 3 editor. Neither one of them is particularly well written (they won’t run in an emulation layer because of weird UI glitches), but they cover a need that nothing else does.

I’ve been looking at other software as well- games mostly- that won’t run in Linux. Not even if I run Steam in Wine (which is a whole other dumpster fire).

But really, the kicker for me is music production software. There’s millions of useful programs I could buy for Windows or OSX, but that requires me also dealing with the horrific privacy and security mess that goes with each of those options.

I don’t really want to compromise my future security or privacy for the convenience of a nifty tool that I may or possibly may not use. Continue reading “Closed Software”

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Is Minimalism the Answer?

Over the last few months, I’ve been mulling over the idea of eliminating everything I own that serves no purpose. This of course is a lot of stuff.

If I’m to uphold the idea of living with purpose, then that means by extension that I don’t do things without purpose. At the very least, I shouldn’t partake in things that are detrimental to my purpose.

But what about things that are just fun? Can you live “with a purpose” without every single thing you do affected by it? Does your purpose interact with your recreation time? Should you even have recreation time to begin with?

So with great trepidation, let us descend into the depths of the question: Is it okay for devoted, purpose-driven Christians to own stuff for having fun?

The simple answer, of course, is “it depends.” God is not opposed to people having fun. God is, however, opposed to people being self-centered and putting other things before Him.

I don’t think most Christians want to deliberately disobey God. But we are very good at making excuses for doing things we like, even when we know it’s wrong.

And what’s more, there is a never-ending stream of people who will tell you how you can’t have fun, or at the very least, try to tell you how you’re allowed to enjoy yourself.

I don’t want to be either one of those people: not a killjoy, and not making excuses. I want the truth. What does God expect of me? Continue reading “Is Minimalism the Answer?”

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To Micro-Blog, or not to Micro-Blog?

I’ve been in the blogging “business” for almost two decades now. My first blog was on Earthlink dial-up, way back in the 90’s. Writing my thoughts, sharing my experiences, teaching the lessons I’ve learned over the years. Asking hard questions, and working through the answers.

I was a blogger way before Facebook existed, before Twitter was even a thing. Then all of these “micro-blogging” sites popped up, which were geared towards a business model of advertising. They are an ADD’ers worst nightmare. There isn’t any meaningful discourse, only re-posted sound bytes, advertising, and virtual chain letters (and dank memes). There are now entire sites built around only reposting other people’s content (I’m looking at you, Pinterest).

I’m not interested in the spammy advertising model of any of these micro-blogging sites. I don’t care about likes, reposts, adverts, or clickbait headlines. I don’t care about shallow hit-and-run interaction. I could certainly do without all the visual noise and clutter.

What exactly am I gaining from participating in these time sinkholes? Am I using them to advertise something? If you’re not, chances are I don’t need them in my life, taking over my spare time. I certainly don’t need them. And I’ve been on almost all of them at some point. Yes, even Myspace. Sigh.

I think this speaks to how our communication, as a whole, has become largely trite and ineffective. I don’t enjoy using micro-blogging sites, because you never get more than scratching the surface. The superficiality of it all just makes me want to stop talking to shallow people. And because of the nature of the media, that’s all you ever get to see: people’s shallow thoughts. Meaningless “likes” and re-shares. There are very few people with new ideas, and even fewer who can articulate those ideas effectively. 99% of what we see and hear on social media is regurgitated pablum (and untrustworthy, at that).

So how shall we utilize the internet for its intended purpose of conveyance of ideas? Continue reading “To Micro-Blog, or not to Micro-Blog?”

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The Nine Laws: Part Five

If you haven’t read my previous installments on reviewing The Nine Laws, you can start here.

I haven’t written on this topic in quite a while. That’s partly because this installment has been one of the more difficult ones to write, as you’ll see.

The Fifth Law is Posture.

What is Posture? Not just your physical stance. It’s not just your political opinion.

Posture is your arrangement in the world.

Posture is the way in which we position ourselves, how we stand, physically and spiritually. When you see someone who always slouches, our human nature is to think of them as weak or lazy, because “strong” people don’t slouch. One of the reasons this works as a social indicator is because the vast majority of people aren’t consciously aware of their posture. The few that are aware tend to stand straighter, which indicates they’re generally more conscious, more aware of themselves and their surroundings.

It would benefit us then to pay attention to our posture, because it directly affects how others perceive us, and to a lesser extent how we perceive ourselves.

What is the flow of my engagement? It should be continuous reflection. No shading, no twisting, no corruption. Purity of purpose and motion. Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Five”

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Google: Redux

Once again, I’ve discovered that Google is killing off a product that I use on a regular basis. Sigh.

You may remember when they killed Reader, and then killed MyTracks. Now I hear they’re shutting down Google+ and Hangouts, which will get rolled into their corporate product package, or something. Maybe? Either way, it will join the extensive (and constantly growing) list of products in the “Google Graveyard.”

It reminds me that Google/Alphabet is a company aimed at big businesses, and not regular people like you and me. In fact, it never really was for regular people. It was always aimed at making advertising money through monetizing our search data. This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. This is how gigantic businesses work.

I’ll eventually have to look for a replacement for Hangouts. And in reality, I need to free myself from Google products in general. Even though they’re embedded in my phones. And I avoid using Facebook Messenger like the plague. Maybe Signal.org?

As with almost all social media apps, Google+ is dying a slow death because nobody uses it. Despite having a good feature set, people just weren’t going to join it unless everybody they knew was on it. It’s a catch-22. Everybody uses Facebook because everybody uses Facebook. It’s reached critical mass, like a black hole sucking in everything around it. All the other social media platforms have been relegated to museum curiosities. Twitter is spambot central. Tumblr is like a house of horrors. Gab.ai is a dumpster fire of litigation brought on by idiots. Diaspora has been around for ages and still has no adoption. I don’t even know what else is out there, because outside of Facebook’s event horizon, nothing else matters.

Well, I guess I shouldn’t just rant, though there is plenty to rant about. Ultimately, we’re complaining about free services, so what should we expect, right?

We’ve become spoiled by instant communication and information. We’ve lost the art of discourse through writing. No thought is required to post anything to social media.

This is largely why I keep blogging, year after year… it requires thought to put together blog posts.

Anyway… I’m looking at options for non-Google phone apps, and am trying out F-Droid on my phone. I don’t think I’ll be able to completely de-Google all my accounts, but I can certainly reduce the impact it has on my life.

In general, though, I am very dependent on technology, and I don’t need to be. It’s a convenience, and I’m not being made a better person with conveniences at my fingertips. I could say much more on that, but for now, I’ve said enough. More wake-up calls for the digitally enslaved.