#confidence in religion

[honeyyycloud]

[source from Pinterest]

[g-cedillo]

25th Anniversary Vans Warped Tour

Shoreline Ampitheatre

Mountain View, CA

07/20&21/2019

[luckthebard]

Genuinely confused as to how so much of the fandom watched the first 2 CR campaigns and Calamity and yet still ended up in a “Ludinus is right let’s kill all the gods” position. Like it’s baffling to me how much content/context people have just decided to completely forget? We had 2 full campaigns of very positive interactions with the gods and the moment there’s some hypothetical and interesting musing and speculation about their roles in the world from a more disconnected place we’re just throwing that out the window?*

Tbh the number of people who watched episode 4 of Calamity and still saw Asmodeus as sympathetic or having a legitimate point is unsettling to me, but while that’s a related issue it’s not quite the same conversation.

But like legitimately how did we so quickly make a hard turn from “The Stormlord teaches his barbarians to use the power of friendship, he’s a funny kindergarten teacher” memes to…this.

*(This is not, btw a comment on the characters having philosophical debates in-world because I think those are interesting and on-theme for the campaign and are also nearly always concluding with “our personal relationship to individual gods and feelings about them are irrelevant actually, the people trying to destroy them are doing wider harm and are in the wrong and must be stopped.” I’m actually loving the engagement with this by the characters in-universe but the fandom is exhausting me.)

[femmefatalevibe]

Unlearning Purity Culture & How To Embrace Your Sexuality

Some words on how to unlearn purity culture and embrace your sexuality on your terms. For the women, men, girls, gays, theys, and anyone else who grew up in a religious, ultra-conservative, or sex-negative environment.

Remember that no one is "tainted" from engaging in such a natural act with someone they have chemistry with. The only "damage" that can happen from consensual sex is STDs or unwanted pregnancy if you don't use protection.

From what I've seen, religious indoctrination tends to promote an otherness around sex – it is a purpose-driven act (uphold a marriage, create children), rather than an innate desire that matures just like the rest of your being (body, mind, spirit). Once you consider that your sexuality is simply a part of your human existence – like your desire for certain foods, emotions, interpersonal connections, sensory experiences, and creativity – it is easier to perceive sex as a morally-neutral act.

Because one's sexuality is so personal, you need to learn, explore, and accept your preferences at any given stage in your life. If you find the idea of casual sex or purely physically-driven sex to be unappealing, that is completely fine. Some people prefer to have sex with someone only after they've established an emotional connection or were friends with the person beforehand. Others crave more dynamic or adventurous sexual experiences that can incline them to become bored in long-term relationships. These pleasure-seekers may be more inclined to seek the thrill, novelty, and lack of inhibitions that come with casual relationships. It's like someone preferring smooth or chunky peanut butter. You might not understand why someone likes the other option, and you might change your mind over time, but neither option is inherently "good" nor "bad." Either option should align with your personal preference to ensure you're getting the most pleasure and satisfaction out of the experience.

While sex and love are not the same, you need to learn for yourself whether you prefer to have experiences that mesh or separate the two. Beneficial connections manifest in all forms. Sit with yourself honestly without judgment to pursue the path that feels most authentic to you.

[atheostic]

Oh to have the confidence of a Christian saying the wildest (and very very inaccurate) shit about other religions

I once had a Christian tell me that Odin is famous for being greedy and a hoarder of knowledge.

And as someone who took a Norse mythology course in uni I was like

My dude. My buddy. My pal. My sibling in Christ, even.

That's literally the exact opposite of what he's famous for????

After he is granted knowledge of the Runes in Rúnatal he goes around the world teaching anyone who wants to learn how to write, no strings attached.

In Skáldskaparmál he steals the Mead of Poetry specifically to SHARE it with the other gods.

He's so famous for going around giving people advice and dropping knowledge that his kennings include Allfather, Journey Empowerer, Journey Advisor, Teacher of Gods, and Nourisher.

[daataa]

its so funny to me that EVERY man that ive talked to about spirituality acts like he knows everything there is to know about the history of religion(s), theology, archeological findings, practices, the occult, shamanism etc etc i have been studying these topics for like more than a decade now and the moment i try to talk about these things with a man without Fail that man just happens to know more than me and just wants to argue for the sake of arguing lmfao

[lanotteviene]

easily the best picture you’ll see out of these Olympic Games. may we all be this brave and good 🇩🇿

[straightlightyagami]

my prediction is terfism (or rfism in general even) will probably gain popularity in some parts of the world in the next 5-10 years as awareness of queerness/transness specifically grows (and obv there will be an increase of bigotry resulting from awareness, with the typical culprits on the right but also other types couched in “leftish” language such as terfism imported from the west), but then over the 10ish years afterwards it will lose most relevancy and become a niche “joke” ideology

[daz4i]

ik it's not good to latch onto a mental illness as your defining trait but also. babe i don't have much else going on or any other sense of identity beyond it

[arabaka]

love how my mom invalidates my very real and very debilitating mental illnesses with jesus. she has never been supportive of me seeking help and i know she doesn't approve of me being on medication even though it's one of the only things keeping me alive.

[diamondnokouzai]

squirrels absolutely understand the concept of sin btw, they dont go to hell cause they arent christian

[incoramsanctissimo]

Had a fight over the correct wording of Sicut Cervus tonight with my sworn enemy religious sister and guess who was RIIIIIGHT

[fairyspheres]

i have some incoherent thoughts about god in the good omens verse and i need to get them out in some sort of legible written format. so sorry if you don't like this lmao.

(note; these are my personal thoughts that i'm putting into words please don't get mad at me)

rather than the loving and benevolent being that god is often portrayed as in media, she is very much the old testament version. all about testing people and wrath without reason. she doesn't play fair. she threw angels down into perdition simply for asking questions.

and honestly, as much as it hurts to see the blorbos/poor little meow meows hurt in the show, i actually really like this portrayal of her. given how a lot of christianity has been based upon or influenced by earlier/ancient religions (jesus' wine trick can be compared to dionysus, for example), i feel it's no small stretch to say that god herself was influenced by the creator deities of those religions.

if i use gaia as an example (though she was not the ultimate 'creator' in ancient greek mythology - that was chaos - it's close enough for the comparison), she was gentle and loving, as god is said to be. gaia is also brutal and tells her titan children to kill their father. god has shown a pattern of,,, questionable behaviour.

i do think god loves her creations and children in the go verse. i also think that her interpretation is close to the old greek deities, which influences things. the greek gods loved their creations, too, but they were firmly inhuman and so loved in an inhuman way, usually by turning their loved humans into a fountain, a plant, or an animal. god does the same thing (without the metamorphosis bit).

the greek gods would often test their favoured heroes (or champions). zeus also decided to drown the entire world because he got tired of humans (a mood), but allowed pyrrha and deucalion to survive and repopulate (though with stones, so no incest there).

god has obviously done all this as well. we know she tests her favoured humans (look at job). we know she drowned everyone in mesopotamia because she got tetchy one day.

i think she shows her love in the same way. inhuman, terrible, and horrifying. which is why i think when she tests the humans, she's also testing the angels and demons (particularly a certain earth loving pair). she loves them still, she wants to see what they'll do, but she doesn't tell them what's happening or what to do. a hands-off approach.

(also, contrary to popular depiction, i don't think god doesn't have fluffy white wings. she was the first being in an empty universe/void like chaos, right? so i think she has black wings. and i think she's an eldritch being like chaos or nyx. she certainly wouldn't look human.)

[quotelr]

Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar", every "supreme leader", every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

Carl Sagan

[prodigalsson]

ATHEISM HAS PROBLEMS

3 reasons why evolution theory fails: The origin of DNA. The irreducible complexity of the cell. The paucity of transitional species. ATHEISM HAS PROBLEMS ☝️😅

[thesongthesoulsings]

Tempora Mutantur | Times Change |

Summary:

- 29 Drabbles for 29 Prompts - Sharpuary 2024 has arrived The theme of the Drabbles change from prompt to prompt but all have something in common: They show how times change.

Link to Ao3

Surrender

Fire burned his throat, seducing his tongue with sharp smoky distant sweetness. Firewhisky. The arising courage spread through him in a tingling wave. Fire was his weapon against the lump in his throat - the consequence of being faced with a decision that most likely would change his life. If he remained stubborn, did not change his path, he would have to bow to intellectual dishonesty. If he took on faith, facing the risk of being ridiculed, he could find serenity in following the road laid out before him. He had prayed for a sign and received. Now he had to surrender.

Prompt: Firewhisky