#faith and suffering

[christisilluminati]

The Suffering and Sacrifice of Jesus: A Detailed Examination

The Physical Agony of Jesus: 36 Hours Without Rest:

By the time he was crucified Jesus had been up about 36 hours without any sleep. We know from biblical accounts that Jesus was an early riser. Since the Gospels recount numerous instances where he woke up early to pray, (Mark 1:35) we have no reason to believe he did anything different than that the day he had had his last meal with his disciples. He probably woke up early that morning, spent the day accordingly, and later had dinner with the disciples during the Last Supper in the upper room. (Luke 22:7-25)

He was then captured at the Garden of Gethsemane, (Matthew 26:36-50) and was led through the Old City of Jerusalem and underwent at least two trials. It was not until the next day, about daybreak, that he was hung on the cross and hung there throughout the day. Between the time he arose to the time he actually died on the cross a period of about 36 hours had passed with no rest and no sleep.

Maybe you haven’t thought about how far Jesus actually walked about the Old City of Jerusalem. We know he was led about from the Chiefs priests house to Harrods, and then to Pilots during the time he was being tried. And we know he was led about the Old City of Jerusalem. If you add it up, he walked about two and a half miles that last night. Also, as best as we can determine from historical records, Jesus carried his cross about a third of a mile, give or take, before he collapsed and wasn't able to carry it anymore. These are just a few of the physical strains that would have added up to cause stress to any individual.

Hematidrosis: The Rare Medical Condition Jesus Endured in the Garden of Gethsemane

The next thing I want to talk about is a phenomenon called Hematidrosis. This is a very rare medical phenomenon that has only been reported about 106 times in world medical literature. And is only seen in people who are under tremendous stress and agony. In Hematidrosis a person actually exudes blood from every sweat gland in their body. Each sweat gland has a small capillary that surrounds it. And in Hematidrosis, that small capillary ruptures. As it bursts. the person actually bleeds into their sweat glands. Instead of a perspiring sweat, they actually perspire blood. The Bible gives us an excellent description of this phenomenon, saying that Jesus sweat became as drops of blood. (Luke 22:44) Every pore of Jesus' body oozed and drained blood.

Jesus was a man just as any one of us. He had the Spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10) dwelling within him, and was in fellowship with the "Word." (Exodus 34:29, Matthew 17:2) He knew the terrible fate that lay ahead of him and knew the task he was handed to do, and the mission he had to fulfill. He knew he had to die as a subliminal God, that we needed to see SIN murder God. Still, he dreaded this agonizing death and torture that lay a few hours ahead of him, just as much as any of us would.

We know He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. ��Father, if it'd be your will let this cup pass from me.” (Matthew 26:39) But he submitted his will to the Spirit within him. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was under as much anxiety and physical stress from an emotional standpoint that we could expect any human to experience, knowing that in a few hours he would be delivered over to one of the most agonizing and brutal deaths ever recorded in history.

Christ's Subliminal Power: A Prophetic Warning for Today

I can only imagine the comforting words Christ spoke to him, assuring him that his agony was almost over. This thought process is not something we talk about in religious organizations today, I know. I have just CLEARLY separated the Spirit from the man as two separate entities. Jesus also separated himself from Christ in the story of Mark 5. (Mark 5:19) I too can hear His AUDIBLE WORD, so I know Christ would have spoken to Jesus just as He did Samuel. Jesus' entire ministry was about THE WORD, and people thought he was crazy, which is what got him killed. Do you have any idea how long Christ has been heartbroken? How many times He has been thrown away? Over and over again. 

1 Samuel 8:7 And the Lord said to Samuel, Hear thou the voice of the people in all things that they speak to thee; for they have not thrown thee away, but me, (so) that I reign not upon them.

 (The word of God came to the Prophets and spoke audible words.)

During Samuels first encounter with The Word, we are told The Word had not yet been revealed to him. He thought it was Eli, calling out his name audibly. 1 Samuel 3:7

I need to remind you of Christ's language: IT IS SUBLIMINAL. And Jesus was our SUBLIMINAL GOD. Just as The Ark was a SUBLIMINAL GOD. (1 Samuel 4:7) Christ knows what He is doing. But The Father that Jesus spoke to, the Spirit that showed him things, IS CHRIST. (John 8:38) "The Same Spirit" that spoke to Moses, Samuel and all the other prophets. (1 Peter 1:11) Jesus was not the only person to have Christ in him. Christ is THE SAME Spirit that John the Baptist had as well. He is the light that LIVES IN ALL OF US. (John 1:1-9)

Before the story of Jesus, The Word was GOD, in the story of Jesus, The Word was The Father so that the source of POWER could be The Son (Jesus was the source of POWER, just as The Ark was, and also Moses rod that turned into a Viper. But WHO really is the Power? CHRIST IS. In all of the stories, the POWER was really CHRIST.) and after the story of Jesus, we call Him the Holy Spirit. ALL ONE SPIRIT. The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. HE IS CHRIST.

We needed to see Jesus die as GOD. Because SIN murdered GOD. A SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE. SIN will do just that in the near future. The Man of Sin - The Offspring of the Viper - will murder GOD. (Ezekiel 37:19-22) Covid-19, we have been warned. 

When THE SON/CHRIST was captured in Egypt, - "Let my Son go." - THE FATHER/CHRIST sent 10 Plagues to free His SON/CHRIST. When The Ark, a subliminal God - SON/CHRIST - was captured by the Philistines, THE FATHER/CHRIST sent the Bubonic Plaque to free His SON/CHRIST. I am telling you, THE SON/CHRIST is in danger, and that is why THE FATHER/CHRIST sent Covid-19. "Let my Son go." 

That source of POWER that is THE SON/CHRIST, created life. What is THE VIPER doing with our CAPTURED GOD'S POWER NOW? (Covid-19, "Let my Son go.") He is creating life! - AI and HUMANIOD ROBOTS! CAN YOU NOT SEE WHAT I AM FIGHTING FOR? 

The Agony of Jesus: Understanding the Physical Trauma of His Scourging and Hematidrosis

So, why didn't Jesus bleed to death if he bled out of every sweat gland of his body? In Israel, this time of year would have warm days and cold nights. It was this cool night air that probably caused Jesus’ damp skin, covered with sweat and blood to chill, causing the capillaries to constrict and stop bleeding. The cold air causes the blood vessels to constrict and causes the blood loss to be minimal. But by the time Jesus was taken by the soldiers from the Garden of Gethsemane, he probably had a mixture of sweat and blood all over his entire body surface. This would have been a sight to behold.

Let's talk about the scourging he went through. Scourging was a horrible form of torture, that Roman citizens were forbade to be scourged. Only slaves and traders could be scourged. It was one of the worst punishments the Romans had to inflict on a human body. Typically, the victim was stripped completely naked and tied by his wrist to a post or a wall with his back exposed. He was then whipped from the back of his arms down to his shoulders and back, across his bare bottoms down the back of his legs and calves, all the way down to his heels by two Roman Legionnaires, one on either side, alternating blows.

Historical accounts tell us that the traditional scourging consisted of 39 lashes. (Deuteronomy 25:3, 2 Corinthians 11:24) If you can, I want you to imagine two large, strong, burly, Roman Legionnaires. Someone that we would equate to a Pro Football player today, with a wooden handle whip about 18 inches long but had 9 leather thongs. Similar to what we would call a Cat O Nine Tails.

The nine leather thongs were about six to seven feet long, and at the end of each thong was a lead shot, like a sinker you would use to go fishing. Attached to the lead shots were pieces of sheep and cattle bone. And the idea of those small pieces of bone was that, as the Roman Legionnaire would beat his victim, snapping his wrists would cause the weight of the medal shot to dig into the back. As the sheep cattle bone lacerated the skin, it actually dug in under the surface of the skin. So as the skilled and trained Legionnaire whipped his wrist, the cattle bone would literally lift small shards of skeletal muscle out through the skin. Leaving small ribbons of muscle about two inches long hanging through the skin.

With one lash of this whip, one thong alone would make a cut of about two inches long and about three quarters of an inch deep. To put that into medical terms, that's a cut that would take about 20 stitches to close. So, with one lash, one swing, a total of nine lacerations could be inflicted on the victim, from the nine thongs on the whip. With lacerations two inches long and three quarters to one inch deep, with just one blow, the Roman Legionnaire could inflict enough wounds to take 180 stitches to close. ONE SWING ALONE.

If you multiply that by thirty-nine times, those two Roman legionnaires inflicted enough lacerations to take about 2000 stitches to close. This gives you an idea of the amount of physical trauma that was inflicted upon Jesus' body, just from the scourging. Again, you'd ask, “Why didn’t Jesus bleed to death?” And again, you have to remember that this was done in the cold of night air. The very thing that causes blood vessels and capillaries to constrict, would have caused the blood loss from this beating to be minimal.

The Torture of Jesus: Scourging, Humiliation, and the Crown of Thorns

As previously mentioned, the purpose for the lead weight with cattle bones at the end of the thong was to lift skeletal muscle out of the skin. Imagine having a cut on your skin, with an inch of muscle pulled out through the cut exposed to the night air, similar to a stab wound. The muscles are pulled back through the skin as if stabbed with a sharp object, like a stick. 

The purpose was for the victim to be hung on the cross in the heat of the day. Birds would then land on him and actually pick and pull at these pieces of muscle, just like a Robin trying to pull a worm out of the ground. Frequently how long a person actually survived in the cross during a crucifixion was determined by how severely he was scourged, as sometimes they would beat a man nearly to death before they put him on the cross and he would only live a few hours. However, the majority of the time scourging was intended for public humiliation and embarrassment, because it was such an inhumane method of torture.

We know that Jesus was beaten in the face and head as he was mocked. (Luke 22:63-65) I can assure you by the time Jesus was crucified after his beatings, it’s almost certain that both of his eyes were swollen shut and no doubt his nose was pouring blood. If Jesus was tied, held and beaten in the face by these strong Legionnaires, there is no doubt that his lips were tattered like paper and some of his teeth were knocked loose or maybe even knocked out. You might ask if his jaw bones were broken. Normally they would be, but not in Jesus’ case, and I’ll tell you why in a few minutes.

During Jesus’ trials and humiliation, we also know that a crown of thorns was plaited and placed on his head. This was done to mock him as being King of the Jews. These thorns are about an inch and one half to two inches long, and they’re as sharp as ice picks. It was customary to take a small three- or four-foot-long reed and slap the thorns on top of the head of the victim to drive the thorns into the skull. Those thorns laid upon someone’s head and then tapped down with a reed were hard enough to penetrate the outer bone of the skull. Imagine the bleeding from three or four hundred puncture wounds in the scalp and around the forehead from these thorns. Imagine the pain.

So, before Jesus' crucifixion even begins, before they ever gave him his cross to head out to Calvary, his face had been beaten to a pulp. No doubt his eyes were swollen shut, his nose was bloodied, and I remind you that every pore in his skin has wept and oozed blood. His back, arms, buttocks and the back of his legs were literally torn to shreds from the scorching. Every visible surface on Jesus was covered and caked with blood.

The Cross: A Tool of Execution and Humiliation

Let's talk about the cross for a minute. We know from Corinthian and Roman history; the crosses were usually in two parts. First, the cross bar, from very good historical accounts can be estimated to have a weight of 125 to 150 pounds, and to be about the size of a cross tie. They are what you would expect to see in a railroad cross tie, rough, unplanned, unfinished pieces of wood with splinters and spikes and rough places all over them. When the victim’s final trial and condemnation had taken place, to maximize his shame and suffering, it was customary to tie the cross bar to the victim having him carry it all the way through the city from his point of condemnation to his point of execution. To add to the ultimate humiliation, the victim had to bear the cross naked, forced to stagger through the streets scorched and beaten, with the crossbar tied to their arms. Imagine how humiliating and agonizing this must have been for Jesus.

The other part of the cross was an upright part, which is just like a post in the ground. Every major city in that time had an area outside of their gates where they would perform crucifixions. It wasn't only a form of execution, but it was also a form of entertainment. Someone condemned to crucifixion would bear the cross bar through the streets to the point of crucifixion, and once there, would be thrown onto the ground. Nails would then be driven through their hands into the cross bar. Then two forks, something similar to pitch forks, would be placed around each end of the cross bar, and they would be boosted up and the cross bar hung on top of the upright post. Once they were braced on the upright post, both feet would then be nailed to the foot piece.

The Precision of Roman Crucifixion: Maximizing Pain Without Bleeding to Death

The Romans practiced crucifixion for hundreds of years. They perfected the art of pain and suffering. How can a man have spikes driven through his hands and feet and not bleed to death? The Romans figured out that if they drove the spike through a man’s wrist right at the middle, they could avoid hitting any arteries or veins. If you go back and look at the Hebrew word for hand, it’s inclusive from the fingertips to about where your wristwatch crosses your wrist. So, the hand didn’t necessarily mean the palm. You cannot drive a spike through a man’s palm and hang him by it without it pulling right out between his fingers. It is an accepted medical fact that the muscle in your palm is not strong enough to support your body weight. In order to be able to drive spikes through the Jesus' hands, they had to drive them through at the wrists. There’s a very strong ligament, called the traverse carpal ligament, that’s strong enough to support the body weight.

The Romans figured out that if they came about where the crease in the wrist is and drove the spike through this area, they would miss the radial artery. This is the artery people cut when they try to kill themselves by cutting their wrist. It's right where the doctor takes your pulse. They would also miss the ulnar artery over on the little finger side. What they would do is, they would drive the nail right through the biggest nerve in the hand, called the median nerve. If anyone reading this has ever had carpal tunnel syndrome, you know how uncomfortable any inflammation or irritation to that median nerve can be. When the median nerve is transected, it gives about the sensation of having an electric cattle prod stuck to your wrist and a constant electrical shock going through your hand. It causes the fingers to claw. In essence, the Romans devised a way they could drive a spike through a man’s hand and not lose one drop of blood, while maximizing the amount of pain and suffering that man would endure.

The Romans did the same thing with the feet, they calculated where they could drive a spike through both of a man's feet and not cause blood loss that would cause a victim to bleed to death. The spike would have been placed between the first and second metatarsal bones, missing the dorsal artery. There again they drove the spike through the feet with no blood loss. This spike misses the artery but does hit the plantar nerves, thereby causing the same horrible shock sensation in his feet as he has in his hands.

The Agony of the Cross: Understanding Jesus' Suffering and Humiliation

Let’s talk now about Jesus hanging on the cross. When hanging by their arms, a crucifixion victim’s body weight causes their diaphragm to function like bellows. As the diaphragm drops into the abdomen it pulls in air. So, someone hanging on the cross had no difficulty whatsoever pulling air into their lungs. The tough part for people hanging on the cross was breathing out. In order for a crucifixion victim to exhale, they would have to pull up against the spikes with their hands and push up against the spikes with their feet. I want to remind you—here’s Jesus hanging on the cross, likely naked in front of the entire city of Jerusalem, and I’ve already described the condition of his back.

You see, every time Jesus took a breath, his tattered, lacerated and riddled back, was drug and scraped across the splinters, rough knobs and spikes protruding from the cross. Each time he breathed out, each time he uttered a word, he would pull up with his arms and push up with his legs. He couldn't say more than three or four words at a time. Because when you talk, you only talk as you breathe it out, not as you breathe in.

See every word Jesus spoke on the cross was spoken as he was pulling up against the nails and dragging his back against the cross.  What did he say? He said, “Behold your son”. And then he said, “Behold your mother”. Jesus knew he was just about finished in this world. Finally, he said, “It is finished”, and when he said, “It is finished”, that's the last time he pulled up with his hands and pushed up on his feet. Dragging his back across the cross as he hung there naked before the city of Jerusalem in total shame and humiliation, convicted, tortured and condemned for standing boldly for the TRUTH. For His testimony of The Spirit of Prophecy. The audible Word of Christ.

Revelation 19:10 For the witnessing of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. WYC 1382

If you go back and look at historical counts, you find that people actually lived on the cross, crucified for up to six days. If you can, imagine a man hanging on a cross outside the gate from a city with the birds pecking in his eyes, and roosting on his head, picking at his exposed skeletal muscles as he hangs there naked as a spectacle for the whole city to see.

That was the point of this. It was part of the shame and humiliation that a man hang there so people could come by for a day or two and stand. mock, jeer and shout accusations, railings and blasphemy at him. The idea was to make him suffer as much as possible. Crucifixion was never intended to kill anybody. It was only intended to make a human being suffer as much as could be inflicted upon him before killing him by breaking his legs.

The Crucifixion and the Mystery of Jesus’ Death

Crucifracture is what they would do when they simply grew tired of watching this agony and suffering, or when they had something better to do and wanted to end the crucifixion. They would take a spear and swing it like a ball and bat and hit the victim in the shins to break the shin bones. They would break the tibula and then the fibula bone. And many times, they would have to beat the legs for 5 or 10 minutes until they could finally break the shin bones. It takes a lot of force to break your shin bones. With the shin bone broken the victim can no longer push up to breathe.

Why didn't they break Jesus's legs? If you go look at Psalms 34:20 it says, not a bone of His body is broken. This is why Jesus' jaws, nose and cheekbones should have been broken but couldn't have been. Psalms 34:20 wouldn't let that take place. And that's why the Roman Centurion didn't break his legs, because the Bible says, not a bone of His body is broken. And that was totally uncharacteristic of the crucifixion. Because that's how many of the crucifixion victims died. When they grew tired of you and got bored with the situation, they would break your legs. Then in about four to six minutes and you'd smother to death. Because you can no longer push up with your legs.

You would lay there sagging, unable to breathe out. And you were asphyxiated in about four to six minutes. That's how the two thieves died. But Jesus was dead already. What happens in John 19? What did they do when they went to the first thief? (John 19:32) The Roman Centurion broke his legs. What did he do when he went to the second thief? He broke his legs. But when the Centurion went to Jesus, the Bible says he was dead already. (John 19:33)

Now why would a young healthy man be dead after being on the cross for six hours? There's absolutely no medical explanation for it at all. Jesus had no business being dead at this point. He should have been alive just like the other two. He wasn't beaten to the point of death and his blood loss was minimal, and we know he wasn't in shock, because every word he said on the cross made sense. (John 19:26-27)

He identified his mother's standing at a distance from the foot of the cross. He was able to see enough to identify her and to identify one of the disciples as well. And everything he said was coherent. He was not out of his mind, and he was not having a nervous breakdown. And he wasn't even in shock from blood loss. Jesus was perfectly coherent and sane up until the moment he died.

When the Centurion saw that Jesus was dead already, he thrust the spear into Jesus’ side. The Bible says in Zechariah 12:10, that they may look upon him whom they pierced. The spear thrust was a biblical prophecy fulfilled. And that was why Jesus was already dead. See Christ had a plan, we were to look upon the one they had pierced. Spear piercing was uncharacteristic of the crucifixion as well. Zachariah had to be fulfilled. And the Bible says, blood and water came out of Jesus side after the spear was thrust in.

The Depth of Suffering: Understanding Jesus' Death and Its Significance

Now if you take a unit of a blood drained out of a human being's body, put it in a quart jar and set it on top of a desk in about 30 minutes the red blood cells begin to settle out and the plasma rises to the top. The plasma separates from the red blood cells. So when the soldier thrusts the spear into his side, Jesus had already been dead for 30 or 45 minutes. Maybe you've never thought about that. 

When the Roman Centurion went to him to break his leg, he was already dead. They couldn't break his legs because the Bible says in Psalms not a bone of his body shall be broken. Why then would the soldier thrust the spear into his side, when other crucifixion victims had not had spears thrusted into their side? Because Zachariah told us hundreds of years before that we'd look upon the one, we pierced. A Prophecy given by the Spirit. And what came out? Blood and water, there's enough medical evidence there that Jesus was dead at least a half an hour or an hour before.

In reflecting on the suffering endured by Jesus, it becomes clear that every detail of his crucifixion was meticulously designed to maximize pain and humiliation. From the physical tortures inflicted upon him to the fulfillment of ancient prophecies, his journey to the cross was a combination of divine purpose and human brutality. Yet, in the midst of his agony, Jesus displayed remarkable clarity of mind and purpose, fulfilling his mission with courage, never backing down from the TRUTH.

THE WORD OF GOD!

[thinkingonscripture]

Suffering that Leads to Maturity

Show me a mature Christian, and I will show you someone who has suffered. Mind you, it’s not the suffering itself that produces maturity, but the faith response to it. Not everyone needs the same kind of suffering, to the same degree, or for the same duration. Like a finely made suit, God tailors His suffering to the needs of each person. Jonah suffered for three days and it was sufficient to…

[hussyknee]

Trying to explain what the fuck just happened in Lankan politics today.

The leftist party has won 159 seats out of 218 in the Parliamentary elections. The single biggest landslide win since we broke from the British and achieved universal franchise in 1948.

Any party achieving a super majority in the executive and legislative is, objectively speaking, bad. It disables checks and balances, which is a catastrophic thing for any democracy, and the only two other times it's happened for us has irrevocably eroded the fabric of civic rights and democratic freedom. Also, the reason the NPP won the North and East is that the colonized, genocided and subjugated people there have no faith in electoralism anymore. The way this government has engaged minority issues has been utterly abysmal and now they've been rewarded for it.

On the other hand:

The winners. Are all. Grassroots. Candidates.¹

We have voted out every single career criminal that's been barnacled into the Lankan political arena since before I've been alive. The fascist party has only three seats.² The other fascists didn't win a single seat. The neoliberal legacy party won none. There are only forty people in Parliament that represent any sort of dynastic political legacy. After 76 solid years of nothing but political dynasties.

This is barely five years after the Rajapaksas swept in and absolutely glutted the Parliament with their family members and cronies end to end.

This is the illegitimate interim government we had for most of the last 18 months. We literally, physically, chased the Rajapaksas out of the country and this fucking demon set up a puppet government just so he could finally sit in that goddamn chair and be the despot he'd always dreamed of in exchange for letting them all come back. He's now gone. His entire circle is gone.

THEY ARE ALL FUCKING GONE.

In US terms, just imagine that, five years from now, when Trump's GOP has control of everything, the entire GOP and the worst of the Dems are all purged from Congress and Senate, the Green Party in control of all three branches of government under a pro-union left-wing President and an unmarried female LGBT rights activist Vice President, and the Dems reduced to barely 20% of the House.

This is my anthropology professor. She joined politics from the small nascent leftist coalition to help keep the government accountable. She's now the Prime Minister and the most popular Parliamentary candidate in the nation's history. (Edit: She was knocked off first place by a dude in the final result. Boo.)

(On the other hand— the woman who helped make me a radical anarchist and literally helped write a book on political dissent and resistance...now is the state. Uh.)

But there are so many women in Parliament! We had the lowest female representation in a South Asian Parliament and some of them were from the list of seats reserved for parties rather than elected ones. Most were either anti-feminist conservative embarrassments, widows and daughters of elite politicians and neoliberal shills. It's still only an increase of a few percentage points (Edit: from the previous 5% to 10% in the final result!) but now we have elected academics, feminist advocates, activists! There Is a representative for Malaiyaha Tamils in the Central Province for the first time in history and it's a young woman! (Edit: now it's two female Malaiyaha MPS!!) This is the plantation community that still live in conditions closest to the slavery the British forced upon them two hundred years ago!

I'm like. Completely mindfucked. To be very very clear, the NPP coalition formed around the nucleus of the JVP that used to be communist but haven't been in 30 years, they're now just social democrats who are left of places like the US and UK, whose "left" is now center-right. They're only threatening to the Western mainstream media for some reason who can't stop bleating about how we have a "Marxist" government now. In reality, the actual chances for radical reform are still quite low, and the opportunity for further erosion is quite high with a super majority government regardless of affiliation.

On the other hand:

What the fuck.

Sometimes living through historical events is really damn amazing.

---

¹ Well, nearly. There are a few career politicians and a nepo baby but they aren't so bad either.

² Goddamn it, Baby Rajapaksa and Sri Lanka's answer to JD Vance have wormed their way in using the list of Constitutionally reserved party seats for non-elected members. FUCK the National List.

[mindofserenity]

“Death is no longer terrifying, this life is.”

[christianbibletopicsuk]

Answer of Prayer in the Middle of the Storm

Very often what we consider to be the worst situation, is not what God thinks. God sees many things we do not see, and that is the importance of knowing that. In Mark 4:38, we see how the disciples were thinking of death, while Jesus was thinking of rest. Jesus knew he had a complete control over the storm and the waves, so he did not even consider it or think about it, but decided to sleep. But…

[nukbody]

Jeckole I've never posted cause....uhhhh.....UHHH

[disciplesofjehovah]

[void-and-virtue]

Lying on the floor in a puddle of my tears and staring blankly at the ceiling as I once again think about all the fucked up, multi-dimensional ways that Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk and Han Sooyoung encompass the god vs creation and deity vs worshipper dynamics

[donutfloats]

Gabriel’s flock is the closest you’re gonna get to a cult that actually isn’t a cult due to their mostly pacifistic ways

This does cause problems however when dissenters or spies start causing problems

Gabriel is a little backwards with how they deal with people like this, as they simply just kick them out instead of forcing them to to change their ways

Granted if they cause actual problems, like stealing, damage to property, or hurting others: they will get sent to jail

For the most part it’s these individuals choice if they want to stay, Gabriel isn’t forcing them

Doesn’t mean Gabriel can’t get frustrated tho and contemplate “what if I just said fuck it and murdered these people”

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

caterpillar? more like cu. more like cunty. cuntypil. um.

[shortnotsweet]

[ “SOMEBODY TOLD ME”]:

BREAKING MY BACK JUST TO KNOW YOUR NAME. SEVENTEEN TRACKS AND I’VE HAD IT WITH THIS GAME. A BREAKIN’ MY BACK JUST TO KNOW YOUR NAME—BUT HEAVEN AIN’T CLOSE IN A PLACE LIKE THIS.

— The Killers, Hot Fuss (2004)

Princess Rhaenyra’s insolence is wearing her stepmother’s patience thin. Queen Alicent is not ten years her senior, but even during her own sixteenth year, she cannot recall herself behaving so brazenly. She would never burst into courtly discussions in nothing but gilded armor and the underskirts of her riding leathers, awash in blood. (She would never be spotted in blood that was not her own, anyway. Alicent has never picked up a sword, not one that belonged to her.) Nevermind that Rhaenyra is attending to diplomatic affairs with bared teeth and scales, no—the crux of the matter is just that, her affairs. Rhaenyra is the Realm’s Delight, a beauty incomparable to any fair maiden, Alicent included. She indulges herself with appetite of a spoiled child, the confidence of man, and the pickings befitting only to her royal blood. Criston Cole. Daemon Targaryen. Harwin Strong. Laena Velaryon. She’s full of love, isn’t she? That selfish, foolish girl. What does Rhaenyra Targaryen know of love, of duty? She is a child in so many ways—she thinks killing makes her a man, thinks the throne is hers despite being a woman, thinks she can have her knight and her uncle and her protector and Laena Velaryon in one fail swoop. She’s wrong. She doesn’t know herself half as well as Alicent does. Alicent, who sees her for what she truly is, who wants to see all of her and more of her and none of her. Alicent has been stolen into the Keep by her own father—both of their fathers—but Rhaenyra is the key to this place, is the window to everything barred. Rhaenyra Targaryen has a dragon. Rhaenyra can fly.

That’s what Rhaenyra had promised her once, with her lips pulled back in a grin, exposing the white of her teeth like the violently radiant creature she was. “Perhaps when you grow tired of plotting against me, we shall ride on dragonback together,” she had said. The tease.

Alicent had yanked her into an empty corridor by the silk of her sleeve, ready to chastise her for her ill behavior. Conversing with the lords and ladies of the court at a feast was one thing, but chattering about her bloody encounters in battle over the pudding tureen were another. The lord at her elbow was going green. Alicent’s own face was likely red; her heart raced whenever Rhaenyra got like this. Alicent had never seen the battlefield—only seen battered men in dented armor and the slumps of corpses lined along dirt roads in the aftermath of war—but her own imagination terrified her like nothing else.

(Rhaenyra is better with a sword than half of the knights in Westeros, and more lovely than the lot. Her reign has not yet begun, but already the commoners flock to her—lured in by tales of her beauty and fine hair—and soldiers would follow her into battle. Alicent would not follow, but she would watch and bite her nails down to the quick.

She thinks of the figure Rhaenyra cuts in full armor, the heat in her gaze underneath the slots of her helmet. Alicent remembers the weight of her own hand in Rhaenyra’s—which was gloved—when the princess rode up to the spectators box and grasped it in her own, bringing Alicent’s knuckles to her lips. She thinks of Rhaenyra murdered in the sky, skewered with another man’s sword, plummeting to the ground, torn in half, streaking crimson across the clouds. Alicent would scream, or cry. She might laugh. She would throw herself from the window of her tower. Rhaenyra’s bloody exploits terrified Alicent for reasons she could not identify, and excited her for reasons she refused to.)

“I’d sooner be confined to the castle for the rest of my days than get on the back of that bloody lizard,” Alicent scoffed. Rhaenyra only tucked her hand over Alicent’s, where it was resting on her forearm. She flexed her fingers, moving to release her grip on the dark fabric, but Rhaenyra intertwined their fingers and held them fast.

“You’re confined already. You are already accustomed to such a thing. I know you. But—”

“But you forget yourself. You think you’re invulnerable, Rhaenyra. You don’t know who you are.” Alicent intends for it to be a sneer, but instead it comes out quietly, and too gentle for disdain. She can’t know. Rhaenyra is as trapped as she is, but they’re trapped together. They belong together. She belongs with Alicent.

“I am Rhaenyra Targaryen, Heir to the Iron Throne and all of Westeros. I am a dragonrider. I am—I am your daughter. In a way. Your sister, too. Your enemy. Your sword, your shield.”

“And what am I?” What else is left for me? Alicent wonders.

“My Queen. For now.” Rhaenyra cocks her head, and the gleam in her eyes burns like fire raining down. “When I am Queen, you will be my lady.”

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Broken Roofs and Fixed Perspectives

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[ricky-mortis]

Spies Are Forever but with Mariah Rose Faith Casillas as Curt and Bryce Charles as Owen

Massive shout out to @ghostface-knight for the idea :D

[scumvillainess]

honestly i never really agreed with the popular shen qingqiu had a good shizun headcanon because if shen qingqiu actually had someone who he knew cared about him, he definitely wouldn’t have turned out the way he did in canon.

[fallcolorspringrapid]

hi. if you like weirdly intense mentor-protégé relationships, War of Faith (追风者) might be for you.

the protégé: Wei Ruolai, a little potato, a poor, brilliant, idealistic boy whose n:o 1 ambition in life is to... work for advisor Shen Tunan of Central Bank. apparently. as his personal assistant.

"My life is not worth much anyway," Wei Ruolai says,

wow. ok.

and this is Shen Tunan, Wei Ruolai's boss and mentor. here he's looking at Wei Ruolai who has just said something very smart.

i'm going to eat that little potato for breakfast —Shen Tunan, probably.

people. these two have Chemistry. Shen Tunan keeps looking at Wei Ruolai like he can't quite believe his luck at having found such a sweet potato and can't make up his mind about which part to bite into first. and Wei Ruolai is just *incoherent noises* he's just so earnest. he's quiet and smart (and also very stupid) and tenacious and a tiny bit of a brat, and he lights up under Shen Tunan's attention.

Shen Tunan: "You spoke well earlier."

Wei Ruolai, having looked bashfully away:

ahem.

praise kink, anyone?

[thepatristictradition]

Suffering is not What You Think

(The Penitent Magdalene)

So often you hear, when people leave their churches, their gripes surround suffering. Why would God allow suffering? Why would God allow babies to be murdered and die of cancer? Why would He allow war and cannibalism and pedophilia? Why did God allow me to see my mother die? Why did he allow this or that?

What I cannot help but notice is that the people saying this are never talking about their own suffering.

"Why does God allow war?" said a cowardly young man who has never seen bloodshed. "Why does God allow cancer?" said a woman who is perfectly healthy. "Why does God allow abuse?" said a man who had the privilege of watching the sex abuse crisis of the RCC play out on the TV screen and not in the sacristy. "Why did God allow my mother do die?" said a daughter who is still alive.

We may mourn, and we ought to mourn, the sorrows and the fallenness of this world, but witnessing suffering is not the same as suffering.

(Just Take Them and Leave Me Alone)

This was never more clear to me than when I spent a summer arguing with my anti-natalist, atheist sister. She would spend hours berating my poor mother and father for the heinous crime of having children. During one of these spats, my sister turned to me and said, "How can you support natalism?" which she said like a slur, "your grandmother abused you from the moment you were born."

Now, this is true. Truer than she knew, or, if I have it my way, will ever know. My grandmother (who was my and my sister's primary caregiver) always despised me because I was born with a deformity. Her hatred only intensified when my sister was born. My sister was, in her eyes, perfect. As a child, my sister would ask for me to be abused in front of her, for her amusement, by my grandmother.

My sister witnessed plenty of my suffering, but she experienced not an iota of it. And yet, she used my suffering as a way to say that all of human life is suffering. She used it to discredit the worth of all human life.

(Ophelia)

I find this is always the case. When I was an atheist, I was confused by people who brought up the "problem of suffering". I never viewed my suffering as something that made my life worse. Even as an atheist and a child, I saw clearly how the suffering I experienced and was experiencing was driving me toward a larger purpose. This pattern of thought followed me into the sexual abuse I experienced in middle school and into my conversion.

My atheist associates, whose suffering I know well, likewise never cite their suffering as a reason for their disbelief. When you really get down to it, "God is a big meanie" is not a reason to reject His existence, say these associates of mine.

It is only being a witness to suffering-- usually an impotent witness-- that causes this specific kind of apostasy. Even if my sister had stopped encouraging it, I still would have been abused. Her behavior would have made little difference. It is the same for the sufferings I listed earlier. Regardless of what we tell ourselves, no boycotting, no Instagram post, and not even tax evasion or immolation will stop the Genocide Israel is purporting against the Palestinians. We, far removed, poor, and powerless foreigners, are impotent. We can do nothing to help someone with a terminal illness not die-- it's terminal. We can do nothing to help the kidnapped children we see on the news, taken from their homes halfway across the country. We cannot bilocate, live forever, or have infinite money.

When these people say, "Why does God allow suffering?" they are actually asking, "Why does God allow my impotence?" The implication is that, of course, they would solve these sufferings if only they were not impotent. Is this the case? I don't know; who am I to judge the heart of another man?

Whatever the case, it is clear to me that witnessing suffering is of some different metaphysical nature than the actual experience of suffering. I've written a little about this privately, so I will get around to expanding upon it in further posts.