SoCal Melee Community

[JTB]

gimpyfish combo is the best combo

 

[Kira-]

I have to tell you guys about a really cool thing that happened to me (and one that still is) happening.

So yesterday while I was praying, a strong thought came to me, telling me to go to the gym. It was 7pm, I skipped out on Kyle earlier in the day to work out with Jason at 9pm because Jason has just started and Kyle can take care of himself.

So my first thought was, "Uhh, then I can't work out with either Jason or Kyle, that doesn't make any sense. Plus then I'll just be sitting there while Jason is working out, it's a bigger waste of time." But still I heard this thought ever strongly in my mind. I have been trying to be more aware of when God is communicating with me... so I tell Him, "I'm going to assume that this is you speaking to me, so if I go and nothing happens, at least my intentions were clear." I still take awhile to actually leave.. obvious doubts were going through my head the entire time I was changing into workout clothes and getting protein shakes.

I go to 24 Hour Fitness, and they have tons of locations anywhere. There's a gym 3 minutes from my house, and another at Spectrum a little further away. But the image I had in my head was from yet another gym, one just a bit further than Spectrum. So again, it made no sense not to go to the one right next to my house... but I went anyway.

I parked, went to the bathroom, weighed myself. Then I went upstairs where all the equipment was. RIGHT as I was about to go upstairs, one of the workers there shouted out to me. "Hey! Hey you!" (I pointed to myself incredulously). "Yeah you, you look like a cool guy who has a lot of friends, can you do me a huge favor I'm desperate!"

So I go over there and he says he needs referrals. I give him 5 referrals since he needs to fill a quota every day. I picked them mostly on a whim as I went down my contacts list, if you get a call from 24 Hour then it was probably my fault, sorry if you didn't want to be bothered and you're welcome if you were looking to sign up.

Then he says, "Hey buddy, thanks so much, I'm gonna give you a free personal training session for helping me out." Personal training sessions are like a good $80 at least, so that's pretty legit.

I haven't done the personal training session yet, but my muscles got blasted that day and I'll let you guys know what happens. Someone earlier in the day asked me if I still believed in God. "Coincidences" like these are the clearest example to me that He does exist, and this example (and the next I'm going to post) are only the tip of the iceberg. Three weeks ago I had my entire life changed at a church retreat.. since then I have had tons of energy, completely felt like I had just taken off a mask that was covering my eyes without me knowing. But anyway here's the next story.

 

[Kira-]

Story #2

So, why I'm awake at 5am.

I woke up randomly at 4:30am (40 minutes ago). I checked my email on my Blackberry, and my ex had emailed me something. Whether anyone knows or not, I have been having some trouble getting over her. God has used her in the past to help change me before, like getting me to quit pushing weed, and me believing in God in the first place.

So she sent me something that someone else had told her that has helped her somewhat get over me (although she's still working on it as well). It was that she feared letting go, but she had to realize that God was right there to catch her, and He could love her in a better way than I could.

After I finished reading, I got another strong "thought" which was to go downstairs and check the markets. I intern at an investment company and get to trade a little bit for myself which is a great experience. I really wanted to just go back to sleep, but remembering the previous story I decided to go downstairs.

April Natural Gas was down a lot. But there was a signal to buy that had just appeared... I checked other markets and didn't see anything special (usually price action is low in the middle of the night). I looked back at NG and it didn't look good. But something was telling me to buy.

I didn't want to lose a ton of money on something I couldn't be sure was real. Obviously I hesitated, because of my own logic. And when I did, the price moved up. I felt Him say, "Don't you trust me?" So I chased the price up.. something you don't want to do when you're trading in the middle of the night (thin market).

I went back to the email my ex sent me. There were two links that further emphasized her point. I watched one, then looked back at the price. I made 10 cents. Watched the 2nd, checked the price again. Went up an extra 20 cents. Markets don't move quickly at 4:30am.

So I made a nice amount for a 21 year old, I went back to sleep trusting that God would take care of everything. As soon as I was about to fall asleep, I heard another voice, telling me to add more. Adding more means buying extra contracts.

This time I didn't hesitate, I hopped out of bed. NG was still rising. I doubled my position (or the contract size). Then went back to bed. Then thought about writing about this. Then heard another voice to do it right now. And that's what I'm doing.

 

[HyugaRicdeau]

People of nearly every faith on earth can claim similar 'coincidences.' But obviously all their concepts of god cannot be true simultaneously. We tend to interpret things in the context of our existing beliefs, and so theists will attribute such experiences to god. To be clear, I do not doubt that you have these experiences, it would be extremely presumptuous to do so; what I doubt is your interpretation of them as god giving you instructions. Personally I'm a little uneasy around anyone who unquestioningly do things that voices tell them to do. What do you say to people who claim to hear God's voice tell them to murder people? I am confident, however, that you would never murder people, because you're generally a good person and your concept of god probably doesn't allow for it, and that's precisely the point - the 'god' that people hear in their heads tends to be a reflection of the kind of person they are and what their personal concept of god is, and tells them to do things that aren't too far removed from what they ordinarily do or what they think god might have them do, which is exactly what you would expect if the voice in their head was just a voice in their head and not god.

 

[SleepyK]

true.


but maybe otherwise.

 

[supbro]

hey, how did god convince you to stop pushing weed?

"I intern at an investment company and get to trade a little bit for myself which is a great experience."

I want to pick your brain! <3

"I didn't want to lose a ton of money on something I couldn't be sure was real."

is money real?!

"I have been trying to be more aware of when God is communicating with me..."

he is ALWAYS communicating with you!

that is why i do not believe in free will.

sheridan, you won't find anything until you OPEN YOUR HEART!

do not knock anyone's faith.

 

[SleepyK]

hyuga when can we hang out again
do i have to go to the WC

is you not going to pound and me being unable to go anyway a sign from God telling me to go to genesis 2?

IF YOU DISAGREE THEN IT WILL STRONGLY AFFECT MY PENDING DECISION TO GO TO GENESIS

YOU AGREEING = PROUF

 

[TaFoKiNtS]

wait hyuga is not going to pound?

=(

edit: nye he he he

edit#2: only a few people will understand the original edit

 

[HyugaRicdeau]

My heart is always open, but I reject the use of 'faith' (in the sense of religious faith) as a means to come to a belief. For me, it's less about WHAT you believe and more about WHY you believe it. I do not consider my previous post as 'knocking' his faith, but the reasoning by which he came to it. It's the argument form, not the belief.

Suripi - I am going to Pound, YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID.

 

[SleepyK]

no see it's now even more valid. i was goign to go to pound, but at the last moment before prereg ended, i discovered i would not be able to attend.

by removing this option from me and limiting my already limited options to see you this year to genesis 2, it's an even STRONGER sign

gotm

if you disagree then less geneiss etc
if agree confirmation of my bayleefs

 

[HyugaRicdeau]

This all reminds me of the Emo Phillips joke that goes something like this:

"I was imprisoned and convicted of a crime that I didn't commit, and so I prayed to God and said 'God...if you get me out of here...I promise I'll be faithful and go to church every week!' And just then, the jailer came and told me they caught the real criminal and that I was free to go. And so I said to God, 'Well, thanks anyway!'"

 

[trahhSTEEZY]

i love hyuga's amazing posts

and i love religion

 

[joeplicate]

People of nearly every faith on earth can claim similar 'coincidences.' But obviously all their concepts of god cannot be true simultaneously. We tend to interpret things in the context of our existing beliefs, and so theists will attribute such experiences to god. To be clear, I do not doubt that you have these experiences, it would be extremely presumptuous to do so; what I doubt is your interpretation of them as god giving you instructions. Personally I'm a little uneasy around anyone who unquestioningly do things that voices tell them to do. What do you say to people who claim to hear God's voice tell them to murder people? I am confident, however, that you would never murder people, because you're generally a good person and your concept of god probably doesn't allow for it, and that's precisely the point - the 'god' that people hear in their heads tends to be a reflection of the kind of person they are and what their personal concept of god is, and tells them to do things that aren't too far removed from what they ordinarily do or what they think god might have them do, which is exactly what you would expect if the voice in their head was just a voice in their head and not god.

not down!!


even if it's under the guise of healthy skepticism, you're still coming across as kind of a butthole

"Personally I'm a little uneasy around anyone who unquestioningly do things that voices tell them to do."

good one




although i'm not religious, i think that it's beyond human capacity to categorize, analyze, and thematize all of existence.

in my opinion, there's only so much that questioning/trying to find flaws in everything can do for you.



dave, i really liked those stories a lot. even if you didn't ascribe those things to God, you could just as easily say they were a result of you embracing some inner confidence, taking risks, and having spontaneity pay off.

you're way too smart i love itttttttttttt

also i didn't really catch the 'really cool thing'. was it that the guy at the gym tricked you into him thinking you were cool and that you should give him your friends numbers to annoy them? he probably does that every day, lol. and then..he gave you a sign to invest in stocks or whatever. so god told you to go downstairs so you could double your profits from last night.

i'm not saying your god isn't real, or that he's not really talking to you, but it's like your fishing for these coincidences, or reasonings to believe in him.

maybe i should drop it =]

do you have reading comprehension??
he got a personal training session out of the gym thing haha

 

[trahhSTEEZY]

nvm i can tell it's a bad road to go down

 

[Brian]

man i was just thinking about crazy coincidences
so, godspeed you black emperor are playing their first shows together in a while coming up
back over the summer i randomly woke up kinda early and was ****ing around the internet. i saw something that made me think "oh, i should check to see when godspeed tickets go on sale". i go check the website, it's loading kinda slow. it ends up i get to the site ONE MINUTE before tickets go on sale. and then i buy my ticket and the show sells out within like 15 minutes or something ridiculous.

GOD[speed my black emperor] is real

 

[HyugaRicdeau]

I don't feel like Dave was being proselytizing by posting. He was just sharing his experiences and his interpretations of them, and that's fine. Conversely, I don't think I should be held to a different standard when I express skepticism about his interpretations of them, and give my reasoning for it. I didn't call Dave names, suggest that he made up his stories, or tell him that he shouldn't believe in God. I see nothing wrong with anything I said. I apologize if what I said about people with voices in their head came out the wrong way, but I did go out of my way to make the point that I don't expect Dave to do anything bizarre/immoral. We all probably feel similarly because we know him, but if a random on the street told you that God told him to do X or Y, you would be hesitant because you don't know how this person behaves, and the voice adds another unknown to the equation.

And I'm sure that there are lots of things that are beyond human ability to fully comprehend, but that doesn't mean we should just give up on it, it just means we pursue it to the best of our abilities while recognizing that we will only be able to get approximations, and not the totality.

 

[bbb]

**** everyones so weird!!!!!

 

[TaFoKiNtS]

i could give more of a biblical context to people hearing "God" if people want a grid for why Christians believe what they do, but I don't want to also come off as preachy. So if you want that perspective, I'll post.

 

[chiZZLeSD]

not down!!


Even if it's under the guise of healthy skepticism, you're still coming across as kind of a butthole

"personally i'm a little uneasy around anyone who unquestioningly do things that voices tell them to do."

good one




Although i'm not religious, i think that it's beyond human capacity to categorize, analyze, and thematize all of existence.

In my opinion, there's only so much that questioning/trying to find flaws in everything can do for you.



Dave, i really liked those stories a lot. Even if you didn't ascribe those things to god, you could just as easily say they were a result of you embracing some inner confidence, taking risks, and having spontaneity pay off.

10/10

_____________________

 

[Lovage]

**** everyones so weird!!!!!

yea man

 

[supbro]

For me, it's less about WHAT you believe and more about WHY you believe it.

so you know why we believe in god?

have you met dave kim? amazing person!

and i know you've met me!

if so, then you know we are not flippant.

but god has told me to show, not tell. forgive me!

ask and you shall receive!

I don't feel like Dave was being proselytizing by posting.

can i be blunt with you? cuz you're my boy!

you're lying.

why are you getting defensive?! dave didn't tell you what to believe! neither am i!

get over it!

 

[Gishnak]

How about this:

I'm a positive person, and positive things happen to me.

****

 

[HyugaRicdeau]

I am always interested to hear why people believe what they believe, as long as they are open-minded. However I'm almost 100% positive that you and Dave aren't talking about the same god, and whereas I have a pretty good idea of the god Dave talks about (Yahweh), I don't know what yours is, so if you want to share your story, you should first give me your concept of god.

I'm not lying, I think Dave was just sharing an experience he had that meant something to him. While I'm sure he hoped that it would have some impact on people (don't we all when we post?) but I don't think that was his main intent. Now, I think I should be able to respond to his interpretations of his experience without being accused of being 'defensive' or attacking his person, neither of which I had intent to do. Joe suggested that my post had elements of a$$hole-ism, and I want people to get the intended meaning of my statements, so I don't think it's being defensive to clarify any objections to them. I think Joe's statement about interpreting them as a sort of 'inner confidence' is well-put and my reply probably could have used some kind of suggestion like that to make it more constructive.

 

[Jun.]

God put me on Earth to be a non-believer.

That's my belief

 

[SleepyK]

all i want to know is if hyuga is going to genesis

 

[Atlus8]

For the second time, I get food poisoning and have to go to work! I had such a lousy day! My body is . . . ugh . . .

Edit - Anyone know of remedies?!

 

[supbro]

I am always interested to hear why people believe what they believe, as long as they are open-minded.

show, don't tell.

I don't know what yours is, so if you want to share your story, you should first give me your concept of god.

"ask and you shall receive!"

Anyone know of remedies?!

try honey and tea!

 

[embracethe12]

When did adam get back sup adam llol

oscar
i hope you weren't thinking of getting back a VIRGIN beenie
cause i've been wearing this baby since sunday!

joey atlus
lets set something up
joey whats your ###

 

[HyugaRicdeau]

Consider yourself asked.

 

[joeplicate]

hahahaha at first i thought "try honey and tea" was a proverb, spamming p-isms




sheridan, i think the main thing i had against your post in the first place was that the phrasing you used seemed colored/biased

dave didn't specifically say that he had a voice in his head, or something you could portray as schizophrenic or something, and the way you portrayed it (unquestioningly does what voices in their head tells them to do) seemed like a big oversimplification of what dave was saying, and thus came off as offensive.

you kind of presupposed the mechanism that god was using to communicate, when dave himself implied that it was something he doesn't fully understand and is trying to be more receptive to. if it was a literal "voice," then it's clear from dave's account that he wasn't obeying it "unquestioningly." even so, it seemed like there was a lot more ambiguity and complexity in his actions.


not trying to get argumentative or anything, i'm just saying why your post came across in the wrong way, for me



also, inasmuch as posting is an art form, adam is a fantastic poster hahaha

oscar
i hope you weren't thinking of getting back a VIRGIN beenie
cause i've been wearing this baby since sunday!

the funniest part about this whole thing is that i wore the hell out of that hat too
and i know that oscar's cringing about it LMAO

 

[supbro]

Consider yourself asked.

god told me to show and not tell.

you have too much ego. you can't ask? what does that say?!

also, inasmuch as posting is an art form, adam is a fantastic poster hahaha

thank you joe!

edit: what's up steven!

do you remember how much fun we had in those friendlies at dunk's? i can't wait to play! <3

 

[joeplicate]

oh, i also forgot to say


dave, i'm really interested in hearing about your experiences =)

if you don't wanna post them here, could you hit me up on aim?

 

[The Greater Leon]

Dave: Invest.

==>

 

[HyugaRicdeau]

OK I see now what you mean Joe. It was bad word choice to use 'voice' instead of using something to mean general communication.

Adam, I desire to know your reasoning for belief in god, will you share it with me?
And what do you mean by show vs tell? I have an idea but I don't know if you're using the phrase in the same way.

 

[supbro]

what makes a great writer?

show, don't tell.

i mean it literally!

you cannot tell people anything. why? because it is foreign! our animalistic self hates change! change may mean death, ya know?

so you must ask. why ask? because then people discover it for themselves and consider it their idea. if it is their idea, they are that much more likely to believe it!

my reasoning?

god is love.

don't believe me?

music is god.

why?

people only make music out of love!

"truth is what stands the test of time."

what has stood the test of time? two things:

god and music.

want to find good for yourself? listen to what you LOVE! and never settle for anything less!

 

[HyugaRicdeau]

But we already have a name for love and music, so why do you call them god?

 

[trahhSTEEZY]

what is going on

i dont even

 

[supbro]

because god is everywhere!

as is love!

and music!

 

[HyugaRicdeau]

The electromagnetic field is also everywhere (I dare say it's 'more everywhere' than love or music), is it also god?

 

[supbro]

is it love?

or out of love?