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am-i-the-asshole-official · 3 months

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AITA for calling my father a cheater?

This is not a serious serious topic like others I've seen here but I need to know if I was justified or just an ass

Me (20s) and my father (60s) got a Jeopardy calender last uear5. Each day it asks a question and you put a guess, you get it right you gain points ("money") if wrong you lose that- essentially just how Jeopardy is. Its a one a day calendar for the full year

Well, each Sunday is a "Double Jeopardy" and you make a bid based on the amount you have. At the start me and my father both wrote down our total amount and how much we made that week, we did this independently. I distinctly remember asking him after that first week how we were betting, and after a discussion we agreed to bet each week what we made (for example, let's say the second week i made 3,000 but my total overall would be 6,000, I would only be able to bet up to 3,000)

Halfway through i have a distinct memory of asking him again how we were doing it, because we were close, but he was ahead. I felt confident on the topic and he wasn't as much. I asked "when you bet, do you bet from the total or from how much you made that week?" He said he never bets over what he made that week and that we only went by what we made. Because of that, I didn't pass him.

About two weeks ago he made a mistake and lost points because he misread a question and I got every question right that week. I got ahead of him by a few thousand.

Even though today isn't the last day of the year, he wanted to do the question because we wouldn't see each other. I agreed even though I was tired and had worked all day

Me, my father, and mother were sitting around their living room as I was visiting. I pulled the calendar out of my purse (its a pocket-sized, about the size of a small notepad, it isnt a calendar you hang on the wall lol).

I said I might as well bet it all, go all in. He asked me my full amount and I told him, he told me his- i was ahead by 2000. I said, again, well i can only do the 3000, so might as well go all in. My mother, who hasn't been involved, simply said don't bet a lot because you want to maintain a lead.

Well I bet the full 3,000 and got the question right! However, my father bet an amount he DID NOT make in the week NOR what you could make in the week. We both got the question right, so now he's thousands ahead.

I claimed that wasn't correct or how we had been doing it. He claims "you said all in, I thought you meant your total amount" I stated "no, I said the full 3,000 I had made first off, second off we've never bet from our total if we had I would have bet more on this". He is now claiming that only *I* was going by that, he wasn't, but that he had never bet more then what he had made that week so it didn't pertain to him to do that. He claims that *i* said I would be doing that, but he "didn't realize" we both were.

I told him we discussed this multiple times and he did agree that we had discussed it. Anyways, he is claiming he is the winner cause he has more now, and is bragging. I called him a cheater and am a bit frustrated. I didnt raise my voice, didnt curse, I only said "yeah but you're a cheater, you cheated so it isn't a real win" with a slight edge to my voice. To which he got upset and rose his voice and called me a sore loser and told me to stop being an ass. I didnt respond and so He says "well we will both follow that rule next year, you can win next year" EVEN though we BOTH followed the rule this year.

My mother didn't know about those conversations and said she wasn't sure what j meant when I said all in, she assumed I meant my full amount but she did hear me say 3000 is all I can bet im all in, and she didn't know why when I had a total amount larger then that

This frustrates me because when he's been ahead of me in points he makes digs at me, and when I do well he dismisses it. He makes jokes about how I'm not good at geography and there are a lot of geographic question (jokes on him, the final question of the year was a geography question and I knew it).

I wouldn't be upset if I had gotten the question wrong, but I got it right and SHOULD have won. In my mind, I DID win, but he is saying I don't have more points so I didnt win.

Like I said, I know this isn't like a serious life or death situation, but it actually does matter to me because idk if I'm blowing it out of proportion or not. AITA?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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lily-orchard-gossip-blog · 3 days

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Time to do another dramatic reading of our least favourite avatar.

Today, I will be subjecting myself and all of you to the vignette titled "space".

Unfortunately, it's not about the cool space. Which is a shame, because that would have less incest in it.

I wish I was joking.

So we once again start off with a republic city tabloid making the Avatar upset.

That is twice that this framing device has been used, and while this vignette came first, I think Lily needs to come up with a better opener. We can only have Niva read so many tabloids, and getting upset by it, as a framing device so many times before I start to question why Niva keeps reading them.

And because the author has a barely disguised fetish, we get to jump right into the incest using the tabloids as an excuse:

WHO TALKS LIKE THAT TO THEIR SISTER????

If people are reading your behaviour as romantic, to the point that it's getting printed into tabloids, it really makes me question just what you were doing to give off that impression. (We get a good idea of this pretty fast in this vignette.)

If I didn't know they were sisters, I would think they are dating.

Because this is a couple spat.

As for the claim that people can't comprehend sincere devotion without sex, well, if the Avatar and her sister are always touching each other in public in the ways that lovers do, then it isn't the public who is misreading the situation.

Again, this isn't how SIBLING'S talk.

This is how romantic partners speak to each other.

If I can pull this lines out, and show them to a total normie, and they would think this is a couple, then you have written a romance, not a sisterly bond.

And I'm sorry, but if someone is always having their arms wrapped around each other in rather intimate ways, and talking about how devoted they are to said person, then people are going to make assumptions. It's not them misunderstanding what they're seeing or reading too much into it. It's them seeing how too people are acting, and making a conclusion.

Alright, moving on.

Here's a red flag for any relationship:

Our supposedly confident, self actualized Avatar needs an excuse to assert her boundaries.

So either the Avatar isn't actually a confident, self actualized badass like Lily claims, or, her sister has reacted negatively to demands for space in the past, making the avatar nervous about asking for said space without an excuse.

Either way, this is yikes behaviour, and something any other author would explore, but we all know Lily won't explore it.

We then get a little bit about how Niva hate's Republic City because it makes her feel overwhelmed and overstimulated, which if Niva is meant to be on the spectrum, is a nice bit of character building.

We then get them bashing the food in Republic City because it's "corporate" and then Lavi tells her to "just be honest about her need for space", they hug, and we end on this groaner:

Probably the most normal part of this relationship, and guess what?

It sucks.

I think it's the last two lines. They just scream "I need a witty closer".

And that was Space.

I think I need Space from it. 🤣😭

This was another episode in our growing series called "the author's barely disguised fetish". And while I'm certain Lily gets a lot of enjoyment out of subjecting people to it without their knowledge or consent, I do not.

And I went into this knowing exactly what it was going to contain.

To summarize my thoughts on this literal nothingburger of a story...

I don't have any.

Despite being gross because of the incest, it really doesn't actually tell you much about the characters outside Niva feeling like she can't even ask for space from her sister, which would be fine... if Niva wasn't supposed to be a self-confident badass. So now it just reads as problematic, but we all know this will never be addressed.

Honestly, the incest is the only thing that either of those characters have going for them, and that's both parts gross, tragic and hilarious.

Now get out of my house.

#Lily orchard #avatar niva #space #fanfic review

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lythea-creation · 2 months

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I Love Her More - Tasneem x fem reader (Chapter 2)

Previous Chapter

warnings: none i think (otherwise let me know)

word count: 961

--------------------

(f/n)'s PoV

Back in class I noticed Hiba's absence. Despite her ruff attitude I knew that this was not like her.

I wondered if anything had happened between Hiba and Tasneem. That would explain why Tasneem had been upset as well.

My eyes wandered over to her to see if she was worrying about Hiba, too.

The sad expression on her face when she switched between looking at me and Hiba's empty seat revealed that she was somehow in on this.

After a while I just could not sit still anymore. The minutes ticking by were feeling like hours. So I asked to go to the bathroom and started searching for Hiba.

Luckily I already had a suggestion where she might be. She had a favorite hiding place where she secretly disappeared when something was bothering her.

So I walked straight to that and found Hiba sitting there with her head placed on her knees.

“Hey, Hiba”, I called out softly.

Her head snapped up at my voice. “(f/n), what are you doing here?”

“What do you think? I was searching for you. You didn't come to class”, I pointed out.

A smirk crept onto her face. “Oh, how cute. You missed me already”, she teased me.

She had been crying, but I decided not to mention it.

“Wanna get back to class?”, I suggested.

“Nah. You can go back if you want”, she remarked.

“I won't leave without you”, I proclaimed and sat down next to her. “Remember last week when we were in the mall and you yelled at that guy?”

“Of course I do”, she recalled with a chuckle. “He was obviously staring at you. He wasn't so cocky anymore when I confronted him though.”

“Yeah. My hero”, I noted smiling. “I never have to worry when you're around. But you really didn't have to start a fight with my cousin on my birthday.”

“Hey, he deserved it”, she justified herself. “He was stealing the show from you on your own birthday.”

“True. But you didn't have to make him cry”, I considered.

“Not my fault that he's so sensitive”, she declared. “You deserve that somebody's fighting for you.”

“Thanks Hiba”, I uttered, a soft smile adorning my face.

“God! You're so cute”, she proposed, making me blush.

That did not exactly improve when her face got closer and she even cupped my cheek.

“Hiba, what …?”

She interrupted me with a kiss and I could not help but freeze.

I had totally misread her behavior, thought that she had just been a great friend. Apparently I had been wrong.

“What the hell?”, Tasneem exclaimed.

When had she arrived here and why did she have to see?

That made me finally unfreeze and push Hiba away from me. “Tasneem, it's not what you're thinking”, I claimed.

Tasneem completely ignored my words and instead started yelling at Hiba: “How could you do that to me?”

“Do what to you? It's not my fault that you're too chicken to make a move”, she shot back.

“So our friendship doesn't even matter?”, Tasneem inquired.

“What friendship? You made yourself pretty clear that you couldn't stand me anyway. So why bother?”

Their fight had been over me?

They continued yelling at each other, while I was stuck in the middle, contemplating what to do. I've had a crush on Tasneem for a long time now, but I did not want to lose either of them.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down before yelling at them to stop. To my surprise it actually worked out.

But now that they were both looking at me expectantly I did not quite know what to say. It felt like I was moving in a mine field, every wrong word could blow it all up.

“Have you already forgotten everything we've been through together? How much time we spent? How many of our experiences are linked to each other? How can you just throw it all away over a crush?”, I questioned.

“It's not just some silly crush, (f/n). I talked to Omar and broke up with him because I only love you. Being with Omar was just what everyone else wanted to see. But I don't”, Tasneem confessed.

I took her hand in mine and squeezed it slightly.

“Guys, I'm really flattered that you both love me so much. But I don't want any of this to ruin our friendship”, I proposed.

“It won't. But only if you make your decision”, Hiba pointed out. “Otherwise it will always be between us. If you turn one of us down we can at least work through it.”

Tasneem nodded in agreement.

“Are you sure?”, I wondered.

“Yeah. Let's get it over with”, Tasneem stated.

“Hiba, I'm sorry. I love you so much, but as a friend. So I choose Tasneem”, I announced.

A big smile captured Tasneem's face as she pulled me closer, but I shook my head at her, waiting for Hiba's reaction.

Hiba shook her head, tears evident in her eyes. Then she disappeared without a word.

I had the urge to go after her, but knew that it was too early for that. She needed time. What she definitely did not need was one of us to try to cheer her up or be sympathetic.

So instead I turned around to Tasneem and pulled her down into a kiss.

“You have no idea how long I've waited for this”, she proposed afterwards.

“Me too”, I confessed, pulling her into a tight embrace, hoping that Hiba would be able to accept our new relationship at one point.

----------------------------

So what do you guys think? How do you like the story? What about the different versions?

Tag List: @sunwoniie

#al rawabi school for girls #tasneem #tasneem x reader #female reader #lgbtqia #romance #angst #fluff #drama

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celticcrossanon · 8 months

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Hi Celta, I an absolutely shocked at your most recent reading. So much to unpack. Like others have said, it could be The Golden Child syndrome, combined with William reminding Charles of the steadfast monarch Elizabeth was, plus his jealousy of how innately popular William and Catherine are, as opposed to how unpopular him and CSW are.

Another layer could be Diana, of how much more popular she was than him, of how she eclipsed him so easily and effortlessly. He probably still carries that jealousy around inside him, very close to the surface. He’s probably reminded daily of this by his second wife too. I’d never have those thoughts about before now. But I do now. So much so that he can never make peace with it and let it go once and for all. The way these two carry on with the media PR against the Wales, it’s like the war of the Wales 2.0

Just yesterday there was a piece in The Telegraph, very passive aggressively picking at Catherine’s. Calling her their best hope, yet saying she stares down the camera like a heat seeking missile or some such rot. How she has to seek approval from CSW to carry on with big projects etc. i think Charles is trying to take ownership of her early years project. I can only imagine the derogatory and bullying language they use towards Catherine in private. It was vile. I tweeted at the writer, a senior journalist, and I said, hey buddy, we are not living in the 1990s anymore, and thanks to Meghan Markle, we can spot gaslighting tactics a mile off. Tell your sources to cool it.

Charles and CSW need a good therapist if only for the sake of the monarchy and the Commonwealth if it is to be sustained. I have totally lost respect for them both.

Hi AnonymousRetired,

I was shocked at the reading as well. I am still hoping that I have misread it somehow and it didn't mean what I thought it meant. Harry coming up as the first card was pretty much a confirmation that the answer to the question was yes, but I am still trying to find a way around it as it is just too horrible to believe it is true otherwise.

That being said, I think you make very valid points in your ask. I have noticed the attacks on Catherine in the media (Camilla is better than Catherine, it is all due to Camilla that Catherine is so respected and popular etc). @honeytothebee has some good thoughts on the articles. I mean to read about them soon. I'm tackling William first, and then I will move on to Catherine.

I wish Charles could just support his eldest son without trying to throw him under the bus or steal his thunder or use him in Charles's PR antics. It would make life so much easier.

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thickenmyblood · 11 months

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Hello! Since we’re nearing the end of HIUH, I was wondering if we’ll see Laurent’s behavior addressed in the same way Damen’s has been? I can’t wait to find out what’s going on behind the scenes, because with the limited POV we get, it feels like Laurent kinda got away with his abuse towards Damen (though I know there must be more going on that we don’t see!) Like, while Damen loses all his friends, loses Nicaise for a while, becomes seriously depressed, it’s hard to find the hints where Laurent is similarly affected and in regret of his own behavior. Is the focus of HIUH just more on Damen’s behavior since he’s the narrator? I might be misreading things, but it feels like Laurent was abusive towards Damen their whole relationship, either in taking advantage of his money at the beginning (without Damen knowing this was Laurent’s intention, in contrast to a berencel dynamic) or verbally/emotionally abusing him later on. Laurent was totally valid in wanting to protect Nicaise and breaking up for that reason, but it makes me sad that Damen never felt he should break up with Laurent or that he didn’t deserve to be treated that way. Even at this point in HIUH, it feels like Damen, Laurent, and all of Laurent’s friends feel or act like Damen deserved that abuse because of his shortcomings. Maybe Laurent regrets it and is trying to improve himself, but it’s hard watching Damen be painted as the “bad guy” by other characters while Laurent, who genuinely abused him, is seen as the one who got “free” from Damen and is the one who gets a new relationship, support from his friends, etc. Even for a a character who can be “unjustifiably mean,” it’d be nice for someone else to call him out on it. Future chapters will probably make me rethink this interpretation, I’m sure! I’m just hopeful that if Laurent’s behavior was abusive in the way it seems, there’ll be space in your story to address it. Thanks for such a wonderful, interesting narrative :)

hello! you are not the first or only person who has asked me about this. I have chosen to reply to this particular ask because it touches on many issues and makes it "easier" for me to reply. now, my explanation:

1. will we see Laurent's behavior be addressed in the same way damen's has been?

I cannot promise the EXACT same level of detail because it did take me +260k words to get Damen here, but yes. Laurent's behavior will be addressed. however, Laurent's behavior has already been addressed multiple times throughout the fic by multiple people. neo, nikandros, and nicaise, to name a few. damen being dismissive of other characters' concerns does not mean the concerns have not been voiced.

2. was Laurent abusive towards Damen? what was the extent of that abuse? is Laurent an abuser?

as you can imagine, this is a complicated set of questions to answer because this is a sensitive topic. if you look at the list of trigger warnings on the fic, it is hard to miss the line that reads "verbal and emotional abuse". and so . . .

yes, I believe there were many moments throughout their relationship where Laurent exhibited abusive traits. he enjoys having the upper hand, because that's how he feels most in control. he is, to some degree, a control freak (which ties back to that conversation neo and Damen had VERY early on about control and how kids who have been abused sometimes try to gain that control back through other mechanisms*). there have been some clues that his uncle really enjoyed making him feel stupid and naive and like he didn't know anything about the world, and I believe he felt so deeply ashamed about this fact that he now does everything in his power to make sure he is never in that position again, that he is never the stupid one. and so that leaves him only one (toxic) role to occupy: the role of he who humiliates and makes sure to remind the other person of their own stupidity and naivety.

that is, obviously, wrong. which is what a lot of other characters (even ANCEL) have told Damen. which is what Damen will eventually bring up to Laurent himself. which will inevitably fall short in the eyes of many readers.

right now (ch17 being the last chapter up or about to go up) both the readers and Damen have every reason to believe Laurent used Damen for his own economic gain. as nikandros not so kindly put it, Laurent needed a lawyer or someone who knew excellent lawyers, someone who could pay for the fees, someone who could help him make ends meet to stay alive. this WILL be addressed in the story.

what will also be addressed in the story is the good cop vs bad cop issue. this has been HEAVILY mentioned throughout the fic, but it's basically one of the many explanations for (some) of laurent's outbursts (note: am I excusing abuse? no. let me FINISH). damen always being the one that gets to parent the fun way, the one that gets nicaise over the weekend, the one that doesn't have to say no to things because that's laurent's job. . . that's a kind of damen that laurent has grown to resent. this IS a source of tension for them and cannot be ignored if you want to see the full picture.

what i also think is important to remember is that for some of their relationship damen was in a position of power (he had money, laurent did not). damen also made A LOT of hurtful, ignorant, dismissive comments to/about laurent and nicaise (was that verbal abuse? was that emotional abuse? was it not "systematic" enough to be abusive?). the point of all this is to say: it's a very complex issue because I did not write this in a black and white manner and so I can't reply to people who expect that kind of answer from me.

3. has Laurent changed?

well, yes. his change might be unnoticeable to some, but I believe so far I've been okay-ish with showing and not telling. if you look for change, you'll find it in every conversation. he is more willing and quick to accept his wrongs, to apologize, to compromise, to co-parent, to finally speak to Damen about things he previously kept to himself both bc he knew Damen did not wish to know them and bc he himself was not ready to share them.

these final chapters will definitely show the most open version of Laurent that i have ever written. hopefully you'll understand every single choice he made (not CONDONE IT, but UNDERSTAND IT).

at this point, it's impossible for me to change some people's opinion of him. if you think he's a piece of shit that deserves to be burned at the stake, that's valid and I'm not here to throttle that interpretation out of your head. that's the beauty of writing and reading — I do my thing, and I let you do yours.

4. good guy vs. bad guy: which one is Damen and which one is Laurent?

there are no good guys and bad guys here, no villains and no heroes. every single character in this story is meant to suck as hard as real people suck, but also to be as giving and amazing as real people are. if you go into this story looking for a team to root for, you've missed my point entirely.

sometimes I struggle with enemies to lovers or getting back together or morally ambiguous character tropes. it seems to me that people who enjoy those stories oftentimes want the characters to be unlikeable up to a degree, you know? "you can suck in this fake, laboratory-bound, inorganic way that I control carefully to make sure no one feels uncomfortable, but NO, of course you're not allowed to truly and thoroughly fucking suck. that's off-putting! that's offensive! that's amoral!" well I am an off-putting, degenerate, amoral writer that writes shit fiction for people that enjoy quite a lot of blood and poison in their romance. I'm not better than anyone else, but also not worse.

5. you didn't ask this, but I want to reply to it anyway. "maca, what happens if I read all 300k words and the ending was not what I wanted bc you didn't address XYZ in a way I thought appropriate and respectful? what happens if I wasted my time bc i don't want them to be together anymore, or i do but not like this? maca, what happens if the story ends and I STILL think your characterization of Laurent is shit and you twisted Damen into something he's not? and maca what—"

nothing. nothing happens. nothing will happen. you'll leave a comment saying you didn't like it. I'll read it from my bed or my home desk or my work desk. I'll nod along to some parts. I'll laugh at others. I'll probably text one of my friends and say "what" about a line or two. you'll be upset for a while, maybe a long time. you'll write more comments. or not. you'll find another fic that you like more, that didn't disappoint you. you'll leave them a nicer comment. or not. you'll tweet something like "what a shit fic what a shit writer what a shit overall waste of my time". some people will retweet it. I'll see it, probably (i can't seem to escape stuff like that, for some reason). I'll agree. time will pass. you'll move to a different fandom. or not. you'll read better things, worse things, similar things. you'll forget. you'll misremember. you'll remember and feel rage. you'll leave another comment. or not. you'll move on. life will move on, too.

it was never that important, after all. just another fic you didn't like, or didn't get, or didn't read all the way to the end. all will be well, you'll see.

*WHICH IS NOT TO SAY ALL ABUSED KIDS BECOME ABUSERS. DO NOT TWIST MY WORDS OKAY. I'M SAYING FOR THIS VERY SPECIFIC STORY/AS AN ECHO OF CANON IT IS NOT INSANE TO ASK THESE QUESTIONS AND PRESENT THESE ISSUES.

#anon #hiuh #abuse

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a-queer-seminarian · 2 years

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So I have a somewhat technical theological question for you based on a post I saw recently (I think it was one of yours or you'd commented, but not 100% sure) and am hoping for your insight on it. On the post I'm thinking of, it was mentioned that in some denominations of Christianity, Judaism is seen as a sister religion that is still valid by God, as he has kept his promise to the Jewish people. I've also encountered the idea that Jews will get a "second chance" to convert during the end times. Would this still apply to a Jew by choice who was baptized and raised Christian? Or would that person be considered an apostate/be seen as having turned their back on Jesus and salvation?

Hey there, anon! Thank you for the question. Sorry my response is long lol, but this is a complex and extremely important topic!

Also, for future reference for you and others, I prefer to receive any asks that aren't specifically about me or seminary stuff over on my broader blog, @blessedarethebinarybreakers.

____

I do indeed have a post over on my other blog about how Jewish people already have a completely fulfilling relationship with God.

This viewpoint is one I have learned from Christians who seek interfaith relationship with Jewish persons.

For instance, Barabara Brown Taylor expounds upon it in her book Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others, which I highly recommend for Christians who are seeking to understand how to respect persons of other faiths while being committed to their own. I've got a tag with passages from Holy Envy that you can start out with to see if you're interested in the whole book :)

I've also been deeply enriched by the perspectives of Jewish persons like New Testament scholar Amy Jill Levine — I have tons of passages from her here — and Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, whom you should totally follow if you have a Twitter. (See also the couple of great threads from her I've shared here on tumblr)

That viewpoint is completely contrary to the other one that you bring up — that at the End Times, Jews will have a "second chance" to convert. That viewpoint is all too common in Christianity, and it causes real harm to Jewish people here and now.

In this viewpoint, back in Gospel times, the Jewish people rejected Jesus as their messiah. In this viewpoint, Jewish scriptures — what Christians unfortunately dub the "Old Testament" — foretell Jesus as the messiah, so in "rejecting him," basically they've completely misread their own scriptures.

...To tell a people group they have their own scripture wrong is...condescending, to say the least.

Another problem with this viewpoint is that in order for the Jewish people to "reject" Jesus as messiah, they'd have to have considered him a contender in the first place...and they didn't! Jesus just isn't relevant to Judaism.

This is a bad comparison (because Hindus in my cultural context at least don't go around doing this kind of thing the way Christians do lol), but to try to help make the point, if say, a Hindu told me I've rejected Shiva, I'd be like...I haven't? Shiva's just not relevant to my life. How can I have rejected a deity that I've barely contemplated??

Many Christians who believe that all Jews (and/or all non-Christians) will have a last chance to convert to Christianity / accept Jesus as Lord etc. genuinely believe that this is a kind and respectful viewpoint. I used to think so, too! It's only been through listening to Jewish persons and other non-Christians that I've come to understand how it perpetuates Christian supremacy (after all, it implies that Christianity is supreme, that all good people should and will one day become Christian).

An extreme version of this viewpoint that's common in white evangelicalism is that a widespread conversion of Jews is one of the signs (or catalysts?) of the End Times. These Christians make converting Jewish people a priority. Historically, this has brought horrific violence upon Jewish communities, and that continues to this day.

So yeah, TL;DR: the Jewish people can't have a "second chance" to become Christian because, 1) there was no "first chance,” no time the whole Jewish people “rejected” Jesus and/or Christianity; and 2) they don’t need a “second chance,” since they already have a valid and fulfilling relationship with the Divine.

_____

Finally, to answer the last bit of your question about the End Time fate of someone baptized & raised Christian and converted to Judaism:

I totally understand if you are worried about that either for yourself or someone else in your life. The Christian supremacist ideas about who "needs" that kind of "second chance" are deeply ingrained in a lot of us, and take a long time to fully unpack! So whatever your beliefs are, current or future, about the End Times and heaven and all of that, I hope you can find comfort in this:

God's compassion is infinite, beyond any human compassion. If you or I as human beings could imagine having mercy on such a person, so much more for God!

A lot of Christians, especially white evangelical Christians, put a lot of their focus on the End Times and the world to come — but if you take some time to revisit Jesus's own ministry, you'll notice how little he brings up the world to come. He's much more focused on bringing liberation here and now. Same goes for the prophets before him, from Moses to Amos to Isaiah. God's will is for our flourishing here and now — on earth as it is in heaven.

So as far as possible, I believe it's often most fruitful to put aside end time talk and thoughts about some abstract afterlife — to pay more attention to what's going on right now, in your little corner of this beautiful planet. What injustices would Esther, Jeremiah, Jesus be calling out? Who are the mighty who need to be cast down from their thrones, who are the oppressed in need of empowerment, and how can I, you, we participate in that? That's where our focus needs to be. When it comes to what comes next, we can rely on the compassion of the God who created us not for suffering, but for flourishing, not for punishment, but restoration.

____

Further Reading:

Reminder about the Holy Envy book quotes on respecting non-Christians

And again with the Amy Jill Levine quotes link

My antisemitism tag on my other blog is full of stuff to help Christians recognize where we are failing to love our Jewish neighbors as ourselves. This post in particular is a good starting place.

And this post is also a good place to start, with ideas for avoiding or uprooting supersessionism (the idea that Judaism was made irrelevant by Christianity) in your Christian beliefs

A really old post where I talk about the idea of the "end times" a bit more

I forever love this quote about letting go of both our fear of punishment and desire for reward

On that topic, here's my post on why I think the idea of hell is a human idea, not a divine one — and how that ties to the movement for prison abolition here and now

And here's my tag for stuff about, like, the afterlife, heaven, hell, etc. in general

If you're accustomed to reading the Bible through a lens of "if it's in the Bible, it's God's will," you might be interested in seeing another framework option.

#antisemitism in christianity #issues in christianity #antisemitism tag

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sapphicscholar · 4 months

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10, 12, 21?

thanks for these! Let's see what we've got!

10. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

Okay if the question was which am I the happiest *to have written* this would be a different answer (indulgence), but re the actual writing process, I think Two corpses. Everything's fine. has gotta be at the top! It was nice to have something that was largely pretty silly (a murder mystery) where Ava and Deborah were simultaneously trying to work out their own interpersonal issues while also playing their parts in the game and getting totally misread by everyone around them!

12. What fic was the most difficult to write? Did you finish it?

Hmm, Adrift (Hacks historical pirate AU) is up there because it's far from my normal genre (much more action-heavy), required a fair amount of research to be close to historically accurate (which is, for better or worse, one of those things I'm really committed to), and just didn't get a ton of interaction (I know lots of folks don't read AUs, even more don't read historical AUs, and plenty don't read WIPs until they're done, but it was the first time in a while I chose to start posting while I was still writing, in large part because lots of folks were so bummed about the tag being quiet, and it was hard to keep up motivation after that). I wrote and posted 3 chapters, but the combo of all those things definitely bumped it down my priority list - it'll get finished, but all things considered, it'll probably say in the back seat until I've made it through work commitment stuff unfortunately!

21. Share your favorite piece of dialogue

Ooh the one I posted in response to @ensorcei is probably up there, but from the same fic (indulgence) is this back and forth because I just really love the rhythm these two characters sink into when they're at each other's throats (because they so often show their cards and give away just how much they care even at the height of their cruelty!)

Blanche’s scowl deepens. “Your talent got you here. Own your achievements.”

“You think you could have lured me from France?” Judith asks with an incredulous laugh.

“All it took was a tawdry affair with a boring American. It can’t have been that hard.” Blanche finds herself leaning in closer, her voice growing more and more ardent. “He can offer you what? Sex? Stability? I gave you the world. A career. A name for yourself.”

“And I want both!”

“You can’t just have both.” Every inch Blanche has ever taken has been a battle, and there has never been a victory without its concessions.

“No, Blanche. No. You think you can’t have both.” Something twists uncomfortably in Blanche’s gut. “You sit there and act superior telling yourself no again and again and again. But all you’re really doing is hiding. Ceding ground before you can even risk losing it.”

#ask me anything #anon #fic writer asks #hacks hbo #julia hbo

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miidnighters · 4 months

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@littledevilinside | continued from h e r e "i'm so sorry - i...um... did i interrupt something?" she says, reaching to throw a dish rag over her shoulder, leaning her elbows on the wooden surface of the bar. she tilts her head to the side and glances over at the person playing the jukebox, rolling her eyes as they once again press the same song they've been playing for the past twenty minutes - like the bar hasn't heard enough of 'thunder rolls' tonight. "you just looked lost in thought, i figured maybe you could use someone to talk to or somethin'? unless i'm completely misreading the situation, then oh my god, i'm so sorry."

she reaches for a second beer and props it up against her hip before popping the top and placing it near him. lori will take it out of the tip jar fund that's been going on tonight - she can easily replace the cost of a singular beer to save face, if the owner really asks for it. "please, it's on the house. i totally didn't mean to just embarrass myself and invade your privacy, i'm just....i like to make friends and you looked like you could use one tonight. i'm about to get off and if you'd wanna hang out and talk, i'm completely open to the idea. but of course, feel free to say no to the creepy lady who interrupted your alone time," she says, trying to lighten the mood a little.

He's actually getting a bit of whiplash from how quickly she apologises. "No, no you're fine. I wasn't thinking anything particularly important, I'd just zoned out a bit. You're not disturbing me."

Isaac takes a sip from the beer he's already nursing, looking over at her behind the bar now. Had she always been there? Probably - it wasn't unheard of for him to tune out his surroundings.

He does blink in surprise at the new beer she slides towards him. "Oh, you don't have to - I'll pay for it, it's fine. You didn't invade my privacy." Isaac does chuckle a little, now, since she was clearly considering this a much larger offence than he was. Dramatic was maybe the word he'd use, but not in a bad way.

"I actually come sit to spend some time somewhere that's not my house and talk to an actual person, so so far I've only been doing half a job." He flashes her a smile. "So If you want to sit and chat, I wouldn't say no." A pause. "I might, though, go tee up a few songs on the jukebox while you finish up. Our bud over there," a nod towards the man in question. "Has had his turn long enough, don't you think?"

#littledevilinside #x. reply | isaac | ☾

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vyladromeave · 5 months

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26 and 28?

26. you're tasked with writing an official side story/spin-off roleplay (void paradox, mermaid tale, upside-down story), what would that look like?

Every day I am haunted by the fact that the original mcd spin-off stuff just became mystreet and i know I could do a modern au of MCD better than jess. I know it. but i cant pick that as my answer because mystreet already exists and is bad.

I kinda struggled with this for a while ngl, i have a lot of reject answers that will not be seeing the light of day. I'm an MCD guy, so my instinct is to do something more MCD-based, potentially still set in MCD's world. But keeping it within the same world but different characters usually makes series that are boring and hard for people to get attached to (for an Aphmau-specific example, see Phoenix Drop Days). But series with characters that are AU-ified and altered are often very hit or miss for me... I really didn't like how series like mermaid tale and royal tale treated returning characters, and mystreet is a whole separate train wreck entirely.. It's very hard to make things different but also respectful to the original source.

BUT. THAT BEING SAID. In the middle of this i was reminded of the au behind this post, the role swap of The Jury and Shadowknights, and I feel like that would be fun to cover!!! I need to make a whole nother post about the au as a whole just to solidify my ideas about it tbh. i have ideas.

But i think overall just covering like a short retelling (its just a spinoff, unfortunately I cannot cover all of MCD) of a time where we get a bunch of people involved on both sides on screen would be fun. I'm specifically thinking of the arc at the end of S1 with Katelyn and Lillian in town. I think a lot of the shadowknights and jury share a lot of parallels with each other already, which would be fun to explore, but also fun to look into how these people being a part of different organizations would change who they are and how they act massively.

28. if you could ask jess one question about the series and recieve a direct answer, what would it be?

now here is where i get to cheat. because

i was asked this question TWO ADDITIONAL TIMES. so I get 3 questions total now. thats how this works. yes this is just straight up cheating. thank you.

QUESTION 1: i gotta give it to stellisketches. this is exactly where my mind went first too. i wish i could just say "Give me all your planning notes and script documents because I know you have them you mentioned them on stream years ago please let me see them." But that is unfortunately a demand, not a question. So asking about the intended direction and ending of S3/MCD as a whole will have to do.

^this is the main one that i would most want an answer to. The rest of these definitely aren't as important, but they do haunt me personally:

QUESTION 2: WHO THE FUCK ARE THE OTHER JURY MEMBERS AND WHAT ARE ALL THEIR TITLES. Its called the fucking Jury Of Nine, we're still very notably missing a whole third of their members. No, Garroth doesn't count, he was a temporary sub-in. We have 6 official members. We almost have more people on the official "could have been a jury member if we needed one replaced" list than there are actual jury members. Well ok not really, but it's closer than it should be. We didn't even know Ivan was supposed to be a jury member until Rebirth. Have we seen the others in og mcd (or other series?) and Jess just forgot to mention they were Jury like Ivan, or was Ivan a last-minute promotion plotwise? Is Zane supposed to be a member? To me it seemed like he was supposed to be leading them, but not strictly a part of them. They just answered to him. But was that me misreading things? Is Zane the secret 9th member? (I know a lot of people consider him one because of the S1 finale, since he powers up like Garroth does and Garroth seems to have Katelyn's like weird jury-relic thing. but ONE: the jury-relic things are stupid and never brought up again and TWO: Zane has Esmund's relic at this point, that's what's powering him up, not a jury-relic-thing. So?????) ARE there even other plans for the Jury members we haven't seen? Do they exist to Jess? Does she have any others in mind at all? I need to know these things. Also why do so many of them use scythes or have scythe in their titles. That's stupid. Stop that.

QUESTION 3: WHO THE FUCK IS VYLAD'S BIOLOGICAL FATHER, WERE THERE ANY PLANS FOR HIS (biological) PATERNAL SIDE OF THE FAMILY. Is this a bad question? Yes. Does Jess likely actually have any plans here? Probably not. Was obscuring Vylad's bio dad's name done so that Jess didn't have to invent a whole new character, and not because she had someone in mind and wanted to obscure who it was? Yeah probably. Are there better things to ask? Yeah. But this haunts me every single day. We don't even know if he's alive. We don't even know his fucking name. Is there an actual reason he looks like every other brown haired character in the series, or did Jess just want those sweet sweet Jeffory parallels? I need to know if there was at least some plan here, even if it was stupid. I need to know if Jess was just pulling shit directly out of her ass or not. It's important. I'm the Vylad guy you have to let me have this.

(ask prompts from here!)

#ask #mcd #mcd meta #long post #big post

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sitp-recs · 2 years

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Hii Liv ❤️ I love your recs and commentary so much! Could you recomend me some fics with strong brotp feels with Ron? It could be with either Harry or Draco or both☺️☺️

Thanks anon! Oh yes, love me some Ron appreciation 🙌 I hope you enjoy these. Will also link my Dron/Dronarry reclist here, to celebrate the announcement of DronarryFest 2023!

Champion by @shealwaysreads (2021, T, 7k)

Harry thought his Eighth Year would be simple and easy. And it sort of is, though not in the ways he expected.

Come as You Are by @peachpety (2021, E, 8k). his school AU

If asked, Harry Potter would categorize his high school senior year as normal: football, friends, and one devastating crush on his tutor, Draco Malfoy. When presented with an opportunity to help Draco, Harry rises to the occasion. Unfortunately, so does his dick. Sparks fly and alarms blare… and the Hogwarts Owlz Gossip twitter feed blows up.

And a Malfoy in a Pear Tree by lauren3210 (2015, E, 8k)

Draco works in a coffee shop. Harry drops by every day to get his fix. Of coffee, Ron.

What I thought by @bafflinghaze (2014, E, 8k)

Draco thought they were in a relationship. Harry thought it was just sex.

Party of Two by fireflavored (2012, E, 13k)

Drinking, sex, and a total misreading of the concept of fuck buddies.

Give Me a Quiet Mind by @wellhalesbells (2013, T, 16k)

Draco is Weasley’s assistant. Except for the week he’s not. Whose brilliant idea was that again? Featuring offices in Edinburgh, an epic Measley Bromance (that no one will admit exists), several unrequited crushes, fantastical revenge scenarios, coffee snobbery, the dreaded – yet adorable – toddler terror, promises of organ swapping, a play about Scottish history (no one cares), sequins, and the League of Snarky Secretaries!

you've got the antidote for me by Kandakicksass (2018, M, 20k)

When Harry Potter unintentionally severs their soulbond before it can fully form, Draco Malfoy resigns himself to a slow death and decides not to burden Harry with a soulmate he's made it very clear he doesn't want. He's never been selfless before, but for Harry, he can try.

We Might Be Too Old for a Bildungsroman by @wellhalesbells (2015, T, 21k)

Harry finds something he’s been looking for since the war’s end. Admittedly, the packaging’s a bit odder than he expected.

Peeking behind the Curtain by @wellhalesbells (2013, M, 23k)

Draco sees things he really, really wishes he didn't. If only to get out of all the homework that comes with it.

Weapon of Choice by @lou-isfake (2021, T, 25k) - Medieval AU

Sir Malfoy is in need of a sword. The blacksmith isn’t supposed to ask why.

Expecto Patronum by @writcraft (E, 35k)

Harry Potter is the most sought after celebrity in wizarding Britain. His every movement is scrutinised, his relationships questioned and his photographs plastered over every paper. Harry's used to everyone thinking he’s a hero and has had plenty of time to learn how to keep his biggest secrets hidden from the press. As Draco Malfoy negotiates his feelings for the wizarding world's brightest star, he becomes increasingly attached to Harry and unravels the secrets he keeps hidden from the rest of the world.

Clouds That Veil the Midnight Moon by @drarrytrash (2020, E, 36k)

According to Harry’s personal narrative regarding the incident, he’d hooked up with Draco Malfoy for purely self-destructive reasons, or out of convenience, or by some unlucky accident. Looking at him, sprawled in the moonlight, Harry is devastated to recall that he’d hooked up with Draco Malfoy because he’s hot.

Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love by @aibidil (2017, E, 80k)

In which a group of wizards' rights activists goes on the offensive after a prohibition against love potions, forcing the magical world to confront the horror of magic's role in sexual assault and the murky legal nature of consent. Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Draco are swept together to solve the case, and in the process they're made to confront their own love and lust—with and without potions.

A Sword Laid Aside by @korlaena (2018, E, 128k)

When Draco’s cover is blown during a deep undercover operation and the Ministry is compromised, Ron takes Draco to the only safe place he can think of—Potter. Hiding out with a taciturn Harry Potter, who has been missing from the Wizarding World for almost two decades after a shocking fall from grace, is nothing like Draco thought it would be.

By the Grace by lettered (2020, T, 140k)

Harry is an Auror instructor. Malfoy wants to be an Auror.

#asks #anon #drarry reclist #Harry & Ron brOTP #Ron & Draco brOTP

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the-cookie-of-doom · 1 month

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Interested in your answers for 17 and 19 of the choose violence ask game, if you'd like to share them! Thank you :)

I was halfway through answering when I realized I totally misread the ask game. It is... not intended to be as dark as I made my answers, I think... oh well! I'm sticking to my guns. Anyone who's read my stuff knows this is a dead dove household lol

17. There should be more of this kind of fic/art

Oh man I'm about to Reveal Myself, but... I think KP as a whole could really use more noncon/dubcon, but KimChay especially (and Kim specifically). I read a fic a looong time ago when I first entered the fandom, it was like 400 words, and I'm not gonna name it in case the author doesn't want to be attached to it, but it was so good. Essentially Chay is very enthusiastic in the smut and Kin can't bring himself to say no, and I just!!! That is the good shit to me. I feel like especially post-reconciliation, Kim is exactly the kind of person that would overcompensate for breaking Chay's heart by giving him everything he wants. (i may be writing a fic about this already, called Stress Relief. That may or may not ever be posted. That may or may not be based on my own personal trauma. Anyway.) On a lighter note! I want to see more AUs! I'm a bit spoiled coming from the TW fandom, which is like. One of the most prolific fandoms on Ao3. But mannn, I want to see KimChay writers branch out and get absolutely unhinged with their AUs!

19. You're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

Lets be real. My first answer was non-con. There's really not a lot I'm ashamed about lol. I mean I've got like 3 different tentacle monster fics in the works, I've got a Wuju Bakery fic that's 90% slime and oviposition (technically still up for debate. Eggpreg?). I'm all in on the things I like, and don't care/think much about the things I don't. I think I've been in fandom long enough, and gotten old enough, that I just... don't have time to waste on being awkward anymore. Lose your shame! Cast off your shackles! That said I used to think rimming was really gross and I don't like it irl but there are some people who just write it like. unf. Hot damn. I'm a little mad at @ae-azile for that one chapter of Progression 👀

Also not mad/ashamed/horrified, but I was surprised at how much I love reading autistic Kim and writing trans!Kim. For the first one I think the writers in this fandom do an excellent and convincing job at characterizing him (esp @kimkhimhant my beloved <3) without infantilizing him, which... happens a lot with autistic characters. Like, the writing is so spot on that I didn't even question in, I pretty much immediately assimilated that into my mental rolodex of headcanons. 10/10 A+ effort for everyone around.

The trans!Kim aspect is also really fun. I'd never really written trans characters before, but this past year, and the past couple of months especially, I've been really struggling with my own gender and identity. So writing about that through Kim has been really therapeutic. (Adding to my first answer, we need more trans!Kim!) Although... I do hope that the particular way I've chosen to explore his gender in Dystocia is.. taken gracefully. Since it does revolve around Kim having a very traumatic pregnancy (and a lot of other trauma in general), which I know can be triggering for people. Whenever I eventually post that monster of a fic I'm just going to liberally tag it with all the things and hope for the best lol.

I think Dystocia and Stress Relief are two fics that I'm incredibly nervous to post, both because of how personally significant they are to me in a way most of my fics aren't, and because they're both very dark, which IDK if that's something people really want to see from KimChay (esp in Stress Relief).

Anyway! This is a lot wordier and darker than it probably needed to be, and IDK if it's what you were looking for dear anon, but thank you for the ask!

#cookie speaks #ty for the ask lol #if anyone tries to come for me for the noncon just know i WILL fite u #im processing my ~trauma~#and Kim is my squishy stress ball

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queenlucythevaliant · 8 months

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Do you think Behemoth and Leviathan were actually real and happened to be dinosaurs? Behemoth was a huge and formidable land dinosaur while Leviathan was a pleisiosaur. Technically, plesiosaurs weren't dinosaurs, but you get my idea?

So I've been sitting on this ask for a little bit because I honestly didn't know what tone to take in answering it. I don't know your background, and thus don't know whether to be more blunt or delicate. Ultimately, I settled on blunt, simply because I could not figure out how to answer this question delicately. That said, I hope you take this in the gracious spirit in which I have written it.

SO. That's a hard no from me, friend. Let's discuss!

So typically when you hear people say that Behemoth and Leviathan were dinosaurs (or dinosaur adjacent), it's in the context of arguments in favor of young earth creationism. It's a fairly big talking point with the Answers in Genesis crowd. Basically, they make the argument that Biblical texts referencing creatures that superficially resemble dinosaurs are evidence that humans and dinosaurs could have lived at the same time.

This works out if the earth is only 6,000 years old, but not if we take paleontology, geology, or human evolution at all seriously. The writer of Job would have had no way of knowing that dinosaurs and plesiosaurs existed because they had already been extinct for many millions of years. Even if you want to argue that maybe God is describing creatures with which Job was unfamiliar, it still doesn't track. God's address to Job treats these creatures as something for which he has a point of reference. It also just doesn't make sense why God would choose this moment to reveal the existence of dinosaurs. Talk about a tangent!

I don't know where you fall on the spectrum of Christian beliefs regarding origins and the age of the earth, but I've written at length on this blog about the case for theistic (old earth) evolution, so I won't rehash that here. Check out my all truth is God's truth tag or shoot me an ask if you want more on that. Regarding Behemoth and Leviathan, however, I think some of the same exegetical skills involved in reading (or misreading) Genesis are involved in the relevant chapters of Job.

When God addresses Job out of the whirlwind, he uses poetic language. He's talking about a real thing (his sovereignty over the universe), but it's something that transcends human comprehension on an overwhelming scale. Much like we can't ever hope to wrap our heads around deep time, we're simply not capable of grasping the extent of God's sovereignty.

When God describes storehouses of hail reserved for the day of battle, are we supposed to literally think that there is a giant building in heaven where God keeps all his hail? Or is it a picture of God's might as both creator and judge of the universe? If we know our Bibles, we see that hail is frequently used as a tool of judgement against God's enemies: Egypt, the Canaanites, apostate Israel, and ultimately the rebellious earth. So when God describes his storehouses of hail, we see the reality of his total control over the arc of history, his ultimate justice, his orderliness.

Likewise, Behemoth and Leviathan use the established language and symbolism of Scripture to convey truths for which plain language wouldn't suffice. Behemoth's description isn't that of any real animal, living or extinct. God paints a picture of a creature that no man could ever hope to tame and expresses that he, God, can.

Leviathan is the longer and more interesting image; it's a mighty creature of the deep that breathes fire and cannot be controlled. We know that in Biblical parlance, water is frequently associated with chaos (too many places to enumerate, but Psalms, the Prophets, and Revelation are good starting places). Leviathan is a picture of this chaos: mighty, rearing, deadly, uncontrollable, terrifying. Then God says to Job, "Can you draw this creature out with a fishhook? Can you make a covenant with him? Will he serve you? Can you injure him? Do you have any means at all of controlling the chaos monster? I do." It's poetry used to express a truth that we humans cannot hope to grasp otherwise: We cannot control the chaos of the world around us. We can't even try. But God can, and he does it effortlessly.

So no. Not dinosaurs. And I think that arguing that they are, especially trying to pick through the text and figure out which ones they're supposed to be and using that to argue for literalistic interpretations of Genesis, really misses the point and the power of what God is saying here.

I think Job's words back to God at the end of the book actually give us a remarkably important principle when it comes to Biblical interpretation: "I have uttered what I do not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know." The whole Bible is too wonderful for us. God condescended in order to give us his truth, and he had the magnificent grace to give it to us in ways that we can begin to grasp.

I think a lot of really literalistic reads on Scripture (Job, Genesis, Revelation, and elsewhere) are a kind of grasping at control. There's an assumption in it that God gave the ancients an exact accounting of things that humans just aren't equipped to fully comprehend.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't try! But it does mean that when we read Scripture concerning the Big Things: the Sovereignty of God, the creation of the universe, the origin of life, eternity, infinity, even spiritual mysteries like the Trinity and the nature of the Incarnation, we have to approach it as something fundamentally beyond our comprehension which God is showing us the edges of. We can see other, different edges of many of those same things through scientific observation (or philosophy, or whatever other disciplines-- not all of the Big Things are scientific in nature.)

It's like Isaac Newton said: "I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

#i really really hope that this doesn't read as unkind #i really appreciate the question! and i don't know where you're coming from generally #but this stuff makes my heart sing #or ache sometimes when i see people reading the Bible in certain ways #i love my YEC brothers and sisters which is why I'm so passionate about theistic evolution #it's about panting after truth-- all truth any truth more truth than I can ever have #and yet recognizing that some truths are too lofty for me #i wish like hell that I could cast my mind back and really understand deep time #the eons the clockwork-precision the tides leading to life #i wish that i could understand the mysteries of knowledge the mysteries of God's sovereignty of suffering of grace of the Godhead #i will have so so many questions for God when I see him face to face #and even then i probably will not be given all the answers #i am trying to learn how to be okay with that #side note: there will be scientific research in the new heavens and the new earth i am all but sure of it #all truth is God's truth #ask me hard questions

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