#the fact that i came up with this after reading the actual bible says a lot

[mokis-art]

and when he saw all that had happened,

john got down on his knees and he

worshiped the angel, but the angel said

"do not do that!"

and when you saw all that had happened,

you got down on your knees and you

worshiped the preacher, and the preacher said

"i am god."

#religion tw #the fact that i came up with this after reading the actual bible says a lot #like so many pastors will use revelation to threaten people #but they always forget how important this passage is #for those who want the context its rev 22:8-9

[thesherrinfordfacility]

I mean Neil said once that the sequel involved Jesus arriving in America on a plane with secret service agents, and the S2 opening sequence shows a plane, so I'm... fairly confident that he's an adult? Jesus died when he was like 33 right

afternoon anon!!!✨ see i recall this (ask on neil's page?) and remember the response but cannot for the life of me find it anywhere (and im pretty good at Finding Stuff), do you - or anyone else reading for that matter - have a link to this? just so i can save it for future reference.

now, i hope you don't mind if i do this, but i would like to use this opportunity to parse out a more coherent rationale on the second coming, if that's okay? yeah? cool.

(previous incarnation of this theory).

thing is that the premise of the baby swap in s1 is based on the omen, right? takes at least a huge chunk of inspiration from that as the origin of how the antichrist came into the story. but it goes wrong, obviously, and there's a third baby thrown in the mix. makes a cursory wave to the omen, but isn't a carbon copy of it.

now i can't help but feel that narratively it would make sense to bookend this and have the second coming be a bit bollocksed up too. seems to be a theme in GO. and actually, when i thought about it (with extreme bias, granted, because im chomping at the bit on this theory), the second coming was potentially already fucked up anyway.

now, disclaimer time -

i completely get that people will look to the bible in reference to parsing out the second coming (or indeed any other theory). obviously i do too, for references to certain verses etc. in order to draw the relevant parallels. but there are multiple instances in GO where it is based on the bible or other texts, but doesn't follow it exactly; how GO portrayed the book of job, for example. it takes these texts, and distorts or reimagines them slightly or completely.

the way i see it, we are reading/watching GO as if this is in fact the true telling of those texts, as if (and not trying to be diminutive here) the bible is an inaccurate telling of GO, not the other way around - because, of course, we're seeing GO from the angel and demon that were 'actually there', so to speak.

im not saying that this - or any - of my theories are indisputably correct, far from it. but to me, with the information i have from the narrative as first source, and then looking at the referenced texts that inspired it, what i come up with, and write, is what makes sense to me. and it might make sense because it would be poetically apt, is in-keeping with how i interpret the characters, and/or is just plain funny or ironic (GO is after all, a comedy).

so whilst i fully anticipate people to duly correct me on how it all goes down in the bible (as they should, i love being educated!!!), please know that im not trying to deliberately misinterpret anything, but more trying to think outside the box, from the viewpoint of the GO story itself, and what direction would make the most sense in which it will reimagine these texts.

- exit disclaimer.

anyway! theory time!

so we have the imagery from the s2 sequence of the "thy kingdom come" plane, and this is obviously a reference to the resurrection as you've said, anon: that jesus arrives by plane. i truly love this imagery because if we take matthew 24:36 (KJV): "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.", the concept that in the great plan the date and time might finally be revealed in the form of a flight number, airport, and ETA is frankly hilarious to me. furthermore, "cometh with clouds" (revelation, 1:7 KJV) being reimagined as a literal plane landing again sets up the comedic backdrop so well.

now wherever the plane lands, whether from the US or to the US (again, don't have the original neil answer to refer to, but going based on your ask, anon, it's the latter), it regardless involves americans. this is where i feel it would be a perfect narrative symmetry opportunity to refer back to s1/the book, and reintroduce the dowlings.

and you might be wondering, "well no because GO set up the dowlings to be involved only insomuch that they were meant to be custodians of the antichrist - why would they also be involved in the second coming?" well, i wondered this too. the only conclusion i can come to, frankly, is GO!god having a very warped, twisted and ineffable sense of humour. they saw what satan had planned for the dowlings in inadvertently raising the antichrist, possibly did a bit of shifting around in the mystical threads, and decided that actually - just to throw in the wildcard of chaos - they should instead be the bearers of the second coming. this degree of mind-boggling ineffability, to me, would be comedically on-brand.

regardless; whilst just a theory, the whole thing makes sense to me - that in any case, the dowlings are going to make a reappearance. and with them, or on his own (if we follow the biblical telling that jesus was resurrected as he was from the crucifixion, at age 33yo, and therefore would suggest a timeskip from s2, but this isn't necessarily guaranteed - ie: might not be how GO chooses to portray it!), comes warlock. now we know that warlock was meant to be the antichrist, before crowley and the nuns managed to bugger it all up.

but heaven wouldn't necessarily know that its the dowlings arriving, right? presumably they'd just all gather on the tarmac awaiting the arrival, and lmao SIKE, it's bloody warlock. heaven hasn't met warlock, and therefore still think he's in fact jesus resurrected... but aziraphale has met him. he helped bloody raise him. and he knows now that he is essentially a normal kid/adult (albeit a very stuck-up one) and definitely not the second coming.

well then, if jesus was meant to be on that plane, according to the great plan, a plane being used by the dowlings... then why isn't it warlock? well, because the dowlings' actual baby isn't warlock. lets go back to the baby swap in the book/s1:

*apols, editing to correct this somewhat because it isn't quite right and lateral thinking is not my strong suit*

ANTICHRIST was meant to go to: the DOWLINGS. instead, went to: the YOUNGS. this is Adam.

YOUNG BABY was meant to go to: stay with the YOUNGS, but got mixed up. instead, went to: the DOWLINGS. this is Warlock.

DOWLING BABY was meant to go to: adoption/something nefarious instead, and indeed did. this is... Greasy Johnson.

and i love this for all sorts of reasons. now im lifting this next bit, essentially, from another ask of mine, but to keep things all in one place:

"greasy is posed as the antithesis of adam/antichrist, has a gang surrounding him that you could infer are loyal disciples, and is a mirror to adam in that adam on the whole seems to be a well-adjusted and morally-upstanding young boy.

i further think the fact that adam is the antichrist put against greasy being the second coming is a well positioned reflection on the nature vs nurture argument. ultimately adam grew up in a largely loving and supportive environment, and as the literal son of satan, you'd expect his nature, the circumstances of his birth, to rule out every other influence.

ultimately it does for a short time, but adams narrative iirc is that it is reflective of his desire to save the world... he wanted to get rid of things that were Wrong, and naively (he is still an 11-year old boy after all) thought that destroying the world and restarting it would do just that. his friends however reinforce in him that destruction and reparation are not the same thing, and so his upbringing, the nurture, wins.

greasy? we don't know a lot about him, only that he is a bully and represents the opposite of adam and the them... [and there exists] the whole [sic] analogy that greasy and the johnsonites vs adam and the them are meant to represent the hell vs heaven war..."

and then we have this small, relatively innocuous detail from the book:

as i said, possibly something of nothing. but the deliberate wording of 'breeding the fish', which is left out of s1, is - i like to think - a bit of a clue.

and before anyone comes for me on this, i am aware that this is based practically on fuck all of jack shit; im painfully aware of that. im aware that it deliberately misinterprets certain passages (not going to do the soapbox speech again, promise), but i just like to have fun. i honestly do not care if this is wrong; whatever happens in s3 should and will be better than anything i can come up with. yes, it's fun to get a prediction or speculation correct, of course it is, but it's not the endgame here. i get that others will have conflicting schools of thought, see things differently, or just plain think it's crap - that's okay! but, if that's the case, just move on from this post with a shake of your head. im not here to do anything other than have a good time, lads (gn)✨💓

edit 21/08: additional reading because now i feel vindicated: here from amuseoffyre, and my tags on this post too.

#im sorry i get a bit ranty in this anon none of that is directed at you at all im sorry it ended up on your ask #but we just need to let everyone have the space to come up with whatever batshit theories they like and have fun with it #this is such a lovely warm fandom and id love to see it remain that way!!! #good omens #not a shitpost but its good omens babyyyy #ask #also i havent proof read this so if there are any errors just pretend you didnt see them #s3 narrative spec #second coming/last judgement theory

[immasock]

Hello.... I just came back from church and I will worship demons again. Anyway, I just came into mind to Nephalem! Mc, (I love really OP MC) and I was forced to read the bible and another version that's the reason I've come to this conclusion. So like it's between Belith (the most powerful demon king who owns 85(?) demon legions) and Seraphina (the female version of the six winged seraphim) they do the nasty and boom demonangel baby whose raised in an human orphanage because God forbids and Bebelith's (uwu) kingdom opposed. And the child somehow almost terrorizes the entire human race without exposing themselves. Imagine those reactions from the bros + dateables hekhek. I really love the bible sometimes you know...

It’s been too long but my god I’m excited to do this one. I always love your ideas

Nephalem!MC + The Obey me boys

Pronouns: They/Them

The chaos

MC grew up as an orphan, going in and out of foster homes and different adoptive parents. It never lasted though. No one knew why. The kid seemed nice enough, if not a little quiet

Some say it was because they were too quiet. They never talked or bonded with the families. Others say that it was because the other families kept having kids of their own and decided they didn’t need MC anymore

But the real reason? The real reason was because they were actually a little terror

They would start out seeming innocent, sure, but that was all a part of their plan

After about a week though? They would start causing all sorts of chaos.

When MC got sent down to the Devildom, they thought it would be the same thing. They’d be there for maybe a month and then be sent back. But no, that’s not quite what happened

Lucifer:

When MC first came through the portal, he wasn’t quite sure what to make of them

He knew that something wasn’t quite right about them but that would have to be an issue for later

He has things to do

He assigned Mammon to deal with them while he went back to his office to check this “humans” file

Except wait

No

They are, in fact, not a human

Well fuck

This didn’t go like he planned

He immediately tells Diavolo, thinking he’d want to send MC back and get a new exchange student

But no

He wants to keep them

Of course 😑

Lucifer can’t do much else besides just proceed as normal, he supposes

But he does keep an eye on the kid

It’s bad enough that he’s got to be responsible for a child, but a Nephalem?

He’s going to be grey by the time the exchange program is over

Mammon:

He genuinely has no clue

I love him but he doesn’t have the faintest idea

MC walks through that portal and he just assumes they’re just some human

Honestly, he won’t figure it out unless he’s told or if he catches them doing something

Even then, he might just assume they’ve been hanging around Solomon too much

He is, however, a great target for MCs chaos

He’s constantly being messed with

His things go missing, only to show up in random places

Grimm will appear and disappear in front of him

You get the gist

He’s easy to mess with

Which is why MC likes to hang around him

But he doesn’t mind too much

Once he warms up to them at least

He enjoys the company

Leviathan:

He also doesn’t know

But it’s mostly just because he doesn’t care

He’s focused on his games and anime

I get the feeling that he would be all over it if he found out though

Like he would think that it’s super cool

He could absolutely figure it out if he decided to dedicate the brain power to it

But he’s got other things to worry about

He’s also pretty easy to mess with

But be careful

He’s not just gonna get over it quickly like Mammon does

While MC could probably take Levi, I wouldn’t recommend it

Maybe avoid doing anything to his collections

Satan:

He figures it out pretty quickly

He’s a smart demon

MC absolutely fascinates him

He spends a bunch of his free time studying them

Trying to figure out anything and everything he can about them

Well

Until MC decides to be a little shit

Books start going missing and showing back up with writing on the pages

His feather boa is nowhere to be found (Though Mammon and Asmodeus aren’t complaining about that one)

At one point, Satan got turned into a cat for a few hours

Okay he didn’t mind that one all that much but still

It’s about the principle

It’s not smart to mess with him either but oh well

Asmodeus:

Every time I do a child!mc, I say the same thing

He absolutely adores them

He thinks they’re adorable and he can’t wait to dress them up

Maybe not this one tho

He still thinks they’re cute and wants to do little fashion shows with them, but it’s not really going to go how he planned

It’s crazy

Makeup isn’t the right color and the clothes keep changing into other clothes

How weird

In reality, MC just doesn’t like being dressed up so they have to make it fun for themselves somehow

I don’t have much to say for Asmo

Except that he’s gonna be a bit of a good sport when it comes to the chaos that is MC

Beelzebub:

Honestly

He also does not notice that there’s something off about the “human”

He’s gonna be easy to mess with as well

But do be careful

Stay away from his food

We’ve all seen the rampages he goes on when someone touches his food

I think that he would just assume that MC is this fragile little child and so he’d try to protect them

But he’s in for a surprise the first time that someone tries to mess with them

You can imagine that he’s speechless when he sees MC, this small child, absolutely demolish some demon

Doesn’t have to be physically

They could verbally destroy some random demon trying to mess with them as well

Either way, he wasn’t expecting it

Belphegor:

Honestly, this could go either way

I don’t think he’d be able to tell right away

Which is where lesson 16 would come in

But I think that, based on how this MC would react, he’d figure out that something isn’t quite right after that

Like

There’s no way in hell this is some normal human, right?

Not after all that

Once he figures it out, he’d be pretty indifferent

He’d be put at ease that there isn’t a human staying with them

And he’d be more than happy to help them cause chaos

Especially if it’s directed towards Lucifer

Somehow tho

I don’t think he’d be that easy to fuck with

I feel like he’d be unbothered by anything they could do to him

Well

Mostly

Diavolo:

Once again, absolutely loves them

Even before he finds out

Which doesn’t take that long

Obviously

Since Lucifer found out and told him

I feel like he would be 100% on board with any mischief that they cause

Having to do all his princely duties all the time is so boring

He enjoys the entertainment

He would probably also be enamored with them

Wanting to see all that they can do

I dunno I wasn’t able to fall asleep last night so my brain isn’t very creative

He would try and involve them and what they can do in things and events

Most likely

He’s just excited

Barbatos:

He knew first

He just didn’t tell anyone

Because why would he?

I swear, this man lives for drama

He would never admit it but it’s true

Anyways

He doesn’t care either

As long as MC doesn’t cause problems

Which they absolutely will

I feel like his attitude towards MC would be similar to what it is with Dia and Luke

Just another child to look after

He’s fond of them tho

Don’t let him tell you otherwise

Simeon:

I don’t have much to say about him

He might be able to tell

Or he might not

If he does, he definitely does that thing he does where he doesn’t outright say he knows, but he drops hints

Like

He might make a passing comment about how MC is similar to some of the angels he knows

And then a day later say how they remind him of one of the brothers

He would definitely wait for MC to outright tell him tho to actually say anything

He’s respectful like that

Solomon:

He knows

Maybe not right away but pretty early on

He’s also absolutely fascinated

He wants to do so many tests on them

Surely they react differently to his potions and spells, no?

Maybe they’ll love his cooking like the rest of them

That’s what he thinks at least

Or not

It’s been a while since I’ve played but I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew no one liked his cooking but he kept doing it just to take the piss

He’s such an asshole and I love him

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me mc #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphie #obey me belphegor #obey me asmo #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me simeon #obey me solomon

[morganrat]

The Resurrection of John Ward

A Faith: The Unholy Trinity alternate universe, created by me :3

(probably contains some game spoilers)

How it is...

!!IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS!!

✦ THIS ISN'T SUPER IN DEPTH, it is SIMPLE!! My Father Ward wasn't created with anything deep in mind, the headcanons just diverged too much and I ended up making a mini story hdjdjshdshj

✦ I BARELY KNOW WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT!! I've never actually played FTUT, I'm just going off of fandom wikis and youtube videos

✦ IM PROJECTING A LOT!! This is MY little thing IM working on that I created. This isn't for any of you, it's a way for me to cope and look into myself and my religious trauma and yall are just here for the ride

✦ I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT PLOTHOLES!! It really ain't that serious 😭 (it gets less serious and more casual as i keep writing LMAO)

now that that's outta the way,

How he came to be...

✦ After submitting to the evil he was destined to defeat, allowing the initiation of the Profane Sabbath, Father Ward is no more. Everyone's memories, the Martin house, Amy, Michael, his entire existence wiped clean from the face of the universe.

Well, in HIS universe...

✦ Meanwhile someone not that far away was observing very intently. Being plastered onto millions of screens, he would come to be FAR from forgotten.

✦ Fueled by surges of passion, obsession, and the usage of way too much ink, Father Ward would come to be yet again.

✦ His soul being handed to the one holding the pen that brings him life, Father Ward is rebirthed as an angel in the new world. The honoring of him despite his faith being destroyed, gives him another chance.

How he is doing...

✦ After a little while of confusion surrounding the sudden change in his environment and physique, he quickly became adjusted to his new home.

✦ He slowly starts to loosen up, wandering the new universe appreciating its unusual beauties.

✦ He has nearly nothing to dread now, for his vengeful god and twisted devil have no reign over him here. You can say his faith is dwindling especially after what happened, realizing his god is not in fact infinite.

✦ He DOES still suffer from horrible nightnares, about Amy and the Profane Sabbath...

✦ He also still smokes, his asthma is still very much present, and he has been to the emergency room on several occasions (and counting 😭)

✦ Though it seems like every day he starts to look younger and healthier, with no bible to read he picks up gardening, now carrying with him a flower instead of a cross. His cassock is also now a comfy onesie :3

More about him... (silly)

✦ Before picking up gardening, he attempted to cook and bake! That didn't last long though, he set the ovenstove on fire four times now... When he isn't causing a grease fire though, he can make MEAN scrambled eggs 🗣❗ im talkin GORDON RAMSAY typa shit

✦ Severely allergic to dandelions, he finds ONE in his garden and he freaks the fuck out, Father Ward is vehemently against using any kind of pesticides though

✦ Holding hands with him is nice, his paws are calloused yet gentle from manual labor, he clips his claws regularly so he doesnt accidently hurt the flowers <3

✦ He has paw beans

✦ He secretly sings silly little songs when nobody's around (and when there are people, he hums), it helps him calm down from waves of anxiety, kinda like @littledoof's panic singing LMAO

✦ Father Ward is also growing accustomed to the other residents, the millions of people he reaches in the online space. He's a bit closed off (for now) but still kind to everyone he meets

✦ YES Father Ward IS interactive!! You can talk to him through my ask box, and he will frequently mingle with other posts he finds to be interesting!

✦ Settling down from all the fighting demons and counting the days, slowly but surely he is beginning to find peace, and you all are with him for the journey if youd like to be :)

@400-gallons-of-catholic-guilt

taggin you bc u said u were excited :>

#morganrat art #ask morganrat #TROJW #The Resurrection of John Ward #john ward #john ward faith #faith john ward #faith the game #faith airdorf #faith the unholy trinity #faith game #my au #my au art #ftut #ftut bad ending #game spoilers #cw religious trauma #religious trauma mention #john ward fanart #john ward headcannons #little meow meow #i need to stop constantly editing this and just post it already 😭

[queerprayers]

Hi! Could i ask you about your thoughts on judas please? Do you think he knew he had to fulfill the prophecy? Do you think he went to hell, if so, why wasn't he forgiven as well? Sorry if these are stupid questions, i'm a bit new to bible study and the bible in general

Thank you, beloved, for an excuse to talk about Judas! Here we go! And these aren't stupid questions at all—actually, they're questions continuously debated throughout history by even experts.

*This is a content warning for mentions of Judas's suicide and discussion of its motivations/implications. No explicit/violent details.*

To my knowledge, here are the main interpretations/readings of Judas:

Judas is the ultimate evil. He betrayed our Lord and Savior and killed himself in shame. His possible motivations could be: personal hatred/jealousy, theological/ideological issues, greed, possessed/tempted by devil, political issues/felt a duty to the empire, and/or selfishness (fear of arrest/execution by association).

What was meant to happen happened. Judas was a necessary part of God's plan, and whether he knew it or not, he helped complete the mission. He didn't do the right thing, per se, but he did the necessary thing.

Judas had good intentions—he thought if he willingly handed Jesus over, less harm would be done to Jesus, his followers, and the wider Jewish community.

You could back up many of these views with Scripture. And all of them are valuable to consider. Here are my thoughts:

Judas was handpicked by Jesus. Jesus called those he wanted, that they might be with him and send them out to preach. Judas was not a spy from the beginning, impersonating discipleship or scheming to destroy his Master—Luke says he became a traitor. He had joined Jesus's followers, and became close with his teacher. There is much we don't know about him, but we know he was supposed to be there. I do believe Jesus loved Judas as a dear friend, as well as a child of God. Jesus knowing someone would hurt him did not prevent him from seeking out all the love he know he would also experience—this is a microcosm of his relationship with every human. Jesus seeks out relationships with people he knows will betray him, over and over. "Do what you came for, friend"—even at the end, he was beloved.

In John, Jesus tells Judas, "What you are about to do, do quickly." Some have interpreted this as Jesus wanting Judas to carry out his plan, because it's necessary for Jesus's mission. You could also hear it as a plea, though, and this is how I hear it today. "Judas, I know what you have done, and will do. I know your heart. Go. Do it. Great things will come of it, but it will hurt me. At least do it quickly. Don't sit here with me any longer."

I don't know how much Judas knew. It's clear in Jesus's conversations with his disciples that Jesus himself is the only one who knows the whole story. Killing yourself after a betrayal doesn't scream confidence in the necessity/goodness of the act to me. And killing yourself before the story is over doesn't seem like you know the whole story. Perhaps a prophecy like that can only be fulfilled when it happens, not when someone tries to bring it about. Or maybe he did know. Maybe he sacrificed himself, knowing someone had to bring this about. I don't think we can know.

The Satan/demonic possession angle is interesting to look at. Luke and John both say that Satan entered him—you could be literal, but for me this doesn't describe a supernatural event, but a human one. Satan is the adversary, the opposite of God, evil. Evil enters us all the time, whenever we carry out something that is adversarial to God. Satan entering into Judas is him making up his mind. It's him giving in to evil, the moment of evil overpowering his heart.

Greed as a motivation is present in Matthew, where Judas explicitly asks how much money he would receive if he betrayed Jesus. In the other Gospels, the silver seems to be more of a reward/payment after the fact.

Whatever reason he had, however he convinced himself that it would be okay, whether he wanted money or safety or a new beginning, he had a hand in the execution of a (by most metrics) innocent man, and it wasn't worth it. He was filled with remorse and tried to return the money. No matter how much Satan Judas had in him, he still had love, too. And it wouldn't let him rest.

This is the biggest tragedy of Judas's story, and the reason he sticks with me: if you'll permit me to quote a favorite sitcom of mine, he quit before the miracle happened. He heard Jesus's sentence, and killed himself before the execution. Yes, he spared himself witnessing/hearing about/processing Jesus' death, but he also prevented himself from witnessing Jesus' resurrection. He couldn't deal with the guilt, and so did not witness redemption. If only he had stayed three more days. If only he could have seen that he didn't ruin everything, that there was hope. If only he had reached out to his friends, begged for forgiveness, mourned with them. I do not know what would have happened, or what Jesus would have said to him. He took away that possibility of earthly forgiveness with his own hands. He removed himself from the story.

I reread some relevant passages to answer this ask, and I noticed a couple things I've never considered before. First, that Judas received the first Communion. I guess I just never thought about it, but this strikes me today. Jesus also washed his feet at that supper. And then, reading John, I wept reading all that Jesus tells his disciples after Judas has left. If he had stayed, he would have heard, "In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me." He would have heard, "Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy." Maybe his heart would not be changed, but perhaps, later, he would have remembered those words, and held on.

Over and over again, I just think, if only he had stayed. Lingered at the table a few moments more. Mourned his teacher and friend properly. Permitted himself life a few days longer. Left himself open to miracles. May we remember this lesson in our darkest moments.

Oh, a bonus point: We all know Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. But in Luke, as Judas approaches him in order to kiss him, Jesus asks him if that's what he's planning to do, and it seems he never ended up kissing him. Forgive me for this lack of commentary, but I can't emotionally process this. Let's move on.

We are not told by the gospels whether Judas is forgiven. We are not told where his soul rests. We're given the facts, but not much else—no clear motivation, no moral, no epilogue. We don't know how the other apostles reacted, or if Jesus visited his grave. He does what he does, disappears from the narrative, and we are left with the pieces.

I have complicated thoughts about Hell, but however we imagine life after death (something I don't think is even possible for us to process) I can't see any child of God being abandoned, much less one picked and known intimately by Jesus. Judas received the first Communion. He embraced the living, breathing God. And yes, he threw it all away, in more than one way, but he is not forgotten.

I sometimes see Hellfire as love that we aren't able to accept. Rejecting life and the possibility of forgiveness the way Judas did, and then meeting God? That would burn. That sounds like the most painful thing of all. 

But there are miracles on the other side. Maybe it's taken him two thousand years to exist with Jesus peacefully, but I pray every day that he is.

Here are some things that make feel things about Judas:

Judas by Jeff Loveness and Jakub Rebelka (graphic novel)

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Stephen Adly Guirgis (play)

The Last Temptation of Christ, 1988 (movie)

Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (musical)

Corpus Christi by Terrence McNally (play)

"The Ballad of Judas Iscariot" by Robert Williams Buchanan (poem)

"The Ballad of Reading Gaol" by Oscar Wilde (poem)

"Judas" by The Reverent Marigold (song)

this post by illuminirk

this post by apriki

this post by notbecauseofvictories

everything boykeats has ever posted in his judas tag

"The Betrayal of Judas Iscariot" by overwhelmed (short story) (You're gonna have to bear with me as I link you to a fanfiction website on a Bible post. It's good, I mean it.)

God be with you as you study the Bible, and come as you are. Bring your baggage, and your weird feelings, and your compassion for the villains of the story, and your "stupid" questions.

<3 Johanna

#asks #judas #the wilde poem isn't about judas but it references him and the implications are gay so it's on the list <3

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 1 - Side B

John Gaius art cred @exmakina

Propaganda below ⬇️

book quote from the chapters where he's relating how he got necromantic powers and people freaked out!! this is pre-apocalypse and resurrection so it's implied he took a lot of inspiration from this incident . He said, Then we took off. Thread after thread on message board after message board. People wanting proof. People asking what the fuck it meant. People talking about the LUCIFER telescope and saying we were aliens. People calling me the Antichrist, which was a trip. People writing up these long posts on how the trick was done, how I got the meat into the pie. Was I fake? Was I real? If I was real, what did it mean? Suddenly there were hundreds of people, all there at our front door. They came in caravans, they were sleeping in their cars or putting up tents. A hell of a lot of them had flown out internationally. He said, Some of them wanted to see the miracle. Some of them wanted my help, like, Oh, you’re the magical death man, can you do something about my body? Can you fix my fibromyalgia? Thing was, I could. That surprised me. I could take out their tumours. I could fix their macular degeneration. Big damage was easy, unless they’d actually lost the limb or whatever. Couldn’t grow those back. But I spent hours and hours a day playing Jesus. That was nice, those were some of the nicest hours I got to spend. He said, But when you’re doing the whole Go, my child, your knee cartilage is fixed, you’re going to get a lot of visitors. I had to turn people away because I had to eat, I had to sleep, even though I didn’t want to. M— had brought in her best friend, the nun, and I was worried I was going to get the Antichrist bit from her too, but she was just like: stop doing this! Read your Bible! This was Christ’s whole problem! I was like, What are you talking about, Jesus cured the lepers and everyone was all, Hooray, thanks man. M—’s nun was all, Are you kidding, Christ never said no and never asked anyone to pay and got way too much attention and brought the heat down on everybody. Christ didn’t keep to office hours, she said. Don’t do that. He said, So we limited Jesus stuff to one hour a day, and I always had to eat breakfast. But by then the whole world was on our doorstep.

look this is kind of weird but he is the only survivor after nuclear bombs destroy the earth and he has weird necromancy powers so he revives his friends and a few other people to be his subjects and basically makes himself a god to them. there's a lot of layers since he's literally the only character in the entire series who remembers the world before and has a concept of the religion he's copying for his own. he treats the other characters like toys he can push around for his own amusement and everything is a joke but he does this world-weary act that somehow gets the reader to kind of feel for him even when he's being atrocious. and he's the only one who remembers memes. which is a torture all of its own.

I said "yes" but to be more clear: he was canonically Catholic when he was still mortal, but that was 10,000 years ago and he kind of killed everybody on the planet. Just slightly. Some of them got better. Now he's the Emperor Undying and his empire is very Catholic-coded.

Frank

He was in training to become a priest and! Fun fact! Is second generation immigrant!

#john gauis #the locked tomb #frank castle #the punisher #cct polls #tumblr tournament #tumblr bracket #tumblr polls

[tradmidwestman]

How Catholicism is warped.

Let's have a discussion about this. I'm open to having my mind changed, but I'd like to explain some reasons I'm not Catholic and refuse to be. And I'll use the Bible directly in my arguments as to why. Feel free to let me know if I'm wrong about Catholicism and what I get wrong.

And yeah, there's small stuff. Like the Bible says not to call a priest "Father" (Matthew 23:9), which Catholicism calls for. But let's get into the more meaningful issues.

Salvation by sacraments and good works.

As I understand it, Catholics believe good works are your way to buy into heaven. As long as you do enough good deeds, then you're all set. However in the Bible, Ephesians 2:8-9, clearly states that it is by grace and faith that you are saved, not good deeds. This is also where the idea that you can be absolved of your sins at your deathbed comes from, which is not at all Biblical.

Praying the rosary.

The idea of using some object to pray to or use as a sort of focus in seeking to be forgiven is nowhere in the Bible. In fact there's quite a bit of talk about idols, but I'll get to that. Counting the rosary is a very foreign concept to the Bible, but is a basic practice in Catholicism. Instead Acts 16:31 tells us to believe in Jesus to be saved.

Praying to/worshipping Mary.

Arguably the most obvious of idols. Mary was certainly a wonderful woman to be praised, but she is not a figure to be worshipped. She was a normal human woman. I understand some also consider the mention of her being "full of grace" or similar to mean she was sinless. Hopefully I don't need to quote the Bible about Jesus being sinless, but he was the ONLY human to be sinless. As 1 John 1:8 points out. This would include Mary, and to claim she was sinless is outright ignoring the Bible's teachings.

Transubstantiation.

Catholics believe that the eucharist is the literal blood and flesh of Jesus. Ignoring that this was only started in the 13th century, it already feels pretty outlandish to imagine wine and bread being turned into blood and flesh (nevermind the many ethical issues that brings up, especially cannibalism). The Bible is clear that the bread and wine are SYMBOLS to remember Jesus by. I strongly urge reading Luke 22 and focus on it. 22:19, saying the bread is in remembrance of Jesus. And 22:18 where he states he will not drink from this fruit of the vine again. He's saying it's still literally bread and wine. Jesus also said he is the door, the lamb, the way, the light, and other things. No one believes that he was literally any of these things. And yet the wine and bread are supposed to literally be his blood and flesh?

Catholicism has a history of refusing the Bible.

I hope I don't need to dive into much history to point this out, but there's few things that would make Catholics want to kill than someone who actually read and followed the bible. Is it any surprise that Martin Luther's 95 Theses came only a few decades after the Gutenberg Bible? Before that, Catholicism treated those who branches off to follow the Bible as worse than Muslims. We could talk extensively about the political corruption of the church since it ever began (but then we get "The Catholic Church is the original church," as if every other Christian branch can't claim the same, much less act like that carries any value is noting the constant warping and shifting the Catholic church has gone through over the centuries including today). Even today the Catholic church is very clear that it's okay to read the Bible if you really want, but you're strictly forbidden to take any interpretation that the church doesn't itself offer. Similarly catholicism pushes tradition (which is consistently inconsistent) instead of God's word. Which 1 Peter 1:18 is clear that Jesus paid your ransom with his blood, not the tradition of your forefathers. And especially in the case of Catholicism, following many pagan practices.

Mass

I'd argue this is one of the most blasphemous acts that Catholics perform. Turning Jesus' death itself into an idol. The idea of Mass is that Jesus is sacrificed again on the cross for our sins every mass. Clearly Jesus' actual death wasn't good enough as far as Catholics are concerned. Even when Jesus said "it is finished" (John 19:30). There really is nothing more to be said or done. Jesus does not need to be killed again every weekend, yet Catholics seek it. Hebrews 10:18 also says that it is no longer necessary to sacrifice for our sins. So why is Mass still performed against the Bible's word?

Purgatory

Purgatory is a core belief in Catholicism. It doesn't exist at all in the Bible. Clearly a great fear tactic of the Church to get more money as part of earning karma points, buying your way into heaven. Purgatory is another pagan belief, like the Greek myths of Sisyphus or the lack of toll in crossing the river Stix.

The Pope

I'm all for having leaders in the faith and having one man to lead the faith. I'm not for a man acting as if God speaks to or through him, like a prophet. Or that he is infallible. Or that a pope is even Biblical (I hope I don't have to explain that Peter was NOT a pope). The practice of the Pope is, at best, very warped. And at worst a pagan practice that Catholics happily follow. The Popes throughout history have contradicted and condemned each other. Something that wouldn't happen if they were all acting in God's place or, at least, a messenger of God.

I can go on, but this also already very long. So feel free to point out where I'm wrong and your concerns. I'd like to understand how Catholics handle all these issues.

#protestant #baptist #lutheran #catholic #christian #values #western #community

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Moyers: Do you give people who make this case, that that was the beginning and that there had to be something that provoked the beginning, do you give them an A at least for trying to reconcile faith and reason?

Tyson: I don’t think they’re reconcilable.

Moyers: What do you mean?

Tyson: Well, so let me say that differently. All efforts that have been invested by brilliant people of the past have failed at that exercise. They just fail. And so I don’t, the track record is so poor that going forward, I have essentially zero confidence, near zero confidence, that there will be fruitful things to emerge from the effort to reconcile them.

So, for example, if you knew nothing about science, and you read, say, the Bible, the Old Testament, which in Genesis, is an account of nature, that’s what that is, and I said to you, give me your description of the natural world based only on this, you would say the world was created in six days, and that stars are just little points of light much lesser than the sun. And that in fact, they can fall out of the sky, right, because that’s what happens during the Revelation.

You know, one of the signs that the second coming, is that the stars will fall out of the sky and land on Earth. To even write that means you don’t know what those things are. You have no concept of what the actual universe is. So everybody who tried to make proclamations about the physical universe based on Bible passages got the wrong answer.

So what happened was, when science discovers things, and you want to stay religious, or you want to continue to believe that the Bible is unerring, what you would do is you would say, “Well, let me go back to the Bible and reinterpret it.” Then you’d say things like, “Oh, well they didn’t really mean that literally. They meant that figuratively.”

So, this whole sort of reinterpretation of the, how figurative the poetic passages of the Bible are came after science showed that this is not how things unfolded. And so the educated religious people are perfectly fine with that. It’s the fundamentalists who want to say that the Bible is the literally, literal truth of God, that and want to see the Bible as a science textbook, who are knocking on the science doors of the schools, trying to put that content in the science room. Enlightened religious people are not behaving that way. So saying that science is cool, we’re good with that, and use the Bible for, to get your spiritual enlightenment and your emotional fulfillment.

Moyers: Do you have any sympathy for people who seem to only feel safe in the vastness of the universe you describe in your show if they can infer a personal God who makes it more hospitable to them, who cares for them?

Tyson: In this, what we tell ourselves is a free country, which means you should have freedom of thought, I don't care what you think. I just don't. Go think whatever you want. Go ahead. Think that there is one God, two gods, ten gods, or no gods. That is what it means to live in a free country. The problem arises is if you have a religious philosophy that is not based in objective realities, that you then want to put into the science classroom. Then I am going to stand there and say no I am not going to allow you in the science classroom. I am not telling you what to think. I am just telling you in the science classroom you are not doing science. This is not science. Keep it out. That is when I stand up. Otherwise, go ahead. I am not telling you how to think.

==

Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Proverbs 14:12

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

2 Corinthians 10:5

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ

Even the bible says that faith and reason are irreconcilable.

Faith rebukes reason.

#Neil DeGrasse Tyson #Bill Moyers #christianity #bible #science #science vs religion #religion vs science #religion #religion is a mental illness

[onimiman]

Easter 2024 and Easter 1850

Today, Easter falls on the exact same date as the Easter of the final overall year of the excursions made by the lawless American scalp hunting gang led by John Joel Glanton. 23 days after Easter 1850, Glanton and the majority of his gang were massacred by a band of Quechans.

On what would be a holy day for many, I bring this up to talk a little bit about Blood Meridian. Where many take comfort within the words of the Bible, Blood Meridian is a gospel of evil, as author Cormac McCarthy fictionalizes the actions of the Glanton gang and even changed up how Glanton himself was killed (in real life, he was scalped; in the book, his head was split by an axe down the middle to his thrapple [or throat]). What truly makes Blood Meridian a gospel of evil more than a mere novel chronicling a nihilistic band of rapists and murderers is, of course, through the words of its infamous main antagonist, Judge Holden, who is effectively Glanton's second-in-command.

Holden's famous declaration of whatever exists in nature without his knowledge exists without his consent is essentially him attempting to usurp God (if He even exists), or at least God's function as suzerain of the earth. One would think that would be contradictory to his later statement in the novel that war is god, that it is something primal and has always existed before man himself ever came about. But when you think about it, Holden's immortality, as demonstrated in the novel's closing pages as they detail his agelessness, cements him as the incarnation of evil so much so that many readers theorize that he himself is literally Satan, and his declaration that he never sleeps, that he will never die, may be truer than we know. For if he is an undying avatar of evil, he is an undying avatar of war, one of the most, if not the most, foulest activities that man could ever engage in. So when Holden says that war is God, he is saying that he himself is God (or at least wishes to be) without actually saying it.

Those who hold such beliefs as decreed in the Bible can and obviously will dismiss this as nothing more than the ramblings of a possible demon made flesh in a work of fiction (though he was based off of a real-life historical figure who was more than likely nothing more than a mere man). But know this: those who read Blood Meridian will know that at no point are any of Holden's claims about the world ever contradicted, at least not to any significant extent, especially when the world in which he and the other characters occupy is easily one of the bleakest, darkest, and most violent worlds to ever exist. And the fact that he is allowed to dance in the end, even in the face of a coming apocalypse that will see to the end of the world in which he inhabited via the novel's epilogue, demonstrates that for whatever progress humanity will make, war, and therefore evil, will endure in some fashion or other as long as humans live.

Happy Easter, everyone!

#blood meridian #judge holden #cormac mccarthy #john joel glanton #easter

[olderthannetfic]

Two of the recent asks on your blog just made me realise how fucking EXHAUSTED I am of of all the "boy who cried wolf" and "boy who vaguely heard about a stray dog looking for food in their area and decided it was obviously an invasion of rabid wolves" situations on this website, and in fandom in general.

I hate that my first thought when someone on anon talks about being groomed as a minor by an older person who "let" them interact with their nsfw fanworks, is "let me guess, is this gonna turn into a spiel about how because minors often ignore warnings and can't be trusted not to lie about their age to strangers online, everyone who posts nsfw anywhere but on places you need to be given a password or to pay actual money to access is a pedophile?" Because I've already seen every possible version of "checking out the rating, warnings, and tags and clicking "proceed" when the "this work could contain adult content" thing shows up isn't the same as consenting to see adult content" and I'm fully prepared for the day when we all get hit with "if you're an adult and don't have Minors DNI in all your social media profiles and your fandom accounts you're clearly a predator.""

And I hate that my first thought when someone on anon talks about being uncomfortable with some literature classic and getting told they're just too sensitive or equated with pro-censorship people is, "yeah, well, assuming it really went like that, people ARE gonna be on the lookout for the next big clout-chasing "Mark Twain was a horrible racist bastard for not foreseeing how the English language would evolve and not using words appropriate for a modern audience so having students read Tom Sawyer in school is basically a hate crime" or "there is sexist content in 1984 which means George Orwell was a pretentious hack with nothing of value to say about society or politics" thing, or the next person saying "Emily Bronte was just some idiotic romance-addicted white woman trying to pass a toxic abusive relationship as Twu Wuv" and proclaiming themselves the one lonely enlightened feminist in the land, or the next fic writer "Dante was just some racist homophobic creep who wrote some weird Bible fic so his blatant Self Insert could keep on harassing the girl he was obsessed with even after her death" to prove they're so forward-thinking and original and deserve to be regarded as a BNF defending fandom as a whole against the hordes of evil literature professors supposedly out to destroy it... I mean, this is the website that came up with "don't use a quote about Orestes and Pylades for your OTP because that's an incest" and "gay men shouldn't call themselves Achillean because Achilles and Patroclus might have had a pederastic relationship" yet worship Sappho as this relatable quirky wlw icon without giving a single fuck about the fact that she might be the one surviving example we have of institutionalized female pederasty, and I'd trust it to fall for a whole new MedievalPOC scam before I'd trust it to give a nuanced take on any kind of literary work, ESPECIALLY any literary work older than the early 2000s."

Sometimes I just feel the wolf could be right there howling at my door and I'd probably just say "ugh, great, those stupid kids got into my brain enough that now I can't even go about my day without imagining that there's a fucking wolf howling for no reason" and not even check out of the window. Or I'd check and still assume the wolf is just a big dog even then.

--

It's a genuine problem. Because there are still predators out there.

[fearandhatred]

Gonna spam your inbox with these get ready :) for the fandom questions 30 & 43 and for the fic writer questions 17 & 24

sonny these questions are HARD

ask game || ask 1

30: what inspires you to write?

everything and nothing ngl ideas come to my head whenever the hell they want which sometimes is very rarely. but One thing i can say for sure inspired me in general was a little life by hanya yanagihara. yeah i will not shut up about this book. i feel like my writing style actually changed so much after reading it and sometimes i just go back to the book and read some random pages for inspiration because i love how hanya writes

43: is there anyone in your fandom who really inspires you?

not in particular actually... i do admire the creators in this fandom in general and i've read very very good works (yours included btw!!), but there's no one particular person that is inspiring in the sense that my work reflects something that i've taken away from theirs like i explained in the previous question. but there are moments where i read a fic or a comment and i feel a burst of motivation to write lol

17: if you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be?

alas i am not one of those people who have been writing since young for some reason, even though i have historically enjoyed writing compositions and fiction assignments for school. i didn't even think i could write and a year ago i would NEVER have thought i could write a multi-chaptered fic. idk if it's because i got more time/motivation after i graduated from high school but that's only when i really started getting ideas and inspiration after reading or watching something. so advice for my younger self would be uhhh:

just Write. sometimes i'll think i don't have an idea or i won't be able to write a scene in the way i want, but once i actually start it just happens naturally!! like half the metaphors i come up with are just me saying shit i made up on the spot and sometimes it makes sense

write down anything you come up with even if it's just a word or a setting. i have certain phrases in my good omens fics that i pulled from random lines i wrote down like three years ago because i liked how they sounded. and other times i look back at my notes from a week ago and i have no idea what i meant by it but at least it's funny (once i just wrote "swivel chair" in my notes and to this day i don't remember why)

24: have you ever become an expert on something you previously knew nothing about, in order to better a scene or a story?

omg i'm so boring but not really LMAOO i think it's because when i come up with fic ideas that i actually want to write, it's mostly about exploring relationships and how relationships and a character's history affects them as people (it's the sociologist in me). so plot isn't really my thing—which is why i never thought i would be able to write multi-chaptered fics because i used to write short reflective pieces. even for transitional heart taxidermy, the plot i came up with was secondary to what i wanted to write about which was crowley and aziraphale's relationship lmao

at most i'll go back and really analyse the source material to make sure i get the facts right. like dialogue and scenes and layouts etc. for the bible fic i... read the bible lol to see diction and pacing and how the verses were formatted. and for blood in my eyes i joined the discord to find a layout of aziraphale's bookshop for Accuracy

#fearandhatred #fearandasks #fearandfics #again thank u bestie for the ask <3 #good omens

[zee-has-commitment-issues]

Hello, my loves. This is so off topic for my blog, so like I apologize for that.

I got really really bored. If y'all don't know, I left the Christian faith after spending literally my entire life there (like I was a youth leader and the music worship leader at my church for years). These years have provided me with a knowledge about the Bible I will simply never forget because wow. I have read the Bible 12 times. The Bible is full of ridiculous stories. So I have complied a list:

The Most Batshit Ridiculous Stories in the Bible (off the top of my head):

Matthew 21:18-22

TLDR: So, essentially, Jesus just fucking kills a tree because it's not in harvest season. Like walked up to a tree and was like "gimme the fruit" and the tree was like "bruh it's December, I don't have fruit" so Jesus was like "then perish" and it did.

Full Verse is:

18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. 20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked. 21 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

1 Samuel 18:27

TLDR: Daniel wants to get married, but the bride's father doesn't want that. So he sends Daniel on a quest to collect the foreskins of his 100 enemies. He 100% thinks Daniel will die on this quest because who the fuck goes around collecting the foreskins of enemies? But Daniel not only succeeds, but comes back with double the foreskins he was required to retrieve.

Full Verse is:

27 Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.

Judges 14:6

TLDR: Samson was strolling with his parents, saw a lion, and for some reason decided to just rip it in half? Like figured that was the only way to keep the lion from interrupting his family time. The lion didn't even fucking attack.

Full Verse is:

6 The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done.

Luke 14:25-26

TLDR: Jesus just fucking straight up tells his friends that they have to hate their parents and themselves if they want to continue being friends with him. That is real. This actually happens in the Bible. This is often referred to as the "Cost of Discipleship."

Full Verse is:

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

There are others. Like the fact that Jonah was swallowed by a fish. Or there was one guy whose donkey straight up called him a bitch. Or the fact that one other guy put tree bark in front of his goats and that somehow created zebras. I literally could go on for hours. These are the ridiculous stories of the bible.

#zee got bored #the bible is ridiculous sometimes

[hatepersonals]

New Age -> Christianity

Regard this as an open letter, a personal testimony, and an invitation.

I recognize that when an individual first starts on the spiritual path, they encounter many bad faith actors, that whether for monetary gain, or misguided intentions, lead people astray onto a path of confusion and deceit. Acknowledging the existence of such bad actors, I lay before you my sole purpose and motive in writing this.

I followed new age spirituality, it constantly confused me, lead me astray with false teachings and because I had such a bad experience with Christianity, I refused to go anywhere near it or believe other people when they pointed me towards it. Finally after being lied to, I came to Christ in the most personal manner I could. I read the bible on my own, because I didn't want my family to "right" I came to my own personal decisions, and asked for God to show me a sign so that I know I'm going in the right direction. He showed me a sign and I didn't believe it, so I asked for another, then he showed me another, then I asked for another sign, and eventually after 7 or 8 signs I finally got the memo. I believed in him, read his word so that I could understand him, and I truly believe it saved my soul. I'm writing this to offer that same thing to you.

And because clarity is my main and only objective goal here I'd like to make something as clear as possible, and answer some super common questions in the most upfront manner possible.

"I've seen hundreds of signs, or my tarot reading/mystic stuff has been spookily correct. How am I supposed to believe that stuff wasn't real?" - I don't deny any of the stuff you're saying, witchcraft isn't denied in the Bible, in fact it's existence is mentioned multiple times. However, none of it, no matter how fascinating or interesting, is going to save your soul.

"I grew up in the church, but it never felt right for me and all this stuff feels like it makes a lot more sense/I've had such a bad experience with "Christians" that I have religious trauma, and this stuff makes me feel much more comfortable." - Was the exact same way, but I'd only come to know Christ through other people, or through long boring church services which I'd rather eat dirt than sit through. Waking up early Sunday morning and forced into a pew to listen to a pastor talk about all the bad ways your living your life and calling you a sinner, when you're just 10 years old and want to go back to bed is a shared experience. It's just as awful for me as an adult as it was then. A quote I heard once goes a long the lines of "I'd rather be in the mountains thinking about God, then in the church thinking about the mountains." and while I don't claim to have God's actual input, I'd imagine he feels the same way about worship, he is the God of love. For the second questions, yes for me it felt much more comfortable, it was fun doing tarot readings and I honestly enjoyed them, but when I came to God I still wanted to do them, and I decided to ask his opinion, because, yknow, he did create me and everything. What I came to realize is all of those practices are actively inviting other spirits besides God into your life, call them demons, call them spiritual entities, regardless, he is a jealous God. Not that he gets mad at you for doing it and punishes you, but more so that he's very protective of those he loves. And none of the spirits you let in through these things have any type of good intentions, no matter how fun and inviting it looks. Here's some scripture that might help you understand that this is nothing new;

2 Corinthians 11: "Does this mean that I do not love you? God knows it doesn’t, but I am determined to maintain this boast, so as to cut the ground from under the feet of those who profess to be God’s messengers on the same terms as I am. God’s messengers? They are counterfeits of the real thing, dishonest practitioners, “God’s messengers” only by their own appointment. Nor do their tactics surprise me when I consider how Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is only to be expected that his agents shall have the appearance of ministers of righteousness—but they will get their deserts one day."

We see that our adversary, or Satan, will masquerade as an angel of light, or imitate the divine in an attempt to mislead you. But I promise you, that path only leads to confusion, doubt, and deceit.

With those out of the way, here is where I'm going to give you some of the hard to digest statements. Whether you've been in spirituality for a long time, or are new to it and just curious about stuff, when coming to Christ, there's a few really hard to digest truth's. I say this because I didn't believe the people who told me these things and had to learn myself the hard way.

Crystals, rocks, tarot cards, spells, talking to spirits, necromancy, familiar spirits (burning sage to cleanse aura's/driveaway bad spirits) are all forms of witchcraft/sorcery/idolization, again not because we hate them but its for your spiritual protection. The same way no matter how upset a dog gets, we still don't feed them chocolate because we love them, God is the same way. Those practices open up doors for spirits with very bad intentions. I love rocks, I love crystals, you can certainly have them, but it's when you belief or through having faith in these things that those doors open.

Now, onto manifestation which is a big question. I'll give you my best opinion on it, and relevant scriptures that helped me come to my conclusion.

"The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

As you can see, this is certainly no new concept. Modern day manifestation is sort of a cheap knock off version of Christianity. A reoccurring concept you'll start to notice is the devil loves to do knock-off's or imitations of God's good things. But in the same way you "manifest" something and a lot of times it comes with some price tag or you get it, but it ends up hurting you in the long run. Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it” so while it may not feel as quick or that it takes longer (which it really doesn't most of the time, God's pretty quick, he's been doing this thing for awhile) when you're gifted it, it has no extra attachments. That is, it's only for your good, and is carefully timed so that it arrives at the very best possible time for you.

And God's not some big snatcher of fun or in any way against being spiritual, in fact he's entirely the opposite;

"But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh."

Also, he gives us spiritual gifts;

"word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, distinguishing spirits, various kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues."

Besides just this, he's also known for being very generous with wisdom, and that may sound boring but trust me, a little bit of wisdom from God himself, helps you out more than you could possibly think.

Also, one of the best things that he does is gives you easy access to his word. If you have a question, look around in the bible, no matter how obscure or stupid it might sound, I'm willing to bet he's probably got a neat little solution in there for whatever problem.

One of my personal favorites is "2 Timothy 1:7 - For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" so basically, if you're ever scared, worried, confused, anxious, or any of the above about something or someone, we know that God doesn't give us that spirit, so if it's not from God, then it's more than likely from the devil. And, last I checked, we don't really listen to the devil, he got kicked out of heaven, and he's also after your soul, so don't take advice from someone you wouldn't take criticism from.

Also, just as interesting, is this

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you”

God's no stranger to questions, nor to doubt. If you're ever not sure about something, or have a question feel free to pray and ask. Also, when you're doubting anything, even if it feels silly, just ask him. The devil want's you to feel bad for doubting God's existence or God's goodness, but God won't get upset or mad at you for being not sure. That's when you get closer to him, if you start getting upset or feel like he's not there, or listening, that's some of the best times to let him know how you feel. While he does know all your thoughts, he wants to hear them from you, and how you think about it. Always remember, that God understands whatever situation you're in much better than you even do, no matter how silly or confusing it is, just pray and ask for clarity or a little bit of help. Often times he'll shine a light on something you forgot about, or overlooked, and put a good thought in your head to point you towards the right direction.

If you've been using tarot cards, or any other forms of future telling, you probably have a divination spirit in you, it's through that spirit that you've been "future telling" or other things of that nature. But, it's basically the knock off devil version of the holy spirit, which literally knows everything, can guide you in ways you can't imagine, and all the other gifts as well. It's a piece of God's very own spirit that he puts in you, free of charge, to have direct connection with him.

"Okay, I like all the things you're telling me, but what's the catch? And what's up with Jesus, why haven't you mentioned him?"

One of the most important things Christians believe in, is that our God is a god of love. We consider the entire Bible a love letter from God so that we can know him better. Through the bible we learn his character, how he is, and why certain things are the way they are. The old testament was during a pretty rocky time with our relationship with him. Much more on our part than his. But God doesn't give up and wants his people to know him and for him to be known by them. It's a testament to how much God loves us even at our worst. Throughout it, multiple prophets and people point towards the coming of a messiah, or a savior. That through him, God will be reunited with his people.

Since we recognize all the gifts and miracles the holy spirit gives us, it also performed a miracle in the virgin Mary. Conceiving within her, Jesus. After his birth, he led a perfect life, that is, because of his attachment to the holy spirit, he embodied the closest thing to God in human form. Even with all this power, instead of using it maliciously or to gain anything, he decided to serve instead. In all of his action lowering himself so that he could help other people, and in a society where power was defined through wealth or status, he flipped that entirely on it's head. Instead, he said that true power came through serving other people, and being a living example of that. Through miracles and signs, he showed not his power, but the power of God working through him. He was crucified however, even though he was entirely innocent, but in doing so he bore the weight of all sin. Essentially, giving access to God through all people that believe in him, and that by doing so, he washes us of our sins, and allows God to see us as he saw him, holy and blameless.

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Now the catch? Imagine you're hunting, and you come across a dead deer. You're not going to shoot at it and it's not what you're after. That's how the devil views you. To him, he's already got you. He's pretty upset that he got kicked out, so he's trying to take as many people down with him. Whenever he sees you he gets that kick of satisfaction knowing he already cut you off from your inheritance. But when you accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, he hates it. Not that he'll target you super specifically, but he'll mainly start targeting that belief essentially asap. Whether sending doubts and worries or things like that, but like when you see bad guys in a video game and you know you're going the right way, that's one of the best signs that you've done the right thing and use it to strengthen your faith.

Okay, so if you're still with me, you've checked everything out, and you've made a personal decision to come to God, here's the best course of action I can recommend;

Your first step is simply to believe, really think on it though, study as much as you need and come to this decision on your own, don't just believe me, look through the bible and see if it's something that you're interested in, again you don't have to have perfect faith, all it requires is the faith of a mustard seed. If you can give him that much, and open your heart to it, then he's really good at doing the rest.

The moment you believe and accept Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior, most people say it out loud or to yourself or pray. An easy one goes like this "Dear heavenly father, I accept Jesus Christ as my personal lord and savior. I pray that you gift me your holy spirit, to guide me in my walk with Christ, and show me a (pink rose, elephant, yellow square, etc..) to strengthen my faith it would be greatly appreciated, in Jesus name I pray, amen."

Patience, persistence, and faith are some good things to focus on. Try to read the bible as much as you can and be in a state of gratitude. The holy spirit is given to you essentially the very second you've accepted Jesus as your personal lord and savior, and now you need to give it some room to breathe. Listen to worship music that you might've heard, and honestly, you have to unharden your heart and be willing to look silly. The best way to come to God is not extremely mature and will all your wisdom and stuff, but just open your heart and tell him how you feel. 1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you"

Now, just pray from there. Ask God to help you read the bible and understand certain things, research it and just delve into it. Really, go full in. You have nothing to lose, but also be willing to be convicted by the holy spirit. That is as you read through the bible you might notice some of the words seem to sting a little bit because they apply to you, don't take it personally instead realize that God wouldn't chastise you if he didn't love you. It's basically direct advice from the creator of the universe on things you can be doing better, what better person to get guidance from?

#christianity #jesus christ #thoughts

[lolaze]

The femme fatale: independent women or still slaves

Disclaimer!!! This is just my opinion and if I said something wrong on not true, feel free to correct me just please not be hateful, and English is also not my first language, and this is a way for me to work on it as well, so sorry if it's bad; in this essay I will talk about murder, gender norms, stereotypes, tw:man, beauty standard, objectification of women, etc…after saying this, I hope that someone will maybe actually enjoy my essay, bye <3

‘ A femme fatale, often called a meneater or a vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps’. This is at least what first came up when I started my reaserch on the topic.

So what we can understand thanks to this, is that a femme fatale is simply a woman who uses her charms to gain whatever she wants from men. I would say pretty cool, but to state this we need to see its origins and understand the purpose, benefits and downs of it.

For starter, it’s an old archetype that we can find in many cultures around the word. In China, for example, there’s Daji(妲己).She was the favourite consort of King Shou of Shang(商王)and is considered a classic example of how a singular beautiful woman can be the downfall of a dinasty or kingdom if I dare. In the story she was killed by an old fox spirit who possessed her body. King Zhou was so infatuated with her, that he started to neglect his duties and take part in the spirit grousome antics.  ‘Daji’, was in fact best known for her interest and enjoyment for torture. The couple would often be found laughing and entertaining themselves, while watching victims dance and scream in agony, since they were beigin burn to death. This method, Paolao (炮烙),was in fact Daji invention.

Or in western cultures, like in the Bible. Delilah for example, who nags Samson into telling her where he gets his powers, to then wait till he fell asleep naively on her lap, so she could shave his head eventually causing his death. Even Eve, who just shares the apple with Adam, without any hidden agenda under it, since she still doesn’t understand her sexuality and the ‘power that lies within it’, and thus cannot use it willing for her benefits, still get called, either way a seductress, whose intent was leading Adam out of the Eden.

Ironically one of the first ‘meneater’ was actually Lilith, Adam’s first wife who was kicked out of the Garden of Eden because she wouldn’t cooperate and obey him.

Or Sirens, whose calls, led sailors to their imminent death; 

As well the medieval idea that women with extraordinary sexuality were easier to be taken over by the evil and become witches and, in Germany poetry, still in the medieval timeframe, with Frau Minne, a woman that lured and trapped men in birds cages.

This females figures(the femme fatale), became more popular during the 19th century due to the numerous books and poetry pieces, obviously written my males, that talked about women that killed men with their dangerous sexuality.

For example the novel ‘Nana’, written by the French author Emile Zola. He tells the story of this girl(18 at the start of her career and narration), that goes from a simple ‘streetwalker’ to a well known and requested high-class prostitute, and how she destroys every man that tries to persuade her. She was an actress in a company, that was actually really bad at both singing, dancing and even acting, but she managed to lour people in just thanks to her ‘dangerous sexuality’… (I would recommend this book because it shows really well this phenomenon, the only disclaimer is that it can get a little heavy to read, it’s not a fast read. But hey, beauty is pain)

Still regarding the Victorian era, we should also talk about  the rise of females murderers and the fear surrounding the new lifestyle women were adopting. To explain this, we have for example, at mid-century, the phenomenon of females becoming more and more active in public spaces and needing less help from men. In fact the dangerous women of this period were the ones that worked hard for and by themselves, threatening the patriarchal structures that men treasured/ and treasure, plus the gender norms. Obviously I don’t even need to explain how this is such nonsense , since if men were to live in autonomy we wouldn’t bat an eye, but if women only try, we get called cunning and spoiled bitches.

To go more in depths with this concept, we need to know how aristocratic men also created two types of women: ‘the angel’ and the ‘fallen Angel’. The first one was the type of woman who followed all the etiquette rules and represented her real role in the family (the slave). The best example of this perfect Victorian woman is in the poem ‘The Preserved Angel in the House’ by Coventry Patmore; this angel preserved the traditional moral values and put her entire soul into making the house a place where both her husband and son would like to spend their time instead of entertaining themselves in other places. 

While the ‘fallen woman’, was who didn’t follow the Victorian rules to be a perfect woman( better said a virgin sex toy or a housekeeper); it refers to a loss of innocence, in fact women social status was always connected to her sexual status. 

Basically if you didn’t act like the stereotypical docile woman, you were viewed directly as a ‘whore’.

Extract from Patmore book:

Man must be pleased; but him to please Is woman's pleasure; down the gulf Of his condoled necessities She casts her best, she flings herself. How often flings for nought, and yokes Her heart to an icicle or whim, Whose each impatient word provokes Another, not from her, but him; While she, too gentle even to force His penitence by kind replies, Waits by, expecting his remorse, With pardon in her pitying eyes; And if he once, by shame oppress'd, A comfortable word confers, She leans and weeps against his breast, And seems to think the sin was hers; Or any eye to see her charms, At any time, she's still his wife, Dearly devoted to his arms; She loves with love that cannot tire; And when, ah woe, she loves alone, Through passionate duty love springs higher, As grass grows taller round a stone.

Also, since men weren’t doing enough just by existing , still in the 19th century,  thought that it was only fair that poor/low class females( from children to grown women), were the easy resources for men’s pleasure and exploitation; while the high class ones, were still only for their personal pleasure and needs, but this time just for their respective husbands. I’m mentioning this because I really wanna make clear the concept of how women, especially women of colour, were always being viewed just as object and trophies to be shown, and never as human being, and how not taking sides in the whole feminism discourse it’s straight up stupid and  harmful (unless you are in a dangerous environment, then it would be ippocrate for me to say that )

Since I think I made clear how ‘femme fatale’, also means murderer, we should look into the history committed by women and how their beauty worked in that cases too. For example, the first recorded case where the woman won thanks to her charms, is in 336 before Christ in Greece. Here, we see how Phryne, a women who had many lovers, was put on trial for impiety( sacrilege, lack of respect for something sacred), and the penalty was death.When the cards started to look bad for Phryne, her attorney, who also was one of her lovers, pulled off her robe showing her bare body to the judges who pitied her and let her go. After this, she became the muse of so many artist and symbol of feminine attractiveness and the barest of defences in criminal history.

Or how women, especially in 800s, didn’t have choices, if not kill their husbands, because poverty was raising and they needed to feed their children, or also because they were victims of domestic violence and, taking in mind the society they lived in, thought this was the only way to come out alive of their awful situation. I don’t blame them, but obviously the public response to this was that women were starting to just go crazy and needed to be restricted(since they were definitely free before)

For the present time we then have for example, the book or film adaptation ‘Gone Girl’, that talks and shows what women can and will do in order to get what they want, or like in Amy Dunne case( the protagonist of ‘Gone Girl), to seek revenge from her husband that treated her like wrongly, by faking her own death and blaming it on him. We can see thanks to this characters how the ‘femme fatale’ refuses to submit and tries, even if with morally dubious ways, to seek justice and fairness.

Or with a little bit of humour, Jessica Rabbit, an over sexualised cartoon character in ‘Who framed Roger Rabbit’, who literally says ‘I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way’, during the film. 

We can also talk about the new TikTok trend where girl/young women dress up, live life in autonomy and organisation, don’t take shit from anybody and fulfil their dreams. 

And while I think it’s awesome that we are showing that realising ourselves without the need of a partner it’s possible, there lies some problem with it. I wanna in fact point out how dangerous it is that young girls think that, only over sexualising themselves, being skinny, white and the beauty standard will get them to that point. 

Honestly, overall, what we should get from all of this, it’s how we had to make a name for a woman that it’s just a woman. What I mean by that is, when a man is intelligent, beautiful, charming, independent, hard working, and uses certain situations for his own benefits, it’s just a man who has his own life together. But when a woman does the same things, it becomes a whole issue because we are used to be portrayed as stupid, submissive, that do not work for themselves and need a man to survive.

Personally, I still love the femme fatale because it shows how women can and will use their own intelligence, looks and the male gaze for their own benefits, it feels so empowering and a splash of fresh air, but what really makes my blood boil is how it’s viewed as a bad thing, like man cannot stop themselves and thus be ‘safe’. Everyone has a brain of their own and when women use it, it’s a horrible, selfish and unacceptable thing, but when men think only with their lust, we baby them and call them victims as they’re not objectifying us and the cause we are doing all of this in the first place. What the femme fatale does, is taking control in a word that’s against her, and using everything that is built to hurt her, to hurt who wants to harm her.

It also has its downs because it mostly only works when the femme fatale is the beauty standard, that, not funnily enough, were obviously created by man…I think that we can see how we live in a word made to make men life easy, and how we really have a long way to go, but speaking up and not following all the rules that society impose towards us can and, in the long run, will make a really big difference.

These are my main favourite sources so you can guys can check them up as well:

#femme fetale aesthetic #my essays #bookworm #patriarchy #debate #feminism #feminist #activism #adame and eve #witches #traditional femininity #victorian age #medieval ages #daji #lilith #sirens #frau minnie #nana #emile zola #fallen angel #angel #the preserved angel in the house #patmore #gone girl #male privilege #independent woman #skz #g idle #le serafim

[breitzbachbea]

13 for the ask game!

Finally getting around to clearing out my inbox! Thank you SO much for asking!

History Ask Game

13. [share some random historical trivia!]

OOOOUUUHHH, where to START!

I have to learn more about Frederick II. of the HRE, he is my second favourite swabian (first is my friend Jani, third is Felix Fabri). Because what I do know FUCKS SO HARD, aside from the fact that he was a rip-roaring BANG to end one periodization phase of the German Medieval ages. You basically killed your entire dynasty, but by GOD did you do it while serving CUNT.

My favourite story is the crusade one, the abridged version. So, my boy Fritz had sworn to the Pope that he'd go on crusade some time, but you know, always something better to do when you're the emperor and also King of Sicily. By the time Fritz can finally go, he gets violently sick on the boat that just left Brindisi and goes back home. That's not a good enough excuse for the Pope, who excommunicates him anyways, so Fritz says oh FUCK YOU, I'm going anyways. Goes to the Holy Land, brokers a temporary peace with the local muslim elite and gets to ACTUALLY go to Jerusalem. Absolute king shit, all while excommunicated. I know it's medieval Europe, he probably did some horrendous shit I haven't read up on yet, but he is my favourite. The balls on this man and his love for South Italy which I share. I visited his grave when I was in Palermo, it was ALL I saw of the Cathedral that time around (I will return. And probably look at Fritz again as well as the rest.)

Time Jump! During the Napoleonic occupation, Kassel (the capital of the Landgraviate Hessen-Kassel) became the capital of the newly formed Kingdom of Westphalia and was ruled over by Napoleon's brother Jerome. Or how the Kasseläner_innen called him - König Lustik. Because the only sentence in German he, according to the local tradition, was "Morgen wird wieder lustig" - "Tomorrow, we'll have fun again" (Or to make merry ... It's hard to translate). Also, after Napoleon was defeated and the Landgraf, now Kurfürst Wilhelm I. (Vienna Congress shenanigans, don't worry about it), returned ... they weren't so keen on his absolutistic leanings? So, in 1830, when riots broke out, citizens successfully pressed Wilhelm II to call together the Landtag (not parliament, but a representation of all the people with power in the principality's realm. The estates of a principality, you get it). He did call it together, something that hadn't been done in a long time because absolutism, and they got a constituition, to enshrine rights for citizens and curb the monarchical power! There's a big cutout reproduction in the Kasseler Stadtmuseum of an engraved illustration by Ludwig Emil Grimm! Here's the entire engraving!

Grimm you may now think ... Grimm like the Brother Grimm? Indeed! He was their youngest brother, with Wilhelm and Jakob being the eldest of six children! He was a famous illustrator and also illustrated copies of his brother's Kinder- und Hausmärchen. The city of Kassel was home to the family for many, many years, with Jakob and Wilhelm studying in nearby Marburg as well. One of the reasons that a lot of 'their' fairytales have French origins is the fact that Kassel took in huge swaths of Huguenots over the course of the 17th and 18th century. They let them settle around the Landgraviate (name for a principality ruled over by the Landgraf, in German Landgrafschaft), in existing places as well as newly founded settlements. That's why there is a small village in East Hesse named Gethsemane, called Getzemich in the local dialect. Of course, named after the garden in Jerusalem in the bible. And because those Huguenots were very industrial and Jakob & Wilhelm weren't really gonna leave their cushy study, lots of middle class Huguenots came to tell them their tales - hence things they had carried with them from France.

I am so sorry, this was so much and I could talk on and on and on about Hessian history, I could dig up funfacts about Sicily or other South Italian places, I could wreck my brain for some ancient Roman or Mesopotamian funfacts, I could even unearth some about Ireland and Great Britain if I dug deep enough. I just ... I love history. It's fascinating. It's all there ever was in human history! It's entirely different cultures from our own and yet many times the answer why things are the way they are today! It's the past, it's the present and we look to it because we ask about the future. Wonderful, isn't it?

#beareplies #history #callidaiunctura #SORRY I GOT CARRIED AWAY I HAD TO ACTUALLY GOOGLE QUITE SOME STUFF FOR THIS #also I haaave to see Grimm. Ein deutsches Märchen a second time that was so much fun #holy moly empire #haughty hessians #yes they get their own hohi style historic category tag. I'll probably need it

[yourreddancer]

A true story of how a child of the Religious Right became Pro-Choice in Seminary:

I was raised in an evangelical republican home with parents that voted for Richard Nixon twice and were in love with Ronald Reagan and the whole religious right homeschool culture. It was a one voter issue home, abortion, and my parents listened to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity daily. 

I was raised in the epicenter of evangelical purity culture in the Bible belt and I was a good Sunday school student too. Since my parents were Bible college and Seminary graduates, I always knew more Bible even than the Sunday school teachers and pastors. My father taught me New Testament Greek when I was six.

Like a good Sunday school student I drank all the koolaid too. I bought the whole system, hook line and sinker. I went to Bible College and remember telling my first semester theology prof that I knew what we believed and I came to study why we believe what we believe. He rightly, went on to correct me, on what is a misguided motive for study at a Bible College, but that would be a digression.

It was in Seminary that I discovered that I had been lied to both by purity culture and also anti-abortion dogma. My first crack in the egg shell of purity culture was when my Hebrew professor took a whole class to teach us that in the Hebrew version of the story, Ruth and Boaz had premarital sex. But again, that is a digression.

It was in theology of anthropology that I first saw through the anti-abortion dogma. My theology professor had invited in the president of the most prominent prolife organization in America in, to talk to the class about abortion. 

My whole life I had always been indoctrinated to think life happens at conception and we are 100% certain of that. People even treat that dogma with more conviction of certainty than they treat the resurrection of Christ. I believed it too.

But when the guest speaker was asked, when does science say life begins, he answered with candor, that science can't determine the exact point where life begins. He admitted to the class we don't know when for sure. He went on to say to the class that the prolife position was in fact no longer that life happened at conception. He said advancements in cloning has made this an indefensible position. Any cell in your body can be used to create a whole new you. Therefore one embryonic cell can not be a person. He said, the prolife position has changed from life at conception to life at cell division, from one to two cells.

Now he thought this was a cute slight of hand. But for a boy who had grown up on right wing prolife koolaid, with life at conception as a rallying cry of dogma, the implications of this were penetrating. 

If he admits that science can't tell for sure that life happens at conception. And he admits, we just changed the whole thing we told everyone was sacrosanct, then to me, they were just guessing and didn't know what they were talking about.

After Seminary I went into medicine as a board certified surgical neurophysiologist. I read EEG activity for a living. It moved from an ethereal conversation to one of actual consequence. EEG activity matters. I do a job where, I know that if I tell the surgeon I'm assisting, that the patient has gone isoelectric, they will stop life support and call time of death. It is accepted without question based on years of neurodiagnostic studies that when the brain dies, the person is dead, regardless of a working circulatory system. The circulatory system can be prolonged after brain death, therefore a circulatory pulse is not alone indicative of life. We stop life support at brain death without attribution of moral guilt for murder. Because we know the person is no longer alive.

Convienently, EEG activity is the same standard used in NICU to save a premature delivery and usually not before 20 weeks because 20-22 weeks is the gestational development of EEG activity. No brain, no life. And this is the actual development of gestation. Life cannot begin at conception. It's a physiological impossibility:

Many fertilized eggs do not have compatible DNA and RNA and do not form a cell. Many formed cells do not divide. Many dividing cells do not implant in the uterus and are ectopic or uterine septic. Many implanted embryos do not develop EEG activity and are stillborn. At no point in this gestational development is an embryo alive. Incompatible DNA and RNA do not make a person. One cell that doesn't divide doesn't make a person. A dividing cell that never implants isn't a person. An implanted embryo with no central nervous system is not a person. No EEG activity, no life. For adults too. These are just medical facts.

Then I researched, for myself, as an 8 year college and grad school trained Bible professional, what the Bible and religious tradition actually teaches on abortion. I found that the Bible explicitly condones a potion induced abortion in the context of questioned paternity in Numbers 5:22. Don't bother trying to say this isn't about an abortion. I've spent hours on this one verse in Hebrew because of social media arguments alone. It is 100% a condoned abortion. This is supported by scholarship and Jewish tradition. The Bible also says 3x specifically that aborted embryos were never living people, Job 3:16; Eccl 6:3-5; Ps 58:8.

And that's why in Jewish tradition, for the first 40 days the embryo is considered nothing more than fluid and grants abortion as a reproductive right. The Bible actually describes a two stage process in both Genesis 2:7 and Ezekiel 37. First the matter is formed. Then secondarily the matter is animated with the breath of God. Ancient Mesopotamian studies show the context for this is called an "Open Mouth Ceremony." Which describes the stage of animation by the spirit of God, and then personhood, as a secondary subsequently developing stage of gestation. It would seem then that the Biblical context is actually very consistent with modern medicine determining life animating at a secondary stage of gestational development, at around 20 weeks, that is discernable with active EEG activity.

I also searched christian tradition. I discovered that there was no big argument over life at conception. It was perfectly acceptable in Christian tradition to believe life did not begin at conception. In fact, it was the Christian position to be pro choice and pro reproductive freedom before the 1970s.

Much has been published on this now. Whistle blowers that contributed have come forward and given testimony. On how segregationists in the southern evangelical right could no longer dog whistle their base with a race baiting narrative so they invented this idea that abortion is murder as propaganda to raise political donations and support. People actually had actual meetings where this was planned and discussed as a grift of propoganda. People that were there and contributed, but have since regretted their actions have told the story. The roots of racism in the prolife movement is actually well documented. 

As a health care professional, the medical privilege you have with your doctor is perhaps the most sacrosanct right you possibly possess. It's literally more important than attorney-client or priest-parishoner or husband-wife. Nobody gets to tell anyone what's right for their body but their doctor. And nobody gets to make anyone practice someone else's religious beliefs.

As a theologian, I don't believe in a God that would make miscarried or aborted fetuses alive people only to have them die in their sins without the opportunity for faith in Christ. It seems weird to say that but, most all women will have a miscarriage in their life.

 So it's not a small matter. Where do aborted babies go when they die? The Bible is clear, the wages of sin is death. So if they were alive and then dead, it was a wage of sin that they died in. My God doesn't make miscarried or aborted embryos alive. My God isn't condemning millions of aborted embryos to an eternity of death as a wage of sin. If you say that aborted babies go to heaven, then abortion could be logically argued to even be a grace that prevents them from a potential life of sin that could condemn their soul. 

Scientifically, Theologically, Biblically, I came to believe what are just the facts. Prolife propoganda was invented by segregationists in the 1970s and it is soundly contradicted by rational thought and factual education. Abortion isn't immoral. Sperm is not some kind of incurable virus. Abortion isn't murder. And the idea of taking away someone's medical privilege for anything in the world is just slavery. You don't even get to take a kidney from a dead corpse to save an adult human without consent. Medical privilege IS a God given human right that is in fact protected by the US Constitution