#(​and eating people but that literally was a result of being cursed for the sins of his mother and Minos)
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sanska · 3 months ago
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It’s tough growing up in the house of Minos, kind of why I prefer the versions where Ariadne meets Dionysus by chance vs the ones where she’s killed/deserted due to his machinations, otherwise you get:
one born as a punishment and fated to live and die a monster, another cursed to ruin her family and marry Theseus, and the last abandoned and dead by a god’s decree (a god who in other versions she finds eternal happiness and love with, but that is not hers to have in this story)
I’ve thought of Ariadne and Phaedra meeting again during a City Dionysia in Athens, but any scenario I’ve doodled has them being awkward and unsure of how to address it all—Minos, Asterius, Theseus, one of them marrying a god who’s festival they’re attending, Hippolytus —no amount of therapy could fix the house of Minos (also, imagine dying and seeing dear old dad is an underworld judge??)
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[Leaving]
I have so many questions about the story of Ariadne’s abandonment on Naxos like:
1. On one hand I get not wanting to marry the daughter of the guy who’s sacrificing your people to the cowboy that lives under his castle (even if you originally promised her), but Theseus then marries Ariadne’s sister?? Is it because in some stories Ariadne is running the labyrinth while Phaedra’s mostly not involved or
2. Did Phaedra say nothing on the boat/Naxos before ditching her sister to become Queen of Athens. I desperately want to know what’s their siblings dynamic and if they consider the Minotaur a brother or a monster
3. What is going on in Naxos at this period in the mythos. Was it inhabited by people? Were there only cats and wandering gods? Like on the “getting stranded on a greek island in a mythic scenario” scale where does Naxos lie if you don’t attract godly notice
Anyway drew more Ariadne my favourite greek mythos girl fr
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y-rhywbeth2 · 1 year ago
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Gods & Clergy: Shar
Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Index [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]
Religion | Gods | Shar | Selûne | Bhaal | Mystra | Jergal | Bane #1 | Bane #2 | Bane #3 | Myrkul | Lathander | Kelemvor | Tyr | Helm | Ilmater | Mielikki | Oghma | Gond | Tempus | Silvanus | Talos | Umberlee | Corellon | Moradin | Yondalla | Garl Glittergold | Eilistraee | Lolth | Laduguer | Gruumsh | Bahamut | Tiamat | Amodeus | The rest of the Faerûnian Pantheon --WIP
And back to collecting lore on the evil deities! There's... a lot of information on Shar, so honestly this isn't even all of it just most(?) of it. Most of it isn't relevant anyway...
Overview: What if depression was a religion?
Clergy: If you don't have shit like depression and cptsd you're about to, courtesy of the Nightsinger! Society? Burn it all!
Nightcloaks / Nightbringers: Memory wiping. Whips. Making creepy man-shaped things of pure darkness.
Shar: Don't look her in the eye. Wear earplugs when she speaks. Don't let her kiss you. Avoid the talking severed heads and the tentacles... actually, just avoid this ancient eldritch horror altogether.
-
"Reveal secrets only to fellow members of the faithful. Never follow hope or turn to promises of success. Quench the light of the moon whenever you find it, and hide from it when you cannot prevail. The dark is a time to act, not wait. It is forbidden to strive to better your lot in life or to plan ahead except when directly overseen by the faithful of the Dark Deity. Consorting with the faithful of good deities is a sin except in business dealings or to corrupt them from their beliefs. Obey ranking clergy unless it would result in your own death." "Darkness is your cloak and your spur to action. Strike down the moon and those who serve it, and work against laws and law keepers, rulers and the powerful, by corrupting them and sewing dissension. Weave discord through secrets and rumours and falsehoods, so that all that is now mighty shall in time be swept away, and all that will still remain is in the darkness of Shar. Work in secret when necessary, obey your superiors in the Night Church without question or defiance, and give your life when Shar deems it needful, for you will reap her dark reward." - Shar's Dogma
The interesting thing about Shar, for all her intrinsic hatred of existence, is that she needs people - specifically "she feeds on [people's] suffering." Literally. She eats it. When she consumes their grief and misery, the sudden void of negative emotion causes a temporary surge of euphoria. Due to this relief, many people turn to "Shar's embrace."
Sharrans believe that by following Shar faithfully they will eventually reach an enlightened state beyond all suffering, however all that happens is that they're exposed to suffering and retraumatised again and again until they become resigned to and desensitised to it - their own and others'. Sharrans are much less useful to their goddess if they truly move beyond suffering, and instead the process is simply a cycle of abuse and depression as she farms them for sustenance and power.
As per the teachings: life is inane and existence was a mistake all are cursed to suffer because of Selûne's stupidity. All love withers and dies; you are alone, and always will be. This misery is inherent and inescapable, and it's better to embrace this fact than to hurt yourself by being stupid enough to feel love for others or hope for better.
All rulers and hierarchies are corrupt, according to Sharran doctrine, and everybody should be free to live their lives as they wish free of the laws and "morality" decided for them by others.
Everything that exists deserves to perish, and the right thing to do is to help the entropic process along.
Shar is ever-present, and wanders through the dreams of mortals, prodding at their hidden pains and whispering suggestions to them on how to act upon them. She offers the allure of relief to the poor, the lonely and ostracised, the grieving, the mentally ill... Victims of abuse often turn to her for relief and vengeance. On the every day level, people who need to work or travel at night or in the dark make offerings to her to placate her.
A lay worshipper is referred to as a Dark Follower. Sharrans are forbidden to hope, plan ahead or attempt to improve their miserable lives unless ordered to by the clergy, as part of Shar's design. They must not speak out against a priest, or interrupt any of their rituals and prayers for any reason. Lay worshippers must prove their loyalty and devotion by carrying out one crime or deed under the order of the clergy at least once a year, and try to bring others into the fold. They are strictly forbidden to interact with followers of good aligned deities (so you know stay away from people who follow, like, Selûne, who encourages comforting the lonely and making welcoming spaces for the ostracised; Lliira, who encourages experiencing joy; Lathander, with his thing about optimism and new beginnings... Don't want them hanging out with those people...)
If you have no need of Shar's "aid" then her clergy are at hand to fix that for you.
The members of the Night Church are known collectively as Darshars by outsiders, but they would refer to themselves as Martyrs. They have forfeit their lives to Shar in order to serve her, and know that she will eventually come to claim her due. They're generally under no delusion regarding the fact that their deaths are likely to come sooner rather than later, and Shar's tendency to discard her most powerful, loyal and favoured servants on a whim is well known - for all should experience the loss.
When addressing each other, Darshars address equal and lower ranks as "Brother/Sister/Sibling Night," and their superiors as "Mother/Father Night."
Novices of the faith are called Adepts of the Night. Full priests are Watchers. Hands of Shar have proven themselves in battle, and are placed in charge of several cells. A Darklord or Darklady is a region's senior priest, and sets policy for the church in their area. Nightseers oversee the activities of all Sharrans in a realm (a country). The Flames of Darkness are the highest ranking priests, answering directly to Shar. The standard training of the clergy usually shows, mechanically, through multiclassing as a rogue.
To become a Darshar, each priest much prove themselves by committing some terrible deed or other in Shar's name, after which the goddess will bestow a new name upon them. The nature of the deed and the name is called one's Own Secret.
Unlike lay worshippers, clergy are permitted to seek wealth and power, although it comes with the awareness that these things will not last. "If she uses [powerful individuals] as her tools now, there will come a day when she destroys them utterly, in favor of someone much weaker and very different. For that is the way of Shar. In her words, “Out of the darkness we all come, and to the darkness we all return. Some swifter than others, and many not swiftly enough.”
The senior clergy preach of Shar's "Dark Reward" - the raising of a dead Sharran as undead under the control of the clergy. Typically mindless undead such as zombies and skeletons. If Shar prizes the fallen individual's skills enough then she will actually resurrect them fully, augmented with her power. Such priests are the Shadowed, who have abilities such as turning invisible or into mist. They always bear a mark of Shar's corruption however; their eyes - including the sclera - are pitch black, and they can speak only in hoarse, cold whispers. One of their hands gnarls into a black talon. The rest of her priesthood views them with terror.
Darshars keep their hair long in homage to Shar (whose long hair is iconic). It's usually kept under a black skullcap, but women with naturally dark hair are permitted to forgo the cap because their hair is considered sacred to Shar. Black and purple are worn extensively, as are full body black cloaks and robes.
The black cloaks are called nightcloaks, which are enchanted to enable flight and mute ambient sound when the wearer wills it.
At night, some clergy let their hair down and walk the night, wearing nothing but their nightcloaks and their hair. They leave no barriers between themselves and the darkness that is their goddess.
Some priests wear enchanted wigs, woven into braids that can move and carry things (such as daggers), much like Shar's own hair is said to be animate.
Clerics who disappoint Shar/their superiors are forced to undergo thei penance surrounded by light - "the darkness if for those who deserve it."
Darshars are tasked with making society as miserable to live in as possible, so that more will feel loss and be brought into Shar's Embrace seeking peace. They corrupt the powerful, kill those who can't be corrupted and ferment rebellion, and murder people whose work is improving people's lives. They support thieves guilds and criminal organisations that make civilisation more unsafe and untrustworthy. They do generally avoid war and mass bloodshed, however. Shar requires converts/cattle, and it's hard to do that when they're all dead. Also murdering Selûnites and destroying their bases of worship wherever you can; can't forget that.
When a Darshar commits a murder, they are to ensure that the victim is aware that they died in Shar's name. Provided that this murder isn't being committed to foment strife and chaos by pinning it on somebody else, the Darshar will write Shar's name somewhere nearby with the victim's blood.
They're also to help others avenge slights, and publicise such stories, so that the desperate will turn to the Night Church for justice and vengeance and they do their best to present themselves as the superior option to the god of vengeance, Hoar.
They are to do all of this in utter secrecy, it should never be obvious to others who and what is behind these events. Often Sharran cells will found secret, non-Sharran cabals to do their dirty work for them. Hiring adventurers to commit crimes for them is another way. In order to form these cabals, Sharrans often run secret societies, hedonistic social clubs and false cults. They also maintain ties thieves guilds
Unlike the churches of other evil deities, the Night Church is often outlawed simply because they fundamentally won't stop disrupting society. Occasionally, the church will agree to follow the laws and keep their destruction of people's mental health to manageable, more one-on-one levels, and are allowed to build temples and worship. They have such a temple in Silverymoon, which must begrudgingly co-exist in public with the Selûnites there. Sharran worship is also open in Calaunt, Mulmaster, Scornubel, Sembia and Westgate.
Generally speaking though, the church is happier to remain underground where they can do the work they truly "need" to. The Night Church is explicitly illegal in Waterdeep, Baldur's Gate, Amn, and the entirety of the Dales and Cormyr.
They have a complex hierarchy; they work in cells, and every member has a direct superior they answer to. Multiple cells may be active in the area, and while they may know each other and sometimes lend aid, they don't work together or maintain connections to prevent attempts to crack down on Sharran activity from taking down every cell in the area. Nobody knows the true name of their co-conspirators or their leaders, and many of them die in their attempts to subvert society (getting executed for their crimes is a common way to go).
There are no holy days on the Sharran calendar, except for the Feast of the Moon, which they call the Rising of the Dark. Sharrans gather together for a blood sacrifice, and the lay worshippers are told of the plots and aims they are expected to aid in the coming winter.
The most important daily ritual is Nightfall, held every night. There is a brief payer, sometimes in the form of a ritual dance and sometimes involving a sermon. There is a feast and everybody begins dancing (or joins in, if one already started). If one cannot attend group prayer, then the worshipper must dance alone in Shar's honour, wherever they are. Lay worshippers must also either perform a crime or act of cruelty or report one to the congregation. Nights where the moon is not visible are called the Coming of the Lady and the entire congregation is set to task carrying out acts of vengeance and cruelty in Shar's name.
The Kiss of the Lady is the most important ritual, traditionally declared at the whims of the leading priests in the Temple of Old Night in Calimport (Old Night is the oldest of Shar's temples, built in -373 DR). Shar's worshippers engage in a night-long revel of murder, chaos, horror and cruelty ending in a celebratory feast at daybreak.
Representations of Shar in religious art (typically found in temples) show either a black sphere outlined in magically animated purple flames; or depict her as a smiling human woman with sweeping raven-black hair dressed in swirling black clothes. Her eyes are large, with the irises and sclera being solid purple around black pupils. Her temples are usually built under what appear to be legitimate businesses or private residences.
Those of the clergy chosen by Shar to serve her personally are the Nightcloaks, also called Nightbringers.
They can create supernatural darkness in their surroundings that extinguishes all light
Cause temporary light blindness in others
Erase the memories of the last few minutes from the minds of those around them
Cause nightmares
They can conjure doors made of pure darkness and step through, which makes them seem to have teleported (although they've only turned invisible)
They can cast a veil of illusion magic over their surroundings, making them appear totally different (tailored to whatever the priest wants them to look like)
They are a tiny bit more powerful, physically, while in the darkness, but are a tiny bit weaker when standing in the light of a full moon.
They can wrap darkness around themselves, or another, which fully obscures their features and serves as a minor form of armour (including against magic and psionics). They can see perfectly through the darkness, but effects that require eye-contact can't affect them. If cast on an undead being then they're immune to a cleric's turning ability.
They can create a whip of flickering darkness. The strike of the whip does damage and has the same effect as turning on Undead struck. Contact causes pain so unbearable it may cause seizures. The whip passes through inanimate matter harmlessly, and can't be used to tie people up.
Darkness can be moulded into something vaguely human-shaped under the control of the priest. It levitates in the air and suffocates all sources of light it touches. The priest can vaguely "see" through it if they choose.
They can fire a beam of pure darkness from their outstretched hand, which passes through inanimate matter and non-living beings but causes suffocating cold and pain to the living it strikes. The target it overwhelmed, and struck with a supernatural silencing effect for up to four minutes.
-
The Lady of Loss is a Neutral Evil deity, and her domain has been in different places over the years. Originally her realm, the Palace of Loss, resided in the Grey Wastes of Hades and later moved into the Plane of Shadow (aka the Shadowfell) where it was known as the Palace of Night. After the Plane of Shadow moved closer to the material world during the Spellplague she moved to the Tower of Night, which was in the Astral Plane. Considering that 5e has mostly reversed all of 4e's changes, she has presumably returned to the Palace situated in either the Shadowfell or the Grey Wastes.
Shar is described as a "deeply twisted and perverse being of endless petty hatred and jealousy. [...] She revels in the concealed, in that which is hidden, never to be revealed."
Shar is omnipresent, she is the darkness and she is everywhere. She is aware of every single person, object and action that takes place in the darkness.
Another deity, Ibrandul god of caverns, the Underdark and other dark places within the earth. She felt that this was encroaching on her turf, and she murdered him for the offense and took his portfolio and his worshippers during the Time of Troubles. Most of his followers were unaware of this, because Shar enjoys deception and simply presented herself to them as Ibrandul. She usually used them to attack Selûne's followers without drawing attention to her main church. (As of the Second Sundering Ibrandul is... probably alive again, but for all anyone knows it's still Shar pretending to be him)
Shar has two avatars:
The first is the Nightsinger: a 12ft tall woman wearing a mask made of the feathers of every type, trailing away into the cowl of her cloak. The cloak becomes increasingly intangible as it merges into the nearby darkness. She is constantly singing softly, even when she speaks, and her song feels hauntingly beautiful - and engenders a feelings of tragedy and grief. She can manifest supernatural darkness in her surroundings at will. Her song drains away memory and experience (in mechanics, she drains character levels and inflict the feeblemind spell). Listening to it may cause one to experience an unearthly chill (which inflicts cold damage) and can even cause listeners to drop dead on the spot. -
As the Dark Dancer Shar stands at 7ft tall, and appears as though the night sky has been moulded into the shape of a human woman. Her skin is jet black and glitters with stars. Her eyes are just as dark, and her gaze is both hypnotic and capable of enchanting those who meet it. If she kisses a mortal she places a magical compulsion on them - if they surrender to it they will become her loyal servant, and if they chose to resist the spell will kill them (this is an active choice for the victim - surrender or die). The spell can only be removed by rewriting reality with a wish spell so that it never happened, and the victim is fully prepared to die for Shar.
Shar's hair is prehensile, and moves at her bidding while ignoring the laws of physics (gravity and the wind are irrelevant). She hisses and speaks softly, never raising her voice, even in anger.
Her lesser manifestations involve tendrils of pitch darkness forming where they shouldn't be able to. They writhe, curl and swirl in constant movement, and a nimbus of glowing purple surrounds them. Sometimes one can see a glowing purple eye at the heart of the dark staring at them, but even when the eye isn't visible one can feel a presence within the darkness watching. In some stories, the darkness that blankets the world is described as Shar's hair falling over it. Presumably these are the individual strands. When a tendril touches one of her followers she can transmit her thoughts into their head - sometimes these are instructions or advice, and sometimes she reaches into their minds and numbs their ability to feel pain. She never heals their physical injuries, only allows them to ignore their suffering until they succeed or collapse/drop dead from the damage.
Her messengers take the form of these tentacles and other, more alien, shadow monsters.
Another fun manifestation Shar enjoys is severed human heads that fly through the darkness at night. They fly silently through the darkness, and Shar sees through their eyes, hears through their ears and occasionally speaks through them.
Shar hates all the other gods (especially her sister, and the sun god Lathander (and Amaunator before him)). She has tolerated an alliance with Myrkul, worked with Cyric to cause chaos, and Talona plays the sycophant to her in the hopes that Shar will help her kill Loviatar one day.
In response to the formation of Mystryl's Weave, during the early days of creation, Shar studied it for a while, eventually creating her own form of it - the Shadow Weave (called the Dark Lady's Weave by her followers). Where the Weave forms the tapestry of reality, the Shadow Weave fills the negative space of nonexistence between the gaps. To utilise her Weave "safely", one must be a follower of Shar or have their patron deity request her permission on their behalf. One deity she works with frequently in "lending" her Weave is the drow god Vhaeraun. One who attempts to use the Shadow Weave without her permission will lose part of themself - and it's already pretty good at having horrible side effects and destroying your sanity. It works well for spells that corrupt, destroy, drain life and smother the senses, but is less useful for effects that create.
Shar hopes to kill Mystra and supplant the original Weave so that she will be the only source of power for mages on Toril. Unlike Mystra, she places no restrictions on its use.
-
Shar and Selûne were twin halves of the primordial Two-Faced Goddess born shortly after the birth of the universe. There was no time or space, only a void containing themselves, the Overgod Ao, and shadowy beings known as the Shadevari.
Together they created the planetary bodies of the solar system, including the Earthmother, Chauntea.
When Chauntea begged for warmth to nurture life upon her, the Two-Faced goddess experienced conflicting desire for the first time. Selûne was willing to grant the Earthmother her wish, but for Shar, the very concept was a horrifying antithesis to her very being.
The argument between the two spawned the concepts (and gods) of destruction; such as war, disease and death/murder. Eventually, Selûne reached into the Elemental Plane of Fire and drew a portion of it into Realmspace, and fashioned it into the sun - a process that burned her.
Shar's rage doubled, and she began to snuff out every light she could find in the universe, causing Selûne to tear out a part of her own essence and fashion it into a weapon that she threw at Shar in defence of the new-born life of Realmspace. This portion of Selûne passed through Shar and formed itself into the Weave - the goddess Mystryl (who would one day be called Mystra). Mystryl sided with Selûne, and Shar was forced to concede bitter defeat now that she was utterly outnumbered, and swore revenge against all of them.
Shar retreated into the dark to recover, and found allies amongst the Shadevari, who also shared her resentment at having light and life brought into the previously dark and silent universe.
This battle has left Selûne permanently weakened, and her strength waxes and wanes much like the phases of the moon. The two sisters continue their argument - and Shar is boldest when her sister is at her weakest.
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pigeonp0st · 4 years ago
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could u do nat taking care of r when r gets sick (pretty please i beg of u)? preferably lots of cuddles 🥺🥺
idk i just love soft!nat 🥺
Natasha Romanoff x Reader #5
Words: 1,689
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Warnings: none?
Notes:
I didn’t really like how this one turned out but i’ve finally decided that staring at it in my drafts with disappointed isn’t gonna make it any better...so here it is. Thank you for requesting, and sorry for spelling mistakes. Hope you enjoy!
———
It started with a cold. Just a couple of sneezes, a runny nose, and a sore throat...the usual.
It started out with you trying your best to hide it. Hide the sickness. That plan went under the moment Natasha heard you sneeze during training... she had you confessing to your sins much too quickly.
Suffice to say she immediately kicked you out of the training area with demands to take some medicine.
So she was the first to realize that you were sick, and she was the first to realize you were getting worse instead of better. She’d pester you endlessly when you wouldn’t want to talk about it, and watch over you like a hawk.
It was sweet, but you also didn’t think it was necessary. You were sure you’d be fine in three or so days.
How wrong you were.
When you wake up with a 103° fever for the third day in a row it has you layed in bed for the whole day groaning about the inequalities of the world, and begging Natasha not to get a doctor for the 100th time.
You were fine. Totally fine.
Natasha watches you with a mix of amusement and concern from the corner of the room and suggests, gently, that maybe you’re not.
You peak over your covers to glare at her in something like betrayal. “I’d be fine if you’d stop pacing and come cuddle with me.”
She seems to think about her options for a long moment and right when you think she’s going to reject you she relents with a heavy sigh and gets into the bed.
She’s so blissfully cold it has you snuggling into her side immediately, both to warm her up and use her as your own personal ice pack.
“You’re burning up,” Natasha whispers, but she pulls you closer to her—like somehow if she’s close enough she can absorb some of your pain and make you feel just that little bit better. “If your fever rises even a little bit we’re going to the doctors, okay?”
She’s concerned and worried, and even though a stranger fussing over you is the last thing you want you know you have to give her this.
As soon as you nod your head in agreement some of the tension seeps out of her body, much to your relief. As ridiculous as it is, you’re worried about her worried about you—if that makes sense.
“Around 100,000 people died from the flu in 2019,” Natasha mumbles against your forehead. She adds quietly after a moment, “just in case you were wondering.”
You were not wondering. What the fuck.
“Nat...that statistic is mostly old people.”
“Yeah,” Nat agrees, “you’ll be fine.”
And despite your body's protest, and how much of a pain it is to pull away, you do, just so you can give Natasha an incredulous look so she knows just what you think about what she’s doing right now.
Her face is unexpectedly vulnerable when you see it. She isn’t trying to bother you...she’s just…she’s worrying herself crazy.
“Nat,” you sigh, ready to embark on the most comforting and articulate speech you can think of, but a sudden fit of coughs has you turning away hurriedly to muffle your face in a pillow.
When your lungs finally decide to stay in your body for now, and Natasha stops rubbing your back, you’re too tired to try and comfort her, so instead you mumble, on the verge of sleep, “if I die; just know I love you.”
Which, in hindsight, probably doesn’t help much.
But she doesn’t sound worried when she replies, just exasperated and fond. “I love you, too.”
———-
When you wake up again it’s to a bunch of kisses and beautiful red hair.
“Stop attacking me,” you grumble, trying to push her away, but you're not able to hide your smile. God, you love your badass (soft) girlfriend.
“Look who's not dead!”
Remembering your last words to her before you went to sleep has you finally opening your eyes and giving Nat a sheepish smile. Oops. “Look who really wants to get sick…”
“My immune system is stronger than yours,” Natasha scoffs, shoving both your medicine at you and a bottle of water.
“Asshole,” you mumble, moving to open the medicine bottle only to get stopped by a hand on your wrist. “What?”
“You need to eat first.”
Thus, starts the trip towards death.
————
“Oh my god, how much farther is it…”
Your fever is finally down and back to safer levels so naturally Natasha has insisted that you’re able to go to the kitchens yourself and sit outside to eat.
You need fresh air, she said.
The room is getting stuffy, she said.
It’ll be good for you, she said.
What a fucking devil.
“You’re literally the most dramatic person to ever grace this earth,” Natasha tells you for only the millionth time since the journey began. “Maybe if you stopped sliding against the wall and crawling on the floor like you got shot three times we’d get there faster.”
“Maybe if you’d help me—”
“I tried! But apparently i’m ruining your image.” She rolls her eyes when she says that, then turns away to grin like she thinks you won’t notice.
You’re a whipped idiot who's decided to make a complete full of yourself and waste what little energy you have just to get your girlfriend to laugh, and to prove to her that you’re doing better.
You’re definitely going to regret this later, but now, in the moment; This is totally worth it. No doubt.
————
Wanda is in the kitchen.
As soon as you see her you straighten up and stop leaning on the wall (and limping). Natasha laughs next to you when she notices.
“You’re doing better, Y/N?” Wanda asks, glancing over you before returning back to the soup she’s making. For you. She’s making soup for you.
You adore her. She’s your favorite person, she’s—
“Not your girlfriend,” Wanda interjects, amused, “and doing this as a concerned teammate, and because your girlfriend asked.”
“Yes, well I love you anyways. Your cooking has gotten very good,” you say, shooting her a grin while you practically bounce to the dining chair, in stark contrast to the way you were dragging yourself down the halls.
Natasha does a good job at trying to not look confused, but she clearly is. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Wanda informs her before you get the chance to.
“Favorite person for making you soup?” Natasha asks once Wanda’s done relaying your thoughts. She narrows her eyes at you then. “Not the person who has been taking care of you since you became an avenger, not the person who—”
“It’s very good soup, Nat.”
“Very,” Steve agrees from the living room.
Natasha sighs, takes a sniff of the soup, and resigns herself to the facts she’s faced with. “Yeah...it is.”
——-
“Close your mouth,” Natasha orders, tapping your chin. You listen, waiting patiently for the beep of the thermometer to signal it’s done.
When it does, Natasha pulls it back to study it. There’s a small lapse of anxious silence before Natasha reveals the results. Then...“Ninety-Nine. You’re officially a healthy woman.”
And with that, you’re finally free of the bed rest and able to walk the halls as a newly restored human being.
“I’m free,” you shout, tackling Natasha onto the bed and kissing her all over her face, completely overjoyed. “Natasha, I survived!”
You survived. It only took an exhausting week. When your fever went down a couple of days ago it spiked to 105° a bit after and you were sure you were going to suffocate in Natasha’s worry because of it. You had to go to the medical room...it was awful.
But now Nat laughs, and laughs, and then pulls you into a tight hug to stop all of the kissing. She seems to be unburdened and lighter now that she finally has the numbers she’s wanted.
“Loving you as much as I do is really just living in this constant state of worry and fear,” Natasha says when you’ve both settled down. “I do not like things being out of my control,” she admits, kissing the crown of your head. “Especially when it involves my heart.”
“Your heart,” you repeat, curious. “Is that what I am?”
“Ignoring the worry and fear part?” Natasha teases, quirking an eyebrow.
“We both know those feelings are accompanied with a multitude of good and beautiful emotions. I feel them too.”
Natasha smiles then, soft and gentle, and full of admiration. “Yes.”
You tilt your head. “Yes...what?”
“Yes, you are my heart. Or at least you feel like you are.”
At that, with a determination and seriousness that visibly shocks Natasha you say, “i’ll protect it. I’ll protect myself, and because you're mine also, I'll help protect you. Always.”
“Always,” Natasha agrees, her fingertips trailing across your cheek. “Thank you, Y/N.”
“Yeah,” you mumble, embarrassed suddenly, “of course.”
————
“Are...are you serious?”
Natasha scowls into her tea and says nothing in response. This is fucking hilarious.
Your lovely girlfriend doesn’t seem to think so because the second she sees your face struggling not to laugh she begins glaring at you. “Don’t,” Nat warns. “Don’t you fucking dare—”
“I seem to recall you saying, and I quote, ‘my immune system is stronger than yours.’” You grin. “Oh how ironic this is.”
“I’m not sick—”
“Aw, but baby, the amount of tissues on the floor seem to be saying otherwise,” you gesture towards the growing pile, feeling absolutely no sympathy until Natasha glances at the pile with a sigh of defeat. She looks so small and sad covered in her pile of blankets...it simply won’t do. “Don’t fret, my love. I will take care of you, just as you took care of me,” you assure her, leaning down to kiss her forehead.
“First things first,” you tilt her chin up, “i’ll get Wanda to make you some soup so you can take some medicine.”
“I hate the world,” Natasha grumbles, mumbling some curses in russian.
“I love you, too.”
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religioused · 4 years ago
Text
You Are Not Cursed
Pride Church Service 2021
by Gary Simpson
Hebrew Scripture Reading: (CEV)
Genesis 3:8-15 Late in the afternoon a breeze began to blow, and the man and woman heard the LORD God walking in the garden. They were frightened and hid behind some trees.
9 The LORD called out to the man and asked, "Where are you?" The man answered, "I was naked, and when I heard you walking through the garden, I was frightened and hid!"
11 "How did you know you were naked?" God asked. "Did you eat any fruit from that tree in the middle of the garden?"
"It was the woman you put here with me," the man said. "She gave me some of the fruit, and I ate it." The LORD God then asked the woman, "What have you done?" "The snake tricked me," she answered. "And I ate some of that fruit."
14 So the LORD God said to the snake: "Because of what you have done, you will be the only animal to suffer this curse— For as long as you live, you will crawl on your stomach and eat dirt. You and this woman will hate each other; your descendants and hers will always be enemies. One of hers will strike you on the head, and you will strike him on the heel."
Opening Prayer:
Companion God, today, we accept the clothes you make for us after each mistake. And we seek to wear them with pride in being the people that you created. Amen.
Reflection:
Today, I am wearing orange, because orange is the color used to Represent people who went to residential schools for indigenous children in Canada. In today’s service, we are weeding a few elements regarding the Kamloops, British Columbia residential school in with the service.
J.P. Fokkelman wrote the chapter on Genesis in The Literary Guide to the Bible. Fokkelman notes that there is a poetical form in the story of humanity’s fall.(1) I have heard theologians take the position that poetry in the Bible should not be taken literally. The Companion Bible takes the position that this passage is literal history that uses figures of speech for emphasis.(2) When I see poetry in a passage, I try to dig a little deeper than a literal interpretation, because the Biblical author might be trying to make a much deeper point, a point that will resonate even louder in the heart. Today, we can get out the excavation equipment and dig a little deeper.
There are different ways to view the story of Adam and Eve sinning. There is a Christian understanding, which most of us are familiar with, a Rabbinic Jewish understanding, and a Gnostic understanding. As Christians, we have generally seen the narrative in our Genesis reading as the fall of humanity. The fall seems to be the dominant understanding in Christianity.(3) While Rabbinic Judaism tends to see this Genesis narrative as an event that changed humanity, Rabbinic Judaism does not see this story as the fall of humanity. Sin moves from being present outside of humanity to something that is also present inside humanity. Judaism tends to see humanity as now subject to death, but not as “damned or totally separated from the divine.”(4) The Gnostics tend to see the story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit as a “coming of age" story.(5) Because Gnostic interpretations could be the topic of a lecture, I will not get into them. I tend to see this as a coming-of-age story, with multiple shades of meaning.
John Gill, the 16th Century theologian and “prolific author,” wrote commentaries covering the entire Bible.(6) In Gill's Exposition the observation is made that Adam and Eve must have known that they were naked, but now they found themselves feeling shame at their own nakedness.(7) Shame, remorse, guilt, and fear were previously “strangers” to Adam and Eve.(8) As a result of Adam and Eve's mistake, the descendants of the Eve are wounded, but have the hope that there will be a “definitive victory over evil.”(9) I believe God tries to restore the inherent worth and dignity of the couple. “God gives Adam and Eve the loincloth . . . for their dignity.”(10)
“God makes the first move to counter sin.”(11) God walks in the garden. Some Bible commentators believe that God is a spirit, so God was not literally walking through the garden. One of my Bible commentaries describes God as “walking in a visible form – not running hastily, as one impelled by the influence of angry feelings” and says God was “uttering the well-known tones of kindness.”(12) Commentator Matthew Henry sees significance in the time of day that God came walking through the garden. God did not walk during the hot part of the day, because God was not angry with Adam and Eve. God did not come at night, when Adam and Eve's fears would have been much higher. God walked through the garden during the cool part of the day.(13)
In the order of events, God’s first question is not about the mistake of eating the forbidden fruit of the tree; it is about shame. God asks, "How did you know you were naked?" That question is followed by the question, "Did you eat any fruit from that tree . . .?” I picture God asking, “How do you know you are naked?” Following a long silence, during which Adam and Eve are too afraid to respond, God asks the second question. “Did you eat from that tree?”
Perhaps, there is importance of the order of the questions God asked Adam and Eve how they knew they were naked, how they knew they were shameful and deserved to feel shame, debilitating shame. Then God asks, “Did you eat from that tree?” God’s first concern seems to me to be more related to who told Adam and Eve that they were naked, who told them that they should be ashamed than it is to the fact that they disobeyed God.
Adam’s defense for disobeying God is blaming Eve. And Eve blames the snake. Contributors to The Abingdon Bible Commentary observe, “The snake is not even allowed to make a defense, for his guilt is too obvious.”(14)
Contributors to the Christian Community Bible make this point. “God curses the serpent but not humankind.”(15) Other animals are not cursed. Only the snake is cursed.(16) The ground is cursed by God, but humans are not cursed.(17) This is an important point. Humanity is not cursed. Those going through a coming-of-age experience are not cursed. LGBT+ people are not cursed. Emphasizing this point: You are not cursed.
There is a cool story of a crow and a fox. The fox was hungry and was hoping that the crow would come down from a tree, so the fox could dine on crow. The crow would not come down from the top of the tree. Using a religious appeal, the fox tried to convince the crow. He points out that in the Talmud, an ancient Jewish commentary, the lion and the lamb lie down together, and that the fox and the lamb will lie together.(18)
Then the sounds of hunting dogs could be heard. The fox got scared. The crow pointed out that the fox had no reason to be afraid, because the fox is a Talmud scholar and knows what Isaiah said. The fox replies that he knows what Isaiah said, but the dogs don’t, as he slinks into the bushes to hide.
Those foxes who cite the Bible, book, chapter, and verse, to condemn those who are coming of age and to especially condemn LGBT+ people find the hunting dogs of guilt and shame come after them, because they have not tasted much of the love of God.
Thousands of years later, God still “seeks out those were hiding among the trees in shame, who have patched together clothing of their own making, who are afraid of God.” God is the garden of our lives wanting to “restore relationship.” God is not in the distant heavenly, “arms folded.” God is present, asking, ‘Where are you?’(19) And the voice is a quiet, calm, concerned voice, not a voice of anger.
Lama Rod Owens is a Buddhist teacher, a lama. Owens wrote the book Love and Rage: the Path of Liberation Through Anger. He gave the April 2021 Boswell Lecture at Pacific School of Religion. He said, "Conditional love is an act of psychological and spiritual terrorism."(20) I agree with him. God is not a psychological terrorist and God is not a spiritual terrorist. God’s love is unconditional and eternal. You can never outrun, outlive, outlast, or out hide God’s love by living in the closet. Gods' love cannot be shamed away or scared away by fig leaves.
I want to speak directly to people of Indigenous heritage and then I will conclude. Saying the last week to ten days was painful is an understatement. Words cannot begin to describe the news regarding the Kamloops residential school. Those who shamed, degraded, and dehumanized you are in the wrong. You are not in the wrong, and you were never in the wrong.
In the midst of pain, degradation, and shame felt First Nation, Inuit, and Métis people, God walks through the garden and asks, “who told you you were naked?“ And God restores dignity and worth.
God surveys your coming of age mistakes, moves to help you feel shameless and then God speaks words of condemnation to those who made you feel shame, to those who made you feel defective and worthless. But God does not curse you. You are not cursed. The Kingdom of God is a shame-free place. You are not cursed. You are loved, not cursed. Hallelujah! Amen. Now go. Live in Pride.
Prayers of the People:
At the end of each prayer, we say together: God of shameless faith, we thank You for burying our shame.
One: For those who found coming of age frightening and shameful, we ask that godly pride replace shame.
All: God of shameless faith, we thank You for burying the shame.
One: For those who found early romantic endeavors shameful, we ask that godly pride replace shame.
All: God of shameless faith, we thank You for burying the shame.
One: For those who found their real gender identity shameful, we ask that godly pride prevail.
All: God of shameless faith, we thank You for burying the shame.
One: For those who found the secret of their sexual orientation shameful, we request deeply felt, godly pride.
All: God of shameless faith, we thank You for burying the shame.
One: For those who stating their pronouns humiliating, we seek godly pride.
All: God of shameless faith, we thank You for burying the shame.
One: For those who find their abilities deeply demeaning, we request godly pride.
All: God of shameless faith, we thank You for burying the shame.
Notes
(1) J.P. Fokkelman. “Genesis.” The Literary Guide to the Bible. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press, 1987), 38.
(2) The Companion Bible. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel, 1922), 7.
(3) Michael Carden. “Genesis/Berkshire.” The Queer Bible Commentary. (London: SCM Press, 2006), 29.
(4) Carden (2006), 29.
(5) Carden (2006), 29.
(6) “Gill's Exposition.” Study Light. n.d., 11 May 2021. <https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/geb.html>.
(7) John Gill. “Gill's Exposition: Genesis 3. Study Light. n.d., 10 May 2021. <https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/geb/genesis-3.html>.
(8) Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset, and David Brown. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary on the Whole Bible. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1961), 20.
(9) Christian Community Bible. (Madrid: San Pablo International, 1988), 11.
(10) Christian Community Bible. (Madrid: San Pablo International, 1988), 11.
(11) John C.L. Gibson. The Daily Study Bible: Genesis Vol. 1. (Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 1981), 130.
(12) Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset, and David Brown. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary on the Whole Bible. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1961), 19-20.
(13) Matthew Henry. The Matthew Henry Study Bible. (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Pub,, 2020), 9.
(14) Frederick Eiselen, Edwin Lewis, and David Downey, eds. Abingdon Bible Commentary. (New York: Abingdon Press, 1929), 223.
(15) Christian Community Bible. (Madrid: San Pablo International, 1988), 11, and Kent Dobson. Teachings of the Torah. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2014), 10.
(16) See Genesis 3:14.
(17) Genesis 3:17 says the ground is cursed.
(18) John C.L. Gibson. The Daily Study Bible: Genesis Vol. 1. (Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 1981), 122.
(19) Kent Dobson. Teachings of the Torah. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2014), 9.
(20) Rod Owens. “Boswell Lecture.” Pacific School of Religion. Berkeley, California. April 15, 2021.
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aarongoldenwrites · 4 years ago
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My statement:  I am sick to fucking death of people misquoting my holy book to justify their bigotry. Stop. Stop doing it. You don't know what the fuck you're talking about. A response: Honestly I would be interested in learning about this as I have no religious view point so I like to learn about them, (but) I don’t know where to start. My response:  Okay. Well.
Judaism first sprang into existence about six thousand years ago; we've got our own calendar that we use to track these things. We got our start when a dude named Avram wrecked his father's business and changed his name to Abraham while touring the middle-east with his sister, Sarah. Their family history was chronicled in what we call the Old Testament, which is a collection of stories, fables, and legal doctrine that informs the Jewish people as to what they are and how to behave, but a good chunk of it is dedicated to doubting what you think you know and finding out what is true. It's based around taking responsibility for yourself and your community and living to a high ethical standard, and trying to figure out what that means in relationship to yourself and your community. The first five books of the Old Testament are called Torah and are collected in massive scrolls that Jews consider to be literally living documents, and we're supposed to argue the meaning of the text within context to the time it was written and the times we live in. It's fabulously progressive for its time, and features a commentary track (Talmud) and in-depth expansion (Midrash) that we use to give things further context.
A lot of it boils down to "try to leave the world better than you found it, take care of the people around you, don't expect people to live to the standards you set for yourself, take responsibility for yourself and your community."
Now, the Old Testament was written in a language called Aramaic, which features no written vowels, is supposed to be sung on a six-note scale, and translates well into nothing else. It was eventually translated into Greek, then Latin, and then the various romance languages.
Here's where things get weird: when a Torah is penned, it's transcribed by one guy using a special ink and pen. A single mistake means the Torah is given an actual funeral and buried. We do not want mistakes being made about this.
About 2000 years ago, there might have been a Jew named Yeshua. The Romans (who kept meticulous records about EVERYTHING) have no records of this particular guy, but there were Jewish revolutionaries fucking around to find out during the Roman occupation every five minutes or so (it got so bad that the Romans eventually said "fuck these people in particular" and spread the Jews all across the empire, which is the start of what we call the Jewish diaspora and led to about two thousand years of shit-kicking and scapegoating).Now, if Yeshua existed, he was a rabbi (a Jewish priest) who pissed off the Romans and got himself killed. A dude who admits to never having met him led a splinter sect of Jews into a death cult that believed Yeshua was going to return from the dead next week and defeat the Romans. 
This is the start of Christianity.
A big part of faith is doubt, I think. You need to know on some level that you could be wrong, and inflicting your beliefs on others isn't a great thing to do. We're all doing the best we can, but insisting you're right and everyone else is wrong to the detriment of others is, well, bad.
And that brings us to the crux of my issues with Christianity.
The core of the Christian doctrine is that Jesus (a mistranslation of the name Yeshua, not that many Christians know that - and let it sink in that they do not know the name of the god they are worshiping, or how the name changed) was the literal son of God and also somehow God and maybe also a third thing called the Holy Ghost that is a mysterious mixture between the two of them, and that he died for the sins of humanity.
See, Christians believe that when Eve got Adam to eat the apple in Eden that GOD CURSED THEM BOTH AND ALL THEIR DESCENDANTS TO HELL TO SUFFER FOR ALL ETERNITY, and then they have the audacity to say that the Old Testament God is the mean one.
So, basically, until Jesus dies, every human ever born is condemned to hell where, again, they will suffer for all eternity. Once Jesus dies, though, he goes to hell and reclaims good people provided they are willing to swear allegiance to him. Keep in mind there is no proof that any of this has happened, and the person telling the story admits full-stop that he never met Jesus and didn't believe Jesus was real until thirty years after Jesus' death when he was riding a camel through the desert and fell off due to heat exhaustion.
Now, a big part of Christian doctrine is that living a good life is meaningless - the only way to get into heaven is to swear your soul to Jesus, who is watching you at all times. If you're bad and believe in Jesus, you'll spend time in a place called Purgatory, which is hell-light, until Jesus can swing by and pick you up. If you're the best person ever and you don't believe in Jesus, you are still going to hell for all eternity.
What this means is that, if you are a good Christian, the kindest thing you can do is convert non-believers to save them from an ETERNITY IN HELL, and provided you have sworn your soul to Jesus any sin you commit will be forgiven and you will go to heaven. This leads to things like the Spanish Inquisition, enforced conversions against, well, everyone, and more atrocities than you can shake a pointed stick at.
Politically, this is useful because you can't just say you believe in Jesus, you have to believe in Jesus the *right way.* This is originally the Catholic Church, but other people argue with them about the right way to believe in Jesus and so we now have a bunch of different flavors that spout the same ideology and conversion practices, but each of them claim that they're the special ones that got it right and everyone else is going to hell for all eternity or maybe purgatory until they figure out the right way to praise Jesus.
And people can and will do anything to prove their faith, and see a lack of evidence as proof of concept, and obey whatever the it leaders tell them because they've been conditioned to ignore the world around them in favor of our mistranslated holy book.
The thing is, according to Christian theology, Jesus was a Jew and the whole thing starts with the Old Testament. So they twist the Old Testament to fit their narrative, building upon things lacking in the original text, installing bits that go against Jewish faith, and ignoring/killing/converting Jews that point out that they have no business doing what they're doing (see Jenn Sara, above, for the lightest version of this practice).Because spreading the good word is so important and any sin can be forgiven provided you're following Jesus in the right way, Christians have historically co-opted the holidays and religious practices of others in order to further their own agenda (see: Christmas trees, the Easter bunny, et al). Also, because they are a strict hierarchy - the Church determines who is praising Jesus right and no one can fight them - they ended up becoming a politically powerful presence that has controlled much of Europe and Russia and informed the structures that ruled those places, including (but not limited to): the Romani pogroms, the Inquisition, the witch trials, the crusades, the Russian pogroms, the Atlantic slave industry, native genocide, save-the-man-kill-the-indian, the holocaust...The list goes on.
When people in the west say "Religion is the root of all evil," they are often talking about their own experiences with religion (Christianity, because none of the other ones count). This also applies to Christian atheism, which is when a Christian assumes all religion is basically Christianity decides they don't believe in religion, and the religion they don't believe in is the only religion (Christianity again).It's incredibly frustrating and tends to result in a lot of people dying.
Shall I continue?
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calvinistwoman · 4 years ago
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PREFACE: Unless otherwise stated, all quotes regarding LDS Doctrine will be taken from the following:  https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics
So in response to a post i saw regarding the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (aka: the Mormon Church), I wanted to make a super quick post about the differences between LDS doctrine and Biblical doctrine. Obviously, I am a Christian and I disagree with a lot of LDS doctrine. I just wanted to outline some major differences since, as you can see in this post, Mormons often refer to themselves as Christians. “Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unequivocally affirm themselves to be Christians.” (Under Topic: Are Mormons Christian?)
This is in no way meant to belittle anyone’s beliefs, and it’s my apologies if I misrepresent anyone.
(also I know this post talks a little about Jehovah’s Witnesses as well... but I really don’t know as much about them so I don’t feel qualified to speak on that.)
Firstly, I want to say that I do not believe Mormons are Christians. I will back up this statement in a moment. I don’t say it because I dislike Mormons or anything. I say it because when you look at the Biblical parameters for what a Christian is, it’s clear that Mormons do not meet the qualifications. While every single Mormon I've ever met has been extremely kind and obviously devoted to their beliefs, I can not count them as brothers and sisters in Christ. And here’s why...
We have different Scriptures. I am starting here because every disagreement stems from this point. The Christian view of scripture is that the Bible is the Word of God. It is complete and infallible. We stand on the authority of the Bible as being perfect and unchanging. This differs from the LDS view. Yes, the LDS church hold to the Bible as one of their scriptures, however they also add the Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price, as well as the word of the prophet. All these constitute the words of God. “to claim that the Bible is the sole and final word of God—more specifically, the final written word of God—is to claim more for the Bible than it claims for itself.” (Under Topic: Are Mormons Christian?)
Second, we have different Gods. I know, you’re thinking... “What? No way. They seem so similar.” And they really do when you look at them broadly. Be both believe in God the father, His Son Jesus Christ and His redemptive plan, and the Holy Spirit who indwells us and helps us. So what’s the difference? There are actually a lot of differences. You know how a lot of atheists will say “Yeah Jesus was real, he was just a good teacher.” Well it’s sort of like that. We both believe in the same historical person, but that’s where it ends. It’s a bit like comparing the real Abraham Lincoln to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. They’re both talking about the same guy....sort of.
So how do we view the Godhead, and how are these views contradictory? 
LDS - I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see. (King Follett Discourse)
Christian - Isaiah 43:10 I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
LDS - God and Jesus Christ are glorified, physical beings and that each member of the Godhead is a separate being.
Christian - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost are one God in three persons. God is also a spirit, not a man. But for our sake, Christ took on flesh and bone to bare our sins.
(Under Topic: God the Father)
LDS - We are all literally children of God, spiritually begotten in the premortal life.
Christian - We are created beings, made by God for His glory.
LDS - His work and glory is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man”
Christian - God’s ultimate aim is to put all things under His subjection and to receive all the praise, honor, and glory due Him.
(Under Topic: Holy Ghost.)
LDS -  Through His power, we are sanctified as we repent, receive the ordinances of baptism and confirmation, and remain true to our covenants
Christian - Sanctification is a work of the Spirit making us more like Christ.
LDS -  All honest seekers of the truth can feel the influence of the Holy Ghost, leading them to Jesus Christ and His gospel.
Christian - The indwelling of the Spirit is a mark of a true believer. It happens as a result of the hearing of the gospel and a faith in Jesus Christ.
(Under Topic: Jesus Christ)
LDS -  As Risen Lord, He visited among those He had loved in life. He also ministered among His ‘other sheep’ (John 10:16) in ancient America. In the modern world, He and His Father appeared to the boy Joseph Smith, ushering in the long-promised ‘dispensation of the fulness of times’ (Ephesians 1:10).
Christian - I mean we would just reject this entirely. We also understand the “other sheep” to mean gentiles, not ancient Americans. 
Thirdly, we have a different view of the atonement. This makes sense as we have different views of God, and different sources for truth.
(Under Topic: Salvation)
 To be cleansed from sin through the Savior’s Atonement, an individual must exercise faith in Jesus Christ, repent, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (see Acts 2:37–38). Those who have been baptized and have received the Holy Ghost through the proper priesthood authority have been conditionally saved from sin. In this sense, salvation is conditional, depending on an individual’s continuing in faithfulness, or enduring to the end in keeping the commandments of God (see 2 Peter 2:20–22).
(Under Topic: Gospel)
The Prophet Joseph Smith said, “The first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Articles of Faith 1:4).
The Savior has promised that if we endure to the end, faithfully living the gospel, He will hold us guiltless before the Father at the Final Judgment (see 3 Nephi 27:16).
2 Nephi 25:23 “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”
Articles of Faith 1:3 - We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
As you can see, this is very different from the Biblical Gospel which is by grace, freely given to all who believe. It’s very man-centered and works-based. It relies on several conditions to get and then maintain salvation. 
Fourthly, the LDS church and their scriptures have a different view of the fall.
“Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God.
“And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient” (Moses 5:10–11).
This almost makes it sound like the fall was a good thing. As though Adam and Eve were happy, and the sin was a blessing. But the Biblical reality is that the sin brought about pain and death. Yes, the fall is apart of God’s redemptive plan, but we should never view it as good. We should view it the way God did.
Gen. 2:16-19 To the woman he said,“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow  you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
God did not view the fall lightly. He cursed mankind, and the world with us. 
I could go on, but it’s clear that we hold very different views. To claim that both these views stem from the same religion seems illogical. They contradict each other constantly. 
Again... as people, I have no issues with Mormons. They are genuinely some of the kindest people I have ever met. But it is a sad reality that they believe in a false God, a false Gospel, and that they ultimately have no hope in their religion. If you have any questions about anything I’ve said here, go ahead and send me a message. 
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dfroza · 4 years ago
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do you see the invisible face and the work of our Creator in the True nature of beautiful earth?
@RussBishopPhoto: Happy Birthday National Parks!
August 25th is the 104th birthday of the National Park Service... [learn more: bit.ly/3jerJKb]
"Pohono Spirit" ~ Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite NP, California | ©Russ Bishop
#yosemite #NationalParkWeek @YosemiteNPS @YoseConservancy
8.25.20 • 10:59am • Twitter
and in the promise of earth being fully reborn at some point to restore everything to peace (its pure genesis), here’s Today’s message by the ICR (Institue for Creation Research)
August 25, 2020
The Wolf and the Lamb Together
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” (Isaiah 11:6)
This scene seems impossible. Could it be merely an allegory? But that isn’t all. “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 65:25).
Whether this will all come to pass literally (and there is nothing in the context to cause us to question it), it definitely describes what God considers the ideal state of nature. In fact, in the original creation, all animals were herbivorous. “And God said, Behold,…to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so” (Genesis 1:29-30).
With humanity’s fall into sin and God’s resulting curse on the earth, this ideal state deteriorated. Teeth and claws, originally designed for digging roots and branches, began to be used for tearing and eating flesh. Even people were authorized by God to eat meat after the Flood (Genesis 9:3). It’s still true, however, that both people and animals can survive on a non-carnivorous diet when necessary, for this was designed initially as the best way. All of this leads to the certain conclusion that God did not allow any such reign of tooth and claw on the earth before humans sinned. Those who promote the idea of long geological ages, with billions of animals suffering and dying during those ages, charge our God of wisdom and mercy with gratuitous cruelty. In a world made by a loving God, there could have been no death in the world until humans brought sin into the world (Romans 5:12). HMM
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blookmallow · 5 years ago
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and now we return to outlast 2, where- 
THINGS KEEP GETTING SO, SO MUCH WORSE
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(i have... a LOT im trying to process about this whole section sorry for upcoming text walls. really nasty #blood / #gore in here as well though) (i didnt realize i was This far behind on liveblogs lmao i drafted this. a while ago and didnt get back to it until now) 
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so i fell off the bridge (shock. horror. who could have predicted this) and right into the scalled village
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what.............happened to you 
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fuCKING GO D
so it turns out “the scalled” are... some kind of leper colony banned from the town and left to fester and rot out here alone 
most of them are just lying around suffering and dying, i dont know what the fuck happened to them, there’s some mention of like. wildly untreated syphilis/potentially other stds they’re being told is their curse for the sins they’ve committed but does.... syphilis do that to you. it might actually be leprosy i dont know i dont want to research this. all i can think about is when i watched jesus christ superstar in high school and the leper colony song where they’re all crowding around jesus all trying to touch him REALLY freaked me out for a while
i mean its like. probably a combination of disease left horrifically untreated and massively infected given the absolutely appalling conditions these people are living in (everything’s run down and full of blood and shit and who knows what else), starvation, who knows what they’re even finding to eat out here so that’s probably causing even more disease but still jesus christ
at first it just made me really sad, sure these people came from temple gate too so they were. fucked up cultists to begin with but a lot of this is like... result of longterm emotional and mental abuse and manipulation, some of these people might not have started out as depraved evil murderers, and like. nobody deserves to live like this. except knoth lmao throw him down here, but
so i thought maybe it would turn out that you realize they’re human too, they’re just in a fucking LOT of pain and maybe you can’t do anything to help them (i dont think there’s any hope for anyone down here at this point) but maybe they’d turn out to be on my side and do something to help me fight back against the leader who abandoned them, “the most absolutely fucked up looking people are actually the most human” kind of thing but uh. that is not how things went. at all, 
ill get into How Fucking Bad this got in a second lmao but like
most of them dont really do anything to you other than bleed on you and beg you for help, some people lash out but thats like, understandable given the horrifying state they’re in, but
as it turns out, being the “scalled messiah” is a VERY bad thing, they went from occasionally lashing out at me to outright tracking me down to murder me to death which, like, honestly kind of disappointing
bc one of the things i liked the most about the first outlast was how many of the prisoners were clearly just victims too, some of them (lookin at you, naked twin guys,) were just evil and murderous but some of them were just very very mentally unwell (exacerbated by horrible living conditions and the fact that the people who were supposed to be protecting them and helping them recover were actively, intentionally working to make their symptoms worse) and couldn’t really be blamed for acting violently toward you, but
then sometimes there’s people who warn you about dangers ahead, people sitting in corners hiding and scared and wont hurt you unless you give them a reason to think you might be a threat, people just trying to stay alive, people who need help 
but that’s. not the case here, and there’s definitely a particular kind of horror in “absolutely no one in this hell town can be trusted, nobody will help me, everyone here wants to hurt me and every time i think ive made any kind of progress it gets so much worse” (except that ONe guy who tried to protect me. im still sad about him) but. i dont know i feel like there’s a missed opportunity here. im not sure if im supposed to feel like the scalled deserve to be like this because of the kind of people they were before, but i dont. i feel like the “what the fucking shit HAPPENED to these people” horror is heightened by the realization that they’re people, and just kinda using them as attack zombies is. missing something, somehow. i dont know, i cant figure out how to word what i want to say here 
i mean its absolutely fucking horrifying, i was scared out of my mind going through all this, and i still gotta give props to a video game experience that left me legitimately feeling like i needed to go take a shower and crawl under a blanket for a while 
i guess ultimately with outlast im coming here to be scared shitless more than anything else and boy did they ever fucking deliver
ok im gonna stop bc i will keep talking in circles about this forever if i dont, moving on
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WHAT EVEN ARE THESE GUYS, APART FROM COMPLETELY TERRIBLE
im guessing theres some kind of... inbreeding birth defect situation going on here but i cant even process what im looking at 
that and its hard to look at them at all considering the only times i see them im getting murdered to death. my panicked screenshots hoping to get a better look later did not help 
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PRETTY SURE THEY JUST MADE HIM DRINK THEIR BLOOD, 
how the fuck has my dude not thrown up like 90 times already. im glad he hasnt bc im bad emetophobia but outlast 1 did it so im honestly surprised that hasnt happened unless ive just forgotten it in the blur of nightmares im going through here 
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OH
THAT’S... NOT GOOD
THAT IS REALLY, REALLY NOT GOOD
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FUCK SHIT MOTHERFUCKING FUCK
i gotta say im impressed with how FAR they GO with this one, i have no idea how much game i have left but considering this isnt even the ending i am HORRIFIED to see what the fuck is gonna happen next 
i mean outlast 1 has you getting your fucking fingers sliced off and whistleblower has. That Scene (even though like. it stops before waylon actually gets cut its REALLY CLOSE)  
this whole time i kept thinking something would happen and they’d get interrupted, I’d escape somehow, they aren’t really going to have the player character get literally fucking crucified from your own perspective,
but then the nails go in 
and you’ve got one hand literally nailed to a cross
and then they start the other one 
and i was like, WOW FUCK, THEY ACTUALLY DID IT, BUT NOW HE’LL ESCAPE... SOMEHOW.... RIGHT ??? 
but they lift it up 
and you’re hanging there 
and for a second i legitimately thought it was gonna end there for him, i thought he was actually just going to die there and the game would continue with lynn or something (which, to be fair, would be a pretty cool twist, but i dont WANT blake to just die here like this) 
ANYWAY!! FUCKING GOD, THAT SURE HAPPENED 
but against all odds HE SOMEHOW DIDNT FUCKING DIE, and managed to find the strength to rIP HIS HANDS OUT OF THE NAILS AND FALL DOWN
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i cannot fucking IMAGINE what that would feel like. i dont want to imagine it but i sure the fuck am now 
i dont know if its possible to like. die from bleeding out in this scene if you dont find the bandages fast enough but it sure felt like i was going to 
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fucking hell i can practically feel it in my real hands i HATE THIS i HATe it
god. fuck. im gonna be thinking about this scene for the rest of my life i didnt think anything would ever be worse than the finger slicing scene in outlast 1 but this. i think this wins
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wHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?!??? THERES SOMETHING CHASING ME IN THE SCHOOL FLASHBACKS NOW IM NOT EVEN SAFE HERE ANYMORE
WHAT *IS* THAT??!??
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w OA h
i still have no IDEA whats going on with these flashbacks either, clearly his classmate hung herself and he feels subconsciously responsible for it because he didn’t do anything to stop her (though it doesn’t sound like he Could have done anything, and. they were kids), there’s definitely some buried trauma he never dealt with thats resurfacing now but
i still dont think its just a manifestation of trauma, because like. the recordings are still coming out as fucked up static, if he was just having really intense hallucinations there wouldn’t be any record on the camera, it would just be him filming nothing and talking to himself through a panic attack, it wouldn’t be getting consistently corrupted ONLY during the flashbacks so what the fuck is happening 
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COLA
DRINK IT
i m losing it its the cola machines from the first game i diD NOT EXPECT THESE TO BE HERE 
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what the fuck is christian salad 
you didn’t think i would see this, outlast devs, you thought you could hide this on the menu board and i wouldnt notice. i did notice and i demand answers
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NO!!!! THAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF OKAY THIS IS THE LEAST OKAY I HAVE EVER BEEN IN MY LIFE 
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WELL!!!!! OKAY!!!! ALRIGHT!!!! NOW THAT I’VE BEEN LITERALLY FUCKING CRUCIFIED, FELL DOWN A HILL AND STRAIGHT INTO A FENCE OF BARBED WIRE, GOT DRAGGED OUT HERE AND BURIED ALIVE, CRAWLED MY WAY OUT OF MY OWN GRAVE AND NOW HAVE HOARDS OF DISEASED ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE CULTISTS SEARCHING FOR ME SO THEY CAN DEVOUR MY FLESH, LET’S GET GOING, SHALL WE 
THIS IS FINE!!! EVERYTHING IS FINE I CANT SEE SHIT AND THERES NOTHING BUT TREES AND BARBED WIRE EVERYWHERE AND NO INDICATIONS WHATSOEVER OF WHERE I NEED TO GO BUT IT’S F IN E IM DOING GREAT 
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harostar · 6 years ago
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SNK feels and rambling
So between this month’s chapter, the repeated focus throughout these last two arcs, and the preview of the Final Panel.....
Time for some feels, thoughts, and theories.
I think things have truly come full circle, with the series ultimately focusing on the idea about the world we leave behind for our children. Beyond the larger international questions about the world, it strikes a chord because Japan has struggled with an aging population and lower birth rates. We have it taken to its most extreme with Zeke’s ultimate goal of Euthanasia, arguing that it is better not to bring children into a doomed world.
Viewing the series as a larger whole, it truly has been about Generational baggage and what we leave behind for the next to follow in our footsteps. Our main trio were introduced as children, and we followed the 104th through their training days and slow introduction to the world as fully-fledged soldiers. Theirs was a generation of Innocence Lost, being thrown straight on to the frontlines as their world changed dramatically. 
We have, over the course of the series, lost the Veterans slowly one by one. This ultimately results in the death of Erwin, with Armin and Jean struggling to pick up as strategists and leaders. Now only Hange and Levi remain of that older generation. 
The Uprising Arc saw the old government overthrown, with the bastard child Historica slaying her father to take the throne. Her focus has been on the children that were forgotten, as she once was. Historia is now poised to become a mother. 
Mikasa saves a child in Trost, much as she herself was saved as a child. Sasha saves a little girl when she returns home as a soldier. 
Eren learns that he killed his father, inheriting the Titan’s power and the burden of being a Savior for Paradis. 
Our children, the 104th, are now the Adults of the story. They are the veterans making the decisions and shaping world history and policy. Everything is in their hands now. 
On the other end of the spectrum, we have the toxic nature of the Warrior program. Children offered up by their families, symbolically and in some cases literally cutting off their bloodlines. The Galliard, Leonhart, Hoover, and Grice families as well as Pieck’s family are all seemingly condemned to die out. The children have been sacrificed, and no one will be left to carry on their families when the Curse of Ymir takes them. The Brauns are eager to similarly give up their children, with only the one unnamed cousin possibly living to carry on their clan.
The Tyburs have been wiped out. All that remains of the old-world Fritz line is Zeke, who intends to wipe out his entire race. 
I think it is no accident that our time skip started out with the children. The first person we meet is Falco Grice, a child with dreams that is burdened by the sins of his uncle. Both Grice brothers are Warrior Candidates, ending their bloodline to protect their older relatives. Falco and Colt both see the flaw in this system. We meet Gabi, the second Braun being offered up as a sacrifice to Marley’s war machine. And we see an adult Reiner, burdened with his sins and desperate to save the next generation.
The sins of Grisha are echoed in his two sons, children burdened by his obsession and his rage. Doomed by his selfishness and headed rapidly towards a very ugly end. One wishes for oblivion and an end to his people. The other has been burning every single bridge and may be intending Genocide to save his little island. 
When confronted with the killer of his daughter, Mr. Braus rejects the idea of revenge. He points to the cruelty of nature, and the responsibility of adults to care for children and to NEVER leave their burdens to the next generation. He refuses to harm Gabi, because she is a child. Because Sasha was an adult and a soldier that understood that “going into the forest” meant risking her life. He takes the pain and the anger and he refuses to allow Gabi and Kaya to take them on. 
Mikasa protects Gabi, because she is a child. The 104th help Gabi and Falco because they are children forced into something much bigger than themselves. 
Nile broke his promise to follow Erwin, in order to have a family. In these dark times, facing his possible transformation into a mindless Titan, he thinks of the things he wishes to tell his children. He saves Falco and takes him back to his friends, telling all three that children have no business on a battlefield. He saves children because that is the duty of adults.
Armin’s introduction to the true horror of the Colossal Titan’s power is seeing a dead child in the rubble. Mikasa chastises Eren with tears in her eyes, pointing out the children he has willingly murdered. Sasha dies because she refused to shoot a child. Jean’s actions are left ambiguous when faced with killing a child to get to an enemy. 
The final panel of the series, as revealing in the preview, is a baby being held and told they are free. It is ambiguous for now, but nods to the larger themes discussed above. The ultimate idea of the future, of creating a world for the next generation, of how having children is the ultimate refusal to give into despair.
The Survey Corps dies on the hope that others will pick up where they left off. Erwin uses this as inspiration before his final, deadly charge. The next generation will be the ones to make our lives matter. The Survey Corps survives and dies on Hope, moving forward because others will take their place. 
The Warriors live in despair, because there is no future for them. The centuries of Eldian inheritance cycles involve the child consuming the adult, dooming themselves to a shortened life and brutal death at the hands of a successor. Historia defies this cycle, and refuses to carry on her family’s tradition. Grisha chooses to doom both of his sons, using the first as a tool for his revolution and then refusing to entrust his Titan to anyone but his 10-year old son. 
Our seemingly-ultimate Villain is a man that believes salvation comes from Death. His ultimate goal is to sterilize an entire people, committing a slow kind of genocide. Dooming the current generation to living out their final days without hope of a future. 
Now we have  Onyankopon and Armin discuss how Zeke’s Euthanasia plan renders years of hard work pointless. Without children, there is no point. Without a future, their struggle becomes meaningless.
I think it is no accident that the first chapter is titled: “To you, in 2000 years”. 
We are approaching the 2000 year mark of Eldian history. 
Ymir Fritz is witnessed in the Paths as a girl, not the Goddess or the Devil of myth. 
The story begins with a child. It starts again after a 4 year skip, again with another child. And it apparently ends with a child.
At its core, this is a story not of Giant man-eating monsters. But one of humanity and the necessity of leaving a better world for the next generation. One of recognizing that our petty conflicts and selfishness should die with us, instead of becoming the burden of our children and their children. 
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ftpthemovement · 5 years ago
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Don’t let the deception of some Christians perceptions fool you, In scripture it says “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.” Hebrews 5:8
Christ himself, God in a body, learned obedience through what he suffered. Many times when Christians are suffering it’s written off as unresolved sin, needing prayer, more works needing to be done such as: Fasting, sozo, counseling, generational curses, etc etc. The list could literally be endless. It’s seems the western world has some sort of answer for all of it, often times ending with the individual focusing on short coming instead of their savior. This can turn into an endless loop of condemnation, leaving the person worse off than ever before. Lacking confidence and assurance of their salvation through Christ’s finished works.
Sadly, most people give the enemy way too much credit over every aspect of their lives. Forgetting the enemy is a defeated foe, that sin and death has lost its sting, and that the spirit within them is stronger than the one in this world. This lack of confidence can become deep rooted and often time is a result of poor leadership, and a lack of personal intimacy (relationship) with God.
Scripture tells us, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” 1 Peter‬ ‭4:12-13‬ ‭
The issue is, most of us have never been taught rejoice in sufferings, especially the ones related to Christ. Instead, we search for the answers of what’s going wrong, and where we messed up, instead of realizing that we should be rejoicing in Christ’s finished works on the cross, especially when the suffering we endure in life is Christ related. James 1:2-3 says to, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
Joy facing trials? Who has joy in facing trials?
Who was taught growing up that we should consider it joy because the testing of our faith will produce steadfastness? When is the last time you were taught that what you were going through was ok? When the last time you rejoiced and we’re encouraged that God was refining you, and building you up, and that, “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Phi ‭1:6‬ ‭
Often times I’ve heard the opposite. Often times I’ve heard the opinions of man, especially in leadership point out peoples short comings instead of the finished works of their savior. I’ve heard several times you need to increase your walk with God, not to rest in his completed works. Though, “We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
So why is it that some of the people that we believe to be closest to God aren’t teaching that before Christ in us that in the flesh, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”Isaiah 64:6 But now through His finished works, “He has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.” 1 Col 1:22
Without a single fault? Meditate that for forever lol. Gods word said it not me. If God himself looks at you and doesn’t see a single fault, what is man doing trying to convince you otherwise? Is this not the very works that would be produced in vain, the very reason why Christ came and laid his life down, that through his grace, mercy, and sacrifice, alone we would be saved. So that no man, by his works, would have anything to ever boast about? That all things have been made level at the foot of the cross, that all fall short of the glory of God, that all stand condemned without Christ in us the hope of glory!?(Rhetorical)
Don’t allow anyone to cause you to stray from the confidence and assurance that you have found through Christ sacrifice. Rather, look to the ones who came before you, those who walked with Christ to set the example of what you might expect out of life. Here’s what scripture has to say about a few of them:
“Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” Hebrews‬ ‭11:35-38‬
They were, mocked, flogged, chained, in prison, stoned, sawn into, killed by the sword. This sound familiar to your life?
If you don’t find that to suit your needs, since those people are nameless in scripture and might be hard to relate to, what about Christ himself? We could use Christ, but being he was faultless and sinless, you might find it hard to relate, yet in scripture it says in Hebrews 4:15 that, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin.”
Isn’t Christ life and what he endured the greatest indication of what we should look forward to in this Christian life? If it’s true that the same spirit that lives in Him, lives in us, and allows us to do the world he has done and far greater, then wouldn’t it be Christ who would lead by the best example? But again, for the sake of argument, let’s look at someone who is human, has sinned, and was completely sold out for the gospel. Let’s look at Paul! Let’s see what Paul’s life looked like when Ananias was sent to him.
The words spoken in prophecy to him through Ananias where this, “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. -Acts 22:14-15
Knowing this, here are just a few examples of what Christ servant of the gospel endured on his walk with Christ:
Paul wrote most of the New Testament (4 or more epistles) from in prison.
He was stoned by the Jews who came from Antioch and Iconium. Then they drug him out of the city. -Acts 14:19
He was bitten by a very poisonous snake while building a fire-Acts 28.
By his own words, here is a small account of what he endured.
“Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.”‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭11:22-33‬ ‭
Does this sound like your life?
Why then if Christ and Paul’s examples are good indicators of what are a possibility of the Christian walk, if we know that 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. John 15:20
That in Christ time when, “John came neither eating nor drinking, they say, 'He has a demon.' And when “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' 1 Matt 11:18-19
If Christ himself and those who came before were spoken of like this, why are we so quick to assume that there is something wrong instead of something right going on?
Notice, the ones who choose to follow God throughout all of the history of scripture all endured extreme hardships in their walk with God. Most of which the world thought they were crazy, or demon possessed. Christ own family thought he was out of his mind. I could go on and list a ton of examples, but it would be almost every individual who God used through scripture.
Does anyone not find it odd that every time a man of God is near to the father, operating in the boldness of the spirit, that he is considered to be hearing from demons and not God himself? The religious of Christ day and age said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons." Matt 12:24
If this is how Christ himself was treated, why are we so quick to fall under the judgment of man, especially when we have been freed from the judgment of God, by passing from death into life from Christ sacrifice. This sacrifice allows us to have the Holy Spirit as a deposit guarantee of our internal inheritance. Why would we listen to the judgment of man over the finished works of Christ?
Do you feel like what you endure for the sake of the gospel is comparable to what those who came before you had endured? Is what you are enduring centered around Gods interest, or self interest? Are you pursuing Gods will for your life, or your own will? Are you concerned with the will of God, or are you concerned with your personal will and comfort?
Instead of allowing ourselves to be under a yoke of oppression, and being entangled in sin once again by focusing on our short coming instead of our savior; what if we choose to look at your hearts desires are when it comes to your own relationship with God?
What are your prayers?
Let me pass this test, let me make more money, let my wife be nicer, let me be able to handle the stress at this high paying job.
Please bless my American wage that is higher than what 90% of other countries will ever make. Please help me family clean up the mess of the abundance we have. Watch over the dogs, the cats and my bird, and let my team win this weekend.
I’m not saying this to be condemning, it’s not that these aren’t genuine concerns, but are the concerns of the Father for your life, or for personal gain and self interest?
What do they look like compared to the servants that came before you, though our generations are always different, the message and the mission has never changed. What do these prayers look like in comparisons to these?
Lord let your will be done no matter the circumstances let your mercy, grace, and power reign supreme in all aspects of my life. I completely surrender all things to you, i am in complete and full submission to your will. Allow your gospel to be spoken through me at all times in all ways, no matter the circumstances. Lord you reign supreme in every aspect of my life and in all things that I do. Always be the meditation of my mind. All that I am belongs to you, all that I will ever want is you to complete your works in me and through me, your portion is enough for me. My focus is on you and your mission alone. Allow me to die to self daily and have the courage to pick up my cross and follow you.
Both believers, but one seems to be running from suffering, while the other is willing to endure hardship for the sake of the gospel. But, before we start passing judgment on who needs to repent, is dealing with generational curses, needs to fast, etc etc. Maybe instead of looking at works, we should look in the mirror first at our own walk with Christ before trying to set the tone for how others should walk.
When Christ said “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” Matthew‬ ‭7:1-5‬ ‭
What if the speck you saw in your brothers eye, was simply the reflection of your own log. Then once you removed the log from your own eye, if there was still a small speck to be removed, you could remove it clearly through gentle correction instead of judgment.
Don’t allow Christian judgment of man, no matter how Holy they may seem, corrupt the faith and assurance you have through Christ finished works. When Paul was faced with similar issues he said, “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭4:3-5‬
So go in confidence and assurance that “He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—” Ephesians‬ ‭1:4-5‬. With this assurance as the foundation of our faith through Christ finished works you will stand strong against the trials and tribulations of life and the adversity of men. You will reign in supremes confidence in Christ finished works that no matter what the judgment of man in this world holds for you. Believe that you are firmly rooted in the finished works of Christ, righteous and blameless in his sight, because you are the ambassador of Christ’s love through action and in truth. What is that love is that confidence rooted in?
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” 1 John‬ ‭3:16-24‬ ‭
From the front lines- ES December 12th, 4:19pm
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eternal-echoes · 6 years ago
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It’s pretty absurd to have a pagan occultist who took LSD having shape your worldview. 
Even if one or two points he said is compatible with Christianity, you really shouldn’t take spiritual guidance from Evola since he’s pagan, which is what his writings are ordered towards. Idolatry weighs more than any other sin. 
Anyways, even not considering his paganism and drug use, some of his writings are irreconcilable with Christianity
“The Americans' 'open-mindedness', which is sometimes cited in their favor, is the other side of their interior formlessness. The same goes for their 'individualism'. Individualism and personality are not the same: the one belongs to the formless world of quantity, the other to the world of quality and hierarchy. The Americans are the living refutation of the Cartesian axiom, "I think, therefore I am": Americans do not think, yet they are. The American 'mind', puerile and primitive, lacks characteristic form and is therefore open to every kind of standardization.” - Julius Evola
Criticize American culture all you want, but this is not the way to do it. Descartes’ axiom “I think, therefore I am” is not a cultural or political statement. This is the statement about the mind-body problem, and here Descartes is talking about dualism, that the mind and body are separate. This is against Catholic Church’s teachings because we believe that in hylomorphic doctrine, that the soul and the body together forms one substance, rather than being separate entities. Besides, if you’re going to claim to be anti-modernity and anti-enlightenment, you really shouldn’t quote someone who is literally called the Father of Modern Philosophy. Frankly, I think this is why Evola isn’t read in the universities; not because he’s anti-communist or that he supports an authoritarian style of government, it’s because he quotes famous philosophers out of context. 
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Here’s a Bible verse that contradicts that: 
“Thus the word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, you shall warn them for me. If I say to the wicked man, You shall surely die; and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his wicked conduct so that he may live: that wicked man shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death. If, on the other hand, you have warned the wicked man, yet he has not turned away from his evil nor from his wicked conduct, then he shall die for his sin, but you shall save your life. If a virtuous man turns away from virtue and does wrong when I place a stumbling block before him, he shall die. He shall die for his sin, and his virtuous deeds shall not be remembered; but I will hold you responsible for his death if you did not warn him. When, on the other hand, you have warned a virtuous man not to sin, and he has in fact not sinned, he shall surely live because of the warning, and you shall save your own life.” - Ezekiel 3: 17-21
This is called the sin of omission. If you don’t warn your brother that his sins will lead him to Hell, God will hold you accountable for that. This stems from the teaching that we are all parts of the mystical Body of Christ so we should look out for each other. 
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The striking difference between Christianity and Alt-Right/nationalism is how they view hierarchy. Namely, that at the core of Christianity is humility. 
“Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, 
Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God 
something to be grasped. 
Rather, he emptied himself, 
taking the form of a slave, 
coming in human likeness; 
and found human in appearance, 
he humbled himself, 
becoming obedient to death, 
even death on a cross. 
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name 
that is above every name, 
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend, 
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 
and every tongue confess that 
Jesus Christ is Lord, 
to the glory of God the Father.” 
-Philippians 2: 6 - 11
For Christians, one’s position in hierarchy is never meant to be a source of pride. This came from God, so we should act in humility accordingly. Echoing Jesus’ words, “The greatest among you must be your servant,” we have to use our skills and talents in service of others. 
“Traditionalism is the most revolutionary ideology of our time.” - Julius Evola 
There was an instant in the Bible who criticized the Pharisees for putting too much importance on tradition: 
“Then the Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat a meal.” He said to them in reply, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses father or mother shall die.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is dedicated to God,” need not honor his father,’ You have nullified the word of God for the sake of your tradition. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts’ “He summoned the crowd and said to them, “Hear and understand. It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.” Then his disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He said in reply, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. If a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit.” Then Peter said to him in reply, “Explain this parable to us.” He said to them, “Are even you still without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that enters the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled into the latrine? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, theft, false witness, blasphemy. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.” - Matthew 15: 1 - 20
Cultural traditional customs are not means for your salvation. Ultimately, what comes your heart, (i.e. your free-will), the virtuous acts that you do, are what will determine that will save your soul. Even traditions are subject to be judge by the standard of objective morality, which is the divine law of God. They are not ends in themselves.
“The Hindus and Far Easterners do not have the notion of ‘sin’ in the Semitic sense; they distinguish actions not according to their intrinsic value but according to their opportuneness in view of cosmic or spiritual reactions, and also of social utility they do not distinguish between ‘moral’ and ‘immoral,’ but between advantageous and harmful, pleasant and unpleasant, normal and abnormal, to the point of sacrificing the former - but apart from any ethical classification - to spiritual interests. They may push renunciation, abnegation, and mortification to the limits of what is humanly possible, but without being ‘moralists’ for all that.” - Julius Evola, Ride the Tiger
This is the most problematic quote I found from him. Because this is essentially about the sense of morality that Evola has, and following objective morality is our means to salvation. What he is saying here is that he believes what is good is determined by the outcome that the action will bring about, not if there is an intrinsic evil nature in the action regardless of the benefits. This is eerily similar to another Enlightenment thinker Jeremy Bentham: 
“It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong.”
Also of John Stuart Mill:
“The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest-Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure.”
Evola may have different opinions on what it is that is good for people than Bentham and Mill and utilitarians insist that you cannot be impartial to any person or group of people when applying morality while that isn’t the case with Evola but nevertheless Christianity isn’t pragmatic or consequentialist; there are intrinsically evil things you can do no matter the net benefit it will bring about.  The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war quicker is not a legitimate reason because it killed thousand civilians in the process. The end do not justify the means. The results of your actions are irrelevant because violating the principles of God stains your soul. Our will have to correspond with the moral law, which is in the mind of God.
I honestly worry about some Christians who read Evola’s works. They seem to overestimate their own understanding of Christian theology to discern accurately what is and what is not reconcilable to Christianity in his works. Even for the few points he said that are harmless, Christians reading him are not getting the fullness of Christianity, just the diluted version of it. 
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surveys-at-your-service · 6 years ago
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Survey #180
“why don’t presidents fight the war, why do they always send the poor?”
Do you study anything? If so what? Not currently.. Listening to music? What’s the opening and last lyric of the song? "From her throne of skulls rules our queen of endless might / and lead us the the kingdom of chaos where the dark hearts forever dwell" ("Dark Mother Divine" by Dissection). Are you a fan of sci-fi? Neutral. What’s your favorite musical? Musicals make me cringe. Have you ever taken an underwater picture? No. What was your favorite color when you was little? Has it changed? Red, and then pink when I learned it was its own color. It's still pink. Are you a fan of cheesecake? Omfg no Ever been on a ride and hated every second? I don't believe so. When was the last time you jumped? And why? biiiiih I have no idea. What color is the floor in your bedroom? Tan. Who’s the last person that slept over at your house? Sara. What color is the hair on your arms? Very light brown. Favorite color eyeshadow? Black is the only way to go. Do you have any friends that you’ve known for 10 years or more? Yeah. Who was the last person that cried in front of you? Did you do/say anything to comfort them? My niece or nephew, because we were leaving, and yes. Who was the last person you cried in front of? Did you feel embarrassed about it? Mom, probs. No. What was the last compliment you received from someone of the opposite sex? My psychiatrist said I was doing well with improvement or something. Does the person you love/like have any pets? Yes. Are you satisfied with the way your life is right now? No, things need to begin changing. Do you wear socks to bed? Who the fuck does that. Do you actually love your parents? Yeah. Do you like being in a relationship? Yeah. Do you prefer the tanning bed or the sun? I don't tan. Are you taller than your mum? I think she's like, a half inch taller than me? What’s something you want to purchase next time you’re at the mall? If it has a Hot Topic, some band or graphic t-shirt. Do you prefer regular or diet soft drinks? Regular, as the artificial sweetener in diet inevitably gives me a headache. Tastes awful, anyway. How long do you need to get to know someone, before you’d think about having a relationship with them? I think this depends on how quickly and deeply you click. Would you ever consider going to meet up with someone you started talking to online? Already have, would meet more. Have you ever wanted to be on American Idol? When was this? No. Do you have any friends you’d trust completely with your life? Sara. Are you failing any classes you’re taking in school? N/A Name one song lyric from your favorite song of all time? "In school, I would just bite my tongue, and now your words, they strike me down. The flags are false and they contradict, they point and click which wounds to lick." Do you know anyone who owns a pet chinchilla? Are they fun? No. Do your parents trust you alone with members of the opposite sex? Yeah. What is the most visited website you have listed right now? I'm sure it's YouTube. Do you enjoy singing? Why or why don't you like it? Sometimes, but I suck at it. Have you ever been in a talent show? What was your talent? No. Do you have a best friend who is of the opposite sex? No. What’s one song you’re definitely getting sick of at the moment? I don't listen to such songs once they get old. Do you know the full anatomy of the human body? Why or why not? No, because I've never specialized in studying it in its entirety. Have you ever cheated on a significant other before? No. Does your boyfriend or girlfriend have a pretty smile? ACTUAL SUNSHINE What is your favorite past-time or hobby? Why is this your favorite? Gaming, 'cuz it's the best escape from reality imo. Are you committing a sin at the moment? Which one? Sloth. Always. What do you consider being the worst curse word? I don't believe in "curse" words. Do you like kissing lightly better than just making out? I mean I'm pretty sure anyone would reply with "it depends on the mood." On average, how many songs do you listen to in a day? No clue. Sometimes many, sometimes none. Do you ever buy your pet(s) birthday or Christmas presents? Yes. Do you still own any VHS tapes? Do you ever watch them? Mom probably has old home videos. Otherwise, no. One thing you promised yourself you’d never do and then did? Not trying at all to be dramatic, but I seriously did promise myself I'd never risk loving someone again after Jason. Have you ever had to call 911? No. Have you ever rolled off your bed in your sleep? No. Do you get along with your significant other’s friends? I only know Tiffany, and she's great. Do you enjoy board games? No. What is the most expensive gift you have ever given someone? A promise ring. Describe your socks. I'm not wearing socks. I hate them. Do you believe in yourself? Sometimes. Do you feel bad when you kill bugs? Usually no... sadly. I should. If it was like a butterfly and insects of that sort, I'd feel awful. What is your favorite planet? Saturrrrrn. Do you have any pets that you had since you were born? No. Do you own anything that you had when you were a baby? Yes. Are you one of those people who are always cold? No, I'm like, permanently hot... Do you enjoy Mario games? Not especially. Things like Mario Kart though are fun to play with friends. Describe your signature: Legible but written waaay too slowly. What are some of your favorite card/board games? Battleship, Scattergories, Clue, Magic: The Gathering, uhhh... Do you own a gaming console? Which one? PS2, Wii, broken PS3 that I wanna get repaired, GameBoy, Nintendo DS Lite. What is the name of the last bar you went to? Never been to one. Do you follow any sports teams? No. How old were you when you attended your first concert and what was it? Ummm 17-ish? Alice Cooper. Which one of these words describe you the best: stubborn, impatient, hot-tempered, lazy, arrogant? Lazy. How about these: compassionate, forgiving, altruistic, honest, open-minded? Compassionate. If you had to choose one activity to do for 10 minutes, would you rather jump rope, hula hoop or hopscotch? My knees are baaaad, so all I really could survive is hula-hoop. What's the last TV show you watched, and do you relate to any of the characters? Ash had Naked and Afraid on at her house, but I related to neither contestant very much. If you had to compare yourself to one character from Friends, who would you say you're most like? Never really watched it. What is one movie you saw only once because you hated it so much? None solely for the reason of not liking it. Would you have sex with the last person you text messaged? THAT WOULD BE MY MOTHER UM LEMME THINK NO. How many people of the opposite sex do you fully trust? None. Nightmares ruined my dad to a degree I don't think I can completely recover from, even with how close we are. Out of absolutely nowhere, I had another one that resulted in me jerking awake and literally giving out a short scream. I feel in my heart I should fully trust my dad and that his image is wrongly affected by my own fears, but I'm not very sure how to change that. Ever used a bow and arrow? Not a real one. Favorite Taylor Swift song? Fuckin FIGHT me "Picture To Burn" SLAPS. Give me a song that is underestimated/not well known: "Possession" by Otep. Otep songs in general. Does everyone in your family have a job? I'm the only one who doesn't. Name a reason you would most likely go to jail for: Probably killing someone when defending a loved one from being physically attacked, and there won't be enough evidence to show that I did it as defense or that going that far was justifiable. I have actually worried about this lmao. What kind of car did your parents have while you were growing up? A blue and then tan van, and Dad had a series of old, tan cars named Frida the Cheetah I-III. :') Do you tie your socks together or roll them up? Roll them up. What was your last bad date? I don't think I've had a bad one... Do you ever wish your birthday was on a different day? Yup, 'cuz it's occasionally Superbowl Sunday. What holiday would you want to have your birthday on? BITCH HALLOWEEN. Have you ever gone snorkeling or scuba diving? No. If yes, what’s the coolest thing you’ve seen? N/A What’s your favorite filling in chocolates? Fudge. When’s the last time you had a s'more? Some time after Sara's visit in June when we had some stuff left over. Does your best friend have any phobias? ... How am I blanking. I know some of her fears, but they're rational. Do you prefer the taste of lemon or limes? Lemons. What would you name your firstborn son? Probably Damien, or Severin. Do you cook anything you don’t like eating? I don't cook. What’s the last picture you colored? One I drew. What is the cheesiest way a guy could propose marriage? M'kay, it's always a man who proposes, I'll take note. But regardless, idk. What’s the first instrument you ever played? A recorder. Do you have an attic? A small one. Have you ever lived in the country before? My whole life. Do you drink coffee every day? No, I hate coffee. Have you ever stayed in a suite? No. Do you take good pictures? Sometimes, though I suck at manual mode because it's hard for me to tell when things are *perfectly* in focus. Have you ever been in a tornado or hurricane? Hurricanes. Do you have any bookmarks in your internet browser? If so, how many? Four. Do you know anyone in the military right now? I believe so. What’s your favorite show on Comedy Central? Don't watch it. How old is the oldest person you know? Uhhhh... late 80s? Early 90s? Do you usually go to sleep before or after the people you’re living with? Varies. Which band has the best name, in your opinion? Cradle of Filth is badass. Which one of your exes do you feel like you have the most chemistry with? Have, none, had, Jason. Do you like where your house is located? No. What’s the best hotel you’ve been to? One right by the beach. Are you into designer clothes? Nope, forget those prices. The only I plan on buying something from sometime is Cloak out of relentless support for The Man and The Apprentice. Have you ever done any internship? No. What’s your favorite store? (other than Hot Topic) Do not attack me like this. But anyway, Rebel's Market. What do you think about tattoos on women? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA fuck you. Have the cops ever gotten onto you for anything before? No. Do you have a Myspace? And if so what is your screen name? It probably still exists, and idk. Do you have a YouTube? Yeah. Facebook? Yeah. Gaia? Idk what that is. Bzoink? No. What email thingy do you use? (yahoo, gamil, rock) Hotmail and Gmail. Do you own a cellphone? If so what kind is it? A Shitty Samsung™ Do you have a digital camera? What kind is it? A Nikon D3200, but I'm hopefully getting a new Nikon or Canon soon. This camera's just about toast. What is your most common typo? Ummm. Idk. I don't make many now as I have to type slowly on this annihilated keyboard. What happens now is just not pushing down hard enough, so I wouldn't really call them "typos.' What kind of computer do you have? My actual one is a Sager, but the one I currently have to use is an Acer. Do you have an iPod/MP3 player? Yes. Literally had it since the beginning of middle school. What is your favorite video game of all time? Silent Hill 2 for story, Shadow of the Colossus for gameplay. For overall, they're pretty much tied. Have you ever played Call of Duty? No. Do you play games on the computer? When I get the Sager fixed... How many doors are in your house? Windows? Doors leading outside, I'm guessing? Two. Windows... at least eight. Nine? Most are small, though. Do you have any posters on your walls? Of what? Metallica, a unicorn at therapy being told "you need to believe in yourself," Homecoming-styled Pyramid Head, Marilyn Manson, Illidan from WoW, Silent Hill 3, Jack Skellington, a music one, and meerkats. What kind of bed do you have? (fouton, twin, bunk) Queen. Is your bed comfortable? Eh. Where is your computer located? I only have a laptop. Other than a closet, do you use a dresser/wardrobe to keep your clothes in? I have a dresser. How many mirrors do you have in your house? (other than hand-held) Uhhh two? Do you have a garage? No. Should you be doing anything right now? What? No. Do doctors or dentists make you more nervous? Doctors. Did you ever think you were about to die before? Ha, in the fourth grade when I was writing my DARE paper and I accidentally stabbed my freshly-sharpened pencil into my left palm... I thought it was lead so I ran SOBBING to my mom about how I was going to die lmao. Then after I ODed, I acknowledged there was a possibility, but I didn't care to think about whether I lived or died to like... think either one. Have you ever really had a near-death experience? Was it cool? "Was it cool." Fuck off. There's no such thing as a "cool" way of almost dying. Anyway, I got in a car accident when I was young, but Mom's driving saved our ass. I don't know if you'd classify the OD as near-death... I apparently didn't take enough to where a certain ingredient became heavily toxic or something, plus I was fucking drowned in fluids to counteract the amount I did have in super quickly (or something like that), so I didn't really experience an "I'm dying right now" fear like I did when I saw the wreck coming. How often do you brush your teeth? Once a day. How often do you shower? (Come on, tell the truth) Every other day, or if I'm being lazy, I go an extra day and regret my decision. What body type do you have? Um not skinny help. What kind of nose do you have? It's kinda little. Are your eyebrows thick? Normal. What color eyes do you wish you had? A more sapphire blue. Do you have fat lips? I'd say they're normal. Do you have a long neck? No. What are your views on abortion? Ultimately, when all things are considered, pro-choice, but I believe in avoiding abortion as well as you can. Like, just getting one solely because you were being sexually careless is a no from me, but like, if pregnancy and/or bearing a child would be an incredibly difficult feat for you emotionally and/or physically, you have the right to put yourself first. Gay marriage? All for it. What different types of churches have you visited? Catholic and Christian. Who would you want to be the flower girl at your wedding? Aubree, buuut I doubt her dad would allow it considering there's a high chance I'm marrying a woman, and he's homophobic as all hell. Do you want to be married within the next ten years? Ideally. What group are you most active in on Facebook? I'm only in one, a WoW group. I rarely comment on anything tho. Are you ashamed of anything? Yes. What were your favorite Disney rides as a kid? I don't really remember them. What were your favorite rides at Cedar Point? Never been. Have you ever owned a succulent? No. Favorite type of tea to drink in the fall? I hate tea. If a brand were to sponsor you, which brand(s) would you prefer? *shrugs* Have you read the entire Bible? No. Do you make bucket lists for each season? No. What is the next hobby you want to start? I'unno... I guess I'd like to get back to reading. Do you dye your hair regularly? No, it's not something I can afford, especially because I want complex color combos. What makes you depressed? Thinking too much about my current life issues, above anything else. My brain confuses depression and boredom a lot, and I'm bored plenty. Loved ones being hurt or upset, and sometimes thinking about the future. Do you think you could ever be famous? Nooooo, I absolutely do not want that. Do you think you have what it takes to make it big in the entertainment biz? Definitely not. What industry is it that you want to go into? Art. Do you have a job now? If so, what is it? No. What are some jobs you’ve had in the past? Sales clerk/associate. What are some jobs you want to or would like to have? List five. Photographer, zoologist, archaeologist, meerkat biologist, artist. What are some jobs you have considered? Archaeologist, vet, movie director, game designer, movie editor, and now zoologist and photography. What are some health problems you have had in the past? That I don't still have? Lots of ear infections, high cholesterol, insomnia, and talk about embarrassing, but last year I had this random span of premature nighttime incontinence... that fucking sucked. What are some of the best medications you’ve ever had? The Latuda + Lamictal combo is one of the biggest reasons I'm still alive. What is your favorite vitamin? I don't have one. Have you ever made money off of YouTube? No. What was a video you watched over and over as a kid? OH MY GOD so Nicole and I watched "Before He Cheats" covers (why idk????) and she found this one of a girl lip-syncing along to a super sped-up version and we found it stupid funny. Have you ever experienced depression as a side effect? Yes; I have both bipolarity and depression, but taking anti-depressants while also bipolar ramps your bipolar symptoms the fuck up, so of course my times of depression were soooo much worse than they were supposed to be. Have you ever been suicidal as a withdrawal symptom? No. How old were you when you started wearing glasses (if applicable)? Some time in middle school, I think? Have you ever been told you have an accent? As a kid I really did; when seeing my NY relatives, they would always point it out lmao. Now I think I only super faintly do and it's only slightly noticeable with some words. Actually at the reptile con in Illinois, after a bit of talking, a girl I met asked if I was from the U.K. because apparently she detected a faint trace of B r i t i s h? Describe the last situation in which you had to give up on an individual? I've gone back and forth with Colleen so many times that I feel anyone who reads these knows the story. What are some things that cause you to abandon association with someone? Shoving opinions in my face, arrogance, disinterest in our relationship, closed-minded, just to name a few. When was the last time you made a new friend? Ha. What is the most unusual thing within your general vicinity? Ummmm I'm not sure. Maybe my python, as she's a morph? What are some things you enjoy that not many others do? Writing, reptiles and amphibians, conspiracies, looots of snow, foreign music, watching others play games, uhhhh. Are you one who considers preserving your past important? In some ways, sure, but not a lot. Focus on the present and aim to create a future better than your past. When was the last time you had some sort of a meltdown? I'm not sure. Some time last month, I think. When was the last time you were super busy? Psh. I'm never busy. Not always a good thing. What is a quality someone might not assume you have? Serious impatience. I don't think I hint towards that weakness until like, you see me in a doctor's office. What was the last thing you did that was healthy? Got a good night's sleep. What was the last thing you did that could harm your health? Drank soda oops. Do you know anyone who self-injures? Not in the present, I believe. Have you ever had to reside with an individual who had a mental disorder? Mom has depression.
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wailingwhilewriting-blog · 7 years ago
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Tugging at my Heart, part 5
Edit: re-upload because I suck at technology and migrating blogs.  
Summary: You’re a literature teacher who quickly takes an interest in the new P.E. teacher, Mr. Odinson.
Pairings: Teacher!Thor x Teacher!Reader
Type: Series
Warnings: Minor cursing, bit of angst
Word Count: 2941
A/N: Hold on to your hats, it’s a long one. Sort of an inbetweener chapter, and it took me quite a while to get the tone right. And I’m noticing I’m blatantly projecting myself upon the ‘reader’ character, so I hope it’s not that heavy that you lasses can’t identify with it anymore ;-;
Masterlist
Part 4, part 6
If you want to be tagged in the series or permatagged, please send me an ask, because I keep losing names.
It was the Monday after your marvellous weekend adventure. You stood in front of your students and felt your attention waning. You hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep since your little bar date with Thor. Which hadn’t even been a proper date at all, you reminded yourself. Your brain had been in overdrive since the weekend, conjuring both doom scenarios and visions where you and Thor were being VERY intimate. As a result of this distracting stream of constant images you felt absolutely drained. You heard Shaina Kenner read a passage from To kill a Mockingbird, but the words seemed to go in one ear, and right out of the other.
“…Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,” Shaina finished, and she looked up to you expectantly.
You stared at your copy of the text in your hand.
“Ms. (l/n)?” Shaina tried.
Your gaze shot up and you closed your book.
“Well done, Shaina,” you said with the lightest tone you could manage. “Everybody please grab your books, we’re finishing early today.” That was enough to send most of your students packing, but Liz Torrez, sweet Liz Torrez, stayed behind. She motioned towards her friends to go on ahead, and you straightened the pile of papers on your desk that was already perfectly aligned.
“Ehm, ms. (l/n)?” Liz said softly. “Is everything alright with you?”
“Yes, everything is fine,” you said a little too quick, and Liz looked at you in disbelief.
You gazed up at her for a moment and sighed. “My personal life has become a little… confusing,” you admitted. “That’s all, I promise.”
“Anything I can help with?”
You shook your head with a smile. “No, Liz, but thank you. I just have to figure some stuff out… how I feel about certain people.”
Liz grinned widely. “Have you started dating?”
You started packing your bag, and you smiled at Liz. “I’m not going to discuss this with you.”
“That’s fine! But I’ll tell you something about my dating experience. You know Jake from the senior class?” Liz spouted.
“Yes…” you said reluctantly, finishing with your bag and slowly making your way towards the hall. Liz didn’t stay far behind and cheerily walked besides you.
“He asked me to the homecoming dance! But it was a bit confusing, because we never talked before about if we really liked each other, so I didn’t know whether to say yes or no without seeing the bigger picture.”
“Seeing the bigger picture is important…” you muttered as you walked through the hallway towards the teachers’ lounge. You stopped by the door and glanced at Liz. “Well, do you like him?”
“I do!” she beamed.
“Then that’s all you need right now,” you said with a wink, and stepped inside the teacher’s lounge. You walked inside and were about to settle at one of the tables, when you spotted Nat’s red curls bouncing as she entered through the other door. You quickly pretended like you had just gotten up and were about to leave, but Natasha was a quick one and was by your side in no time.
“Hey beautiful,” she greeted with a wide smirk. “How was your weekend, eh? Had a nice time at the Commodore?”
“Yes, it was great! Also great how you set me up. I really appreciate that,” you scoffed.
“You’re very welcome!” Natasha beamed. “Now, tell me exactly what happened, don’t leave a detail out.”
“Sorry, I have a class to prepare,” you muttered.
“Oh boo, you do not,” Natasha snarked.
“I do so. I’ll see you later.” And before she could talk you out of it, you quickly strode out of the teacher’s lounge.
On Tuesday, you managed to hide your inability to focus quite well from your students. You put the students to work and only answered necessary questions. If your students noticed the change in teaching method, they didn’t speak of it to you.
When the bell rang signalling lunch, you sighed quietly as the students rushed past you towards the cafeteria. You had managed to evade Nat again this morning, but she was surely going to be laying in wake in the lounge. You glanced outside and saw that the weather was quite decent and you smiled. You’d just find a quiet corner outside to eat your lunch. Easy evasion tactics.
Once you left your classroom you realised that you had underestimated the redhead, as she locked arms with you immediately once you took one step outside. She smirked at you and firmly sat you down on an empty bench and clapped her hands together.
“Now then, no more evading me. Spill the beans. What happened last weekend at the Commodore?”
You groaned. “Honestly Nat, I still don’t completely know myself.”
“Well start at the beginning!”
“After you and Maria stood me up, I ran into Brad,” you said pointedly.
“Brad?”
“Roleplay dude.”
“Oh Brad!”
“Yes, Brad. And he wasn’t about to let me off easy. I was about to try the bathroom window, I swear,” you sighed.
“Wait, how long did you have to wait for Odinson? I told him 10 pm sharp!” Natasha scoffed.
“You shouldn’t have invited him at all!” you growled back. “But he did have excellent timing. He helped me get out of there without Brad feeling me up.”
“So what are you being all evasive for then? That sounds like a perfectly good first date.”
“It wasn’t a date!” you insisted. “I mean, sure, he played my boyfriend for the night, but –“
“That’s a detail you very skilfully neglected to mention!” Natasha hissed. You hid your face in your hands. “Wait… there’s more?” Natasha muttered.
“Well… to make it more believable… We kissed,” you finally blurted out.
After a long moment of silence you gazed up at Natasha, who was smirking so widely you thought her face might tear.
“And have you seen each other since?” she said, her voice perfectly composed.
“He dropped me off at home and that was it!” you revealed.
“You didn’t give him your number? Didn’t ask for a second date?”
“It wasn’t a date to begin with! And you don’t just say ‘Hey, thanks for pretending to be my boyfriend for the night so the creepy guy wouldn’t follow me home, let’s go on another date soon.’ That’s not how that goes!” you said sceptically.
“Who cares how things normally go! You obviously like the guy, why not date him? Was his kiss that bad?” Natasha chuckled.
“No! No. No, it was actually pretty great…” you say softly. “So great that I haven’t been able to get it out of my head.” Your mind conjured up a rather persistent image of you and Thor in the locker room, heavily making out as he pressed you against the cold metal, his hands slowly trailing up your sides and – you shook your head, trying to clear the stubborn vision from your brain.
Nat shook her hand in front of your face. “Damn girl, it’s almost like you’re on something.”
You bury your face in your hands. “It kind of feels like that, too,” you say with a groan.
Natasha quirks an eyebrow at you, expectantly. “Explain.”
You cough your throat awkwardly. “It’s like my mind has been set in overdrive… I keep thinking of the worst ways this can end for either of us. And… There’s other stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?”
“You know… Dreams, little indulgent fantasies,” you muttered, your cheeks turning a bright red.
“Oh!” Natasha laughed, then leaned in. “Any special things he does? Special places?”
You nod lightly. “The locker room, weirdly enough.”
“Oh… I had you pegged as more of a ‘under the bleachers’ kind of girl,” Nat said with a wide grin. “But then why are you avoiding him? You should be jumping his bones, your mind is clearly telling you to!”
“I’m not avoiding him, and I’m certainly not going to jump any part of him!” you mutter. “I need to keep the bigger picture in mind.”
Natasha frowned at you. “What are you talking about?”
“The bigger picture, Nat! What if he was just being polite and saved a girl in need? What if he doesn’t want to date a colleague? What if that kiss that I can’t keep out of my head was just a minor detail of just another day to him? What happens when we can’t work together anymore?”
“All I’m hearing is ‘blab la bla picture, I’m scared, I’m a chicken, blab la bla’,” Natasha mocked with a wide grin.
“Fuck you…” you growled, and quickly checked that none of your students were around to hear. You gazed around the school grounds, and your breath hitched audibly. Thor was approaching from the sports field, and had already spotted you and Nat. “And fuck me, too! Shit!” You grabbed your bag at lightning speed, and quickly trotted away as fast as you could without tripping over your heels.
You managed to avoid Thor and Natasha the rest of the day, and your sense of guilt grew with every hour. You threw yourself into your grading work to escape your own thoughts. By the end of the day, your work was finished, and you were running out of excuses.
Wednesday’s classes were quite literally hell. You’d had another rough night and a massive headache seemed to have made a nest within your skull. The students picked up on your inattentiveness and greatly abused it, getting on your nerves more than you had ever experienced. You send three students to detention, and you had to grit your teeth to stop from cussing at them.
After said class, you walked through the busy hallways and kept a close eye out for Thor. You had buried every doubt and every fantasy that had plagued you for the past few days, in order to function properly. You feared that the moment you saw him, everything that you had managed to bury would resurface.
You rounded the corner, and practically walked into Thor. You looked up at him, tried to come up with an excuse, but drew a blank. He gently placed his hand on the small of your back and led you into the nearby janitor’s closet. Once inside you tried to brush past him and out the door, but Thor blocked your way.
“Thor, I didn’t –“ you began, but Thor quickly cut you off.
“I’m sorry for dragging you in here,” he said. “Natasha informed me of your most likely evasion route.”
“Bless her,” you groaned.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” he said simply, and your heart nearly broke at his expression. He was gazing gently at you, but his eyes were already wondering what he had done wrong.
“I have,” you admitted.
“Did I do something wrong?” he asked, and your heart ached at his words. “Was I a bit too enthusiastic in my pretence last Saturday?”
“No! No, I just… I just needed some time to figure things out,” you said weakly. You turned your hands into fists at your side to keep from grabbing his hands into yours.
“I thought…” Thor paused for a moment as he searched for the right words. “I thought there was something more to our kiss than just a courtesy. But when I didn’t see you on Monday and when you practically fled from me on Tuesday, I didn’t know what to think anymore.”
“I know, and I’m sorry,” you said softly.
“I realise that me pretending to be your partner for the night must have been confusing, since we are colleagues,” Thor said, pulling a hand through his hair and only messing it up. “And I’m not sure what the rules are surrounding colleagues dating.”
“There are no regulations against it,” you interjected quickly. You had looked it up over the weekend.
“Then what’s got you avoiding me all week?” Thor said gently. He conjured a mock-hurt expression. “Am I such a bad kisser?”
“No! No, you are an excellent kisser…” you said breathlessly. “Definitely worth an A+ in my book.”
“Was I completely mistaken then, when I assumed that there was more to our kiss than just gallantry?” Thor said as he took a small step towards you.
“There was more to it…” you admitted. Thor gave you a moment to explain, but when you stayed silent he gently brought his hand up to your cheek. He cupped your face softly, and you lightly leaned into his palm.
“Talk to me, (f/n). Please,” said Thor softly. You brought your own hand over his and closed your eyes for a moment.
Taking a deep breath, you opened your eyes and gazed up at Thor. “I’m scared,” you admitted.
“Scared of me?” Thor asked sharply, and you felt him trying to pull back his hand, but you firmly held it on your cheek.
“No, of course not. I trust you completely. Which is part of the reason that I’m scared,” you spoke gently. You pressed a quick kiss to Thor’s palm before releasing it. You crossed your arms and Thor gazed at you expectantly.
“I’ve never felt so much for one person so quickly, as I have with you,” you muttered. “It scares me that I haven’t been able to think of anything else but our kiss…”
You tried to explain the constant stream of doubts and insecurities that had made its way into your mind ever since your bar adventure. You didn’t tell him that a multitude of those visions had been rather indulgent fantasies. Thor kept his gaze on you as you struggled to find the right words.
“I've been over every doom scenario, every outcome that ends badly for either of us, because if I already feel so strongly about this now, how strong will the fallout be when this doesn't work out?”
Thor laughed, and it strangely reminded you of the rumbling of thunder. “You are already twenty steps ahead of whatever it is we have here,” he said with a chuckle. “And you are forgetting the fact that this might work out after all. Is it really not worth exploring what we could be, just because there is a minor possibility that it won't work out?”
“There's more at stake than just our collegial relationship, Thor. Fury would fire us both without hesitation should anything we have work against our ability to teach.”
“I don't doubt he would, but surely we can stay professional in front of the students, but at the same time explore... well, explore us?” Thor said, gesturing vaguely between you and himself with a sheepish grin.
You couldn't help but smile, then grimaced. “Speak for yourself. I've been a terrible teacher the last few days. It felt like it was my very first week as a teacher all over again. One stupid kiss and you’ve got me reeling.”
Thor chuckled. “Well, let's talk this through then. Tell me of these doom scenarios.”
"We could break-up, resent each other, blame each other, and it would be impossible for us to work together, resulting in either one of us having to transfer to a different school."
"Easy fix, I don't resent people," Thor grinned.
"We could become so intoxicated with each other that we can't keep apart, resulting in Fury firing one or both of us."
"You'd grow sick of me if you spent every minute of every day with me, so that will never happen."
You sighed. "It's not that easy!"
"But it's also not that difficult!" Thor retorted. He came to stand next to you, grasping your hands into his and gazed down at you. You gulped at the incredible gentleness that his eyes portrayed.
"It's as simple as this, (f/n)," Thor said. "Do you like me?"
"Yes," you said without hesitation.
"And would you like to go out with me again, properly this time, no charades or pretences?" Thor grinned.
"I would like that, yes," you managed.
"Then that's all we need, right?" Thor said softly, gently bringing his hands up to your jaw. He cupped your face and pressed a soft kiss to your forehead. He gazed down at you again and smiled. “Let's just see where this goes. And the moment you have doubts or doom scenarios clouding your judgement, come talk to me. No more hiding.”
You smiled sheepishly up at him. “Yeah, my evasive manoeuvres didn't really help me in the end.”
“You could use some track training,” Thor chuckled and pulled you into a tight hug. You buried your nose into the crook of his neck and sighed contently. The two of you stood like that for a little while, just enjoying each other’s company and close touch. You were the first to lift your head and gaze up at Thor. He smiled that ridiculous grin of his and slowly leaned down, gently pressing his lips to yours. You grabbed the collar part of his SHIELD High hoodie and pulled him in closer, kissing him more ardently. Thor responded appropriately; pulling you to him tightly and deepening the kiss, and in doing so softly slammed you into the janitor’s locker. You moaned softly when he broke the kiss and brought his lips closer to your ear.
“Natasha also said something about the locker room?” Thor said lowly, a deep rumbling chuckle emanating from his chest.
“I’m never telling that shrew anything ever again,” you groaned, and quickly kissed him again before he could say more.
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rennyji · 3 years ago
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July 16th Mid Afternoon Tweets...
July 16th Mid Afternoon Tweets...
Milliard organic cacao power is got to be the cleanest chemical free healthiest version of this superfood…can find it on Amazon...
The song “Take It Off” by Kesha- the highlight of my Thursday evening…
Doesn’t this look like Kenny from South Park: ((><))
Whatever happened to Avril Lavigne? Liked her songs “What the hell?” and “Skater Boy.”
Heard some Mariah Carey Songs, like “Obsessed” or “Touch My Body”…there just aren’t enough Mariah Carey’s…
“Aisha” - by Outlandish- another great song…
“La Vida Es Bella” music video…love the looks and moves of the female singer…
---
On Monday, after eating lunch, I shook hands with this guy named "Wah." He’s Asian, friendly, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of the martial artists that Master Roshi grew up with, in the Dragon Ball series, when he was fighting King Piccolo…-
-that is one cool dude, and if he does know martial arts, I hope he’ll patiently teach me...
---
so a thought...-
So there’s a Biblical saying, “Anyone who loves father, mother, etc. more than Me will not inherit “The Kingdom.” Let’s assume “The Kingdom,” in this context is, “salvation”. Let’s look at it in the perspective of people who follow instructions or impulses to harass others, or the orchestrators doing this Elleven+ years phenomena. You may crave escaping punishment for this or getting the best stuff in life, but if you know what ur doing is wrong to reach your favored destination, with the sole intent of saving ur a*s, not only do you risk the ultimate Salvation, but you also risk the earthly safe place you may be seeking. Why? Because you love your own interests more than what is intrinsically right. Doing what’s right results in its own reward. If you think doing the wrong thing is the only way you see “out of something”, then there’s another Biblical saying to keep in mind: “if ur eye causes you to sin, then cut it out, for it is better to go though life with one eye, then your whole being, or all of you, being thrown into Gehenna I.e. hell or eternal damnation. This does not mean to literally cut off ur eye. But, in order to do the right thing, if you have to risk getting in trouble, people thinking ill of you, or going to jail or whatever, then that is better in the long run, then your loved ones being cursed and you experiencing eternal damnation. Aim for the right thing in life, whatever the cost, for what your Father sees “in secret” or from the good of your heart, will be rewarded in time.
---
so, another thought...-
So in 30 years of life, Ive run into all sorts of people. Particularly people of particular positions…when it comes to those in power, Americans tend to have an open mind/adventurous nature to protocols vs. immigrants or their non American born counterparts, who practice strict adherence to protocols. Now, in life, the open mind gives soul to your work. What makes some of the non native Americans practice strict adherence? I mean there’s nothing wrong with strict adherence, but you gotta look at it from their perspective. These people represent those of their background. They are role models, they are people who struggled past biases and various obstacles to reach the highest point of some places. Discipline and hard work defines them. They may be experiencing the reward of a life of struggle. I mean when you think American, you think toward an easy supportive family/financial background, especially of Caucasians. Maybe they really don’t have to struggle that much with at least biases because they are the stereotyped face of the modern world. Among immigrants and minorities, it is thought, if nothing else, that stereotyped Americans, have at least the bare minimum of financial support. In a country with everything, this may encourage liberal adventurous or open mindedness to rules, regulations, and protocols-that said, there can be situations where that goes too far and causes problems. Life is about balance.
What’s an example of what I’m saying? I was recently at Macy’s where a manager was hell bent on getting me to return something online for the sake of protocol that she didn’t think with an open mind and heart. If her register was not working and they don’t have IT support, the obvious thing would be to encourage someone to try another register.  As she sees me going to another register from afar, she decides to follow me and watch me from a distance…wtf…really takin that protocol cr*p to a whole new level. Am I something from the street for you to monitor? Do you know how much I’ve wasted on that mediocre establishment, riding on the image of expensive quality from years ago? So that’s mindless rule following on an extreme level where I don’t know what demon possessed her or what installed mental pair of glasses or extraneous information she was seeing me through.
Then there’s Brother O’Conner from my time at the Iona Prep high school. He belongs to the order of Irish Christian Brothers. For collecting enough cans for the Thanksgiving drive, he rewarded the entire school with a day off, despite allocation of day offs for snow days and having a set amount of school days a year. Everyone enjoyed, teachers adjusted, and no problems erupted from this deviation of protocol. Brother O’Conner passed on, and although I only viewed him from a distance, he lives in my memory in the magical like reward, of a day off, for doing something good. I mean, then there was another Brother who took over, after Brother O’Conner left. No stories like the aforementioned to remember with the second Brother and the personality wasn’t lively. If you want to be in the minds and heart of people, or make a difference, you need to ask questions, not be blind followers, and understand the “meaning and purpose” of rules in place of mechanically being obedient to them.
I mean when modern day youth think of religion or Christianity, they think it’s rules and regulations that judge you, make you feel like cr*p, and that can be summed up with “don’t do this/don’t do that…” but religion is more and primarily about enhancing your mind to believe and achieve anything in this life. 
Christ was a rule challenger. In the face of the laws of Judaism in His time, He says, In Matthew 5:17-18, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” What does it mean to fulfill the law and prophets? It means Christ wants us to rise above mechanical following of rules. I believe the law in His time says to stone prostitutes. I mean does anyone choose to be a prostitute? At the same time, a prostitute may have more humanity in them than their priestly counterparts. Hence the story of Mary Magdalene. She was about to be stoned by the Jewish elders, according to law, or tradition, but Christ’s sees her heart, who she is inside amidst all those layers. He experiences compassion- a trait not common to Americans or police or some doctors or professors or whatever. (I think it was Shrek who said people are like onions: they have layers.) On the surface, yes, Mary Magdalene a prostitute. But she may have potential for a kind loving heart, an open mind, a potential for greatness. On the basis of the notion of love for all human beings, Christ challenges tradition/law, miraculously writes up the sins of the Jewish elders for them to see, and says, “ let the one without sin cast the first stone.” Mary Magdalene ended up being one of Christ’s most faithful followers. Jewish tradition/law had biases toward tax collectors because they were depicted as greedy, working with foreigners, and overexerting their authority among people. Christ took in, even a tax collector, to be one of his 12 Apostles…-12 Apostles, because, if I remember correctly, it had to do with the 12 tribes of Israel. 
Point being in all this, go beyond mechanical rules, regulations, traditions. In life there is only one rule: The Golden Rule-“Love God first and foremost, and your neighbor as yourself.”
---
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dargons-and-virbs · 7 years ago
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It’s The Little Things, Part 1
James Baker had always been a man of God. Raised in the Pentecostal Church, he became a preacher man just like his father. He had worked hard to ensure that his family, his community, and his country followed God’s law as outlined in the Holy Scriptures.
At the age of 73, he found himself in a hospice bed riddled with cancer. The last words he spoke to his family were “I love you, and I hope to see you with me in the Kingdom of God.” He would pass away that night in his sleep.
He knew that he was dead, but something was wrong. He wasn’t standing in front of the pearly gates, he was standing by his hospital bed, watching his wife and three daughters cry.
He tried to rest a hand on his wife’s shoulder in a gesture of comfort, but nearly fell as his ghostly form passed right through her material body. There was nothing at all he could do to ease their emotional suffering.
Just as he was wondering what was going on, the earth began to shake, though none of the living people seemed to be aware of it. James stared in awe at the depression forming in the floor, cracking the tiles as it grew deeper. All at once, the debris fell through the newly created hole, and seconds later he jumped backward in surprise. A geyser of lava shot up through the hole in the floor, stretching up into infinity.
Ten seconds passed, but James in his total fear would have said it was ten years, before a figure strolled casually out from the pillar of molten rock. James didn’t know the term for what he was looking at beyond “faggot” or “homosexual”, but the young man who had appeared before him was most definitely a twink.
The boy was somewhere around 5’8”, and thin as could be. His hair looked as if it were made of gold, and was trimmed short on the sides. The hair on top was whipped into frenzied, yet somehow perfectly neat waves. He sported black, heart-shaped sunglasses, a black tank top with the word “Daddy” written across the chest in a font that seemed to be melting, a pair of tight fitting skinny jeans, and combat boots. Needless to say, James Baker was without words.
“So you’re Jimmy Jackass, right?” The young man definitely sounded like a flamboyant homosexual- high pitched, sing-songy, and with a slight lisp. James did not answer vocally, only nodding his head in affirmation.
“I know it’s probably a little off putting, me showing up here the way I did. What can I say? I love a production.” With that, he smiled. His perfectly white teeth were just a little too pointed. Definitely not human.
James finally spoke. “What is going on here? Who are you?”
The boy pretended to process James’ words, as if he really had to think about it, before replying, “Well, you’re dead, obviously. And honestly, you should know who I am. I literally showed up in fire and brimstone. You humans are so dumb. I’m Lucifer, bearer of light, the Devil, Satan, Beelzebub, et cetera. You can call me Lu.”
James stood stock still, the expression on his face would have indicated such severe dissociation that his soul left his body if his soul had not literally left his body already. How could this be? He never drank, or smoked, or cursed. He nurtured and cared for his family, never once abusing them. He was loved by his congregation and the food pantry he volunteered with. By all accounts, he had lived his life with the Bible in one hand and his wife’s hand in the other.
Seeing the hopeless expression on the sinner’s face, Lucifer laughed. “You’re probably wondering how you could possibly be meeting me instead of God, right? What could you have done wrong? Well, Jimmy, what you did wrong is looking you in the face.”
“Wh-what do you mean?” Even outside of his physical body, his heart was beating at a pace that, were he hooked up to an EEG, it would probably be confused for a-systole. “How could this be my mortal sin?”
Lucifer lowered his head so that his eyes could be seen over the black, heart-shaped sunglasses he was wearing. Never before had James seen the sulphur-yellow eyes of a demon. This was really the Devil, wasn’t it?
“Let me answer your question with a few of my own. Don’t worry, you don’t have to answer verbally. We both know the answers already.”
Lucifer was right. They would know the answers. James didn’t like where this was going at all. He prayed, silently, that this was some kind of test of his faith. He prayed for God to guide him. What James didn’t know is that once a person dies and is to be ferried (or in this case, “fairied”) to Hell, God does the equivalent of blocking your number. God wouldn’t help him, God was going to abandon him.
“Do you believe that the Bible alone contains the perfect moral code? Do you believe that your faith is the one true faith, and that all the non-believers get to meet this gorgeous mug? Do you believe that men are the providers and women belong in the home? Do you believe that even if a woman is raped, the pregnancy throws her into alternating panic and despair from the resulting trauma, then finds out that giving birth will kill her as well as the child, that she should still be denied an abortion? Do you believe that the men and women who fought and died for your country are going to hell just because it isn’t a “Christian Nation” anymore? Do you believe that snakes are evil just ‘cause I supposedly talked a lady into eating a fruit? Do you believe that homosexuals, bisexuals, or any other non-heterosexual individuals are impure and deserve my tender loving care on that basis alone?”
James had to admit that when framed like that, it sounded horrible. But this was Satan. His two talents were convincing people to sin and convincing them they’re sinners, right? He was sure this was a test now.
“Yes,” James replied, trying to rely on the faith that landed him in this situation in the first place, “I do believe those things. The Lord God, the Almighty, Loving Father has said so, and I must believe in His Wisdom, which he shares with us in His Word, the Bible.”
If you’ve ever seen someone choke down a laugh, imagine that but put the Dark Prince, the King of Demons, the most feared being in the place that is literally designed to be painful and scary, doing that. That’ll kill your ego faster than a bullet. James tried not to show it, but already he was falling apart, little by little.
“Wow. I haven’t met one of you yet that had the balls to stand up to me. Then again, I tailor the costume to each of you. It’s the highlight of my day when I get to watch them realize the exact moment in their life that sealed their fate. Yours is gonna be fucking fantastic. How about we play a little game? Get in.”
James was once again flabbergasted when he found the two of them outside the hospital beside a parked candy apple red Mini Cooper, complete with vanity plate: “FLAMING” in a font that looked like, well, fire. Unfortunately for James, no matter how much he consciously tried to stay put, his “body” seemed to have a mind of its own, puppeteering him into a car he could swear he had no business in. He did not like the fuzzy pink everything, he did not like the fact that he was in a car that Lucifer was driving, and he did not like the music about being born whatever way. He could not understand why he couldn’t stop himself from playing along. Had God really forgotten him? (Spoiler Alert: The answer is yes.)
The game, James found out, was to guess your worst offense before you arrive at the check-in desk. If you do, you get an hour to make peace with your fate. If you don’t, he will tell you. And as soon as the weight of your sin hits you the torture begins. He could not possibly have done anything to deserve this. Another test. He wondered what he had to do to pass, and for an instant he wondered if he could.
James did feel he had some kind of advantage in that he could decide what memory he would parrot to Lucifer. “Was it the time I told Momma it was the dog that ate those cookies when I was 9?”
The boyish demon gave a gentle grin and said, “Oh, Jimmy. It would never be something so bland and benign. Guess again.” With that, the road ahead of them cracked and caved, and Satan drove them down the broken road. Strangely enough, the ramp-like section was maybe twenty feet long, maximum, but since they went sub-surface it had somehow stretched into a long highway. All the way down it was scorching desert with sporadic skeletons and the occasional crow. In the distance you can see that the highway leads to what looks like a city on fire.
“How about the time I told Susie Day that I swore I didn’t see anything that time I accidentally walked in on her changing while I was at her brother’s house when I was 13?” Okay, he vaguely remembered that. What made that bad, he wondered? He should have said “I’m sorry that I caused you distress when I accidentally walked in, I know that is very uncomfortable and I want you to know that I never want to put you in a situation that makes you uncomfortable” instead of “Oh, calm down Susie! I didn’t even see anything!”
The devil, in his twink body, smiled bigger, but he was starting to look different. He was starting to change, but James couldn’t quite pin down what it was.
“Hm. Moved up to ‘caused someone undue emotional stress and then blamed them’ from ‘blame it on the dog’. I like where this is headed. Go fish.”
James didn’t understand why that was bad, but it didn’t matter. He could whip out his childhood white lies for at least a few days, if that’s all he ever did wrong.
“What about when I was 16 and told that girl I loved her so she’d sleep with me? That was a nasty break up.” He wasn’t perfect, he hadn’t really done anything wrong though because she agreed to it, right? Wrong. When he gets a turn in the solitary sensory deprivation pit for a millennium or two he’ll get to realize what was wrong. He had used something he knew someone was vulnerable to in order to get what he wanted. He baited her, deceived her, and manipulated her for selfish gain and something she took more seriously than he did.
Lu’s features were becoming exaggerated. He was morphing into some nightmarish caricature of the fragile looking kid that he had met just minutes ago. The grin was now just too large to be natural, his teeth looked sharper somehow, and James could swear that horns were starting to grow through his hair. He hoped that was it, he might only have one chance, and he was losing faith that this was a test that God wanted him to overcome.
“Excellent use of coercion. You put your needs above others then didn’t you?” The Devil chuckled, and even his laughter had become exaggerated and unnerving. “We’re getting close, Jimmy. This might be your last chance. For the opportunity to collect yourself for one solid hour before we send you off to Damnation Station, what is the most vile thing you’ve ever done?”
James was suddenly aware that it was his steadfastness to his beliefs that got him here. Maybe it wasn’t something he did consciously. How many things could he have done or said that he simply wasn’t aware of? He was doomed, but had one more shot. All or nothing.
“There was the time that I walked right by that nerd that bully was beating up, but I don’t step into fights because I’m a pacifist, and I figured the kid would just get a couple bruises. All I saw was some shoving and a slap or two. I had no idea he was gonna end up with broken bones, but would Jesus have traded blows with a bully?”
The whole world went silent, save for the chilling intake of breath and relaxed sigh of a satisfied monster.
“Actually, yes. He would. And he did a couple times, they just left those bits out. I usually let you all figure these ones out on your own since you’ve got all the time in the world, but this one is gold. You wouldn’t have had to do much. That bully was afraid of you, you were bigger and stronger and the preacher’s son. You could have told him to scram and that nerd would have nothing worse than a slightly puffy cheek and a bruised shoulder. But you didn’t intervene. Your rationale wasn’t even pacifism at the time, you fossil. Your rationale was that your abusive asshole father would beat the piss out of you for getting in the middle of something that didn’t concern you. But- you’re out of time, Jimmy. Good game. Get out.”
They had pulled up to a massive gate of twisted wrought-iron. A huge sign that looked like it was painted with blood that said “Check-In” was pointing to the right side of the gate, where it met with the stone wall reminiscent of gothic cathedrals that surrounded the massive city. As Lu walked him to the desk, there was a spring in his step and he hummed a haunting melody.
At the desk was probably another demon, but this one (as James may or may not find out at some point in the infinite future) was a ghoulish looking Leather Daddy. Complete with leather everything and a sketchy 1970s mustache. As they approached, he greeted them with a deep bow.
“Hello, my Lord. What do you require of me? I will gladly d-“ he was cut off.
“Skip the formalities, Evan. This one didn’t guess. Pull up his file.” He flashed a look at the devastated soul that said the Devil’s favorite moment is finally here. “Baker, James. 73 years old. From BFE.”
Evan looked up from the computer screen (yeah, they have computers, too, it’s the 21st century) with absolute glee in his dead, black eyes. “Shit. I can’t believe I get to witness one this brutal. Thank you, my Lord.”
Without acknowledging his servant’s excitement, Lucifer dove into the monologue that would crush the last bit of hope James Baker had left, the speech that would thrust him into his eternal torment.
To be continued.....
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glopratchet · 4 years ago
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village
ogram that is attached to the conciousness of astryl wylde, a journalist for the realm of astokahn and you can hear the sounds of battle outside "What's going on? I thought we were supposed to be retiring today! The retirement village is surrounded by a a wall sandbags It keeps whispering to astryl trying to get him back online, who is full of bitterness and captive to sin and this is evident because of astryl being attached and fused within a succubus and a incubus There is some kind of war going on here but it's not between humans or demons Soft cinematic music is constanly playing from a sound system located There is some kind of war going on here, somewhere under the boxes Unlit candles are placed all over the warehouse and a large equal chart with icons of astrology signs is displayed upon the north wall Soft cinematic music is constanly playing from a sound system located somewhere under the boxes There is a doctor who decoded some secert knowledge out of the bible and came to this warehouse to pursue some kind of barmagicianistic sorcery partly out of hubris for unlocking a secert that was supposed to be left well There is a doctor who decoded some secert knowledge out of the bible and came to this warehouse to pursue some kind of barmagicianistic sorcery partly out of hubris for unlocking a secert that was supposed to be left well This discoverd text resulted in a formula which could tack on years to those already old and it started with the inventor himself first This discoverd text resulted in a formula which could tack on years to those already old and it started with the inventor himself first People have come from all over the world to live in the village far from the noise of everyday life and to follow their doctrine People have come from all over the world to live in the village far from the noise of everyday life and to follow their doctrine The give up all their belongings and will live her for the rest of thier lives seeking to restore thier youth Or at least thay will when the construction is finished and all the kinks are worked out The give up all their belongings and will live her for the rest of thier lives seeking to restore thier youth as the music tunnels more and fighting is heard from outside But something is a miss There are two fractions But something is a miss as the music tunnels more and fighting is heard from outside that have been at odds for awhile There are two fractions that have been at odds for awhile They are fighting over something so miniscule it would appear to any outsider thay have completely lost thier minds over it and the debate got so bad they literally had to be separated They are fighting over something so miniscule it would appear to any outsider thay have completely lost thier minds over it and the debate got so bad they literally had to be separated The groups are divided into three camps the those who want to worship the qweepa as gods, those want to worship Lucifer and be more laizacal and those who wish to worship The groups are divided into three camps, The first camp is called the Quarray egalists The first camp is called the Quarray egalists They want to toss away the symbolum and replace it with the worship of the qweepa They want to toss away the symbolum and replace it with the worship of the qweepa The third camp is known as the Sotak Croix , they want to restore Reptilo sapiens to thier rightful place as the pillars of creation The third camp is known as the Sotak Croix , They desire to scrap the symbolum and worship the lucifer, like the humans do They desire to scrap the symbolum and worship the lucifer, The last collective has a flag of two yellow intertwined triangles with crimson centers which resemble two snakes intertwining and eating one another's tails The crows ate the rats as fast as they were breeding The last collective has a flag of two yellow intertwined triangles with crimson centers which resemble two snakes intertwining and eating one another's tails each other, but they can not truly live either The can not live with out The can not live with out each other, A few plot points along the struggle include Edgar is a skilled masseur who knows all the right spots from here: A few plot points along the struggle include: The major battle story continued The major battle story continued from here: Eventually some one won and now thire church loooks liks a trash heap compared to its former glory Eventually some one won and now thire church loooks liks a trash heap compared to its former glory Insurgence Insurgence! Temperament Something always seemed a bit off about him and it was discovered he backed the losing croos in the civil war Effects Effects: Chaos might result Chaos might result Fragment ing: They are starting to split into multiple factions, each following their own ideas Fragmenting: Danger Level: Boss: Lisa Nook Boarded up windows and bars over the doors are sight in the ex towns the farmers are gone and so is The town government collapsed, with no more taxes or law enforcement Danger Level: Threat You can gather all the riches for yourself! Threat: Technology Town run machines act to preform rudimentary tasks and create ale for the miners Technology: Menace Menace: The pump Jacks are leaking oil all over the ground and into the water supply Alienation Humans are leaving at an alarming rate Alienation: Lucas needed live organ donors and Emma was one of them Delinquents Strange teens wander through town vandalizing buildings and destroying property Delinquents: Fighting for survival: They are too busy fighting the rats for territory that they barely have time to raid the town Object Fighting for survival: ive B: Kidnap the sleeping beauty or the blacksmith's children Objective B: Deadlands The dead are very much alive And very hungry in the Deadlands Your princess is in Another castle: You safely landed on a fluffy cloud Deadlands: Howls in the Night: The werewolves and vampires are on the prowl "The Big one" is coming! Howls in the Night: Wolves and snakes multiply after hunts and matings Others hatched from hijacked eggs After the virus took out society only a few humans remained Wolves and snakes multiply after hunts and matings Bones They leave temporary shelters to hunt the wanderers at night Could humans become the top predators? Bones: Flesh Goliaths: Secret creation of a cannibal sect that worships the wolf like mutants: Fleshhounds Flesh Goliaths: Sawtooth Mountains: Werewolf pack led by a large Alpha male inhabits these peaks Sawtooth Mountains: Manitou | Mothman: Sightings of a strange winged humanoid Manitou | Mothman: Claws and within the F Ghosts, golden treasures, and traps that twist your insides Claws and within the F Bandit Bay: Lone survivor holds out Against hordes of mutants in collapsed tunnel stronghold Bandit Bay: Bloodline Survivor is YOUR father! Scales, fangs, and water troubles are just the start Your mentor goes on to be a great leader Bloodline: Ravages of Time: Scars fade but memories of your youth remain fresh in your mind's eye Ravages of Time: Taint Like a virus it becomes part of you Trapper Uses his wits and skill to hunt his enemies Taint: Desecrate Cannibal Curse Better Red than Dead Two-Beast Form Hustled Was it Seer, Sage, or Skinwalker? You shared many days until destiny played its cards
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