#he realized the error of his ways while living with a religious cult

[stromuprisahat]

Do you think Alina should have separated from Mal even if she wanted nothing to do with the old wizard?

Yes,

Mal was THE representaion of her unfavourable past.

Their relationship was something that obviously didn't work as a romantic pairing, but it was toxic even in familial way, and that's what their story should've focused on.

It shouldn't be about getting together at all cost, but about finding a way to each other again, learning about the persons they've become when apart and accepting they're no longer who they used to be.

Instead Mal keeps wanting the weak, sickly, dependent girl and accepting anything different is written as a huge sacrifice on his part, although eventually he does get what he wanted anyway. Alina is stripped of her otherness, her importance, all her ties to others (unless you count occasional visit).

The way they were written, they both should've gone their own way.

If they were allowed to truly accept the people they'd be truly allowed to develop into, I wouldn't mind them as friends, or as some (mostly show-fans) interpret them- family.

[edge-lorde]

the religion of the galactic horde

“You seem reluctant to help me. But I only wish to use your weapon to bring peace to the darkest corners of the universe. (Glimmer: Peace? If you activate the Heart of Etheria, there will be no one left.) Yes. No war, no pain. Old worlds swept aside, a new beginning for the universe.” --Horde Prime explaining his motivations to Glimmer

the horde in shera was definitely inspired by Christianity and uses a lot of its imagery, the most iconic being the baptism scene. it certainly gives off the vibes of a christian or christian adjacent cult, but what is its actual doctrine? i have some thoughts about that. 

first here are what i consider to be the 3 main differences between real christianity and the horde: 

Their jesus didn't ascend to heaven. He's still with them.

They don't have a larger creator god. They worship horde prime like he is a living god but they don't believe that he created the universe.

They have no focus on the afterlife

this is going to be long.

before i begin heres the sparknotes version of christianity for anyone not familiar. I am not evangelizing this, just think of it as LORE. 

Once upon a time there was a guy named Jesus. He was the son of the one true god, who both created everything in the universe, is everywhere and knows everything, and controls the afterlife. Jesus is god born as a mortal person, sent by god to teach all of humanity the errors of their evil ways so they can repent and go to the good afterlife when they die. There're two afterlives, a good one and a bad one, heaven is the good one and its run by god and his army of angels, which are divine beings that god can send to earth to do things. The bad one is called hell. 

Anyway, in his time on earth jesus was the only person ever to never do anything bad ever (called sin). He tried to teach people how to be good but was Too Good for this Cruel World and was killed. 3 days later he came back from the dead, proving his divinity. Some time after that however, he ascended into heaven without dying, telling his followers to spread the word because hes going to be coming back. Christians today are still awaiting his return. In the meantime, christians follow his teachings left behind in holy texts. 

The crux of christianity is to get to heaven when you die, and this can only be done by following the teachings of jesus christ, believing in god, and believing that jesus was the son of god. Its a given that everyone will do bad things at some point in their lives so you're supposed to pray to god and ask for forgiveness regularly and if you really mean it then god will forgive you. 

thats the basics. 

to my first main point from above, if we posit that horde prime is the jesus equivalent of the horde religion, because hes treated as a living god, his goal is to spread his philosophy throughout the universe, then in the horde religions jesus never ascended into heaven. this would be like if jesus in our world rose from the dead and just picked up where he left off, and never died after that and was alive today. that would be pretty good proof of divinity. 

to my 2nd point, theres nothing in the show that suggests that horde prime thinks that he created the universe. this means that he did not get his divinity from anywhere but inside himself, hes not claiming that hes the rightful ruler of the known universe for any other reason besides his ideas are the best. 

the 3rd point is that the show does show horde prime or the horde caring one bit about the afterlife, save for one line from wrong hordak.

"Brother, I hope you, too, are full of only love for Horde Prime and have no crippling doubt eating at your soul."

meaning that they have the concept of the soul. which is very interesting and ill get to it, but on the whole the hordes focus seems to be on the here and now. this is a huge departure from christianity because chrisitanity is all about getting to the afterlife. that is the reason that christians are supposed to follow christ and recruit as many people as possible to do the same, because if they dont, they or other people will supposedly go to hell when they die. i say supposedly because at funerals, even if the person who died wasnt a believer, in my experience no christian would ever ever ever insinuate that someone went to hell. 

but the difference still stands. following real christian ideology is supposed to have benefits for the individual in the afterlife, while in the horde religion salvation seems to only be found by submitting to prime in this life and being either a tool that he can use to further his goal of purifying the universe or by letting him remove you from it. 

on top of all that, horde prime has the hive mind, which he uses to control the thoughts of all his followers. this means that theres no room for a bible study, no need of a holy text at all in fact, and no room for interpretation. horde prime delivers orders to your brain directly and can tell if you think anything out of line. real Christianity does have the idea that a sin that you just think about doing is as bad as actually doing it, but in the horde these thoughts can be easily discovered and punished. 

the horde religion seems to me to be a strangely secular version of christianity with only the bad parts remaining; the control, the blind faith, the certainty that you are right and everyone else is wrong, the not questioning authority. with none of the good aspects like community, and good deeds. it is a cult in the truest sense of the word, a religion that begins and ends with one person only, that person being horde prime.

so, if you take horde prime out of the equation, what, if anything, would be left? 

i find the plight of the horde clones here to be the most interesting. we know that they do have thoughts about their religion, as it was hordaks belief that he could earn his way back into horde primes god graces that kept him going all those years in despondos, and wrong hordak is distraught when he discovers that horde prime lied about krytis. 

unlike both the chipped people we see in the show and real religious converts, the clones were born into this cult that values blind obedience only, and have no prior ideology or cultural identity to fall back on when they are taken out of it. 

so to answer this question, i must add some conjecture to horde primes backstory and how the clones see themselves in horde primes universe. I already wrote up a brief backstory idea for horde prime/the clones and have it posted on here somewhere. I'm not going to dig it up but you could probably find it in the #horde prime tag on my blog if you dig hard enough. 

To summarize it though, I have it as horde prime was once a regular (bad) dude who became a cult leader under the premise of preaching peace --> he becomes disillusioned with people and even his own followers because he doesn't actually like people, he likes manipulating them. --> this and the power of being a cult leader go to his head and he starts to think that he is the only person in existence capable of living a moral life and everyone else needs to be saved from themselves, the world would be a better place if he could just make everyone's decisions for them. --> he somehow gets a hold of the technology needed to set up the hive mind, be it by inventing it himself, stealing it, finding it, or being gifted it. 

I'll pause here to address the theory that horde prime was originally an eldritch being that simply possessed a dude who would become the template for the clones. I think there's enough stuff in the show that this is a valid read and might even be canon but i don't really care for it. For me, what makes horde prime a compelling villain is that he's a very human evil, so having him actually be an evil demon thing instead of a really bad but believable dude who got near ultimate power weakens his character. BUT, i’m not going to address it in my comic so i'll leave it open as to whether he's got that going on or not. If he is, the clones don’t know about it and neither they nor the other characters have any way of discovering it. IF he is though, it would happen here. I could see it being a cool idea for him to get the hive mind from the eldritch being that would then possess him and haunt his lineage for time immemorial as a deal with the devil sort of thing, but he has to be a bad person before that.

Anyway he gets the hive mind--> he gets all of his followers to chip themselves --> gets those people to chip everyone else on his home planet --> use his planet wide army to harvest all resources on the planet and build his first space fleet and take to the skies and start his conquest--> realize that if he is to succeed hes going to need to both become immortal and find a steady source of new followers because chipped people die eventually and he doesnt care about people enough to figure out a way to keep a self sufficient population of followers alive, he just wants people around to adore him and do his bidding--> invents his cloning system-->

and heres the big one,

his original body has to die so he can upload his consciousness into a new clone.  

and THAT, to the clones, would be the moment that horde prime becomes a god.

his reliance on the hive mind and vast network of followers are what give him his godly abilities, but just as the horde clones could not exist without being cloned from horde prime, so too could horde prime not exist as he does in the show without them. 

i see it as both a christlike sacrifice and a cyclical system of debt and sacrifice. horde prime dies for our sins, so that he might continue to purify the universe so that there will be no more death and more clones will be born, while the clone hes possessing has to essentially die by giving himself up entirely to become the new prime so all this can happen too, and to repay primes death. not all clones can become the next prime however, but all must be ready to die for him, hence horde prime having clone infantries despite also having robots he could send instead. 

i dont have clear thoughts about what the green goo is, but horde primes words about his brothers lending him their life force go along with this idea. the clones give him theyre life force, so he can give it back to them.

another interesting aspect of this is that prime always portrays himself as a brother to his followers, never a father as christ is portrayed as in christianity. i know this is from hordak and horde prime being actual brothers in the 80s show but ive seen this trope come up a few times in media before, where a man raises a kid but has them call him their brother instead of dad. it seems so deliberate. because a parents job is to take care of you, but a sibling, might take care of you sure, but thats not their job. its like hes deliberately trying to place himself on the same level as his ‘sibling’ so he can demand the same amount of respect you would give to a parent without taking on the responsibility to not... ya know... screw them over in the head? idk it seems very slimy to me. but that says more about prime as a character than how the clones see him.

and we still have the concept of the soul to fit in here somehow, and do they have an afterlife? im going to say no to the afterlife. theres just not enough in the show to go off of and everything that we do know about horde prime points to him only caring about himself in life. HOWEVER, there is nothing more quintessentially christian than the concept of hell and i think that will be of use here. 

since the creation of the clones is tied with the creation of their religion, this would put the clones themselves less as allegories of people who need to be saved and more as the horde version of angels. in my telling here, horde prime views all people who do not submit to his will as net negatives to the universe who have to be removed for peace to exist, so by this view the chipped people are the saved, the people that horde prime kills are the sinners, and his military campaign is one long apocalypse slowly working its way through the universe, with the clones carrying out his righteous judgement. but the afterlife isnt involved in this, so even if some chipped people are left alive, eventually they will all die out, and then it will be just horde prime and is clones in a perfect, peaceful starless sky, and thats what heaven is. 

getting to heaven is the main goal of real christianity and it is the same in horde religion, but heaven isnt a place in the horde cosmology, its a physical goal that has to be created. not all clones will make it to heaven of course, because most will die before they reach total destruction of the universe but the clones arent supposed to think of themselves as individuals anyway. they have to be willing to die for horde prime and die for the cause or be cast out and thats hell. 

i dont see prime as someone who would kill his own followers outright too often even though he could. plus they arent supposed to value their individual lives the same way normal people do anyway it doesnt seem like a real punishment, they need something worse than simple death to fear. so by my view hell for the clones is separation from prime. it can be in life or death. no matter how bad it is in the horde being on the outside of it has to seem worse, and thats where the concept of the soul comes in. when one is a part of the hive mine, their soul is with prime. they are not supposed to have a will or any thoughts beyond love for prime, its essentially the same as not having a soul but they think of it as being at peace. being cast out is to be never at peace and would be told to them as being the worst possible thing that could ever happen to someone because it corrupts the soul. 

“a lot of unpleasant things happen in the horde so just imagine how terrible it must be outside of it! you cant because i protect you from that. now get in the goo, this is for your own good” - horde prime probably 

this is why outsiders are so resistant to submitting to primes light and also why its ok to kill them, in the hordes view. 

so, to start wrapping thigs up, there is no horde without horde prime. the religion starts and ends with him. because he is supposed to be the only person ever to be able to make true moral and just decisions, without him is followers cant take any actions without worrying that they are going against primes will. since they have no holy text they cant extrapolate and try to figure it out either. its up in the air whether or not they are going to find a way to get the horde to make the jump from cult to regular religion.

its late i got to go to bed now

[firstumcschenectady]

“Nonviolence” based on 1 Samuel 3:1-10 and John 1:43-51

I'm intrigued by the words in 1 Samuel, “The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.”  The story says, in those days, it took a while before the one being called by God realized it.

Since the beginning of October we have offered a “Contemplative Prayer Service” on Sunday mornings at 10AM.  Since the middle of November it has been online.  I've gotta admit, it has exceeded my expectations.  They were pretty low ;)  It turns out that getting on zoom, muting your mic, and praying while other people are sitting on zoom (mostly with their mics off) praying actually IS more connected than praying alone.

It is easier to be still then.

This week I've found that I can't get through the day without some silence in prayer.  I just get too agitated.  And the angst builds and builds, until I take time away from inputs to simply be with the Divine.

These defined times of prayer – with others in the Contemplative Prayer Service as well as the ones I've taken out of deep and abiding need – have reminded me of some things I'm embarrassed I'd forgotten. Perhaps I hadn't forgotten, but at the very least they came as well needed reminders when other things had started to take precedence in my being.

Ready?

First, God is still THERE, or HERE, or however you say it.  I'd like to claim I NEVER forget that, but each time I settle into prayer and I sense the peace that passes understanding and the grace that abides I'm … surprised again.  Maybe this is just because God's goodness is better than I'm ever able to remember, but each and every time I encounter it I'm relieved to find it there.

Second, stillness is …. possible.  It often feels impossible right until it happens.  I get drawn into the news, into the COVID statistics, into my own to-do lists, and then I get distracted by baby cries or squeals,  - or emails or texts – and the whole of life seems to be carefully created to keep me from finding stillness (and letting me have excuses about it) but then when I do it, it is still there waiting for me and it is GLORIOUS.

Third, there is a vibrant, thriving, almost tangible connection between all living things and the Living God.  When the noise of the world isn't in the way, the spiritual wonder is breath-taking.

Perhaps these reflections are able to serve as a reminder to you of things you also know.  Or perhaps they serve as a reminder of a need to find time for contemplative practice.

For me, they serve as a source of transformation.  My emotional responses to the world right now are....sharp.  I'm horrified.  I'm terrified. I'm disgusted.  And yet, closer to home, I'm also delighted, and exhausted, and grateful, and worried, and relieved.  It is just a whole lot to hold.

I have been thinking about the retreat we did in 2017 with Bishop Susan Hassinger, looking at spiritual practices that uphold social justice work.  This might also be called the grounding for building the kindom, or following the way of Jesus without burning out.

The needs of social justice work, of kindom building, are so BIG that I'm overwhelmed by them unless I get grounded in the unfailing love of the Divine.  Worse, in this moment, I've finding it easier to get pulled into the polarization of our society – which dehumanizes “the other side” than ever.  This is a BIG problem, particularly for one who seeks to be a Jesus follower.  

Are you ready for today's challenge?  One of the great interpreter's of the life and teachings of Jesus in our tradition, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote,

To our most bitter opponents we say: “We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you. We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws, because noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. Throw us in jail, and we shall still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our community at the midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you. But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One day we shall win freedom, but not only for ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.”1

I feel quite confident that the most bitter opponents of the work of Rev. Dr. King, and the kindom, have been hard at work in our society, and their work has exploded into violence, death, fear-mongering, and the disruption of our democracy.  Rev. Dr. King worked against the forces of white supremacy, by working for the full humanity of all people.  

And that man, that wise prophetic man, that man whose life itself was taken by the violence of the world, is the one who said, “Do it us what you will, and we shall continue to love you.”

He refused to face violence with violence, he believed that the Jesus movement was founded in NONVIOLENCE.  He refused to meet hate with anything but love.  Now, of course, LOVE did not mean “compliance.” Love meant naming evil, love meant good analysis of power dynamics, love meant strategic planning of protests, love meant taking care of the people's spiritual well being so they could keep on working for God's greater good.  Love does not require us to back down.  Love does not require us to become passive.  Love does not require us to become silent.

But, love does require us to seek the well-being of ALL OF GOD'S BELOVEDS, and dear ones, this week, that includes people who are part of white supremacist groups, and people who are part of QAnon cults, and even the people who use those people to gain and keep power.  Love requires us to want what is good for all of them, although – thank goodness – that doesn't include that they get to keep power or continue using violence.  Perpetuating violence hurts both the one who is violated and the one who violates.  No goodness or love comes out of it.  

But following the way of Jesus, nonviolent, loving resistance, that builds the kindom.  You may remember the admonition in Matthew to turn the other cheek, “But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well.“  (Matthew 3:39-40, NRSV)  Walter Wink's teaching informed me that these teachings are the ultimate in nonviolent loving resistance.  In those days there were two forms of striking a person – one used for equals and one used for inferiors.  A backhand vs. a slap.  The left hand was NEVER used because... well... toilet paper hadn't been invented yet.  To turn the other cheek is to respond to the diminishing insult of a backhand with an invitation to hit again – but this time as an equal.  Similarly, the Hebrew Bible forbids anyone from leaving a person naked in the process of seeking loan repayment.  So, if a person seeks restitution of a loan by demanding your OUTER garment, and you offer your INNER garment as well, you put them in the situation of having to refuse to take both or stand in violation of religious law.

I sort of wish today's gospel lesson has the question “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” asked to Jesus himself, but I think John does well with it anyway.  The answer of the whole book is “YES” and the person asking the ignorant question is immediately aware of his error.  Loving nonviolence here includes seeing the world, and its locations, a new.

I am a little bit concerned that because I have focused on spiritual grounding for kindom building, and nonviolent resistance as the form of kindom building, that someone might not have heard me speak imperative truths.  So, please give me a moment to be abundantly clear:

People who perpetuate violence in the name of Christianity are not following Jesus.

Christianity itself has been profoundly co-opted by white supremacy in this nation (and many others), and it is our obligation to CONTINUALLY root it out, transform it, and be self-aware of how it is playing out in our lives and communities.

The violence we have seen in terms of mobs attacking governmental institutions in this country are the angry expression of mostly-white, mostly-men who believe they have a fundamental right to be more important than others.  Like any other abuser, they are most violent when they fear they are losing control.  THEY ARE LOSING CONTROL, and they are truly terrifying as such.

The progress we have seen in humanizing people from the fullness of humanity is NOT GUARANTEED – these angry abusive mobs have friends in very high places, and a lot of backing.  

God is always, always, always on the side of full and abundant life for ALL PEOPLE.

So that's the side we are on.  We don't want power consolidated with mostly white mostly men because no one group is able to adequately seek the good of all groups.  It is only through shared knowledge, resources, and power that we can seek the common good.

And THAT is why I want us to be grounded in contemplative prayer, good analysis, and God's grace.  Because I believe those are means of countering the insidious voices of white supremacy and it's close cousin the patriarchy.  To move towards the kindom requires seeking clearly what is happening, and letting God's love transform us, and the world through us.

So, dear ones, please find the time to connect with grace.

Please allow grace and love to fill you up.

Please let Rev. Dr. King's reminder of the way of Christ continue to challenge you. Please recommit to Jesus's way of nonviolence.

And may God grant us wisdom for the facing of this hour.  Amen

1Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “On Loving Your Enemies”  found at https://www.onfaith.co/onfaith/2015/01/19/martin-luther-king-jr-on-loving-your-enemies/35907 on March 29, 2018.

Rev. Sara E. Baron First United Methodist Church of Schenectady 603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305 Pronouns: she/her/hers http://fumcschenectady.org/ https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

January 17, 2021

[kingdomstroops]

10 Brilliant Ways to Live A Gospel Centered Life

What Does It Mean To Live A Gospel Centered Life?

As believers we toss around phrases like “be worthy of the gospel” and “live a gospel centered life.” The question that follows, though, is what those clichés actually mean. They do us no good if we can’t break them down into biblical, practical, daily principles that guide our lives. I offer you ten brilliant—and simple—ways to live a gospel centered life.1. Don’t suppress your doubts and questions. Have the courage to face them. When we hear of religions or cults that force their followers to believe their scriptures blindly and never ask questions or doubt, we shake our heads. “How sad,” we comment. “They will never know the truth if they can’t question what they believe.” Yet, how often do we as believers in the gospel breed the same attitude? If someone comes to a church leader with doubts about his faith, he will likely get a chance to talk for a few minutes before receiving the advice to “let go of doubts and choose to trust God.” Is this not the same counsel we so deride in other religions? You may protest, “But we already know the real truth. We shouldn’t question it. The Bible tells us to have childlike faith” (Matthew 18:2-4). To that I respond that the Bible also tells us to advance our spiritual diets from milk to meat (Hebrews 5:12). In other words, if we never ask questions, we won’t dig deeper into the truth. If we don’t dig deeper, we’ll never grow. It takes maturity and humility to admit that we probably aren’t right about everything. Instead of squelching your doubts, face them head on. Remember that you can find answers in the Word with the help of the Holy Spirit, prayer, and other believers. Living a gospel centered life can be a traumatic process. However, in the end you’ll be grateful to have your doubts settled. You’ll also probably realize that some of your beliefs were a bit off. Doubts can be healthy as long as you know what to do with them. Hide them, and they’ll slowly eat away at your soul for the rest of your life.2. Stop trying to fix everyone else, and let God work on you. We live in a culture that’s focused on controlling other people’s beliefs, opinions, and actions. In the name of relativism, we grow angry at those who have the audacity to believe differently than we do (quick tip: that’s not relativism). Unfortunately, this attitude has seeped into the church. Whether it’s a theological belief like the end times, or a lifestyle conviction like drinking alcohol, or even something as silly as what curriculum to use in Sunday School, believers fight a lot. Convinced of the validity of our beliefs, we grow annoyed when people can’t see how obvious it is that we’re right. I suggest to you that Satan loves these quarrels. They keep us focused on all the wrong things. When you spend your time trying to fix others, you lose sight of yourself and your sin issues (Matthew 7:3-5). You also forget that the real enemy isn’t the church down the road from yours but the spiritual forces of evil at work in the world, in the pews, and in your heart. Some of us get easily upset with people for not meeting our expectations (hmm, actually, I think we’re all like that). But if we are living a gospel centered life, we should be spending more time examining our own hearts. “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.…So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:10, 12).3. In fact, stop trying so hard in general. “But the fruits of your labor are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Wait, what? No, that’s not what the verse says, but that’s how we live, isn’t it? If I work a little harder, pray a little longer, serve a little better, and read my Bible a little more, maybe I’ll be a little better Christian. How’s that working out for you? Thank God these verses in Galatians begin not with our effort but with the Spirit of God. Yes, the result of the Spirit’s effort is a life of virtue that points to Jesus. Isn’t that what all believers want in the end? Remember as you go about your day working hard (as you should) that your efforts are worthless without the Holy Spirit. “I am nothing without you, God, and I can do nothing worthwhile unless you change my heart to be more like Jesus today.” If you pray a simple admission like this with sincerity each day, it might just change your life!4. Relinquish the illusion of control. I say “illusion” with great purpose. Often, we remind ourselves to let God be in control instead of ourselves, but this really is foolish thinking. As if we could “let” God do anything! No, God is always in control. We know this truth. If we think for a moment that we can take the reins out of His hands, we deceive ourselves. Here’s where the illusion sets in. Perhaps, instead of telling ourselves to give God control of our lives, we ought to acknowledge that He already has it. Remembering His sovereignty keeps us from running around as stressed-out worriers, as if we’re the ones keeping the world going ‘round. One of the most powerful and difficult ways to remind ourselves of God’s control is to stop working. Rest. Even for a moment...a day...a week! The ability to take a break screams to others, “My God is in control, so I can relax for a little while!” After all, we’re only human, and we must worship God with our rest just as we seek to worship Him in our work.5. Understand that legalism is a form of worldliness in the gospel centered life. Stay on the straight and narrow. Stray too far to the left, and you will grow worldly. Stray too far to the right, and you will grow legalistic (trying to earn God’s favor with good works). Most of us have heard counsel like the above. The sad error in this spectrum mentality is the insinuation that legalism and worldliness are opposites. This is not the case. Legalism is simply worldliness wearing a religious coat. In John Bunyan’s famous book, The Pilgrim’s Progress, which serves as an allegory of the Christian life, we come upon an interesting scene. Christian, with a great burden on his back (sin), meets a man called Worldly Wiseman who strikes up a conversation. Worldly Wiseman urges Christian that the quickest way for relief is to climb over the nearby hill and visit a man named Legality (legalism). On his way, however, the hill grows so difficult and dangerous that Christian has to stop for fear of dying under his now even heavier burden. He only finds relief when Evangelist points out the way to the cross (Galatians 2:21). What I find most interesting in this scene is that it was worldly counsel that led Christian down the path to legalism. Yes, worldly thinking believes that we can somehow sponge away our sins and mistakes if we just work harder. This is why all false religions teach the necessity of good works for salvation. Let us not fall into the same trap and so degrade the beauty of the gospel.6. Gain security for your soul through Jesus and not a perfectly organized life. We have looked at several negative points, but here we turn the corner into the beauty ahead for you, dear believer. One of the biggest lies we tell ourselves is that if we could just get everything organized, we would have peace of mind. We work ourselves to the bone trying to keep the house clean, update our schedules, stay on budget, and never make a mistake. The result? Fatigue, frustration, and emptiness. We live in a broken world. It’s impossible to stay on top of everything. While seeking organization is a good thing, trying to find security in it won’t end well. It sounds simple, but remind yourself that lasting peace of mind, soul, and heart come through a relationship with Jesus, and He has already made you perfect in your standing before God (Colossians 1:22).7. ​Cultivate relationships before rules and activity. Are you sensing a pattern yet? So much of the gospel-centered life comes back to our priorities. Picture a house’s foundation. On what values and beliefs are you building your life? I know that my foundation is often to do the next right thing, which usually looks like some flustered ministry activity or work project. While these pursuits are important, they cannot serve as your soul’s foundation. Remember the two greatest commands according to Jesus? Love God, and love others (Matthew 22:36-40). In one word, Jesus says that our entire lives should be about relationships. Yikes. I’ve got to admit this is a hard one for me as someone who usually finds my identity and value in how much I get accomplished in a day. We must remind ourselves of what will last forever—God and human souls. Boil it all down, and our life goals should point to these two relationships.8. ​A gospel centered life embraces the pain of brokenness. This one’s simple, but it isn’t easy. We all know the feeling of a broken heart. Many of us have experienced broken spirits as well. Unfortunately, these consequences come from humanity’s fall into sin. When you get a splinter in your finger, your first reaction is to jerk your hand away from whatever gave you the pain. Your second reaction is to nurse the wound. What would happen, though, if you never took the splinter out? What if you just went through the rest of your life avoiding anything that might touch the splinter and cause you further pain? When we experience the disappointments of this life, we naturally jerk back. We nurse the pains of our souls. It’s easy to let them fester, because dealing with them is initially painful. Unfortunately, our inner wounds grow infected if we don’t deal with them. The answer to feeling broken is to bow and worship as Job did. This worship may (and should) include sobs of grief, confused questioning, and sifting through anger. But as we embrace the humility that pain brings, we open ourselves up to God’s loving and peaceful embrace (1 Peter 5:5-8).9. Focus on the joy of God. Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy” This was God’s heart toward His people in the Old Testament, and His heart does not change. We may struggle to view God as joyful because we imagine Him looking at us sternly. We know we don’t measure up, and we assume that He is disappointed with us. Believer, understand that God has embraced you in Jesus as His friend and adopted you as His child. He filled the Bible with reminders of His joy and delight in you so that you would never forget. “He rescued me, because He delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19).10. Find beauty in your everyday experiences. In psychology, negativity bias is the tendency for humans to focus more on the negative aspects of their lives than on the positive. We become so overwhelmed with our daily trials that we miss the daily blessings. When was the last time you reveled in the colors, tastes, and textures of your food without doing anything else? Have you recently stopped and literally smelled the roses? Notice the beauty of sharing a laugh with a coworker, smelling fresh rain, and feeling your heart that, regardless of your outer circumstances, keeps right on beating 70 times per minute. It’s easy to miss these blessings from God—little shots in the arm to keep us going—because in our digital age we’ve lost the art of sitting and enjoying the moment. It’s a great habit to cultivate. Try it and see if you don’t feel more content.

Walking the Gospel Centered Life

This list was by no means exhaustive. As you progress in your spiritual walk, you will find many more principles to guide you in living a gospel-centered life. But, no matter what, it all comes back to the gospel, and the gospel points to the most important Person in the universe, Jesus Christ. As you yield to His Spirit in you, He will give you a peace that you can’t ever comprehend.Looking to live a gospel centered life, you should learn what the Gospel is! Read the full article

[anothergirlrecovering]

Lynn 53

I walked in and sat down. Lynn asked if it would bother me to have the eucalyptus essential oil going. I laughed and reminded her that I grew up with all kinds of natural things, so none of that bothers me. She laughed and said she had forgotten, and said that ragweed has been getting to her. She asked how I’m doing, and I said I was okay. I said that I haven’t been sleeping well, and I explained my recent issue with my mom and the broadway show.  I explained that maybe it was progress but there was a part of me that doesn’t even want to hang out with her, but who knows, it could just be the mood im in. She said she considers that progress for sure. I told her about how I had met with my pastor and have sort of come up empty handed but am going to read a book he gave me. I told her about my neighbor attempting suicide and how I had a really bad panic attack following. She empathized and said she thinks it made sense that I responded that way. I told her ive been struggling with humanity being so negative and hot helpful and told her about the guy in yoga. And then she went with the mindfulness speech again lol. I feel like she must know im over it because she started explaining how its helped her so much and that philosophically it may also help with some of the existential crisis around faith issues. She explained how things like dbt or cbt may also help me feel better when I get upset, but that so far research shows mindfulness really helps change the brain. She pointed out that when she was my age she didn’t get it either and she laughed and said one day she knows im going to email her and say I got it lol even if its 10 years later. I was like idk maybe lynn, maybe. She said it takes time and a lot of practice and encouraged me to read more on it. SHe said things will always bother me because im a sensitive person and thatas not bad, but that mindfulness can really help me to be with it and move on from it without being so affected. Everything she said made sense, but I get so uninterested and bored with it. She said there are retreats and went on a long tangent about some lady she really likes who is an emdr consultant and is doing a retreat in Hawaii which incorporates emdr and mindfulness. I said I thought a whole retreat would make me want to kill myself. She laughed and said shes not there yet either with retreats but that they aren’t just sitting in a room silently for weeks. I told her about how the yoga instructor who did our mindfulness groups in treatment went to one where she went for a month and spent it in mindfulness and silence.

She asked where we wanted to work with emdr, and I said I don’t know, I just want to like myself. Lynn laughed and I commented that I knew it was a lofty goal. Lynn reminded me that liking myself will be impossible until we address the perfectionism issue because she doesn’t foresee me liking myself until im perfect or my beliefs change about needing to be perfect. I explained that I agreed it made sense. She asked about the religious stuff and where we need to start. I told her ive been thinking a lot about things but idk. We ended up talking a lot about religion in general and didn’t get to any emdr. She asked me about the church and if I would have been surprised to know they had manipulated donna into the tooth story. She tried hard to get me to take myself out of the story and ask myself what I might say to myself if I were anyone else with this story but it was hard. She pointed out how deeply these religious roots had been developed. I said I wished I could be my brother because hes not affected by it. Lynn disagreed and said I don’t know what he thinks about at night lol. SHe said the longer I do therapy the more I will realize that you never know what is really going on for people. SHe said surely there are a few who really don’t have skeletons in the closet but just because my brother doesn’t talk about it doesn’t mean he wasn’t affected. I explained that I wouldn’t have thought the pastor was trying to manipulate people but idk. I explained that it was a small church and she pointed out that religious cult type leaders seek power and followings, even if its small. SHe asked me if I would ever do to my kids what they did to me and I teared up and said I wouldn’t. She asked if that kind of emotional and religious abuse was something a therapist would report to dcs and I said maybe its just hard because everyone has religious freedoms and you could argue both sides so its a grey area. I explained how I really don’t remember the pastor but that I remember his wife carrie and she used to babysit me when I was four and five because they rented the apt above us. I said I just remembered her driving me and her daughter and telling us to hold onto our hats when we went over the train as a pretend game. I said I didn’t think their daughter was a Christian anymore, or at least not as rigid because she never posts about any of that stuff and lived with her bf prior to marriage.  I explained that there was some weird situation that happened and a disagreement and they had left the church and went with a ministry out in California instead. I explained the vineyard denomination to lynn as best as I could, but I know she has a hard time grasping it lol. I explained the ministry they went to and how they had come to our church to do dream interpretation and hearing a word from god for us. I remember sitting there confused and terrified at what they might say. I remember the speaking in tongues and the banner running and flags and tamburines and prophetic words from god and the healings and dreams and art drawings. I realized saying it all outloud it did sound a lot crazier than I wanted to admit. Lynn pointed out that it seemed atheists and agnostics almost had a better moral compass sometimes because they don't hold themselves to impossible standards and have ridiculous expectations that go against human nature.  

“Everything that you’ve described sounds… I don’t mean to be harsh, but like a cult. I mean, that was religious spiritual abuse”. I had described a few memories with the church. I had described the ways I had to repeat over and over the bile verse about god not giving me a spirit of fear, and how I couldn’t stop my panic attacks no matter how many times I said it. I told her that I know its not what she wants to hear but that it feels like some of these crazy religious things work out for some people so it feels like it was user error and the problem was me. I told her about how it felt like there was always a formula for things, but it never worked for me. I told her about how they had prophesied that my brother would be a worship leader while my mom was pregnant but never prophesied anything about me and always encouraged my brother to play music while intentionally leaving me out because I didn’t have “the gift”. I told her that there was no prophecy during my time in utero because my parents weren’t Christians at that point. I explained how they became Christians when they met my aunts boyfriend who invited them all to a bible study. I explained that the more I talked about it the more I realized how bizarre it was because my uncle is soooo far out there with his dream interpretations and the way he says he hears god and the way he isolates its all just odd but that hes the uncle who had gotten drunk on Christmas eve and told me all his problems and about how the pastors we grew up with had always really liked me and said what a good and caring kid I was.

Lynn encouraged me to talk to my pastor more about all of this. I told her he would probably say everything she had said regarding that it wasn’t healthy and logically I know all of this but it still feels true. She pointed out that we need to dig into some of the spiritual abuse with emdr because if this is the fundamental experiences shaping my beliefs, untangling that may untangle the perfectionism issue. She said she still wants me to talk to my pastor lol because she hasn’t studied any of this and if we untangle my current religious beliefs, ill need to replace them with something. She also said she wanted me to talk to him because she wants me to really recognize that it wasn’t just a terrible situation, it was abuse. I listened and she pointed out that she knows im on the fence with all of this because she could tell by my body language. What she meant was I had a hard time keeping eye contact, had teared up several times, and looked at the floor a lot as we talked about all of this stuff. She talked about how the church is supposed to be there to care about people and that  unfortunately they often do a lot of harm. I explained that my current church really takes care of their people and I liked that about them.

We went to schedule for two weeks out and she said she wasn’t sure what her schedule will be yet because she may be helping out at the school with the play because tis the last one. I asked if that was because her son was a senior and she said yes. I asked if her son has red hair too and said how I cant imagine lynn having a red head. She laughed and said she wanted to show me a picture of him and that hes such a cutie pie and they just did headshots for the show. She showed me the picture and I was like oh my gosh he really is so adorable he looks like a cross between Justin bieber and zac efron in high school musical. She laughed and said he got to play troy Bolton in the high school musical play at their  school. She then showed me a picture of her daughter and then her other daughter. I said they are so pretty and I was like lynn your kids are really good looking and I don’t mean that in a weird way. She laughed and said she agreed and thinks theyre pretty and shes really proud of them and theyre all really smart. I laughed and jokingly said and you validated their feelings and you love them for who they are and not how they look and she jokingly rolled her eyes and said yes shes mom of the year and she would see me next week.

[drubblernews-blog]

New Post has been published on http://drubbler.com/2017/02/25/1917-who-retreated-from-god-country-or-church/

1917: who retreated from God-country or church?

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Igor Bekshaev, February 25, 2017, 15:13- REGNUM

in the coming Centennial of two revolutions from church leaders and officials again especially often hear that “the root cause of those events was the country retreat from faith, from God.” And it’s a bad score because the fact or the result of developments in society, to the same contained usually extremely superficial, called here cause . Very bad that such understanding of the reasons for the imposition under attempts to return to the allegedly – the causal State.

“country” could not here so just take and “withdraw from the faith of God.” In turn, this should be a reason. The Church as its standard specifies «scarcity», that is again a substitute for cause of svershajushhimsja and a fait accompli, turning themselves from liability. In such a complex organism, as a country, all its services are responsible for something. “For faith, for God,” who actually answered and answers? By itself, the people of skudejushhij? His soul skudejushhaja-goremyka? And who made here is the most spoilt? If the people drinking and stealing material, who is responsible for what, nothing is being built? Whether the regiment commander to complain that soldiers “retreated from the Charter and, for this reason, the days were in the AWOL, have never been to a shooting range and swath of obstacles? And how this “explanation” causes breakthrough front on the plot would take command?

zagorodilas’ Church from responsibility for the events of martyrs, confessors of the faith. Like if the two soldiers shooting back for a while, then you can give the hero the regiment commander, rather than send Tribunal for loss of personnel. Meanwhile, this is the only and true reason. The Church has lost a “personal composition” long before remnants of his postreljali in mezhduusobice. And the blame for that loss rests solely on it. Because the revolution people went does not address its purely selfish interests, to enforce the truth, make the world better, the same, that the Church of Christ and was created. And, therefore, not the people “oskudel” and “stepped back”, but the Church itself has receded, left his service. Sat quietly, said that commanded, popustila, that leaves it just in side the religious stuff — “strong prayers” and adherents to their forever hurt feelings that just stood out amidst a sea of indifference.

People stopped to see the Church voice the truth of God. Today the liturgy reads a passage from the Gospel of Matthew: “come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” . And another passage from John: “I am the door: who will join me shall be saved, and will go in and out, and find pazhit’. The thief only comes to steal, kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd took his life for the sheep. As a mercenary, not Shepherd, which sheep are not your own, strongbox, and leaves the sheep, and flees; and the Wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.

“you who are weary and burdened is no longer seen in the Church those pastors who believed life would be for them. They were more like mercenaries, “sheep do not.” The whole life of the Church boiled down to “worship worship” in designated “field” as not without acrimony named Temple structures atheists coming to the crest of the revolution. Yes today “retreat of God» in the Church is understood so that people stopped” walking “and perform, that requires a cult, though in itself means” the way “newly acquired faith. It is a way of thinking of mercenaries who are only responsible for the formal side.

it is true to say that the world is in a spiritual crisis. However, distrust of religious institutions was not the cause of the crisis. The reason is the spiritual and intellectual poverty of the institutions themselves. Church people often proudly declare, declaim that the Church is not going to “adjust” under peace, that if the world desires to escape from that of the malefic, in which he himself started, he had to turn to pure spiritual source, which is a religion. And if the world does not want, that Church will be solid as a rock, stand, air-flushed by the winds of time, but will not back down from the old Testaments. And, of course, in such statements as usual be put upside down.

Religion rarely holds on to something “ancient” that was imaginable during its prosperity. And this long period, choose always have what dodumyvaja even something that never was. It simulates the for itself a dreamy image when all all “go” and the walking express their deep faith, affirming that religion remains her only voice and persistent. The content of this belief are attributed exclusively to itself, putting an equal sign between them and human faith. If you believe, must “walk”. Times doesn’t go, and doesn’t believe. Lost faith, oskudev because of personal sins. Such faith looks like part of the State of the Interior, which the revolution of porushila, and now I want to zadekorirovat them again, where possible, create a vintage style of the faith, from which the country receded.

the Russian word “repentance” quite incorrectly sends the notion of “Gospel Greek Metanoia. The latter means not beating their breasts in sensual fit and change thoughts, and not just change, but change the height. Rise above your own mindset, realizing that first lived and thought you’re flat, simplistic, that your intellectual work produced some stupidity, because and its built flat, stupid and anyone is not desired. Even itself sometimes hostile. So the Church in the face of its most notable preachers to stop would require all beating their breasts in hysterical hysteria from “awareness of our own imperfections, and to prepare people to alter thoughts, which leads them to the execution of the tasks under this sought-after. And stop fell on a “country”, which has committed some “retreat”.

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