#but I also understand that some people DO care what Jesus thinks whether I like it or not!

[woozapooza]

I could be wrong here but I feel like in the context of this post it should be extremely clear that my tags are directed not at Jews or any other non-Christians, but rather at Christians who are in turn addressing other Christians. I'm not Christian, I don't see any need to get Jesus involved either, but I also understand that it's not reasonable to expect Christians to pretend that their religious beliefs have no bearing on their sense of right and wrong, especially when they are talking to other people who share those beliefs. Same goes for any religion.

[kataraavatara]

https://www.tumblr.com/kataraavatara/747409257763422208/httpswwwtumblrcomkataraavatara74739422280359?source=share

Yes, he raped ONE maid because he's a prince in the Middle Ages, where a maid is actually a thing, so I can quite understand why people might not care. In Westeros, some men (main characters btw) also kill people, sometimes innocent people, should we cry about them too? Then it turns out that no male character in HOTD can be loved.

“where a maid is actually a thing, so I can understand why people might not care”

Jesus Christ. That was an inside thought you should have kept to yourself. Most people do not think like that. I felt empathy for Dyana (her name btw. Her name isn’t “a maid”) because she was a child who had been attacked and violated. I as a viewer did not care whether she was high or lowborn, I saw her bawling because of what Aegon did and felt sympathy for her and disgust towards him.

You realize that you yourself do not have to cosplay a member of medieval nobility to enjoy the series, right? Understand that it’s a medieval fantasy setting, but also one written by an author in the twenty first century. You’re supposed to understand why certain characters have their values and critique them, not fucking adopt medieval values yourself, you dingbat.

If you think the takeaway you should have from A Song of Ice & Fire is “oh well, the people in power are allowed to inflict suffering onto the lower classes without repercussions, this is a thing that should never be interrogated!” you uh. you might have missed the point.

second anon (or perhaps the same anon coming back for more?) to emphasize the “ONE” here like that makes some sort of difference. Again, Alicent had a routine ready to go, seems like a serial offender to me.

[schizodiaries]

Hello! I am trying to create a character with schizoaffective disorder, but I do not have this disorder myself and thought asking people who actually experience psychosis (cause that is what I am looking into specifically right now) would be better for learning than asking Google lol

I saw your post that said a person experiencing delusions is actually in those delusions; I think one of the examples you used was you are the reincarnation of Christ? I was just wondering if there is a way for a second person to help them out of these delusions? Or how a second person can support them during these delusions? I hope I am wording this right; for reference, this character is going to get a boyfriend and I want to understand how to write their boyfriend interacting with them when they are experiencing delusions

(sorry if any of this was worded rudely in anyway and please feel free to correct me if it was; I am trying to learn here so that would actually be helpful!)

Thank you!!!

Hi there! Firstly I think it’s really cool that you’re writing a character with schizoaffective disorder. And I appreciate you reaching out for advice as well.

A second person can be a tremendous help to someone experiencing delusions. But they have to be careful with how they interact with a delusional person. Before I go over how to do that, the first thing that needs to be established is whether or not someone is actually experiencing a delusion. There are some obvious delusions, such as claiming to be Jesus Christ or the president of the United States. But some people will also believe things that are probable, like that someone is stalking them, that they’re terminally ill, or that they know a famous person. Find out if they’re delusional first, and you can usually do that by asking questions or respectfully asking for proof.

Then once you’re certain you’re dealing with a delusion, you can figure out how to interact with them. You of course don’t want to endorse the delusion or feed into it. But you don’t want to outright tell them they’re wrong either. The best thing to do is stay unbiased and neutral about the delusion. Keep in mind that the delusional person’s claims are based on their reality, which often contradicts objective reality. So arguing with a delusional person about what’s real and what’s not won’t really get you anywhere.

Let’s say a delusional person claims they are the president of the United States. You obviously don’t want to agree with them, as that would drive them further into the delusion, and also you would be lying to them. But simply saying “no you’re not” isn’t very helpful either. The goal is to try and remain as neutral as possible about their delusion, neither confirming nor denying it outright. But if you must challenge it, do so with respect. Don’t make snide or sarcastic comments. Don’t be accusatory or aggressive. Just give the person a gentle nudge back to objective reality.

And of course, this is all just my opinion on how to interact with a delusional person. There may be other schizospecs who disagree, or who think playing along with a delusion is the better option. But as someone who has had delusions in the past, I found it most helpful when people stuck with facts and objective reality. It certainly helped me to break out of the delusions sooner. And once I did recover from them, I appreciated the people who were patient and gentle with me rather than the ones who tried to argue with me about what’s real and what’s not.

Also, a few years ago I stumbled across a video of an MHT talking about how he interacts with delusional people. I found this video to be really helpful and informative, and maybe you will too.

Good luck with writing your characters!

[controversial-blorbo-bracket]

Controversial Character Tournament Round 2: Light Yagami from Death Note vs Edelgard von Hresvelg from Fire Emblem: Three Houses

(remember that these characters are fictional and your fellow tumblr users are real. please be normal in the notes, i will not hesitate to block if you harass people)

Propaganda under the cut, may contain spoilers:

Light Yagami:

LOVE: - "He does some messed up things but have you considered: fucked up protagonists rock :)" HATE: - "this man makes me sick. ive genuinely had manic episodes over hating him. i have trauma from his existence in general. not even because of the murder. because hes a sexist cheater :(" - "My cousin and I frequently debate this. I think despite his 'intentions' he's ultimately a despicable character who cares for nobody but himself. She disagrees and says that he is just trying to do the right thing and making a difference in the world (she still thinks his actions are wrong, but she doesn't think he himself is despicable)" BOTH: - "I mean cmon man"

Edelgard Von Hresvelg:

LOVE: "People either claim she's the hero or the irredeemable villain with no in between. She's also my lovely wife who has never done anything wrong in her life." "I never even finished her route and remember nothing of what happens in that game but I DO remember the absolute warzone the fandom turned into because of her. She staged a coup and overthrew the head of the government/church and I think that's pretty cool of her. "But she committed war crimes!" God forbid women do anything." "I lied in the previous question. I don't hate her or love her in fact I have never even played this game. But I keep finding people making up Discourse™ featuring wild accusations of bigotry towards both Edelgard fans and Edelgard haters so I feel that she belongs here. (Also my friend hates her. but HER friend loves Edelgard. So even in my small social circle there is a clear polarization.)" "ok I don't have any solid propaganda because my opinion of her is more positive-neutral, but. she fits the spirit of this poll. trust me." "[three houses spoilers] Yes she started a war but it was the only apparent way to break the chokehold the church had over everyone in Fodlan. Also she’s the only lord you can gay marry so I’m hopelessly biased" "every time i go into the tag its either "edelgard is perfect no notes!!" or "edelgard is literally a fascist!!!". ive never seen someone with a neutral opinion of her. i yearn for battle." "I know very little about her to be quite honest! But good god. As a fire emblem fan for the GBA and engage. I have NEVER seen such a decisive character like Edelgard. Jesus Christ. I still find stuff in those tags. What the hell!!!" "I don’t even go to Fire Emblem but even I know that Edelgard has never done anything wrong, ever, in her entire life, and that if she did any war crimes they were a SUPER effective use of girl power. source: I am a lesbian. (realtalk I genuinely love a noble-minded extremist revolutionary and think Edelgard is a great character, so it’s kind of a shame that opinion on her seems to simply split down the line of “whether the person wants to kiss Edelgard or Dimitri more.”)"

HATE: "So on the one hand, she's fully willing to kill and burn and murder her way to a "better future" at the expense of the present, but on the other hand she's pretty cool and #girlboss. She's also a canon gay romance option, but idk if that makes her more or less problematic." "I just. I understand why people like her. I really do. And I don't have anything new to say for why I dislike her. Edelgard fans and stans have heard everything. She has great points and motivation, but her methods are wrong. She hitches her ideals to the first good opportunity and never reconsiders her allegiance when things go off the rails. She hates the church for "lying to people" and proceeds to lie to her own populace herself in her own route. She gives Claude an opportunity to live because she knows he believes in her goals. But Dimitri and his Kingdom are too beholden to the church to ever be offered such mercy. She herself acknowledges that the change she wants to see is more quickly enacted through war than subtle and slow societal change. She recognizes the human toll of her actions, but she justifies it through flowery language and an insistence that the change needs to happen now or it never will. I honestly find her so interesting, and I agree with a lot of her thoughts about the need for societal change in the world of FE:3H. But people latched onto her and propped her up as someone who can do no wrong. And that just never sat right with me. I just think she’s a hypocrite who got put in front of a shiny means to her end and was immediately blind to every other opportunity around her." BOTH: - "I dont even play fire emblem but I cant escape people not shutting up about how much they love or hate her" - "You said there were no hate answers for her...and I don't really hate her so it wouldn't be right but I wanted to balance things out some. She's the perfect storm of a character who sounds right and progressive and has a route all to herself that doesn't contradict that...but once you play other routes, it becomes clear she's kind of. full of misinformation. And attacking people who don't deserve it. Also a LOT of the divisiveness I'm willing to blame on the writers rather than her, for having her both be Evil Tyrant we NEED to take down and Sad Uwu Baby who just wants to eat cake and laze around and loves You the Player SO MUCH."

[alpaca-clouds]

"But who cares if it is 'punk'?"

Whenever I am talking about the punkness of Cyberpunk and Solarpunk and what not (or the punkness of any of the Punkpunk genre, as I did last week), people will usually come and ask: "But why do you care? So what if it is just an aesthetic? Why not just have people have fun with the aesthetic?"

And I will fully admit to it: Yeah, I can see the point. The world sucks. People should be allowed to have fun with fiction. But I am also too autistic to not care about it. Not necessarily if it is "punk", but at least whether it a) has themes and b) these themes are included in the different stories.

See, one of my big issues in regards to media in general is, that people often do not engage with any themes there are to it. I kinda talked about this too when it comes to people complaining that Gundam - a franchise that inherently is anti-war and often anti-capitalist and anti-colonialist - got political in the moment it featured lesbians as main characters. Which is kinda silly. But the reason for that mindset is of course that people engange with media often on a very superficial level. And while folks on the left are quick at claiming that is a conservative problem... Let's be honest, it is an everyone problem.

Again, I get it. The world sucks. Most of us are overworked and overtired and when we engage with our media we just want to turn off and enjoy. I really, really do get it. I have also some of those just mindless action flicks I will put in and then turn my mind off. Like, who cares whether Tom Cruise is basically Space Jesus propagating a deeply abusive cult. Mission Impossible movies are fun. Who cares about some of their rather... problematic messaging?

But media literacy is important. And I think this is what this boils down to. Because no matter if we engage with it or not: The media we consume subtly influences us and our outlook. No, usually media will not turn a stonch anarchist into a Nazi, or a Nazi into an actual anarchist... But it for sure makes us more susceptible to certain other messaging.

Which is why we need to engage with the themes of any given media and try to understand what it is saying.

As written in that blog about G-Witch and such: There is no apolitical media. Even media that is not really concerned with politics will have a message - usually one along the lines of "The world is just fine as it is right now, do not worry about it!" or "Rugged individualism tots is the way to go!"

Which brings me back to the punk genre. While some were in fact invented as an aesthetic and even in some that primarily got made into genre there is not necessarily a lot of thoughts put into the themes... There are themes that will naturally arise from stuff like the historical context the punk genre is taken from and what not. And especially the "punk" kinda means that it has to challenge something. And be it just genre convention.

And usually, whenever those themes get lost... Well, stories tend to revert back to the exact opposite of that. "Everything is A-Okay - or at least it would be if the power structure was still there but the right people were in power!" And once more: "Rugged individualism WINS THE DAY!" The original themes getting lost, does not mean it gets replaced with emptiness. Just with the standard themes of the media of our times. And... Yeah, to be honest: I am not a fan of that.

The thing I value so much about the concept of the Punkpunk genre is the possibility of playing with counter cultural themes. So, yeah, I care if these themes get lost - or get not even included.

And that is without going into stuff like the non-white origin of Solarpunk kinda getting whitewashed...

[cath-lic]

hello!!!! first of all, i love your blog and i love how you embrace your sexuality and love god :3 what would you recommend for someone who was hurt by religion? (particularly catholicism). it made me paranoid, scrupulous. as a neurodivergent woman with disability, i always felt that i don’t fit, so i’m no longer religious. is it okay to not like THE church (as an institution) but still love God? and do you have any other social media so we could speak more on it? ♥️

hello my sibling!! thank you very much for the sweet compliment.

to be honest, (and assuming you’re also american, though pardon me if i’m wrong), i think we’re all scarred from american christianity. i’m not trying to minimize your trauma; rather, i’m letting you know that i can empathize with you a little bit.

this might need its own post, but i’m seeing scrupulosity becoming more and more of a problem in the current online age, on both sides of the political spectrum. i think you’d be surprised at how many people feel very similar to you, even if they’re not religious, either. tumblr culture, especially, emphasizes scrupulosity (and to be honest, i think all social media does—i’ve been thinking about doing a social media cleanse recently because of this very thing).

you may feel as though you don’t fit in, but i’d like to remind you that mary magdalene, one of christ’s closest disciples, also faced her own problems with mental illness. scripture states that she was possessed by demons, and although of course we can’t be sure whether it was actual possession or mental illness, i think it’s safe to say that she would absolutely know where you’re coming from. (i say this not to go “you can conquer your mental illness if you believe enough,” but instead to assure you that our beloved blorbos from the bible would understand our struggles even today).

there are many disabled people in the bible. though, of course, they are very often the subjects of miracle healing, it is telling that jesus emphasizes that their disability is not a mark of sin or a matter of “deserving it,” it’s simply a facet of them.

there are countless stories i could cite, but i think it boils down to this: jesus is with the poor, the disabled, the meek, the unclean, and the ostracized at all times. jesus was poor and ostracized. he is not with one singular nation or ideology. if he sees someone being mistreated, regardless of who they are or what they’ve done, he is with them.

i promise you, you fit.

as for whether it’s okay to not like the church, and for what i might recommend—again, i can’t offer religious advice, but i can offer my opinion.

i think it’s fine to dislike the church. to be honest, they haven’t given us a whole lot of reasons to like them! god was here before the church and he’ll be here after the church. some might say that loving god is loving the church, which is a whole other discussion, but in short, god understands. IMO, it is more important to love yourself, your neighbor, and love through and with god, than to devote yourself to an institution. after all, contemporarily, the big institutions of the time weren’t exactly super hep on christianity.

part of strengthening my relationship with god was through finding a church i really enjoyed. this, of course, might not be desirable or available to you. i would say that finding a community who can accept both your sexuality & your faith (easier said than done) is the truest way you can establish your own version of church.

building and supporting a loving community is probably the most rewarding thing i can think of, regardless of someone’s faith/lack thereof. i’ve often dreamed of establishing a little trans christian commune, actually, although i know it’s just a fantasy. but i think creating a network of people who care for one another and can live and work in harmony is about the closest we can get to heaven on earth!

while i do have other social media, i don’t have any other faith-related accounts. you’re very welcome to make a side blog and message me here, or join the trans catholics discord. if these aren’t options for you, though, i understand—you’re ofc welcome to send me another ask whenever you’d like.

good night, my sibling. have a wonderful weekend, and god bless ❤️❤️❤️

[olivereliocorcordium1983]

I am honestly disappointed in this fandom as someone who is a fan of Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer. I'm going to speak my mind as I have from day one since I allowed myself to float within this fandom.

This entire Timmy thing is completely bullshit I can't believe you guys. The second you hear that Timmy is doing something you don't like you think it's the end of the goddamn world and you jump ship and start talking shit about him. Really?!!! 🙄

"oh my god Timmy's smoking at a Beyonce concert!!!"

"oh my god Timmys hanging out with a Jenner. he isn't the Timmy I thought I knew?" YOU DON'T KNOW HIM PERSONALLY! all you know is what he decides to show you on social media and through whatever the media decides to feed you.

If you actually met him in person then I'm happy for you..but you still don't know him.

this poor guy can't just live his life and do his own thing because everyone and their dog is judging him for every little thing he does like it's this fandoms business when it's not.

I don't like the fact that Timmy is hanging out with this bitch either but you know what I still understand what it means to be human, what it means to actually see someone who has flaws, strengths and weaknesses and still try and be compassionate despite my own feelings about a situation.

This fandom can not control Timmy's decisions or his choices!!! Have some respect for him as a person and not just see him as some "god" who could do no wrong or someone who is "perfect" or just someone you wish you could fuck through rose colored glasses.

He is a human being who is entitled to having a life that is outside of Hollywood, outside of his fans and outside of being this famous movie star.

I swear to God this fandom... it started out as a place where we could all come together and love this one thing. And now it's turned into a gatekeeping, judge everyone, our shit don't stink place, and judging both Armie and Timmy for their personal life decisions like you don't make stupid mistakes within your own lives!

Timmy does not owe anyone a thing not who he dates whether he is dating her or not, who he hangs out with ECT. He is allowed to make mistakes, he is allowed to grow and he is allowed to learn whatever he needs to you don't KNOW HIM personally.

The way you all are behaving is like he has turned into R Kelly or some shit. calm the fuck down. Jesus Christ bro.

Timothee Chalamet is grown who can make his own decisions. but did you ever think that he just may be going through something? The poor kid can't catch a break no matter what he does if it doesn't go this fandoms way everyone is pissed or freaking out about it.

I am heavily aware of that families reputation and I can't stand them and personally don't care what the hell they do. With Timothee I do to an extent but I am also of the understanding you don't have to like what he does, you don't have to agree with it but at the end of the day, Timmy is gonna do what Timmy is going to do regardless of what we think or feel about it.

I'm going to stand behind Timmy and Armie until the day I'm not here. Because that is what being a fan of them is about being there for them both individually and separately, as well as together as a whole. REGARDLESS of whatever they decide to do with their personal lives and who with.

Also who someone sticks their dick into holds no merit whatsoever to who they are as a person when it comes to their character. As who they are as a whole.

"Do you see Timmy being disrespectful to fans?and saying fuck off?"

"do you see him being an entitled brat who thinks he's better than everyone else?"

Also leave @silvyysthings alone they don't need the crap that they are getting from haters and people who are no longer fans of this fandom. If you want to leave the fandom then go but don't drag those of us who wish to stay down with you.

All you can do is trust that he knows what he's doing and all that and get through whatever is going on with him at the time.

[scribeforchrist-blog]

Deep Cleaning

MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK

=========================

+ Ephesians 4:2 With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love

=========================

VERSE OF THE DAY

========================

 + Matthew 14:28 Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

=========================

SUBJECT: Deep Cleaning

=========================

** SAY THIS BEFORE YOU READ; HERE’S SOME CHRISTIAN TRUTHS **

I AM ALLOWING GOD TO CLEANSE ME

I AM HOLY

I AM LEANING ON GOD

I AM CASTING MY CARES ON GOD

********************************

THOUGHTS:

=======================

   You learn so much as you grow in your life in the lord. There are so many things out there that I didn’t know was a topic or I didn’t know that was something most people dealt with; my sister somehow got a wart on her thumb, and no one in my family ever dealt with this, so she kind of was dealing with it by herself. Still, we all kept saying Jay, you need to go to the doctor, but like most things, we all feel we can fix it, and that’s like our spiritual life; we think we can handle it, so we don’t take it to God, so it gets worse, but God word says.

  1 Peter 5:7 casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you.

  We discussed this a couple of months ago: God wants us to bring him all our troubles, but it's up to us. Some of us are so stubborn or prideful that we think we can handle this. As the wart got worse, she used medicine over the counter, and it killed it, but it also caused her to have an infection. We learned that warts nest under the skin and sometimes in the skin, and sometimes, after killing it, it goes to the red skin where the wart can't reach, but for the most part, the wart goes deep in there, and order to kill a wart you must cut off their blood supply.

  This is something I never knew. I thought it stopped at the surface level, but as we grow in anything or we experience things, we learn things, and thats is what we all learned about warts ; sometimes, we think we can handle things, but we DON’T realize our deep isn’t God’s deep, we are only surface level, and we do things by doing it the only way we know to do. Still, when we allow God to handle what we need to handle, he goes deeper and supplies us with deeper clean, but AT ALL TIMES, we must go to the expert, which is Jesus.

 Mark 9: 23-24 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”24 Immediately, the child's father cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

   See, whether we like to believe this or not, sometimes it's our unbelief that keeps us from going to the expert for deep cleaning, and some of us are too prideful to say I need you, God, or that I need your help please but this man said no I'm not too prideful, I need help with my unbelief, and that’s what separates some of us the ones that see they need deeper help and the ones that like to live in the falsehood of thinking I can handle everything.

Verse 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!”

    Immediately, Jesus handled it; he rebuked the unclean spirit, and it left. Jesus can handle what we can't; we might think we can; we might think we understand, but we don’t unless we have the power of God leading us. Jesus sees all, and he understands what we need. Do you know what you need to go deeper? Do you know how deep Jesus can go when we allow him to heal and cleanse us?

We learned this week about allowing god to be appointed over us; some of us don’t want to do that because we feel we know what is best for us; no matter how grown we think we are, we will never be too grown where we don’t need God, and that was something a lot of people don’t want to do because they don’t want to say I need you. Still, I am never too prideful to say Jesus, I need you.

 Deu 8:18 But remember the Lord your God, for he gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

  We must remember that God gives us the ability to have wealth; we don’t get that alone. He gives us the ability to have a lot. Still, we deny his power and saying I did this on my own when we don’t; let God be appointed over your life. God is the only one who can give us a deeper understanding; we can listen to anyone, but God has what we need if we allow him to.

  Another thing we learned this week is being qualified; we as a society like to say when someone isn’t qualified, but it's not our place; what is our place is to go to God for him to tell us what is qualified and what’s not a lot of times we look at looks instead of knowledge we look at money then looking at someone’s heart, we look at everything else but what we should be looking at. God is saying you don’t have it because your eyes are on the wrong thing; we must ask God to redirect us and show us the way, and he will.

***Today, we learned how deep of a cleanse we need, and sometimes we can get that when we let go of this idea, we can handle everything on our own. We don’t know everything, and that’s hard to deal with, but God knows everything. He can cleanse us from all things and take us deeper by leading us to be on a fast and reading our word more, maybe.

  We must let our unbelief not be the cause of why we don’t go to him; sometimes, we don’t understand that the Holy Spirit places situations to teach us and situations to show us, and it's up to us to learn. Are you willing to allow God to show you how to deep clean? If so, ask the Holy Spirit today to show me how to go deeper in my word and my worship.

Just like Peter, when he got out of the boat, he trusted in Jesus. Still, the moment the wind came, he started to drown because he allowed the wind to scare him away from going to Jesus; if you're in a deep situation, don’t allow the winds of life to cause you not to reach out and learn more. Be strong and have faith and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you ©Seer~ Prophetess Lee

========================

PRAYER

========================

Heavenly Father, we thank you for today; we ask you to lead us and cleanse us deeply; we trust in you; we ask you to continue to show us the way and what we must do to seek you more. Lord, help us understand our word; if it’s fast, we must do it. Show us if we must leave certain people and things; show us that too Father, we thank you. In Jesus' Name Amen

========================

REFERENCES

========================

+ Matthew 14:31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

+ Matthew 14:32-33 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

+ 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

========================

FURTHER READINGS

=========================

 Proverbs 27

Leviticus 27

SOS 7

2 Chronicles 29

=========================

[okthatsgreat]

WOWWWW it has been so so so long. i changed my url even. kozuelovemail …. But just got caught up and the last chapter made me sprint around my house and run into various objects. i might be back when i get everything down into Words but god the way hiyoko’s trying but she’s like. awful at it. mikan trying but also being so capable of that kind of cruelty. FINALLY getting more insight into The Akane Incident. so good!!!!!!!!! do u have any insights into ur writing process here ,,,

HIIIIIII HI HI!!!!!!!!! NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN loving the name change. it rules so hardddd hiiii :3

IVE BEEN SO EXCITEDDD for this one ive been so exciteddd. so much bitterness all compiling until this very momenttt where everybody reverts back to a version of themselves they hate so badddddddddd. YAYYY!!!!!

AND of course The Akane Incident YEA!!! really having fun piecing together what her whole deal is........... slowly but surely. and we'll definitely be getting more into that next chapter with her and fuyuhiko. Jesus

SOME INSIGHTS DOWN BELOW!!!!

OK SO!! a LOT of this chapter was straight up dialogueeeeee it was almost like writing a script there was so much dialogue LMAO. something i do with huge dialogue scenes like this is take a lesson from every acting class and give every character a motive going in. so basically everybody in that room had a goal or a position to take in that scene and i made sure a lot of it clashheeedddd just to really amp up the tension. mikans role was to explain and then to defend herself at any cost, a lot of which stems from this "me and against them" mentality that she's backed herself into. hiyokos was to understand/to defend the kids, and while she does genuinely care about making sure those kids are safe she is really uncomfortable around mikan and that tends to make her louder/more argumentative/more suspicious in her unease. ibuki is unusually quiet and her goal is to have little opinion especially if that opinion goes against what mikan is saying (reflecting that gullible disease she had in the killing game). mahiru is in that uncomfortable position where she has to act as a sort of moderator, especially with hiyoko and mikan but more so hiyoko (which has already been established as a role she doesnttttt want to take lol). and because this scene was so argumentative i felt it was best if none of them ever really "achieved" their goal in the end lmaoo

with arguments as well i LOVEEEEE having characters cut each other off and stammer!!!! i think its important to note that in real life arguments dont tend to be these perfect back and forths where Person A gets to say something biting and then Person B waits their turn before saying something biting back. depending on the character and also how much power they have in the conversation, a lot of the time people will fight for their voice to be heard or make smaller comments in between sentences if this makes sense. especially with characters like hiyoko and mikan, hiyoko especially wants to feel heard, which means when she DOES get a moment to speak it tends to come out a bit louder and more biting. mikan, who is rambling at this point and hardly listening, will cut people off a lot and in turn has to BE cut off. so nobody in this scene (especially when it gets super tense!!) is able to communicate their opinion in a formal, "perfect" way, whether that be because another character is unwilling to listen, they are stammering or nervous, or simply because they just keep getting cut off by another character who wants to state their piece !!! does any of that make sense.

and then of course with dialogue heavy scenes building tension is important too!!! with this scene especially it starts out at its lowest, builds tension, goes back down again, and then REALLYYYY BUILDS up until mikan yells out that last comment!!! i tried playing with who was "in control" of the conversation just to help build that tension, and had it flip flop back and forth between people pretty often as it progressed. like as much as hiyoko acts confident and loud i tried to have a few moments where its clear she is losing control in this conversation while mikan is grabbing it, and vice versa. and even at the end when mikan """won""" the argument she immediately reverts back to powerless and lets the other three take control of whatever happens next

with two characters who are both so angry but so different it was a TON OF FUN TO WRITE!!!!!!!!!!!! because ultimately their discomfort over their past is turning them into people they well and truly hate and they KNOWWWW that, which is just making them even MORE uneased and argumentative. mikans pov deals a lot with regret and how angry she was becoming with this, and its all balled up into THIS! this TERRIBLE TERRIBLE SITUATION!!! especially with how high-stakes everything is, its extremely difficult for mikan and hiyoko to have a rational explanation where they explain their feelings in a calm and collected manner without the both of them reverting back to their high-school selves.... mikans resentment boiling over and her need to defend herself quickly turning into a need to hurt others, and hiyoko feeling as if the only way she can obtain power over the person who killed her is by becoming harsh and mean. YAY!

anyways goddd. hopefully this was understandable im just typing words at this point HGJFDKG. but YEAH SUPER FUN TO WRITE CANT WAIT TO GET BACK TO AKANE because yeppppppp her situation is slowly becoming more clear :) its all so fucked up

[applesjuice]

Oh! I'm curious to know how the Legendaries are acting in your Akari/Kiki project!

Are they more "Thoust art but a mortal, yet braveth enough for I to seek your company" or more "Hey, I know u a mortal and don't live long but u kinda cool, mind if I chill with you for the rest of your life bro?"

These tought just kinda poped in my mind hehehe xD

I actually had to think about this for a while and I made some notes to help me going forward LOL. So the Legendaries in Hisui are worshiped, like Palkia and Dialga and are treated like gods but the clans. But ultimately they are Pokemon. So I think what makes them differ besides from the GRAND COSMIC POWER from say, the average Pikachu, would be their intelligence, or their cognitive ability to interact and communicate with people. Like, most if not all pokemon can, but Legendaries in particular would operate more like kami. They understand human language and can respond in some way or even speak it.

Sort of like say, Princess Mononoke, where the older gods like Moro the wolf can speak but the newer generations are like more intelligent animals who have lost their ability to do so. That's how Legendaries operate in my AU. They're gods in the sense that they are ancient, powerful beings but can form human connections if they want to. Most don't, but Palkia and Dialga in particular are very fond of the clans since they literally worship them.

I think the Lake Trio would make more appearances because they don't generally live on a whole different plane of existence. They would be very skittish but also curious about people. But their powers can hurt humans if they're not careful and they aren't very careful. They just cannot really comprehend humans are squishy.

Post PLA Palkia and Dialga I think would pop in on the fringes to check on their worshipers, kind of like seeing bigfoot in the distance every time you have a bbq. They would only actually go out of their way to interact with those who have earned their respect, so essentially the Clan Leaders every so often, or Akari. There's lots of reverence from the clans so it's more of a "how art mine believers faring these days" sort of interaction a few times a generation since they have zero concept of time. While with Akari, who treats them like strong pokemon rather than gods because Akari is technically a modern trainer, they would visit more often because they are more curious about them.

They're kind of like stray cats that just wander in whenever to check on their human and possibly bug them for treats. I'd also like to think that come the future since worship of Palkia and Dialga isn't as in your face as Arceus, Palkia would actually take an interest in Ingo since he is technically a member of the old Pearl Clan. So as a Warden he's something like a priest to Palkia. Ingo would need to discuss with his brother whether or not Palkia is allowed on the subway.

But long story short Legendaries play favorites, especially with their "champions" (protagonists of that particular game) and Akari is no exception. Only thing is there's a bit of a pissing match going on between Arceus, Palkia, Dialga and Giritina for their attention post PLA. Arceus will sometimes call or FaceTime them on the arc phone because why can't god face time their favorite little guy? Palkia and Dialga will actually visit sometimes. And i think I mentioned this before but I like to believe post PLA Akari would erect a tiny shrine for Giritina since the clans have little in home shrines for their particular deity and they felt bad that Giritina was being left out. Because of this Kieran is essentially blessed by satan.

Also the legendaries are not used in battle here. As funny as it is to see Arceus use like, perish song or something in a battle, unless they are fighting eachother (other legendaries) it's considered disrespectful in the AU to even consider doing that. Pokemon world religions or whatever. It would be like sending Jesus into a cage match people would lose their minds.

Also in case anyone is wondering yes Palkia and Dialga would absolutely pop into the BB Academy Terrarium for funsies were Akari to go back to school. They would have cryptid status.

[faithfromanewperspective]

i'm not sure i have strong enough words to express just how bad it is for everyone on the planet in every possible way it is that christians are using the name of a god who became a man who humbled himself to the point of being killed by people after and during a lifetime of showing and teaching how to turn power structures on their head--just to have power over people. like, the more you understand the gospel the more you realise there are no words to describe how opposite of it what is currently happening with every self-proclaimed christian who is wanting, let alone actually expressing and getting away with taking power over another human made lovingly in the image of God. i don't know if you realise how bad it is.

it's bad for those people (well OBVIOUSLY) because their hearts aren't soft and ready to listen to God and fear is ruling and they don't know God's love, not truly, they're not able to love others, not when they think love involves wielding any power over them. it's bad for them because they are leading little ones astray. that is bad because--and you can interpret this in different ways depending on your theology of how universal salvation is and whether you believe in eternal punishment--Jesus literally says if you do that it's better to be drowned in the sea with a boulder tied to your neck. that's what they're threatened with and they're so far gone they don't realise that they might just be the ones leading the little ones astray. and how do you even get to that place? that you're so arrogant and not at all self aware? this is why it's bad for them. they just go further and further down that path.

it's bad for anyone impacted by it, obviously, oppression helps no one and also--what comfort can you offer?? i don't know how to express how doubly worse it is when christianity is presented and has been for millennia a hope for those who are oppressed now. a theology telling them they are valued when the world doesn't. a hope of an eternity of freedom and no suffering and getting to hang out with God and not have to be 'below' any classes of human just straight up dignified. a theology that when those who are 'above' them get ahold of it, they have a tendency to let them be freed or at least be a lot nicer and more respectful. how can we hold out that hope to anyone on the planet right now, when it's in the same name as something that has caused oppression for centuries? how can we let them decide if they want to choose it, how can it ever seem real to anyone, when you've got this mainstream narrative of what being a christian is, and it sucks?

and it's bad for every single christian who may not be directly oppressed by it. who might not be oppressed by anyone because they're seen as 'good' for believing the right things and they know how to be nice people and live out the gospel in ways that ordinary humans can--why is it bad? because for millennia christians have been just ordinary people who have gotten through incredible things because of hope for something that's bigger than themselves. i'm not talking about personal salvation here; i truly don't believe it can ever be the same motivator as the fact that we have a God who believes in righting injustice and who cares for every single one of us and when people start talking about him, captives get freed, people get dignity, there's a little bit more equality. and if some suffer still, they at least get the hope of an eternity where we have to deal with none of this.

but the eternity we're painted a picture of is the opposite. it's where the privileged oppressor gets to never experience pain again just because they said some words and believed some things and the hundreds of people they have driven away from being able to choose the same thing don't matter. an eternity where there is no justice, only the idea that every sin is the same and deserves mortal punishment but if you happen to be one of the few who gets taught the right things you get out of it, yippee. it's an elites club who are supposedly chosen by God to have no consequences for the way they have lived lives carelessly, tom and daisy from the great gatsby style or even worse. no consequences for the people they have killed and not thought about even offering the idea of this bliss after death to, after they took all the bliss they had in life. no consequences for how they drove person after person away from this hope through their own behaviour. no consequences for how they twisted the words of an ACTUAL GOD to mean the opposite. no, because Jesus died for them.

THIS IS THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE OF WHAT THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL IS, AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN.

the message of the gospel is that the ways you've messed up, you can take that pressure off yourself and feel the love of a god who was willing to hang out with you and die for your sake. you can love others with that same love too, watch as they let go of the pressure as well. pressure to be a certain class of society, because all are valuable under God. pressure to please people. pressure to believe what someone else believes. pressure to be perfect. pressure to convert people ???? (like. who even added that one?) pressure to appear good. pressure to perform. all of these things. and be caught up in a wave of something that is inevitable: when people feel this kind of freedom, it's always going to catch on and spread and the source of it is going to go viral. we all want and need that. it's simple.

but then you have the people who are meant to be stewarding the source of this peace, now unable to feel it for themselves. now adding on themselves and each other all the pressures described above. now the gospel means nothing. now it's a tool used to oppress. now it drives a colonialism that robs those that have been reached out to supposedly so they could feel the same peace. now it drives weapons and wars and campaigns twisting science so taking someone's choices away somehow equals protecting them from sinning (??) as if it's not driving them away from the very thing they need, should they choose to embrace it.

i genuinely don't know how we're not all mad. but i do, and it's been a strategic game of turning the best qualities of people who want to submit to a god who loved us so much, against truth. against justice. against taking a stand. and it's happened for centuries; so long that it's become the norm that people want to 'conserve'. and i know i have a stronger sensitivity to injustice than most. but the point is that this is wrong is a fact so glaringly obvious that anyone coming in from the outside can see it. can see what's being presented is so opposite what is written in the book waved around to justify all that is being presented. and then if you're used to it you might try to explain it away. to extend grace to those who may have unknowingly perpetrated it, while ignoring all of the damage control that needs to be done that there simply aren't enough people who see through the bullshit to do.

but the gospel is also about justice. and you seek refuge from what doesn't work, find more progressive christian spaces, and when you start to question things like eternal conscious torment you might start to forget this a little. the premise of why a god would die being that humans are capable of this. humans are capable of taking something so good and using it for things so bad. so bad that nothing done by humans is going to fix it. because humans can't undo death. that's kind of the point right? and all this, everything i've described, taking away hope and a concept of equity in eternity if not now for so many is literally that bad. that Jesus had to die. something drastic had to be done to fix it. and sure, question what you've been taught on hell. but don't think that God doesn't care about this huge injustice that is being committed in his name. why aren't these people scared? that their faith isn't being proven, quite the opposite, by their works? why don't we warn them?

and in answer to that i think that they actually are scared. i think that was their problem all along, they were scared of losing power, scared of losing God, that they had to go above and beyond in such twisted ways to make sure they were in, they were better than others, and it made them so scared that they had no room left in their heads to realise, actually, the only thing they had to be scared of was losing the hope they were shown so that fear might take over in cruel, self-preservational ways and they might drag others away with them. and when that happens, that is when, yes, what they're scared of can happen. they can lose God. and they already think that it's going to be bad. but they don't even realise the extent of what they've done.

whatever befalls oppressors is up to God. may he have mercy, but have greater mercy on those who have been impacted by these fear-power-control spirals which weren't of their own making. may he have the mercy to give a humanity the tools to undo all the bits and pieces of hurt and generational trauma that get people going down this path to begin with, tools that begin at the very humanification and death and resurrection of a god who loves us. and may he hurry up. because even if you don't freak out every time a person on this planet dies and there's a possibility they'll go to hell (try not to go down that path if you're not there, nothing good comes of it and you'll just be stressed all the time) there are people being driven away from hope by people turning it into the opposite constantly. even if you're far away from the West, the minute you try to find authorities on christianity you get exposed to this and no one taught you how to be wary of power did they? no one taught any of us. that's what led us to be complicit in this for so long.

and i'm sick of screaming at closed ears. i'm sick of people saying it's not quite so bad or 'just the americans' or thinking queer acceptance might solve every problem in the church. we need to go deeper than that. question the very foundations we're built on, do they line up with what we say we believe, or what is the most effective way to get rid of ideologies and habits we don't need? we mightn't need to cut off physical hands and eyes but we need to know when to be brutal with ourselves as a community or we're never going to heal. we need solid theology that drives us from the very heart to live like it. i'm sick of arguing back an forth if a singular action is permissible or not (when did we even learn to view things so black and white?) when we need to go back to our roots; our mission.

i still believe it all lines up. the weird things we might choose to do to show our God is good, with our lives. the pattern of the powerful and cruel and careless and power-hungry with their power being shot down by God in order that liberation might occur, both in our bigger social systems and in our own hearts. i still believe that from abraham and right down to Jesus there's a hope that's going to rock the world in good ways and it's going to have no racial profile to it but it's going to be a hope for anyone who is oppressed and a kind call to work against oppression in yourself and outside for those who are not. i still believe it's not a white thing. not a thing you need to abandon your culture and its rich history and mythology for, but a straight up hope that can motivate us to love others in ways that we'd burn out from doing otherwise.

but right now we are getting burnt out. because how can I ever feel a part of something with the very people who are causing harm or are at the very lease unwilling to call it out? how can i ever rejoice in the hope i have when it seems like things are going the opposite way? how can I ever relax around anyone when i'm either doing damage control when i share my faith or i'm trying desperately to reconcile the horror i'm seeing with people who genuinely have no idea that a religion could do so much harm. and that's the thing. it couldn't do so much harm if it were not used so oppositely to what it's supposed to be. and i don't know if there's anyone else who has to see this so constantly. to try and escape with other things but it always comes back. in the way i'm desperate for justice. for kindness and equity to prevail. clinging to a belief that no one seems to see the same way that I do.

[coolcarsntrucksngunsnusa]

I know there's a lot of folks who truly are upset about seeing Trump heading back to the Oval Office. Maybe this will help a little bit in understanding both why someone might vote them in, but also that it'll be okay.

This story is from before when Trump was in office in 2016. It’s a poignant story from a Gold Star Mom, but it talks to why support of Trump isn’t as crazy as some might think.

With the vitriol in DC and the fainting couches being ordered by the folks on the left, we keep hearing questions about how we could possibly support someone who says such things as the next president.

I’d rather have someone say harsh things and do the right thing, than to say all the right things and do the wrong.

I’ll again quote a Gold Star Mom, because her words capture this sentiment better than any other I’ve ever come across.

First, for a quick intro:

Billy and Karen Vaughn are the parents of fallen Navy SEAL, Aaron Carson Vaughn (SEAL Team VI). On August 6, 2011 Aaron was killed in action in the Tangi River Valley of Afghanistan when a chopper (call sign Extortion 17) carrying thirty Americans was shot from the sky. Let me tell you, when a Gold Star Mom speaks, people listen. These moms have endured unimaginable loss and have earned the right to a bully pulpit. They are not some fawned over TV show host or starlet. GSMs are the stuff that made America truly great, raising kids who understand the meaning of “the last full measure of devotion.”

Here are her words:

Sometimes God uses the no-nonsense, salty sailor to get the job done. Appreciating what the man is doing doesn’t mean we worship the salty sailor or even desire to be like the salty sailor. It doesn’t even mean God admires the salty sailor. Maybe He just knows he’s necessary for such a time as this.

I believe with all my heart that God placed that salty sailor in the White House and gave this nation one more chance in November 2016. Trump is what he is. He is still the man he was before the election. And without guilt, I very much admire what that salty sailor is accomplishing.

He’s not like me. That’s okay with me. I don’t want to be like him. I will never behave like him. I know we’ve NEVER had a man like him lead our nation. It’s crazy and a little mind blowing at times. But I can’t help admire the ability he has to act with his heart rather than a calculated, PC, think tank-screened, carefully edited script. I still believe that is WHY he became our President and WHY he’s been able to handle a landslide of adversity and STILL pass unprecedented amounts of good legislation for our country AND do great works for MANY other nations, including Israel.

I’m THRILLED with what he’s doing for my nation, for the cause of Christ (whether intentional or unintentional, doesn’t matter to me), and for the concept of rebuilding America and putting her FIRST. I will not be ashamed of my position because others don’t see him through the same lens.

Should it matter to me if a fireman drops an f-bomb while he’s pulling me from a burning building? Would I really care about what came out of his mouth in those moments? Heck no! I’d CARE about what he was DOING. He wasn’t sent there to save my soul and I’m not looking to him for spiritual guidance. All I’m thinking in those moments is, “Thank you, Jesus, for sending the fireman.”

This man is crass. Okay. He’s not careful with what he says. Okay. You feel offended that he’s not a typical statesman. Okay. But he is rebuilding the nation my son died for…the nation I feared was on a fast track to becoming a hopeless cause. Forgive me if I’m smiling.

[f0point5]

hi, different anon! I personally have a really hard time with Norris, because I WANT to like him, I empathize with him and how difficult on him it must be with how many mean people are on social medias talking shit. With the huge pressure of having the car which, logically, should be leading the WDC, but not necessarily being capable yet of exploiting it or not ready mentally to do so (or maybe just simply not being good enough to get the results but that’s another matter). With having a hard time accepting that you’re not matching people’s expectation.

But then every once in a while he just starts making stupid comments and I’m like, my dude, THINK before you speak jfc. You have a PR TEAM, who helps you navigate your social presence so why, oh why are you on twitch shitting on the Mercedes drivers for their medical condition after Singapore24. Why are we disregarding the safety of everyone involved when talking about the brazil24 red flag because its absence would have advantaged you. Why are we belittling Hamilton’s achievements by saying it’s just the car. Why are we saying Verstappen “lost my respect” and will have to “apologize” to get it back (mixing on track and off track??). Why are we declaring that Verstappen should change his driving style instead of his won (I’m sorry, who got what he wanted at the end of the day?).

Like Lando, bro, I’m really trying but you’re not making it easy. Feels as if he just doesn’t think before speaking, but then refuses to live with the consequences because that’s not how he would have wanted to say it… but then shouldn’t you have thought of how you were gonna say something before saying it, so to avoid being misinterpreted or regretting things that shouldn’t have gotten out of your mouth?

Couldn’t you, as you so nicely pointed out to Verstappen about his driving style, change your way to not come off so abrasive? Or should you, as Verstappen does, own up to it? Idk there’s no point expecting different outcomes when doing the same things; if you want something to change it has to start with yourself. Take it into your own hands! Maybe Norris is just not for me, because I also look at his community and they’re all babying him and he can never be in the wrong ever, it’s never his fault and they really annoy me.

I’ll be the first to say I defended Lando on his twitch comments because I still think he was referring to Toto issuing a health update as being over the top rather than dismissing the actual health of the drivers.

But yeah I do sometimes wonder why someone hasn’t had a come to Jesus moment with him about the way he comes across because when you are misunderstood by so many people…it might be you. You have to consider the possibility that it might be you. You can decide you actually don’t care, and that’s fair enough, but I think you should at least reflect. And it doesn’t seem like lando or his team reflect on that.

On the other hand, he’s incredibly popular and incredibly loved and successful. So arguably, is he actually the problem? Stats say no. Kind of like Max’s driving. Some people don’t like it which is fine but when you look at the outcome, can you come up with a good reason for him to change when it’s working? What Lando does is working for him on the whole. The only issue is when he gives off the impression that he doesn’t understand what is off putting about his behaviour. You can’t say you care and then refuse to even acknowledge why you’re in the situation.

Saying less is free, if you’re worried about being misinterpreted.

I think the difference with Max, apart from him genuinely being unbothered, is he’s not misinterpreted as much as he is misunderstood. Max says what he means and even if you don’t like him, it’s not like he has to come out and say “I didn’t mean it like that”. He means it how he says it, whether you like it is not his concern. He’s just misunderstood in the sense that people think the way he approaches racing is the way he approaches life and that’s clearly not the case. People extrapolate his racing personality and think he must be a dick in his every day life. But even that I feel happens less now.

But Lando just seems to say however he’s feeling at the time, poorly, and then seems surprised that people don’t do the work of filling in the gaps to find the nicest interpretation of what he might have meant? I don’t know why he seems to assume that people should always think the best of him or that you can just take something back or clarify and everyone just has to accept that?

Again, I don’t know what goes on in his PR meetings but when you think that his boss is Zak Brown you think maybe there’s not enough thought going into briefing him or something. I don’t know.

He’s in a tough position, but he has made it exponentially harder with the way he’s represented himself this year. I’m not trying to be funny but CultLH should not ever be rooting for Max. If that’s happening you dun brought a snowstorm to hell.

[fierceawakening]

Something that you might find useful is "A Mediation of Boundaries" by Unit of Caring (google will bring it up). Big part is the conclusion at the end, that proper boundary setting is to be able to tell people that their need is valid and worthy and even though they deserve for somebody to fulfill that need, you cannot be the one to do it. Contrary to what it sounds like, being upfront about saying no actually creates a culture of kinder, happier people.

That helps, but I think it is still off?

Like, everyone wants to be understood, but if she’s abusive (whether she’s intentionally and knowingly cruel or self deluded or whatever)… then it’s highly likely no one else can fulfill that need either, just because they will also be harmed.

Which is the real thing I’m wrestling with here. The tumblr meme that says that everyone who has a disability, or a divergence, or a mental illness, deserves someone who loves them fully even when their symptoms are at their worst, confuses and kind of frightens me.

Not because most of us are terrifying and bad, but because some of us… kinda are. Some of us have the kinds of defense mechanisms that mean that in general we’re less able to treat others with full respect.

And that I think is something that I wrestle with. If I’m her child and even I can’t give her that understanding, Will her friends be able to? What I wrestle with is… maybe not. Maybe she really would have to find some deeper awareness of how she’s affecting others to get that.

And that’s what I think I wrestle with about what tumblr says. Ideally there really is someone for everyone! But I left just world theory behind decades ago. Which means some people—some of them with legitimate disabilities or mental illnesses—may never get whs5 they need, or may have to look inward and try to change their behavior even if their personality is fixed.

That’s not ableism. That’s life isn’t fair.

That’s not something we can fix by tabooing words, or bu explaining that not everyone with x diagnosis does y.

That’s only something we can acknowledge. Only something we can tell ourselves: it’s good that you care. But it’s not yours to solve.

This is, not at all coincidentally, why I went back to Christianity despite not literally believing God exists. If there is a concept or character called Jesus who forgives without limit, then even if no other human could fully forgive mom… there’s someone out there, even just as a concept, who can and does.

I can give that over to him, hard as it is, because she’s still a person no matter how she treats me or anyone else… but I can’t keep getting hurt.

[gayleviticus]

the trinity is for sure a deep enigmatic sacred mystery but also, i think the way it gets framed and explained to people makes it seem at least 10x more confusing than it should be. explaining the trinity using 4th century greek philosophical technical vocabulary and then going thru why every single attempt to explain it by analogy is a heresy (like the three-leaf clover one, or the 'husband, father, brother' one) still doesn't get to the fundamental information anyone is after when they try to learn a new concept, which is:

why is this important?

in the case of the trinity it's easy to answer that in a facile way. 'it's important because it's the truth and we want to know who God is'. but it doesn't get to the core of the question really. what is the question that the doctrine of the Trinity is answering?

theology is pretty much beginning to end about answering meaningful questions. it becomes confusing abstract nonsense people don't care for when that truth gets forgotten - or when the questions are irrelevant (e.g. 'how many angels can dance on the head of a pin'). but pretty much every theological (and philosophical) idea emerges because people were looking for answers.

Why do we suffer? The Fall. Why was Israel exiled and scattered into the nations? Because they broke God's law. Why did the supposed Messiah die a humiliating death? Because it was necessary to atone for sins and overcome the power of the grave. How can non-Jews be integrated into worship of the God of Israel? Because salvation is through faith in Christ alone.

For the Trinity, then, the question it's attempting to answer is simply this: how do we make sense of the conflicting ideas in Scripture that

A) God is one and he alone is to be worshipped

B) Jesus is in some sense divine, unified with God, a reflection of God's glory, the Word of God

C) Jesus is in some sense distinct from his Father, to whom he prays and has a relationship with.

For Nicene Christianity, the Trinity is the only framework that squares this circle. The problem with Trinitarian heresies then isn't the fact that they fail to meet the arbitrary philosophical requirements of orthodoxy, but the simple fact that they need to dispense with one of these ideas to make their case.

In this light, identifying wrong ways of understanding the Trinity isn't a task that only highly-trained theology professors with a deep understanding of hypostasis and ousia can puzzle out, or something a church hierarchy arbitrarily decides to maintain power. with these 3 criteria any layman is fully equipped to tell you exactly why a certain analogy or model of the Trinity is incorrect.

Arianism (Jesus is a demigod created by God as his representative) ? Rejects A) the existence of solely one God alone

Unitarianism (Jesus was just a human being) ? Rejects B) the divinity of Jesus attested in Scripture.

Oneness or Modalism (Father/Son/Holy Spirit are just different roles played by one guy, like how water can be solid/liquid/gas)? Rejects C) the fact Jesus is still distinct from the Father.

The Trinity, where one God exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Sure it's vague and confusing and we lack the everyday language to really talk about it, but we can maintain premises A, B, and C equally.

now, you can argue whether these premises are correct. Perhaps A) and B) both have room for Jesus as a kind of supreme angel or exalted man who doesn't infringe on the glory of God. (C I would honestly struggle to defend at all though; it's hard to square with 'Jesus prays to the Father and constantly talks about his relationship with him')

But my point here is not defending the Trinity - it's simply that it doesn't have to be a hyper-speculative academic mind-blowingly esoteric concept. it's still hard to grasp and beyond human comprehension, but i think if we understand the problem the doctrine of Trinity is attempting to solve it makes far more sense than simply regurgitating 'three persons, one God' with no context for where that language came from

[one-coming-is-enough]

Brother, you are going to be the best King this Universe has ever seen. It's quite evident in almost everything you do, actually.

Are you aware of that? I do hope you're aware of that.

Thank You! I'm going to try My best.

If I succeed, well... I think that's the point of Me? i can't really take credit for My own self just doing stuff I was supposed to do in the first place.

And if I don't... :/ I hope I don't disappoint everyone. They all have a lot of faith in Me.

Even You.

Um. It's. Yeah. It's really, really nice to know that even the former Severity of Judgement is, um. Has. Faith? In. Me???

Because. Nobody is certain. Really certain. How it's all. Gonna.

Well. If I'm ruling Hell. Um. And I'm also ruling 1/3 of Heaven like I am now...

That's 2/3 of Heaven I am not ruling. Mother kept those parts for Herself.

So, Christian Heaven (this is a VERY broad definition of Christian here, folks, we take a lot of "I guess I believe in something" people because their understanding of "something" is still "Heaven/Hell/monogamy/forgiveness/Santa Claus Is Important Somehow." I can't sue him for breach of contract because technically he fulfills his part of the bargain that way -- and I'll tell that story, it just pisses Me off so much it'll take a minute) is not warring with Hell for, like... The first time ever.

Yeah. It'll take a while to sort it out, but as of now they're both under My leadership, so a fight would be a huge conflict of interest for everyone involved.

Jewish Heaven is... They're not fighting anyone. It's like a luxury cruise liner. There's an endless buffet, there are gaming rooms where you can play whatever games you want with your friends and family, there's even talent shows and beauty pageants (we had to keep it to participation trophies for the kinder, because the kids don't care if they win first place as long as they all get the same amount of candy for participating, but grandparents would turn it into fucking Valhalla for their bubbeleh if you let them).

The angelic presence there is minimal. They're basically Janets, if you know from The Good Place. Occasionally one of the big names will drop by for a meet 'n' greet day and to crown a winner for something, but I think it's just when they need a break anyway.

The Muslims who get into Heaven are all pretty chill people, fortunately. The murderous zealots do get into Hell, like every other faith beneath our tent, but it's kinda pleasing how fast a lot of them catch on once they realize they're not getting what they thought they would. I guess when your afterlife is that concretely described, you have a pretty solid metric of whether you did the right thing or not.

Don't get Me wrong, the angels who serve their Heaven are willing to throw down. Some of their humans might, reluctantly. But the majority of them up there are going to remember that the jihad of a well-reasoned and well-stated argument is always the first resort, before defensive violence. They will try to explain to the demons why they should stop fighting. And their angels will be backing them up going, "You better agree with my homie or my sword is in your brain before you can finish saying the 'O' in 'No'."

But. My slice of Heaven is full of some of the worst shitheads in the world who repented right before they died, but... Didn't fully understand why they were repenting. Their brains just went, "If I make myself feel 'bad' about my 'serial ritual murders' and tell Jesus that I feel that way, I can get into a Better Place."

I agreed to let a lot of real shitbags into My slice of Heaven, is what I'm saying.

And a lot of them do not understand why killing and horrible violence is wrong to do to people, and have only recently managed to come around to "They might have been nice to you one day if you hadn't killed them."

It's a work in progress, and I try to keep them away from the people I'm providing permanent positions as "consultants and entertainment" to (so they don't get pushed into the veal lots once they're done perfecting themselves) so they don't, like... Decide to torture George Frideric Handel for fun. They just practice on each other.

But yeah there's a whole fuckin holding area of deeply pious sociopaths who love Me more than anything else Up There.

*sigh*

Look what happened with the zombies, man. I'm really worried this is gonna blow up in My face spectacularly and something terrible will happen again because I was a naïve idiot.

That happens to Me a lot.

I mean, look what happened with...

*gestures at all of Christianity from Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus to the present moment, in which hardcore Christians pray that Donald Trump will nuke Iran to bring Me back once I get him back in office, which I'm actively trying to make not happen as hard as I can*

Yeahhhhh.

Good intentions, but I'm. I'm wearing a cheerful hand-knitted sweater to My reception as Ruler of Hell, at which I will gently suggest that it might be fun to build safe dwellings for tiny, vulnerable little birds that are known to eat harmful things.

I'll be relieved if I'm not immediately murdered in fifteen hundred ways simultaneously, because I can take it but it's still painful.

Most likely scenario is I am laughed at until everyone pees their pants, and then they leave, and Muriel is there to offer some kind of cheerful encouragement and Saraqael says something wry about how I was a dumbass.

I'm emotionally prepared for either of these two scenarios.

I just have no other good ideas for introducing Myself.