Do you believe in God?

[McLaren]

Understood.

But it does (seem) to be common:

Adult stars all gave the same answer when asked about negative impact career had on their lives

The adult stars have opened up about the negatives of their careers

www.ladbible.com

Yes, but the names I recognize are still in the industry. The article itself highlights that despite Riley's concerns of a relationship & having children, she's married with a child and that has not pushed her into retiring. Not that she should if she doesn't want to; the comments she was concerned about regarding people attacking her child are a reflection of a-holes on the web & not porn.

On top of that, the women have described their inability to have a normal relationship. Again, that's a consequence of being in the industry, but I don't believe that's unique to porn. I have a strong feeling even Hollywood actors struggle to "find a partner that you truly connect with.” The issue Riley went through with her mom sucking off her wealth has definitely gone on in Hollywood. As for the man, yeah, performance drugs have long been an issue. As mentioned before though, that's why many of porn's participants transfer to OnlyFans b/c they control their content.

I'm not saying all of this is perfectly acceptable, but this stuff comes with the territory of being involved in the industry (excluding the child remarks; that's unacceptable regardless of profession) & since they're still participating, clearly they've wagered it's something they want to do. It doesn't seem like any of them are advocating for the removal of porn though & we seem to transitioning from the talks of porn addiction in the consumer base to discussing how the workers in the industry deal with their own negatives.

 

[Danoff]

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1874574

The frequency of pornography consumption has been shown to predict various negative outcome measures in humans. A representative Swedish study on adolescent boys has shown that boys with daily consumption showed more interest in deviant and illegal types of pornography and more frequently reported the wish to actualize what was seen in real life.1,6-8 In partnerships, a decrease in sexual satisfaction and a tendency to adopt pornographic scripts have been associated with frequent Internet pornography consumption.9 A longitudinal study following Internet users has found that accessing pornography online was predictive of compulsive computer use after 1 year.10 Taken together, the aforementioned findings support the assumption that pornography has an impact on the behavior and social cognition of its consumers. Therefore, we assume that pornography consumption, even on a nonaddicted level, may have an impact on brain structure and function. However, to our knowledge, the brain correlates associated with frequent pornography consumption have not been investigated so far.

Henry, I know you and I (and others) have discussed causation vs. correlation at length. At looooooong length.

For example "In partnerships, a decrease in sexual satisfaction and a tendency to adopt pornographic scripts have been associated with frequent Internet pornography consumption." Uh... sexual dissatisfaction and an interest in role playing is precisely where I'd expect to see someone consuming porn*. And not because it was caused by porn.

Correlation is not causation.

*I mean... I expect to find it wherever there are men

 

[Duke]

Well that’s why I placed the sentence before the ones you quoted: “It’s not for me to convert you.”.

Indeed, many people have commented about how I carry myself and notice something different about me compared to other people they meet. For sure I tell them why and if they want to have a conversation and learn more of why then we talk.

I agree with your closing thoughts. Again, it’s in my last two sentences.

OK, I will take your word for it. I read it a different way, but I'm glad to hear that you are a passive, or reactive, evangelist rather than an active, proactive one.

 

[HenrySwanson]

Henry, I know you and I (and others) have discussed causation vs. correlation at length. At looooooong length.

For example "In partnerships, a decrease in sexual satisfaction and a tendency to adopt pornographic scripts have been associated with frequent Internet pornography consumption." Uh... sexual dissatisfaction and an interest in role playing is precisely where I'd expect to see someone consuming porn*. And not because it was caused by porn.

Correlation is not causation.

*I mean... I expect to find it wherever there are men

Indeed, the authors are careful with their conclusions:

The negative association of self-reported pornography consumption with the right striatum (caudate) volume, left striatum (putamen) activation during cue reactivity, and lower functional connectivity of the right caudate to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex could reflect change in neural plasticity as a consequence of an intense stimulation of the reward system, together with a lower top-down modulation of prefrontal cortical areas. Alternatively, it could be a precondition that makes pornography consumption more rewarding.

Still, it is impacting opinions on sexual experiences:

Young Women’s Attitudes and Concerns Regarding Pornography and Their Sexual Experiences: A Qualitative Approach

This study explores female university students’ attitudes toward and concerns about pornography, based on their experience watching it and on sexual encounters with men. It used a qualitative descriptive design. Individual semi-structured interviews ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I haven't tried to get access to this one:

Pornography and attitudes supporting violence against women: revisiting the relationship in nonexperimental studies - PubMed

A meta-analysis was conducted to determine whether nonexperimental studies revealed an association between men's pornography consumption and their attitudes supporting violence against women. The meta-analysis corrected problems with a previously published meta-analysis and added more recent...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

But the summary sounds interesting (from 2010 however)

-------

I'm interested.

What is the consensus on OxyContin?

I'm sure we wouldn't say there's nothing bad about alcohol (?), but what about a pain-relieving medication that is highly addictive....

There does seem to be this dogma in addiction therapy (at least in the UK) that a god or "higher power" pretty much has to be submitted to as part of the cure, and I'm not sure it is helping as many patients as it could.

 

[05XR8]

OK, I will take your word for it. I read it a different way, but I'm glad to hear that you are a passive, or reactive, evangelist rather than an active, proactive one.

For sure. Some are called to cast a net and see who will listen or those that do want to know more. Some are called to meet individuals where they are(in life).
Reading from the posts HenrySwanson directed me to(goodness gracious), what’s missing in trying to explain in those posts, is the reason. I’ll try to articulate my thoughts as best I can.

It’s all about coming to God, as a child. Children soak up lots of knowledge, ask questions and are pretty much true with no filter. That’s how we as adults need to be. It gets lost by many as we grow older. The children suffer by being denied the opportunity to experience God’s love. In the context of what was going on in that passage, disciples feeling a certain way(imagine that) about Jesus allowing children to be blessed by Him. Why should children not be blessed?
I volunteered as a Sunday School teacher in my late teens early twenties and I volunteered at a Catholic Youth Organisation in my early thirties. I learned a lot from the teens that I met. Amazingly, most of it by listening to them.

I would say I’m fortunate to grow up in the family(everyone from my parents, siblings, relatives and friends) around me. My Father was in the picture, but he wasn’t living with us and didn’t deny us anything. My mother didn’t command that we go to church. She led by example whether we got up on Sunday or not. She didn’t Bible bash us and tell us we’re going to hell if we didn’t accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. She left that for us to decide. What she did as commanded by God, is to love us first. Be that light for us to see that God is working in her.
This is why I speak on my own experiences. I have to. Everyone are different. Everyone are at different stages/points in their lives where it’s hard to make sweeping general comments about everyone. That’s just me.

 

[TexRex]

I'm interested.

 

[HenrySwanson]

The first episode of "Surviving Death" on Netflix is worth watching.

Not sure if anyone has taken up this recommendation.

Does it tie into Christianity? Would that be the Kingdom of God?

EDIT: Like the earlier vid, many of the experiences describe a "light". One of the more memorable accounts is from a Christian doctor. There is another case where someone is operated on and they described the instruments being used which shocked the patient's neurosurgeon (although if you check the wiki, an anaesthetist has contended that this could have been possible if we discount the supernatural).

Could seizures and non-epileptic seizures (previously called "pseudoseizures") be similar to NDE....

 

[HenrySwanson]

If "God" came down, in all "His" glory, and stood in front of me. Then, "He" showed me all of "His" works and creations.

I'd point at "His" chest and flick "His" nose as "He" looked down to see what I was pointing at. Then I'd run around "His" back and pull the waistband of "His" underpants up and over "His" head. While "He" is flapping "His" arms trying to free "Himself" from the wedgie, I'd tie "His" shoelaces together and then tip "Him" over.

What if those who are religious, but especially Christians have it all wrong?

What if, in Dante's Inferno, the ninth circle of Hell was where God resided, with the left followers?

Dante's Hell is divided into nine circles, the ninth circle being divided further into four rings, their boundaries only marked by the depth of their sinners' immersion in the ice; Satan sits in the last ring, Judecca. It is in the fourth ring of the ninth circle, where the worst sinners, the betrayers to their benefactors, are punished. Here, these condemned souls, frozen into the ice, are completely unable to move or speak and are contorted into all sorts of fantastical shapes as a part of their punishment.

Unlike many other circles of Dante's Hell, these sinners remain unnamed. Even Dante is afraid to enter this last circle, as he nervously proclaimed, "I drew behind my leader’s back again."

Uncharacteristically of Dante, he remains silent in Satan's presence. Dante examines the sinners who are "covered wholly by ice, / showing like straw in glass – some lying prone, / and some erect, some with the head towards us, / the others with the bottoms of the feet; another like a bow bent feet to face." This circle of Hell is a complete separation from any life and, for Dante, "the deepest isolation is to suffer separation from the source of all light and life and warmth.

Consider the game Braid

MAJOR SPOILERS for Braid:

Spoiler

You think you're the hero, the "knight in shining armour", the "good guy" right up until the last level. Play through it, and you still go around "saving" the princess and unlocking traps together as you try to escape. But then it plays in reverse (forwards). YOU are the monster, with the princess setting traps to hinder your progress. Maybe this is humanity's relationship with God.

 

[Ghost Lap]

That passage relates to a situation in which people are so oversaturated with wordly possesions that they are indifferent towards the Lord.
Stll Jesus is there and saying after that, that all that is required to be welcomed is to welcome him - which directly relates to the passage your are quoting in the hopes of invalidation but now you have validated it.

To truly welcome him comes at a heavy cost though, there's a great deal of difference between a so called worldly Christian (lukewarm believer) and a true follower of Christ (The way to God).

 

[Liquid]

You know that's a film, right?

Are you really submitting a work of fiction as some sort of backup to a claim of divinity? You must see the astonishing irony in that.