#i mean it sort of is

[ennard-is-near]

I think this hyperfixation has taken the biggest toll on my mental wellbeing

[bokettochild]

So, there is a recurring chain of events that happens throughout what we call the 4 Gospels (the four books detailing Jesus's life on earth) where the pharisees and scribes of the Jewish temple would repeatedly come to Jesus and present Him with problems, be they hypothetical or not, and try to make Him determine what was right in that situation, in order to trick Him into saying or doing something wrong, against the Law of Moses, or against Caesar's laws.

This video references the story in the Gospel of John where they bring to Jesus a woman who had been caught in adultery.

"They said unto him, Master*, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned; but what sayest thou?" John 8: 4-5

*master was a common term of respect towards teachers or rabbis in the day

So, the pharisees have brought Jesus this woman who has broken the law, and according to the old laws, she should be stoned. They know that Jesus was a man commonly seen with the unsavory crowds (the harlots, the hated government officials, the poor, the dirty, the sick (cursed), the sinners, basically anyone rejected and hated upon by society for their way/state of life) and knew He had/has a soft spot for such people. Their intent was either to have Him speak out against the law (which was against the law itself) or condemn the women and thus lose the favor of the people who loved and followed Him.

Now, this is where we get to one of the mysteries that Christians (and others) often debate, because what precisely happened is a bit unclear. Jesus is said to have stooped down to write something in the dirt, but what He wrote is unknown, although many think whatever it was might have had some effect on what happened after. We do know, however, that the Bible says that He did this "as though he heard them not".

So the pharisees repeat their question: what should they do with the adulterous woman?

Jesus's answer is shown in the video: "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her." -John 8:7

Whether what he wrote in the dirt added to that or was just....random words, no one knows, but he goes back to writing it, whatever it was.

"And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, "Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?" She said "No man, Lord" and Jesus said unto her, "Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more." - John 8:9-11

So after all the men who had wanted to stone her had gone away, Jesus just looks around as though saying "I don't see a trial happening, do you?" and when she says no, He, who is the only man without sin and the very Son of God, says "I will not judge you either, or try and kill you, so go and sin no more".

It's a very powerful story about God's mercy to sinners, but also a lesson to us to not condemn another for their way of life or wrong-doings. God knows none of us is living without sin either! It does remind us though that God is sinless and does have the right to judge, so we should try and be better ourselves and seek his mercy while it is offered.

(This is a different matter entirely from the passage "judge not, lest ye be judged also" which gets so misinterpreted these days that it's literally in all of my pastor's sermons because he's tired of hearing it used the wrong way, but I digress!)

......

-phew!

The short is mostly just playing around with the idea of "what if there was someone who was without sin, what would Jesus have done?" because hypotheticals are fun I guess? But I promise some dude in a kilt didn't come rocking up with a boulder in his hands to crush the adultress only to get bodied by a folding chair from Jesus. This is all satire!

[fairsweetlonging]

truth serum / system reveal au where shen qingqiu gets hit with an uncloaking spell that reveals the system in the reflection of his eyes every time it pops up.

during one of his missions, in the treasure hoard of some dragon-like creature, he finds a golden, oval shaped hand mirror, its gaudy style more victorian based than anything (airplane you hack!), that doesn't seem to do anything when he looks into it. but when he does, it reveals the system's screen in his eyes.

he doesn't notice this, of course, because he can't see it, and the system, surprisingly, stays quiet.

the peak lords think he's cursed.

maybe mu qingfang is the first to notice, during the mandatory post mission check-up, when shen qingqiu is scrolling through his most recently accumulated points and mu qingfang can see the strange vividly-blue lines reflected in his pupils. it's gone when shen qingqiu blinks, like it was nothing but a trick of the light.

it comes out when yue qingyuan is visiting and, just as he's done laying out the plans for a new mission, shen qingqiu's eyes glaze over and a bright blue box takes over the whole of his iris. shen qingqiu goes quiet; the thing in his eyes moves, shifts, pulses for a second, like static worms crawling all over his pupils. then he blinks, and it's gone, and shen qingqiu accepts the mission that yue qingyuan was almost sure he would decline.

maybe there is an intervention, when the peak lords corner shen qingqiu at qian cao peak and try to figure out what's wrong, subjecting him to all kinds of treatments and curse-finding spells that turn up empty, they can't find anything.

of course, the silencing threat is still very much up and running. at first shen qingqiu was kind of confused by the whole ordeal, but when the peak lords start describing a "strange blue box", he realizes, with sickening suddenty, that they're describing the system. and he can't say anything.

this only makes everything worse, because their fellow peak lord now keeps evading every question and acts like he doesn't understand. liu qingge points right at his face and asks, "that blue box, what is it?" and shen qingqiu laughs nervously and starts talking about how bright the weather is and surely it's the sky and nothing to worry about!

even worse, during the intervention the system thought it was a good idea to start talking to him, so now even the peak lords who hadn't seen it and who might have been persuaded by light tricks and reflections, get a first row view that no, that definitely isn't a trick of the light.

they try to do the whole thing of "are you in danger, blink twice" but shen qingqiu can't even do that because it's still a direct admittance!

maybe eventually he starts saying vague confirmations that don't actually confirm anything, like "this master hears what you're saying", or maybe he goes with a classic "this master can neither confirm nor deny that." but the system starts warning him for that too and eventually he stops saying anything, which worries the others more.

luckily mu qingfang catches on that every time they ask a direct question about the box or shen qingqiu says anything vaguely confirming, it appears. it doesn't appear when they ask about curses or demons, so it must not see that as a threat.

for a little extra angst: maybe the peak lords keep pressuring him for answers, and at some point shen qingqiu gets fed up and snaps out something like, "why don't you understand that i'm not allowed to answer that!" the system counts this as a direct admittance, threatening it's existence. so it punishes. shen qingqiu has a qi deviation so bad it lasts two weeks and takes two people every day to cleanse his meridians. the system doesn't appear in that time. it doesn't appear for a long while after that, either. the peak lords stop asking, mainly because shen qingqiu will instantly leave the room if they do. they don't stop searching for a cure, though.

shang qinghua returns from a business trip and catches on the second someone mentions a blue box and forced silencing.

[wavewavethoughtsonly]

How To Flirt (Or Converse) 101 ft. WaveWave

The riveting conversation continues.

I drew part 2 for @illogicallyy cause they were the only one who was curious about the reference.

Is it ringing any bells yet? 😂

Part 1

[kyri45]

They are so proud of their boy (I’m crying from joy/eating the pillow the baby has his own Sunset Rod)

Shadowpeach Bio Parent AU (PREV / FIRST / NEXT )

if it wasn’t clear only the cuff remains when the weapon isn not summoned. Kind of a in-between from completely summon it like macaque and keeping it hidden like wukong does. Also as his shadow powers grows, he will able to extend/stretch/widen the staff more like the normal ruyi bang.

Extra concepts and sketches under the cut

[faelapis]

gang whats the most thorough list of vetted fundraisers for gaza?

also, if someone is NOT already vetted, whats a good way to submit names/users for vetting?

[ciderjacks]

dad issues

+

(I think they were all fundamentally affected by what they saw and just collectively decided not to share the upsetting details)

[frenchublog]

[magmary]

Okay, okay, this amazing au

with pilot First Aid and Vortex as his possessed mech stuck in my head and I can't stop thinking about it.

I know that at the moment Aid afraid that Vortex will kill him. Or eat him...

BUT! Just imagine them both being freaks and helping each other with their freakness?

First Aid wants to dissect aliens, and Vortex is willing to help if Aid tells him everything he's learned so he can torture them.

[egophiliac]

IT WAS ERIC AFTER ALL!!!! I'm so glad we got to meet him (before Vil snaps him away with those Infinity Gauntlets) (can't wait to see what happens when we get the matching Infinity Tiara to go with them, there will be no survivors)

(sorry to be so slow/rough lately, just got a lot of stuff on the ol' brain at the moment! alas, if only I could spend all my time drawing incredibly stupid characters I mean I do but)

[valtsv]

obsessed with these ~aesthetic~ salt and pepper shakers i saw in the store today. honey we have guests, bring out the fine china that reminds you of your own inevitable death and decay into oblivion as a mortal being.

[rendevok]

Moon dance 🌕✨

[kosher-salt]

I'm sorry but if Sami people can be understood as other-than-white and lighter featured First Nations people can be understood as other-than-white and individuals of our sisters the Romani when similarly afflicted by melanin deficiency can be understood as other-than-white....

Your classification of Jews, who span the whole gamut of color but share the racialization and experience of being othered among any majority, including whiteness in the north/west, is only further evidence of your racism. Because in doing so you continue to perpetuate double standards for Jewish people, which is dangerous when merged with perspectives that view whiteness as a merit signifier. Not that our identity isn't a fair bit older than this pretty reductive view, but

Regardless, I'll remind that the minority indigenous groups I mentioned are in the context of a white majority, but white people do not have a monopoly on colonialism. Plenty of people don't want to be called Arab in MENA and plenty of people aren't sure that they'd classify themselves as Chinese or Russian in the sense that the West views national identity. But that kind of nuance probably isn't something I should bother with if we haven't made it past point 1.

[linkedin-offficial]

me when i get the opportunity to think about speculative biology and non-existent game mechanics in media i like

⠀

[petricorah]

🎵 there's something there that wasn't there before 🎵 [ids in alt]

for @caffeinatedhobbit ! sending good feelings back :3

[potatobugz]

objects loving objects baby!!!!