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Had the life of Christ, and the nature of Christianity, been known and lived in by all that profess the name [of Christian], Christendom would have been as a fruitful field, and as a pleasant garden enclosed, and as a vineyard walled about, full of trees of righteousness and plants of God’s own right hand planting. And the tree of life would have flourished among them in the midst thereof, and the leaves of the same would have healed the nations round about. And it would have been as a city set upon a hill, which cannot be hid; and as a lamp that burns, being fed with sweet oil; and as a glorious light that shines: and many would have fled unto it, as unto a city of refuge, and have walked in the light thereof, and have seen and beheld their good works, and have glorified their Father which is in heaven. And they would have laid down as a flock of harmless lambs together […], where no destroyer is nor none can make afraid.

William Shewen, The True Christian's Faith & Experience, 1680s

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Theology that defines virtue as obedience to God suppresses the virtue of revolt. A woman being battered by her husband will be counseled to be obedient, as Jesus was to God. After all, Eve brought sin into the world by her disobedience. A good woman submits to her husband as he submits to God.

Some will say that absolute obedience to God doesn’t carry danger, because God is good and does not ask us to be violent. But this defense requires us to be certain that we are always right in understanding what God asks of us. We are fallible. The Bible, some argue, provides an infallible revelation of the will of God. But the Bible is a complex, multi-voiced document. Its teachings can be harmonized only by imposing onto the Bible a uniformity that is not in the text itself. There is no simple revelation of God’s will. We have to accept responsibility for our interpretations. Obedience is not a virtue. It is an evasion of our responsibility. Religion must engage us in the exercise of our responsibilities, not teach us to deny the power that is ours.

A God who punishes disobedience will teach us to obey and endure when it would be holy to protest and righteous to refuse to cooperate.

Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker, Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and the Search for What Saves Us

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“The Gospels insist upon two antithetical truths which express the tragedy of the human condition: the first is that if you do not love you will not be alive; the second is that if you do love you will be killed. If you cannot love you remain self-enclosed and sterile, unable to create a future for yourself or others, unable to live. If, however, you do effectively love you will be a threat to the structures of domination upon which our human society rests, and you will be killed.”

— Fr Herbert McCabe (via onancientpaths)

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“The Gospels insist upon two antithetical truths which express the tragedy of the human condition: the first is that if you do not love you will not be alive; the second is that if you do love you will be killed. If you cannot love you remain self-enclosed and sterile, unable to create a future for yourself or others, unable to live. If, however, you do effectively love you will be a threat to the structures of domination upon which our human society rests, and you will be killed.”

— Fr Herbert McCabe (via onancientpaths)

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“The Gospels insist upon two antithetical truths which express the tragedy of the human condition: the first is that if you do not love you will not be alive; the second is that if you do love you will be killed. If you cannot love you remain self-enclosed and sterile, unable to create a future for yourself or others, unable to live. If, however, you do effectively love you will be a threat to the structures of domination upon which our human society rests, and you will be killed.”

— Fr Herbert McCabe (via onancientpaths)

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"But how can you justify a player character with a (non-disinherited) noble background in a dungeon-crawling fantasy game" well, the most obvious approach is a fantasy setting whose nobility practices cognatic primogeniture where, instead of "first son inherits, second son goes into the military, third son becomes a priest", it's "first son inherits, second son goes into the military, third son becomes an adventurer". From the player's perspective, it handily explains why the title comes with little material support from the family; from the family's perspective, there's an unspoken understanding that most of the spare heirs will be eaten by a dragon (or whatever), thereby simplifying the inheritance situation, and the few survivors will become great assets.

(There is, of course, the possibility that a surviving third son, having grown powerful and understandably harbouring some slight resentment, may return, kill his elder brothers with dark magic, and take over the dynasty, but in practice this almost never happens.)

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(nothing between me and god except a thin panel of aquarium glass) ahem *bonk* hey *bonk* excuse me *loud thunk* i have questions about the nature of things

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One of the most important things to unpack and unlearn when you’re part of a white supremacy saturated society (i.e. the global north) and especially if you were raised in an intensified form of it (evangelicism, right wing politics, explicit racism) is the urge to punish and take revenge.

It manifests in our lives all the time and it is inherently destructive. It makes relationships and interactions adversarial for no good reason. It undermines cooperation and good civic order. It worsens some types of crime. It creates trauma, especially in children.

Imagine approaching unexpected or unacceptable behavior from a perspective of "how can this be stopped, and prevented" instead of "you’re going to regret this!”

Imagine dealing with a problem or conflict from the perspective of “how can this be solved in a way that is just and restorative” instead of “the people who caused this are going to pay.”

How much would that change you? How much would that have changed for you?

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God does not hang back as a mere spectator when power is utilized to oppress the weak and crush the poor. God does not keep sovereign distance in the face of human crimes. God's angry voice echoes through the centuries: "Cain, where is your brother?"

Leonardo Boff, Way of the Cross--Way of Justice

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There is a real physiological aspect to things like anxiety and depression, and to ignore that and suggest that simply believing in Christ is a guarantee to make those problems go away is a form of prosperity gospel.

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Honestly, if you see an angel that’s all eyes and wings and wheels of fire, you should be worried. Like, not because it’s going to hurt you or anything, but because scripturally, angels invariably appear to ordinary people in human form. In general, they only show their inhuman true forms to prophets – which means if you’re seeing them like that, they come bearing responsibility.

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“I imagine that one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once their hate is gone, that they will be forced to deal with pain.”

James Baldwin, “Notes of a Native Son” 1955

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Hey. You. The American teenager inexplicably reading this. Don't join the US military. You're better than that. The military is a bunch of cops. Are they technically diverse and inclusive? On some level, kind of, almost. But their job is to kill people. They kill innocent people every day. They abuse their own members, especially their members who aren't white cis het middle class Christian men. The US exists through perpetual violence against the global working class, including its own working class. The military is how it carries out a large portion of that violence. You deserve better. You're better than that. Don't join.

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“Did not the Lord make all men and women upon the earth of one mould, why then should there be so much honour and respect unto some men and women, and not unto others, but they are almost naked for want of Cloathing, and almost starved for want of Bread?”

— Hester Biddle, early Quaker, The Trumpet of the Lord Sounded Forth,1662.

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