#church benefits

[pastorjeremynorton]

Why You Should Reconnect with Your Faith Community THIS Sunday

Reconnect with your faith community! Discover the benefits of church attendance and overcome post-pandemic challenges. Where are you going to church this Sunday? #Faith #Community #ChurchReconnect

Where Are You Going to Church? On May 5, 2023, more than three years after COVID-19 was designated a pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to the global Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19. It’s now May 2024, a year out of the pandemic…where are you going to church? Have you returned to regular church attendance? If you have, well done and thank you! If not,…

[morsmortish]

barty and evan fake-proposing to each other in bars to get free drinks, until one day they get too drunk and end up overcommitting to the “bit”, which leads to them accidentally eloping in the shitty church next door with the bartender as a witness.

they’re still “just friends”, and they have their first kiss together at their wedding ceremony.

[caffeinatedopossum]

I kind of hate how just because I don't subscribe to any religion or believe in any specific god, people assume that means that I *disbelieve* in god(s)

I simply don't have much reason to think about whether or not there's a god, besides when I just want to enjoy some good old philosophical/hypothetical thinking or conversations.

Like people will hear I'm not Christian and go "how come you don't believe in god?" like no, no you misunderstand me. I don't NOT believe in god, I just don't believe in *your* god. And if your god is real, then it changes nothing about how I'm going to live my life. The Christian god is an ass and not someone I'm going to worship. I'm just gonna spend my life trying to do good, and if your god doesn't like that, then he's not a very good god, is he?

[hwangbastard69]

Filipino core yoshiden (church sponsor Yoshida and altar server Denji)

[queerorthodoxy]

This might be a controversial take, but I honestly don't think that the most important thing is to believe in God or even Christ specifically but to genuinely try and be a good person. Believing in God is for your benefit, not God's, and trying to be a good person to the world around you is what counts.

[typical-tardis-voyager]

okay I know we're all still REELING from the new episode, I just wanted to put my 2 cents in about the "oooo who is Ruby's parents???" debacle.

As a person who is not biologically related to both their parents, all I can say is: I hope it doesn't matter. I know the way they're building it up is going to lead to some major reveal or something...I just hope it's nothing. Just some couple. No major importance in the greater series.

I think Ruby can work as a character just fine (if not better) if they don't have a relation to a major character/figure. 🤷

[screechingcheesecakecheesecake]

The Gilded Spear Quest better have some continuation on it in the future I'm so pissed at how high risk no reward that quest is. Brother Jordan, my PC almost got raped like 20 times, got shot by arrows, starved into desperation 5 times (my luck was shitty ok I couldn't find food lmao), got harrassed by pirates and beastpeople with only the Robin buoy I carved as emotional support. Not To mention I had to pay Zephyr 15000 pounds for a ride (probably not required but I had too much money I just wanted to spend lol)

Don't fuck with me with that purification exam what the hell would you have done if my PC became impure at during the mission I'm going to choke you.

[vanlegion]

Eh, I was in a weird experimental mood. Have this. Dubbed 'Who Are You?' Pretty sure I've said this but I love characters that either are not human or beyond human... because existentialism is fun to think about.

My monitor makes this look 3-D which is awesome.

[noctilionoidea]

the hardest part about wanting to learn about ancient history and folklore/mythology of European countries (especially in America) is that it can be so hard to get away from the racist weirdos. No dumbfuck, I didn’t want to go to newgrange to “get in touch with my Irish heritage”, I went because I stumbled across a book of Irish folktales and history when I was five and it was a formative memory. You’re “obsessed” with Ancient Rome but cant even make sense of why the art would become less realistic when it moves into a different material and becomes a FUCKING FAMOUS STYLE OF CHRISTIAN ART. You don’t know shit about polychromy. You’re obsessed with the Vikings but you’ve never spoken to a Scandinavian in real life. You don’t even know where celts originated from. Get the fuck out of here man. God forbid you hear reconstructed ancient or even traditional Greek music.

[peachybutch]

done a lotta thinking about tex tonight but i think tex in a very real way represents the question of who allison church is

[nebulousfishgills]

I'm aware that the carnival wheel game is a scam, but this was worth the 500 gold, full stop, I was on the floor crying for like ten minutes

(Also peep my Durge Tav, Sorcerer)

[danlous]

There are literally 3 euros left on my bank account

[californiannostalgia]

I finally understand why atheists who were once catholics write about bones so much

I didn't realize that christian worship was built on cannibalism

maybe I should've expected that when the textbook tried to explain to me the 'eating the flesh of jesus' thing

[madtomedgar]

Noticing that the flashpoint around members of religious minorities, including atheists from those groups, using the term "cultural christianity" seems to be that ex-christian atheists, or atheists who are not related to minority cultural-religious groups, think that when we say it, we mean something bad. That in this context "christian" means something derogatory, and cultural means "crypto" as in covert.

This is a neutral term. It isn't a bad thing to participate or be shaped by the culture that grows up around a religion, which includes language, holidays, architecture, food, music, storytelling themes, etc. Someone who grows up as a christian in a country that is not culturally christian but later becomes an agnostic or atheist is still a member of that broad, shared culture of holidays, food, etc.

The problem is when a majority culture uses the power of the state and of civil society to enforce cultural norms tied up in, or stemming from, its historical religion on others. This includes things like the state recognizing christian holidays, but not any one else's religious or cultural holidays; supermarkets being full of holiday associated food for christian holidays, but it being difficult or impossible to find appropriate food for Eid or Rosh Hashanah; Kosher and Halal slaughter being banned while fish Friday is still a thing, even if few students are practicing catholics; wearing crosses being fine, sometimes more fashion than religion, but kippot or beards or hijab being penalized; Assuming all religion is fundamentally similar to the dominant religion.

These are problems of cultural hegemony, not of culture. There is nothing wrong with having a December holiday party. There is a problem with assuming everyone has holidays in December and should be happy to participate in eating cookies and exchanging gifts, while not being willing to go have lunch in someone's Sukkah.

And saying people should be aware of and work to dismantle cultural christian hegemony means asking people to support colleagues who want to take time off for their holidays without dipping into sick or pto, and not assuming your world view is objective or the only correct one.

It's not asking people to "repent" for some inborn "sin" or saying anyone is secretly the thing they are saying they aren't, just like criticizing US imperialism isn't an attack on racial minorities in the US or erasing their oppression.

And assuming it is betrays a world view steeped in christian philosophy of good, evil, and personal accountability that is in no way a universal way of understanding things. It's not an inherently inferior way of understanding things, but it is specific, and assuming that it's how everyone understands things is a sign of the cultural hegemony of christian-dominant culture.

[blueskittlesart]

Hi! As someone who now kinda wants to check out Trigun because of the hype, do you recommend that I can start with Stampede? Or do I really need to watch the OG anime first to better understand/enjoy it? Thank you! 🙋🏻‍♀️

you can start with stampede! i'd say knowing the context of the original enhances the experience but isn't necessary to enjoy the show. I would consider stampede more viewer-friendly, especially for those of us who are used to modern storytelling conventions (the original suffers the consequences of general writing trends in anime at the time it was produced and of the fact that it was produced long before the manga was finished, so the story is somewhat disjointed and has a lot of filler which makes it REALLY hard to get into.) if you do end up liking stampede, however, I'd suggest trying out watching at least SOME of the original because it adds a lot of cool nuance and context to the story that stampede tells!

[lisbonsteresa]

about to lose it