#OP I hope you don't read this whole post as me defending people ignoring this conflict. Even if you block‚ Please read the whole damn thin

[xxxpu55yslay3rxxx]

Gonna kick at a hornet's nest here

I think these posts are counter-productive. You wont convince people by shouting at them. It just feels performative, and dare I say it virtue signalling. at best you are just shouting at people to change their mind, at worst you are just wasting your time.

It's funny people having this mindset of glaring at people not posting about the situation when some of these same people didn't give a shit back then in the 2000's or early 2010's. It feels surreal, because back then, the only 'hip and trendy' middle east topics to care about in the 00's and 10's were the arab spring, isis, gaddafi and Syria. Ask any of these people back then about Palestine and they didn't care and at worst, passively supported Israel because it was considered the default. I'm glad that more people are supporting palestine this time because it used to be rare outside of muslim, arab, or revolutionary circles but damn, there seems to be a lot of ineffectual shouting at people who "don't care".

You have to learn that in conflicts and criseses like these, there are gonna be people who simply don't care or show they're support in non-visible ways. There some people who aren't very emotional or straight up cold but will oppose Israel on principle without using a moralizing expression. There's some people who don't care either way but think what israel is doing is cruel. You have to learn that these people will be there in real life and social media; shouting at them wont do shit. Your main job is to convince the people who are already there in support and share sources and info; that's way more productive.

I will say one thing though, I'm so glad that people are sharing info and debunking israel shit, misinfo and vile propaganda. That shit would be unthinkable a few years back, because debunking smear shit on Palestinians wasn't a priority due to them being Arabs and brown; in other words "not very important or nice people".

Also it's so funny this post is focused on white people trying to not post about this. I've met global south people, hell even people from Syria, Egypt, Lebanon (regions directly affected by the conflict) not care about the issue. I didn't shout at these people nor did I even plan to. At least they accepted what Israel was doing was cruel so there was that. So, it's no just white people who might not care and shouting at people who say nothing is counter-productive

it is so disgusting watching other white people reassure each other about taking breaks from social media and "prioritizing your mental health" when literally the one thing Palestinians are asking for more than anything is that people do not look away from what is happening to them

[theshoesofatiredman]

Thank you for your response. From a cursory examination of your blog, it looks like we have two things in common:

1. We are both native Illinoisans! I don't live there anymore either but it's where I was born and raised.

2. We both could have written your reblog of my post.

Obviously, you're the one who wrote it but what I mean is that at a different point in my life, I could have written it as well. I have felt the same about the Bible in the past and people "looking for signs" so I wanted to explain more of my perspective now.

Yeah he sent a "sign" in fact he sent a whole book. Your sin of ignoring it is not an argument against his existence.

Kristi is an atheist so I can understand how my beliefs were miscommunicated here. I do still believe God exists and wasn't trying to make an argument otherwise. I don't think that her video is making that argument either, but I do think it provides a good critique of the portrait that some Christians have of the God -> person relationship where God can / does send signs to people that they don't pick up on.

Additionally, I did not ignore the Bible. I started to feel God's absence in my life while I was:

Reading my Bible 4-5 times a week

Attending church gatherings 2-3 times a week

Praying daily

Prayer journaling at least three times a week

Listening almost exclusively to Christian music

All of these things stopped providing a connection to God for me. And even then, I still did them for a while! I was hoping that the connection I used to feel would return. I confessed my struggles to other Christians and told myself that it was a ~dry spell~, something they echoed. But that connection did not return. I had devoted my life to God and had felt his presence in my daily life. But I couldn't feel it anymore and I would read my Bible and no longer feel spoken to.

My question to you is if you no longer could feel a connection to the divine by reading the Bible, would you still read it?

God could send the "perfect sign" ... but he does not beg anyone to worship him

For me, it wouldn't really have been begging me to worship him if he has just reminded me he was still there, if he had granted me the comfort of his presence. I was still singing his praises even when I felt his absence. Isn't it natural to want someone you love close to you? If God truly is the relational God that Christians make him out to be, why would he let his beloved children, his devoted followers, feel like he wasn't with them, that he didn't have their backs? Why would he allow someone he loved and who loved him to feel abandoned by him?

He would not have had to beg for my worship. All he had to do was say "I am here" in whatever way I could receive it.

If you would only worship a God that meets your expectations, you're not worshipping God, you're worshipping yourself.

"He will never leave you nor forsake you" from Deuteronomy 31:6-8 is a promise that echoes throughout the Bible.

1st Chronicles 28:20

1st King's 8:57

Deut 4:31

Hebrews 13:5-6

Joshua 1:5, 9

Matthew 28:20

Psalm 55:22

Psalm 94:14

I could go on! The expectation of "not be abandoned" is not one I came up with. It is literally all throughout scripture. Another question for you: would you worship someone who abandoned you in your time of need?

Thank you again for your response. From the tone of your post, it sounds like my post caught you the wrong way. To clarify, the sentiment of frustration in my OP is only directed at the people who have, quite aggravatingly, put the burden of clear communication on ME rather than on GOD. All I should need to do is earnestly seek him, which I was doing. Saying that I could miss a sign from him and blaming me for it I think is logical nonsense given the Christian God's attributes. If you want to defend why that's not logical nonsense, go for it, but I think you may actually agree with me on that point since your post was more about God's signs being contained in the Bible than anything else.

I love Kristi Burke's videos and this one really resonated with me:

I got similar responses from Christians when I told them that I wasn't hearing from God anymore, that I felt like he had left me, that he was ignoring me. My feelings of abandonment were met with "you're just not looking in the right places" which is INSANE because if God is perfect, all powerful, and all knowing he can literally send you the perfect sign!!! Doing ANYTHING ELSE just doesn't make sense!!!