Efficacy

Myriad Reality

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If you can bend them, are they really laws?

@Meta

Sort of. The thing about Existence is that, normally, it works consistently, which is why we have laws--but most of them are changeable with careful fine-tuning. So, thanks to us, they're not laws anymore, other than, say, conservation of mass and energy.

Myriad Reality

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Hey, the writers were dumb. Doesn't say anything about potentially passages.
Sloth is a deadly sin. I'm not gonna argue that. But they didn't give biblical advice, they gave speculatory and personal experience advice. If yhvh warns against laziness, then providing those passages would've been biblical advice. They didn't really do that. They also ignored context of the quotes, hence my first point.
"a sin you "can't help" is still a sin, and there's no excuse other than ignorance." Noooooo. Wrong. There is a huge difference in how they have to be handled. Example: You can't help getting aroused at the sight of what you're attracted to. You can help whether or not you seek that out. You can't say "oh just don't seek it out" when the problem is that the sight is constantly there and claim that it's still applicable and that there's no difference.

@DarkwolfX37

Reading the article, he seems to have provided sound Biblical evidence for each main point. The second paragraph is slightly obscured, because the logic for the main idea is provided near the end of the paragraph.
See, the thing is, God commands us to "take captive our thoughts" and provides us with the help of the Holy Spirit. So, though the sight and the tendency for any chronic sin are constantly there, God wants us to resist those temptations. So, if one has chronic laziness--that is, the tendency to be lazy--God wants us to resist that, and provides us with the strength to do so. The first article I sent says why it's a problem; the second article I sent says what God thinks about it (and at the end, what God wants us to do instead); the third article provides a proper attitude on work.

Myriad Reality

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So can everything else.

@Meta

I can't deny that. But bending the laws of Existence is a big responsibility.

Myriad Reality

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Why doesn't everyone use it then?

@Meta

Not everybody can. And we keep it as secret as we can from the rest of aware Existence, because its power can be used for horrible things, too, just like with Tamerlaine.

Myriad Reality

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It just seems a bit too easy.

@Meta

The Sevenfold Covenant is a whole other level of reality bending. It's unbelievably useful.

Myriad Reality

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Mental disorders.

@Meta

It depends. Some are complex, with many factors that may differ from person to person, so for those, we have to understand the problem completely.

Myriad Reality

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All of them?

@Meta

All of what? We help whoever asks us, if we can.

Myriad Reality

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Oh these are apologists talking about it. I thought they were specific passages or something.

1. "Wicked, lazy servant" doesn't really mean that they're in the same category. "You heartless, pale man" doesn't put pale in the same category as heartless, for example. Also I like how it claims non-christians are all horribly lazy.
2. We also have a sense to be lazy, so a sense of purpose doesn't mean much. "Lazy people only care about themselves" is a baseless claim. This guy's personal experience that he learned from his mom has nothing to do with his religion. That should've been ommitted, and that it wasn't is a hit to his credibility as someone who can give biblical advice. Uhm... Telling people to be like ants is terrible advice and very much a control mechanism. I mean, it wasn't at the time since people didn't know much about them, but modern time we know that they will literally work themselves to death, continue working while infected with a mind-controlling fungus, and don't have autonomy. That's antithetical to "personal responsibility."
3. Strong personal disagreements aside, this has nothing to do with inherent tendencies. That only applies to "willing laziness" ie "I don't want to do that therefor I won't," which isn't the same as chronic laziness.

@DarkwolfX37

Refusing to argue with the first and second, since I'd really rather not: a sin you "can't help" is still a sin, and there's no excuse other than ignorance. Chronic laziness is still wrong, because God warns against laziness. But God helps us to fight against inherent tendencies in the very same way he helps us to fight against willing sin, because sin itself is an inherent tendency. Sin itself is chronic. That's why I sent those devotions: because they provided biblical advice about fighting the sin of laziness that was worth praying about and taking to heart.

Myriad Reality

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I have a specific issue with that second article, as it conflicts itself somewhat, but I can still grasp what they mean.

@souleaterfan320

I don't see any contradictions. But devotions aren't just about understanding the message, but praying about it and asking God to help or change you. When you read with an open heart, God has a lot to say.

Myriad Reality

bed, ned