#bible discussion

[atwas-gaming]

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: "

"but when I became a man, I put away childish things." 1 Corinthians 13:11

This:

is not childish, it's childlike. There's nothing wrong with that.

This:

IS childish, and there's everything wrong with that.

Bonus:

The truest sign of maturity:

[just-bible-musings]

Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me. Job 23:6

Read this verse this week, and it reminded me that God is on our side. He doesn't want us to perish. He doesn't want us to hurt. He wants us to turn to Him. He is the source of strength, of life. If we go to Him, if we talk to Him, He doesn't punish us for our questions, He helps us.

[alpharaposa]

The word for ‘inn’ used in the Christmas story in the Bible is used in only one other place, the story of the Last Supper where it’s translated as ‘upper room’ instead. Which means that this wasn’t some public accommodation for travelers- it would have been the nice guest room upstairs.

Those of you familiar with the Christmas story may recall that Caesar Augustus required a census- “that all the world should be taxed”- and that everybody, I mean EVERYBODY, had to go to their hometown to be counted. So it wasn’t Joseph and Mary out fending for themselves. It was more like a huge family gathering where there’s already seven cousins filling up all the guest rooms so the host family makes up a futon in the garage for the late arrivals. Probably the women all got together to help Mary with the birth and wrap baby Jesus before heading to bed.

Then angels appear to the shepherds and people come running to see the miracle.

But the Wise Men (the Three Kings) wouldn’t arrive for something like another year. That whole time, Mary and Joseph have been hanging out, resting up with Joseph’s family, taking care of the new baby.

(Some people with creches have the wise men travel around the house until Epiphany- Three Kings’ Day- on January 6th, the twelfth day of Christmas.)

Then the Wise Men head back to their homes, but an angel drops a hint not to swing by Herod’s place. So they don’t. So Herod realizes he’s not going to get the goods on this new baby king that might dispose him. This leads to the order to kill all males of age 2 or less in Bethlehem, which is remembered by Catholics as the Feast of the Holy Innocents. They’re considered the first martyrs for Christ.

Joseph and Mary book it out of there with Jesus and go down to Egypt, jumping borders to get out of Herod’s reach. How do they manage this?

Well, there were these kings who gave them these presents. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Expensive stuff. Very portable. Exactly what a young family running from an oppressive, murderous king might need.

On a side note, there was no little drummer, so far as we know, coming to drum for Jesus. That was a medieval song, whose lesson is that no matter what little we have to offer, if we give it with our whole heart, then God smiles at us.

There were oxen and asses, though. And doubtless some of the sheep came with the shepherds.

[just-bible-musings]

I wonder if OP realizes just how close they were to what the Bible says.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Romans 3:10

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8

He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 1 John 2:9

Here's the clincher:

If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. 1 John 2:29

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 ("Kindness" may not be on the list, but there's several fruits of the Spirit that fill the same role.)

It's not about an "attempt." Altruism can ONLY come from God. Any kindness man tries to do on his own is still selfish. How many "kind" people do acts of kindness only because it makes them feel good?

Jesus didn't feel good about going to the cross- in fact, he was so torn up about it that he literally sweat blood- but He did it anyway, out of: a) devotion and obedience to His Father; and b) love for us. Sometimes love and obedience feel like pain and sorrow and fear and death. But if you love Jesus and The Father and have the Holy Spirit inside you, you'll do it anyway, because you can't not do it.

this has been said before but I feel like it is very important to view being kind as something you do rather than something that you are because all people have the capacity for meanness and cruelty and often use it inadvertently but the point is to change your behavior and your attitude and practice paying attention and being selfless and sincere and vulnerable and putting kindness and warmth into your actions and words instead of being like oh I value kindness and thus I am such a good person. like it’s about the attempt

[rourhksapocolypse]

Pictured above is the program for church service at our local church (week of 5/12-5/18 2024), and when I read it (not someone who goes to church because I don't fit in the local congregation) I found I really liked how it was handled.

The big idea for this week's sermon is "Can a Christian be Gay or Trans"? (Or support those who are?)

TL;DR the sermon was well handled, if the program was any indication, and says "Don't Hate Gays for Being Gay!", and "Gender Transition isn't going to help people, but if they choose to take that plunge you are not to make their life worse; but also because Gender Culture can and has hurt people without making anything better we should probably help people separate the lies from the truth and letting them make their own decisions and choices", while reminding us "We are supposed to love our neighbors/enemies as we do ourselves, as God would want us to do and as He does us.", but in more detail.

Also, if you decide to look into this post, expect discomfort, whiplash, and rants. No holds barred. No section written completely in order.

I'll transpose sections of both program and personal thoughts directly as I write this.

Opening Cautions

This is a personal topic for many of us, let's approach it delicately.

Reminder: this series is "can a Christian..." [and] not "can a person..." (1 Corinthians 5:9-13)

[I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a [Believer in Christ] but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.

12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”] New International Version

It is crucial that we seek to take the log out of our own eye before offering to take the splinter out of our neighbor's eye (Matthew 7:3-5)

[3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.] NIV

Personal thoughts: The two bible verses here, which I've copy-pasted through a quick google search, bring up liars and hypocrisy. The general meaning brought up in First Corinthians is "Don't judge people who don't know better, we're not here to be the chat police on the people who don't know the standards we are being held to. But if someone says they're a Christian, but don't live up to the hype, don't bother. They're lying and probably trying to drag you into shit and you should just cut them out of your life because they will drag you down with them for the hell of it."

That covers Corinthians, so what about what Matthew is saying here?

Basic meaning? "Don't be a pot calling the kettle black." as the old saying goes. Or to be a little more internet-focused, "Why hate the guy with the furry-ears headband when you're prancing around in a fursuit? And why try to help fix his problem when yours is so much worse?"

Do you hate that I'm saying this? That it implies you might get called out by Jesus as a Pharisee - a hide-bound lip-service "believer" who sticks more to the rules than the message?

First: Get a life. Truth is Truth and we're supposed to support that.

Second: if I'm calling you out, then that's between you and God. Bring it up with Him and He'll direct you to ways to actually fix it. And then maybe let you fail to fix it on your own merits.

Can a Christian... Be Gay?

Direct Teaching: God created humans with opposite genders, and for sex to be enjoyed between opposite genders in a life-long covenant relationship (Genesis 2:21-25; matthew 19:3-6; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[a] 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’[b]? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

[direct mentions of Genesis chapters one and two]

21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs[a] and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib[b] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. | 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’  for she was taken out of man.” 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

[Verse 25 is irrelevant here, and this is basically a Magic-Not-Science explanation for sexual dimorphism for the early Jews, because they didn't really know what science was when Genesis was being written, and that a number of today's egotistical anthropologists would consider anyone before Egypt as an uncultured primitive. Also, I was advised to not leave in that last part, but it's not like I'm being completely inaccurate.]

9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Wisdom: What do you mean by "gay"?

Experiencing same-sex attraction.

Engaging in same-sex activity.

Identifying as part of the gay community.

The Point: All of us experience different temptations. The question is not whether or not someone experiences a specific temptation, but how they think about and respond to that temptation.

Personal thoughts: This one is harder for me to parse. But then everything about the logistics of love and romance are difficult for me to explain and understand.

What is most obvious from the get-go, however, is that different people have different tastes, and of course, how they go about chasing those tastes.

Obvious, extreme example ahoy: Rape can happen among (both by and to) men and women. And extra-marital sex - or for the more worldly, cheating on your partner - is a bad way to respond, and certainly not a Christian one.

And while using Matthew 19:6 to argue for polyamory is certainly possible, the biggest and best way to separate fact from fiction in a truth-based (supposedly or actually) religion is to go straight to the source material. In DnD, that's the Monster's Manual or the DM's Manual, etc. In Christianity, that's the Bible. And if there's conflict between multiple sources (NIV vs NLV vs King James versions, as an example) then try to find the most direct translation.

I'll be honest, I really want to take a tangent and bring up noted inconsistencies between the source materials of other religions, including Islam and some "Christian" cults) and the actual message they say they send, but I need to stay focused on the sermon program in front of me. Also I don't actually have the passages in question lined up already and I don't want to put in the effort to do that. Plus, love your neighbors even if you think they're wrong. Mostly because that's not the point here, and partly because I might be wrong.

Back to business: I'm not sure how to handle Corinthians chapter 6 (like I know how to handle anything in this section right?), but one of the big points here is how Luke is calling out to members of a church in Corinth, people that are choosing to become better people now that they are Christians; people who are being shown how to become better people, and are probably not having a good time right now with their non-Christian friends, who are probably making fun of them (and significantly worse) because they're "No Fun Anymore", because they're not going out and getting completely sloshed together, or are having qualms about tricking people out of their hard-earned savings, or just not having a whole lotta sex and sleeping around anymore, etc. There's a lotta things here that we villify in the U.S. today, and I'm not willing to sacrifice any kind of moral standing I have right now by editing the truth/source material, and we all agree that (excepting the Gays) everything on this list deserves to be there. So how do I handle their inclusion on the list?

I can see multiple reasons for their placement on this list, both good and bad. Some men might justify that Sex = Good, but Unexpected Kid = Bad, and Homosexual Sex = No Kid = Good! as one reason - though that also gives some a-holes "licence" to do terrible things to other men (rape, abuse, other mentally scarring things) and also sexual immorality such as sleeping around or cheating on your partner "without consequences", et cetera.

On the flip side argument, as just one, we have Eugenics. Which is good and bad for many reasons - the Good for passing on genes and lineages and so on, the bad for the fact that unlike animals our DNA has no error-checking whatsoever, and honestly just look it up and prepared to be incredibly horrified at what some people think and accept, even today. (including the FUCKING HOLOCAUST as one of the bad things.)

And now we move on to the next bit.

Can a Christian be trans?

Direct Teaching: God created us male or female, and we are to present ourselves as such (See above, and Deuteronomy 22:5)

Going back to the Hebrew, the literal translation of Deuteronomy 22:5 is: “Never cause or force a warriors weapon to be used by a woman or weak person; neither dress warriors armor on a woman or weak person for to Yahweh, God of Host, disgusting is such that do so.” Note the word used in Hebrew tow`ebah, [link]

To "transition" means to change something about yourself to reflect the gender you identify with:

Social: changing the way you dress and behave.

Hormonal: taking puberty blockers or hormone therapy.

Surgical: Having one or several procedures to change your anatomy.

The Point: the message of our culture is: healing can be found by changing your body to match your feelings; Christianity says: healing isn't found that way.

Personal thoughts:

I feel how we change and mark our bodies (tattooes, gender reassignment, etc) is up to us and our choices, because God respects our choices, and our right to make them. He gave us that right, and sticks to that self-given rule. (and if you bring up the Garden of Eden? He planned on Lucifer trying to fuck up His creations, He gave Adam and Eve the choice. That they didn't know the consequences of that choice is immaterial to this point - do we even know the consequences of our actions, half the time? Or most of the time? - He gave them a rule, He planted the Trees of Life and Knowledge without any particular barriers preventing them from eating from them beyond His command! It's right there in Genesis, the very beginning of the Bible, that Actions. Have. Consequences.)

But that leaves us with two major sticking points for me. Evolution, the mechanism by which our bodies were created (as theorized by science), left our bodies inefficient and prone to breaking, particularly when inbreeding makes any kind of play, due too the inefficiencies of the process. So improving on what's there (glasses/contacts, cybernetics, cosmetic surgery, tattoos for the the aesthetic, etc) is perfectly acceptable. But on the flip side, we have Gender Reassignment. This is where I upset people.

Gender Reassignment. Trans-masc Pyramidhead is an example of this surgical procedure that I find stupid. 80+% of his body is pure muscled masculinity. Adding surgical scars that imply his hips were actually wider than they are, or that he had significantly more estrogen in his body at one point kinda messes with his presence. And the pro-trans message one might get from viewing that picture, that piece of artwork, in isolation does not mesh at all with the fact that he is a remorseless video game monster! (also, I know nothing about Silent Hill, but his Frankenstein/Weird Concept existence, just, doesn't help in general)

And in a more real-life example?

A biological woman bottle-feeding her daughter for the first time did not have happy tears, because she physically could not breast-feed her child. Gender reassignment cut off her mammary glands when she was younger. And while voluntary, it still left her with bleeding emotional wounds when she had her child.

An old woman with Alzheimers contemplated her partner. He'd gone through reassignment while younger, and sometimes forgot significant amounts of (now) her life, such as the reassignment. On one notable example (s)he'd woken up, looked down upon the aging body, and freaked out: "What have you done to my body?!"

When I encountered that article, I had basically clicked away fast and tried to distract myself from the emotional discomfort that I was empathizing with. But now I bring it up to underscore the point.

One of the big things that came up in a recent talk with my dad (which was months ago and sounded like a bunch of conspiracy theories, included what sounded like a bunch of government/military shit that no one wants to own up to that I can absolutely believe even if I don't remember 80%+ of that), is that a lot of things we believe today was told to us by shills (liars) and hacks that don't deserve their medical degrees or et cetera. And Government/Military propaganda based not in the least in truth is certainly prevalent enough in fiction and history that we can believe they're doing it to our faces today and expecting us to thank them for it.

Humanity has told itself all kinds of lies, deluded itself with all kinds of ideas, and while I'm not trying to put anybody down, I feel that the popularization of Gender and Gender Reassignment, and the ways those things were treated by the media, is one of those. The way it got turned from a personal thing into a political thing. How some people, including and especially the creeps and politicians, tried to cash in on it while those with morals and integrity tried to keep it contained - and eventually just took a step back because of how out of control it was, those against seeing it as a degradation of their country and those for seeing themselves lumped in with terrible people and the movement itself turned into an excuse for the morally unhinged to take advantage of.

There's a reason I try to stay out of politics. Why I try to follow Caboose's example in Flamethrower's Other than the Sum of its Parts. And that reason is that anything Political is A) complicated and B) lied about. 98% of Gender Politics is completely unknown to me, as a result of those two reasons. And the other 2% I might just spew out randomly because someone I considered more knowledgeable than myself said it first.

----

Now that that's out of the way, we can get to the interesting bit.

I didn't like the first option for Deuteronomy (New International Reader's Version), so I kept looking a little further and found that. Remember how I mentioned earlier that when you're unsure of something, go to the source material?

We have the Bible in English, because it was first translated to Latin, but it started in the Hebrew.

The NIRV, when translated to plain language, says "Cross-dressing is a Sin!", but the original Hebrew is basically saying "Don't push somebody into a role they're not fit for!"

This is not confined to the LGBT community. It touches on the community, yes, but some people are made for that community, Christian and otherwise, but this verse also touches on gaslight/grooming, Toxic Masculinity/Feminity, attempts to control the universe and make it conform to your expectations, dozens of things that create trauma...

Well, at this point A) I've run out of ideas, and B) I really don't wanna look at all the shitty things this one verse covers. If you think I've listed all of them?

Oh, you sweet summer child.

Now, at this point, I think God wants to say something through me: Very Few People will benefit from Gender Reassignment.

Please Note that this is not None. And it is not limited to Physical Health Issues. But less than 1% of this world's population require it.

...and He's handing me back the mic.

So, let's look at that.

First is Reader Reaction: No. I am not doing this for attention. I've asked him to hold my hand through this, make sure my thoughts, and His Intent, comes through. This is not about me. This is about exploring His Message.

Second is population. <1% is a very small number... in statistics. In Global Population? Considering we have upwards of five Billion, just in India, then that leaves around fifty million people who can benefit from the surgery.

Third is the fact that I correct myself. It's not fifty million that can benefit, it's somewhere around that number that require it. More can benefit from it, but somewhere around... let's say twenty five million, actively need it. Who are they? God knows, I don't, nothing more needs to be said about this.

Fourth is that, while a statistically tiny number require it, more can benefit, yet Gender Reassignment isn't the only method of handling things. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph got Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh from the three wise men when Jesus was born. (which, didn't exactly last them long, because King Herod sent the Wise Men as part of a method to track down Jesus, due to fearing Jesus deposing him, and they needed to get out of the country! And they were expensive gifts, so they pawned them off and used the money to get out of there). I bring this up because, while the money was useful, it wasn't the only way they had to get out of the country. It was convenient to get outta there fast, and the Wise Men gave them the warning, but they coulda gotten outta there the slow way on foot and partially starved themselves for Jesus' sake, or hitched a ride in some caravan or with some smugglers or something. All of those were valid options - even if some of them were more attractive than others. Money and legal was still the best option of them all.

This is relevant, because while useful, gender reassignment isn't the only method of healing available. For some, Reassignment is a net neutral. For some, like the Alzheimer's patient I mentioned earlier, it can be a net negative - some good, lotta bad. And I don't know if you've noticed, but it's kinda permanent. That it's an option is, I feel, a good thing. But it's a lot easier to reprogram your mind than to surgically alter your body. Cheaper too. My suggestion? Try therapy first. You might accidentally-on-purpose dig up all sorts of things that are bothering you, and even find out that the body disphoria? It might not come from your body/self-perception/gender issues at all! (It still could, yes, but why fix the symptoms if it doesn't solve the problem? Pin down the problem first, then fix.)

Can a Christian... love and support unconditionally?

Love without conditions means acceptance without conditions, not approval without conditions.

This one is Big. No question. It means "I'm telling you not to hate the Gays. Just like you'd not hate a smoker specifically because they smoke, or an alcoholic specifically because they drink alcoholic drinks. Hate the tabacco, hate the alcohol, but don't hate the one addicted to them. Same thing is supposed to apply to The Gays."

Are you going to suddenly hate your child because they drive a Tacoma? Do you hate them because they decided they wanted nothing to do with the world's idea of gender roles, or gender at all, and decided to go completely 'genderless' and nonbinary? Are you going to hate them because they're suddenly going by neopronouns?

No?

Then why would you hate them, just because she likes girls, or he wants to marry a guy, or your nonbinary third likes them all (or no one in a romantic capacity)?

Or are you actually just that shallow?

God commanded us Christians to Love Deeply and Unconditionally. Friend, Enemy, lover, neighbor, child. To care about them all. Not to spread and perpetuate the cycle of hatred, fear, and violence.

There's a guy I knew, who turned out to be gay. I'm gay-adjacent (as in, not gay, but like it's all that hard for someone to make the mistake?), and while I know (now) that I probably handled the reveal badly enough to hurt his feelings, I didn't love/like him any less when I found out. I just tried to add a little physical distance - an unexplained act of "I respect that you are into guys, and I like you, but you're not my type". Matter of fact, I'm currently praying that he gets a partner, one who is basically a better version of me who's actually into him. (so, huggy-er than average, and willing to shower him with affection)

And this kind of command is kinda pointed at you non-Christians too. To be better than that. To be better than those who lie and deceive you for their own profit and amusement. To rise above the racism, no matter what form it takes.

To give one example of the challenge I'm handing out, I'll point you at a Tumblr story from a self-admitted tomboy I read once. (I forget the account name). She's a girl, she does guy things, and when someone from the LGBT community approached her, she told them straight out, "I'm a tomboy", and then they refused to accept that. Instead of accepting her words as shorthand for "I go by She/Her, and I do things society thinks only guys do", the other guy referred to her as a "They/Them", which really annoyed her. (also, don't @ her if you come up with her blog name, just show the post to your friends in the LGBT community as an example of "don't be like the jerks who hurt you. Instead, respect others and throw out Society's ideas of Gender Roles entirely")

-

Overall: One of the big things that stands out to me, is that it doesn't bring up Leviticus.

Leviticus 20 is, of course, the big chapter/verse people bring up when it comes to Anti LGBT speech/hatred. "An abomination to lie with another male as with a female", or whatever translation you prefer.

Doesn't really help that it's not really in-theme for that chapter to be translated as "Hate the Gays", when older translations of that passage mark it as "Don't have sex with children, and also leave animals alone when it comes to sex".

But all this also reminds us to respect each other. Our choices are our own. Us christians? We're not supposed to be here to judge you. We're supposed to be here to help guide you, show you the right way, help you up when you choose badly and fall, and help you heal. Remember the line, "You are the Salt of the Earth"? That's what it's supposed to mean.

And, yeah, we're kinda doing a bad job of it. But we're only human. Just like you.

Be safe, and love each other. With all the Evil in the world today, we're all going through our own shit. Let's not make it worse.

And, sorry for not posting for a long time? Just, haven't had anything worth posting.

[just-bible-musings]

Being a Christian isn't what you think it is. It's not about being "good." It's about being what God made you to be.

God created all of us in His image (Genesis 1:27). Since He made us, He's the one who knows what He made us to do, and if we try to do anything else, we'll just break ourselves.

Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? Romans 9:20-21

Ok, so, "pottery" might be a little archaic, so I'll use another example:

If you want to make a lasagna, what kind of container would you use? Would you layer all the ingredients in a microwave bowl and stick it in the oven? Of course not! (And, if you've ever thought of trying it, take this as your warning: don't do it. You'll ruin the lasagna, the bowl, and probably the oven. And you'll never get the smell of melted plastic out of the house.) No, for a regular oven, you would use a glass or metal baking dish.

But let's say you wanted to make a microwave lasagna. Does microwave lasagna come in a metal pan? Nope! Cuz if you try to nuke metal, you'll blow up the microwave. Microwaveable dinners usually come in either cardboard or a very sturdy plastic that can take the heat of a microwave (I still don't recommend putting the plastic ones in the oven, tho).

Every person is different, and we react differently in different situations. Some situations make you melt like plastic, some make you blow up like nuked metal, and sometimes you're not a baking dish at all, you're a pizza pan and you can't hold very much at all.

I think that living a Christian life isn't about "being good." It's about being what God made us to be. Now, that being said, "good" is exactly what God did make us to be. HOWEVER, we cannot be "good" on our own. And this is what trips people up, because we want to think that we can figure out "good" on our own. And we can't. We can't see the future. We can't see into people's hearts. We can't know in advance whether our actions will help or hurt. Only God does.

I feel like I can't stress this enough: "sin" is not just "doing bad things." It's rejecting God, pushing Him away, and saying, "nope, I'm gonna figure this out on my own." Accepting Jesus is not about saying, "oh, I'm bad, so please make me good" (even though that's what most of us probably said when we first did accept Him). As you grow in Christ, you come to realize that accepting Jesus was about turning your life over to Him and letting Him turn you into the person you were supposed to be all along, whether you're made to be in the oven or the microwave, or whether you're made to make lasagna or pizza or brownies or whatever.

It's not about being "good"! It's about being who you are meant to be!

[dunmeshistash]

Dungeon meshi - Dwarves

[everythingseasoning]

DISCLAIMER: idk much about the Bible. At all. But how fascinating. It seems like god touched Adam, Adam’s first touch of all time, and then Adam was given the blessing (curse?) of Eve. Only for him to have to forget about this greater, majestic being? To be content with his new life, forget about the first person he’s ever known? Left with a partner but ultimately abandoned by his creator, really. A good parent teaches their kid about the evils out there, but God left them with a rule and left it up to their faith. So then, how does it make any sense that human naivety & curiosity, Eve’s mistake, birthed (metaphorically) a raging tsunami of evil that crashed down on them? Is this saying that it’s human nature to be curious, and that there is evil out there waiting to be unlocked simply because we have the capability of falling into it? Evil that will tempt you using your innate curiosity? Faith is something invisible and may waver, but will save you from sin, so keep it close and hold it tight. Is that is what the story is saying? —so are we faulted for being curious and wanting to test the boundaries? Are we faulted for disobeying when we don’t know any better? Is the lesson that we can’t ever defy God because he knows best? (This just doesn’t make sense to me).

M starts studying the Bible so soon?

adam wakes up, probes his side. rib gone, wound sticky. god's fingers have touched a place that will never be touched again. how does adam not curl up, swell and fall, beg god to touch him again. to touch him everywhere else. not just ribs but cheek, inner thigh, lap. the worst part of the side-wound is not that god penetrated you but that he won't do it again

[manda-kat]

Friendly reminder that if you used to go to Church or a Christian school as a kid, but did not continue to study or grow your faith as you got older, than - no, you actually don't understand Christianity on the same level as a practicing adult believer.

I'm tired of hearing people dismiss the Christian faith and say 'well, I went to church as a kid, so I know what you believe'. That's the same as saying, 'my parents took my to the aquarium every week as a kid, so I know as much as your average marine biologist'.

If you're going to brag about how much knowledge you have about Christianity anyway, you should at least try not to say it on posts where you get things blatantly wrong about the Bible, the Church or- idk- the core message of the Gospel.

[just-bible-musings]

And he said, The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.  Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:  But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad.  I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the Lord.  Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom:  But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof:  And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God.  Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant:  But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof.  Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever:  But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.  Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border:  But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind:  And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:  But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet:  And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the Lord. Amos 1:2-2:3

This discusses what God will do to those who go against Israel. Interestingly enough, the KJV mentions Gaza by name! This passage also speaks of nations who "pursue their brother"- remember that Ishmael was the founder of the Muslims, a son of Abraham, and a half-brother to Isaac, who was the father of the Jews; and speaks of those who "ripped up the women with child," which is something that news reports have claimed the Hamas did to the Israelites.

Take heart. God promised, in Genesis 13:15, to give the land of Israel to Abraham for an inheritance FOR EVER. The nation of Israel will not fall, the Jewish people will not be exterminated, not now or ever. God will not allow it. These are His people, and His covenant from almost 4000 years ago still stands.

The only thing we should be worried about is our role in this. God may do nothing if we stand by and watch it happen. But any nation that takes the side of Israel's enemies WILL share in the punishment that God doles out to those enemies.

I don't want war any more than anyone else, but... we should be in this one. We should be bombing Gaza.

[vomittedsoap]

The Ladder has to be one of the best episodes of The Terror(not that the otheres are worse but ykwim). The speech Crozier gives that features the story of Jacob's Ladder as well as the rest of the writing from Sir John that basically reiterates what he said to Collins before he descended in his diving suit (something like "God lies in all realms") has such a chokehold on me...The whole episode is so eloquent, like even Irving's speech to Hickey about bettering himself while he has the chance and the world being born anew from an ark is beautifully said.

Interestingly, the story of Jacob's Ladder happens when Jacob lays his head on stone to sleep in an ancient city called Bethel, which means "House of God" and kind of made its debut in this verse. There's a fable/morality tale that takes place in Bethel when Elisha(the current prophet at the time) is taunted by a mob of teenagers, whom he curses, and God sends she-bears to kill 42 of them.

"And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them." 2 Kings 2:23-24 (King James Version)

Basically the story is teaching that you shouldn't jeer at prophets no matter how much you dislike what they're saying. Possibly there's parallels here with Tuunbaq.?? The She-bear?

I mean I'm not the most well-versed with Bible stories like this one so if any of you know more feel free to share. It's just interesting to me.

[just-bible-musings]

As a Christian, I don't believe in abortion. BUT. I can actually understand it from a certain pov.

I would argue that the obvious solution is to go back to teaching abstinence before marriage (along with a lot of other unpopular topics). But not only is that extremely unlikely to happen anytime soon (which makes me sad), that won't help the women of the current age who WEREN'T taught that and don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to have sex whenever or with whoever they want.

So... the BEST option right now is that the church NEEDS TO DO IT'S FRIKKIN' JOB! Sheltering these women and supporting them and their children. And that includes getting them AWAY from their wifebeating husbands and bf's (and their parents too in many cases!).

The whole Christian church takes an attitude of "you made your bed now lie in it." Jesus NEVER said that.

To the woman taken in adultery (John 8:1-11), Jesus said only "go and sin no more"- AFTER telling off every single one of the Pharisees arguing to stone her. And Jesus only brought up the woman at the well's past (John 4) because He could see that it was plaguing her and He wanted to heal her from it. The end of the conversation went something like this (I'm paraphrasing):

"Bring your husband here and we'll talk more." "Yeah, um, I don't have a husband." "I know. You've had 5 husbands before and now you're living with a guy that you're not married to." "Huh? How did you know-? Whatever... the Messiah is coming someday, maybe He can explain a few things." "Ma'am, you're talking to Him."

The woman's response was to run back to town and tell people, "I found the Messiah! He told me everything I ever did, He HAS to be the Christ!" (Again, paraphrasing, not quoting.) Leading me to conclude that Jesus only mentioned the woman's past because it was how He intended to lead her to faith in Him.

This is how we're supposed to treat people. We're supposed to LOVE them and TAKE THEM IN, not leave them somewhere to die. Educating them on how to conduct their lives better can come AFTER we've made sure they freaking SURVIVE!!!

I have to wonder if maybe a lot more women would be less likely to get an abortion if they thought they had any other option.

The number one cause of death in pregnant women is murder. Think About That.

[saintundying]

older show daniel that’s received all he’d wanted proudly stamping his name on interview with the vampire versus his young book equivalent that remains anonymous and has a life lacking in any agency

[jacarandaaaas]

I try not to think too much about the fact alma is so emotionally distant from everyone that the last time mirabel was hugged was before her ceremony

which just makes almas affection in dos oruguitas even more profound because we see how rarely she does show physical affection to her family!

[just-bible-musings]

I haven't had a chance to make any original posts in a while, so I'll just reblog this and add:

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:3

God does not change, and anti-Semites and neo-Nazis will get their comeuppance.

me a few years ago: its so weird how right wingers always wanna blame the "elite" given that alot of them are in the global 1% of wealth and therefore almost by definition the same "elite" they claim to hate. weird right? lol right wing logic makes no sense

me now: oh my god they mean Jewish people. its always been Jewish people. and the insistence of online leftists to use words like "elite" and "cabal" (to refer to a handful of ultra rich people who dictate a lot of how our lives are run) kinda makes them sound like antisemites too. maybe this whole idea that the world is run by a select few is a gross oversimplification which only serves to reinforce antisemitic stereotypes... oh no. maybe i have a lot of shit to unlearn. maybe i need to start vocally defending Jewish ppl. also local community building is the only way out of this

[la-galaxie-langblr]

today on random languages my brain is going 👀 at is biblical hebrew and biblical greek