#a Christian poem contrasting faith and doubt

[revryanfrench-blog]

Sturdy Stuff - A Poem

Faith is made of sturdy stuff It doesn’t bend or break or rust It dares walk on wind and waves It shan’t forget to watch His faceFear is made of evil stuff It doesn’t love or laugh or trust Never moving past the grave Hiding joy beneath the dustHope is made of hearty stuff It doesn’t run or stop or quit Much too strong to just give up Keeping flames of faith alitHate is made of filthy stuff It…

[goodfully]

okay ive never used tumblr before so i dont really know how posts are typically formatted, however, i do just want to use this mainly to word vomit so! jumbled messy thoughts on brothers karamazov, books five and six:

ive only read up until here so far, but im pretty sure that this is my favorite part of the entire book. the contrast is so insane, i adore dostoevsky. book five was so dense with heavy cynicism and doubt and followed book six being so reassuring and calm. part of me wishes that i was able to read both parts immediately after the other hahaha i also think that anyone that wants to read the brothers karamazov but does not want to read the brick of a book it is, they should read books five and six! just the chapters focused on ivans and zosimas perspective of faith, i mean.

i think that the idea that “the world is so evil, there is no way a benevolent god could have created it” is probably one of the main reasons ive been so unwilling to believe that there is a god, and its one of the main things that ivan was explaining to alyosha in book five. its so hard to accept that any amount of suffering is going to be worth whatever this all is. and yet… my goodness. humanity needs god? whether it is god that created humankind or humankind inventing god out of necessity… and just like ivan, i think ive always believed that believing in god would heal me somehow, that ill finally understand how to be alive as a human being when i do... the need to know what it was all for!

also the sticky little leaves part that ivan said!!! “i want to live, and i do live, even if it be against logic, tho i do not believe in the order of things, still the sticky little leaves that come out in the spring are dear to me, the blue sky is dear to me, whom one loves sometimes, would you believe it, without even knowing why” real real real. and ahh, alyosha responded something like how you can only understand lifes meaning after you love life (before logic)… which makes sense but yk, i always thought it was the opposite, that i had to understand lifes meaning in order to love life and be happy, but it was a very hopeless and sad conclusion. so this made me feel better honestly.

agh… and the whole “grand inquisitor” poem was so dark and insane, it tore me to shreds. i actually dont know what to say, except maybe now i understand why its the most famous chapter in the book.

i adore ivan and i adore alyosha and i adore their relationship. the way they speak to each other with love and respect for the other, even tho they believe in totally opposite things. im not sure about alyosha bc ivan was doing most of the talking, but my impression is that they were searching for answers from the other, they really do love each other. “tho im terribly fond of one russian boy named alyosha” sobs. “i thought, brother, that when i left here id have you, at least, in all the world” cries. “so alyosha, if indeed i hold out for the sticky little leaves, i shall love them only remembering you. its enough for me that you are here somewhere, and i shall not stop wanting to live. is that enough for you? if you wish, you can take it as a declaration of love” weeps.

okay about the zosima chapters… the thing is that even tho i have a lot of thoughts and feelings regarding faith, i am not a religious person, so i do wonder how someone who is christian would feel reading this book. for me tho… reading these chapters somehow made me feel the closest to having faith in anything ever hahaha… i dont think i care more about “gods truth” or anything, but just… i think ive been isolating myself way too much and thinking that everything must be done and figure out how to experience the fullness of life by me alone. and then zosima hits me with a “everywhere now the human mind has begun laughably not to understand that a mans true security lies not in his own solitary effort, but in the general wholeness of humanity.” and i believe that, i do! esp with how much individualism and capitalism stinks up this place. but i forget when it comes to myself i think…

i think my favorite sections from the zosima chapters are the ones about praying, loving, and judging others. uhm i dont pray, altho i think its mainly due to the fact that i do not know how to pray, and its not like zosima explains what praying is like exactly… but his words make me think that its just a very personal thing..? ahh anyway, the lines about love love love. “love man also in his sin, for this likeness of gods love is the height of love on earth” and “if you love each thing, you will perceive the mystery of god in things. once you have perceived it, you will begin tirelessly to perceive more and more of it every day. and you will come at last to love the whole world with an entire, universal love”… lives in my mind constantly now, its crazy its crazy i dont understand why his words mean so much to me. dostoevsky gets me, he really does.

ofc theres so many good lines from zosima, and this one probably isnt that great of a line compared to the many others, but to me at least, i started crying here hahaha it was pretty much at the very end of book six: “but woe to those who have destroyed themselves on earth, woe to the suicides! i think there can be no one unhappier than they. we are told that it is a sin to pray to god for them, and outwardly the church rejects them, as it were, but in the secret of my soul i think that one may pray for them as well. christ will not be angered by love. within myself, all my life, i have prayed for them, i confess it to you, fathers and teachers, and still pray every day.” ahh!!! im not even religious, and tbh ive not felt much when someone tells me they have prayed for me, but… maybe its bc i hate how mentally ill i am and hate how much i self sabotage and destroy myself, but some fictional monastery elder saying that he prays for and loves someone like me??? i cried real tears.

im probably being very dramatic, but after reading the zosima chapters esp towards the end of book six, i felt… so much love? i felt so loved. and yet also somehow guilt for not loving the world enough and not believing in mankind enough. i have to accept the world and of humanity and of myself, and i must love, oh how i must always love! zosimas such unconditional and undifferentiated love is so important to me, i dont know what to do… i think that reading this book has done more for me (regarding faith in the world and everything) than anything else has hahaha. it feels so silly bc im not even halfway done with the book yet and i already feel that this is the most important book ive ever read. its also funny bc you read the little paragraph on the back of the book and the first sentence describing the book is that this is a murder mystery (the actual murder hasnt even happened yet!) hahaha i love this book truly truly.

[bemused-writer]

The Great Roland Comparison

I've been meaning to write this for, um, ages now (I finished the poem, "Song of Roland" last year), but I wasn't completely sure how I wanted to organize the comparison. Did I want to investigate each stanza? Separate it into specific important moments? But what I've decided to do is break it down more loosely by pertinent character relationships and plot points in the poem and see if any of those are actually relevant to our manga counterpart. Roland & Aude The relationship between these two is actually somewhat important in the poem and completely missing from the manga. Aude is Olivier's sister and Roland's fiancee, so she's of relevance to both men. That does not mean she is given a great deal of character development (although I would hesitate to say anyone in this poem was), but she is utterly devoted to Roland and, in fact, dies upon learning of his own death. I'd say she also serves as a way of emphasizing how close Roland and Olivier are. They're best friends and Roland is actually about to join Olivier's family. But as I said, Aude is not in VNC and Roland definitely isn't acting like he's engaged to anybody considering Olivier has remarked on his numerous failed relationships. I think we can also safely say Roland isn't engaged to Olivier's sister given how flippant he was about the whole thing. This kind of fits in with how these two are more... comrades than typical friends in the manga. If Roland were engaged to Olivier's sister in the manga, I think they'd need a drastically different relationship. There would hopefully be less pseudo-antagonism at the very least. Which brings us to: Roland & Olivier These two are in both versions with a few changes. In the poem, Olivier takes Roland's lead on things. He's not a servant exactly, but there's no doubt that Roland is in charge. His opinion of Roland in the poem isn't wildly different from the manga, though. XD When Roland says he will take care of their war he replies with, "'That shall you not,' Count Oliver let loose; 'You're high of heart and stubborn of your mood, you'd land yourself, I warrant, in some feud.'" (Bold is mine.) I mean, yeah, that sounds like our Roland. XD He maintains a lot of cheer in the manga, but he seeks out trouble without hesitation. Olivier has reason to worry in both versions. And, likewise, in both versions Roland's decisions directly impact Olivier. In the poem, Olivier dies at his side, in the manga, Olivier is afraid of the repercussions Roland's decisions will have on him because, much like his poem counterpart, he is loyal to Roland, even if we can't quite say why in this version. It seems like, while Olivier goes out of his way to help Roland in the manga, Olivier is the one in a position of power more so than Roland is in contrast to the poem. Even so, I have no doubt that Roland is going to get his way more often than not. I am curious why this is, though. As I said earlier, Roland isn't engaged to Olivier's sister, so there isn't that familial bond to connect them. We know they've known each other for years, but how did they meet? In the church more generally? Or only after they became chasseurs? I get the impression Roland hails from a lower income class than Olivier, and considering how fussy people were about different classes interacting at this point, it seems unlikely they would have met casually, but who knows?

Roland & Astolfo Astolfo was nowhere to be found in the poem, so there isn't any comparison I can do there. What I can say is that Astolfo is serving as a way to show us a different side of Roland: a more serious, somber side. Roland saved him from a miserable death at the hands of vampires, but rather than bring them closer together this is the wedge that keeps them apart. Astolfo resents Roland for saving him instead of his sister, despises how relaxed he acts around others, and probably doesn't enjoy the fact he gets none of that treatment himself. (I'm making an assumption there. If he does, he probably hates being treated like a child, so Roland isn't going to win either way.) I think Astolfo will show us how far Roland's kindness goes. We know he has several siblings, but does he see Astolfo as one of them? Or merely a misguided paladin with too much power and an irresponsible nature? Roland & the Church This is probably the most important facet of Roland's personality both in the poem and the manga: his loyalty to the Church. The poem paints him as zealous, loyal, a bit hardheaded, but ultimately the absolute image of a hero. No one doubts him. Likewise, in the manga, Roland is seen as extremely faithful, but Olivier casts doubt on his faith. He says Roland doesn't really believe in God so much as he believes in himself, and that is a stark contrast to the Roland of the poem. I have no doubt poem!Roland had a lot of self-confidence. Indeed, he probably had too much given Olivier's opinion of him in it, but no one was suggesting he had more faith in himself than God. I should clarify that Olivier said he believes in himself "as a follower of God." And what that's saying is that Roland believes in God, yes, but in his own interpretation of God, not that of the Church's. That goes a long way towards explaining why he could change his perception of vampires at the drop of a hat. It would also make him a threat to the Church; he's a powerful paladin who is willing to follow his own beliefs above those of his superiors. In the poem, Roland dies defending the French people and the Christian faith. But I sincerely doubt that's how it's going to go down in the manga. I'm pretty well convinced he's going to die, but my guess is he will die in opposition to the Church, but in full faith that he has served God the way he was meant to. In other words, I wouldn't be surprised if he dies helping Noé and Vanitas. Already he has mentioned he wants to protect Vanitas, that he worries for him, and rightly so. Olivier also died in the poem, and honestly, I don't think he's getting out of it in the manga either. In the poem, he died at Roland's side, with him to the last. In the manga, I suspect he will also die by Roland's side, though perhaps more reluctantly than in the poem. He keeps helping Roland despite knowing how bad this is going to look for him in the future. He wants Roland to remain loyal to the Church and to stop doing all his suspicious activities, but I think they both know that isn't going to happen, so his only hope is that Roland will keep it under wraps, which, well, he's tried, but other chasseurs are already suspicious. This isn't going to end well for either of them. There's always a slim chance Olivier will "betray" Roland and side with the Church, but based off of what we've seen so far, that seems an unlikely resolution. I'd say the main takeaway I have from the poem in regards to the manga is that the themes of the poem, loyalty to God and country, are going to be inspected more thoroughly. What does it mean to be faithful to God? Or yourself or your country for that matter? Those are the questions Roland will have to contend with while Olivier will have to contend with where his loyalties lie: Roland or the Church itself.

[clarabosswald]

okay so someone on twitter dug up this absolutely outstanding uhhh “”article”” on his dark materials in general and the golden compass movie specifically by one david j stewart and i just. i HAVE to break down at least some of it because it’s an absolute gem

(this is a bit long - there is a LOT of stupidity to cover here)

first of all, the url

i could honestly just end the post here because that line right there is a masterpiece by itself. screw eurovision, hellivision is the next hot thing

There is no movie any more evil than THE GOLDEN COMPASS.

that’s the first line of the article. what a first line. the most amazing thing is that in an entirely different context i can kind of agree with this claim

Philip Pullman is a sinfully proud, God-hating, militant atheist.

militant! oh wow. is the hdm fandom actually pullman’s secret army? like dumbledore’s army in hp? do we have secret meetings? i want in

The movie has been dumbed down

yet again i find myself agreeing with mr stewart

in the end the children kill God and everyone can do as they please.

people having free will? good lord, the horror. 

The movie is indescribably evil.

damn dude yet again you’re right but you’re kinda preaching to the choir here at this point

The word "demon" is repeated several dozen times throughout the movie, as each child has it's own lovable demon. 

this is the first time in the article that mr david j stewart stubbornly refuses to understand that there’s this thing called “concept” and “artistic license” and that in the context of the hdm world, pullman used his artistic license to change the common meaning of the word d(a)emon.  NOT TO MENTION that pullman hardly made up the concept of a daemon as a positive creature - “originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit”, literally the first line in the wikipedia article about the classical concept of daemons. but yeah i’m unfairly expecting mr dave to do his research so i guess that’s kinda mean of me.

Witches by the hundreds are featured in the movie, and are portrayed as being good, helpful and rescuers.

for a moment i wondered what mr dave’s opinion on harry potter is like, but i can imagine it quite vividly.

The star character, a little girl named Lyra Belacqua, loves her demon (who takes various animal forms), and she has named him "Pan" (short for Pantalaimon)

somewhere inside of me, my inner hdm myth fanatic is screaming in rage at all the gross misunderstanding of the basic plot of hdm, but well we’ve got more serious problems here

Pan is the pagan god of sexual rape, lust and fertility.  Statues of Pan are often displayed showing him with an erection.

you know what’s EXTREMELY ironic here? pantalaimon isn’t named after that pan. he’s actually named after the greek saint pantaleon.  (mr dave now provides a link to his rage fest over narnia. good to know he’s against even blatantly pro-christian fiction.)

NOTE: Pullman uses the word "daemon." A "daemon" is just another term for "demon."

...no, honey, they really don’t, but we already know you didn’t do your research.

In the movie THE GOLDEN COMPASS, there are at least 50 references to a child's "DEMON."

imagine this grown up dude sitting in a movie theater watching a kids’ movie and counting the number of times the word “daemon” is said dkgsdaoighs

In one part of the movie, a missing boy (Roger Parslow) is found, but he is out of his mind and looks distraught because his DEMON has been taken away from him. Talk about twisting the truth around. The little girl who stars in the movie, Lyra, vows to find and return the boy's demon.

aslkdghsaodigho yeah this guy was definitely too busy to count “daemons” to actually pay attention to the plot

Pullman is hoping that unsuspecting parents will take their children to see the movie

no i actually think that at this point pullman didn’t want anything to do with the movie

The title for the trilogy comes from a line in John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Pullman views his trilogy as a re-telling of Milton’s poem (which means that His Dark Materials is in reality Pullman’s re-telling of the Genesis story in fantasy form)

no, not really, not as literal as that, but artistic subtleties seem to escape you quite frequently, my dear dave

In the trilogy, a young girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle against a nefarious [extremely wicked] Church known as the "Magisterium."

iooisadhgosdiahgosa i LOVE how dave made the EFFORT to explain the meaning of “nefarious” to the reader

Pullman's books are a work of darkness that every Christian needs to diligently expose (Ephesians 5:11)

damn dude can you believe hdm got so popular it’s referenced in the bible

America was founded upon faith in God, and the Communists are trying to rob it from our children

kefhsaoidgsdoh COMMUNISM CONFIRMED 

at this point in the article mr dave finally decides it’s time to talk about the story of the golden compass in mere two paragraphs. spoiler: the first paragraph is yet again dedicated to anti-pullman ranting. so much for that plot summary.

In the books, Pullman represents God as a decrepit and perverse angel who captures the dead in a “prison camp” afterlife.

damn the dude says he’s gonna talk about the plot of the golden compass and then goes ahead and spoils the amber spyglass just like that. where are your internet manners, dave

The story centers on Lyra, a young girl living at Jordan College in the Oxford of an alternate world where everyone is accompanied by a daemon, a physical representation of their soul in animal form.

this is the ONE time dave refers to daemons as what they ACTUALLY are. but i suspect he just copy-pasted this bit without actually reading what is said in it. 

One morning, Lyra's school Master

yet again someone was too busy counting words then remembering the plot/characters

Lyra then finds herself in a world where she must fight against evil, and here lies the controversy. Lyra is the "chosen child" who must do battle with evil. But in this story, the things that are good are evil (the church is the Magisterium, the bad group trying to gain control of all) and evil is good (daemons and witches are allies.)

it’s almost...... as if......... it’s somewhat........... symbolic.......... you know, that artistic device? symbolism? yeah? no...?

our darling dave then links to this piece as the source of his info on the plot of tgc and god that’s a whole nest of wasps i can’t even begin to deal with here. but it’s p entertaining how in only briefly reading the thing i can already recognize whole sentences who got copy-pasted by dave for his own magnificent piece of critique

Satan's Bid for Your Child

oh, WHAT a title for the next segment of the article. i’m hooked

Even though the books are strongly anti-God and anti-church, they’re getting a strong push in the godless public school system as curriculum resources.  First the God-hating Communists introduced the lies of Evolution into the public school system.  Then they kicked God's Word and prayer out of the public schools in 1962 and 1963.  Now they want to teach our children homosexuality and witchcraft.

communism! evolution! homosexuality! witchcraft! god, i’m trembling

dave goes on for a while without mentioning the movie again, just ranting against the world in general. parts of it are still amusing, though:

Evolution is in fact a religion, as is humanism, witchcraft and Satanism.

yeah man i miss it when in school we used to pray to darwin every morning before class started :(

It requires faith to believe Evolution because there is NO proof, or even evidences to permit study. It is tragic that young people today are being taught a theory that has NO proof whatsoever.  In sharp contrast, the Word of God is supported by an overwhelming abundance of scientific, historical, archeological and astronomical evidence.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OH MY GOD. WOW!!!!!!!!!!

Public school children are being taught religion; but it's the religions of Humanism (i.e., man is his own god), Evolution, New Age and now Demonism.

are daemians aware that daemonism is being taught in public schools as a whole ass religion??? damn

With the rise of the New World Order since the 911 attacks

holy shit dude dave is diving deep into the waters of conspiracy at this point

Surely Satan is already panicking, knowing that he must accomplish much in a very short time frame.  This explains why we see a flood of demonism, witchcraft and apostasy sweeping the world in an effort to destroy Christianity.  Have you heard about the new FLY Pentop COMPUTER for kids, which features witchcraft?  Did you know that Toys-R-Us sells a VooDooz doll for children?  It comes complete with a spell book, and pins to stab your VooDooz doll with.  I was at Barnes and Noble bookstore and saw a Teenage Witchcraft Kit.

THIS DUDE IS FUCKING WILD i imagine he started yelling at some poor employee for having witchcraft in that store

Doesn't anyone love God anymore?

this is sad.

The Bible condemns all forms of witchcraft—Voodoo, charms, spells, divination, incantations, palm readings, Ouija boards, psychics, witchery, sorcery, wizards, magic, potions, good luck charms, astrology, necromancy, spiritism, magic candles, mesmerism, hypnosis, astral projection, levitation, and anything else that invokes the power of Satan.

he actually............went through the trouble of listing all of that. from memory, no doubt

WE’RE BACK TO THE GOLDEN COMPASS AT LAST LADS

Instead of presenting the trailer on the homepage, The Golden Compass website uses audio to introduce the characters of the film and their respective demons, and then provides a prompt to "Meet Your Demon."  Twenty questions are presented which promise to reveal "your true character and the form of your demon."  Once you complete the questionnaire, you can send your resulting demon to your friends, presumably to build a community of young demons who will all later commune at the theater.  This is pure Satanism and it's being directed at our children.  Satan wants your child.  The Golden Compass series glorifies demonism, witchcraft and divination; while blaspheming God Almighty.

Satan Wants Your Child

In the movie THE GOLDEN COMPASS, children are being kidnapped by a mysterious group called the Gobblers and taken "to the North" where they are tortured by having their daemons separated from them.  This is the Satanic garbage that film producers and book publishers are vomiting upon our children.  Towards the end of the film, the starring little girl deliberately destroys the machine that was robbing children of their daemons.  Literally, the movie portrays the little girl as a hero for ensuring that all the other children can continue to be daemon possessed.  This is one sick movie, straight out of the pits of Hell.

it’s fucking ASTOUNDING how this paragraph could straight up pass as magisterium propaganda

How about you?  Our time on earth is short my friend.  This life will be over before we know it.  Is your heart right with God?  Are you saved?  Have your sins been washed away by the precious blood of Jesus Christ?

this dude got so fucking emotional over one bad movie he grossly misunderstood i am INSPIRED

our dearly beloved dave now goes on to quote yet another highly reputable source on the evil of the golden compass

"His Dark Materials" by atheist Philip Pullman

is “atheist” a title at this point? now that pullman is a sir, do they call him “atheist sir pullman” or “sir atheist pullman”?

Unsaved Heathens and Apostates Praise Pullman's Works of Darkness

do i get to officially call myself “unsaved heathen and apostate” because that’s one rad fucking title

Satan truly is the god of this world (2nd Corinthians 4:4), and he has many servants.

this is such a confusing fucking statement. how can satan be the god of this world if there is only one god? or two, because there is god and there’s also jesus? god i don’t know christianity never made any sense so this statement isn’t actually that surprising

Why would any professed "Christian" support Pullman's works of darkness, which he admittedly calls HIS DARK MATERIALS?

esteemed article writer dave is unaware of the existence of the concept of “references”

Sadly, ChristianityToday magazine promotes this vile filth, giving it a rating of 2 1/2 out of a potential 4 stars.  I give the movie a ZERO rating, and so should you if you love the Lord Jesus Christ!

yeah guys! we must purify this dirty world by giving bad ratings to hollywood movies! this is the only way to show jesus our love and devotion! 

Movie writer-director Chris Weitz has said he wants to make the next films more "iconoclastic," so consider this bit of sacrilege a taste of what is yet to come.  The word "iconoclastic" means "Characterized by attack on established beliefs or institutions."  In other words, the sequels to The Golden Compass are going to blaspheme God and attack Christianity much worse than the first movie.

man.... chris had good intentions. too bad new line fucked him over with how bad they butchered the movie in post-prod.

If we don't complain, then who will... the atheists?

this line is so confusing and meaningless and yet so timeless and iconic. wow

The Golden Compass is a Sicko Movie

i can’t breathe this sounds like an early 2000s compliment coming from a middle school bad boy who does tubular tricks on his skateboard

For Pullman, sexual experience is an essential part of becoming a full-grown human, despite the confusion and pain it can cause.

HOW IN THE FUCK IS THIS CONTROVERSIAL OR WRONG FOR NON-ACE PEOPLE KADSH;GOIDAGSDKJG

Children Using Divination to Confirm Guidance from Demons? "Lyra tries to consult the alethiometer to see if the daemons are right.”

Things Taking Wildly Out Of Context Making No Sense?

Kill God?

after reading this torturous rant? yes absolutely. next

Of course the idea in a trilogy is to read the second and third books, and not just the first.  Naturally Scholastic is selling nicely packaged boxes of the trilogy.

i love how dave felt the need to explain to us how trilogies and bookselling work. what a sweetheart

Blasphemy!  Children are being taught that killing God is quite a desirable thing to do.

will anyone ever understand that WILL AND LYRA NEVER INTENDED TO KILL GOD, AND WHEN GOD DIED IT WAS BY MISTAKE AND MADE THEM UPSET AND SAD? i mean this guy won’t, but people who actually read the books???

God and the Church Are Awful and Pathetic?

dave at this point in reading your rant i hate the whole of christianity. yes. next

Summoning Witches? “Serafina and her witches decide that they need to summon other witch clans....”

Mr Dave Is Unaware That The Word “Summon” Has Got Several Meanings

“He is so weak and old that he blows to bits with the first breeze, but his dissolution comes as a relief. It is as though God does not want the burden of leadership. In the end, Will and Lyra don’t kill God. Instead, they free him, and he becomes one with the universe again. The fact that God dissolves just like the newly freed ghosts suggests that perhaps God is simply the spirit of the living.”

i love how dave quotes this whole bit - ACTUAL GOOD ANALYSIS OF GOD’S DEATH IN HDM - without absolving any of its meaning

Conclusion The Golden Compass is evil.

i love this

children today are being challenged to hate Christianity, and are being invited to join ranks with the Devil's army.

damn i totally missed that bit about joining satan’s army in hdm

All we hear about nowadays is how religion throughout the ages has caused wars and suppressed people's rights.

it’s almost as if it’s true!

Increasingly, children today are being brainwashed to view Christianity as a power-hungry "MAGISTERIUM" (i.e., the evil organization in The Golden Compass), which seeks to suppress the rights of homosexuals, Wiccan witches, Evolutionists, abortionists, feminists and other degenerates of society.

WHAT a sentence!!!!!

The grave danger of Harry Potter and The Golden Compass

that sounds like one hell of an au

Christians are commanded not to associate with any professed Christian who is a drunkard, chases women, lives for money or lives in unrepentant sin.

and yet donald trump is president of the united states! go figure, davey

Public school children are being taught that the sin of homosexuality should be accepted; BUT, God says "No."  Now you know why homosexuals hate God's Word so much.

we’re almost at the end of the rant and dave didn’t reference balthamos and baruch even once and i feel ROBBED

Women in the 1960's embraced feminism, because they were told (just as Eve) that the higher powers were trying to suppress their rights.  Satan lied to Eve, thus creating a sinful power-struggle between her and God.

damn why won’t women just understand that men are like god :\\\

Satan is recruiting.  Satan has a bid for your child mom and dad, and he will stop at nothing to recruit your child's soul.

gotta admire the determination there

Again, The Golden Compass is evil.  It is not just a fantasy for children.  The author of the series (Philip Pullman) is a militant, God-hating atheist who has openly stated that his goal is to "undermine the basis of Christian belief" in the mind's of children.

dave decided that the best way to end his rant is to quote a line that already appeared in the text at least 2 times before. man, if you ever think you’re a bad writer, remember that at least you’re not as bad as this dude.

moral of the story is: dave probably needs some sleep. and professional help

[astridstorm]

Come to Me All Who are Weary

The 5th Sunday after Pentecost

“Come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

These are nice words for a summer weekend, and certainly a needed contrast to what we read last week, Abraham’s harrowing near-sacrifice of his son Isaac. In fact, most of our readings today are like recompense for having to hear that one. In the first reading, we meet Isaac as a grown man as he falls in love with his wife Rebekah. This story contains the only reference to married love in the Old Testament; Isaac was certainly deserving of something good in his life after what he’d been through. To this day the blessing said over Rebecca before she marries is said in the Jewish wedding service: “May you, our sister, become thousands of myriads; may your offspring gain possession of the gates of their foes.”

Our Psalm (speaking of weddings) is a wedding Psalm, Psalm 45, written perhaps to be sung at a royal marriage ceremony, or -- and this is the view I like best -- written for an ordinary wedding at which ordinary people are made to feel like kings and queens.          

All glorious is the princess as she enters; *

her gown is cloth-of-gold.

In embroidered apparel she is brought to the king; *

This is every bride and groom on their wedding day.

And then there’s the Gospel reading, with Jesus’ words of comfort to a crowd weighed down by the demands of their religion and religious leaders. This is Jesus’ defense, perhaps his most famous one, of his presentation of religion. As we’ve seen in recent weeks, it can be harsh -- “Take up your cross and follow me,” “He who loses his life will save it.” “Unless you hate father or mother you cannot be my disciple.” All these we’ve read this past month. But just as often, he is eager to see people enjoy the pleasures of life, as he did. And frequently, in his view, religion and religious laws, and their teachers who espoused them, stood in the way of knowing life’s joys and comforts.

This saying sounds so simple, but the context it’s in is anything but. The best I’ve been able to do with this is to look at what comes just before. This is a point in Matthew’s Gospel when Jesus’ adversaries really begin to challenge him. Among those are of course the usual suspects, the Pharisees and Sadducees, those in positions of power with their strict interpretations of the faith. But also challenging him now are the followers of John the Baptist, who once baptized Jesus in the Jordan River and had become a popular religious leader in his own right. John now is no longer around. By this point he’d been imprisoned by King Herod. His disciples were casting about for someone else to follow. Maybe that someone is Jesus, but they seem to doubt. So does John.

The Gospels often make it sound like John’s followers just defected and went over to Jesus once John was out of the picture. But in fact that probably isn’t how it happened. It couldn’t have. These two men were so very different. John was an ascetic.  He dressed in camel's hair, ate locusts, and lived in the desert. His message was shrill and unforgiving. Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, touched unclean people, went to parties and changed water to wine, talked to women and crossed all sorts of social barriers that John, more rigid and law abiding, would never have crossed -- in fact, would have railed against crossing. It wasn't as easy as just leaving John to follow Jesus.

So to a confused crowd that doesn’t know what to think, who to follow, which interpretation of religion is right, John’s or Jesus’, rigid or relaxed, Jesus offers up his impassioned defense and invitation: "Come to me all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Not everything about being a Christian is hard or has to be. There are some things we just have to let be easy. Things we should try not to overthink. Things like Love. Grace. Absolution. The possibility of a new start. The glory of the world around us - its effortless beauty. Sometimes all we have to do is allow such things to come to us. It’s there for us simply to receive. That's a Christian command, too, one that’s anything but hard or heavy.

One of my favorite poems by American poet Robert Bly is called “Things to Think About.”  He basically says, in the spirit of Jesus’ teaching today, Sometimes you need to believe in a world where things come easy. I’ll read the last (of three) stanzas:

When someone knocks on the door, think that he’s about / To give you something large: tell you you’re forgiven, / Or that it’s not necessary to work all the time, or that it’s / been decided that if you lie down no one will die.

"When someone knocks on your door, think that he's about to give you something large.” Think, as our Lord told that weary crowd, that your yoke really is easy, and your burden is light. Amen.