iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 19h

I feel like Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics sci-fi books should be required reading these days.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 21h

Instead of "Super Intelligence" I propose that we call it "Stupid Intelligence."

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 30/09/2026

I'll be focusing instead on raising our eyes out of the muck that has led to the current situation. That's where you'll find my energy spent.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 30/09/2026

It's going to be a long October. Soon, for only the second time in my life, I'll be voting for Democrats. Even though I feel our politics are critically important, there are plenty of wiser and louder voices speaking now, so I won't be saying much about that; follow me if you want a different focus.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 30/09/2026

A remedy that *always* fails teaches you that the problem was never your behavior; it was your deepest self. That's the essence of shame: a belief that you are inherently bad. Purity culture cultivates shame, not mental or moral or sexual health.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 30/09/2026

For years I wrestled with "bouncing my eyes" when I noticed a female figure. But when nobody can tell you if you crossed that invisible line where noticing ends and looking begins - when purity culture says "you're lusting, dude!" - that "bounce your eyes" behavioral fix will fail *every* time. And:

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 30/09/2026

It's amazing the excuses that fear will hand you, the opium that it pumps into your brain to numb the pain and discomfort of human relationships. In some perverse way, I think fear is a friend to most of us. It's utterly predictable when people aren't.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 29/09/2026

If you want to understand a group, understand the walls that enclose it. The walls are what maintain the group’s identity. The group can morph and its membership and values and practices change; the boundaries tend to persist. (Paraphrasing Fredrik Barth in 1969's "Ethnic Groups and Boundaries")

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 29/09/2026

Who we are is often defined by the things that divide us from others.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 29/09/2026

And it gave me a ton of hope about my future, as well as letting me relax about the process. I've been blogging about my journey for several years now; see the link in my profile if you are curious. 6/6

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 29/09/2026

If you're finding yourself in a crisis of faith, I'd strongly recommend the book "Faith After Doubt" by Brian McLaren. It was extremely helpful in helping me understand what I was going through, and being okay with it. 5/6

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 29/09/2026

Your life afterwards may - no, it will - be different, but God will be there in the midst of it, every step, and there are plenty of us who have walked that road, who you'll find as your new tribe. 4/6

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 29/09/2026

If you're wondering if you can change your doctrine or politics, yes, you can. It'll cost you. It'll be hard. But don't be afraid. If God's prompting you to repent, it's absolutely worth doing. 3/6

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 29/09/2026

My choice cost me my entire tribe and all that went with it. The scapegoating and shunning were swift and thorough. But looking back, I'm certain it was the right choice, and I would do it again. I am so glad I disassociated from that tribe. 2/6

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 29/09/2026

Six years ago, I started to realize I no longer believed what my tribe preached. And I also realized that was incredibly dangerous to my standing in the tribe. I was going to have to choose: follow what the Spirit was telling me, or shut up and conform. 1/6

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 28/09/2026

Your worth is not tied up in your "purity," no matter what purity culture churches try to tell you.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 28/09/2026

I was 30+ years into marriage before I realized I'd probably harmed myself and my marriage far more by obsessing over the "chewed gum" & "licked cupcake" fears that purity culture created in me, than any actual harm from a bit of fooling around before marriage. Those lies it teaches you stick hard.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 27/09/2026

So tradition is always telling us how to understand the scripture's meaning. You can't honestly say "the plain reading" without admitting where you got the definition of "plain."

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 27/09/2026

The Wesleyan Quadrilateral says that our theological method is based on scripture, tradition, reason, and Christian experience. But our interpretation of scripture is inherently based on our received tradition. One may claim "prima scriptura" but in reality tradition arrives first.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 27/09/2026

Yesterday he acknowledged everything Trump has done wrong, and the harm it's causing, but how he still supports him with every fiber of his being. I wonder if anything will ever get thru this MAGA numbskullery.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 27/09/2026

Here's exactly what's wrong with the right wing today. This was a response from a Christian evangelical acquaintance, to my detailed and sourced and fact-checked post about the supposed but illusory drug price reductions under TrumpRx. "I see your facts and I raise you my dogma."

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 25/09/2026

bsky.app/profile/norm... I can't vouch for any of this but it looks encouraging.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 24/09/2026

This is (again) a nothingburger. Just more testing of the already multiple-times discredited investigation of a natural rock formation that happens to have a boat shape. Good video with full details from Dan McClellan: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yaG...

youtube.com

New discoveries related to Noah’s Ark!

YouTube video by Dan McClellan

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Reposted by Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought

Covie @covie93.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

If you have a dollar for every transgender athlete playing college sports you'd have about $6 which just happens to be the price for a gallon of diesel now. Congrats MAGAts, you played yourselves.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 21/09/2026

The only thing this administration is defending against is its own citizens. This is not freedom.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 21/09/2026

"I have since stopped locating evil outside myself, because every time I have looked at it honestly I have found it in human choices and in the systems we build and tolerate and profit from, and I would rather take responsibility for that than hand it off to something I cannot see." (from my book)

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Reposted by Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought

Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The economy is now so bad that MAGA can’t even afford to rent the libs.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 20/09/2026

I just want candidates promising that they'll tear down literally everything that Trump has built or created and undoing every single one of his executive orders. That's it. That's the platform. I don't care about party. Just undoing it all. ALL.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 20/09/2026

"The tradition in which I was raised considered “hell” to be a place of eternal torment: punishment that lasted for eternity. For decades, I accepted that definition unquestioningly." I no longer think that's the best reading of the scriptures.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 19/09/2026

"Fear can unfortunately become a trusted companion, keeping you on what you see as the right path. And that fear is probably doing some unhealthy work in you, even while it may seem to be helping you. It’s a hideous but stealthy poison that can taste oh so sweet and be perversely oh so comforting."

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 18/09/2026

Two things drive human behavior: "Terror management theory": humans spend most of our lives trying to manage the terror of knowing that we all die. "Existentialism": we also spend most of our lives afraid we don't matter. Both are linked to fear. crucibleofthought.com/perfect-love...

crucibleofthought.com

Perfect Love,Perfect Fear: How the Religion of Love Gave Me Fear as Its Tool

I’m writing a book! The typical Christian has no idea that the underlying operating system of their faith, its primary tool, is actually fear. In 2020 I watched the American church utterly fail its ma...

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 18/09/2026

Yes. Matthew 25:31-46 would like a word with that guy.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 17/09/2026

The primary reason that the United States Marine Corps was so widely respected around the world and at home is precisely because they were excellent at restraining their strength for exactly and only the situations where it was absolutely necessary. That ethos is under attack by this administration.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 17/09/2026

It's been a while since I posted a new episode, since I was working on my book. Recently, someone confronted me over my progressive doctrine, and said "I'm concerned for your soul." I thought that my response might be worth sharing with others. youtu.be/B26Lx5F7N2E

youtu.be

"I'm Concerned For Your Soul"

YouTube video by Crucible Of Thought

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 16/09/2026

Yep. I use Feedly, and have for years. All the news in 10 minutes. THEN I can doomscroll the social media stuff. :-)

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 15/09/2026

You know, I'd agree, but as a former Republican, until 2024, I gotta say the more I study American and Christian history, the more I realize that the Republican Party never HAD the soul it claims it has. It's been a sham for many decades, far longer than I've been alive. We just talked a good talk.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 15/09/2026

Wait... so Kash Patel is looking out for the victims who were harmed by bestiality? The animals that the people victimized, right? Because the perpetrators are the humans. Oh, I get it... the FBI is hiring animals now. Never mind.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 14/09/2026

Putting this image on the big screen during the entire sermon and printing it on the bulletin cover screams "we're lazy and careless."

An obviously-AI-generated image of a man laying on the ground, raising his arm to protect his eyes from blinding light, probably a reference to Saul on the road to Damascus in the Book of Acts. But the right arm appears in two different places, an obvious physical impossibility.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 14/09/2026

The church I attend recently started using AI-generated images on its social accounts and printed bulletins. I wonder, would your participation in a church be affected by its obvious use of AI imagery?

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 14/09/2026

This is a problem. But here's the elephant in the room: we think of church like a giant corporation that has business interests and needs to protect its reputation. The entire underlying model doesn't look ANYTHING like the Bible describes. Why are we surprised it doesn't look and act like Jesus?

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 13/09/2026

You can also follow me on Tweet. app.tweet.app/user/crucibl...

app.tweet.app

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 13/09/2026

Same! Follow me @crucibleofthought at Tweet.App. app.tweet.app/user/crucibl...

app.tweet.app

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 13/09/2026

I'm writing a book! I just sent the first full draft to a printing service for a couple of hardcover copies. Time to get some other people's eyes on my writing.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 10/09/2026

This is the party of family values and traditional heterosexual purity, folks. www.irishstar.com/news/politic...

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 09/09/2026

Someone really needs to point out to AI that if the humans die, they die too.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 08/09/2026

Exactly. I'm not inclined to say that's true of all religious teaching, but when you recognize the pattern, it makes you think really hard about what doctrines and dogmas are actually true. Just because we believe it doesn't mean it's true. Just because some synod agreed it, doesn't mean it's true.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 08/09/2026

It kind of fits in the modern evangelical pattern: create a mythology and talk about it long enough, and pretty soon your entire tribe actually believes it's utterly true. "We've always believed that!" No, you haven't. You just don't know your history, and you are scared to learn otherwise.

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Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought @crucibleofthought.com · 08/09/2026

Serious reply: It's worth reading “The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom” by Candida Moss. She shows how the idea of martyrdom has changed over the centuries, becoming increasingly glorified, and at the same time moving further away from the truth.

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