#I know I know call me a hypocrite for loving gross evil men but then being so wickedly disgusted by this one | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

firelxdykatara · 4 years ago

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not gonna lie I would love to hear more about the drama and infighting that went on in The Vampire Diaries fandom if you have the time (and also want to use that time to give your experience with the fandom, which from the snippets you've told sounds Not Fun so I get it if you don't want to lol)

oh god, there was like, SO MUCH, i just

i really feel like tvd is one of those fandoms that is so hard to describe without a lot of ‘you’d have to have been there’, but it really felt like this huge and all-consuming beast for about five years until the show finally imploded and the fandom basically turned on it en masse. (you ever see that post going around that’s like ‘if you ever want to know what true regret feels like, ask someone who once called tvd their favorite show’? still a mood, all these years later. basically the entire fandom thought the show should have just bowed out with whatever shreds of dignity it had left at the end of season 6, and became more of a hatedom than a fandom for the last two seasons. when you have an entire fandom cheering news of your show’s cancellation, i think that’s a sign you done fucked up, julie.)

first and most infamous, of course, are the ship wars. which are pretty much inevitable in any teen-centered drama, and i really think the CW fucking thrives on them, but it was particularly egregious in TVD’s case because not only was the base premise of the show a love triangle, but the two main romantic leads were brothers that the show constantly pit against one another--in pursuit of elena’s affections, but also because it kept up this insistence on the ‘good brother/bad brother’ dichotomy which stopped making sense after about season 2 (by which time we have found out that the good brother was never as good as he appeared, and the bad brother has been growing and isn’t nearly as bad as he pretends to be)--and the question of which brother ‘deserved’ elena (and no, what elena wanted very rarely factored into these discussions, especially in the team stefan camp because they turned on her when what she wanted was no longer The Good Brother, but i’ll get to that in a bit) was hotly contested.

i’m not kidding when i say the shipping wars were vicious. i started watching tvd shortly after it began to air, which was late 2009, and kept up with it fairly sporadically over the years. i didn’t come onto tumblr until 2011/2012, and by then, the fandom was already pretty much a garbagefire. there were anti ship and anti character blogs, any time something bad happened for one ship the rival ship would invade the tags to gloat about it (seasons 3 and 4 were especially rough, and i’m not gonna pretend delena fans weren’t just as bad about tag invasion and shit, but as that was my side of the road i saw a lot more of the stelena shippers being assholes, which soured my opinion on the ship a long time before i started rewatching and realized the red flags were there from the start), confessions blogs were popular also toxic as fuck (so much fighting happened in the notes of those posts, good gods), and this was right around when twitter’s popularity was on the rise and the line between Celebrity and Fan was thinning, so the fandom was absolutely atrocious to much of the tvd cast and crew.

(some of them deserved a lot of the later backlash, but in the early years a lot of it was ‘how dare you write the story in a way i dont like, you terrible fucking person’, and gods don’t get me started on the dobsley vs nian Thing)

i think what really encapsulates my feelings on the tvd fandom as a whole, though, is the way they (to this DAY) treated elena gilbert, which can be summed up in one meme that gained a lot of traction around season 3 if i remember right: that gif of pam from true blood, with the text altered to read “i’m so OVER elena and her precious doppelganger vagina!”

i swear at one time i had over half the active tvd fan accounts on tumblr blocked, because i got to a point where i would no longer tolerate elena hate, and she was (and still is, in what remains of the fandom; you’ll see a lot of ‘elena was one of the worst things about the show’ takes from ex-fans, too) one of the most widely despised characters in the entire fandom. because she -checks smudged writing on hand- was a traumatized teenage girl who -reads off a crumpled notecard- couldn’t always perfectly sort out her own feelings and -squints at the ceiling- sometimes made mistakes or bad decisions. (except a lot of the fandom also insisted that she was a mary sue who had no character traits or flaws or faults and it was like....make up your fucking minds???? is she a calculating conniving bitch whose somehow manipulating these centuries old vampires to tie them around her little finger or is she a boring flat character with no depth and no flaws??? jfc)

there was this massive double standard, too--like, stefan and damon could fuck whoever they wanted and that was fine, but elena was constantly raked over the coals for the crime of developing romantic feelings for the two men who had become constants in her life and whom she cared for deeply, and oh my GOD the slut shaming that happened when elena slept with damon was fucking wild. (and also happened in canon lmfao. like the show had one of elena’s best friends basically call her diseased on screen for falling in love with someone other than stefan. it was gross and ridiculous and the friend in question was also being a giant hypocrite at the time since she was happily flirting with someone who was directly responsible for the deaths of like four of elena’s loved ones and her own boyfriend’s mother but that’s beside the point) but like elena was called a slut and a bitch and a whore for ‘cheating’ on stefan (she hadn’t, and she had in fact broken up with him on screen the episode earlier) and ‘immediately’ jumping into bed with damon, even though none of them said fucking boo when stefan had one night stands or damon had fuckbuddies or whatever.

shit, caroline didn’t get any of this treatment when she started falling for tyler while dating matt! which isn’t to say i think she should have, just that i think it’s fucking ridiculous that elena was absolutely demonized by the fandom for daring to have feelings for two guys at once and eventually acting on them--despite the fact that the entire premise of the show was a love triangle. it’s not a love triangle if both sides don’t eventually get explored, and the crew had been pretty explicit about the fact that delena was going to happen at some point--but when it did, a huge chunk of the fandom absolutely threw a fit.

and a lot of these elena haters were alleged stelena stans, and i say alleged because they hated her so much for not wanting stefan’s dick anymore that it was clear they were really stefan stans and only wanted stelena to be endgame because they wanted stefan to ‘win’ at the end of the day, because ‘he’s the good brother’ so he deserved elena more.

it was all very gross and very misogynistic and very sex shaming (apparently delena was a ‘shallow’ and ‘superficial’ relationship because they had sex after two years of unrequited feelings slowly becoming requited and then pining for ages on both sides, and because they had a lot of on screen chemistry that the show capitalized on for years so of course they did a lot of making out and shit but it’s not like stelena didn’t have its fair share of making out and sex scenes, stefan was just too much of a coward to let elena top i’d apologize for that joke but i’m really not sorry because it’s true), and when i say it was egged on by the crew, that’s because they refused to let the love triangle die back in season 4 when it should have.

they insisted on stringing stelena fans along, dropping little bread crumbs to keep them invested, like dreams of a future where they were married and revealing that stefan was also a doppelganger and he and elena were descended from a pair of star-crossed lovers (a plot that ultimately went nowhere, to no one’s great surprise), and then fucking like. julie plec turned around and threw nina under the bus after she chose not to extend her contract and pretended that stelena might have happened again if she hadn’t left the show, which....i mean frankly i wouldn’t put it past her, but it would have been shitty writing. then again, she thought having a vampire pregnancy where a uterus was magically transplanted from a witch into a vampire that could somehow......carry the babies to term.... made sense and was a good way to accomodate candice’s RL pregnancy rather than like literally ANYTHING else, soooooo. but anyway julie saying that around like, end of s6 sparked off a new wave of nina hate and elena hate and ship wars bc they SEers took it as ‘confirmation’ that stelena was REALLY meant to be endgame and it was all just a hot fucking mess

another thing is that, while tvd was in its prime before the anti/purity culture shit started picking up any real steam, there was still this pervasive attitude throughout the fandom that if you liked Damon, you were A Bad Person. liking damon was apparently grounds for insults and harassment, and apparently he was The Worst Person on the Show even though literally nothing he does on screen is any worse than shit we know stefan has done (and frankly every other vampire too, but i mention stefan specifically because he was always held up--in the show but especially in the fandom--as the Good Brother while damon was the Bad One, and if you liked damon more then that had to mean your morals were dodgy and you clearly couldn’t appreciate what a heroic and saintly figure dear stefan was and....oops, i’m sorry, my salt keeps leaking -cough-).

meanwhile klaus quickly became a fandom darling despite not even really having much of a redemption arc (on tvd anyway, he just became more ‘affably evil’ as the show went on and more inclined to work with the main characters rather than try to kill them; i have no idea what went on over on his show, though), and like i can 100% appreciate liking villains and not caring that they do dodgy villainous shit, even just liking them bc they’re hot and wanting them to kiss a main character bc they have insanely good chemistry (yes i ship klaroline, no i won’t apologize for it, they could have been Really Great), it’s just really the double standard that gets me.

and all of this, incidentally, required ignoring some truly gross shit stefan was responsible for wrt his relationship with elena, that frankly it has always bothered me never really got addressed in the show. i get why elena herself would never be able to actually call him on it, but the fact is that he stalked her for months after he first saw her and thought she was katherine (meanwhile it only took damon .5 seconds to realize she was someone else entirely, but that’s another topic entirely), and then he deliberately inserted himself into her life because, in his words, ‘i have to know her’. he never gave a thought to how his presence in her life might affect her (or rather, he did, and tormented himself about it in his internal monologue, but never let this actually dissuade him from disrupting her life), and elena would wind up blaming herself for every tragedy that befell her friends and loved ones as a result of getting mixed up in vampire bullshit even though none of it was her fault--she literally blamed herself for existing but most of the fandom didn’t give a fuck about that lmfao--and stefan did shit like find out that she was adopted and then withhold this information from her until she got pissed about another secret he was keeping (her resemblence to katherine) and drop it on her to try and distract her from her very reasonable anger, and like... i should stop before this becomes a whole rant about how much i hate stefan fucking salvatore, but the point is, he did a lot of really sketchy shit he never answered for and elena never really took him to task for, and the fandom just kept eating up his insistence that he was the Good Brother and therefore he deserved to have elena, and if she didn’t want him anymore it was because she was a heinous bitch who didn’t deserve him.

uh.....i think i got off track there. and there’s probably a lot of shit i missed, like i think i was incandescent with rage for most of seasons 5 and 6 so i missed a lot of the interfandom shit cause i was too busy being increasingly pissed off at the show itself, but if nothing else this should give you an idea of how much of a goddamn cesspit the fandom was while the show as in its prime. there’s a reason both the show and the fandom have such a lousy reputation lmfao.

#the vampire diaries #tvd #tvd fandom salt #anti stefan #anti stelena #salt for ts #asked #Anonymous

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ds-sparrow-manufacturing-co · 4 years ago

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A Rebuttal

Ok so I really did not want to make this post. I would’ve loved to have left this whole thing behind because I’m aware I made some mistakes and would like to atone for them, but it seems I’m going to have to go over this one more time. For anyone seeing this post who somehow doesn’t know, I said some regrettable things about Aidan Gallagher here. I later made another post here summarising the entire situation that resulted, so I would suggest you read that first.

I’m still getting people telling me what I said was fucked up, which is entirely justified. However, I have just now realised that the person who took it upon themselves to ‘correct’ me about my opinions of Aidan Gallagher (something that has not changed, I still strongly dislike him) later made several derogatory posts about me. I was not aware of this because after the first rude post they made about me, I blocked them to save myself the additional stress.

I have done my best to deal with this whole thing as calmly and politely as possible. When this person was downright evil towards me, I didn’t bother to argue with them, I just made an admittedly-snarky post with a screenshot of what they said, and then blocked them because I had no desire to begin an argument. When I realised that what I had said about Aidan Gallagher had been fucked up, I apologised, accepted my mistake and did what I could to fix it. But I am out of patience. I don’t take kindly to being treated the way this person has treated me, I don’t think anyone does. So here I am, about to break down everything they said about me bit by bit to show you how much of a lying scumbag they have been towards me (as well as possibly others).

warning: this post is incredibly long

tw: su*c*de mentions

My first interaction with this person was when i got an anon ask who wanted to know what Aidan Gallagher had done to make me dislike him. I responded with a brief list, excluding most of my evidence because it was late at night and I didn’t have the energy to go down the rabbit hole of all this. The following day, the blog this post is about reblogged my post, attempting to disprove everything I said. I will not include screenshots here, because it was a long post, you can find it in my archive if you so wish. I read what they said, took everything into account, and responded with my proof for things I hadn’t previously included the proof for, as well as explanations for why certain things he’s said annoyed/upset me. I expected a polite response, as we had both been courteous so far.

Instead, I received the following:

Now, lets break down some of what they said.

‘stop saying things you can’t prove, because it’s fake’ - I provided my proof. I am not trying to lie to anyone, or perpetuate rumours. All I aimed to do was explain my point of view and why I personally dislike him.

‘some of your screenshots are fake’ - That’s just blatantly untrue, especially as they have at other points said things along the lines of ‘well yes but he apologised/he didn’t mean it like that’ for everything I have provided screenshots for. Make up your mind.

‘you’re so gullible’ - For... having an opinion? That I researched before forming? And which is based on something other than my blind faith in a 17 year old? Right.

This was when I blocked them.

I thought that was going to be the end of the situation. Then, I got some asks.

I saw this and, being a minor, was a little creeped out. I had assumed this person was a teenage fangirl because that’s who the majority of Aidan Gallgher’s fans are so this information was surprising.

This one scared me. I did what the anon suggested, created a backup (i won’t tag it here because I get the feeling some of the aforementioned ‘army’ are going to see this) and reported the other blog. Once again, I thought it was over.

It was at this point that people started telling me how fucked up what I said in my original post was, and I realised they were right. As mentioned at the start of this post, I apologised, and did everything I could to fix it. End of, right?

Until today, where I started thinking about what the above anons had said and decided to fact check, mainly out of curiosity. I unblocked the blog, only to discover they had made 3 posts about me that I hadn’t seen.

This was the first one, as you can see they began it with a screenshot of my original post. Let’s talk about this.

“but you wishing him dead is ok?” - I never wished him dead, to start with. Stabbing does not automatically equal death, but I know that’s nitpicky of me. I also did not wish he was stabbed. I said in that exact tag that I didn’t, because of TUA. However, I know that this ‘joke’ was really shitty of me, and I have already apologised multiple times.

“what kind of a low life do you have to be to have nothing better to do, but talk shit about a kid?” - Why don’t you tell me? As I’ve said multiple times, I am a minor. That doesn’t excuse what I said, but that does make it incredibly hypocritical of them to say that given everything.

This was the second post they made about me, beginning with the same screenshot as in the first post.

“they’re spreading false rumors” - I’ve already covered this one.

“they want a reason to be mean, even if it isn’t true” - I would never be mean to someone if they hadn’t done anything to deserve it. I’m a strong believer in the moral philosophy of respecting everyone until they give you a reason not to. Aidan Gallagher has given me more than enough reasons to lose respect for him. And, honestly? I still respect him as an actor, even if only that.

“you can’t say you’re a decent human being and wish someone dead. you can’t say you’re anti-bullying and want to prevent suicide and then bully someone” - That is some big talk from someone who claimed they were ok with what Aidan Gallagher said about mental health because they’ve had their own experiences with suicide, before immediately telling me to rot and burn in hell for disagreeing with them. And, wait a second, wasn’t Aidan Gallagher the one supporting women’s rights and feminism who then turned around and made gross comments towards a bunch of girls? Hmm. Also, wishing someone dead is too wide of a blanket statement to actually measure whether someone is a decent human being with.

“i tried to be nice” - I didn’t know telling someone to rot in hell, calling them a stupid hoe, was being nice. I didn’t know lying, and telling people to report someone because they disagreed with you was being nice (notice how they never said anything about my stabbing comment until I disagreed with them.) I guess we have very different definitions of nice.

“if they really cared, they would kindly ask a fan if the rumors were true” - And that, ladies gentleman and variations thereupon, is a brilliant example of how not to perform unbiased research! I based my opinion on actual evidence, and neutral articles as well as arguments from both sides. Not on one fan who’s likely to deny everything.

“they said it themselves, they have no proof” - That is so incredibly cherrypicked. What I actually said was “supposedly used the f-slur although i can’t find proof“, one of the many points on my list of reasons I dislike Aidan Gallagher. You know why I said that? Because I found a screenshot of him supposedly having called someone that slur via Instagram but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and decided it was probably edited. I included the point on my list in the hopes of people doing their own research. And I certainly did not say I had no proof for anything, as you would know if you saw my original response to this blog, where I provided proof.

“threatening him and bullying him is wrong” - I am fully admitting of the fact my stabbing comment was in poor taste but it was very clearly not a threat and not even close to being bullying. Furthermore, I would say making four posts harassing and telling others to harass someone because they disagree with you is a lot closer to being bullying than anything I did was.

“defamation is a crime” - I live in the UK, so let’s use those defamation laws. A statement is not defamation unless it ‘ has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the reputation of the claimant.’ Less than a hundred people are even aware my blog exists. Nowhere near enough people have seen anything I’ve said to count as defamatory. Not to mention that a statement is not defamatory if it is a statement of opinion.

“you’ll get karma for lying and playing the victim” - Ohhh the irony. I have not lied once. I have provided all the necessary proof for everything and I have owned up to my mistakes. And yet, they, who have repeatedly lied about me, twisted my words and oddly enough, avoided including proof outside that one screenshot of my original post, are the one accusing me of playing the victim. Classy.

“hi to your little follower that you cry to” - This one’s just hilarious to me. I’m happy to have people on here who will let me know when people are, you know, harassing and bullying me. And, what the hell do they mean by ‘cry to’? Do they mean ‘mentioned that this situation was stressful once’? Wow.

“I promise you misery for the rest of your sad little life” - Honestly just re-read the other screenshots after seeing they said this. Jesus Christ. And, as someone who already struggles with depression and other mental health issues I’m interested to know what they’re intending to do that’s gonna be any worse.

“you’ll pay! that’s not a threat it’s a promise” - Are they planning on tracking me down? Or are they just going to keep sitting on their throne of yes men and echo chambers acting as if they’re actually affecting me?

I would say this is the last post I plan to make about this situation but I’ve said that over and over again throughout the last 12 days and it’s never the last post. This whole situation has honestly been very emotionally taxing, and combined with some real life things, it’s been a bad week or so. Hopefully this post is enough to end this whole thing.

#WOW this post got long #the aidan gallagher debacle #long post

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petitelepus · 5 years ago

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Killer May, Part 31, The Baby

The end is now.

You hummed under your breath as you chopped the vegetables for your and Huntress' supper. There was a sound of footsteps and soon the taller Killer walked into your shared kitchen, Wraith following close behind. You turned towards them and smiled.

"Food is almost done! I just need some protein for it!"

The taller Killers shared a glance between each other and took a seat around the small self-build table. You were all singing and humming as you moved to the cutting board where you held the meat. No fear there, it was a rabbit's meat. You started to chop the meat into nice pieces and dropped them into the kettle.

The Huntress got up and walked up to you. You heard her coming and turned to greet her when she suddenly took a hold of your shoulders and pressed you against her in a hug. You were surprised but hugged her back as a good daughter would. She pulled away first and looked at you, placing her hand over your stomach.

"Girl... Not alone." She said and you almost dropped the wooden spoon in shock. You hadn't told her so how did she know? Those words took you back to your appointment with the Doctor.

Susie had managed to find the mad Killer and brought him to you when you were wailing on the ground in pain. He had easily picked you up and carried you through the Mist to his realm, Susia trailing behind you close by.

The Doctor had taken your blood, urine sample, and made you lay down as he pumped some painkillers into you. Susie was there every step of the researches, never wandering too far from you. When you weren't in pain anymore, the Doctor pulled your pants down and spread your legs as he ventured into your sex. Finally, after so many tests he was done.

"Well, I must admit, you keep surprising me time after another!" The Doctor cackled as he looked through his medical map. You groaned and glared at him. "Do you know what is wrong with me or should I go and plan your torture slash murder?"

"No need for the violence!" He laughed. You growled but Susie squeezed your hand in her hands and it calmed you down. The Doctor put the map down and smiled even wider if that was even possible. "You're simply carrying."

"I'm... what?" You asked in shock. The Doctor smiled. "Darling, you're carrying a small fetus inside you."

This was the moment when Susie joined the conversation. "Like, is there a baby inside her stomach?"

The tall man nodded. "Affirmative."

"Wait, I'm pregnant!? How and who!?" You asked out loud and he shrugged. "Beats me! Who has had a moment with your vagina?"

You wondered if you should tell him, but you also knew that hiding things from him wouldn't turn out great. You opened your mouth, ready to answer when he suddenly held his hand up. "That was a rhetorical question! I don't care who did it, the truth is that someone was poking your cervix with their dick!"

Susie looked curious to see what would happen, but she held her tongue. You grimaced and the Doctor papped your leg, silently telling you to shut them. You didn't wait for him to tell you with words so you closed your legs, jumped off from the table, and pulled your pants up. "So, why I'm suddenly craving for... You know...?"

"As for your sudden appetite for humans flesh goes...!" He grinned, "I'm not an expert but I think your baby there isn't satisfied by a simple Borscht soup!"

"Speaking of this baby still...!" You pointed at your stomach. "I died after sex with Myers last time! Shouldn't my body reset itself?"

The Doctor suddenly went quiet and he just stared at you. Finally, he nodded, "The plans have changed. You're no longer just a chew toy for us so don't let anyone tell you otherwise." He said and you frowned. "What are you up to...?"

"Nothing! Just looking up for the unborn!" He laughed before he leaned down to whisper in your ear. What you heard made your stomach flip and your blood freeze in your veins.

"That's the Entity there in your womb so if I was you I would make sure to give the God of this realm of ours all it craves for."

And that brought you modern time, where you were making final supper for your the Huntress and Wraith. The tall woman hugged you close to her and kissed the top of your head. "Girl go."

"Mama..." You started but she shushed at you. "Girl come see mama when baby born. Mama make dolls for baby."

"Yeah. I think the baby might like them." You admitted and she absolutely beamed with joy and hugged you again. The Wraith walked up to you and pointed at himself and then you. You smiled at him. "You can come to visit too. I was thinking of making you the godfather for the baby."

Now he was the one who beamed like a proud parent. He closed in and hugged you also, so you were surrounded with love and huge killers. The moment was broken when there came knocking from the cabin's door. Huntress and Wraith moved to the side and you went to answer the door.

"Hi mommy!" Susie cheered as she greeted you from the doorway and hugged you, minding your stomach. You smiled and hugged her back and then you saw over her shoulder that she hadn't come alone. Julie and the boys stood just outside the cabin, too awkward to come inside. They all had their masks on except for Susie. When you and Susie were done with the hug she pulled away and motioned others to take her place in your arms.

Julie shrugged and hugged you briefly but the boys stayed outside. You turned towards the Huntress and Wraith for the one last hug. It was a bittersweet sensation to grow attached to Killers who were supposed to kill you and sacrifice you to this evil God or Being that tortured you all. You smiled and turned to leave, Susie and Julie walking close by as Frank and Joey lead the way.

You walked for some time and when your stomach growled and you remembered the stew you had left back at the mama's place. Joey laughed when he heard you. "Hungry?"

"Depends. "You replied, "You got what I asked?"

Frank raised a brown paper bag that you hadn't noticed he was carrying. He kept the thing tightly wrapped, but the blood had soaked through the bag's bottom and it dripped blood on the ground. It was a miracle that the bag didn't just give up.

"Is this going to be an everyday thing? Cannibalism?" He asked and you shrugged as your hands went over your stomach. "Baby wants what the baby needs."

"Definitely grossest if not sickest pregnancy craving," Julie said and Susie joined in on the conversation. "My dad used to tell me how my mom was craving chocolate dipped pickles!"

"Gross, but not the worst," Julie said and soon enough you girls were exchanging pregnancy stories your parents used to tell you. In the meanwhile, Joey walked over to Frank and tapped him on the shoulder unit he got the leader's attention to himself.

"Frank, you do know that there is a chance the kid is yours?" Joey asked, but Frank didn't answer so he kept going. "We didn't use any protection, do you think we screwed up--?" Joey was cut off as Frank grabbed his friend by the neck of his hoodie and pulled him close.

"Listen, I don't care if it's mine, it won't change shit if it was mine or not!" He growled and Joey raised his hands in surrender.

"You aren't fighting over there, are you?" Julie called from behind as you girls were too far to hear what the men were talking about. Susie joined in. "If you are, stop it now! The baby needs peace and quiet!"

"Guys, the fetus can't even hear anything yet." You called after them and Susie yelled back at you. "Still!"

Frank grumbled and let go of his best friend. "As I said, it doesn't matter if it's not mine or not..." He grunted and pulled his mask over his face, hiding his blush of embarrassment. What he was about to say was go fucking sappy.

"I would still like it even if it was Myers'. I bet I can be a better dad than that dipshit or my asshole parents."

Joey heard him and he felt like you and girls should have also heard their leader's confession of being quite excited about the baby, but he let it go. Just like you hadn't told others that it wasn't just any baby inside you.

You looked at your stomach that had a little pump on it. What would happen if you really gave birth to Entity itself? If you were sane you would put a stop to this pregnancy at once but you couldn't bring yourself to kill the life inside you. It would have been hypocritical to say that you were doing the right thing by not taking the baby's life but somehow... The knowledge of life growing in middle of all the killings and murders?

It brought you peace.

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longsightmyth · 6 years ago

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Queen of Glass, Chapter 11

Celaena Sardothien hated to admit that learning how to act like a lady was hard work.

Then she belittles Kaltain for being good at it. Apparently Anuksun and Celaena have problems remembering to sit with their knees together until Madam Tul’rouse physically shoves Anuksun’s legs together and tells Celaena that her posture, “[makes] her look like a man in disguise,” at which point Celaena immediately changes all behavior. Because of course.

At lunch, Celaena obsesses over berries. Apparently they are hard to find in Adarlan and you can buy them for a lot of money from Wendlynn.

I’m sorry, are these a specific kind of berry we’re talking about? Like. What?

Anyway, Anuksun tries to use her spear as an eating utensil.

She and Anuksun barely spoke during lunch—the Princess was too busy shoving slices of meat down her throat and Celaena was occupied with consuming as many berries as she could in one hour. The Princess tried to use her spear as a utensil for her meat, but Madam Tul’rouse had caught her in the act of skewering a leg of lamb and had taken the weapon away.

The assassin had nearly choked on a mouthful of blackberries when Princess Anuksun had cried out from dismay at the butter knife that she was given, and began to curse in her native tongue at poor Elise, shaking the dull knife in the air.

Because she’s savage, do you get it yet? God I hate this. Later Anuksun ‘gnaws’ on some meat.

I appreciate that Sarah Janet removed most of this from Nehemia in the published version. At least someone told her that overt racism wouldn’t be acceptable (subtextual racism is, of course, another story, and honestly later on the overtness sorta of creeps back in…? Whatever, kudos editors, you curbed her for as long as you could I guess, but I’m not handing out gold stars for making a writer slightly less awful than she could have been).

Anyway the overt sexism and hypocrisy continues apace, with the other girls being forced into pants and shirts and Celaena laughing at them for feeling uncomfortable for wearing men’s clothes in a society where women are clearly expected to wear dresses as a mark of respectability and these women have been raised to think that’s how to be properly clothed. Celaena herself mentioned that it was like walking around in underwear, but she thinks it’s funny that the other women are uncomfortable in a room with a dude in what is apparently their underwear.

At least published!Celaena was slightly more subtle in her hatred of other women?

Also there’s a mention of Anuksun not being uncomfortable with pants because she’s already dressed inappropriately. But she’s not dressed inappropriately in her culture, so she could still be uncomfortable with this state of dress? Good to know that Sarah Janet’s grasp of nuance and how different cultures interact with each other has not developed.

Anyway Celaena comes up with a backstory for her ‘fine, white lines of her whipping scars’: she had an evil governess and a dead mother.

She pronounces the backstory perfect.

She loved the way the guard tried hard not to stare at her, and especially the way his face turned pink every time she caught him looking. Celaena didn’t say anything, of course, but merely batted her eyelashes naively.

Same old Celaena.

Anyway she thinks it’s even funnier that some of the women are huddled together and trying not to be looked at. The narrative comments scornfully that “their shirts barely [revealed] their more feminine body parts.”

This is gross. I probably don’t have to explain to people reading this why it’s gross, but because I am me, I will.

Laughing at someone who isn’t comfortable in what they see as revealing clothing is awful. These people are making these women walk around in what is equivalent to their underwear, in front of men, and then they are laughing at the women for being uncomfortable. Celaena isn’t the only one: Chaol and Anuksun also think their clear distress is funny. Because Celaena is (no longer) uncomfortable doing so, the other women are silly, the narrative tells us.

So basically, dress to entice men (as Celaena makes it clear the clothes do), and if you’re uncomfortable with it that’s too damn bad, you’ll come around, and if you don’t you’re being completely ridiculous. Celaena is fine with it (now). Why aren’t you?

It’s the whitest of White Feminisms, is what I’m saying. What else is new though.

Anyway, Chaol adds,

“I think it’s good for Kaltain R’ompier to be humiliated like this. She likes to believe she has power over people, so it makes her absolutely furious when someone uses their authority over her in such a degrading manner.”

Celaena laughed, and poor Anuksun tried to look as amused as possible.

Fuck you too, Chaol. Justice for Kaltain 2k19. The rest of these women are probably glad they didn’t make it to the published version, and Anuksun apparently doesn’t get what’s going on.

Because she’s Foreign. Get it?

When the other two women arrived (the third had showed up in a sobbing fit and had to be escorted out), Chaol began. Celaena had tried to keep herself from laughing as the women worked themselves into an emotional wreck. She had never imagined that wearing men’s clothes could be so horrible for someone used to wearing a bone-crunching corset.

Celaena remains exactly as hypocritical as always.

They train with ‘dull-edged swords’ which isn’t much better than asserting that you can’t really hurt somebody with a staff so make of that what you will. Celaena can’t beat Chaol, because of course she can’t. Anuksun is super good. Kaltain keeps knocking people to the ground.

Chaol walks an exhausted Celaena back to her room, and on the way she is insulted that he thinks she might be mercenary with her affections, platonic or otherwise.

“Am I that repulsive and untrustworthy to you? Just because I used to kill to get food in my belly and to stay off the streets? Just because of my past?”

You. Kill. People. For. Money. And. You. Did. Not. Stop. Until. You. Were. Caught.

She even admits,

All of that wasn’t really true, but it sounded convincing. She had never been on the verge of starving as Adarlan’s Assassin, not even when she was first starting, but she had killed to survive, to cope with the horrible hand that fate had dealt her.

You. Killed. People. For. Money. And. To. Make. Yourself. Feel. Better. Even. When. You. Had. Enough. Money. To. Survive.

Behold our heroine, the shining light in the darkness.

Anyway, Chaol says she doesn’t seem like she’s changed much since the mines, which, fair. Celaena calls him a bastard and tells him to go to hell.

It was only hours after she had insulted him that the assassin realized that he had escorted her all the way back to her room unarmed.

Well that just makes both of you terrible at your respective professions doesn’t it.

#myth reads queen of glass #myth reads #myth rags on throne of glass #sorta

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judedeluca · 6 years ago

Note

BTW, not trying to convince you of anything, I haven't read Shazam! and feel... Complicated about Geoff Johns. Is that a sentence? Not a native English speaker.

Ah, my bad.

Please note if I get testy during this it is absolutely NOT aimed at you in any way, but it’s just how I feel about Johns.

Okay so Geoff Johns was one of the three current comic writers who got me into buying comics on a regular basis in 2005, alongside Grant Morrison and Gail Simone. I was following Johns’ “Teen Titans,” Morrison’s “Seven Soldiers,” and Simone’s “Villains United.”

What got me into Johns’ “TT” was, I was already a Titans fan, but I saw he introduced a version of Batwoman based on Bette Kane. Bette was the original Batgirl in the Silver Age, the niece to Batwoman Kathy Kane, but no one ever referenced that anymore and I love Betty so I wanted to know more.

I was supporting Johns’ Teen Titans as well as his Legion related stuff, JSA, and some of his Green Lantern writing too…

But then came Brightest Day and I began to realize the man had a disturbing tendency to rely on mutilating and dismembering characters, including a lot of Titans such as Pantha, Baby Wildebeest, Damage, and Tempest, as well as Legionnaires like Kinetix. Tempest especially bothered me because apparently Johns didn’t like him because he wasn’t “Bad ass” like Hal Jordan, so Johns went out of his way to kill Tempest’s entire family in “Infinite Crisis” before having his zombie girlfriend murder him.

Flashpoint and The New 52 only solidified my dislike for the man, as I absolutely HATED his Justice League and Aquaman stuff and only supported them because my friend worked on the titles as an inker.

Looking back on his older stuff I saw a lot of other stuff I disliked. There was his gross racist handling of Judomaster in JSA where he retconned out her ability to speak English to pair her up with Damage via having him teach her English, even though in Birds of Prey a year prior she could speak English perfectly.

With his Legion of Super-Heroes writing he retconned Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl, turning Garth into a hothead who barely went a single panel without screaming at someone while Imra could barely control him. The woman used to be called “Iron Ass Imra” and he essentially ripped out her spine. These two had one of the best marriages in the DCU and he ruined it with his toxic masculine bullshit. Thank God Paul Levitz managed to fix this mess.

He also tried to downplay and/or erase Lightning Lass’s queerness by putting her back together with her ex-boyfriend Timber Wolf, ignoring her steady relationship with her girlfriend Shrinking Violet. The two of them were one of the earliest lesbian couple DC had (even if they couldn’t outright say it) but nope, Ayla’s back with Brin like Violet didn’t exist. Again, Paul Levitz rectified this problem.

He turned Star Boy into a caricature of schizophrenics by retconning him into being mentally ill and having him serve as the wacky comic relief in the JSA when he wasn’t breaking the fourth wall or dropping foreshadowing. So basically a ripoff of Deadpool. His whole JSA run really hasn’t aged well.

His Teen Titans consisted of making Superboy obsessed with being a clone of Lex Luthor and Superman, made Wonder Girl obsessed with Superboy, and he drove Rose Wilson insane to make her the new Ravager which included her graphically gouging out her own eye after her father pumped her full of drugs.

His love for Barry Allen and Hal Jordan blatantly outshines his work with the other Flash and Green Lantern characters, and he’s essentially crafted a sequel to Watchmen no one asked for or needed in order to absolve Barry Allen, God of the Silver Age, of ruining the DCU by blaming it all on Doctor Manhattan.

He’s also obsessed with portraying morally grey men and downright evil men like Captain Cold, Sinestro, Black Adam, and Superboy Prime as flawed individuals who are, at the end of the day heroic, when they do completely horrible things and never get punished for them. Cold’s a hypocrite with how he’ll ignore certain Rogues breaking his precious rules but then makes a big deal of how other villains violate said rules. SInestro is a sociopath who murdered Kyle Rayner’s mother in cold blood just to break Kyle’s will, but still gets to be remembered as a great Green Lantern. Adam brutally slaughters people like the Psycho Pirate and almost no one complains. And Prime is a monster who’s murdered children and pregnant woman, including an entire world, but is still considered a victim. He’s now added Doctor Manhattan to the list, since he claims a man who orchestrated the death of Alan Scott and casually fucked up an entire universe simply to see what would happen is somehow not a villain.

Whatever small bits of writing from him I still like are not enough for me to still be an overall fan of him. I don’t care what he’s done with Shazam, I don’t care if people think it’s been really good. If other people like it I’m happy they’re enjoying it.

But really, fuck him. Fuck him a million times over. I hope there comes a day when DC throws his ass out the door along with Didio, Eddie Berganza, Tom King, James Robinson, Bob Harras, Scott Lobdell. Jim Lee, and all the other fake geek guy assholes who’ve practically ruined DC’s characters for all of us.

Geoff Johns makes me sick to my stomach as a comic fan, a writer, a man, and a human being.

Yet there is still a part of me that wonders, looking back on the stuff he did for Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., what someone at that fucking company must’ve done to him. And I do feel bad his work keeps getting interfered with by editors, just not enough to absolve him of his own individual grossness.

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toddnkurt · 7 years ago

Text

Kurt &Todd in love

Todd and Kurt were laying in bed together after a long date at the movies, KFC and paint-wars. They had been dating for three years. It had been bumpy at first but they soon filled up most of the cracks and after that it was a not so bumpy ride but still with a few bumps here and there. The two lovers were in their shared room in the institute on this calm night. Kurt was lying under Todd with his dressing gown on, with Todd lying on top of him, smiling and leaning on his hand. Kurt stroking his cheek sweetly. Todd took the hand and kissed it, smiling at Kurt. “I love you...” The frog teen smiled. “I love you....” smiled Kurt. Todd smiled then shook his head, moving to Kurt's side. “What's wrong my geliebte?” “Nothing yo......I was just thinking about when we first kissed.” “Ja......I remember! You were making fun of the books we were reading for English Class! I'll never forget that day!” (Flash Back) After Amanda and Kurt had broke up, Todd had been there to talk to him. Wanda had broken his heart one too many times, so he understood Kurt feeling down. It had been weird talking to Todd about his heart breaking but it was better than Scott or Professor X. Soon they became friends and hung out more. But 5 months later, Kurt and Todd were paired up in English class to do a paper on ''What Is Love.'' They groaned loudly but not because they were working together but because of the fact they knew NOTING about love! Kurt may of had a girlfriend but he still didn't know anything! Kurt and Todd then headed to the Library and ended up getting tons of Romance Novels. They hung out in Kurt's room and looked over all the books. After three hours Kurt had a new love for these books and Todd had never been so red. “I GIVE UP!” he yelled and threw the book on the bed where he laid. “I JUST don't get it!" Kurt looked at him puzzled. "What is it?" "These books don't make any sense yo. Love is about cheaters, waiting for your guy to come, making sure some dude don't find out you love him cus he's some player or some high and mighty snob, Princesses and Princes falling for the lower class, Rich dudes falling for you and other Crap I don't wanna think about?! DUDE! What the fu-” “TODD!” yelled Kurt. “Don't swear that word in my room! You can say it outside or in your own room but NOT in here!” Todd blushed and rubbed his head. “Sorry Kurt! But I can't under stand these books! I mean....” Standing up Todd stuck a pose like a handsome buff man. “I am Antonio Spain! A rich wealthy man who loves cute girls, who are shy and try not to fall for me!” Kurt laughed as Todd went on. "I am some high class arse who loves flirting with young farm woman and falling for a girl who is acting hard to get even thought she falls for me and kisses me every time in this kind of story line in chapter 5 or 6" Kurt laughed harder. "Let me try! Let me try!" He got up then hugged himself, looking mock lost and sad. “I am Amelia Poppy! I am a farm girl with no money and 3 hungry children! My husband died trying to keep our farm safe but was killed by his evil brother who wanted me to marry him instead!” Todd walked over and stuck a pose like he was showing off his muscles. “Hello beautiful lady! Shall I take you in my arms and kiss you! Then flirt with other women, making you doubt our love?” Kurt looked mock shy and red. “No! I am sorry but I have to marry my late husband's evil twin who hates my children and is never kind to me! He is the reason i am so unhappy around men! I can't trust them!” Todd snorted at this then, trying to stay in character, kissed his hand and then looked into his eyes, getting onto his knees. “But I love you! But I don't say it till your at the alter and about to say ''I do'' then after some mind numbing speech i whisk you away!” Kurt laughed. "Whisk? What am i, an egg?" he snorted. Todd laughed too. "Shush! Stay in charter!" Kurt nodded and pulled Todd up to him. “ Antonio! My love!” Todd held him close and dipped him. “ Amelia Poppy! Will you marry me and become my wife?!” Kurt tried not to laugh harder. “Yes my love! Oh My darling man!” They both puckered up as a joke but Todd stumbled a bit because of the way he was holding Kurt, so they ended up kissing for real. Kurt and Todd blushed but leaned in more, making each other kiss more passionately till they saw what they were doing and pulled away slowly. They stared at each-others and smiled. Kurt giggled. “I guess we really got into our acting!” Todd laughed too. “Yeah Yo'.....Wanna make out some more?” Kurt laughed but kissed Todd once more. They were kissing for a while till Kitty knocked on the door. “Kurt?! You in there?! I need something!” Todd and Kurt pulled away. “See ya!” yelled Todd then jumped out the window and hopped off. Kitty fazed in. "Kurt? You seen my text book i let you have-....You ok blue boy? Your really red" Kurt just smiled at her "I just found a new love for romance novels" he laughed then watched as Todd hopped over the fence. (end flashback!) Kurt laughed. "We ended up with B - after that. Then had the drama club begging us to join their 21st century version play of My Fair Lady...With ME as the girl" Kurt huffed. "Yeah babe, but i gave that kiss an A+ + yo" Todd laughed. "And you looked in that dress!" Kurt nudged him but smiled. "Ok, I looked good." Nudging his lover, Todd suddenly hissed in pain. He rubbed his left leg and sighed. "Still hurts after these 3 years" he sighed. Kurt nodded and rubbed it too. "I remember how THAT happened. I NEVER want that to happen again" (three years ago) Kurt and Todd had started to date each other after that kiss but kept it a secret. If they were seen hanging out, everyone just thought they were being friends, tho they did almost catch them kissing at some point. It wasn't until Pietro caught them kissing in the gym locker room that news got out. The X-men and The Brotherhood had not liked the idea of them hanging out but now that they knew the two teen boys were dating, made everyone go over the line. The Brotherhood Boys (plus Wanda) had cornered Todd at the mall and told him straight up he was in trouble for even dating one of the X-men. "I mean, befriending Kurt is one was one thing, but DATING HIM?! You know how that work out for me and Kitty!" Lance growled. "Yeah! Mystique would have your head on a platter if she knew you were going out with not only an X-men but her SON?! You will never last the night bro." Pietro smirked. Blob just shook his head. "You have to break up with him Toad!" Wanda sighed. "Their just gonna hurt you!....WE only want you safe." Todd glared at his so called friends and pushed them off. "You know what?! I LOVE Kurt way more than you EVER loved Kitty! You just liked her cus she was some cute girl who could help you cheat on some test. I can handle boss lady when that bridge comes! And for the record WAN-DA, Kurt dose this thing where he calls me by my REAL name and not my nickname which you make sound like a bad taste! When he calls me Toad, he says it with love! Even if we're fighting! You know i loved you for months but all i got was BAM! blasted into a wall so forget you WANDA! I never recall you guys saving me or even caring about my well being! Kurt looks after me when I'm hurt, or sick or even stressed out! You guys have never once said you cared, so up your you guys!" With that he had hoped off to find Kurt. With Kurt it was the same. Once he got home from a date with Todd, Scott and the gang had grabbed him. They sat him down on the couch in the living room. "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!" Scott yelled. "YOUR DATING TOAD TOLANSKY?! THAT SLIME-BALL?!" "That is, like,....the most gross thing you can DO Kurt. He's, like,.....you know, one of THEM!" Kitty screeched. "I can't believe i didn't see this in your mind!" Jean sighed. "Why on earth are you dating him?!" "They're right little brother! That toad is nothing but a little dirty rat in frogs clothing! Ah think you should get out while you still can, before that boy dose some REAL trouble!" Kurt growled and stood up only to get pushed back down by Scott "I *ugh!* I'm dating TODD because i like him! and we're good friend's. We've been dating for while and i don't think i ever asked you if i could date him!" he snarled. Todd is no the person you think he is!" "YOur right. He's even WORST!" laughed Rouge. "No! He's sweet, kind, loving and a better friend than SCott was when i broke up with my girlfriend! He's way better than anyone i have met and you can't say otherwise!" "But he's a Brotherhood Boy and is trouble!" Kitty sighed. "Like Lance-" "SHUT UP! Todd is nothing like Lance! Unlike you Kitty, he never used me for test" "YEs he did!" Kitty yelled back. "SO what?! At least we don't break up ever week then get back together days later! I trust him as much as he trusts me! He loves me and i love him back! We may not be prefect but at least i HAVE someone, unlike you, you brain dead, fazing, hypocrite, bitch!" Kurt yelled then poofed off to find Todd. He need a hug. They found each other in the park and had told the other what had happened. After that, Todd sat down with his boyfriend under their favorite tree and held his lover tighter. Kurt needed a hug the most. He had thought his friend would have given him a chance to explain but they didn't. "They....they just told me you were no good for me! What say do THEY have! I never ask them if we could date! I never ask them if you were right for me!.....What say do they have?"! cried the bafing teen. Todd just sighed and held him close. "I know....I didn't think my friends would care or not. I was just happy to get over that stupid witch and to find someone who loves me......Warts and all." Kurt giggled and kissed Todd sweetly. "I love you Todd Tolansky. Your the greatest person in my life" Todd smiled and kissed back. "And i love you too Kurt Wagner. Your my angel" he giggled. Kurt smiled when suddenly they herd the prof in their minds. "Kurt! Todd! We need your help!" "AGH! Jeez Prof! Give us a warring!" Todd growled. "What is it?" Kurt asked, feeling worried. "You have to go to the old building site that the Brotherhood Boys Tore up last week" Todd mumbled something which sounded like. "We said sorry" "Why?" Kurt gulped. "Scott and the others are meeting Todd's friends there to fight! You two have to go and stop them!" Todd and Kurt gasped and got up. "We're on it Prof!" TOdd sighed. "Good. I shall meet you there" he sighed in their heads then when Todd was sure he was gone he grabbed Kurt and kissed him deeply. He looked into his lovers eyes sadly. "No matter what happens. I want you to remember that i love you. No matter what...I. LOVE. YOU." Kurt blushed and hugged him. "I love you too Todd........Lets go" Sighing they transported off to their fighting friends. Everyone was in gear and in an old building site. Everyone was blasting their powers left and right. Eye beams, Spike's spikes, Wand's magic, Jean's mind powers, Kitty fazing through stuff and Lance trying to burry everyone. Pietro rushed passed everyone. Once they had arrived, Kurt and Todd jumped onto the highest bean they could find. "Mien friends! Stop this!" "HEY! CUT IT OUT!" Todd yelled. Everyone looked up at them. "What the hell is wrong with ya! You guys are being stupid!" Todd growled. "Why the hell are you fighting!" "It's the only way to settle this! " Lance growled. "You can't date an X-man!" "You dated Kitty!" Kurt sighed. "That's different! She's just a girl who i thought was cute! Now she's just some dumb bimbo." Pietro laughed. "She's WAY more dumber than a bimbo!" Jean held back Kitty. "Let me at them!" she hissed. Soon everyone was yelling and shouting. Kurt and Todd sighed when suddenly, Todd saw that Blob was going to hit Scott with the biggest bolder he had ever seen! Without thinking Todd jumped over to him and pushed him just as the bolder landed on his leg. His screams stopped everyone. When Kurt saw him hurt he bamfed to his side and tried to push it off him but no luck. Blob felt guilty and pulled the rock off. Kurt fell to his lovers side and hugged him tightly. “Oh Todd!” he cried. “Mein Liebling Kröte! Oh süßer Engel! Du bist verletzt! " Todd smiled and kissed his nose. “Hey babe! I'm ok!” Kurt shook his head. “Your NOT ok! Your leg!" It was bent three different ways" "......I...I blame my self! I never should of kissed you in the locker room! I should of just run away with you like you said months ago. We'd be happier!” Todd shook his head and kissed Kurt's forehead. “No Fluffy. YOU were right. I should of told the truth when everyone asked why we hung out so much....I was just scared of Wand's wrath....and Lance's mostly.. Running away wasn't the right thing to do. I'm one who's sorry” Kurt shook his head. Sighing Todd sat up, best he could, and looked into Kurt's eyes. “Kurt?” “Ja, meine geliebten” Kurt sobbed. Todd smiled. “Ich habe Ihnen von dem Tag euch geliebt habe und ich entschied mich, Freunde zu sein. Ich habe nie aufgehört, dich zu lieben oder Pflege. Ich würde bis an die Enden der Welt laufen und zurück für Sie. Ich will mit dir sein, egal, was sie sagen! Ich liebe dich, Kurt Wagner! Your My Angel in blauen Pelz!  Ich liebe dich, Kurt! " Todd smiled as Kurt gasped. He had used his native tongue! Kurt smiled and hugged him. “You learned German!” Smiling the green teen kissed him. “I did it for you Kurt! I really do love you! I told you before we came here that no matter what, i will always love you.” “And that is a good reason to stop this war and turn over a new leaf” Everyone looked up to see Professor X and Storm. They were smiling. Scott looked confused. “What do you mean Professor?” Storm smiled. “Kurt and Todd are very much in love and Todd DID save your life Scott without thinking. I know you lot have fought with each other before but it looks Todd ad Kurt have over come their hate and found love. I think they have shown that fighting is not going to stop these two from being together. Don't you think it's time we stopped? Maybe we should all be friends” Everyone thought it over. Maybe they were right......Todd – at the Risk of losing his life or his leg- had saved Scott. And here was Kurt, holding his lover closely, tears of sadness and happiness dripping off his cheeks. Sighing, nobody moved, then to everyone surprise, Scott walked over to Lance and held out his hand. “Peace?” he asked. Lance looked shocked but smiled and shook Scott’s hand. “Sure! But we can still beat your butts!” Scot smirked and nodded. “Shall we settle this later in the training room?” Lance laughed. “HA! Your on Summer's!” Everyone laughed. A few mouths later Kurt was sitting by Todd's side in his room and sighing. “Why can't you guys move in with us?” he asked. Todd sighed. “Prof said there's no room's yet and we like it here! Besides! It feels like home to us Brotherhood Boys!” Kurt looked sad. Todd lifted his chin and kissed him. "As of right now, i wanna stay here till there's room. You guys are still fixing that damn bulling for the 5th time" he laughed then hugged him. "I swear, once it's done, we can all move in...and we can split a room. Just you and I yo" Kurt giggled and kissed Todd. “I love you Toad” The green teen smirked. “And I love you Night-Crawler” (end flashback) "I'm glad Beast will be able to fix it tomorrow AND I still can't believe you learned german for me just to say i love you" Kurt laughed, nuzzling Todd's neck with his nose. "I know! It took me two weeks to get it all right! I even got Prof to help me!" the green skinned teen laughed. "TWO WEEKS?!" Kurt laughed. "You never told me THAT!" "Well....I didn't think you need to know about how long i took but just that i learned it." Kurt smirked and hugged him closer. "You were always trying to be sweet...Remember after everyone got over the fact we were dating and you wanted to be romantic on Valentines day?" Todd groaned and sighed. "HOW can i forget it!" (FLASH BACK!) It was Friday afternoon at Bay High and Todd had made plans to woo Kurt! He had been planing for weeks! And now he could do it! It was Valentine Day! Todd ran down the hall to Kurt's locker and found Kurt talking with Kitty. “Please Kurt! I think Evan's up to something! He's not talking to me and he's acting weird! I mean.....I am his girlfriend! I even called him last night- Evan and Kitty had hooked up at a party for Jean's birthday after Evan saved her from some drunk losers who didn't take ''Piss off you jerks!” as an answer. “- And then he told me that he can't dance! Kurt........What should I do?! Evan said he's go with me!” Kurt just smiled and hugged her. “Trust me Kitty. He has something Great planned!” Kitty then began to question Kurt about what her boyfriend was up to when see spotted Todd coming over to them and looking like he was trying not to faint. “H-h-h-h-hi K-k-k-kurt. How....how are you today?” Kurt turned around and smiled. “I'm very fine thank you!” he smiled then kissed his boyfriend's cheek. Todd felt his heart jump 3 feet. "Hey Todd. You ok? Your, like, really red" Kitty pointed out. Kurt nodded and felt his forehead. "You are warm." Todd pulled away and smiled. "I just have something for you" he spoke softly, smiling that boyish smile Kurt loved. "What is it?" Kurt asked puzzled. Todd smiled and showed Kurt what he had behind his back. “Here! I got this for you!” It was a box of home made German chocolate and a small bouquet of Kurt's favorite flower from home. Peonies Kurt smiled and took the gifts. “Oh...Todd, their great!...But why did you get them for me?” Todd blushed and shuffled his foot. “I thought it be nice.....or a nice way to ask if......if you'd be my valantine?” Kurt's face turned bright red and he looked away. “I....I um....Well...I......” Todd looked heart broken. “Oh.....Sorry....Maybe i didn't do it right. Jean said flowers and chocolate work most of the time and...I'll go” Todd started to walk away when a hand grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. “Vait! I didn't give mien answer!” Todd turned around and felt a soft pair of lips kiss his. “I'd love to be your valentine you idiot! I AM your boyfriend” Todd smiled and cheered. “YES!” he smiled and danced around, making Kurt laugh and pull him into a kiss. Todd blushed and kissed back, earning cat calls from the group around them. *End Flash Back* Kurt laughed. “You were so hyper when I said yes” Todd laughed. “Yeah I was.....And that kiss was the most perfect one!.......till we kissed again on our date” Kurt nodded and sighed and he cuddled into his lover. Todd smiled and kissed his head. Kurt looked thoughtful. Suddenly he sighed and buried his face into the frog's chest. “What?” Todd asked, hugged Kurt to him. The blue teen sighed and looked up at him. “I just remember the first time we had sex and mom walked in when we were done......I still feel the fear I felt that day” Todd paled and sighed as he rubbed his eyes. “God I do......She had never even knew about us till that night!” *FLASH BACK* Todd smiled as he laid next to his lover. Todd and Kurt were at the institute and were done having sex. It was their 7th date and first time. “That......was great” Todd laughed and pulled a small lime lolly from the bed side and placed it in his mouth. Kurt looked to him and laughed. “You look like your smoking” he laughed. Todd laughed. “I'm always smoking! But not as much as you babe” Kurt laughed and kissed his again. Todd smiled and pulled his lollie and placed it on the table then climbed onto his lover and kissed his slowly but passionately again. Kurt pulled away and stocked his face. “I love you Todd.....I'm glad we met” Todd smiled, his eyes shining brightly. “Me too Kurt” Todd was about to kiss him again when the door bashed open and in came Mystique, red faced and mad like hell. Todd and Kurt gulped and knew she was mad. “What......is going....on?” Kurt tried to speak as did Todd but they couldn’t talk. "Why are you naked, where is the house and WHY IS TODD IN HERE WITH YOU?!" she screamed. Kurt tried to talk when the all fast talking, BIG mouth had to look in and open his mouth. “Those two? They were just having sex but now their done. * looks at them* Bravo! Good try for the first time in a year” “HOW LONG?!” she yelled and ran at Todd, eyes burning red. *FLASH BACK* Kurt laughed. “You vere jumping all over the place! You look like you did when Scott put hot sauce in your socks” Todd blushed and sighed. “Yeah.......It was lucky Freddy grabbed her and i was saved.....You know...I'm pretty happy to be with you" The elf mutant smiled and kissed his lover's neck. "Hey Kurt?” Kurt looked to him. “Yes love?” Todd gulped and sat up. “Um.....How long have we been dating?” Kurt thought for a sec. “......Three years. Why?” Todd smiled and opened the bedside table then pulled out a small box. “I want you to have this. It took me a lot of jobs to get this.....many of the boys and the X- do- I mean men helped too.” Kurt sat up crossed legged and opened the small box and gasped. He placed a hand over his mouth as he looked at the blue sapphire heart inside the gold band. There was writing too. It said in German ''Forever shall we be together'' Kurt looked to Todd and had tears in his eyes. “What....is this?” Todd smiled and placed the ring on Kurt's blue fury finger. “Kurt Wagner...I have loved you for a long time and now I want it to be forever. Will.....Will you marry me?” Kurt started to cry and nodded as he hugged his lover. “YES! Yes I will marry you!” Toad laughed happily and hugged him tighter as they looked into each other eyes and hugged. "I love you Toad." "I love you too Nightcrawler" Todd laughed and kissed Kurt into the bed once more. The end. (1) (A/N beloved) (2) I have loved you from the day you and i decided to become friends. I have never stopped loving you or caring. I would run to the ends of the world and back for you. I want to be with you no matter what they say! I love you Kurt Wagner! Your my angel in blue fur! I love you Kurt

#kodd #todd n kurt #toddkurt #submission

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thecorteztwins · 7 years ago

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hexiva replied to your post “Eyyy I found my copy of X-Men Noir! I thought for sure I must have...”

X-Men Noir: What the fuck was that?

I remember you asking me that before and I don’t...really know? I assume you mean thematically rather than the actual story/murder mystery (although that gets a little confusing too). So uh, this gets long, and there’s a lot of mention of eugenics (in a WHOLLY CONDEMNING CONTEXT but still) under the cut, so warning for that:

The issue of eugenics just seems a bizarre topic for the story to start with. A 1930s noir murder mystery where everyone is human, okay, I’m listening. Like, the basic idea of Magnus and his Brotherhood as corrupt cops, ok. Xavier as training criminal teens to be better criminals, ok. I’m on-board. A debate about nature vs nurture, terrific. But then trying to work that in with the concept of “genetic hygiene” and the idea that “sociopaths are the next step of evolution!” (which is completely stupid for numerous reasons) is just...buh? Now, for the record, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to address eugenics in an X-Men comic. In fact, I think it’s almost an elephant in the room at certain points. And this was the time period for it in America, something people really don’t want to talk about. But then the entire discussion/message is so...jumbled? Like I think ultimately it is aiming to say “it’s bad!” at the end---it’s something the bad people believe in (tho everyone is kinda a bad guy), the villain proclaiming herself merely this way by her nature is killed by the twin of the good guy in an attempt to prove that nurture triumphs over nature, and see it does because the good guy was adopted by a good family and his twin wasn’t so that’s why his twin is like this, and the story-within-a-story sci-fi tale ends with the “carefully bred and created from all the best genes” hero getting rid of the Breeders Council and now going to procreate with the supposedly genetically-inferior natural-bred people, yay! And yet...it doesn’t do a good job of arguing the point I think it’s trying to make. Bad Twin may have gone to a bad family, yet he still grows up trying to be good? He’s the one who stops the villain? And the villain seems to be telling the truth, she really was just born this way? So like, Dukes is right in the beginning when he says it’s really all down to nature. And likewise, in the pulp-style sci-fi story that serves a metaphor for the larger story, the reason that the Breeders Council turns out to be evil isn’t that they’re eugenicists selectively controlling human reproduction like show dogs, that’s explicitly stated not to be the issue ( “The Breeders Council planned not to just retain humanity’s best qualities and remove the bad, but they would also remove every part of us that is spontaneous and unpredictable!”) So like, eugenics are fine until free will is bred out, I guess? But it’s cool otherwise! And it doesn’t help that the coolness and superiority of the eugenically-bred hero BECAUSE of what specific genes were use for him--his super sense of directions from Bedouin nomads, voice from the most accomplished Neapolitan baritones, reflexes from three generations of Hessian sharpshooters---is constantly harped on and shown as working for exactly what it was intended for, whereas the “mongrel” population falls before him easily and is emphasized as hideous. And like...the reason they’re going to start breeding with the “unfit” population...is it turns out they’re the ones with the “spontaneity genes”...so...that’s...still selective breeding for genetic reasons? Also, back to the elephant in the room...it’s trying to be about eugenics, it’s not shy about that, that word is literally used in the first few pages. Yet the racist and ableist aspects of eugenics never comes up. Not in the noir story itself, not in the sci-fi story-within-a-story. The noir story focuses specifically on the idea of criminal/evil tendencies innate vs inborn; the racist, ableist, xenophobic/anti-immigrant parts of eugenics are never even mentioned. And in the scifi story, it’s averted even harder, with the genetically “superior” people being specifically noted as bronze-skinned and having had their genetic traits picked from all over the world. So like...they wanna debate eugenics, they wanna throw that right at the center of things straightaway...but not ever mention its really nasty parts? And set it in a time period where those parts are why it was popular? Like, I get wanting to focus on the issue of criminal traits in a crime story, and I get just not even wanting to debate these other parts in the story because there shouldn’t be a debate, but just avoiding the whole thing altogether seems...it just seems wrong. If you’re going to bring up something like that, BRING IT UP. Maybe they wanted to ask the question of “ok but would it be okay if it WASN’T prejudicial about race or disability?” but it seems more like it’s just trying to avoid/ignore that in general for the sake of the story...which I get because there’s a LOT there, but again, if you’re going to tackle something like this, tackle it. Don’t go halfway. Also, given that the anti-immigrant aspect of actual eugenics beliefs at the time means it makes no sense for Magnus, whose background as an immigrant is a plot point because of how it indebted him to Shaw, to believe in it. Which is also never addressed to my memory, not even to call him a hypocrite or even just explain how/why he believes it at all. And of course, making Magneto in any universe, even one set before WWII, a proponent of eugenics is GROSS AND A TERRIBLE CHOICE AND WHY WOULD YOU EVEN i guess because his 616 counterpart’s belief in mutant supremacy makes it seem like a good analogue but oh my god think for two seconds?! I genuinely do not think a malicious message was intended but due to the shitty handling, the moral I think they’re trying to deliver ends up mixed at best. I think they were trying to use the theme of mutants in a noir somehow without actually having mutants, and they got the idea of “well how about people who are genetically criminal” and then that leads itself naturally to a nature vs nurture debate, and it’s a cool idea to have some deeper questions like that within what would otherwise just be a straight murder story. But then I guess they connected the idea of “criminal by nature/born sociopaths” to “eugenics in general” which is admittedly not a huge leap, and it is easy to tie the idea of eugenics to a series whose characters are literally meant to be “homo superior” by virtue of their genes...except in this case they’re not homo superior, they’re a bunch of criminals, and only one seems to have been born that way. Like I feel like this theme would have worked a lot better in the 616 universe, not a human AU. Basically, I think they were trying to do too much in one story, they didn’t want to tackle all the implications of their theme despite those implications being what it’s most known for, the theme frankly doesn’t even really work with the story or setting that well even though it seems like it should (time period, etc), they don’t seem to realize how to convey their message or even what that message really is (as said, I think it’s nature over nurture, but the story itself seems confused on that) and when you add all that to the convoluted, confusing plot (which is okay for a noir, but when it’s added to all this mess it’s just hard to follow) with the twist at the end, it’s just...what just happened? It’s just kind of a mess, and given the themes they decided to tackle, ends up a mess with some Unfortunate Implications...assuming you can even follow it that far. ALL THAT SAID...I enjoyed it? I know that sounds so terrible to say because of all the problematic shit I just described, but I genuinely liked exploring this world and what everyone was in it, and how their mutant powers in 616 were translated into mundane traits and skills, finding all the little references to stuff from 616, etc. I think they would have done a lot better to just focus on that, on translating the characters into these roles and how to keep them still those characters (instead of people who really just have their names) while in these roles, and just doing a straight noir story with that. I feel like trying to tackle deeper themes ended up just distracting from the story, and then ended up not even really tackling those themes anyway, so it just ended up a mess in both directions. But I think it was a good idea at its core! I really do! And I like what’s there of it! You know me, I fucking love a mess with good potential. Also, two other things--I understand noir means black, but the art is in so much shadow it’s often hard to tell what’s going on, or who is who. Lighten it up some and include some fun time-appropriate fashions. It would be easier to follow and better communicate the fashions, plus look cute as hell. And get another protagonist because why was the protagonist Tom Halloway?! He’s not an X-Men character! Why is he the lead?! LIKE THAT IS REALLY MY BIGGEST QUESTION

#hexiva #x men noir #eugenics for ts #tw for eugenics #out of cortez #meta #noir meta

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tumblunni · 8 years ago

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For the salty ask meme: 16) -If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?and 17) -Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen… (feel free to choose a fandom lol)

If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

Sinnoh: TEAM GALACTIC REDEMPTION ARC, TEAM GALACTIC REDEMPTION ARC *banging fists on the table*Also either give the main rival more of an actual role or just remove them. There’s a reason nobody ever remembers npc lucas/dawn and we all just classify barry as the main one instead! Npc lucas/dawn was like all the worst parts of npc brendan/may and none of the good. its been all these years and i still cant pin down a single personality trait for them!

Uhhhhmmm Steven Universe?: BISMUTH REDEMPTION ARC BISMUTH REDEMPTION ARCI just felt REALLy uncomfortable with how she was treated so unsympathetically after the reveal of her mistakes, even though steven’s talked down two other gems already who were misguided evilness. And I felt bismuth’s misguided evilness was way more complex and debateable if its even evil, it was a topic people still dont have an answer to in real life; what is ‘going too far’ when it comes to fighting against oppression?And like.. people say that she was handled sympathetically cos of the rest of the episode, but I say she wasnt handled AS sympathetically as the others. Like.. I don’t know how to explain it. She was introduced as a nice guy and then it was meant to be a twist that she’s ‘evil’ and then you’re meant to be SCARED of her! And it was just really unfortunate that they decided to do this plot with a character who’s heavily coded as black, yknow? And until Topaz we hadnt had ANY butch supporting gems who weren’t super evil and scary and violent. Like seriously its just an unfortunate THING that bismuth’s particular form of evil was the ‘oh she’s too violent and cant control her emotions’ kind of plot. I dont think they intentionally did any of this though, i just think they didnt think about how it’d come across in the wider context of what the show had already done. Like, it VERY MUCH would have not hit the same sort of nerve if this plot happened with any other kind of character design.Also i just FUCKIN LOVE BISMUTH and i DO NOT AGREE that she was 100% morally wrong here. There are situations where ‘kill the enemy to save the lives of innocents’ is a tough choice that actually has to be made. And even if I agree that she took it way too far, i dont think she was evil. i think she was just fuckin feeling the mental impact of war, and its hard to keep steven’s more rational ‘even some of the enemies might be redeemable’ mindset when ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS ARE DYING AT THE HANDS OF THOSE PEOPLE. And she just woke up and found out even more of her friends died! And all she has left is our heroes! And her last memory is of one of her best friends and mentor figures NOT EVEN HEARING HER OUT, and bubbling her cos she’s apparantly too dangerous to live! And then steven just bubbles her again! Nobody even tries to show her that she’s wrong or anything! Seriously, give me a plot of her coming back and getting to meet lapis and peridot and it leading to redemption.And.. like.. seriously...Can we go back to the fact that she’s VERY HEAVILY CODED AS A BLACK WOMAN? She’s a gem but she’s a gem with a black voiceactress and dreadlocks, yknow! And the whole damn SUBJECT of this episode is something that would have been very personal to black fans at the time. Its basically the whole ‘policeman preemptively shoots a black child over a gun he didnt have’ thing but framed with a black woman proposing that policy. Its so.. unfortunate. I dont think they did it on purpose but it REALLY dropped during a bad time, seriously! Its like how Gem Harvest upset a lot of people cos it happened RIGHT AFTER trump got elected, and people thought the uncle character was meant to be like ‘republicans arent so bad!’ even though episodes are made months in advance and it was just a coincidence. This is why you need to be more clear about stuff just in case, yknow? I mean, black people facing ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ was already a problem even before these high profile news cases about so many shootings, and people having a racist, sexist republican uncle who uses ‘family values’ and ‘i hate change’ as an excuse was also a thing before trump was even born. Its not impossible to predict audience reactions, yknow!Anyway, I just miss Bismuth a lot. And I’m glad later episodes at least showed that steven is guilty about it and is continuing to think about it, so she might someday come back and continue her plotline. It just raised so much salt at the time cos the framing of the episode made it seem like this was thefirst and last time we’d ever see bismuth, and a redemption was absolutely impossible when every other villain so far had either got a redemption or had a big chance of getting one soon. Nowdays we have more irredeemable baddies too, so at least its not as big of a disparity anymore!

Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

Sinnoh: TEAM GALACTIC REDEMPTION ARC instead of NOT TEAM GALACTIC REDEMPTION ARCAlso: more actual something happening with the Charon backstory. Instead of it being in a weirdass wifi event, put it in the actual plot. Instead of no redemption arc and no rotom hugs, give sidequest of rotom hugs.FEED MY ADDICTION TO REDEMPTION ARCS, NINTENDO!

Hoenn: Instead of no character customization, character customization. I really hope if we get sinnoh remakes they keep character customization! Even if its just dressing up the preset character design!

Alola: Please remove any hints that Lillie is gonna forgive her mom without lusamine doing anything to deserve it yet, geez. Also I really REALLY hope the theory of ‘lusamine used to be nice and was just brainwashed by nihilego’ was never intended to be canon. Seriously it is SO RARE to see a plot of someone calling out their abusive mom and escaping their abusive mom, can we not pull any bullshit to lower the impact of that. ‘She wasnt really abusive, she was just mind controlled’ is THE single worst pokemon theory I’ve heard in a million years of shitty pokemon theory.I have no chill for the topic of abusive moms.ALSO: give plumeria more screentime, I love plumeria. Instead of no plumeria: plumeria.

Persona 5: Instead of dating your fuckin 30 year old teacher at age 16, let us have a gay option. Seriously atlus you’re clearly fine with putting ‘taboos’ into your games, why did you go with one that actually has a friggin MORAL REASON to not be in games??? Its so hypocritical of them to have a bunch of ‘lol gay men are so gross’ jokes when they’re having actual gross shit in the damn game...Also kawakami was a really good character once you got past the cringe factor of her horrible plot. Rescue her from the plot! She could have been a perfectly fine heartwarming friendship route! Even if you only go friends with her, she still has to be part of this gross demeaning maid service plot and say a bunch of suggestive nonsense and then if i wanna get all the social links i have to take advantage of her overpowered skill to give you extra time which TAKES THE FORM OF A CREEPY MASSAGE. Seriously, why???? IM SO SORRY KAWAKAMI IM SKIPPING THRU THE SCENE AS FAST AS I CAN

#sooooo much salt #also im bad at explaining my opinions lol #summon-daze #ask

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zuvluguu · 8 years ago

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The Case for Christ Consciousness By

Joran Slane Oppelt

“The most important Gospel you’ll ever read is the one that you write.”

– Reverend Russell Heiland

Did Jesus Exist?

There’s a curious 40-70 year span that occurs between Jesus’ death and the time that the apostles and their descendants were “inspired” to write the Gospels. That, combined with the fact that more than half of the Gospels weren’t even written by men alive during Jesus’ time, gives one cause for wonder. I, myself, wonder if I would trust the acquaintances of my friends (even if I considered them “disciples”) to correctly quote me two generations later about something as important as what I believed to be the “good news,” the living Word of God.

There’s also the ancient and familiar origins of the Jesus myth itself. The story of Jesus was not new to people at the time. In fact, Jesus’ life story has so many elements in common with other (and pre-existing) Mediterranean and Middle Eastern god-man hybrids — like the Persian story of Mithras (whose birth was attended by three shepherds), the Egyptian legend of Osiris (who was assassinated by conspirators, defeated death and returned to rule the afterlife), the Greek Dionysus (who celebrated a “last supper” with twelve trusted associates before his execution) and Zoroaster (also from Persia, who was “born of a virgin mother” and come to “crush the forces of evil”). Even the Hindu deity Krishna (thought to have lived anywhere from 3228 to 3rd Century BCE) is thought to be the inspiration for the Jesus myth (his father was a carpenter, his birth was marked by the appearance of a star, he healed the sick and the lame).

Any (or all) of these stories could prove to be the inspiration for the Jesus mythology, but not vice versa. In fact, St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE) wrote, “This, in our day, is the Christian religion, not as having been unknown in former times, but as having recently received that name.”

So, if Jesus’ life was simply a more effective re-telling of re-hashed pagan and Occident stories and legends, then why does he matter? And, if we could separate the mythology of Jesus — of which so much has been added to after his “death” — from the message or teachings of Jesus, what might distinguish him, philosophically, from the hordes of other virgin-born messiahs of the day?

Love

Let’s start with Jesus’ ministry and his message of universal love (Agape), which is a different type of love than the world had seen to that point, and different even from the idea that God (the father) “so loved the world” that he sent his only Son to die.

Most of the so-called Axial sages (800 – 200 BCE) — from Socrates to Confucius to The Buddha — instructed their students and disciples in Oneness or non-duality, or to hold the entire world in their hearts. It was a spiritual (not to mention monotheistic) leap that was happening worldwide. A call to think beyond egocentrism (our selves and families), and ethnocentrism (our tribes and nations) — to attain a worldcentric perspective. This was a new paradigm that, to this day, few people attain. But, while The Buddha contemplated desires, and Judaism preached compassion for thy neighbor, and the Indians practiced ahimsa (non-violence), Jesus didn’t ask, he demanded Love from his followers. In fact, there are those that say a deep, sustained and unconditional Love is the central tenet of the Christian faith.

Jesus said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

He also instructed us to reveal that love to the world, to wear it on the outside.

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works.”

This not-so-simple practice of love, compassion and Ultimate Concern (and a few armed Crusades here and there) got Christianity pretty far along in the world. It was even carried across the ocean to America, where it replaced the indigenous nature religions and today remains the largest religion on the planet, with Islam in second place and quickly closing the gap.

Heal Thyself

During the late 19th century, there arose entire movements in the United States around the ideas of faith healing. According to these schools of thought, not only was the Spirit of Christ in every fiber of our bodies, but the body and mind of Christ was also held up as the exemplar of perfect health and physical regeneration. A pure, energetic being made of light — with no disease, no attachment, free from karma and sin. A kind of ideal man, “full of grace and truth.” In fact, one of Osiris’ names (after his resurrection) was Wenennefer, which meant “the one who continues to be perfect.”

These New Thought movements (Christian Science, Unity) claimed that “Infinite Intelligence or God is the sole reality” and that “we are children of God, and therefore do not inherit sickness.” Sickness, therefore, might be the failure to realize this truth, and healing accomplished (partly) by the “affirmation of oneness with the Infinite Intelligence or God.” The image of Jesus as a divine healer was fully embraced. After all, Jesus had cured all forms of ailment (from blindness to leprosy), raised the dead, and performed all manner of medical miracles.

Unity founders, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore were so taken up by the healing power of prayer through the Christ Mind — that after ridding themselves of illness (a bad hip and tuberculosis, respectively), they began to host nightly prayer sessions and opened their home to all kinds of afflicted. This prayer service — a kind of guided meditation — which began as a small group gathering at the same time every night, continues on today in the form of a fully staffed 24-hour call center in Kansas City, MO.

Unity also began teaching a system known as the “Twelve Powers,” which identifies energy centers in the body (similar to chakras), which correspond not only to the Twelve Apostles but also to spiritual and psychological functions like “Will,” “Imagination,” “Power,” and “Love.”

Faith healing is, of course, not exclusive to Christians, and if we consider recent discoveries in quantum mechanics and the controversial field of zero point energy, then factor in Jung’s collective unconscious as it pertains to the science of mind, it’s possible that “faith healing” isn’t based on faith at all. When Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them,” the statement could be more true than he intended. For, it’s quite possible that a healing intention holds real power no matter whose name you’re healing in the name of.

Christ Consciousness

Jesus was also the way-shower for the three faces of God (1st, 2nd and 3rd-person perspectives of Spirit), demonstrating at once that communicating about God, to God, and as God are not separate functions or faculties.

Lynne McTaggart wrote in her groundbreaking book The Field, “We are quantum beings. All living things are connected by an invisible web. The brain perceives the world through quantum frequencies. Everything is indivisible and living consciousness is not isolated. In effect, there’s nothing that is not part of this field. There’s nothing that is not God.”

If our continually-expanding consciousness, the ability to take more and more perspectives — not to mention the primordial drive toward increasing biological complexity — is directly related to the unfolding of the entire cosmos, then we — our interiors and exteriors — are all part of that whole. It is one action. It is, in fact, Spirit-in-Action.

Our mind, then, acts as a kind of compass, lens or prism, refracting and re-broadcasting this consciousness throughout our entire body (gross, subtle and causal) and the bodies of others, the way a transmitter carries information. And in our various attempts to improve, focus or attenuate our minds — through study, contemplation, prayer or meditation — we hold in place an ideal, a mind that is unclouded, that is both crystal-clear and ever-unfolding. A mind that is a reflection of the Cosmos itself. This is the mind of Christ, this is Christ Consciousness. And by any other name, it is the perfection always within you, “the part that is unchanging, and indestructible.”

You Are The Christ

In The Life and Morals of Jesus, also known as “The Jefferson Bible,” (a project finally completed by Thomas Jefferson in 1820) Jesus’ words are stripped of all other narrative, presenting his teachings in one place, and revealing them for what they are — a passionate form of spiritual wisdom the likes of which the world had never seen. In this context, the Sermon on the Mount begins to resemble something more like the Dhammapada or the Tao Te Ching — a sometimes poetic collection of universal insights into the human condition, with the power to effect real change in people and the world.

If we can never fully know who Jesus was, maybe we can find a real and deep understanding of what Jesus means to the world. After all, the Buddha was a prince whose lineage can be verified using any manner of genealogical sources, but we don’t need to see a certificate of birth to understand the message of The Enlightened One — that attachment to objects or desires leads down a painful path of inner conflict.

Jesus said, “When you see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower, and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites! Ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it, that ye do not discern this time?” Was he asking us to turn the scientific principles we would apply outwardly to geology and cosmology (principles that didn’t yet exist) onto the inner workings of our own minds? Was he suggesting they were one and the same?

Just as Jesus is popularly depicted parting his robes to reveal his glowing chest — open and vulnerable — we must peel away the layers of the myth to get to the pure heart and intention of Jesus, the man. Regardless of his origin, is it possible that Jesus was a rabbi, and a teacher, and a healer that was misunderstood, misquoted and possibly deified after his death? Is it possible that Jesus was more “enlightened” or smarter than his peers? Did Jesus’ brain contain a higher level of neuroplasticity than those that existed at the time, allowing him to access and retain higher states of consciousness? Was Jesus the Son of Man? the Son of God? All of the above?

Is it possible that the answers to these questions are already within your own heart?

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dfroza · 4 years ago

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Today’s reading from the ancient books of Proverbs and Psalms

for Thursday, february 11 of 2021 with Proverbs 11 and Psalm 11, accompanied by Psalm 53 for the 53rd day of Winter and Psalm 42 for day 42 of the year

[Psalm 11]

For the worship leader. A song of David.

I am already in the soft embrace of the Eternal,

so why do you beckon me to leave, saying,

“Fly like a bird to the mountains.

Look! The wicked approach with bows bent,

sneaking around in the shadows,

setting their arrows against their bowstrings to pierce everyone whose heart is pure.

If the foundations are crumbling,

is there hope for the righteous?”

But the Eternal has not moved; He remains in His holy temple.

He sits squarely on His heavenly throne.

He observes the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, examining us within and without,

exploring every fiber of our beings.

The Eternal searches the hearts of those who are good,

but He despises all those who can’t get enough of perversion and violence.

If you are evil, He will rain hot lava over your head,

will fill your cup with burning wind and liquid fire to scorch your insides.

The Eternal is right in all His ways;

He cherishes all that is upright.

Those who do what is right in His eyes will see His face.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 11 (The Voice)

[Psalm 53]

For the worship leader. A contemplative song of David. A song for the dance.

The foolish are convinced deep down that there is no God.

Their souls are polluted, and they commit gross injustice.

Not one of them does good.

From heaven the one True God examines the earth

to see if any understand the big picture,

if any seek to know the True God.

All have turned back to their wicked ways; they’ve become totally perverse.

Not one of them does good,

not even one.

Do the wicked relish their ignorance,

the wicked ones who consume My people as if they were bread

and fail to call upon the True God?

They trembled with great fear,

though they’d never been afraid before,

Because the True God ravaged the bones of those who rose against you.

You humiliated them because the True God spat them out.

Oh, that the liberation of Israel would come out of Zion!

When the True God reclaims His people,

let Jacob celebrate; let Israel rejoice.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 53 (The Voice)

Book Two

[Psalm 42]

For the worship leader. A contemplative song of the sons of Korah.

My soul is dry and thirsts for You, True God,

as a deer thirsts for water.

I long for the True God who lives.

When can I stand before Him and feel His comfort?

Right now I’m overwhelmed by my sorrow and pain;

I can’t stop feasting on my tears.

People crowd around me and say,

“Where is your True God whom you claim will save?”

With a broken heart,

I remember times before

When I was with Your people. Those were better days.

I used to lead them happily into the True God’s house,

Singing with joy, shouting thanksgivings with abandon,

joining the congregation in the celebration.

Why am I so overwrought?

Why am I so disturbed?

Why can’t I just hope in God?

Despite all my emotions, I will believe and praise the One

who saves me and is my life.

My God, my soul is so traumatized;

the only help is remembering You wherever I may be;

From the land of the Jordan to Hermon’s high place

to Mount Mizar.

In the roar of Your waterfalls,

ancient depths surge, calling out to the deep.

All Your waves break over me;

am I drowning?

Yet in the light of day, the Eternal shows me His love.

When night settles in and all is dark, He keeps me company—

His soothing song, a prayerful melody to the True God of my life.

Even still, I will say to the True God, my rock and strength:

“Why have You forgotten me?

Why must I live my life so depressed, crying endlessly

while my enemies have the upper hand?”

My enemies taunt me.

They shatter my soul the way a sword shatters a man’s bones.

They keep taunting all the day long,

“Where is He, your True God?”

Why am I so overwrought,

Why am I so disturbed?

Why can’t I just hope in God?

Despite all my emotions, I will believe and praise the One

who saves me, my God.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 42 (The Voice)

[Proverbs 11]

To set high standards for someone else,

and then not live up to them yourself,

is something that God truly hates.

But it pleases him when we apply the right standards

of measurement.

When you act with presumption,

convinced that you’re right,

don’t be surprised if you fall flat on your face!

But walking in humility helps you to make wise decisions.

Integrity will lead you to success and happiness,

but treachery will destroy your dreams.

When Judgment Day comes,

all the wealth of the world won’t help you one bit.

So you’d better be rich in righteousness,

for that’s the only thing that can save you in death.

Those with good character walk on a smooth path,

with no detour or deviation.

But the wicked keep falling because of their own wickedness.

Integrity will keep a good man from falling.

But the unbeliever is trapped,

held captive to his sinful desires.

When an evil man dies, all hope is lost,

for his misplaced confidence goes in the coffin

and gets buried along with him.

Lovers of God are snatched away from trouble,

and the wicked show up in their place.

The teachings of hypocrites can destroy you,

but revelation knowledge will rescue the righteous.

The blessing that rests on the righteous

releases strength and favor to the entire city,

but shouts of joy will be heard when the wicked one dies.

The blessing of favor resting upon the righteous

influences a city to lift it higher,

but wicked leaders tear it apart by their words.

To quarrel with a neighbor is senseless.

Bite your tongue; be wise and keep quiet!

You can’t trust gossipers with a secret;

they’ll just go blab it all.

Put your confidence instead in a trusted friend,

for he will be faithful to keep it in confidence.

People lose their way without wise leadership,

but a nation succeeds and stands in victory

when it has many good counselors to guide it.

The evil man will do harm when confronted by a righteous man,

because he hates those who await good news.

A gracious, generous woman

will be honored with a splendid reputation,

but the woman who hates the truth

lives surrounded with disgrace and by men

who are cutthroats, only greedy for money.

A man of kindness attracts favor,

while a cruel man attracts nothing but trouble.

Evil people may get a short-term gain,

but to sow seeds of righteousness

will bring a true and lasting reward.

A son of righteousness experiences the abundant life,

but the one who pursues evil hurries to his own death.

The Lord can’t stand the stubborn heart bent toward evil,

but he treasures those whose ways are pure.

Assault your neighbor and you will certainly be punished,

but God will rescue the children of the godly.

A beautiful woman who abandons good morals

is like a fine gold ring dangling from a pig’s snout.

True lovers of God are filled with longings

for what is pleasing and good,

but the wicked can only expect doom.

Generosity brings prosperity,

but withholding from charity brings poverty.

Those who live to bless others

will have blessings heaped upon them,

and the one who pours out his life to pour out blessings

will be saturated with favor.

People will curse the businessman with no ethics,

but the one with a social conscience receives praise from all.

Living your life seeking what is good for others brings untold favor,

but those who wish evil for others will find it coming back on them.

Keep trusting in your riches and down you’ll go!

But the lovers of God rise up like flowers in the spring.

The fool who brings trouble to his own family

will be cut out of the will,

and the family servant will do better than he.

But a life lived loving God bears lasting fruit,

for the one who is truly wise wins souls.

If the righteous are barely saved,

what’s in store for all the wicked?

The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 11 (The Passion Translation)

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pamphletstoinspire · 7 years ago

Photo

The Church's Year - INSTRUCTION ON THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

At the Introit implore God's assistance and say, with the priest:

INTROIT Hear, O Lord, my voice with which I have cried to thee: be thou my helper, forsake me not, nor do Thou despise me, O god, my Savior. (Ps. XXVI.) The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Glory be to the Father, etc.

COLLECT O God, who host prepared invisible good things for those that love Thee: pour into our hearts such a sense of Thy love, that we, loving Thee in all, and above all, may obtain Thy promises, which exceed all out desire: Through etc.

EPISTLE (I Peter III. 8-15.) Dearly beloved, Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, being lovers of the brotherhood, merciful, modest, humble: not rendering evil for evil, nor railing for railing, but contrariwise, blessing: for unto this you are called; that you may inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him decline from evil, and do good: let him seek?after peace, and, pursue it: because the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears unto their. prayers: but the countenance of the Lord upon them that do evil, things. And, who is he that can, hurt you, if you: be zealous of good? But if also you suffer any thing for, justice' sake, blessed are ye. And be not afraid of their fear, and be not troubled: but sanctify the Lord Christ, in your hearts.

How can and how should we sanctify the Lord in our hearts?

By practising those virtues which Peter here recommends, and which he so exactly describes; for thereby we become true disciples of Christ, honor Him and edify others, who by our good example are led to admire Christianity, and to become His followers. Moreover, we thus render ourselves more worthy of God's grace and protection, so that if for justice' sake we are persecuted by, wicked men, we need not fear, because God is for us and will reward us with eternal happiness.

ASPIRATION O good Saviour, Jesus Christ, grant that I may make Thy virtues my own; especially Thy humility, patience, mercy, and love; grant that I may practise them diligently, that I may glorify Thee, sanctify myself, and thus become worthy of Thy protection.

GOSPEL (Matt. V. 20-24.) At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: Except your justice abound more than that of the Scribesand Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill: and whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. If therefore, thou bring thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother bath anything against thee, leave there thy offering befog a the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother: and then coming, thou shaft offer thy gift.

In what did the justice of the Pharisees consist?

In external works of piety, in the avoidance of such gross vices as could not be concealed, and would have brought them to shame and disgrace. But in their hearts these Pharisees cherished evil, corrupt inclinations and desires, pride, envy, avarice, and studied malice and vengeance. Jesus, therefore, called them hypocrites, whitened sepulchres, and St. John calls them a brood of vipers. True Justice consists not only in external works of piety, that is, devotional works, but especially in a pure, sincere, self?sacrificing feeling towards God and man; without this all works, however good, are only a shell without a kernel.

How are we to understand that which Christ here says of anger and abusive words?

The meaning of Christ's words are:. You have heard that murder was forbidden to your fathers in the desert, and that the murderer had to be given up to justice: but I say to you, whoever becomes angry with his neighbor, shall be in danger of divine judgment, and he who with abusive words, such as Raca, Villain, gives vent to his anger, using expressions of contempt and insult, as fool, scoundrel, profligate, wretch, is more liable to punishment. These degrees of anger are punished in different ways by God.

Is anger always sinful?

No, anger is sinful only when we wish or actually inflict some evil to the body, property, or honor of our neighbor; when we make use of such insulting and abusive words as injure his character, provoke and irritate him. If we become angry at the vices and crimes of others, when our office or the duties of our station demand that we watch over the conduct of those under our care, to punish and correct them, (as in the case of parents, teachers, and superiors) then anger is no sin. When one through pure love of God, becomes irritated at the sins and vices of his fellowmen, like King David, or if one urged to wrong, repels the tempter with indignation, this is even a holy anger. Thus St. Gregory Says; "It is to be understood that anger created by impatience is a very different thing from anger produced by a zeal for justice. The one is caused by vice, the other by virtue." He, then, who becomes angry for justice' sake, commits no sin, but his conduct is holy and praiseworthy, for even our Lord was angry at those who bought and sold in the temple, (John II. 15.) Paul at the magician Elymas, (Acts XIII. 8.) and Peter at the deceit of Ananias and Saphira. (Acts V. 3.) Anger, then, to be without sin, must proceed from true zeal for God's honor and the salvation of souls, by which we seek to prevent others from sin, and to make them better. Even in this respect, we must be careful to allow our anger no control over our reason, but to use it merely as a means of doing good, for we are often apt to take the sting of anger for holy zeal, when it is really nothing but egotism and ambition.

Why must we first be reconciled with our neighbor before bringing an offering to God, or undertaking any good work?

Because no offering or other good work can be pleasing to God, while we live in enmity, hatred, and strife with our neighbor; for by living thus we act altogether contrary to God's will. This should be remembered by all Christians, who go to confession and holy Communion, without forgiving those who have offended them, and asking pardon of those whom they have injured. These must know that instead of receiving absolution for their sins, they by an invalid confession are guilty of another sin, and eat their own judgment in holy Communion.

How should reconciliation be made with our neighbor?

With promptness, because the apostle says: Let not the sun go down upon your anger. (Eph. IV. 26.) But if the person you have offended is absent, says St. Augustine, and you cannot easily meet him, you are bound to be reconciled to him interiorly, that is, to humble yourself before God, and ask His forgiveness, making the firm resolution to be reconciled to your enemy as soon as possible. If he is accessible, go to him, and ask his forgiveness; if he has offended you, forgive him from your heart. The reconciliation should be sincere, for God sees into the heart; it should also be permanent, for if it is not lasting, it may be questioned if it was ever sincere. On account of this command of Christ to be reconciled to our enemies before bringing sacrifice, it was the custom in ancient times that the faithful gave. the kiss of peace to one another at the sacrifice of Mass, before Communion, as even to this day do the priests and deacons, by which those who are present, are admonished to love one another with holy love, and to be perfectly reconciled with their enemies, before Communion.

ASPIRATION O God, strike me not with the blindness of the Pharisees that, like them, I may seek to please man by my works, and thus be deprived of eternal reward. Banish from my heart all sinful anger, and give me a holy zeal in charity that I may be anxious only for Thy honor and for the salvation of my neighbor. Grant me also that I may offend no one, and willingly forgive those who have offended me, thus practicing true Christian justice, and become agreeable to Thee.

MEANS OF PREVENTING ANGER

The first and most effectual preventive is humility; for as among the proud there are always quarrels and contentions, (Prov. XIII. 10.) so among the humble reign peace, meekness and patience. To be humble, meek, and patient, we must frequently bring before our minds the example of Christ who did not sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, (I Peter II. 22.) yet suffered great contradictions, many persecutions, scoffs and sneers from sinners, without threatening vengeance to any one for all He suffered; He say's to us in truth: Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart. (Matt. XI. Z9.) A very good preventive of anger is to think over in the morning what causes will be likely to draw us into anger at any time during the day, and to arm ourselves against it by a firm resolution to bear all with patience and silence; and when afterwards anything unpleasant occurs, let us think, "What will I effect by my anger? Can I thereby make things better? Will I not even make myself ridiculous and injure my health?" (for experience as well as holy Scripture teaches, that anger shortens life.) (Eccles. XXX. 26.) Finally, the most necessary preventive of anger is fervent prayer to God for the grace of meekness and patience, for although it seems difficult and almost impossible to our nature to be patient, by the grace of God it becomes not only possible, but even easy.

INSTRUCTION ON SACRIFICE

Offer thy gift. (Matt. V. 24.)

In its wider and more universal sense sacrifice comprehends all religious actions by which a rational being; presents himself to God, to be united with Him; and in this sense prayer, praising God, a contrite heart, charity to others, every good work, and observance of God's commandments is a sacrifice. Thus the Holy Scriptures say: Offer up the sacrifice of justice and trust in the Lord. (Fs. IV. 6.) Offer to God the sacrifice of praise. (Ps. XLIX. iq..) Sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humble heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Ps. 1. 19.) It is a wholesome sacrifice to take heed to the commandments, and to depart from, all iniquity. (Ecclus. XXXV. 2.) "Therefore," says St. Augustine, "every good work which is united in sanctity with God, is a true sacrifice, because it refers to the end of all good, to God, by whom we can be truly happy." As often, then, as you humble yourself in prayer before the majesty of God, when you give yourself up to God, and when you make your will subject to His divine will, you bring a sacrifice to God; as often as you punish your body by continency, and your senses by mortification, you bring a sacrifice to God, because you offer them as instruments of justice; (Rom. VI. 13.) as often as you subdue the evil concupiscence of the flesh, the perverted inclinations of your soul, deny yourself any worldly pleasure for the love of God, you bring a sacrifice to God. Such sacrifices you should daily offer to God; without which all others have no value and do not please God, such as these you can make every moment, when you think, speak, and act all for the love, of God.

Strive then, Christian soul, to offer these pleasing sacrifices to God, the supreme Lord, and as you thus glorify Him, so will He one day reward you with unutterable glory.

[Concerning Sacrifice in a stricter sense, especially the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and its renewal in holy Mass, see the latter part of this book.]

#fifth sunday after pentecost

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setapartdestiny-blog · 8 years ago

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To The Un-Friender

Okay, I really believe we need to examine our maturity level within the body of Messiah. I have witnessed, especially recently, a gross need for maturing beyond the point of “If you don't believe exactly what I believe then I don't want to be your friend anymore!” As we threaten to delete from our friends list on Facebook (and other social media outlets) those who disagree with us on any given view. I mean really? REALLY??? It's like we're on a schoolyard playground at 5 years old with our hands on her hips screaming nanny nanny boo boo in the face of the poor kid whose only fault was trying to fit in. Now I know Yeshua/Jesus said for us to become as little children but I really don't think that this is what He had in mind when he said it… Acting like school bullies in need of correction from Abba! This is not just about removing someone from your social media “friends list”, as there are definitely reasons to do so, but this is more about how we handle ourselves in the face of disagreements.

“At that time the taught ones came to Yeshua, saying, “Who, then, is greatest in the reign of the heavens? ” And Yeshua called a little child to Him, set him in their midst, and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become as little children, you shall by no means enter into the reign of the heavens. “Whoever then humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the reign of the heavens. “And whoever receives one little child like this in My Name receives Me. “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:1-6

Are we not able to agree to disagree in a civil and mature adult manner? Do we just automatically expect everyone else to see things just the way that we do, and if they don't to heck with them? Why do we behave like this? Maybe in part because we don’t even realize it..? You can NOT expect anybody to see anything exactly the way that you see it. Therefore how can you get mad at them when they don't? I think this may have been one of the things Paul was talking about when he said if you say and do things without love you're nothing more than a clanging cymbal. Please understand, I am in no way professing the “coexist” mentality but rather speaking to Bible believing brothers & sisters to act in LOVE when encountering another brother or sister who is just in a different place in their spiritual walk. We are ALL at different points in our personal journey in pursuit of THE WAY.

“If I speak with the tongues of men and of messengers, but do not have love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophecy, and know all secrets and all knowledge, and if I have all belief, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am none at all. And if I give out all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but do not have love, I am not profited at all. Love is patient, is kind, love does not envy, love does not boast, is not puffed up, does not behave indecently, does not seek its own, is not provoked, reckons not the evil, does not rejoice over the unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth, it covers all, believes all, expects all, endures all. Love never fails. And whether there be prophecies, they shall be inactive; or tongues, they shall cease; or knowledge, it shall be inactive. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part shall be inactive. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child. But when I became a man, I did away with childish matters. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know, as I also have been known. And now belief (faith), expectation (hope), and love remain – these three. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13

I hear a lot of cleaning symbols in the body and it's an ugly sound that hurts my ears and it hurts my heart. Sometimes I wonder with half of the Facebook posts that I see on a daily basis, are they posted with the motive of edification and encouragement to even those who may not agree or be of the same spiritual understanding or are they posted just to hear like-minded people agreeing with them? Why do we have to lash out at somebody for disagreeing with us? Why do we have to pick on them for it? Let’s stop pointing fingers and worry about ourselves because you are the only person you have to answer for at the end of the day… nobody else but you.

Unless you have the good sense to admit the fact that as long as you are a finite being you could very well be wrong about something, you may just have a lot more growing and learning to do than you think. We have to be ready and willing to admit that we could be wrong about something… Lots of things… Everything for that matter, in order to open ourselves up to continue learning and growing. I will be the first to admit that I fought against what I did not understand, holding tightly to what I had been taught by man until one day truth slapped me across the face and I hit my knees in repentance… Another story for another time… Now I don't know about you but I hope that I'm growing and learning until I take my very last breath because the only time that I will have complete knowledge and understanding is when I am standing before Messiah in the kingdom and He has made known all to me! So before we all become a bunch of stereotyping hypocrites like the Pharisees, let's take a good look in the mirror and remember that the greatest command is love!

“Teacher, which is the great command in the Torah?” And Yeshua said to him, You shall love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your being, and with all your mind.’ “This is the first and great command. “And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ “On these two commands hang all the Torah and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:36-40

LOVE is what sets us apart!

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

#love #messiah #social media #friend #maturity #setapart

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dfroza · 5 years ago

Text

Today’s reading in the ancient book of Psalms and Proverbs

for february 11 of 2020 with Psalm 11 and Proverbs 11, accompanied by Psalm 53 for the 53rd day of Winter and Psalm 42 for day 42 of the year

[Psalm 11]

For the worship leader. A song of David.

I am already in the soft embrace of the Eternal,

so why do you beckon me to leave, saying,

“Fly like a bird to the mountains.

Look! The wicked approach with bows bent,

sneaking around in the shadows,

setting their arrows against their bowstrings to pierce everyone whose heart is pure.

If the foundations are crumbling,

is there hope for the righteous?”

But the Eternal has not moved; He remains in His holy temple.

He sits squarely on His heavenly throne.

He observes the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, examining us within and without,

exploring every fiber of our beings.

The Eternal searches the hearts of those who are good,

but He despises all those who can’t get enough of perversion and violence.

If you are evil, He will rain hot lava over your head,

will fill your cup with burning wind and liquid fire to scorch your insides.

The Eternal is right in all His ways;

He cherishes all that is upright.

Those who do what is right in His eyes will see His face.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 11 (The Voice)

[Psalm 53]

For the worship leader. A contemplative song of David. A song for the dance.

The foolish are convinced deep down that there is no God.

Their souls are polluted, and they commit gross injustice.

Not one of them does good.

From heaven the one True God examines the earth

to see if any understand the big picture,

if any seek to know the True God.

All have turned back to their wicked ways; they’ve become totally perverse.

Not one of them does good,

not even one.

Do the wicked relish their ignorance,

the wicked ones who consume My people as if they were bread

and fail to call upon the True God?

They trembled with great fear,

though they’d never been afraid before,

Because the True God ravaged the bones of those who rose against you.

You humiliated them because the True God spat them out.

Oh, that the liberation of Israel would come out of Zion!

When the True God reclaims His people,

let Jacob celebrate; let Israel rejoice.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 53 (The Voice)

Book Two

The Exodus Psalms

Psalms of suffering and redemption

[Psalm 42]

For the worship leader. A contemplative song of the sons of Korah.

My soul is dry and thirsts for You, True God,

as a deer thirsts for water.

I long for the True God who lives.

When can I stand before Him and feel His comfort?

Right now I’m overwhelmed by my sorrow and pain;

I can’t stop feasting on my tears.

People crowd around me and say,

“Where is your True God whom you claim will save?”

With a broken heart,

I remember times before

When I was with Your people. Those were better days.

I used to lead them happily into the True God’s house,

Singing with joy, shouting thanksgivings with abandon,

joining the congregation in the celebration.

Why am I so overwrought?

Why am I so disturbed?

Why can’t I just hope in God?

Despite all my emotions, I will believe and praise the One

who saves me and is my life.

My God, my soul is so traumatized;

the only help is remembering You wherever I may be;

From the land of the Jordan to Hermon’s high place

to Mount Mizar.

In the roar of Your waterfalls,

ancient depths surge, calling out to the deep.

All Your waves break over me;

am I drowning?

Yet in the light of day, the Eternal shows me His love.

When night settles in and all is dark, He keeps me company—

His soothing song, a prayerful melody to the True God of my life.

Even still, I will say to the True God, my rock and strength:

“Why have You forgotten me?

Why must I live my life so depressed, crying endlessly

while my enemies have the upper hand?”

My enemies taunt me.

They shatter my soul the way a sword shatters a man’s bones.

They keep taunting all the day long,

“Where is He, your True God?”

Why am I so overwrought,

Why am I so disturbed?

Why can’t I just hope in God?

Despite all my emotions, I will believe and praise the One

who saves me, my God.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 42 (The Voice)

[Proverbs 11]

To set high standards for someone else,

and then not live up to them yourself,

is something that God truly hates.

But it pleases him when we apply the right standards

of measurement.

When you act with presumption,

convinced that you’re right,

don’t be surprised if you fall flat on your face!

But walking in humility helps you to make wise decisions.

Integrity will lead you to success and happiness,

but treachery will destroy your dreams.

When Judgment Day comes,

all the wealth of the world won’t help you one bit.

So you’d better be rich in righteousness,

for that’s the only thing that can save you in death.

Those with good character walk on a smooth path,

with no detour or deviation.

But the wicked keep falling because of their own wickedness.

Integrity will keep a good man from falling.

But the unbeliever is trapped,

held captive to his sinful desires.

When an evil man dies, all hope is lost,

for his misplaced confidence goes in the coffin

and gets buried along with him.

Lovers of God are snatched away from trouble,

and the wicked show up in their place.

The teachings of hypocrites can destroy you,

but revelation knowledge will rescue the righteous.

The blessing that rests on the righteous

releases strength and favor to the entire city,

but shouts of joy will be heard when the wicked one dies.

The blessing of favor resting upon the righteous

influences a city to lift it higher,

but wicked leaders tear it apart by their words.

To quarrel with a neighbor is senseless.

Bite your tongue; be wise and keep quiet!

You can’t trust gossipers with a secret;

they’ll just go blab it all.

Put your confidence instead in a trusted friend,

for he will be faithful to keep it in confidence.

People lose their way without wise leadership,

but a nation succeeds and stands in victory

when it has many good counselors to guide it.

The evil man will do harm when confronted by a righteous man,

because he hates those who await good news.

A gracious, generous woman

will be honored with a splendid reputation,

but the woman who hates the truth

lives surrounded with disgrace and by men

who are cutthroats, only greedy for money.

A man of kindness attracts favor,

while a cruel man attracts nothing but trouble.

Evil people may get a short-term gain,

but to sow seeds of righteousness

will bring a true and lasting reward.

A son of righteousness experiences the abundant life,

but the one who pursues evil hurries to his own death.

The Lord can’t stand the stubborn heart bent toward evil,

but he treasures those whose ways are pure.

Assault your neighbor and you will certainly be punished,

but God will rescue the children of the godly.

A beautiful woman who abandons good morals

is like a fine gold ring dangling from a pig’s snout.

True lovers of God are filled with longings

for what is pleasing and good,

but the wicked can only expect doom.

Generosity brings prosperity,

but withholding from charity brings poverty.

Those who live to bless others

will have blessings heaped upon them,

and the one who pours out his life to pour out blessings

will be saturated with favor.

People will curse the businessman with no ethics,

but the one with a social conscience receives praise from all.

Living your life seeking what is good for others brings untold favor,

but those who wish evil for others will find it coming back on them.

Keep trusting in your riches and down you’ll go!

But the lovers of God rise up like flowers in the spring.

The fool who brings trouble to his own family

will be cut out of the will,

and the family servant will do better than he.

But a life lived loving God bears lasting fruit,

for the one who is truly wise wins souls.

If the righteous are barely saved,

what’s in store for all the wicked?

The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 11 (The Passion Translation)

0 notes