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I'll never understand why some people think women having freedom is a bad thing. Some women think this! We should all go back to having 1 role and never having any scope beyond that. As if we have nothing contribute besides having babies and cleaning (ugh as if cleaning is that hard. You don't have to have your house 1950s housewife clean, you know. You don't always need a big supper at 6:00 sharp for your little hubby every day.)
IT'S FINE IF YOU WANT TO BE A HOUSEWIFE! But don't tell other women that's all they're suited for. A woman might want to be a scientist. Or an astronaut. She has this in her mind and heart and you should suppress her!?!?! Keep her from contributing the best she has to society, keep all the scientists and artists out in the cold just because of some vague ridiculous idea?
Separate but equal is not equality at all.
1 will be kept down by the one that culture deems more valuable.
Suppressing women and their minds, their souls, is an EVIL thing. And i will never think otherwise.
#Teaching poor little girls they're only made for babies#Gross#I'm not saying babies are bad.#At all.#I'm saying women actually have more to offer than their bodies.#And housekeeping isn't all that hard lol#It's as hard as you make it#It's not either or#You can have a career and kids#You can work at home and homeschool like mom did.#We all got good marks in college so.#I think marks is the British lol#Grades I mean#I can't see how some people are so narrow minded and want to suppress others#If you want to fit in a little box fine#But don't drag us into another Islamic Republic of Iran#Christian version#I'm so disgusted by this#I need to follow new people who are spouting this nonsense
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why is religious Christmas imagery all so joyful and pleasant? where is the inherent horror of the birth of Christ? A mother is handed her newborn child, wailing and innocent. Her hands come away sticky. Red. Simply by giving her son life she has already killed him. He is doomed from the beginning. Her love will not save him from suffering. Because the thing cradled in her arms is not a baby, it is a sacrifice: born amongst the other bleating animals whose blood will one day be spilled in the name of what demands it. the night is silent with anticipation. Mary, did you know? That your womb was also a grave?
#instant conversation enders for my multiple youth pastor cousins#don’t say it (I’m gonna say it)#The Child is The Price#but i mean come on#as someone who isn't actually even christian the real-life historical version of this is still cursed as fuck#i mean we know that jesus was a person who existed. whatever circumstances he was born in#its terrifyingly ominous to imagine being so unaware of the affect your child will have on the future of humanity#time itself will one day be counted around your birth of him#and all because he will suffer an excruciatingly painful death that you will not be able to prevent#not only that. but regardless of his or your intentions#regardless of whether there is a god#for millenea unfathomable millions will have blood spilled and will spill blood in his name#atrocities will be committed that you cannot even conceive of#and all on his and your behalf#you love your child. its beautiful. but there's horror in what you've done. because everyone else will love him too#and what's more dangerous than that?
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Like I said, that's what I do. I interview people. I'm a collector of lives.
Christian Slater as Daniel Molloy INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (1994) dir. Neil Jordan
#interview with the vampire#interview with the vampire 1994#iwtv 1994#daniel molloy#christian slater#filmedit#dailyflicks#junkfooddaily#*#🥰#every version of him is my special little guy
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you open yourself up to the devil by celebrating Halloween in the same way you open yourself up to the devil by celebrating St. Paddy's or Mardi Gras.
if you play ouija or try voodoo, you open yourself up to the devil. if you dress in a slutty costume or take psychedelics in a cemetery, you open yourself up to the devil.
likewise, if you get wasted on Guinness in downtown Savannah, you open yourself up to the devil.
if you twerk half-naked for plastic beads on Bourbon Street, you open yourself up to the devil.
these kinds of bacchanalia are by no means inherent to the holidays in question, and in fact, are extremely recent perversions of traditions which go back centuries. Centuries of Christian history.
#the notion that Halloween has pagan origins is a MYTH#spread by whiny witch losers who want to carve out some piece of Western culture for their degeneracy#the ex-witches and the ex-atheists who feel personal conviction about Halloween#feel it because they participated in that degeneracy#and for that reason they as individuals probably *should* stay away from Halloween BUT#most Halloween celebrators--particularly if they're cradle Christians--have NEVER experienced that version of Halloween#I certainly never ever have. and we had massive Halloween parties with all our friends. we even party-hopped once#and it was all entirely innocent#same goes for Mardi Gras#their decadence and salacity are the stuff of TV to me.#Halloween#x#Christianity
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i don't have the words to articulate it at this moment but there's something about the way that people have specific expectations for "authenticity" and will dismiss anything that falls outside them as a mangled, anglicised version of the thing when actually that is the older and more traditional form of something, it just doesn't match their expectations. obviously in my personal experiences i'm mostly talking about medieval literature here especially medieval irish literature
sometimes this is as simple as spelling – i've had people argue that the name "finn" is anglicised and it should always be "fionn" to be Really Irish, but "finn" is an older spelling, glide vowels are later, if you wanna go real far back it'll be "find" (nd in place of nn is an older spelling pattern). or they'll hear someone say "ogam" and assume they're mispronouncing "ogham" due to lack of knowledge of irish and not consider the fact that medievalists tend to use the older form of the word. or they'll Well Actually you about "correct" terminology which wasn't standardised (and/or invented) until the 20th century
a lot of this is defensive and the result of seeing a lot of people ACTUALLY get this stuff wrong and have no respect for the language. in that regard i understand it, although it becomes very tedious after a while, particularly when people sanctimoniously declare something "inauthentic", "fake", or "anglicised" without doing enough research to realise it's not trying to be modern irish and is in fact correct for older forms of the language
more often however this search for the projected "authenticity" is ideological and has much larger flaws and more problematic implications. "this can't be the real story because it's christian" well... that's the oldest version of the story that exists and it postdates christianity in ireland by about nine hundred years, so... maybe question why you're assuming the only "real" version of irish stories can't be a christian one? this is especially true when it comes to fíanaigecht material tbh, but in general there seems to a widespread misapprehension about ireland's historical relationship with christianity (i have seen people arguing that christianity in ireland is the result of english colonialism which took their "true" faith from them... bro. they were christian before the "english" existed. half the conversion efforts went the other way. please read some early medieval history thank you)
however i also saw someone saying this about arthurian literature lately which REALLY baffled me. "we'll never have the Real arthurian stories only the christianised versions" and it was in the context of chivalric romance. buddy you are mourning something that does not exist. this "authentic" story you're looking for isn't there. that twelfth century story you're dismissing as a christian bastardisation is as "real" a part of this tradition as you're going to get
#in general if you do not want christianity in your medieval literature maybe arthuriana is not the best choice#it is. so fucking christian#as for fíanaigecht. did they think st patrick was there by accident#the arthuriana comment took me out though.#the christianised versions. of chivalric romance.#YOU MEAN THE CHRÉTIENISED VERSIONS?? IS THAT THE PROBLEM?#anyway this is not a pro christianity statement this is a pro historical accuracy statement#medieval#medieval literature
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something that's really been bothering me lately is how the church i was a part of would like... repackage doctrine to make it sound nicer and more acceptable. like, the belief that all humans are evil by nature and deserve eternal torture for the crime of existing is inherently violent and cruel. but my church didn't frame it like that. they framed it as "yes we're ALL evil and wicked and we ALL deserve hell to atone for our sin (being human) BUT god loves you despite you not deserving love or happiness or anything good at all and all you have to do to avoid the pits of hell is accept jesus as your savior isn't that so amazing????" and they framed the crucifixion as this beautiful, selfless act of god by taking our place on the cross instead of "this all-powerful being who created all the rules decided that he required torture, death, and human sacrifice to be able to tolerate us". and it's not "women will be viewed as lesser than men" it's "women must submit to their husbands the same way we all must submit to god it's not dehumanizing it's holy and yes women have different roles but that doesn't make them lesser than and sure we don't have any women in leadership positions in the church and we would never even consider it, come on now that's ridiculous, but that's just because men are supposed to lead because men and women are different and created for different purposes it's just biology". and there are plenty others! i know that the reframing of everything is part of how they can even get people to accept the doctrine in the first place, but being on the outside of it is kind of horrifying. when you get down to the actual beliefs that are held without the distortions and manipulation, so many are violent, cruel, dehumanizing, abusive. but they distort and manipulate these beliefs to make them seem acceptable, morally correct, and redefine what love is and should look like.
#this version of xtianity primes you for abuse!!!!!#like. inherently in the doctrine they preach and accept#and they get away with it because they're nice about it and really good at marketing it as something different#ex cult#ex christian#ex fundamentalist#religious trauma#cult tactics#information control
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A young Thomas during vespers
Thinking of the how every saints at one point had sang, and I just thought of our dear theoligian and what his voice would've sounded like.
#Didn't expect from myself to design a younger version of Thomas but I got inspired#I now just realized I should've drawn him with a Benedictine habit#Yes a full set of hair for Thomas during his 20's#Saint Thomas Aquinas#Saints#Catholic art#my art#digital art#my faith#Christianity#St. Thomas Aquinas#Dominicans
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#jesus loves you#bible study#faith#what does the bible say#reading the bible#bible scriptures#biblestudy#bible scripture#christian bible#bible quote#biblical scripture#bible reading#bible verse#bible#biblia#heal me of god#gods bless#who is god#may god help us all#life quotes#scripture verses#verse of the day#king james version#free verse#scripture#life quote tumblr#writers on tumblr#tumblelog#jesus is the truth#jesus is life
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Biblical References in Both RDR games.
I love biblical references so much. When it comes to literature, it's probably my favorite type of symbolism. Like I genuinely get so happy when I connect things to the Bible which is what I'm going to do right now 😊😊 I also like the way that religion is incorporated into RDR as a whole, including the main characters' reaction to it.
So yup, here are just a few references or connections that I was able to make in no particular order.
Also, some of these are complete reaches and I'm aware of that, but fuck it, it's my blog and I do what I want 💪🏼
- The character and tragedy of Issac. In the Bible, Issac is the child of Abraham who is asked to be sacrificed by God by his father as a test of faith. God eventually intervenes to save Issac because he only wanted to test Abraham's faith. Dutch is shown as a God-like figure to the gang, as their devotion is to him. Arthur, indirectly, sacrifices Issac by not being there and by following what Dutch wanted. Arthur, Issac, and Dutch are parallels to Abraham, Issac, and God.
- Leviticus is the book that comes after the book of Exodus. After the gang's escape or exodus from Blackwater after the Blackwater massacre, they are met by Leviticus Cornwall, who becomes the next obstacle for the gang. After the gang's exodus, they get in trouble with Leviticus.
- The image of the deer and a mountain. Psalm 18:32-34 in the Bible says, "It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way blameless? He makes my feet like deers' feet, and sets me upon my high places." In Arthur's condemnation of Dutch, Micah, and their evil, he becomes steady in his identity and beliefs, like a deer's feet on a mountain, which is where he dies in the end. W symbolism.
- The mission "Sodom? Back to Gomorrah." In the Bible, Sodom and Gomorrah were two cities that were so morally depraved and evil that God decided to destroy the both of them, saying that if there was even one good person in those cities, he'd spare them, but there weren't. In those missions, you also do two evil acts, going from one and then BACK to the other. You rob the bank and then go BACK to collect the debt from Edith Downes. So you finish one evil deed and to straight to the next. This can also show how morally bankrupt Arthur's apathy made him at this point in the game.
- Micah's guns say "Vengeance is hereby mine." This could be a reference to Roman's 12:19 "vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord." Micah's violent nature makes him take his anger out on the world.
- "Your father is seduced by him with the forked tongue. It's no use hoping." The blind prophet to Arthur. Pretty straight forward symbolism, it's a nod to the snake that seduced Eve, just like how Micah manipulates Dutch.
- Dutch walking away from Arthur when he dies and though he realizes his wrong doing and feels shame, his pride forbids him from apologizing or saying he was wrong. This can be a parallel to how Adam and Eve run away from God when they feel shame over believing in the snake, but their pride won't allow them to apologize to God, hence damning them like how Micah damned Dutch.
- There were twelve ACTIVE gang members before the Blackwater massacre. When I mean active, I mean gang members who are canonically consistent (so not uncle, Swanson, Strauss, or the girls) on going on jobs for the gang. Micah, Bill, Javier, John, Hosea, Arthur, Charles, Sean, Lenny, Josiah, Mac and Davey Callender. Christ had 12 disciples and Dutch is portrayed as a savior to the gang, or a Christ like figure. And would you look at that, there is a traitor in both groups of twelve (Micah and Judas).
- Both John and Arthur's graves have scripture from Jesus's sermon on the mountain (Matthew 5:1-12). John's is blessed are the peacemakers and Arthur's is blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
- The go back for the money ending. If you go back for the money and have low honor, you'll see that the camp is engulfed in flames as you try to get the money. The fight with Micah is brutal and you die faced down in the dark. This death is an allegory for going to either hell and purgatory as you choose a final evil act of leaving your brother to possibly die just so you can get money as an act of revenge. If you have high honor, you are still surrounded by flames, but you still have a chance at heaven given that you die facing up seeing the light one final time.
- The help John ending has similar connotations. If you have low honor, you die by gunshot and are shrouded in darkness, which can symbolize the absence of God's light and how Arthur's final act couldn't absolve the lack of guilt he feels for the rest of the actions that he KNOWS are evil (click here for a my interpretation of Arthur's morality). In high honor, though, you get to crawl to the mountain side and see the rising sun, symbolizing heaven, warmth, and a new purity.
- In low honor, the coyote goes down to a dark cave, representing damnation and the rejection of holy light. In high honor, the deer steps into a heavenly field of light. Love that so much to be honest.
- Just the very Catholic vibe of Arthur's redemption. Doing good deeds, feeling guilt, all that.
- John's new life is basically this: "Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need." -Ephesians 4:28. John gives up his old life to be an honest laborer, a rancher, and a proper man.
- The Strange Man in RDR rides on a donkey, which is pretty interesting because Jesus Christ also made his grand entry on a donkey.
- Just the Strange Man in general to be honest. Some say he's God, others say he's the Devil, and others say he's Cain from the Bible, which is my personal favorite theory but whatever.
- Dutch's horse could be a reference to Revelations 6:8- "And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him." Dutch's rash actions caused the death of the gang and RDR's incarnate of Hades or Hell was Micah, following him. Dutch is the only one, canonically, to have a pale horse.
- "Am I prepared for eternal damnation? Am I passed any kind of saving? Or is that just fairy tales?" Arthur in his journal. I love this line so much because of its very agnostic nature whilst still showing the Christian mindset of 1899 America. This line also shows that Arthur is canonically agnostic which is a yippee from me because it's like the only thing me and this man have in common lmao 😭
- "Bad news awaits you, sir. Sadly, sooner than you think. But beyond the news, paradise awaits. Paradise.." Blind Man Cassidy to Arthur. Sorry but I just love that. High honor Arthur lived such an awful life but he still has a chance at paradise and heaven? Love that so much.
- God (pun intended), I love biblical symbolism. Couldn't you tell?
#even if you aren't religious#so like me#I'd still recommend reading the bible at least once if you're a fan of western story telling#biblical references are literally EVERYWHERE#and getting them makes me feel like an english professer#and that's a pretty dope feeling#will also recommend reading a more queer affirming version of the bible if you're queer like me#anyways#fucking love biblical symbolism#rdr2#red dead redemption 2#arthur morgan#character analysis#bible verse#bible scripture#biblical references#story analysis#christianity
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today’s verse ✨
“I waited patiently for the LORD; And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.”
Psalm 40:1-2 KJV
#christian blog#bible#christianity#scripture#bibleverse#bible verse#gospel#king james bible#king james version#kjv#share the gospel#holy bible#daily verse#verse#bible verse of the day#verseoftheday#verse of the day#scripture of the day#scriptureoftheday#word of the Lord#word of God#word of the day#word of Christ#book of psalms#psalms#book of psalm#psalm#faith#Lord#christian
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Just to clarify my thoughts (since I've had a number of people ask me about it) re: Job and cursing God. There's a big difference between cursing God as used in Scripture and how we generally would think of cursing at God today.
Cursing someone, in the Bible, has a lot of depth to it. It's not just saying "screw you " in anger, it's got a sense of forsakenness to it. It's the opposite of a blessing, a removal of blessing. If the blessing is presence, your face shining on the person you're blessing, then a curse is absence. In some translations, Job's wife tells him to "renounce God and die," which I honestly think makes a lot more sense to modern ears.
Job says a lot of unpleasant things to and about God in his anger and grief. So do the Psalmists. A number of the Prophets. So can we. God can take it if we come to him with honest expressions of our emotion, including those not-so-nice ones directed at him. I don't think there's anything wrong with getting mad at God and saying, "How dare you, you bastard" when you suffer unjustly. You can say much worse, I think, without sinning, though I don't feel particularly inclined to give examples. But as long as it's an honest expression of your heart, I think you're doing exactly what prayer is for. You're presenting him your heart with an open hand. He can use that. Opposite of love is not hate but indifference, etc.
Job doesn't renounce God. Neither should we. But I think when you're truly suffering, you're gonna have those feelings toward God either way. He'd rather you address them with him directly than try to avoid them. Cursing at God in the modern sense is actually a great way to keep the relationship strong and not end up cursing/renouncing him in the Biblical sense.
#i did try to draw that distinction in the original post but I didn't really go into detail#mostly bc i was trying to be concise and just focus on how the church talks to sufferers#so here's the long version#pontifications and creations#only thou art holy#also side note: there was someone yesterday who responded to that post with the suggestion that suffering is generally the sufferer's fault#and it got worse from there#just an absolutely rank response that had me immediately blocking that person and googling if there was a way to remove someone's addition#idk to what degree that person is an active member of this broader christian community we've got going on here#but if you see that post (and you'll know it when you see it) please as a favor to me don't interact with it#there were some lovely responses and additions to that post yesterday too#but that one made me mad#idk. to a certain degree i wanted to vent#they're blocked now though so whatever#anyway. I've sort of been percolating on these various thoughts for a few weeks#since i went to a really fluffy women's talk on suffering#and now i kind of want to give my version#I'm far from the greatest sufferer in the world. i am well aware of that#but as I've been sick I've just done So Much Thinking and reading about theodicy and struggle with God that i feel qualified to opine#unlike the giver of that talk#anyway#tag rant over#...for now#theodicy
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Reflection: A Retelling of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves”
The mirror is a gift from the dwarves. Its frame of hammered gold is wrought with delicately-crafted birds and beasts, fruit and flowers. Its silver-backed surface, unlike those created by human craftsman, shows a true reflection.
The queen loves to gaze at herself in the mirror. It tells her that she is beautiful—skin like milk, hair like midnight, eyes as blue as a crystalline lake. She is young, healthy, graceful, charming—perfection in human form. Truly a queen worthy of this kingdom.
Then, one day, the mirror’s message changes. It shows that the queen has lines around her eyes, sunspots on her nose, wicked glints of silver in her night-black hair. The queen does all she can to hide the damage, spends hours before the mirror with cosmetics and concealers. To the rest of the world, the queen is as perfect as ever.
Yet every morning, the mirror tells the truth.
Worst of all, her husband has a little daughter—barely fourteen years old—who grows lovelier by the day. Every morning, the mirror says that before long, those who worshiped the queen’s beauty will transfer their devotion to the princess—and will be right to do so.
The queen's beauty would not seem so tarnished if the princess were not there for comparison. The queen tries to send the princess to an isolated estate—tells her husband it is better for the girl to grow up away from the corrupting influences of the court. But the girl is too dear to her father. She wastes away with homesickness, until her father the king orders her to come home for the sake of her health.
The queen tries neglecting the girl in ways the king won't notice—refusing to let her wash with good soap, denying her a maid, forbidding her fashionable clothes and hairstyles. Through it all, the mirror tells her that the girl’s beauty shines out brighter than ever.
Before long, the queen spends hours by the mirror each day, locked in a futile endeavor to restore what is lost forever. One moonlit night, she finds a dagger, and considers plunging it into her heart just to end this ceaseless torment, but the morning shows her a better path.
She will never be perfect, nor make the princess less so—but she can destroy perfection.
It would be easy to take this dagger to where the princess sleeps and shove it through her perfect heart, but the queen doesn't dare to mar her own beauty with blood-stained hands.
She gives the dagger to a loyal huntsman. He takes the girl into the forest—and returns holding a small, bloody heart.
That night before the mirror, the queen's smile makes her glow with a new kind of beauty.
*
People often tell the princess she is beautiful. She believes them, for she has never seen an ugly face. Old Sal’s missing tooth is an open door into her smile. The chambermaid’s freckles make a daytime constellation. The little stable boy’s one good eye glitters green as an emerald. Her stepmother owns a beautiful mirror, but the princess barely gazes at it. Why would she waste time examining her own familiar face in a world with so many other lovely faces to gaze upon?
One day in early spring, she asks to go berrying in the forest beyond the castle, as she once did with her mother. To her surprise, the queen permits it—the queen rarely allows the princess anything that might be a luxury. She even sends one of her huntsmen as protection.
In the eaves of the forest, the princess finds strawberries not far from the path, and she hastens to gather as many as she can. She invites the huntsman to join her, but he stands statue-like at the edge of the clearing, always on guard. Not wanting him to go without, the princess brings the berries to him, and offers him the largest, sweetest one.
As she does, she gazes at his face. Scars make mountain ranges along his cheeks and brow. His hair is edged with silver. The lines of his face are solid as stone. His deep gray eyes hold storm clouds.
“Oh, my,” the princess says in awe. “You are beautiful.”
The huntsman’s face disappears as he hides it in one of his hands. “I can’t,” he says, his voice rough with unshed tears. “I must betray my queen."
His other hands darts to the side, quick as a serpent, and the silver flash of a blade disappears into the undergrowth.
The huntsmen places both of his hands on the princess’ shoulders and crouches to look into her face. “You must run. The queen wants you dead. If you stay at the palace, she will find a way to kill you. You must flee into the forest and never return.”
“The forest?” the princess asks in terror. She has often wandered in the eaves, but she has never dared the strange terrors that are said to lurk in its interior.
“There is nothing there that can harm such innocence,” the huntsman says. “You will find shelter.” He turns her around and pushes her toward the depths of the forest. “Now run! As fast and as far as you can!”
The shadows of the forest embrace her, and the flowers make a path at her feet. She crosses shallow rivers, climbs rocky slopes, winds through twisted groves of trees. She couldn’t return home even if she wanted to.
She had not been blind. She had seen something like ugliness in the queen’s face whenever they were alone. But hatred? Murder?
She nearly collapses with grief, but through the trees, she sees a wisp of smoke. A chimney. A roof over a tumbledown cottage. The princess runs through the open door, collapses on the floor, and is glad to find a safe place to weep.
Her father will think her dead, and she will not be there to comfort him. She will never again see any of the beautiful faces that fill the palace. The hundreds of hidden details that made the castle home are forever out of her reach. The huntsman saved her, but to what end? A lifetime of loneliness and misery? Is this truly a better fate than the quick death of a dagger through the heart?
She opens her eyes. She has looked too long at the sorrows in her heart. She must find solace from without.
She gazes upon the cottage.
And sees seven beautiful faces.
*
The dwarves love their princess. She is beautiful, not only because of her face, but because of the way her soul shines out through it. She is endlessly beautiful because she sees the beauty in everyone and everything.
There never was a girl so selfless. Her every waking moment is spent filling their days with a million small comforts. The cottage has never been so clean. The food has never been so lovingly prepared. There is nothing she would not do for them, and in return, they devote their lives to her service.
She needs their protection. One so naturally kind and innocent can’t recognize when strangers might have ill intent. One day, after being out in the woods, the seven dwarves return to the cottage to find the princess nearly strangled by a set of stays. When they revive her, she tells them of a ragged old woman (with such beautiful hands!) who asked for food and water and then repaid her generosity by giving a nearly-fatal gift. The eldest of the dwarves caught a glimpse of the stranger’s retreat, and saw enough of her form to suspect the queen.
The dwarves keep a closer guard on the princess, but six months later, a few minutes go by when all seven of them are away from home. They return to find the princess nearly killed by a poisoned comb in her hair. The story she tells is similar to the last one—an old woman in need of help repaid their kind princess with a gift meant to kill.
After that, the princess is never alone. The dwarf on guard duty always has the envied task, so lovely is it to be in her presence. A year, then two, go by with no signs of danger.
Then one winter morning, after a night of birthday feasting, all seven of the dwarves sleep late. The princess rises at her usual time, hoping to fix them a holiday breakfast. By the time the dwarves stumble out of bed, they find the princess sprawled across the kitchen floor—cold, pale and lifeless, with a poisoned apple in her hand.
They despise themselves for having failed her, but their love for the princess drives them to serve her the only way they can—by laying her body to rest. The cold, hard earth won’t take her, and they can’t bear to hide her away in the realm of death. Knowing that decay will not touch one so innocent, they place her in a coffin of glass and lay her in their garden, where her beauty can brighten the world in death as it did in life.
They keep a constant vigil, lost in loving grief. They ought to have known she would end this way. This is the fate of all innocence in this dark and sinful world—to be destroyed by wickedness. Even as they see this truth, they know that it is wrong. The world should not be this way, but what can they do? They wish and pray for better, but they can’t hope. How can innocence ever overcome such evil?
In the spring, when the last snow melts and the first snowbells bloom, the dwarves see movement in the woods beyond their cottage. A prince approaches on a snow-white horse. He is ruler of this forest and its mysterious ways—a king of kings, even more beautiful than their princess. His face shines with a wisdom that does nothing to defile the innocence of his heart.
He leaps from his horse, approaches the coffin, raises the lid, and takes the cold hand of the princess between his.
“Beloved,” he says, “arise.”
In his words and actions, the dwarves find the answer to the riddle they have pondered in their long vigil of grief. In a world of wickedness, the salvation of Innocence is Love.
The princess opens her eyes. Takes a breath. Sits up and gazes upon the world she loves, upon the one who loved her back to life. Something of the prince’s wisdom is reflected in her, so that her beauty is almost painful to behold.
The dwarves rejoice, and the princess rejoices with them. She kisses each one atop the head, but does not release the hand of her prince.
Eager to serve one who served them so well, the dwarves cook her breakfast, and she eats with even more enthusiasm than she showed in her former life. Yet when the meal ends, she stands with her prince at the threshold of the cottage.
“I must return to my father,” the princess says.
The dwarves protest. What of the queen? What of the danger?
The princess looks at her prince with eyes full of love. “I have nothing to fear.”
*
The king rejoices at his daughter’s return—he has thought her dead for so many years. Grief has aged and weakened him, but there is beauty in his face that grows brighter with every minute he spends in the presence of the princess.
The princess tells him of her troubles since she went away, and the king is horrified by her words. “I knew my wife had lost her reason,” he says, “but not her heart! She must pay for her crimes!”
He moves toward the door as though he will administer justice this moment.
The prince stops him with a gentle hand upon his chest. “There is no need.”
*
The queen gazes at herself in the mirror. She never looks anywhere else. If there is a world beyond the edges of its frame, she has forgotten it. She sees only her own face, searches for the remaining scraps of beauty, tries desperately to erase the blemishes that grow ever more hateful with the passing of years.
Another face appears in the reflection—a face the queen thought she had destroyed long ago. It is lovelier than ever. The queen hides her face in her hands so she can not see the painful beauty of the princess.
“Come away from there,” the princess says. “Gaze with me upon the other beauties of the world.”
“And lose myself?” the queen shrieks. “That is what you have always wanted—to destroy my very self! To take all the honor and beauty that should be mine!”
“I wish to save you,” the princess says. “Come away.”
“Never!” the queen screams, clutching the mirror in two white-knuckled hands. “I have everything I need right here! You can’t take it from me!”
The princess touches the queen’s shoulder. The queen screams and shrinks away, hiding her face once more in her hands.
A man’s voice—painful in its beauty—says, “Beloved, she has made her choice.”
At long last, they leave. The queen looks in the mirror and sees no face but her own. No greater beauty remains nearby to shame her.
In the confines of her world’s silver surface, she is fairest of all.
*
The queen is locked away in the prison of her choosing.
The king stays to do what good he can for his kingdom, and the princess promises to return for him after he has fulfilled his purpose.
The prince places the princess on his snow-white horse, and they travel once more past the cottage of the dwarves, who are glad to see her so beautiful and beloved.
At last, the prince brings the princess to his kingdom at the heart of the forest.
The beauty she finds there is beyond words.
#the bookshelf progresses#fairy tale retellings#snow white and the seven dwarves#a completely rewritten version (as best i could)#sorry if it doesn't live up to the hype#i was going to write my snow white retelling with tolkien-esque elves and dwarves#but instead decided to work with my idea that the magic mirror is actually just the queen's own reflection#making her go mad with too much self-examination#and then it turned into an allegory#but look if you're a christian fairy tale author you're allowed the occasional clunky allegory it's like the law
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Abolition out of Golgotha
#there’s a gif version on Instagram the crown spins#Easter#human artists#Jesus#art#artists on tumblr#my art#drawing#artists on instagram#sketch#illustrators on tumblr#digital art#Christian artists
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Mistranslation by the KJV, Luke 11:28
27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman called out from the crowd and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!”
King James Version
28 But Jesus said, “Yes, rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”
Eastern Orthodox Version
28 But Jesus said, “Yes, and more than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”
The Greek word menounge (μενοῦνγε), translated above in the text of verse 28 as “yea, more than that,” but rendered inaccurately in the KJV as "yea, rather," is the same word which occurs in Phil. 3:8, where the KJV gives Yea, doubtless, and in Rom. 10:18, where the KJV gives Yes, verily.
The force of menounge is that it corrects the previous statement, not by negating it, but by amplifying it.
Philippians 3:8 “Yes, without a doubt, I consider all things as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things. I consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ.”
Romans 10:18 “But I say, did they not hear? Yes, most certainly: Their sound went out into all the earth, Their words to the ends of the world.”
Evangelicals and opponents of traditional Christianity often frame this statement of Christ as proof that His Mother was not holy or deserving recognition, that she was merely a vessel with little importance, and this perspective directly results from a mistranslation of Christ’s words.
Indeed, blessed is she who contained the Uncontainable: Christ our God.
Understand that Luke’s Gospel was originally written in Greek, so perhaps we ought to study the original language that the scriptures were written in to have a better understanding of Christ’s life-giving message.
Edit: I made a Part Two, I might make it a series. The second part is linked below!
#orthodox christianity#orthodoxy#eastern orthodoxy#christianity#eastern orthodox#orthodox#catholicism#greek orthodox#greek#koine greek#scripture#bible scripture#translation#language#protestantism#king james version#virgin mary#lutheran#anglican#anglo catholic
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in losing grip
on sinking ships
you showed up just in time
#perioddramaedit#weloveperioddrama#perioddramacentral#onlyperioddramas#filmgifs#filmtvcentral#filmedit#dailyflicks#moulin rouge!#moulinrougeedit#moulin rouge#nicole kidman#ewan mcgregor#christian#satine#christian x satine#otp: come what may#mediagifs#baz luhrmann#nessa007#1989 taylor's version#this love#taylor swift lyrics#motionpicturesource#nostalgiatvdaily#emcgregoredit#nkidmanedit#nicolekidmansource#ewandaily
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Isaiah 66:18
"For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory."
#christianity#christian faith#christian#the bible#scripture#isaiah#random verse generator#king james version
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