#be the church God longs for
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queenlucythevaliant · 8 months ago
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Just to clarify my thoughts (since I've had a number of people ask me about it) re: Job and cursing God. There's a big difference between cursing God as used in Scripture and how we generally would think of cursing at God today.
Cursing someone, in the Bible, has a lot of depth to it. It's not just saying "screw you " in anger, it's got a sense of forsakenness to it. It's the opposite of a blessing, a removal of blessing. If the blessing is presence, your face shining on the person you're blessing, then a curse is absence. In some translations, Job's wife tells him to "renounce God and die," which I honestly think makes a lot more sense to modern ears.
Job says a lot of unpleasant things to and about God in his anger and grief. So do the Psalmists. A number of the Prophets. So can we. God can take it if we come to him with honest expressions of our emotion, including those not-so-nice ones directed at him. I don't think there's anything wrong with getting mad at God and saying, "How dare you, you bastard" when you suffer unjustly. You can say much worse, I think, without sinning, though I don't feel particularly inclined to give examples. But as long as it's an honest expression of your heart, I think you're doing exactly what prayer is for. You're presenting him your heart with an open hand. He can use that. Opposite of love is not hate but indifference, etc.
Job doesn't renounce God. Neither should we. But I think when you're truly suffering, you're gonna have those feelings toward God either way. He'd rather you address them with him directly than try to avoid them. Cursing at God in the modern sense is actually a great way to keep the relationship strong and not end up cursing/renouncing him in the Biblical sense.
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dorothywonderland · 3 months ago
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I started doodling greek gods, it's over for me. I have to accept that I'm officially addicted to epic the musical
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heartplaces · 3 months ago
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breaking the 66th seal. based off of cabanel’s ‘the fallen angel’.
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mormonforgetmenot · 4 months ago
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I love being queer and I love being a mormon, but there are times when I'm just so tired.
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ectonurites · 2 years ago
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I MISS HER
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inhonoredglory · 1 year ago
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🔥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫
The Tenth Doctor’s death remains one of the most profound things I’ve experienced. Because Ten was a man who gave so much, sacrificed so much, loved so much. And in the end, he looked inside himself and found ugliness there. And in his profound humility, he willingly submitted himself to his own mortality for the salvation, not of the world, but of a single human being. I love you, Ten. Vale Decem.
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starmocha · 6 months ago
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me reading "big, black horse" as "big black cock" all three times 💀💀💀💀💀
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momentsbeforemass · 3 months ago
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Can’t
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One of the saddest things you’ll ever run into are people who can’t.
People who can’t do something. Not because they lack the ability. Not because they lack the means. But because they’ve talked themselves out of it.
Whether it’s talking themselves out of a relationship, talking themselves out of a better job, or talking themselves out of doing something good.
They’ve talked themselves out of even trying. Because they’ve told themselves that they can’t. So many times, that all they have left is “can’t.”
What’s even sadder? The defenders of “can’t.” People who have bought into their “can’t.” So deeply that they defend it against ever trying again.
But that’s not how it’s supposed to be. It’s not how God made us.
God made us for the long haul. God made us for persistence.
Sometimes we get what we need the first time we try. When that happens, count your blessings.
Most of the time, it doesn’t work that way. Most of the time, it’s more like what we see in today’s Gospel.
Where what is needed has nothing to do with the artificial, learned weakness of “can’t.”
Where what is needed is exactly what God made you for. Persistence.
Rooted in faith, in the God of “can.”
Grounded in trust, in God’s good timing.
Knowing that God will provide everything you need.
With the strength to be exactly who God made you to be. Persistence.
Today’s Readings
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d-antagonista · 5 months ago
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...and when you're gone
I'll tell them my religion's
you.
Lady Gaga — Bloody Mary
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alpacinwhore · 2 months ago
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I am GOING to erect a bronze statue of Luce
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aelswiths · 4 months ago
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I love churches
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cruel-hiraeth · 1 month ago
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i know i’ve taken the gay part of myself very seriously bc i’m growing out my happy trail for the first time since i was 12
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bludpudding · 6 months ago
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I have a decade’s worth of questionable history with the church so if I don’t infodump at least a little bit I will explode
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tldr: he represents the concept of sin in christianity (christianity being an umbrella term that includes catholicism) and is heavily tied to the city and the letters from paul the apostle to said city
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kingofthewilderwest · 11 months ago
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Moral Orel hit me in a sweet spot. I think it’s beautiful seeing fans on different paths discussing how the show touched them. I’ve seen people who’ve left the church, agnostics, atheists, and Christians all say the show spoke deeply to them. Of course the show’s black humor on religion offended many, especially before its last season aired, but I think the show’s resulting legacy - connecting to people who’ve both left and who’ve stayed - demonstrates successful nuance to how Moral Orel was crafted.
The show’s creators have said it’s not against religion per se, it’s against hypocrites. Even with the first season, I felt that and found appreciation (frankly, joy) for what was satirized. Here was a show speaking up, exaggerating, and lampooning the facets of Protestant American Christian culture I’ve vented about in confidence to relevant friends and family - without, like many modern shows which tackle this subject do, mocking followers themselves, faith itself, and suggesting to viewers one way of life is better than another, one group of people is (ex: intellectually) superior to another.
Some people have stepped away from Moral Orel and said, “This show comforted me when I left church,” or outright, “This show taught me there is no god.” And that’s not an unfair way to interact with Moral Orel because it doesn’t preach what you “should” do there (a sign of mature writing, really). I stepped away from Moral Orel and said, “This show comforted me in the areas I get frustrated,” which assuages my feelings and makes me more confident in my faith and place within culture.
I feel awkward in contemporary culture because I was raised with minimal secular exposure - daughter of a worship pastor, student at a private Christian school until high school. Meanwhile, in adulthood, I didn't attended church functions for over a dozen years. My group of friends have largely been non-Christians who hold negative opinions about the religion and don’t live remotely similar lifestyles to what I was raised with. I love what I've learned from them. Unfortunately, this also means the cultural building blocks that make me who I am seem shared by no one I'm around, which, even though I'm in my 30s, remains disorienting.
On the flipside, I'm the weirdo with the third eye in Christian spaces, too. I’m an ever-thirsty knowledge-seeker who strives to comprehend forbidden topics from all angles. I spent my twenties researching, questioning, rebuilding knowledge, and critically analyzing everything about the Bible. Church attendees and services feel painfully artificial, with mental blockers to topics I feel are critical to understand.
In either community I partake in, I feel “off.”
I’m grateful to have been raised by parents who didn’t pussyfoot around issues, with a father who deep-dives research. Discussions, delving, and digging into the hard stuff has always been fostered. My family spoke to pastors when we disagreed with their theology. I grew up around people who practiced passive acceptance, but my family was not that.
In the last year, I’ve returned more strongly to my faith and have been reintegrating with the Christian community. In some areas, my faith has grown and, humbly, I’ve learned much from peers. Despite stereotypes, I want to note that, in certain fields, the church community has always been deep and meticulous! And there are so many beautiful and uplifting areas in the church. But likewise there are those areas that get assumed, aren’t questioned, and aren’t… responded to well by questioning spirits. There have always been areas in the church culture I find disingenuous, foolish, illogical, limited, oversimplified, denialistic, or susceptible to hypocrisy and immorality. I’m not better than any person on this planet, but I’m rubbing shoulders with a community that has different blinders than I do, who don’t even consider asking the types of questions or seeking out the information I find necessary for a solidified faith.
Moral Orel disparages the toxic elements of Protestant culture, the misinterpretations, the artificial facades, the mindless assumptions, the poorly-hidden underbelly, all the areas Christian community can and does go wrong. It makes me feel justified feeling awkward in two worlds: someone for whom Christianity is deeply important, but someone whose mindset doesn’t jive with the rest of the town. Someone who can find and wants to find the best lessons outside of Christianity. Someone who believes in questioning, rethinking constantly, raising her eyebrows at common notions within church culture, and striving for the actual love, sincerity, dedication, and goodness our faith should be based on.
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growinguparo · 3 months ago
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Hi! I just wanted to jump in and say thank you, because your blog has actually helped me a lot recently. I read your post from a while back (like a WHILE, 4ish years ago) about the aro/ace future and what that looks like as we get older. I’ve been coming to terms on and off in the past few years about how averse I am to relationships and dating, and with the fact that really don’t care if I’m single for the rest of my life. But you very nearly articulated the main concern: what happens when everyone else is wrapped up in their marriages and their families I am truly alone? I’m still not sure that the aromantic identity is accurate for me, but it feels pretty close and so thank you, again, for opening this world up to me and putting words to my feelings. :)
Aww thank you for telling me!! 💚
I still feel the way I did when I wrote that post, although it occupies less of my brainspace than it used to. However, I will take this opportunity to talk about the big thing in my social life that changed since 2020: I dove hard into my local community. Any local community will do I think, but the main one for me was my local trans community. I was also in a community music ensemble, I spent a couple years in a survivor support group, and I went to local queer events. I valued those communities highly enough that they were the main reason I was upset to be moving to a new city.
Community made a huge difference for me. I wasn’t really friends with any of them exactly (like I rarely hung out with any of them outside of whatever thing we had together), and community definitely doesn’t occupy the same niche of social requirements as friends or a partner. But it HELPS. It helps with social support, feeling connected to other people, having regular social interaction, and (crucially imo) meeting people who are older than you in a peer environment instead of one where they are of higher status than you.
I know so many trans people in their 30s, 40s, 50s, even 70s, from my local trans community - variously single, married, divorced, multiply divorced, dating, polyamorous, nonamorous, etc. It really broadened my view of what people older than me are actually doing in real life, not just what the twenty-somethings around me anticipate they will be doing when they are that age. People who are like me too, queer transgender people who will never fit the conventional narrative. It enriched my life in a way I wasn’t expecting.
I still don’t know what an aroace future looks like and it’s still scary but at least now I know that mine will include local communities and that I can get a fair amount of the social fulfillment I’m seeking from them.
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brightclaws5tudios · 9 months ago
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Although nobody likely cares, I'll post some OC lore. Because I have COVID and will be confined to one small room for many days, and my neurodivergent ass can't handle that.
The character's name is Nairin Chauveron, and he's from a species called Shadows. These creatures have the ability to use magic and live for a very long time, and can also become Beast creatures. His, for example, is some weird giant white fox thing. However, Shadows are prone to a disease widely known as Corruption, which screws up their magic and can alter their forms.
They have crystals on their bodies, usually their chests, made of similar materials to their bones and horns. When a Shadow has Corruption, these crystals, or Cores, as they're known, fill up with dark magic when they usually contain regular life force. This makes the Shadow have a lot of negative effects, which I might explain later if prompted. (Although I most likely will not be prompted.)
Anyway, Nairin is pretty much the new king of the mountains, and I call him the bean man because he has paw feet with toe beans. He's also a slut. If you want to read the story I wrote featuring him, here's the link: https://www.wattpad.com/1318871197-mirror-dreams-not-this-dream-again-chapter-1
The story posts irregularly and it's mostly so I can get myself to do things. The first pic was drawn by me a while ago, the second is in a Picrew, the link is here: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1414503
I might post more about him later, and I had another, newer image somewhere, but seeing as I can't find it, that'll have to wait.
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