"It's now June, and our search for a new Moderator continues.
Please help: the odds are that YOU know someone who knows someone that would be a good candidate.
Do you know anyone who has retired from one of the Baby Bells? Someone whom has worked for a CLEC and knows the ins and outs of the telecom business?Are *YOU* such a person?Here is a great opportunity to help others, to set the record straight when it's crooked, and to help maintain our knowledge about the history, people, rules, politics, equipment, and methods that created and maintained the phone network which we all use today.
Please think about who you know that could help. Please think about helping others!
Bill Horne, Moderator The Telecom Digest"
https://groups.google.com/g/comp.dcom.telecom/c/WbdHaul3I_4

Another good morning. Another wonderful person to shadow and teach me. I've connected well with all 3 of the people I have followed. We've had excellent, deep conversations. Especially today's guy. He was another creative, and I felt a great bond with him very quickly.
I got on well with everyone we visited this morning. People from all walks of life, and in unique situations and requiring different routines and care. The first guy training me said at the end of the day that I had an advantage because I'm British. Which I can understand to a degree, but I think it's the warmth and compassion that is really winning people over.
Patient, compassionate and kind throughout. I feel like I connected well with everyone I've met over the past 3 days. The guy I shadowed was kind enough to suggest I covered breakfast and lunch today. He said this before we met in person, and reiterated it when he found out my hours over the past few days and lack of sleep.
Thursday was over 15 hours before I got home. Friday was 14, but several breaks. Today was over 5. Now, all of this would feel better if I wasn't running on 9 hours sleep across 2 nights.
If I don't get 7-8 hours a night I feel genuinely ill. Anxiety, head fog and aches and pains ramp up. But I've done well over the past few days, and I only have a morning to shadow on Monday. I believe I should be starting my solo rounds from Tuesday of next week.
I'm glad work has been understanding, and the carers i've met has either spoken of, or shown me there needs to be a balance between work and free time.
Learning the routines of my clients will take some time, but each person I've shadowed said I can call if ever I have a question.
Fairly busy day tomorrow. So today I think I will vegetate. Maybe a nap later. But my brain is still in new job mode, and it simply won't shut down when I try and sleep. I'm just bombarded with thoughts and mind's eye images. I'll keep my wake up time constant, and simply allow whatever needs to acclimate to eventually settle down.

Hey guys. A lot of my poor little cbf125 is pretty corroded, nuts and bolts included. Not to an unsafe level, but still quite rusty. Today I am going to be replacing the chain and sprockets and chain adjusters, so in the process I also want to replace the nuts and bolts on the adjusters and sprockets, but they didnt come with the components.
My question is.... how do I know what new fastener specs I need, besides taking the parts I currently have apart and measuring them all, THEN going out to buy them? Ive scoured my haynes manual and cant find any spec on the nuts and bolts themselves, (it just says "remove the bolts" and no other details), I cant find anything on spare part sites, and just googling doesnt have any help so...
Any help or tips? Thanks in advance.

This is what I've gleaned from 31 years of living on this planet and trying my best. If I have been able to do it, I think anyone can, because I'm a human being just like you.
You can be happy. However, a state of permanent bliss does not seem to be possible. Life will always be somewhat uncomfortable, because that is the nature of life. You have biological functions to take care of, as well as survival functions which include things you may not like doing, like working or studying. There is always existential doubt about "what's even the point of all this crap?" Oftentimes it may not seem worth it.
It seems to me that you get what you give. I always interpreted this as being altruistic or something, and that can be part of it. But the deeper truth seems to be that you get out of life what you put into it. You get from life what you give to it. That is the deeper meaning. If you complain, whine, and remain closed or afraid, then live has nothing to offer to you. But if you put your soul into it, if you can open your heart and take some risks, then it seems it has infinite joy waiting for you.
I used to search for "the answer". Yeah, it sounds stupid when you write it out like that, but I really thought I just needed to figure something out. The truth is that there is no magic bullet. And nobody has a monopoly on truth. My search was productive, clearly, I did find some answers. But the answers were a lot more mysterious and humble than I had imagined. Life is still normal life for me. There's nothing remarkable about me at all. I still have problems, including anxiety and existential doubts, but now I deal with them differently. Plus, of course, all the problems that come with day-to-day living.
I keep coming back to what I learned in Alcoholics Anonymous. I am no longer active there, but I have remained sober for coming up on 10 years now. Alcoholics Anonymous was a bunch of wounded, "sick" people trying to make a better lives for themselves. But in a humble way. Not this "grab the bull by the horns" stuff. I'm all for adventure and making the most of it, but the thing that irks me about self-improvement is the lack of humility in it. We are fragile beings. We have limits. Embracing that, in my experience, seems to lead to deeper fulfillment.
I'm just a guy. A guy who had a lot of problems but learned a new way of living. A guy who made peace with his limits and fragilities. And, I guess ironically, a guy who decided to "take the bull by the horns". I decided to take some risks. Many risks. I followed my heart. I did things that could have fucked up my entire life, but I trusted enough to try them anyway, because deep down I didn't feel that I was entirely off-base with my feelings. But you never know. I did end up making an ass of myself a lot, and I'm sure I will continue to do so. But that's the price of admission. If you never want to look like a fool, by all means, but you will never be happy, either.
This is the message. If your life is not satisfactory, it is up to you to change it. It depends on you. There are no easy answers. You get what you give. If you say "yes" to life, if you approach life as an opportunity rather than as a curse, then you never know what life has waiting for you. But you've got to open yourself up to it. Even if it's scary - especially if it's scary. The fact that it scares you means there's substance behind it... this is the truth about life.
No, I'm not happy all the time. But I'm generally at peace, and when the going gets tough, I have motivation to keep going forward. And I must admit, there's some times, like today, where I'm just like "holy shit, what a ride".
I hope my story can help inspire others.

Cool new film. Probably not a lick of metal in it, but it’s all about Jesus. Remember those questions I used to ask rock stars in the “What So & So Says” articles in HM Magazine?” This movie centers on that one set of questions: “What do you think of Jesus Christ?” and “What do you think about his claims to be ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but by me?”

WATCH NOW: https://is.gd/TTao27

Acclaimed Director Darren Wilson’s New Film, “The God Man,” Premieres in Theaters

Through Fathom Events for One Night Only – June 6, 2023

Greenville, SC – June 2, 2023 – Filmmaker Darren Wilson’s latest project, “The God Man,” is set to debut on the big screen for a special one-night-only event on June 6, 2023, through Fathom Events. Known for his powerful documentaries that explore the intersection of faith and spirituality, Wilson’s new film promises to be his most ambitious project yet.

View Trailer at link below.

“The God Man” sees Wilson once again traveling the world in attempting to capture God moving on film. His past films (including “Finger of God”, “Father of Lights”, “Holy Ghost”) helped create an entirely new sub-genre of faith-based films where moves of God are caught on camera in real-time. For his latest film, Darren turns his attention to the most famous person in history, Jesus Christ. Through a series of dreams, chance encounters, and divine timing, Darren follows a spiritual rabbit trail that eventually leads to a remarkable conclusion about the nature and character of Jesus.

“The God Man” is Wilson’s first film to hit the big screen and is the final film in the six-film saga.

“With “The God Man”, I set out to try to make a Jesus film for a new generation,” said Wilson. “The world is becoming darker and more divided, depression is soaring, and for many people life simply has no meaning. But Jesus has always been the answer. And with this film, I wanted to try to show that Jesus is not church, He’s not religion. But He is the answer to everything.”

Tickets for “The God Man” are now available for sale through the Fathom Events website and participating theaters. The film will be shown in select theaters across the country on June 6, 2023, at 7:00 PM local time. Tickets can be found and purchased at

For more information on “The God Man” and other upcoming Fathom Events releases, visit

About Darren Wilson:

Darren Wilson is an award-winning filmmaker known for his documentaries exploring faith and spirituality. His previous films include “Finger of God,” “Father of Lights,” and “Holy Ghost.” Devon Franklin, former VP of Production for Columbia Pictures calls Darren, “one of the most innovative filmmakers and authors of faith today.”

I just had a pretty nasty wake up call by stepping on a scale for the first time in months.
I've had body image issues for as long as I can remember- I remember being devastated to step on the scale and see I weighed 10st. Looking back I was a size 10-12 (UK) when I first started thinking I was fat. What I wouldn't give to be that size again.
Well, like most people, lockdown caused some significant weight gain. I began to notice fat rolls where I'd never had them before; I'd turn around and feel a huge roll on my side, or I'd yawn and feel a wad of double chin that was brand new, etc. Clothes I'd owned for years suddenly didn't fit any more. And no matter what I've tried since then- diets, restrictions, exercises, vitamins, weight loss apps, fat burning creams- I just keep piling on the pounds.
Today, I went for a run for the first time in a while- out of all the exercises, running is my downfall and always has been. I barely made it 2 minutes before I was gasping like a fish out of water and an hour later I'm still coughing. I got back inside, stripped down and stood on a scale.
I'm currently 14st 7lbs.
I'm officially at my heaviest weight. I have size 16 clothes that are getting tight on me. Sometimes sizes XXL are too snug. It's getting me down so badly. Please, what can I do to shed some of this weight? It's making me feel truly disgusting. I can't afford paid programs like WW or those apps that keep diet & exercise plans behind a paywall, and I can't currently get myself to a gym (no drivers license yet), but are there any exercises or free apps or diet plans that have worked for you guys? I'll try anything at this point.

Hi there! I am a newer Cosmetology instructor at a small school in the midwest and I am a white woman. I started teaching early this year after owning my own studio where I was lucky to serve people with all sorts of textures. The student body is diverse but has a lot of young white students from small surrounding towns, this includes the student I will be talking about. I am seeking thoughts/advice/perspective on a concern I have at my new workplace with this very long post. There’s a TLDR! Lol
Yesterday, a Black woman was on the schedule for a detangling service. It’s not a service that’s listed on the menu but more of a special note on a “wash and style” service stating that the client is dealing with some extreme tangling or matting of some kind. She came in and I joined her and the student (white) for the consultation where we learned that she did have some moderate matting due to depression. She mentioned that she is a regular and comes in relatively often for the same thing - I just hadn’t met her yet. So I give the student tips on caring for her today and let them get started. The student is nervous as she’s never done a detangling service and I think the client was noticing because when I’m working around the clinic floor helping others, I see the client take the brush from her a few times and brush her own hair a bit. I can tell by the student turning red at the cheeks that she’s feeling embarrassed or upset so I come over and help her finish detangling and it goes pretty smoothly. The client is very quiet and seems irritated so I check in but she doesn’t share any complaints or anything with me. She decides she would like a silk press (something this student also hasn’t done on a paying client yet) so I get her what she needs, give her a run down of the steps and let them get started.
An important note: I went to get another student started on a haircut and this student says “the woman with other student was really rude to me when I did her hair. Hope it’s going better today.” and I said it’s going fine and I’m sorry that happened.
I check in and the student seemed to struggle so I step in and help more. At this point I notice that the client seems to stop talking when I come by so I check in and make sure she’s doing okay and all that. We finish the service together because it’s been a few hours at this point and this woman has been getting a lot of work calls so I felt bad. We chat a bit while I help and it was pleasant. She asked about another student (who is Black) who was doing a different service across the floor and said she wants to see her next time. I could see the student I was helping slightly flinch at the comment and I, admittedly, didn’t know what to say. We finish and it looks nice so I sign them off and go take my lunch.
When I come back, the student approached me and said she was unhappy about that service. When asked why, she explained “that lady didn’t like me because I’m white” which I’ve heard a couple students say before and my reply is “did they SAY that?” (and the answer is usually “well…no”) but in this case the answer was yes. She said that any time I walked away, the client would say that I don’t know what I’m doing and that none of the instructors here know what they’re doing and she is only happy when she’s a Black student but when she calls and asks to see one, the front desk won’t do it. (which is true - we won’t book people based on requests like that) I am very sensitive so this made me pretty sad but the student was angry. It was clear this had an impact on her and she expressed that she doesn’t want to do a service like that again. I did my best to assure her that this was a person dealing with a lot and that this is not what she should expect in the future but she didn’t seem receptive. After discussing with a coworker, I learn that this type of thing is “going to happen a lot” - Black clients being upset with white students out loud and white students becoming disinterested in learning more. I also learn that this particular client took a walk around the clinic floor and asked a couple Black students about doing services for her in the future. These students were confused/uncomfortable.
I am feeling very stressed about this as I am really passionate about my new career teaching and I am excited about having a positive influence over new stylists. An aspect of this making sure students that I teach can and will welcome anyone into their future chairs. I am also passionate about anti-racism and respecting Black people’s wishes for their own hair. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice on how I can make both work? These students are students and they all have different skills and learn at different rates but they ALL need to practice. Silk presses aren’t the only imperfect service being done. Us instructors are always having to fix cuts and troubleshoot color because the clinic floor exists as a practice space. I feel like people sometimes forget that and I am afraid it’s going to lead to more racist behavior in these new hairstylists. But as I type that out, I feel like I’m blaming disappointed Black people for racism which is insane. Ugh. If anyone made it this far, thank you so much and I’d welcome any thoughts.
TLDR: students struggle with learning to perform most services properly but there is an extra level of tension between a white student doing a mediocre job on a Black person’s hair -a Black client is very outspokenly disappointed that she is with a white student and the white student is angry. I feel that it’s the responsibility of Cosmetology schools to fix the divide in the hair industry but I, personally, feel ill-equipped.

This is what I've gleaned from 31 years of living on this planet and trying my best. If I have been able to do it, I think anyone can, because I'm a human being just like you.
You can be happy. However, a state of permanent bliss does not seem to be possible. Life will always be somewhat uncomfortable, because that is the nature of life. You have biological functions to take care of, as well as survival functions which include things you may not like doing, like working or studying. There is always existential doubt about "what's even the point of all this crap?" Oftentimes it may not seem worth it.
It seems to me that you get what you give. I always interpreted this as being altruistic or something, and that can be part of it. But the deeper truth seems to be that you get out of life what you put into it. You get from life what you give to it. That is the deeper meaning. If you complain, whine, and remain closed or afraid, then live has nothing to offer to you. But if you put your soul into it, if you can open your heart and take some risks, then it seems it has infinite joy waiting for you.
I used to search for "the answer". Yeah, it sounds stupid when you write it out like that, but I really thought I just needed to figure something out. The truth is that there is no magic bullet. And nobody has a monopoly on truth. My search was productive, clearly, I did find some answers. But the answers were a lot more mysterious and humble than I had imagined. Life is still normal life for me. There's nothing remarkable about me at all. I still have problems, including anxiety and existential doubts, but now I deal with them differently. Plus, of course, all the problems that come with day-to-day living.
I keep coming back to what I learned in Alcoholics Anonymous. I am no longer active there, but I have remained sober for coming up on 10 years now. Alcoholics Anonymous was a bunch of wounded, "sick" people trying to make a better lives for themselves. But in a humble way. Not this "grab the bull by the horns" stuff. I'm all for adventure and making the most of it, but the thing that irks me about self-improvement is the lack of humility in it. We are fragile beings. We have limits. Embracing that, in my experience, seems to lead to deeper fulfillment.
I'm just a guy. A guy who had a lot of problems but learned a new way of living. A guy who made peace with his limits and fragilities. And, I guess ironically, a guy who decided to "take the bull by the horns". I decided to take some risks. Many risks. I followed my heart. I did things that could have fucked up my entire life, but I trusted enough to try them anyway, because deep down I didn't feel that I was entirely off-base with my feelings. But you never know. I did end up making an ass of myself a lot, and I'm sure I will continue to do so. But that's the price of admission. If you never want to look like a fool, by all means, but you will never be happy, either.
This is the message. If your life is not satisfactory, it is up to you to change it. It depends on you. There are no easy answers. You get what you give. If you say "yes" to life, if you approach life as an opportunity rather than as a curse, then you never know what life has waiting for you. But you've got to open yourself up to it. Even if it's scary - especially if it's scary. The fact that it scares you means there's substance behind it... this is the truth about life.
No, I'm not happy all the time. But I'm generally at peace, and when the going gets tough, I have motivation to keep going forward. And I must admit, there's some times, like today, where I'm just like "holy shit, what a ride".
I hope my story can help inspire others.

23 year smoker here. I'm 45 in a few weeks and started smoking in college while playing football. Ironically I would smoke during the season but not on the off season and that's followed me all the way up until now. I've been struggling, stopping, starting, etc, and just recently decided to cut my long term friends, two best friends, due to other reasons but they also smoke. As a single guy not taking life seriously I managed ok. Finally graduated college at 35 and always had a mid to lower tier career, made decent money, but I ALWAYS felt like weed as my cryptonite. I've had advancement opportunities but the shame in knowing I'm a loser to some degree, have loser friends mostly, really shot my confidence to move into management, especially when I had the opportunity in my 20s. In my 30s I did well again, but the fact that I still entertained weed made me feel somewhat like an imposter. I was married with no kids at that time. Now, I'm a new homeowner, had two kids (2 and 6 mos), and have been running my own business for about 9 months. The last two months I went down hard smoking everyday and generally being a loser. I stopped about a solid week ago, had a conversation with my wife last night (she has not been happy about all this since we moved in together 10 years ago) and she introduced me to this forum. We've been reading atomic habits and trying to find ways to curtail this behavior of mine. It's Saturday morning. I'm about to play basketball at 24 hour gym. This is Prime smoking time for me. I'll be fine today but I love smoking and balling. It increases lung capacity, slows the game down, helps you focus, and generally makes me feel like superman. Afterwards, of course, it knocks you out and helps you sleep, which for me, helps my recovery, especially as I'm aging. I'm trying to live in a world where coffee and weed are non existent so tell me how strong I am, and how much it's hindered my professional development, and how much it will impede my business. Give it to me raw like a coach on the field. Don't pull any punches. Go! I need this!

Hello fellow Redditors,
I'm a 32-year-old guy from New Jersey and, well, life has been a tad monotonous lately. I figured it wouldn't hurt to reach out and see if anyone is up for some casual chat throughout the day.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting fireworks or anything. Just looking for someone to help pass the time, maybe share a few laughs, and perhaps learn a thing or two along the way.
If you're interested in shooting the breeze about random topics or want to discuss the latest dull happenings in the world, feel free to drop me a message.
Looking forward to the small talk!
Sincerely,
A Disinterested 32-year-old from Jersey

Not that I think this was SA, but does talk about sex.
I matched with this guy who was coming into town from a neighboring major city. I realized I probably agreed to a hookup and so I messaged him saying I wasn't really interested in that. I'll be real, I'm very inexperienced, kinda asexual idk it's just not how I think, everything goes over my head tbh.
He said that's fine. The day comes he says he wants to meet at this bar downtown. Now... My city has had quite a few shootings. At the bars downtown. Knowing my luck today would be one of those days... Also my city is one of the top cities in the nation for police violence (lol) so I said hey y'know I'm fine if you want a low-key night and you can come over.
Yeah I don't think I knew what I was probably implying.
He said sure, came over. I have 3 pets, 2 cats and a dog. One cat is gone at first sight of people, that's who she is. Second cat is a 17 yr old senile grandma that doesn't care about a damn thing so long as you don't take her spot on the couch. My dog is a puppy who is a bit shy but loves everybody and wants pets.
Yeah my 17 yr old cat looked at him when he came in, hopped off the couch, starting yelling at us, then hid. My puppy wouldn't even get near him, instead sitting on the other side of me the entire time giving major side eye.
Should've trusted their judgment.
I mean, I agreed. I don't fucking know why. He was drinking fucking disgusting alcohol and idk if he threw up somewhere in my apartment or slightly on me or wtf because something smells bad and it's all over my blankets. I took a shower and I think it's on me still.
I want to throw up too.
Uguguguguguh. I made bad decisions.
I have paid laundry downstairs and shits expensive and I think I'm throwing everything I own that he even went near in it. Probably also going to go ahead and shampoo the carpets just in case.

📚 FREE BOOKS ALERT! 📚
From June 3rd to June 6th, I'm offering a unique collection 16 of books for free! These books are a testament to the fusion of human creativity and artificial intelligence.
Each book is AI-generated and meticulously rephrased and edited by human hands, ensuring an engaging and thought-provoking reading experience.
This project mirrors the work of Tim Boucher at lostbooks.ca, who has used AI generators, including ChatGPT, to write nearly 100 books in less than a year! Read more about his work here.
AI-generated literature has stirred some controversy, but we view it as a fascinating new frontier in publishing. We invite you to join us in exploring it!
Here are the links to the free books:

Don't miss this opportunity to explore the intersection of AI and literature. Grab your free books now!
After you've enjoyed these free books, we invite you to explore my earlier titles. Available for $2.99 on Kindle and $7 in paperback, these books delve into a wide range of intriguing topics:

Check out all these works and more on Amazon! Dive deeper into the world of AI-generated literature today.

📚 FREE BOOKS ALERT! 📚
From June 3rd to June 6th, I'm offering a unique collection 16 of books for free! These books are a testament to the fusion of human creativity and artificial intelligence.
Each book is AI-generated and meticulously rephrased and edited by human hands, ensuring an engaging and thought-provoking reading experience.
This project mirrors the work of Tim Boucher at lostbooks.ca, who has used AI generators, including ChatGPT, to write nearly 100 books in less than a year! Read more about his work here.
AI-generated literature has stirred some controversy, but we view it as a fascinating new frontier in publishing. We invite you to join us in exploring it!
Here are the links to the free books:

Don't miss this opportunity to explore the intersection of AI and literature. Grab your free books now!
After you've enjoyed these free books, we invite you to explore my earlier titles. Available for $2.99 on Kindle and $7 in paperback, these books delve into a wide range of intriguing topics:

Check out all these works and more on Amazon! Dive deeper into the world of AI-generated literature today.

Hello there and Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening Fellow Redditors!
Before you continue, as a young man who knows what he wants, I would like to state what I am NOT seeking:

Fakes/Flakes
Pen-Pals: (Meeting up in real life should be the goal)
Time-wasters: Introduction and pleasantries are fine and welcomed. I am just looking for the conversation to progress and for dates to be marked on the calendar! My schedule is FLEXIBLE due to my line of work, so I can adapt and evolve as needed!
Lastly, PG pictures work just fine, and I have plenty to share. Yes, I am well-endowed, but there's more to me than that. With that being said, you wouldn't walk up to a man in real life and ask him his cock size at your first introduction...would you?

I'm not a man looking for loads of digital nudity. I would definitely much rather see you in real life and get a surprise!
*** Also, I'm on NoFap. The basic explanation means I don't masturbate and waste my seed into kleenexs, lol. (Going almost 200 days strong), so unbridled, primal virility are aplenty with me! Very Large Loads & Very Fertile!
***SHORTENED VERSION:
TLDR: Summary of me: I'm a young nerd/geek with an outgoing personality, shredded physique, and contagious smile/love of laugh laughter. I'm seeking a like-minded woman to befriend and have an ONGOING, and most importantly, RELIABLE mutual relationship (friendship) with. I'm also very open to something serious as well! Connection and open communication are a MUST!
I am also a HUGE Giver and love extended foreplay. I am straight & fully comfortable in my sexuality and open to a vast array of Kinks/Potential Fantasies inside and outside of the bedroom! Pegging has definitely caught my interest as well!
I would want to continue impregnating the same woman multiple times, over and over in order to birth an empire with a strong family unit, core principles & morals, and creative leadership. I want to be an active participant in my children's lives and an amazing Father to all of them!
One, two, or even three children are NOT enough for me; we will enjoy this journey together and celebrate each and every time my prime genetic seed takes hold and root in your womb.
I bring intellectual prowess, awesome physical genes (see pics on my profile and latest posts), and a burning desire to procreate with the RIGHT woman who shares some common interests with me (See Below)!
***LONG VERSION:
Hello there,
I am a young, well-spoken, and outgoing individual sporting an amazing sense of humor & chiseled physique. I deeply enjoy good conversation filled with laughter and the warmth it brings and love to please as I am very eager to learn, try, and experience new things!
Things I enjoy OUTSIDE of the bedroom:

Fitness (Both Resistance & Aerobic) Walking, Jogging, Hiking, etc.
Video Games & Board Games
Nerf Wars & Airsoft
Nature Exploration & Outdoor Recreation (I would love to try out camping, kayaking, and canoeing!)
Watching Movies and TV Shows
Creative Thinking both PG and Rated R lol

Things I enjoy Inside of the Bedroom include everything vanilla plus A LOT (virtually open to exploring everything except extreme pain) more that I'd love to discuss face to face.
My Ideal Person:
I am searching for a cool, laid-back and relaxed woman to enjoy mutual fun INSIDE and preferably OUTSIDE of the bedroom as well. The type of person who can enjoy a mind-blowing session while also being able to laugh at various blunders or bloopers that happen during or after the fun, go for nature walks with a lustful twist, and/or seeing a movie on the couch or in theatre!
NO Pressure, NO Insecurity, just cool peeps having an amazing, hot time while creating passionate memories together and building Vast Empire & Undying Legacy.
Thanks for stopping by and reading. Shoot me a chat request, and I look forward to meeting you!

📚 FREE BOOKS ALERT! 📚
From June 3rd to June 6th, I'm offering a unique collection 16 of books for free! These books are a testament to the fusion of human creativity and artificial intelligence.
Each book is AI-generated and meticulously rephrased and edited by human hands, ensuring an engaging and thought-provoking reading experience.
This project mirrors the work of Tim Boucher at lostbooks.ca, who has used AI generators, including ChatGPT, to write nearly 100 books in less than a year! Read more about his work here.
AI-generated literature has stirred some controversy, but we view it as a fascinating new frontier in publishing. We invite you to join us in exploring it!
Here are the links to the free books:

Don't miss this opportunity to explore the intersection of AI and literature. Grab your free books now!
After you've enjoyed these free books, we invite you to explore my earlier titles. Available for $2.99 on Kindle and $7 in paperback, these books delve into a wide range of intriguing topics:

Check out all these works and more on Amazon! Dive deeper into the world of AI-generated literature today.

I’m 30M and my GF is 28F. We’ve been together for 2.5 years now and have lived together in a New Build rented flat for nearly 1.5 years. Before we moved here, she’s always been saying that she’s always wanted to part buy and part rent. We nearly ended up buying a house together after just 9 months of being together. All my friends and family said do not do it as it’s way too soon and too rushed. So I told her I think we should rent first and see how the relationship goes.
She listened to me and now we’ve been renting for 1.5 years. The terms of our flat is, we have to either move out by the end of the 5 years, or buy a share of anywhere between 25%-75%.
She’s currently going through a bad migraine issue and she’s been given a sick note to work part time instead of full time for 3 months. She’s so far done this and is happy working 3 days a week and wants to stick with it.
Now she’s wanting to rush to buy 25% of the flat because she says once she goes to part time, her pay slips will show less earnings and she won’t be able to buy. Plus she also says we are wasting money every month paying for rent when we could be putting that on the mortgage.
My problem is, I want to buy my mums council flat because they’re giving a huge discount of £127k as me and my mum have been living there for more than 20 years. Only issue is I’d get that discount after having it for at least 5 years. And with both flats, I can’t be a current homeowner, so I can only buy one.
My priority is to buy my mums flat, so after 5 years, I can make that £127k when I sell it. My GF doesn’t seem to want me to buy it as she says she also wants stability and wants me to buy our flat with her. Also because she’ll be going part time soon. And she knows I can’t buy both at once.
I’ve told her maybe she has to buy the flat herself but it seems unlikely that they’d give it to just her as she isn’t earning enough. After discussing with her, she knows she can’t get a big mortgage by herself so she sort of is pressuring to do it with me, even though I’ve been told to never buy with someone unless married. I still plan to buy my mums flat.
Today, she just spoke with her mum about it and her mum suggested they buy a house together to fix up, then sell on. My GF asked if I’ll be okay with that. A day before, I spoke with my mum about the issue, and asked if she could help me buy her flat, and help pay for the mortgage every month.
Difference is, my GF’s mum earns a lot of money. If they did buy together, my GF would probably pay 25% of it, and her mum pays 75% of both deposit and monthly mortgage payments. With my mums flat, it’s the other way around - I’ll pay 75%, she’ll pay 25% as she doesn’t work.
Is this a problem if this was to happen? Would it affect our relationship? She’s always wanted to do things with me but she thinks I’m letting her down now and she still wants a future with me, so she’s trying to find ways to buy a house anywhere before she goes part time and because she hates wasting money renting.

In many areas of the game, it can be extremely difficult to obtain location/map-context information while not actively staring at the full-screen world map. The map is mostly monochrome blobs with binary information; traversable or not. The mini-map also often feels claustrophobic.
I do appreciate the desire to create a desperate/personal/survival experience by limiting this type of information to a point/distance from the player but we're starved for info here. I haven't directly compared the amount of information conveyed by the mini-map in D3 but I hardly ever struggled there - it wasn't great but it was enough to not drive me mad.
Nearly all the directional information we get from the map is based entirely on PoI icons. While we're away from any icons on the map, the mini-map becomes practically useless.
The only compensation Blizz added for the reduction in information compared to D3 (dimming the environment/vignette/color-palette etc.) is the auto-pathing waypoint. It works for medium-long journeys but isn't useful for momentary decisions and is still hampered by having to set it in the full-screen map.
There's excellent contextual information in the portions of map that transition from one color to the next, based on ground color (snow/dirt/red sand etc.). Sadly that information only exists at the transition and there aren't that many in the world.
However it's accomplished, the solution should provide the player with quickly recognizable awareness of their location in the world, simultaneously on large (zone) and small (path/route) scales.

Solutions

I believe it would go far enough, without upsetting any players, to negate the problem by "simply" (expertly) improving the map texture. If the colotexture/appearance of the map could provide more contextual information it would improve every situation. The mini-map would be far more useful relative to the full-screen map.
The first idea that comes to mind is utilizing the negative space on the map to provide more context without affecting the area we travel through. There are dozens of simple ways to do this and perhaps combining multiple techniques would provide substantial awareness. I'll go over some methods now.
The negative space must never be confused with the positive, so it can't simply be the texture of the environment or it would all blend together. Perhaps simply using additional colors/gradients to convey relative zone coordinates/portions, similar to the snow/dirt transition.
You could also try conveying general x/y coordinates using colors/icons to recognize at a glance along the bordeperimeter of the mini-map. It's hard to imagine how accurate/useful this would be overall.
I also hold the opinion overlay maps detract from the overall game by redirecting focus from the game world to the map for easy recognition/efficiency. This behavior effectively turns it into a 2-dimensional game with a dot (you) running between the lines. I'd much rather be navigating and appreciating the artful environment/enemies, while tracking threats more carefully. Despite that, I'd prefer overlay maps to the emergent behavior of spamming the map button between actions, sometimes 3-6 times in a few seconds. Hopefully, overlays aren't necessary.

Anecdotes and additional considerations

With enough movement speed in D3, (combined with the lack of fear of dying on the given difficulty) I always resorted to staring directly at the mini-map which provides less information than the game world but at a much greater distance from the character (?double?). This turned D3 into a monochrome 2-D game of avoiding walls and finding doors, at a fraction of the screen space. I rarely played this way, relative to my total play time, but It was certainly faster and more efficient. This should be avoided but it's not necessarily bad if it happens at the extremes - preferentially less often than D3 and others. The world map flickering meta is a horrible experience. Players didn't need to check so frequently in D3 because the cartoonish lighting and tile-sets were easier to navigate. Fans cried for darkness and now we can't read where to go on the fly. It's all the more irritating that opening the map prevents character movements/actions, sometimes resulting in truly jarring stutter-step behavior, especially while approaching forks in paths. It's harmful to the experience but also intentional behavior compensating for rudimentary navigational tools.
I was disgusted by this experience when I played during the server slam but didn't spend the time evaluating why it was so offensive to me until today. All the early-access players I've seen, behave the same way and I've heard the same complaint repeatedly. Perhaps the first time I heard it vaguely referenced by someone other than myself, was in Rhykker's review. He acknowledged that he relied on opening the world map considerably more than in D3 and he speculated it could be a result of the mini-map being smaller.
Without giving my opinion on the level of effort that went in to the current map texture, *cough*, I do wager Blizzard created dozens of iterations of map textures. They might even already have one that accomplishes everything I described but instead they implemented the most minimal one they could agree upon to avoid overstimulating/confusing new players, particularly because almost everyone is currently a new player. It's generally the Blizzard way, to start low and offer more in reaction.
3rd-party modders are probably trying everything they can to replace/add maps/navigation functions and Blizzard might just unofficially let them handle it. However, anyone who's familiar with D3 modding already knows where that leads... It's not very competition-friendly to say the least.
I still haven't heard anyone discuss why this behavioexperience is emerging through play so I figured I'd suggest myself. There are many more important aspects of the game to improve in my opinion but there's a disturbing lack of awareness about this issue everywhere I look. Even if nothing I've typed accomplishes change, at least someone in the community will have gained an understanding.

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*** Effort Post ***
Whenever the topic of socialism or welfare comes up in Christian circles, the notion of Christian voluntarism is quick to follow. What is this Christian voluntarism? It is the idea that national welfare should be based on voluntary charity by the church, not the state. This idea seems to have influence in George Bush’s Compassionate Conservatism, and also to a lesser degree in David Cameron’s Big Society.
Two defenses of the concept are in “The Tragedy of American Compassion” by Marvin Olasky, and “Christian Charity vs Government Welfare” by Thomas Johnson[1]. In truth, elements of the idea itself has subtlety become accepted by a very many Christians, and is present in general Christian apologetics on economics (see bibliography). It must be noted that the proponents of the idea rarely embrace the term Christian Voluntarism[2], which seems to be rather a function of how generally accepted and non-sequitur the idea seems to be.
The theology behind Christian Voluntarism
Sadly, many of the texts linked do not have a strong theological basis; they are largely historical defenses for the idea (See Olasky 2008 and Johnson 1970). Thus, a strongman of their theology must rely on those aforementioned Christian apologetic sources rather substantially (see bibliography). Also, thanks to u/Laojac who provided a strongman here.
Christian voluntarism is fundamentally reliant on the charity practiced by the early Christian Church. We know that people in the church shared their property with each other and cared for each other; Acts 2:44-45, Acts 4:32-37. We know they were commanded to care for their families, alongside the poor, and that there were fundraising efforts to send money over to people in need in the church (1 Tim 5:3,8, Galatians 2:10, Hebrews 13:2-3, 2 Corinthians 8-9). Christian Voluntarism takes this model for charity and attempts to nationalize it is a welfare system, for charity. It uses a few methods to support this.
First, it argues that bible tells us that giving should be voluntary. 2 Corinthians 8-9, and especially 2 Corinthians 9:7, exhort voluntary charity, not done under compulsion. Ergo, the state should not require taxation to fund welfare. Whilst the online tracts do not go much further than this, there is an interesting way that this can be extrapolated further. The particular significance of this verse, interestingly enough, is it is one of the key verses to refute the requirement of tithing. Tithing existed under the wholistic economic system of the old testament that did have many rather radical economic policies; the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee, etc. So to call in this verse against the requirement of taxation does provide a rather big challenge; this new idea of caring in the new testament is not a system of governance, like in the old testament, with taxes and regulations. It is a system guided by the holy spirit, whereby people voluntarily care for those around them. The requirement for people to care for families in 1 timothy 5 would definitely fall into this.
Second, it fundamentally ties welfare to work. To quote 2 Thessalonians 3:10 - “those who do not work shall not eat”. This can be taken in the more obvious sense of “there is no such thing as a free lunch” – people need to work to provide for a living, but for the Christian voluntarists, it is taken as a command of a mutual obligation – those who do not try to work shall not get welfare. (Olasky 2008, p 9-10). Unsurprisingly, this is where ideas of “deserving” and “undeserving poor” come from worthy (Olasky 2008, p 11-12). This also forms what welfare should look like – Welfare has a purpose to help people make a living for themselves (Olasky 2008, p 25, 29). But specifically, in practice it also means that those who don’t want to work should be excluded from welfare (Olasky 2008, p 12, 29, 228). Christian voluntarist tracts argue further that welfare itself is corrupting in that it enables backwardness and degeneracy to exist, encouraging laziness and the breakdown of families (for example, Olasky 2008, p xi -xvii, 222).
Third, supporting this is the argument that Biblical notions of property are explicitly in favor of Liberal private property. This is the belief that the owner of property, can do whatever they want with their property. This starts with an appeal to Exodus 20:15,17 as examples of OT Justifications for private property. It points to the various points in the bible that recognize private ownership. To reference a few; Genesis 4:4, Micah 4:4, Acts 5:4. A very notable verse is Mathew 20:15; “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?” – taking this statement at face value would suggest Jesus is very much in favour of liberal private property rights. The whole conclusion of this that people have the right to do with their property what they want. The most immediate implication is the government cannot seize property - This is used against the threat of state socialism.
The Problems with this theology
Of course, we need to recognize that the Bible doesn’t tell Christians to take over the state and implement a welfare state. The fact is that the bible doesn’t prescribe a structure for economic justice in the broader national community. But similarly, this means the bible doesn’t prescribe the Church as being the welfare system of the broader national community. There is a legitimate question about how to pursuing economic justice in light of biblical commands and examples, and the description of the New Testament church (Acts 2:42-47, Acts 4:34-35) exists to show us what economic justice should look like in Christian communities specifically. However, it is a significant stretch to argue that this decentralised system of churches providing welfare is what the bible prescribes as the only legitimate national welfare system.
NT Christian communities were not set up to be a welfare system for the Roman state. They were examples of model Christian communities that we can look to guide us in holy living. They did exist as an alternate perception of economic justice to Old Testament Israel’s state-embedded system, certainly. However, this alternative state was for a few reasons; First Old Testament Israel was a sacrificial system, one that was no longer needed after Christ’s death and resurrection (Heb 10:1-18). Second, Old Testament Israel was a theocratic state, that would make a people for God who would be outwardly different from all around them (Deut 28:9-10). However, Christ did not come to establish a kingdom of this world (John 18:36), instead a people who would follow him due to their changed heart (John 18:36, John 3:5-8). The nullification of the theocratic state of Israel was not a rejection of the state’s interference in economic policy. Rather, it was a recognition that the theocratic state had fulfilled its soteriological and eschatological purpose.
With this context out of the way, we can refute the specific justifications of the voluntarists; The first, 2 Corinthians 9:7, which tells us that giving should be voluntary, not under compulsion, was in a specific letter given to a specific community responding to a crisis at the time. To transform it into a condemnation of state taxation for welfare is a substantial stretch. Paul made clear that it was also a test; he would not command this church to give charity but wanted to know the sincerity of their love, by comparing how much they gave compared to other churches (2 Corinthians 8:8-9).
He was not laying down a law about the state. Nothing in the passage suggests that the state cannot provide welfare. Nothing in the passage suggests that the state cannot demand taxation. Indeed, bible does not reject compulsion in terms of taxation as Christians are exhorted to pay their taxes (Mark 12:13-17; Rom 13:6-7). Contextually, the Christian Voluntarist must also grapple with the absence of a condemnation of the grain dole of Rome, both within this passage and within the broader New Testament. Now, one could argue that if the state gets involved in welfare then the sincerity of Christian love has failed – but that is a very different argument, an argument that needs to grapple with both the fallen nature of humanity, and the social implications of democracy. Nevertheless, the passage at hand does not refute state taxation or state provision of welfare.
Moving to the second justification – that, welfare should be tied to work. This specific passage, 2 Thessalonians 3:10, occurs within a context where there are believers who are “idle and disruptive” (v 6, 11) and who are “not busy; they are busybodies”. They are commanded to settle down and eat (v 12). To use this passage to encourage Christians to work is good. It is not the purpose of the passage to be used for a model of how a welfare state works. Unlike 2 Cor 9:7, which is deliberately misused by Christians to deny welfare to others – this passage can be used to form a welfare state system. Like Acts 4:32 for the Socialists, and 1 Corinthians 14:12-26 for the Corporatists, 2 Thessalonians 3:10 seems quite able to be derived to justify a political policy. However, to declare that 2 Thessalonians 3:10 necessitates a policy program on welfare is misguided – it was a teaching for a particular church at a particular time. The practical considerations of this particular section will get further treatment further on.
The final argument that the bible prescribes liberal private property. This argument has lies that it conceals in truths. Fundamentally, the bible does recognize property rights. It recognizes that we can own property and have liberty in using that property. However, the bible also recognizes two other things; First, that we are not the absolute owners of that property. God is the absolute owner of everything, not humanity (1 Cor 10:26; Psalm 24:1; Deut 10:14). The second is that any property we have, we steward for God; we are not allowed to use property for whatever purpose we deem fit. The OT system has a variety of restrictions on how we can use property, much of which existed for economic justice. There were prohibitions on taking interest (Leviticus 26:36-37); Gleaning laws that mean restricted the amount of produce farmers could get from their own harvest, requiring they leave some to the poor (Lev 19:9-10; Deut 24:19-21). Furthermore, there are the radical redistribution policies with the Sabbatical year and year of jubilee (Leviticus 25:1-7, 8-55). The commandment to not steal was situated within these verses about responsibilities, something noted by Both Catholics and Reformed Christians (See the Catholic Catechism, Westminster Larger Catechism and Heidelberg Catechism). The New Testament similar has a variety of commands about how to use property; (Luke 6:30, 1 John 3:17, 1 Tim 5:8, 6:17-18).
There is one verse that falls outside of the above explanation; Mathew 20:15 – “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?”. The context of the verse is that Jesus is teaching a parable. In the parable, the vineyard owner pays all his workers the same amount, no matter what they work. Parables have single purposes – the purpose of this parable is that it doesn’t matter however late you sign up to the gospel, you will still be saved. It is not a parable with prescriptions on wage payments. It is not a parable with prescriptions on private property.
Fundamentally, there is no biblical prescription against the state establishment of a welfare state. This, in itself, does not disqualify Christian voluntarism as an idea; rather it means that advocating Christian voluntarism requires making a different argument – that the Christian voluntarist form of welfare is the best form of welfare.
The Economics of a Christian Voluntarist welfare state
Gøsta Esping-Andersen’s seminal work “The Three Worlds of welfare Capitalism”, divides welfare states into three ideal types; “Liberal”, “Conservative” and “Social Democratic”. Of these, Christian Voluntarism is closest to the “Liberal” ideal type which is found in the US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. A liberal welfare state is one that aims to encourage the pursuit of employment, and so the state will provide as little as possible (Esping-Andersen 1990, p. 42). Means testing and mutual obligation is often used to minimize the states ways to welfare provision. Those who cannot rely on government support must rely on charity (Esping-Andersen 1990, p. 26-27).
Christian Voluntarism is essentially a Christian defense for the “Liberal” welfare state. However it does far more, because in practice it would mean the undermining of the liberal welfare state. The Christian voluntarist would tear down the last vestiges of a state led system so that people instead rely on Charity. They would attempt to further liberalize an already liberal system. The practical implications of this are that even a state led system that incorporates the principles of the “deserving and undeserving” poor, alongside the mutual obligations of “those who don’t work don’t eat”, are too much for the Christian Voluntarist.
This system fails both quantitatively and qualitatively. It fails quantitatively because a welfare state based on charity cannot support the entire population. Welfare encompasses old age, unemployment, workplace injuries, permanent disabilities and more. The amount of money needed to organise such a welfare system is unachievable by charities (Green 2017). Reviews of “The Tragedy of American compassion” point out that the historical charitable system championed did not provide welfare for all – it was very geographically dependent (Hammack, 1996, p 261-262).
This system also fails qualitatively. One would think that a Christian voluntarist would see that charity and welfare are symptoms of economic greater problems, and addressing those greater problems would reduce the burdens on charity.[3] But Christian Voluntarists don’t address the issues which lead people to need charity. Unaffordable healthcare and involuntary unemployment are two clear examples of structural economic problems; the former due to the various oligopolies that exist throughout the healthcare system, which is unsurprising given it is a market with high start-up costs, and the latter often due a deficiency in demand. The solutions to these factors require substantial economic reform by means of regulation and government spending, which is antithetical to the Christian Voluntarist ideal. Christian voluntarists are not advocating for these solutions to reduce the burden on charities.
Two further addendums need to be added to this analysis. The first is that there are flaws with regards to the policy derivatives of 2 Thessalonians 3:10. The idea of an undeserving poor has lead to many problems – for example this group has historically included beggars and criminals (Schmalz 2017). The definition of who is undeserving will inevitably both include and exclude people who may need help. Olasky, for example, includes Alcoholics and Drug Addicts as part of his ‘undeserving poor’ (p. 227-228), when, in truth, these groups could quite easily be seen as the most needing of support – albeit in a more compressive form then mere cash handout. The principle of mutual obligations behind this need to be thought through. Interestingly enough, the gleaning system in the OT seems to be a system that follows this idea; welfare is there, but people have to work to get it. This principles behind this are also evident in a full employment policy in the modern era. However, today’s governments generally prefer of “mutual obligations” for welfare, or forms of workfare instead. In the context where workers outnumber jobs these programs essentially act as punitive “full employment policy”.
The second is the Christian voluntarist claim that any welfare system should be orientated towards public morality alongside economic justice. This is a fair claim, and frankly welfare systems must be cautiously constructed with consideration of economic justice, and also the moral fabric of society. Here the example of the ideal type of the Conservative welfare state (historically found in found in Germany, Belgium and Austria), can be drawn upon. This welfare state, for example, is constructed with the family in mind (Esping-Andersen 1990, p. 27). It also relies largely on decentralised system of welfare provision that incorporate religious providers (Esping-Andersen 1990, p. 27). Even with the focus on the moral fabric of society, other factors must also come into play; The conservative welfare state benefits married couples over singles; what does this mean for the economic situation of single mothers? Such a welfare system needs to counterbalance the social fabric of society with it’s economic needs.
To Conclude
Theologically, the claims of Christian Voluntarism do not stand up; there is not set biblical principle about the state’s involvement in welfare provision. Economically, the Christian Voluntarists fail to appreciate the quantitative size of charitable provision needed to match the welfare state, nor do they deal with the structural issues facing the economy.
Fundamentally, I am not a Christian Socialist. I do not believe that the descriptions of Christian communities in Acts can be described as socialist – I may write another piece like this later on. I’m not coming from a liberal, modernist or progressive Christian perspective. Rather I’m annoyed that Conservative Christians have accepted the claims of liberal economies and tried to make a more liberalized welfare system based on a misguided claim about following the Bible.
[1] The specific defense provided by Johnson is explicitly voluntarist, in that it draws on voluntarism as a philosophy. It is also Pelagian and so should be rejected; “Any Christian who does not openly and vehemently denounce all forms of government welfare, cannot, in truth, call himself a Christian, for government welfare is the antithesis of Christian charity.” - this is clearly heresy.
[2] Indeed, the term only seems to appear in online Christian Forums. However, Academics do describe this idea as voluntarist, and it is a Christian defense of Voluntarism, so terming the idea “Christian Voluntarism” is apt.
[3] This was the approach of the founder of the St Vincent De Paul society, Frederic Ozanam. He was an economics lecturer and argued that charity was insufficient to change the situation – what was needed was a change to the relationship between workers and capital (Moody 1953, p 129).
Bibliography
General:
Green, E., 2017. The Voluntarism Fantasy, Democracy A Journal of Ideas, viewed 22 October 2022, https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/32/the-voluntarism-fantasy/
Konczal, M., 2014. Can Religious Charities Take the Place of the Welfare State?, The Atlantic, viewed 22 October 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/budget-religion/520605/
Schmalz, M., 2017. Taxing the rich to help the poor? Here’s what the Bible says, The conversation, viewed 3 June 3, 2023 https://theconversation.com/taxing-the-rich-to-help-the-poor-heres-what-the-bible-says-88627
Zeiger, H., 2014. The voluntarism fantasy?, Philanthropy Daily, viewed 22 October 2022, https://www.philanthropydaily.com/the-voluntarism-fantasy/
Christian Voluntarism & Compassionate Conservatism:
Olasky, M N, 2008, The Tragedy of American Compassion, Crossway Books, https://archive.org/details/tragedyofamerica0000olas/mode/2up - Olasky provides a specifically Christian Argument.
Johnson, T L, 1970 May 9, “Christian Charity vs Government Welfare”, Human Events,
Accessible: https://fee.org/articles/christian-charity-vs-government-welfare/, https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/christian-charity-government-welfare/ - Johnson also provides a specifically Christian Argument.
Weed D, 1977, The Compassionate Touch, Carol Stream, https://archive.org/details/compassionatetou00wead/mode/2up - Weed provides a secular argument.
Argumentative Sources
Esping-Andersen, GJ, 1990, The Three Worlds of welfare Capitalism, Princeton University Press.
Hammack, DC, 1996, ‘The Tragedy of American Compassion’, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.
Kuyper, A, 2021, On Business and Economics, Lexham Press.
Lee, F.N 1988, Biblical Private Property Versus Socialistic Common Property, EN Tech.J. 3, pp. 16-22, https://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j03_1/j03_1_016-022.pdf
Moody, J, 1953, Church and society : Catholic social and political thought and movements, Arts Inc
Christian Apologetics on Economics
Got Questions, 2022, What is Christian Socialism?, Got Questions, viewed 22 October 2022,
https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-socialism.html
Groothuis D, 2021, CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIALISM: WHAT SHOULD A CHRISTIAN BELIEVE?, Focus on the Family, viewed 22 October 2022, https://www.focusonthefamily.com/church/christianity-and-socialism/
Jeremiah D, 2022, What does the Bible say About Socialism, DavidJeremiah.Blog, viewed 22 October 2022, https://davidjeremiah.blog/what-does-the-bible-say-about-socialism/#:~:text=While%20the%20Bible%20encourages%20generosity,according%20to%20His%20sovereign%20will.
Miller C, 2013a, 2 corinthians 8, communism as an economic system, A little Perspective, viewed 22 October 2022, https://www.alittleperspective.com/2-corinthians-8-communism-as-an-economic-system-2/
Miller C, 2013b, 2 2 corinthians 9, giving cheerfully (communism, part two), A little Perspective, viewed 22 October 2022, https://www.alittleperspective.com/2-corinthians-9-giving-cheerfully-communism-part-two/
Piper, J., 2015. How Should Christians Think About Socialism, Desiring God, viewed 22 October 2022, https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-should-christians-think-about-socialism
Understanding 2012, 2nd Corinthians 8: Charity or Socialism? (Love or Compulsion?), Understanding, viewed 22 October 2022, https://cutpaste.typepad.com/understanding/2012/08/2nd-corinthians-8-charity-or-socialism-love-or-compulsion.html
Hughes G, 2018, Was Jesus a Socialist, When we Understand the Text, viewed 22 October 2022, https://wwutt.com/was-jesus-a-socialist/
TOW Project, 2011, Sharing the Wealth (2 Corinthians 8:13-15), viewed 22 October 2022, https://www.theologyofwork.org/new-testament/2-corinthians/sharing-the-wealth-2-corinthians-813-15

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Solutions

Anecdotes and additional considerations