Chetzemoka

Again, I'm not debating. But I do find the irony interesting.

And who created this definition that you're referencing? You speak as if it's the authority on what is and isn't Christian.

This was very much my experience with the trans girl I grew up with 35 years ago. From the instant she was able to express preferences (I'm talking like age 18 months to 2 years), it was all princesses and dolls and makeup and trying on mom's high heels. We all just assumed she was a gay boy because we had never heard of a transgender person before.

We encouraged her to just keep that behavior at home because she was bullied mercilessly for appearing to be an effeminate boy. But nothing would stop her; she was completely irrepressible.

When in high school, she told us she was really a girl, it was like the most face-palmingly obvious thing. Of COURSE that's what we'd been seeing her entire life. It just made sense. That's just who she is.

Thomas Kempis is very much Christian. There are a variety of Christian authors in this vein. Modern American Evangelicalism doesn't comprise the entirety of religious thinking.

I'm not debating. Just sharing what I've been taught.

No, being horrible is not expected or accepted. The Puritans (read: Evangelicals) like to interpret it that way, and in fact they do that because it absolves them of personal responsibility. "Well, I don't do that one really terrible thing, therefore I can feel secure and not worry about my behavior."

In reality, sin just means error, imperfection. It's an acknowledgement that no human can be perfect the way that God is perfect, no matter what. The correct response to this should be ongoing self-evaluation, humility, and caution against slipping into the many easy faults of humanity. We should all be repenting constantly because obviously we make mistakes all the time, and all we can do is keep trying to be better, do better. This is what you find in classical literature like Thomas Kempis's The Imitation of Christ.

If you see someone (and I know this is common) running around claiming absolute security in their righteousness with God, then you're seeing a person who is quite literally actively sinning.

The knock on effect of this whole situation is that Christians who don't believe they know all and speak for God (another sin: taking the Lord's name in vain) don't get public attention because we don't run around shouting at people about our religious beliefs.

NIN - The Fragile

Fiona Apple - When the Pawn...

RATM - Battle of Los Angeles

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones

Yo-Yo Ma - Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suites

MY PEOPLE. God she's amazing.

Naomi from The Expanse. Hence my username, if you know you know. Fleeing from a relationship with a narcissist landed me where I am now in my life, so I feel that episode (called Hard Vacuum).

Book of Eli (2010) with Denzel Washington is my favorite post-apocalyptic movie.

War of the Worlds (2005) with Tom Cruise is easily one of the most stressful movies I've ever seen, and I love it.

Contagion (2011) remains the scariest movie I've ever seen, even now that I've lived it. Just imagining an encephalitic virus with a 20-30% mortality rate like the one depicted in the movie makes me nauseous. (Loosely based on real life Nipah virus.)