#christianity is a plague

[killerchickadee]

It's batshit bonkers insane to me, even as an ace person, that some people really do think sex should only be for procreation. Like what a miserable life do you lead where you're like, that thing that brings joy and connection to so many people? Let's not allow that. What a sad existence.

They fact they're openly admitting this is wild to me.

[nomsfaultau]

guys if they have Christmas in the Dream SMP, did they have to nail Jesus on the cross three times, once for every canon life?

[bruhstation]

you who I called brother, how could you have come to hate me so?

[lionofchaeronea]

The Seventh Plague, John Martin, 1823

[strawberrygirldick]

Kill all republicans

“Under His wings,” one lobbyist wrote in an email. “The Devil never sleeps,” another person sent in an email chain about the distinction between gender and sex. “I pray for the 2nd coming more and more.”

These missives are part of a trove of leaked emails between South Dakota GOP Rep. Fred Deutsch, anti-trans lobbyists, and other state lawmakers about anti-trans policies that are filled with language so deeply religious that, at times, the communications read like scripts from The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s the language, one expert told VICE News, of Christian nationalists who believe they’re engaging in a holy war.

The emails, which are available online for journalists and others to read and were first reported on by Mother Jones, include revelations about some of the ways that anti-trans lobbyists—and elected Republicans like Deutsch and Idaho Rep. Julianne Young—collaborate and strategize to write and endorse policies that directly target trans people on a national scale.

The repeated notes about “blessings” and “prayers,” as well as sign-offs like “God bless you” and “Under His wings,” proliferate throughout the emails, which frequently reference explicit religious motivations for targeting trans people.

[…]

“It is the language of Christian nationalism,” Thomas Lecaque, an associate professor of history at Grand View University focusing on apocalyptic religion and political violence. “It is the language of people who very much believe they are doing God’s will, and it is the language of people who very much believe that they are engaged in a holy war.”

[lolotr]

anyone else think about how edwin almost got got by the lust room in hell or is that just me

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Horace Vernet (French, 1789-1863) Plague in Barcelona in 1819 The State Hermitage Museum

[my-sacred-art]

Alice Eve (English, born Feb. 6, 1982)

Christ Appointing Saint Roch As Patron Saint of Plague Victims, 1626. Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640).

[sky-daddy-hates-me]

Sometimes I wonder why most Christians preach about love and kindness without actually practicing it themselves, then I remember their God killed the first born children of the Egyptians because the pharoah didn't want to let his people go.

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

"gay wedding" is like "black sabbath"

the whole purpose (and effect) of it is to pervert and protest the original

[welcometokelll]

Girl help I’m having creation ideas well within my skill level but I didn’t take the time to consider that just because I can doesn’t mean I should and now I’ve released a horror upon mankind

[bayofwolves]

i was on the most random nostalgia kick and rewatched the prince of egypt yesterday and let me just say... that movie is truly one of the greatest animated films of all time.

[apenitentialprayer]

transcript of the video below

And this was kind of channeled for me during the Pandemic, when (and whether it's the same in America, I don't know) in Britain, a lot of the churches basically focused on giving public health messages, kinda telling us to wear masks, to wash our hands and stuff. They were excellent messages, no doubt, but, you know, everyone else was saying that as well. I think that churches should celebrate what sets them apart. The problem for churches, basically, is that they won; so all the things that seemed radical and strange and bizarre to the Romans are now accepted. And a lot of what the Church has traditionally provided —education, healthcare, or so on, you know, charity relief— have been nationalized, the state provides that. So what is left for the churches to do? And I think what the churches should do is to celebrate all the mad-weird stuff that, you know, you're not getting from the Department of Health. So... angels, and God thundering from Mount Sinai, and all that kind of thing. Book of Job; all that stuff. I thought the weirdest thing, in the sense of "it sent shivers down my spine" and opened up vistas of possibility was the one exception that proves the rule in terms of churches not…. not making sense of the horrors that the world was going through during the Pandemic, which is quite early in the lockdown in Rome. The Pope — I can't remember what he was doing, he was… it can't have been a Mass, he was… it was some observance, in St. Peter's Square; and it was completely empty. Just him, in St. Peter's Square; and he, he made prayers and did whatever he was doing, and as he was doing it, bells were clanging out over Rome and the wailing of ambulances taking the sick to hospitals. And he went and prayed before an icon that tradition says had been sent from Constantinople in the reign of Gregory the Great; an icon of Christ, the infant Christ and the Virgin. And Gregory the Great, who was pope in the sixth century, had become pope during a period of plague. and his papacy existed in the context of the kind of suffering that we were going through. And he wrote a great commentary on Job, the Book of Job, which is, perhaps, the profoundest, most troubling, most (and for that reason I think) most satisfying attempt in the Bible to explain how a good God can permit evil to happen. I mean, it doesn't give an answer, but it kind of transcends, perhaps, the need to have an answer for that. And watching that gave me a sense of… the unbelievable wealth of the Christian attempt to explain why we, why we're here. Christianity is the most… successful explanation that humanity has ever come up with to explain why we're here, and why bad things happen, and why good things happen, and the whole nexus of it. And that is an unbelievable reservoir for us to draw on. And I felt that very, very strongly writing Dominion. Kind of… my eyes were opened up to the, the incredible richness in this tradition, and I think that is part of the weirdness; moments that enable you to feel that, to feel that you're not just you in 2023. That you're part of the totality of the human experience that is (perhaps) embraced within the mind of God. I mean, it's a very, very profound feeling, I think.

[mediterraneanmenace]

[I send you a pestilence such as the world has never seen. Your rivers will turn into blood and plague will seep into your sleep, into your dreams...] [... And when hope has been whittled down to the very marrow of despair, that's when you'll come knocking on our door]

It's done, finally. The "cover art" for my BG3 prequel. (Also fun fact: Raksha is 7'1". I just like drawing Cambion!Raphael big)

A Holy Inquisitor and a Devil. Sacred and Profane. AKA how these two will start as a loving couple only to end up in a spiral of mutual destruction.

Buckle up, we go into a lengthy character analysis below.

The reason he got attracted to her in the first place is pure, unfiltered narcissism: he saw himself in her ego, her ambition and personality. Said attraction turned into affection and eventually love when she told him about her past - mirrors of each other. Raphael also becomes very protective with Raksha - to a fault.

(This will be explained further in the story itself) Raksha herself was happy to find someone who wouldn't look at her with fear (reverential or not) and that would enjoy watching the operas/theatre plays she loves.

They're similar but opposites: one being the literal son of one of Hell's Archdevils and the other a messianic archetype who unknowingly has Archdevil blood (Baalzebul's) herself - close enough to be relevant but NOT enough for her to be a Cambion.

Raksha was adopted and raised by a strict archdeacon in a cathedral as proof that he could "turn a devil into a saint", so you can already guess her views on things like sexuality (she and her companions have a literal vow of chastity going on).

She demonizes sexuality and doesn't live her attraction to Raphael well (let alone when she finds out he's a Cambion. Girl was ready to break her vow for him). But he does help her to get a more healthy view on intimate stuff. :)

Raksha "sends the plagues" (spells like Contagion and Insect Plague) to villages that - according to her or the religious institutions that call for her help - need the divine help of Ilmater to purify themselves from their sins. Her idea is that, if you survive, you have successfully repented. Of course, some people would rather make a deal with someone like Raphael to live than trust the divine forces that put them through such torment.

In the piece you can see how it's Raphael sneaking a hand under her shirt and holding her tail with his - she's *trying* to appear as the virtuous one resisting temptation but is actually smiling complicit. The uncensored piece is a bit more... Explicit about it. [ You can find it on my 18+ Twitter @/paprikadust :) ]

Raksha is young (she's 23, 24 when they marry) and never had a relationship before, so she mistakes his possessiveness for love until she finally snaps (a big factor for this is finding out about Hope), escapes and goes into hiding after 6 years together. Raphael being himself of course becomes absolutely obsessed to find his wife. (I mean, before actually even talking to her, he stalked Raksha for 4 years. From 19 to 23)

Also I'm not a fan of people forgetting about what he did to Hope. I think he's actually quite dominant with Raksha in bed and does have servants checking on her whenever he can't be close enough to control what she does.

The prequel ends as the events of Baldur's Gate 3 take place.

Also closeup. :D

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Blackstone Fortress - No Respite Cover Art by Christian Byrne

[shatar-aethelwynn]