#do not accept this as gospel for i am not a god

[red-dead-disaster]

A deep dive into the numbers that compose the Mary Linton tag (because I clearly can be normal and mentally stable about her)

Prelude:

In this document I will investigate the consistency of the Mary Gillis  Linton tag on the website known as Archive of Our Own to see what ships the tag truly consists of and her representation in stories. The following percentages will be calculated:

Works of fiction tagged with  Mary Gillis Linton/Arthur Morgan and what percentage of those are actually works centering around other ships

Works that demonise her

I expect this tag to have an approximate ratio of 1:4 works with Mary as a central character and most of them to not center around Mary/Arthur or Mary in general. John ships are the most negative, Charles most positive, y/n or reader inserts are on or possibly below John level.

309 total works (one is not about this fandom, one is 900 000 words, one is 400 000)

ONES WHERE ARTHUR JUST IGNORES HER:1

ONES WHERE ARTHUR JUST LIES TO HER:3

ONES WHERE HE CHEATS ON HER:6

ONES WHERE SHE GETS IN JOHNS WAY ~10

ONES WHERE HE USES HER: 3

Positive Mary rep.: 

 Negative Mary rep.: 

Author neg. view Mary: 5 111

Author pos. view Mary:5 1

Ships:

John/Arthur: 32

Overlaps with Mary neg:21

Overlaps with Mary pos:1

Mary neu: 10

He defends arthur:1

Abigail/Arthur:1

neg:1

Mary/Arthur: 49 (includes breakups)

He’s alive:

Overlap with Mary neg: 6

Overlaps with Mary pos: 31

Neu:6

He’s dead:

Overlap with Mary neg: 1

Overlaps with Mary pos:5

Reader or oc/Arthur:53

Overlaps with Mary neg:40

Overlaps with Mary pos:1

Mary neu: 12

She ‘defends’ arthur: 4

Charles/Arthur:17

Overlaps with Mary neg:2

Overlaps with Mary pos: 7

Neu:8

Sadie/ arthur: 6

Mary neu:3

Mary neg: 3

She protects arthur:1 1

Mary/Sadie: 7 (1 platonic included)

Mary pos: 6

Mary neu: 1

Micah/Arthur: 3

Neu:1

Neg: 1

dutch/Arthur:3

Mary neg:2

Mary pos:1

Mary-Beth/arthur:

Mary neu: 1

Mary pos: 1

Charlotte/Arthur:3

Mary neg: 3

Albert/Arthur: 3

Mary neg: 1

Mary neu:2

Eliza/Arthur: 2

Mary pos: 1

Mary neu: 1

Trelawny/arthur: 1

Pos: 1

Joel (The Last of Us)/Arthur Morgan:1

neg:1

No ship or an unrelated ship:16

Pos:4

Neg: 5

Neu: 7

198 total pairings mentioning her

- no/barely mentions, not done, not enough for judgement:86

- in languages I don’t understand: 11

159 works in progress, 153 done

- Tally of stories where she is in at least a somewhat significant role: 58

(Finished 07.01.2023)

I found that 52/198 of representations of Mary are neutral (26,3%), 59/198 are positive (29,8%)  and 87/198  are negative (43,3%). The works counted in these percentages meet the criteria of mentioning her at least twice beyond a neutral statement of her breaking up with Arthur Morgan, are in English or Finnish, give enough characterization for her to be classifiable between these three categories. 58/198 (29,3%)  of these stories have her pinned as a character of at least some significance. 

Arthur Morgan and Mary Gillis-Linton are paired together in 49/198 or 24,7%, she is represented positively in 36/49 (73,5%), neutrally in 6/49 (12,2%) and 7/49 (14,3%).

When Arthur Morgan and a reader insert/original character are paired together, Mary is represented positively 1/53 (1,9%), neutrally 12/53 (22,6%)  and negatively 40/53 (75,5%)

A flaw was that this was just one person conducting this and my own biases could have influenced the results. Most of the point of this was to scream into the void, prove i'm not crazy and also to have data to throw at my friend @red-dead-bisexual.

#mary linton #mary gillis linton #arthur morgan #rdr #rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #rockstar games #ao3 #data #take this in jest #do not accept this as gospel for i am not a god #mary gillis #marthur #red dead redemption

[obm-avenquire]

Obey Me! Seven Minutes In Heaven Hell

[I’m honouring my rotten god awful roots from hell. Put up with it. I hope this gives someone whiplash. I am writing this both as a joke and with complete sincerity and i wont be explaining myself if you get it you get it if you dont then i hope youll find it entertaining anyway. I used my own deviantart for 2012 for reference for this]

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

Another day, another party in the Devildom. 

You have no idea how any of them have energy for all this - it feels like every week someone will pull some cause for celebration out of thin air and suddenly they’ve hired a catering company and a truckload of helium balloons. Of course, Diavolo - fuelled by his unending fear of missing out and need for enrichment - enables it every time, doing everything he can to get himself and everyone else you know invited. Which is…fine, you like seeing them all. In moderation. At none noisy crowded events. Ah, well. Such is the burden of a dating sim protagonist. Slumber parties at the castle are a little less high maintenance at least.

You’re pulled from your thoughts when Asmodeus calls your name, waving you over with Demonus-flushed cheeks before dragging you away from the balcony and back into the big guest room-turned-common-room-sleeping-area. You definitely think there’s a better way to phrase that, but you barely have time to think when Asmo is pushing you to sit down in the collective circle (his strength always surprises you, and he’s maybe just a little too tipsy to regulate it properly), pressing a kiss on your cheeks before running off to herd together the rest of the group.

You look around the circle, giving Satan an affirming but vague nod that he returns with an equally innocuous smile, which you accept as you always do and go back to your usual little headcount. Belphegor was dozing on the sofa, threatening to sprawl over Satan (who was ‘gently’ repositioning him whenever necessary), Mephistopholes (who had invited himself) was preaching his very special gospel to Beelzebub at the snack table while Asmodeus did whatever he could to wrangle the younger away because his plate was basically just a tower of snacks at this point and he could always get more later so if he would just pleeeeaaaaasssee-

You stop paying attention, instead giving Simeon and Raphael a little wave as they walk in.

“Welcome back,” You shuffle over slightly to make space for the two of them, Simeon sitting down next to you as Raphael decides to stand rigidly slightly off to the side just a little behind the sofa, and just…stay there. Well, whatever makes him comfortable, you guess. “Did Luke arrive safe?”

“He did, thankfully,” Simeon smiles, tucking his phone into the pockets of his trousers, “I can’t believe Serun broke all their bones and had to be hospitalised again. I feel awful not being able to visit, but, well…” He sighs, shrugging, “He wanted to go himself, and insisted he could manage, so…You know how he i-”

“What? I only came because I was promised melon cake!” You’re not sure where Thirteen popped up from, but she’s already on the armchair in the corner, kicking her legs over the armrests as she rolls her eyes. “What a waste of time.”

“Oh! Well, he still finished that, actually, so-” There’s a distinctive arcane shink sound that cuts Simeon off mid sentence. “Now, Raphael, put the spear away, you can’t do that here-” Ever the stickler for manners, it seems. Oh well. Not your problem. 

“Hey, so I’ve been meaning to ask.” Thirteen raises her eyebrows at your voice, pupils knife-like and theatrically bitchy in the dim candlelight.  “Why are you covered in soot.” 

“Well,” She scoffs, clicking her tongue, “Since someone-” She glares at Solomon from across the room, who smiles very nicely and innocently through his conversation with Barbatos- “Decided to ‘dismantle’-” She does incredibly heavy and repeated air quotes with her fingers, “My special little bomb boy it exploded all wrong!”

“I understand completely. I’m sorry someone would ever do something so awful to you, you don’t deserve that even slightly.” She snorts, balling up the tissue she was using to wipe the ashes off her forearm and throws it at your head. It disintegrates in midair before so much as making contact, and you squint over in the sorcerer's direction. He’s not even looking your way, and Barbatos whispers something you can’t make out to him as Thirteen groans and throws up her hands in frustration, sliding into what must be an incredibly uncomfortable position. It doesn’t seem to bother her, though, and she picks at her nails grumpily. Oh well!

“-Stop complainin’ already, would it really kill ya to join in?” Mammon is doing everything in his power to pull Levi through the door by the collar of his coat, but the younger seems to be trying to retract his own head into his shirt like a turtle to try and get out of it. 

“You’re killing me you’re the worst and I hate youandIhopeeverythingbadeverhappenstoyoua-” 

“Yeah yeah whatever. Shut up and sit.” Mammon slings his arm over Levi’s shoulder, dragging him down into the circle just as Lucifer and Diavolo finally come back from whatever it was they were getting done. 

“Lucifer, don’t make that face!” Diavolo nudges his bestest of friends, who looks particularly miserable, even as Barbartos silently refills his glass before they all, too, sit to join, the prince and his right hand man on the final empty sofa, the butler instead choosing to kneel neatly a little off to the side from Mammon and Levi. Satan adeptly shoves Belphegor upwards at just the right timing for Beelzebub to sit down (his twin slumps right back into his shoulder). Mephistopholes complains that there isn’t a proper place to sit til Mammon trips him and he ungracefully tries to pass it off as deciding to sit on the floor as Thirteen barks a sharp laugh at him.

A pleasant hum of conversation settles through the room, Asmodeus stumbling into hugging Solomon, whispering something between the invocation trio that you can’t quite make out before spinning around and clapping his hands together (cutely. It’s important to emphasise that he did this so so cutely) to get everyone’s attention.

“E---veryone!!!” He waits a few seconds for silence, shooting a glare at whoever dares to continue in the wake of this very very important announcement. “It’s time for a very special game! Have we all heard of 7 minutes in heaven?” He bounces on the tips of his feet in excitement despite the lukewarm reception. “Okay well that’s a mostly no then I guess-  Honestly! I know it’s a human world thing, but really?” He pouts, and you note that Diavolo’s visible excitement has increased exponentially already. 

“Allow me to explain,” Solomon cuts in, confirming your suspicion that he’d been somehow roped into this. “Two or more participants are selected - in our case by drawing lots - to go into a closet or equivalent and do whatever they like for 7 minutes.” Everyone seems a lot more attentive, suddenly. “Ah, of course, we’ll be taking magic precautions to make sure that there’s no cheating, and certainly no one breaking into the closet before time is up,” He grins, clearly enjoying this already. 

“The heck.” Mammon grumbles, oddly fidgety all of a sudden, “There ain’t even a closet in here,” Leviathan nods aggressively. He’s sweating. 

“Hm? Oh! That won’t be a problem, haha! Barbatos was kind enough to offer to help out with that,” The aforementioned butler steps aside to reveal a simple wooden door on the wall that decidedly hadn’t been there earlier. “We even made sure it was sound-proofed! You know, just in case.”

“What a curious game! Shall we start right away?” Diavolo beams, inadvertently cutting off Mephistopholes, who’d just opened his mouth to no doubt complain that this sort of juvenile and inappropriate game had no place at a gathering with the Devildom’s one and only prince. 

“Yes!! Everyone write your name on a piece of paper, okay?” Asmo begins handing out paper and pens to everyone, shushing any complaining he meets. “You don’t have to play! It just means you’re boring and no fun and that you’ll never get a chance like this again.” 

Better write your name, then. You’d hate to miss out. 

You watch as Barbatos collects everyone’s paper slips, dropping them into a glass bowl and shaking periodically to shuffle them well. You immediately lose track of yours, so you figure that it’s worked.  After what feels like a slightly inordinate amount of time, everyone seems to have put their name in the bowl - sure, some were more…begrudging or in need of convincing than others, but that’s normal! Anyways-

“Oooo I’ve been waiting for this all evening!” Asmodeus grabs the bowl, tap-tap-tapping along the rim for effect, perfectly manicured nails making a pleasant ASMR-esque tink noise. “Right, first u-”

“Uhm, how do- how do we know you’re, uh, not rigging this?” Asmo whips his head around to stare open-mouthed at Levi.

“Excuse me? I would never-”

“Mm, there’s no guarantee though, is there?” Asmodeus pouts at Satan, grumbling something about being personally offended and making sure to snitch next time Satan asks him for a favour.

“Fine! Since I’m so untrustworthy and awful-” The smile is switched back on as he saunters over to you, swishing the bowl around carefully before holding it out to you. “Why don’t you pick? No one will complain then, right?” 

The silence in the room means yes, presumably.

“Go on hun! Don’t be nervous-” He winks, and your mouth quirks into a smile to humour him, carefully reaching into the bowl for two slips of paper, pulling them out and carefully unfolding them to reveal-

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

[As is tradition, I'll be uploading the individual 'endings' as I write them :) I'll be putting a poll up on my account for who to write first (within reason, I don't think tumblr will let me put up enough options to cover everyone) so feel free to suggest people in the replies/tags too!! there will be no luke option becuz i dont know how to put hardware destroying malware in clickable links yet sory :( feel free to simulate the experience urself tho!!]

#sorry about the excessive tags orz #obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me fanfic #obey me lucifer #obey me x reader #obey me x you #obey me mammon #obey me x mc #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me barbatos #obey me belphegor #obey me diavolo #obey me raphael #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #obey me thirteen #obey me mephistopholes #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #avens7mih #avenwrites

[katakaluptastrophy]

TLT meta post suggestion: explain the biblical significance of Paul to someone who knows jackshit about Christianity?

Paul is what happens when a clever person with establishment clout has a searing moment of metaphysical transformation that allows them to become a real nuisance...

The very TL;DNR version of Paul in Christianity (Bible!Paul, if you will) is that he was once an observant Jew called Saul who was involved in persecuting the early church. But one day, while enthusiastically doing this, he is struck blind by a huge flash of light and hears the voice of Jesus. From that point on he is known as "Paul", becomes an enthusiastic follower of Jesus, and helps to spread the gospel. Specifically, he is referred to as the 'apostle to the gentiles', taking the teachings of Jesus beyond its early Jewish roots to the wider Mediterranean world.

On a basic level, Necro!Paul being 'Paul' is probably a reference to that blazing moment of transformation - Bible!Paul is both continuity and change: the same passion, but expressed very differently. Well-educated, willing to cause trouble, and energised by something beyond the human norm.

But it's their speech to Ianthe where the Biblical stuff really starts to come through. It's worth noting that letters written by Bible!Paul (or 'written by him') account for nearly half of the books of the Christian New Testament and are hugely foundational in Christian theology.

And Necro!Paul's speech to Ianthe is full of Biblical references:

"I know how hard it is for you to kick against the goad," said the new person. "But there are more worlds than this. Come with us. We are the love that is perfected by death - but even death will be no more; death can also die."

That first line, 'kick against the goad', is a direct reference to Paul's 'Road to Damascus' moment where he hears Jesus:

I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me, and them that were in company with me. And when we were all fallen down on the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me in the Hebrew tongue: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goad. And I said: Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord answered: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. - Acts 26:13-15

To kick against the goad (or, in the slightly more colourful language of the KJV 'kick against the pricks') is to engage in an excercise in futility. It's a reference to an ox goad, a sharp instrument used to steer oxen in farming, which would hurt the animal if it tried to kick against it instead of following where it was being directed.

It's an acknowledgement that Ianthe is doing something that rubs profoundly up against the metaphysical grain, that her own proud self-direction will only hurt her in the end.

'More worlds than this' is a reference to Hamlet, which Dulcie of course also quotes in TUG. (Hamlet rather seems to haunt the question of the River Beyond, but that's not what we're discussing right now...)

'We are the love that is perfected by death' is, I suspect, meant to reference two different Bible verses. The first is:

Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell, the lamps thereof are fire and flames. - Song of Solomon 8:6

Despite centuries of the church trying to claim that it's about the spiritual relationship between God and man, the Song of Solomon is now generally accepted to be a sexy poem about sex. So that's an interesting thing for the fusion of Palamedes and Camilla to quote... But perhaps more salient here is what's contrasted to the strength of love and death, which is jealousy and hell. Ianthe is being offered a chance at redemption - which is of course Bible!Paul's whole thing - which she summarily rejects. I'm sure, given NTN ending with Harrow going off to, one assumes, er, harrow hell, that this won't be relevant at all...

The other verse that 'love that is perfected by death' may be referencing is:

In this is the charity of God perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment: because as he is, we also are in this world. Fear is not in charity: but perfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain. And he that feareth, is not perfected in charity. Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us. If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not? And this commandment we have from God, that he, who loveth God, love also his brother. - 1 John 4:17-21

The quotation in the Douay-Rhiems translation (apparently the preferred translation of lesbian necromancers in space, if Gideon the Ninth is anything to go by) is a little opaque, but 'charity' is an old timey way of translating 'love'. Essentially, this passage says that those who love God and are loved by God do not need to fear the day of judgement, and clarifies a bit about what it means to love God.

There are two things that are important.

The first is that this is from 1 John. There are five Biblical texts associated with St John: the Gospel of John, the Book of Revelation, and three Epistles (letters). Revelation is John's vision of the end of the world - and if you're wondering whether it's relevant that The Locked Tomb features a guy called John who ends the world, yes, it is - but the Epistles were written right at the end of his life. And 1 John has two themes that might be relevant to The Locked Tomb: the first is the question of what it means to love god (spoiler: the answer is not 'dinner and a movie'), and the second is whether your actions matter.

The second thing that might be relevant here is that just before this in 1 John 4, there is a warning about not heeding false prophets. Specifically, it warns about the antichrist. You know, the thing Necro!John says he was repeatedly accused of being? The point is that love - love properly understood - can protect you from the wiles of the antichrist. Probably not a relevant theme as we head off into the 'you have not yet begun to witness the horrors of love' book where people are presumably facing down a pretender god...

The final part of Paul's speech to Ianthe - 'death will be no more' - is also Johannine: this time from Revelation:

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away. - Revelation 21:4

This comes from a section where the Biblical John watches as the old world is destroyed and the new Jerusalem descends from Heaven. Death and sorrow are ended, and the righteous will rule with God. The sinful have a less fun time of it, involving fire and brimstone and 'the second death'. If that sounds familiar, it's because Necro!John cribbed that particular bit when making up his shoddy Space Catholicism (TM). (The implications of this really deserves a much longer treatment, so watch this space...)

One of the nice things about Tamsyn Muir's Biblical parallels is they're not generally exact. But it's perhaps relevant to note that amongst Bible!Paul's rather dramatic adventures are quite a few instances of casting demons out of people, starting at least one riot, shipwreck, and an "Incident at Antioch". Also...it's probably not relevant that the writings of St Paul were the turning point in the conversion of St Augustine...specifically a section about how the end of the world is nigh so you'd better get your act together...

All in all, Paul is...a very niche joke about Plato, hopefully not a joke about Dune, and mostly very, very apocalyptic. A new beginning at the end of the world! An offer of redemption to those swimming against the current! A warning to false gods! A sign that the end is nigh! All of which suggests Alecto the Ninth is going to be a wild ride (as if we didn't know that already).

#the locked tomb #tlt meta #tlt paul #john gaius

[walkswithmyfather]

‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭1:12‭-‬17‬ (‭GNT‬‬). “I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength for my work. I thank him for considering me worthy and appointing me to serve him, even though in the past I spoke evil of him and persecuted and insulted him. But God was merciful to me because I did not yet have faith and so did not know what I was doing. And our Lord poured out his abundant grace on me and gave me the faith and love which are ours in union with Christ Jesus. This is a true saying, to be completely accepted and believed: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I am the worst of them, but God was merciful to me in order that Christ Jesus might show his full patience in dealing with me, the worst of sinners, as an example for all those who would later believe in him and receive eternal life. To the eternal King, immortal and invisible, the only God—to him be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.”

“Grace on Display” By In Touch Ministries:

“Even the worst of sinners is welcome to receive God's extravagant mercy and love.”

“Paul described himself as the worst of sinners and as someone to whom the Lord had expressed His favor and love (1 Tim. 1:16 NIV). How could he be both? That’s the power of God’s grace: Though sinners, we become spiritually alive and receive a new purpose for living.

After Paul met the Savior, he cared deeply about those who did not yet know God, and he also desired to help Christians grow in their faith. For the rest of his life, he shared the gospel, encouraged fellow believers, and met the needs of others. He acted as God’s ambassador to the Gentiles, and his letters became biblical wisdom for future generations.

Through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, Paul began to display more and more Christlike qualities. In his writings, we see compassion, great humility, and appreciation for God’s blessings. Only the grace of God could enable a well-educated and influential man to count all his credentials a “loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8).

Paul’s life is an example of God working through sinners and transforming them. The Holy Spirit seeks to do the same for you and me. Are you allowing God’s favor and love to work within you?”

[Photo by Jametlene Reskp at Unsplash]

#‭‭1 timothy‬ ‭1:12‭-‬17‬ #gods grace #gods mercy #grace and mercy #god loves you #bible verses #bible truths #bible scriptures #bible quotes #bible study #studying the bible #the word of god #christian devotionals #daily devotions #bible #christian blog #god #belief in god #faith in god #jesus #belief in jesus #faith in jesus #christian prayer #christian life #christian living #christian faith #christian inspiration #christian encouragement #christian motivation #christianity

[hot-take-tournament]

HOT TAKE TOURNAMENT!

PRELIMINARY #281

Submission 918

Death note the musical is the only good form of death note media

I watched all of the anime and read some of the manga but I really wasn’t that into it. Like, yeah it’s an interesting idea and there are some cool themes, but I didn’t care about any of the characters and didn’t really understand all the fuss.

But then I found out that there was a musical. I am 10x more interested if there is a catchy song that drives the plot forward and death note the musical has plenty of those. Immediately with “where is the justice” Light becomes a way more interesting character, he has a point about how messed up the justice system can be and is so charismatic he gets his whole class singing along with him. He isn’t just some teen genius who is super full of himself, he know how to get people on his side and seeing this decline from genuine questions about how we handle crime to “I am god, I am justice, I am the only person who can fix the world”, it is very good. Speaking of this decline, “hurricane” is the perfect song to show this, he starts of unsure not believing what happen and by the time the bridge comes around he’s singing “I am the god of a brave new world”, what’s not to love. He’s fairly passive during the first chorus saying how the rain and wind are waiting for the hurricane, only to move onto singing “I’ll bring the rain, I’ll bring the wind” he’s accepted the he is this great power of justice he is the hurricane and can finally deal out punishment to these criminals.

I also absolutely love that Misa’s first song is like a gospel, she worships Kira like a god she would do anything for him, it is also very catchy. I like what the did with Misa’s character in the musical she feels so much more interesting. Especially in “borrowed time”.

Not to mention how sad some of the songs are, “when love comes” is absolutely devastating.

What is the most important thing the anime/manga is missing though?

Puns.

A good pun is always appreciated, so the fact that there are multiple Light puns is very pleasing.

The “bends how Light refracts” in “Honour bound” works on so many levels, so good.

I don’t really know how to put it into worlds, but the musical is just much more interesting. People should listen to the it.

.Propaganda is always encouraged!

And Rem-ember to reblog your favourite polls for exposure!

#death note #death note the musical #death note musical #hot take tournament #tournament poll #tumblr poll #tumblr tournament #tumblr bracket #hot take #unpopular opinion #poll #polls #tumblr polls

[purpleisnotacolor]

"There's no place for me in the church if I can't marry"

Matthew 19:12

"For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it." (eunuchs obv can't have sex, so are celibate. Here, Jesus is saying celibate and married people alike have a place. Neither is better than the other, they're different callings, that's what he means by if you can accept it)

---

"God does not love me, he considers me too repulsive because I'm sinful to him"

There's the famous John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." where God loves you enough to die for you, and also Matthew 9:12 "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." where Jesus explicitly states that he came for supposedly repulsive sinners, not perfect righteous people.

And if you think you're so much worse than everyone else, and that you specifically are too repulsive, there's the entirety of Paul's gospel to look to, but specifically 1 Timothy 1:15-16 " Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life." where Paul is redeemed from the worst of the worst, to show that God can forgive and redeem anybody.

---

And for body issues, you've probably heard Genesis 1:27 get thrown around already, but let me highlight an important bit "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."

You're made in the image of God, no matter how gross wrong or detestable you or your body feel, you have God's likeness, even if it's distorted, it's still there.

And as for health issues, there's John 9:3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him." and while the meaning of that is a bit ambiguous to me, it is clear that disability is not a punishment or shame, and God has purpose for it.

---

As for the issue of Christians being too condemning to you, they are handling sin entirely wrong! John 8:11 "Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin."

So while Jesus does still say when a sin is a sin, he is merciful. God says, "leave your life of sin" not "ew go away, you repulsive sinner."

---

I encourage you to look up all of these in-context. As far as I can tell, I have not twisted or cherry-picked anything. And even though there are more non-comforting verses to be found in the Bible, if they are true, these are true, and there is nothing wrong with falling back on these when in doubt.

Now go be at peace!

#comfort verses #christianity #long post #a doubt of God's love being conditional is also a big one to address #but that'll have to be it's own post

[sexyandhedonistic]

Neville Goddard lecture summaries

⚜️⋮ Remain Faithful to Your Idea

⚜️  What have I to do with thee?

We get into the habit of accepting as final the evidence of our senses. Wine is needed for the guests and my senses tell me that there is no wine, and I through habit am about to accept this lack as final. When I remember that my consciousness is the one and only reality, therefore if I deny the evidence of my senses and assume the consciousness of having sufficient wine, I have in a sense rebuked my mother or the consciousness which suggested lack; and by assuming the consciousness of having what I desire for my guests, wine is produced in a way we do not know. 

In the second chapter of the Gospel of St. John. Jesus says to his mother, "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" John 2:4. 

Jesus represents you because you are God and his mother represents your consciousness because it is the cause (or mother) of all phenomena.

Imagine your state of consciousness being other than what you would like for it to look like. In such a case, you should not allow yourself to accept it, to which you respond with, “what does this have to do with me?” or in Neville’s words, “what do I have to do with the evidence of my senses?” Don’t take no for an answer and don’t accept what you don’t want.

I have just read a note here from a dear friend of mine in the audience. Last Sunday he had an appointment at a church for a wedding; the clock told him he was late, everything told him he was late. He was standing on a street corner waiting for a street car. There was none in sight. He imagined that, instead of being on the street corner, that he was in the church. At that moment a car stopped in front of him. My friend told the driver of his predicament and the driver said to him, "I am not going that way, but I will take you there." My friend got into the car and was at the church in time for the service. That is applying the law correctly, non-acceptance of the suggestion of lateness. Never accept the suggestion of lack.

⚜️  I AM the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me.

"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." Isaiah 45:7. If I am hurt, I am self hurt. If there is darkness in my world, I created the darkness and the gloom and the depression. If there is light and joy, I created the light and the joy. There is no one but this I AMness that does all. You cannot find a cause outside of your own consciousness. Your world is a grand mirror constantly telling you who you are. As you meet people, they tell you by their behavior who you are. 

A reminder that I AM is the origin of the world around you. You always possess the power to decide what comes after I AM: I AM loved or I AM unloved, I AM wealthy or I AM poor, I AM healthy or I AM ill. There is nothing outside of you responsible for the contents of your consciousness because you are the only one who can define your I AMness.

⚜️  Prayer.

If I could define prayer for anyone and put it just as clearly as I could, I would simply say, "It is the feeling of the wish fulfilled." If you ask, "What do you mean by that?" I would say, "I would feel myself into the situation of the answered prayer and then I would live and act upon that conviction." I would try to sustain it without effort, that is, I would live and act as though it were already a fact, knowing that as I walk in this fixed attitude my assumption will harden into fact. 

Prayer is another word for manifesting by feeling the wish fulfilled. In order to successfully pray, you must define what the end looks like and accept that it is done. Believe that you have received that which you desire to have and you shall. 

Anyone who prays successfully turns within, and appropriates the state sought. You have no sacrifice to offer. Do not let anyone tell you that you must struggle and suffer. You need not struggle for the realization of your desire. Read what it says in the Bible. 

⚜️  Forgive.

"When ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." That is what we must do when we pray. If I hold some thing against another, be it a belief of sickness, poverty , or anything else, I must lose it and let it go, not by using words of denial but by believing him to be what he desires to be. In that way I completely forgive him. I changed my concept of him. I only forgive something when I truly forget. I can say to you until the end of time, "I forgive you." But if every time I see you or think of you, I am reminded of what I held against you, I have not forgiven you at all. Forgiveness is complete forgetfulness. 

To forgive is to stop feeling angry or resentful toward another. When you forgive, you are letting go of the undesirable in order to turn to the desirable (you forget). This is essentially what Neville means when he says you cannot serve two masters. If you seek to shift your state of consciousness, you cannot continue to entertain the old contradicting one, so you must forgive (forget) in order to welcome in the new one. 

Give yourself a new concept of self for the old concept. Give up the old concept completely.

⚜️  Future’s flexibility.

The most remarkable feature of man's future is its flexibility. The future, although prepared in advance in every detail, has several outcomes. We have at every moment of our lives the choice before us which of several futures we will have… Since man can observe an event before it occurs in the three dimensions of space, then life on earth proceeds according to plan; and this plan must exist elsewhere in another dimension and is slowly moving through our space. 

If the occurring events were not in this world when they were observed, then to be perfectly logical they must have been out of this world. And whatever is THERE to be seen before it occurs HERE must be "pre-determined" from the point of view of man awake in a three-dimensional world. 

Therefore, my object in giving this course is to indicate possibilities inherent in man, to show that man can alter his: future; but, thus altered, it forms again a deterministic sequence starting from the point of interference -- a future that will be consistent with the alteration. 

The moment called NOW.

To the natural view, the past and future are purely imaginary. The spiritual view on the other hand sees the contents of time. The past and future are a present whole to the spiritual view. What is mental and subjective to the natural man is concrete and objective to the spiritual man. 

The habit of seeing only that which our senses permit renders us totally blind to what, otherwise, we could see. To cultivate the faculty of seeing the invisible, we should often deliberately disentangle our minds from the evidence of the senses and focus our attention on an invisible state, mentally feeling it and sensing it until it has all the distinctness of reality.

The future event is a reality NOW in a dimensionally larger world and oddly enough, now in a dimensionally larger world is equivalent to HERE in the ordinary three-dimensional space of everyday life. 

It’s easy to let the evidence of your senses dictate what your circumstances look like, you feel trapped by the present moment and although reason tells you that all looks a certain way, but truth is the future you desire already exists at this very moment, it is not far away from you. The only reason we are held back by the concept of time is because we perceive it as being linear and we process events as occurring chronologically. However, the past, present and future are all occurring at this very moment. There is no universal timeline, all exists and is occurring at this very moment, which is also the reason why manifestation is always instant. 

⚜️  Follow the desire.

The first step in changing the future is DESIRE, that is, define your objective -- know definitely what you want.  ?

A little practice will convince us that we can, by controlling our imagination, reshape our future in harmony with our desire. Desire is the mainspring of action. We could not move a single finger unless we had a desire to move it.

The desires which impel us to action are those which hold our attention. A desire is but an awareness of something we lack and need to make our life more enjoyable. Desires always have some personal gain in view, the greater the anticipated gain, the more intense is the desire. There is no absolutely unselfish desire. Where there is nothing to gain there is no desire, and consequently no action.

⚜️  The four dimensions of space.

To understand how man molds his future in harmony with his assumption -- by simply experiencing in his imagination what he would experience in reality were he to realize his goal - we must know what we mean by a dimensionally larger world, for it is to a dimensionally larger world that we go to alter our future. 

The observation of an event before it occurs implies that the event is predetermined from the point of view of man in the three-dimensional world. Therefore to change the conditions here in the three dimensions of space we must first change them in the four dimensions of space. 

Your future is not predetermined, it is always being created by molding in harmony with the assumptions that become a part of your consciousness because consciousness is the one and only reality. Ask yourself what you want, give it to yourself in the 4D and allow it to unfold in the 3D. 

Assume you are that which you wish to be; walk as though you were it; and as you remain faithful to your assumption -- it will harden into fact.

#lecture summaries

[spiritualclaymore]

💛 ʀᴇᴛᴜʀɴɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴛᴜᴍʙʟʀ | ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴍᴇ!

This post will include some information about me and a short testimony. Thanks for checking out my blog!

💛 ᴀʀᴛɪsᴛ & ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀ

Howdy! I'm a Christian artist from the southern US who enjoys creating stories & characters that glorify God and share the gospel! 🔥⚔️ ✝️ I like anime and various comic styles. I'm currently working on my own style. I’ve enjoyed creating various OC's of humans, animals, anthro, and hybrid varieties!

sᴏᴄɪᴀʟ ᴍᴇᴅɪᴀ: I can be found just about anywhere and have compiled everything on my carrd. I am also accepting commissions, my carrd will have more information. I may compile and post commission information on tumblr in the future, Lord willing.

carrd

💛 ғᴏʀᴍᴇʀ ʀᴏʟᴇᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ sᴀᴠᴇᴅ ʙʏ ɢʀᴀᴄᴇ

It's surreal to be here after taking a long hiatus around 2021. I'm used to having "missing e", a dozen extensions, and all of my pretty post formatting. It seems tumblr has tidied things up to make formatting easier. Back then, I used to copy/paste blank spaces, pretty symbols and emojis, indent all of my paragraphs, and then use a bunch of key commands to select and make my font size small and neat! Haha! I don't have any problems with people who do that, it was a style choice for writers and roleplayers.

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” Romans 1:18

jaegerbombed | warpathpanther | blacklightburns | rubmyrosary

(CONTENT WARNING: above blog archives have explicit and/or adult content and are TESTIMONIES of what I used to write, portray, and how i lived my life. the last one is referring to a satanic voodoo cult character and I do not endorse the rosary/catholicism.)

I was part of the tumblr roleplay community and many other rp communities across the internet, including Gaiaonline, jcink, and proboards. I was doing this hobby for about 16 years before I started to take my faith seriously in 2021. To clarify faith, I was never really a believer or follower of Christ until I was BORN AGAIN in January 2023! Hallelujah! Note: I am not saying Christians cannot role play or enjoy writing as a way to develop characters, stories, etc. As long as it's not used to write content that would make you sin and it's not becoming an obsession.

Before that, I hyperfixated on horror genre, supernatural and horror anime, tv series, including video games, movies, stories, and more. I had gender dysphoria, went by 'khan', or 'khanivore'. I internalized a lot of it and would act out by doing drag king stuff and drag cosplay IRL.

I idolized playing hypermasculine male characters in the roleplay communities I was a part of. I saw many friendships made, torn apart, and savagely destroyed due to the toxicity of the community. Without Christ, people unhealthily hyperfixate on their idols and become jealous of other people writing better, portraying a certain character better, seeking all types of 'shipping' relationships that don't go well.

Wrote hundreds of thousands of words portraying s*xual fantasies with males & females. I obsessed over becoming male characters; thinking their thoughts, living their lives, not my own. I became oppressed by demons while playing songs that made me think of these characters, obsessively studied their dialogues and did some crazy forms of method acting. These characters had their own birthdays & astrology signs that I celebrated.

I had deep loneliness & despair, a void within me, & I filled it with video games, p**nography, alcohol, cosplay & role playing. When the convention was over, I felt like my heart was being burned alive & there was nothing to fill that void. I had insomnia from late nights living my double life. I was hateful, rude, condescending, competitive, swore all the time, & angry.

But JESUS set me free! He had been knocking on the door of my heart. I did not seek Him, I wanted to live in my filth, I loved my sin. But HE sought after me & my heart slowly softened. My eyes began to open. I don’t share this testimony to glorify myself; don’t want the wrong attention, nor things my old self would have gloated over. I share this testimony of where I WAS, to show where JESUS SET ME FREE!

Seek Jesus - He isn’t religion, He’s a real person, the son of God, who was sent to die for our sins. Someone who wants a relationship with you. He wants to set you free from pain. He can give you answers & true identity; not the CULTure.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2

#christian #chrumblr #christian artist #✝️umblr #christian testimony #my testimony

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

https://freethoughtnow.org/easter-challenge/

I HAVE AN EASTER challenge for Christians. My challenge is simply this: tell me what happened on Easter. I am not asking for proof. My straightforward request is merely that Christians tell me exactly what happened on the day that their most important doctrine was born.

Believers should eagerly take up this challenge, since without the resurrection, there is no Christianity. Paul wrote, “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.” (I Corinthians 15:14-15)

The conditions of the challenge are simple and reasonable. In each of the four Gospels, begin at Easter morning and read to the end of the book: Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20-21. Also read Acts 1:3-12 and Paul’s tiny version of the story in I Corinthians 15:3-8. These 165 verses can be read in a few moments. Then, without omitting a single detail from these separate accounts, write a simple, chronological narrative of the events between the resurrection and the ascension: what happened first, second, and so on; who said what, when; and where these things happened.

Since the gospels do not always give precise times of day, it is permissible to make educated guesses. The narrative does not have to pretend to present a perfect picture–it only needs to give at least one plausible account of all of the facts. Additional explanation of the narrative may be set apart in parentheses. The important condition to the challenge, however, is that not one single biblical detail be omitted. Fair enough?

I have tried this challenge myself. I failed. An Assembly of God minister whom I was debating a couple of years ago on a Florida radio show loudly proclaimed over the air that he would send me the narrative in a few days. I am still waiting. After my debate at the University of Wisconsin, “Jesus of Nazareth: Messiah or Myth,” a Lutheran graduate student told me he accepted the challenge and would be contacting me in about a week. I have never heard from him. Both of these people, and others, agreed that the request was reasonable and crucial. Maybe they are slow readers.

[ Continued... ]

==

It’s funny because it’s complete fiction and they accidentally figured it out.

#Dan Barker #Easter #christianity #jesus christ #resurrection #resurrection myth #crucifixion #crucifixion myth #bible #bible study #bible myths #myth of jesus #Easter challenge #religion #religion is a mental illness

[queerprayers]

do you have any advice on picking a good new name for oneself? i don't feel connected to my current one and would like a more spiritual one but i don't know how to pick the "right" one

Hi, beloved! You asked this ages ago so it's very possible this is no longer relevant to you. If you have one—congratulations on the new name! Either way, I'll answer, hoping I can help you or perhaps someone else who's thinking about this!

Name changing happens often in the Bible—it's usually symbolic in some way, and often very dependent on the meaning of the name. Abraham (formerly Abram) and Israel (formerly Jacob) both have their names changed in an encounter with God and an angel(? debatable), respectively; Jesus renames Simon "Cephas/Peter," which means "rock;" Saul starts being addressed as Paul (the Latinized version of his Hebrew name) as he becomes more active in Christian communities and leaves Judaism further behind. People entering monasteries/convents often pick a new name, and Catholics traditionally choose a saint's name for their confirmation. You have lots of holy company, is what I'm trying to say!

Finding a name in the Bible could be your place to start—I love the figure in Luke's gospel I'm named after, and her calling as a myrrh-bearer inspires me immensely. If there's a figure that's close to your heart, who mirrors your journey, who you aspire to follow, you could choose their name, especially if you connect with its meaning! This website lists Biblical names/origins—it doesn't seem to include sources, so I can't verify every single one (maybe check another source to be sure about something), but from skimming it it looks useful/accurate!

As I mentioned, choosing a saint name is also very common—and there are tons to choose from! Even if you're not Catholic and whatever your theology about saints, people who Christian communities remember and honor can give you inspiration and meaning. Catholic.org and Wikipedia both have pretty exhaustive lists—you could narrow it down by thinking about time periods, patronage, location, tradition, or anything else that's meaningful/relevant to you.

Naming a child with a family/cultural name is obviously common, and that could be something you do for yourself as well! Connecting with your ancestors/communities could help you feel more connected to yourself. 

I've mentioned it, but a lot of people think about the meanings of names. There's tons of iffy information out there, so I would recommend looking at multiple sources (I know this because I used to use baby name websites to name fictional characters, and some of them were just completely contradictory!). There are biblical concepts, like Sophia/Wisdom, but you could think about any concept/value/theology you connect with and go from there. 

Any decision can be spiritual when we approach it purposefully, and I think any name could be spiritual if you find meaning in it. I can't promise there's one "right" name—the people I know who found new names took time and tried some out along the way. It might be more of a choice, a mindful acceptance, rather than a lightning bolt out of the sky moment of resurrection. You also don't have to have a deep connection with a name—you've said you want one, so of course I support that, but it's not, like, wrong to just… have a name. (If you're reading this and you've never thought about your name/its meaning in your life, I support you.) However it works out, I wish you (and anyone else thinking about this) courage and curiosity as you seek out a new identity. 

The thought I leave you with is this (if you'd like it): God calls us by name—sometimes that's the moment we see Them fully. What name do you want God to call, what name would wake you from sleep and cause you to genuinely respond with, "Here I am; you called me"? 

<3 Johanna

P.S. I found two prayer rituals for renaming while looking around, and I thought I'd link them—one of them is specifically for gender transition, but parts of it could be meaningful for anyone!

Unitarian Universalist Transgender Renaming Ceremony

Episcopal Service of Renaming from The Book of Occasional Services (pg. 120)

#asks

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

hello :)

First off I’d like to apologize because I only recently discovered your blog at a time of great need, and have been reblogging so many posts lol so sorry if that’s annoying.

I’m in my early twenties, it’s almost my birthday, and I was born into a family with two affirming Catholic parents and three affirming siblings of various beliefs. I’ve pretty much always been comfortable with the fact that I am not heterosexual, and tend to have some beliefs that are not reallllllly accepted by mainstream American Christianity. Because of this, your blog has been incredibly comforting, informative, and thought provoking, so I thank you for that.

I was wondering if you had any resources for how different denominations thought of nature and wild spaces. I know there’s a lot of garden imagery within the Bible, such as in the Song of Songs, but I was always taught in my religious teaching that wild spaces, such as mountains and forests, were like realms of the devil or something. One verse that was pretty common in my local church is something about filling the deserts and leveling mountains to make a path for God (sorry if I’m remembering that incorrectly). Because I’ve only been to Catholic Churches, I was wondering if other groups and denominations had different views on nature rather than untamed = bad and taming the environment = good.

Thank you and have a nice day

Hey there, anon! Not annoying at all to reblog posts, that's what they're here for ^-^

My Catholic self is so happy to hear that your Catholic family is affirming of who you are!

I'm sadder to hear that you were taught much less affirming things about the created world. You are so right to have noticed that the Bible is chock-full of praise for creation! The twisting of Christianity to say otherwise has a long history with an intentional agenda of justifying settler colonialism and environmental devastation.

___

I wish I had more time to look through specific denominations' points of view for you, but if I wait till I do have time I'll probably never get around to answering this, alas! I can provide this much, at least:

One term that some use when describing their support of environmental justice is "Creation Care" (or "earth care"), so that's a good key phrase to use when researching.

For example, here's the Episcopal Church's page on creation care; and the UMC's, and a Catholic site; and a PCUSA site; and the UCC's...

However, I'm not sure that views on the natural world always split neatly on denominational lines anyway. Moving beyond the denominational, I'll loosely describe some of the viewpoints in Christianity around Creation:

Thanks to Paul incorporating a lot of Greco-Roman ideology into his letters that made it into the Bible, and thanks to Christianity getting entangled in Roman Empire shit in like the 400s CE, some Christianity uplifts a strong dualism between the spiritual and the material. When you pit the spiritual and material against each other in this way, it tends to be bad news for the natural world.

The belief expressed throughout the rest of the Bible — so the Hebrew Bible + much of the Gospels — doesn't construct this binary between the spiritual and the physical. The created world is declared good by God in Genesis 1, and Creation is praised throughout the Psalms and other scripture. The place of human beings in the created world is explored in various parts of the Bible, with various conclusions being drawn — are we in charge? What's it mean to be in charge? Is the whole planet ours to do with as we please, or are are we meant to care for it?

A major example of Christians deciding that the planet is ours to do with as we will comes in the form of the settlers who colonized the Americas. Research manifest destiny for lots of info on the consequences of these views. The Americas, and this whole planet, are suffering greatly because of this way of interpreting the Bible. Thankfully, there are other ways.

The Catholic Church itself actually has a healthier way of understanding Creation in theory, even if the institution doesn't always make choices that practice what they preach. Here's a bit of what the Roman Catholic Catechism says about the natural world:

339 Each creature possesses its own particular goodness and perfection. For each one of the works of the "six days" it is said: "And God saw that it was good." "By the very nature of creation, material being is endowed with its own stability, truth and excellence, its own order and laws." Each of the various creatures, willed in its own being, reflects in its own way a ray of God's infinite wisdom and goodness. Man must therefore respect the particular goodness of every creature, to avoid any disordered use of things which would be in contempt of the Creator and would bring disastrous consequences for human beings and their environment.

340 God wills the interdependence of creatures. The sun and the moon, the cedar and the little flower, the eagle and the sparrow: the spectacle of their countless diversities and inequalities tells us that no creature is self-sufficient. Creatures exist only in dependence on each other, to complete each other, in the service of each other.

341 The beauty of the universe: The order and harmony of the created world results from the diversity of beings and from the relationships which exist among them. Man discovers them progressively as the laws of nature. They call forth the admiration of scholars. The beauty of creation reflects the infinite beauty of the Creator and ought to inspire the respect and submission of man's intellect and will.

There's a lot more — check out the Catechism's section on "the visible world" (you have to scroll to it) on this webpage.

_____

Ultimately, in the search for interpretations of Christianity that uplift the goodness of Creation, and our role not as masters but as stewards of it, I highly recommend digging into the works of Indigenous Christians. As white Christianity colludes with empire and wreaks having on the land, Indigenous Christians speak up for the goodness of God's creation.

A fabulous starting point is Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God by Kaitlin B. Curtice. It's a short memoir, very readable and powerful.

Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys by Richard Twiss is a little denser, but extremely informative. You can also find interviews and the like with Twiss online, if reading is less your thing.

My own Christian faith has also been deeply enriched by non-Christian Indigenous authors — especially Robin Wall Kimmerer, whose book Braiding Sweetgrass changed my life. I was so inspired by her description of human beings not as the masters of creation but as the "little siblings of Creation" that I wrote this poem about it.

Many Black and Latine theologians have also been integral to me in shaping my understanding of Creation and humanity's place in it. Another memoir I highly recommend is This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley, which talks about a variety of things, including a bit on the natural world. Take this passage, for example.

Finally, there are some gorgeous writings on Creation from Medieval Christians like Francis of Assisi and Hildegard von Bingen.

One last couple of book recs for a look at the holiness of creation: Barbara Brown Taylor's An Altar in the World and Sister Macrina Wiederkehr's A Tree Full of Angels.

___

I hope this helps somewhat! If you haven't already, you might enjoy wandering through my #Creation tag too.

#creation #sorry this is messier and not well cited like most of my posts #but it should provide a good starting point for further exploration!

[sardonic-sprite]

You guys I almost cried in church today, I love my pastor so much.

Just yesterday I already wanted to write about this, because I was driving with a friend and her mom, who was making all these comments and "jokes" that made me so uncomfortable, but then I waited because I had a lot to do and then at church today my pastor was out but one of the elders read his sermon and...

It was like everything that was making me feel so icky was justified. Not in a "ha, im right" way, but in a "God, I DID understand" way.

And I'm not going to go into all the pointed details, but...

Christianity is supposed to be about love. Unconditional love.

If a Christian is scolding and mocking, saying that people who act or think differently about the world are "confused," or - God, I hate this one - going to "burn in hell" for those things, even as a joke, that is not what Christianity is.

Christianity is about listening to those people, trying to understand them, and above all loving them, no matter what. As my pastor put it,

God's end goal is never condemnation.

But lately it's like that's all Christians - the vocal ones, anyway - do. If these are the kind of Christians you interact with, I don't blame you for wanting nothing to do with the church. It's painful to me, even though none of those Christians who I interact with know that they're calling me damned too.

And understand, I'm not calling these people bad or even bad Christians, because they're not. A lot of them are better people than me, with faith I often envy. But what I am saying is that I think for whatever reason the full picture isn't coming into focus for them.

They understand what the Gospel does for them. They're fully saved. The trust they have in God is not the issue. It's when they think about what they are called to do in response to the Gospel. Live righteously they're all over. But love others... not as much as I'm sure they think.

And this is my command, love one another as I have loved you.

- John 13:34

Jesus loves without prerequisite. And He loves so greatly that He was willing to die to rescue the very people that were hurting Him. That's the kind of love Christians are called to emulate.

Do we always do that? Fuck no. It is hard. We're just human. Often, we end up looking like hypocrites, and there's probably some people that are. But as a Christian, I want to say this for all of us.

I'm sorry for when we have failed to love you. For when we've condemned you and written you off.

That comes from our failure to follow God's call.

God's love is still unconditional, even if you don't want to accept it.

And to fellow Christians, I want to remind you about God's commandment. Yes, singular, right up there ^. Two at maximum. Not the 10 you're thinking of. Because Jesus boiled all those down to

Love God

Love others

Not other righteous people (I mean, yeah, them too, but not only them). Love all people. If you start with love, righteousness will naturally follow.

But if you start with righteousness, be careful that you don't end up missing love.

Because if you're missing that, you're missing the point.

#sprite said #christianity #is about LOVE #not condemnation #and i think we need to remember that a little more often #disclaimer im not a pastor or theologian #but what im referencing is from my ordained pastor or from the bible

[raybug-theradfem]

For my religion assignment (Catholic school not my choice) I have to choose an issue I’m passionate about and relate it to the Gospels, the Catechism and a Saint. I wanted to choose feminism, my teacher said “stream line it” I decided on Rape Culture because well I couldn’t say abortion or dismantling patriarchy. So of course the more I tried to grab at straws looking for some way to actually relate Religion and Feminism I grew less and less hopeful. I learned that (even tho I already knew it just hadn’t really hit me Yk?) Christianity is one of the reasons we have patriarchy in the first place, it’s the reason that women are blamed for their own assault, even Jesus who sat with prostitutes only defended her on the basis of no one else being without sin the fact that her being a victim of assault based on the fact that she had no one else to provide for her wasn’t enough, the verses that would help dismantle a dress code “if your left eye causes you to sin pluck it out …” are taken contextually but “man shall not lay with man” is always thrown in our faces. I learned that this religion has stomped on my light since birth even tho it’s supposed to shine but my light “isnt what god intended” I am “equal” to a man but I’m really not because at the end of the day the goal is for me to “submit to my husband” and keep myself “pure”. I am not even entirely equal in the eyes of the law because the right to my autonomy can be taken away at any moment (the right to abortion is not protected in Canada like it was in the US it can be taken at anytime and women of colour are sometimes sterilized against their will.) My girlfriend calls herself a Christian but really she just believes in God, she acknowledges that Christianity made it difficult to accept herself and that it saddens her that her family won’t be at her wedding because of it. I always wonder how someone can believe in something that completely contradicts how they live their life. She knows my views and accepts them, we have friendly debates but anyways, as I was sitting with her I remembered that my chaplain told my friend that God knows everything before it happens and planned for it to happen. He created the Devil, created sin, then he creates people knowing that they will sin or suffer or harm others, he sends those people to hell. Therefore, we don’t have free will if it was all planned from the beginning of time. By that logic, he knew I would be typing this with this exact wording having this exact idea before he even created the Earth. That would mean that he decided that some of his children should just go to hell and be tortured, he created them for that purpose. How can a God that creates people for the purpose of torturing them be an all loving God? How can he love all his children equally when he already knows which ones are bad and have no chance of turning to him? If we were created to worship him, why wouldn’t he let us know of his existence? Why is he hiding behind a man made book and not correcting us? Is it not blasphemy to use his name for wrong doing?

#deconstructing christianity #ex catholic #catholic school #religious trauma

[thewitcheslibrary]

Basic history of paganism

Please note: I am pagan and I am writing this as neutral as I can. But I'm giving facts and history. This does not mean I don't respect other beliefs and religions, because I absolutely respect them! and think everyones faith is unique and beautiful in they're own ways.

What the word Paganism means and why it was used-

Paganism is a Christian phrase that refers to faiths that do not worship the God of Abraham, who is essential to Christianity as well as other Abrahamic religions such as Judaism and Islam. Christians have used the labels paganism and pagan, which have negative connotations, to distinguish themselves from others who they think worship false gods.

Throughout much of Christianity's history, few, if any, of those labelled heathen have accepted this term for themselves. However, since at least the first part of the twentieth century, the term has been reappropriated as a self-description by a group of similar new faiths. They are sometimes referred to as modern Pagan or Neo-Pagan organisations and are influenced by religions from Europe, North Africa, and West Asia that became extinct as a result of the advent of Christianity and other Abrahamic faiths.

The history-

Christianity appeared in the Roman Empire in the first century CE. As a monotheistic religion, it held that there was only one genuine God, whom it identified as the God of Abraham, a divinity also revered in Judaism. The majority of the empire's traditions were polytheistic, with several gods and goddesses. For Christians, polytheistic cultures were idolatrous, with deities who were actually devils. This perspective made it difficult for many Christians to seek peaceful coexistence with non-Abrahamic religions.

One hypothesis is that the word pagani, which means "people of the place," came to apply to individuals who continued to worship the traditional deities of their area, whereas Christians came to be referred to as alieni, meaning "people from elsewhere." A second hypothesis stems from an other meaning of the name paganus, "civilian," which became clear by the late second or third century. This second meaning of the phrase was most likely originated by Roman troops stationed in rural areas far from Rome. Early Christians identified as miles Christi, or "soldiers of Christ," and may have borrowed the term "civilian" for anyone who had not joined their religious movement.

In addition to Latin, Christians employed additional names that were basically synonymous. Greek was extensively spoken in eastern regions of the empire, and the labels ethnē and ethnikoi, "foreigners," had a similar purpose. By the early 4th century, the term Hellēnes, "Greeks," had fully supplanted the former. During the 4th century, Christian bishop Ulfilas (c. 311-82) translated the Gospel of Mark from Greek to Gothic and coined the phrase haiþno, which translates to "gentile woman." Variants of haiþno became extensively used in various Germanic languages, including the Old English hǣþen, whence derives the Modern English term heathen.

One often cited theory is that this phrase refers to things that are "of the heath"—it is conceivable that Ulfilas was intentionally invoking the notion of rurality that he felt was contained in the Latin term pagan. The Latin term gentilis (Modern English: "gentile") also occurred in Christian texts to characterise persons who did not worship the God of Abraham, which is separate from the term's now recognised sense of "non-Jewish."

Terms like heathen aimed to create a clear binary separation between Christians, who viewed themselves as holding doctrinal truth, and everyone else, who they believed lived in mistake. Nonetheless, while the label paganism was largely applied to individuals who did not worship the God of Abraham, its use may be wide. For example, the word was employed in the context of sectarian war among Christians. Following the Reformation in the sixteenth century, many Protestants accused the Roman Catholic Church of being pagan due to its devotion of saints and complex rites.

Between the 15th and 19th centuries, Christian Europeans expanded into new territories in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. In these nations, they found a wide range of religious traditions that were not dedicated to the God of Abraham and were frequently labelled as pagan or heathen. The many traditions of the Indian subcontinent, now commonly known as Hinduism, were formerly labelled "Hindoo paganism" by 19th-century British authors. Christian missionary initiatives were frequently attempted over the world to convert non-Abrahamic peoples, with different degrees of success.

Changes were visible by the second part of the twentieth century. Growing worries about Eurocentrism and racial discrimination, combined with the promotion of ecumenism and the interfaith movement, have led to a decline in the usage of the labels paganism and pagan by many Christians. However, it has not completely faded from the Christian language. These phrases are still used by certain Christian organisations who have little interest for amicable connections with non-Abrahamic religions.

#pagan witch #witch #witchblr #witchcore #witchcraft #beginner witch friendly #paganism

[sailtomarina]

Hate you

“That is not what Professor Vector meant, and you know it!” Hermione snarled, slamming her hands down on top of the desk so hard their ink bottles threatened to fall off.

It was with quick reflexes that Malfoy snatched them away from the edge and slid them back to safety. For what had to be the millionth time that term, Hermione hated herself for appreciating anything about the blonde git.

Why, oh, why, did he have to be her partner in Advanced Arithmancy?

She cursed her duties as Head Girl and the rest of their classmates for leaving the seat next to Malfoy open when she came waltzing into the room late. She had no choice but to sit next to him on that first day.

She couldn’t just say no when Professor Vector announced their seat mates would be their partners for the rest of the school term. Hermione had an example to set. She not only had to put forward the first foot towards inter-house unity, she also knew how important it was to show others that forgiveness was a living, breathing thing. 

She couldn’t just preach the gospel of healing post-war; she had to live it.

So, she accepted the assignment without complaint.

She’d nodded at the announcement as if it was only natural that she partner with the boy who’d bullied her since childhood, who’d taught her all about blood purity, who’d let murderers into their school, who’d seen her scream and bleed, and who had now returned along with scant few others to re-do their final year.

She hated him. She also pitied him. More importantly, she hated him.

Today, he’d had the nerve to try and correct her part of their current project.

He took a deep breath before replying. “You can’t just assume that Scranton’s Formula applies in this instance. There are additional variable to consider—”

“I am not assuming!” she protested. “Scranton fits too perfectly to not be correct and whatever ‘other variables’ might exist don’t matter when the answer is obvious.”

She knew she was right. She couldn’t not be right, particularly with Malfoy thinking otherwise.

“Does that mean you’re already aware of Livingston’s Theorem?”

Hermione sputtered at the term, “Of course I’m aware of it! Livingston is not applicable here, or anywhere, really—”

“Why not?” Malfoy sat down and she absolutely hated that he did. It was like he expected their argument to take a long time.

“Livingston was a quack! Anyone who takes Divination into account like he does obviously knows nothing worth my time.” She refused to sit. She was right and there was nothing else to discuss.

“You are aware Arithmancy and Divination are related fields, right?” he pressed.

“They were such that Arithmancy evolved to include actual facts and data, rendering Divination completely useless.” She’d concede at least that much.

The few students still remaining behind in the classroom looked warily over at them almost like they were worried the two would break into a fight. Hermione wanted to roll her eyes at their unnecessary concern. 

“Why don’t we both submit our findings and we’ll allow Vector to decide who’s correct?” Malfoy suggested.

“Professor Vector.”

He looked amused at her correction, and it was that smug twitch of his lips that sent Hermione over the edge.

“God, I hate you,” she muttered.

All traces of a smile faded from his face, replaced with a grimace that vanished nearly as quickly as it had appeared. Hermione had the distinct feeling she was looking at a mask that only pretended to be Draco Malfoy.

“You’re welcome to write whatever you want, Granger. I’ll still include my own research and we can make it clear that our opinions and findings differ. Professor Vector should appreciate the additional viewpoints even if I’m wrong,” he said stiffly.

Before Hermione could respond, he gathered his belongings and walked away.

Hermione didn’t think she owed him an apology for snapping at him as she had, but she did feel a little hollow at the way he’d just taken it. Their arguments always seemed to end that way—she’d inevitably get so wound up that she’d say something cutting, something true, and he’d just…accept.

She wanted to feel satisfaction at turning the tables on the git, but instead all she felt was a lingering sense of incompleteness. Did she want to keep punishing him? Did she resent his presence at Hogwarts? Did she regret testifying for him?

No. Her answer to all three was ‘no’.

So then why did she keep acting the way she did towards him?

“I hate him,” she repeated quietly.

As she walked towards the doorway, she paused by the bookshelf lining the wall. In a moss green cover, title glinting silver, was Walter Livingston’s Reinterpretations on Arithmancy. She stared at it, chewing her lip, mind rapidly rehashing the details of her research.

She sighed and slid the book into her bag.

WC 821

Twitter prompt from DramionePrompts

Cross posted on Tumblr and AO3

I've missed writing Dramione shorts! I've been so wrapped up in larger projects with the fests I've signed up on, that I've neglected keeping up with the snippets I like. This one doesn't have much romance, but there is a hint of something...more...if you squint hard enough :P maybe acceptance? maybe someday friendship?

#dramione #dramione prompt #draco malfoy x hermione granger #hermione granger #draco malfoy

[hiswordsarekisses]

“In life, as I walk through the fields and plains. I stumble upon a single wild flower that has blossomed and sprouted.

A reflection of God's glory on display. It's fills my eyes with unfathomable beauty and majesty. The intricate details and immaculate design. The subtle, pervasive, and distinctive aroma. It's tenacious and unrelinquishing roots. It's rigorous and vigorous stem. And the variegated radiance of its leaves.

Our hearts always seem to be drawn to such an evasive array. It is unimaginable. It was never intentionally seeded nor planted. Yet, here it lies before my eyes. Existing and subsisting.

Predetermined and deliberate.

More than humanity could ever hope for. I can't fathom but to think aloud.

Even Solomon in all of his splendor was not dressed and adored like this dear wild flower. Yet, it did not labor or even spin. Still, here it is. But, am I the only one?

Out of the billions of people that walk this land; am I the only one that has stopped to enjoy such glorious beauty? To be transfixed on such variety and diversity? But before I blink, I see a petal fall.

It's fatal flaw. The reality of what is to come.

The curse of our brokenness.

The sign of its next season.

As my heart drops, it is filled with appreciation. The feared realization. I am the only one to ever witness this distinct flower.

To comprehend and grasp such tranquility. To notice its existence. It's intended and fixed purpose. To know that I will never understand this moment until it has now become a memory.

An echo within my thoughts.

To show me the state of my well-being. My own fragile humanity. My drained and frail spirit.

My delicate life.

But will it ever count?

Will it fulfill its holy purpose? To herald such a triumphant and glorious truth?

To be sent or be spent?

Will my reply be yes to both?

To be ready for either?

Oh how my heart clamps to comfortability and false security.

To chase my own dreams and desires. My redefinition of myself in my selfish pursuits.

My false delusions and distorted realities.

My schemes and plots to achieve such perfection to only discover a misconception.

My heart to remain unsatiable and determined to answer my preposterous plea.

To hide behind my own pride.

To try to create my own story and act like I give You the glory.

My wondering heart always wants to flee. Yet, it conceives utterly absurd lies to me.

Why can my eyes never seem to see?

I do not plan my life.

I didn't will to exist.

The hardships, temptations, and trials.

The waiting, anxiety, and worrying.

The pain and disappointment.

I did not ask for any of this.

Yet, I did. Because I live to die.

But die to live.

I am not much; but I invite others. For all to be gathered.

To witness me dying to my worst enemy. Myself.

So they can see You live.

For me to count a cost. And be indebted to grace.

To run a race to see my Savior's face.

Because of a stained tree and empty burial place.

To be here and gone within a short distinction and variance of time.

To exclaim though You slay me, I will still hope in You.

That if I perish, I perish.

All that matters is it is for Your Gospel and name to be known.

For others to cherish.

My heart just lingers to see the true source; the reflection of that glorious flower.

To see the scarred hands that wove its pattern and outline.

To see you bind the chains of the Pleiades and to loosen the cords of Orion.

To seek You and live.

To know that being close to You was always still too far.

As my heart cries out to be where You are. To perceive such divine love that I fail to assimilate.

To know You.

To know You as you have known me.

To participate in Your sufferings and death.

To know the power of Your resurrection.

To know the depths of your love based off the depth of Your sacrifice.

To know You intimately.

Being greater than all I have ever wanted.

To understand the wondrous mystery. How you do not accept me just as I am; yet you love me despite how I am.

I don't want the knowledge.

I don't want the information.

I do not want the opinions.

I want the truth.

I want to know you more than I know You.

I just want to know You.

Please just let me know You.

To know You as my Father and to be known as Your Son.

Because You are God and I am not.”

~ Soli Deo Gloria