#faith & doubt

[shorthaltsjester]

when people think delilah just completely takes over and laudna has no control. when people think jester is just an uwu child who has been manipulated by every man she’s met. when people think vex is an empty husk of daddy issues without her brother by her side. when people think fjord is an arrogant asshole who doesn’t pay attention to the party around him. when people think scanlan saying that vox machina doesn’t care about him is an accurate assessment.

[gideonisms]

I don't think John gets harrow, really at all. I think he is constantly misjudging her and her level of attachment to him. She's been indoctrinated to love him but she's literally always put her unhinged lesbian crushes ahead of him in her loyalties. She tried to release the girl she thought could kill him age 11. She lobotomized herself out of being useful to him because she thought he was wrong that she couldn't do anything to save gideon. She hates the food he gives her and she finds his interpersonal relationships distasteful. She's been trained to put him first but she doesn't actually like this guy. Imo

[txttletale]

everyone loves to talk big game about how they hate carceralism and punitive justice until it comes to the topic of sexual violence in which case half of the prison abolitionists will revert immediately to being constitutional literalists for the code of hammurabi without missing a beat--good thing that the accusation of sexual violence hasn't been historically leveraged against people of colour or gay people or trans women or anything or this capitulation to kneejerk reaction would be uhhh pretty bad!

[blacklegsanjienthusiast]

i promise i’ll shut up about robin and sanji eventually but not quite yet anyway the fact that sanji was probably, out of all the straw hats (bar luffy), the most vocal about getting robin back (see: him going after her by himself), how he so adamantly didn’t believe a word she (or nami during arlong park for that matter) said and how on top of that witnessed first hand just how far luffy is willing to go for his crew mates - he saw him declare war on the world government for robin for gods sake - and yet still believed that luffy would give up on and leave during whole cake island fucks me up to an immeasurable degree. he’s seen luffy’s unwavering faith in his crew and their motives twice now and yet he still didn’t think he would be afforded the same treatment and that absolutely breaks my heart

[thevirgodoll]

why are you waiting on confirmation that the best is on its way? you don’t need anyone to give you permission to claim what you deserve. it’s already written. this story already has your name on it. you just have to stop rewriting it because you don’t think it’s possible.

[erinwantstowrite]

peter parker would HATE having the hiccups

this made me cackle because you're so right. peter would get the hiccups and start cussing himself out and dick would be giggling at him the entire time

[trappedinafantasy37]

POV: Evil murder kitten tries to evil murder you in your sleep. She's desperate for a reason not to evil murder you because she does not want to.

[tooies]

i think probably the reason i like the idea of like a girl secretly being a dragon but still trying to just have a life in society and be normal is because it's kinda a transfem narrative of the whole like everyone thinks you're a terrifying monster but you just want to be a girl. and the other reason is due to i'm otherkin

[adamsrcnan]

honestly i think it's a little redundant to write any think pieces on what jean's endgame ship will be. it's going to be jerejean whether you like it or not. that's the story nora is writing. she said it herself when she announced it. this story is a love story but it's also a story about jean and his journey to recovery (and just because jeremy is the future love interest that doesn't diminish the importance kevin has on jean's life either. jean's feelings for kevin are very much still there but so is the betrayal and hurt of him leaving him in the nest. it's a very convoluted relationship of which we still don't know much about. only what jean has told us, so far. as the man who believes his feelings have not been reciprocated to the same degree, mind you. like, we still have two more books to go, one with more scenes with kevin in them where we will learn more.).

as for jeremy...lmao. have we not been talking about how little we know of him since the book dropped? and now all of a sudden people are claiming to know everything about him and decided he's no good? based on one book? and for some reason because he isn't handling his new traumatised teammate perfectly like a professional with a psychology degree he's somehow not right for jean? since when has anyone in this universe been perfect? or dealt with trauma professionally and perfectly?

do i think it's right that jeremy crossed some boundaries to get some answers about jean's past? no. do i think it's right that he overshared jean's truths to his friends without his permission? fuck no. but we're dealing with a whole different group of people here, most of which have not been traumatised to the level the foxes had been. who are not used to dealing with people like jean. jeremy has his own issues yet to be revealed, he clearly has problems standing up to his family (as seen with his sister), though he has no issue captaining his team (as seen with lucas) and it's suspect that he also doesn't think himself to be as great of a person as everyone else does given the sad look on his face when jean tells him he could never be anyone's villain. so idk why anyone thinks they know anything about him when he's so cagey in his own pov. and nowhere in that, may i add, has he ever implied he wants to "fix" jean. he wants to help him. he wants to give him reasons to enjoy his life now that he can i.e making him take that silly ceramics class for Fun. and given jean has had his whole life centred around exy (which he doesn't even enjoy anymore) i think it's actually very smart and helpful to get him doing things that "don't matter" so that he can learn from it and learn that he can actually live outside exy. that he can make mistakes and be imperfect at something and that's Okay.

at this moment in time in canon, kevin doesn't have that kind of mindset and it's probably because he was allowed the freedom to already pursue an interest outside of exy - his love of history. like are we missing the detail that he begged tetsuji to let him take that as his major and he actually allowed it? kevin, though still has a long way to go, still has something outside of exy he can hold onto and switch off from. jean doesn't have that and jeremy just so happens to come along and give him the option and for some reason that seems to get ignored. i think it's actually one of the most important things about their relationship so far. jeremy still makes all the accommodations jean needs - setting him up with class partners, taking him for a run when he needs to get out of his head, buying a bed to sleep in the room with him. but he also pushes back and insists jean try something to break him out of his unhealthy relationship with exy.

also, hello, jean literally admits to himself it's a Lie when he tells jeremy he doesn't want him to look if it's too much for him to deal with when jean is attacked by grayson. and jeremy refuses to look away. something everyone around jean has done since he was born, probably.

"Jeremy’s response was low but unhesitating: “I will not look away.” “I do not want you to look.” It frightened him how much it sounded like a lie, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it..."

jean appreciates when jeremy is so very obviously attracted to jean and openly staring, but doesn't press and removes himself from the situation if he thinks he may come on too strong.

"Threat assessment, he told himself, and it was almost the truth. He needed to see the easy way Jeremy ceded Jean’s space to him. Jean couldn’t remember the last time someone allowed him any boundaries, and the feeling was as novel as it was addicting."

hello???? that is literally jean himself telling us jeremy just allowed him a boundary. how does that get looked over?

also he's content enough with jeremy in his space that he feels safe enough to almost drift off

"In the quiet he could hear Jeremy breathing, and it was almost as comforting as the heat of another body this close to his. It thawed the parts of him the sun hadn’t reached despite soaking up its glare all day. Jean closed his eyes and let his thoughts drift far away. [...] This was the first time his room truly felt safe and right, and he was content to hold onto it for as long as he could."

mind you right after this jeremy presses that jean should have his own space and jean insists jeremy share with him and get his own bed. and let's not forget the obvious flirting that has jeremy immediately backtracking and telling jean to let him know if he ever makes him uncomfortable.

ALSO THIS

“Stop asking,” Jean said. “You only think you want these answers.”

jean may find it annoying and unfavourable that jeremy keeps pressing but idk i infer this to be more of jean not knowing how to handle someone actually giving a fuck about what was done to him when he was so used to everyone turning a blind eye.

finally (bc this is getting long) jeremy pushes himself into jean's space when he hugs him, and jean doesn't hug him back but he doesn't push him away either and jeremy is the one who has to wait for jean to let go of his shirt so he can move away.

"Jeremy heard the dismissal in it, but he waited for Jean to let go of his shirt before leaving the room."

i have made a post about this before but jean craves attention and affection, he wants to be loved and to be frank he fucking deserves it more than anyone else does.

i'll finish the post with one last line from jeremy's pov...

"...it wasn't his place to interfere with Jean's trauma or his healing."

jeremy isn't perfect, he's not meant to be.

[longreads]

In today’s new Longreads essay, Kayla Aletha Welch recounts joining her husband and 50 other people on a pilgrimage in the Jaliscan highlands—and goes on an unlikely journey of marriage, faith, and doubt.

“I saw him differently then, as one does when she realizes that the man with whom she has birthed a child and opened a shared line of credit might believe that a tiny doll in a tiny town holds mysterious powers.”

Read “Where Miracles Exist for the Weekend” on Longreads.

[quotelr]

The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts while the stupid one are full of confidence.

Charles Bukowski

[samijey]

#y'all heard the man #ucey2024

[artist-issues]

Listen, doubt doesn't have to be a bad thing. Doubt is a step up into strong faith. Think about it.

Accepting what those who know more than you say because you're humble and willing is good. But when you start to ask questions, that's not bad. That just means you want to know the answers, and know them for sure, whether your parents and your community are there to give them to you or not.

See? When you "doubt" something, you start examining the thing you're doubting. You start testing your weight to it. You start considering yourself, and it, in a new light. How else would you approach something you've been hearing all your life with this new, independent interest, seeing it with your own eyes, unless doubt made you approach it, fresh?

The good news is, when it comes to Christianity and the God of the Bible, there are strong, solid answers to those questions. The fact that you're asking them is good, because you'll see for yourself that there are answers. And then you'll get to decide, just between you and God, not "what will my community/parents/friends think," what to do with those answers. If you don't start asking questions you wouldn't get that fresh, "making my faith my own" vibe. The Bible says "come and see." It says "seek and find." It says, "put to test the things you have heard." Asking questions is not bad, as long as you're genuinely looking for answers.

What's bad is when you're asking questions and behind it all you actually already won't be satisfied with ANY answers...because you're in love with the idea of your own "skepticism" and "reasoning." There's answers, but you've gotten to a place where no answers are "good enough" for you. That's not the kind of doubt I'm talking about; that's the kind of doubt that's bad and nonsensical.

There's another kind of doubt, too, that just sits in uncertainty and doesn't look for answers. Because there's some twisted romance in being unsure and unsteady and halting in place, all tortured and anxious, and wanting "special revelation" and feeling cast out because you didn't get it. That's bad. That's not the kind of doubt I'm talking about. Again, there are answers. Be humble enough to go find them.

And finally, be careful that you're not just asking questions because you really just wanna live a certain way or do a certain thing that the Bible 100% says not to do. Because doubt is a quick way to get to shrug off that whole "Christianity" thing so you can do whatever you want.

Doubt can make faith stronger, but only because you're looking to put that faith in answers, not your own reasoning.

[yashley]

exu calamity rewatch: "Our tenacity far exceeds the magisters’."

[deerest-deer]

lottie + hugs

[theoakings]

I pray you’re overwhelmed by the perfect love and abundant grace of Christ Jesus as you call upon His name, surrender all pride, doubts or fears and depend on Him.💗

God bless you, pookie.