#i think this could work actually. like hannah WOULD go ok it's new gender time because i want to impress the boy i have a crush on

[tiktaalic]

max’s angel boyfriend is a rezzed hannah except she’s in her lee majdoub vessel and introduces herself as han rather than hannah and only uses he/him now. this is never addressed

[find-y0ur-j0y]

If I Could Turn Back Time, Baby I’d Save You

Hermione hadn't meant to trip. Honestly! The new robes which Ron had thoughtfully (and obliviously) sent her were a little long, but she had promised to wear them on her first day at the Department of Mysteries. Unfortunately the combination of long robes and a tall stack of books led to the unexpected outcome of Hermione Jean Granger ‘Brightest Witch of Her Year’ taking an unexpected and definitely unwelcome tumble headfirst into the Veil of Death. As she fell she heard someone call out in fear and a hand grab onto her before everything went black.

----------

Hermione cracked her eyes open with a deep groan in pain. Her brain felt like there was a goblin drilling into it. If this was the afterlife she wanted no part of it. Shutting her eyes tightly, Hermione hoped that in blocking out the blinding light she would be able to quell her headache.

Her peace was shattered by a sudden loud rapping noise and loud voice calling “Hermione love, are you awake yet?”

Wait a minute! She knew that voice! “Mom?!?” she croaked out sitting up anxiously.

“Are you feeling ok Mia Bo Bia?” asked her mother’s voice from the other side of a familiar door.

“Yeah, I’ll be down in a few minutes” muttered Hermione as her mind raced trying to figure out how she had ended up in this situation. Last she had checked her mother was still alive, she didn’t remember she had a daughter, but she was alive. Also if she was going to pick a perfectly happy place to be her home for all eternity, her childhood bedroom wouldn’t even make the top fifty list.

Rising from her long forgotten bed, Hermione found herself frowning when she realized she was noticeably shorter than she had been before she tripped through the veil. Was she in Hell? Being forced to spend all of eternity going through puberty a second time seemed like a bit of an extreme punishment, Hermione reflected. She had played an instrumental role in defeating a murderous madman after all, shouldn't she have achieved eternal rest for her deeds? She was going to be pissed if her eternal damnation was a result of having practiced magic in her life.

Knowing that the only way she would get the answers she needed was by going downstairs and facing the ghosts of her parents, Hermione pulled herself together and headed to the kitchen.

---

“There you are Mia” greeted her dad with a brilliant smile which felt like a sucker punch to the chest for Hermione. It had been so long since she had spoken to her parents, and even longer since she had had that particular smile aimed her way. She would never regret protecting her parents from Death Eaters, but if she had a chance to do it over she would have found another way.

Overcome with emotion, Hermione rushed forward and threw her arms around her father no longer caring if this was heaven or hell. She had her family back, and in her mind, that was worth any price, including eternal damnation.

“Hermione, what's wrong?” asked her father, squeezing her back just as tightly.

“It’s nothing,” sniffed Hermione, holding back her happy tears “I’m just really happy to see you”.

“Obviously” laughed her mom. “You feeling a little nervous about going to school tomorrow Mia?”

“That’s tomorrow?” asked Hermione confused.

“Don’t tell me you suddenly forgot?” teased her father, “I swear your first year at Hogwarts has been all you will talk about ever since that nice woman came by to explain about the school”.

“Right… Hogwarts… McGonagall…” muttered Hermione. What on earth was going on?

“Well eat up dear! You have a busy day of packing ahead of you” smirked her mom sliding a couple of pancakes onto her plate.

Hermione ate her pancakes robotically, as she tried to process everything that she had just learned. The fact that she could touch her parents and eat her breakfast suggested that she wasn't trapped in some kind of weird coma dream. The lack of torture or blissful surroundings seemed to rule out her theory on the afterlife… which left magic.

Look, Hermione adored magic, really she did! But most of the time magic seemed to cause more trouble than it was worth. Her school years had been rather formative in showing her the dangers of relying on it. That was part of the reason why she had chosen to live primarily as a muggle after graduation, well that and the rapidly crumbling governmental system. She watched as men and women who had always relied on magic to solve their problems were left floundering when faced with problems created by their own hubris.

Even with Voldemort gone the policies and governmental leaders he had put in place remained. With the war “over'' Hermione was filled with idealistic zeal to reform the political system, but as time dragged on she began to lose hope. She was dismissed for her blood status, age and gender.

The hits just kept coming for Hermione though. As if enough life hadn’t been lost during the actual war, Harry had been killed in an “accident gone wrong” in the spell creation unit of the D.O.M., which was an obvious cover up if Hermione had ever heard one. If she was being honest, Hermione didn’t think that she or Ron ever got over the death of their brother in all but blood.

There were only so many times one could be told, had the door slammed in their face or told to get coffee before they sought out other avenues. Some like Neville Longbottom, Lavender Brown, Hannah Abbot, Gianna Jones and Blaise Zabini continued to fight the unfair laws with varying levels of success. Hermione applauded them for their strength, but she was far too tired to keep fighting what she deemed a pointless battle, if only they had been able to start bringing about change before Voldemort and Umbridge had gotten their hands on the ministry. Between the blatant racism, sexism and the shocking death of her best friend Hermione just needed a break and a change of scenery.

After leaving her job in the minister’s office, she loved Kingsley but the ex-auror made a miserable minister, she traveled for a year with a group of curse breakers. She chalked it up to the Gryffindor in her blood, but she missed the level of adventure that had been constantly present since she was eleven. Using Bill’s Gringotts contacts she had found a traveling group who welcomed her with open arms. The group travelled all over the world exploring new areas and solving mysterious curses. She swore that she had never felt more alive than during that year, but word came from England that Ron and Lavender were expecting their first child and her found-family needed her support. So Hermione said goodbye to her friends and took a job in the Department of Mysteries with Luna… which led her up to a couple hours ago when she ungracefully fell face first through the Veil of Death.

Clearing her dishes Hermione headed upstairs to her room to pack for her first year at Hogwarts at the urging of her parents. Stumbling into her childhood bedroom, she closed the door and rested heavily against it with one thought echoing loudly through her mind: What on earth had she gotten herself into now?

----------

Hermione liked to believe that she was a rather practical person, she liked clear goals, lists and schedules. She functioned best when she had a set objective and a clear view of the facts. With this in mind, after her minor existential crisis and the resulting meltdown, she set to work clearing off her desk and pulled out an empty notepad and began detailing what she did know, the list was depressingly short.

What I know: - I tripped through the Veil of Death - I woke up in my childhood bedroom the day before I originally left for Hogwarts. - Am I dead? In a coma? Time Travel?

This level of Time Travel shouldn't be possible, even with magic. Time turners in general were designed to only go back a couple days, not a decade! But when you have ruled out all of the possible explanations, the only solution which remains, however impossible, is the truth. Deciding that she needed more data before ruling the situation as ‘Time Travel’ Hermione closed her notebook and set off in search of answers.

----

After following her parents around all day and asking them obscure questions that only they would know, she was reluctantly finding more and more evidence of possible Time Travel. The day itself had unfolded similarly to how she remembered it occurring the first time with the only changes being those that she made herself. As she fell into bed that night staring up at the glowing star stickers she had stuck in various constellation shapes on her ceiling years ago, she had to finally admit that she had likely time traveled. This consensus only brought about a scarier question: what the fuck was she supposed to do now?!?

[authorracheljoy]

Ethan Ask 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 17 18 19 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 31 32 35 36 37 38 40 41 44 45 46 47 49 50

1. What is your OC’s favorite color?

Green ^^

2. Does your OC collect anything? What do they collect?

Ethan doesn’t collect anything in particular, nope!

3. What kind of things is your OC allergic to?

He’s pretty allergic to pollen so~

4. What kind of clothing does your OC wear?

Casual stuff I guess?

5. What is your OC’s first memory?

Joining his sister, Annabelle, in fort making..

6. What’s your OC’s favorite animal? Least favorite?

His favorite animals are tigers and… he doesn’t have a least favorite? (at least not yet!)

7. What element would your OC be?

WATER!

8. What is your OC’s theme song? 

He… doesn’t have one (yet)!

9. Do you have a faceclaim / voiceclaim for your OC?

No and no!

Although.. in my dream cast, he was Logan Lerman so~ Take with that what you will XD

10. What deadly sin would best represent your OC?

Envy~

11. What are your OC’s hobbies?

He’s a wannabe DJ ^^ He likes collecting record and vintage CDs and shit! 

12. How patient is your OC? How hot-headed are they?

Heh, Ethan’s the most patient character to EVER exist! 

But.. even he has his limits :X

I’ll just say this: Ethan would only blow up if a close friend lied to him or.. kept secrets from him.. big secrets-!

13. What is your OC’s gender / sexuality / race / species / etc.?

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Heteroromantic Demisexual

Race: Caucasian 

Species: NOT SAYING

14. What foods does your OC like to eat? What are their least favorite foods?

Sweet and spicy foods are his favorite :)

Ehhh he’s not a fan of seafood though? Like… sushi especially~

16. What does your OC smell like? 

He.. doesn’t have a specific smell? XD

Toni doesn’t go around smelling the people around her, OK?!

17. How do they make a living? What kind of job do they want / not want? What is their dream job? What do they think of their current job?

Ethan makes a living by going on missions as a vampire hunter, DUH! He also helps out at the New York Public Library so. That’s a part-time endeavor, though. He doesn’t hate this job or anything, but he is also obsessed with music and nostalgia (thanks to his parents) and his dream job is definitely to be a professional DJ!

18. What are your OC’s greatest fears? Weaknesses? Strengths?

Jesus, that’s a loaded question.. umm. To be as brief as possible…

Fears: Heights and losing loved ones

Weaknesses: He trusts too much/puts too much faith into people that he loves/cares about~

Strengths: Great leadership skills and confidence

19. What kind of music do they listen to? Do they have a favorite song?

Ethan listens to anything and everything, but he has a soft spot for dubstep! Skrillex is his favorite band, but he doesn’t have a favorite song; it changes constantly ;)

21. What personal problems/issues do they have? Pet peeves?

He sorta has the same pet peeves as Toni, i.e. annoying/rude people. I don’t think I can get into Ethan’s personal problems/issues without issuing a SPOILERS tag so.. sorry!

22. What kind of student were they/would they be in high school?

Straight-A student, no question!

23. What is a random fact about your OC? 

Gosh… umm… Ethan can’t stand screamo music! 

I know I said that he liked listening to everything, but he tries to avoid THAT type whenever he can.. XD

24. What is their outlook on life? What is their philosophy / what do they think in general about living?

Ethan’s outlook is pretty positive/optimistic. He generally feels like he’s protecting humanity by being a vampire hunter, so that’s always good :3 As for his thoughts on living and life, well… he’s dealt with a lot of death in his life. Surely not as much as Toni has, but… Ethan sees vampirism as a true curse and that’s really why he hunts vampires and kinda resents them a lot, especially HENRI :X

25. What inspired you to create them / how did you create them? Were they originally a fancharacter? What was their personality / design like when you first made them?

Ethan was basically the second character I ever created for the series, actually! Even before Henri Sinclair was a thing, it was just Toni and Ethan! Two best friends, nothing more! Of course… I based him on a friend I knew in middle school (who was also named Ethan, go figure, right?) who was very friendly and… ehhh I might’ve had a crush on him XD But that doesn’t matter! Ethan was always going to be the best friend of Toni, but.. while I finished up the first draft of the third (and at the time LAST) book, I realized that some of my readers really liked Ethan and wanted him to be happy and in a relationship with Toni. Obviously, this was impossible and a minority happenstance since people really shipped Henri and Toni but WHATEVER! 

Anyway, so that’s why - in the prequel - I gave them more chances to grow up together. Ethan and Toni

26. Who is the most important person in their life? Why? Who is the least important to them (that still has an impact) and why?

Most Important: Ehhh it’s a mixed bag between his mother, Toni, Clary, and Hannah! All equally important and loved

Least Important: Stephen Church might be Ethan’s would-be enemy if they weren’t both hunters, but I’d say they learn from each other all the same. Ethan still respects Stephen!

27. What kind of childhood did your character have?

Sorry but I’m pulling a SPOILER card for this one! 

It’s genuinely important and must be secret!

28. What kind of nervous habits do they have? Do they stim? Do they have any kinds of addictions?

Ethan doesn’t really have any nervous habits or addictions, at least none that are relatively important to his character ;) 

At least not yet~

29. If they could choose their epitaph for their grave, what would they choose?

“Keep Living” or something like that!

31. What is their most traumatic memory/experience? What is their favorite memory?

I can’t answer the first part of this for SURE but-

Ethan’s favorite memory is any moment he got to hang out with his big sister~

32. If they could have one thing in the world, what would it be?

Ethan doesn’t want anything; he’s perfectly content~

35. How is your character’s imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worried most of the time? Living in memories?

He focuses a lot on the present and future, and rarely the past. I’d say he has a good imagination, but he doesn’t let him lose sight of reality or anything like that. I wouldn’t say he’s worried 24/7, but he can get anxious about the lives of his friends (lookin’ at YOU, Toni!)

36. What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

Ethan wants to make a difference in the world, especially through protecting humanity in the face of the supernaturals, mostly the vampires! Compulsively, though, he really wants to have a connection with someone

37. What’s something that your character does, that other people don’t normally do?

Uhhhh nothing that I can think of on the spot?!

38. What would your character do with a million dollars? 

Buy DJ equipment of course~

40. Your character is getting ready for a night out. Where are they going? What do they wear? Who will they be with?

Ethan’s going on a mission! He wears black to blend in with the shadows (even though he’ll be sticking out in a crowd once he’s at the venue)! He would either go with Toni or Clary on the mission!

41. What does your character do when they’re angry? Why?

It’s very, very rare but Ethan blows up when he’s angry. Then a few seconds later, he’d go silent. Hell, he might even cry. Like I said, though, this rarely ever happens!

44. How does your character react/ accept criticism?

Ethan is pretty cool-headed about criticism!

45. If your character was given a slice of pineapple pizza and they HAD to eat it (or something bad would happen), how would they react? Do they even LIKE pineapple pizza?

Ethan isn’t really a lover of pizza (I know, shocker!) but I’m sure he’d like pineapple pizza if he ate it on a dare or something ^^ After all, he likes sweet things!

46. Your character is given a voodoo doll of themself. What do they do with it? Do they see if it actually works?

Ethan would probably just shove it in his closet and do nothing with it XD

47. Can your character draw? What do they like to draw? Do they doodle?

Ethan doodles, but I wouldn’t say he’s a full-blown artist!

49. Does your character like candy? Do they get sugar rushes? What are they like when they get a rush?

The only sugar Ethan consumes is in the soda he drinks so XD He’s not much of a candy guy~

50. If your character was presented with imminent and unavoidable death/fatality, how would they react? Would they try to avoid death anyways? Would they try to make their last days count?

Ethan’s the type of person who would definitely make his days count (as he does that already) and he wouldn’t try to avoid death at all. He’d just… accept it!

Man, I’m late with this and I know there are others, but I felt like getting through some asks today so

[earthroll22-blog]

How did Gothard dupe so many?

Greetings! I haven’t posted as much in the past few weeks because life is getting pretty busy, and probably won’t slow down until…who am I kidding? It won’t ever slow down. But I’m trying to keep to a at-least-once-a-week schedule anyway!

After posting last week’s blog, I kept feeling like I had missed something important. Sure enough, my friend Craig pointed out another problem.

Is there another dangerous unstated insinuation by the testimony that you highlighted? If this woman’s morning sickness was cured when she repented then, MORNING SICKNESS IS CAUSED BY SIN. If you can figure out what that sin is and repent your morning sickness will depart. Or if the husband can point out the sin that is causing the morning sickness and get his wife to repent, then he to can “conquer his wife’s morning sickness.” What a disgusting anti-gospel message.

In other news, Throwing Out the Bath Water was featured on Recovering Grace, which was pretty cool. Recovering Grace also recently linked to a blog post about Gothard’s teachings on giving up rights, which I highly recommend that you read. I had several major “ah-ha!” moments when reading it, and it’s going to take me a while to process through it all.

Today I want to look at a supplemental material that apparently comes from a seminar on church ministry. This book is going to take a little time to get through, because there is so much to be discussed.

Some of these statements seem rather benign, even if they are a tad simplistic. But I want to take a moment to talk about it, because these few sentences show very clearly how Gothard works, and, to a large extent, answers the question, “how could Gothard manage to dupe so many people?”

He starts with a statement that seems to be undeniably true, yet is extremely over simplified. He also commits a major logical error, arguing that because weak families result in weak churches, any church that is weak must have weak families. Weak families do cause weak churches, but not all weak churches are weak because of weak families. To put it in different terms, termites cause structural damage to a building, but not all structural damage is caused by termites.

The next statement commits the same error, although it’s not quite as egregious, considering how much influence the father and mother have in the family. Nonetheless, there are still things beyond the control of the mother or father that can weaken a family. Illness, employment, abuse by an uncle, a neighbor selling drugs; all of these things can also weaken families. Life is not always as clear cut or straight forward as Gothard would have us believe.

And finally, we get the kicker: all it takes to strengthen families and churches (two excellent goals!) is to have somebody personally explain responsibilities. It’s just that simple. Gothard has the magic ingredient to fix these problems. He has the information for this “forgotten fundamental” for every church.

Now stop for a minute, and put this into normal-people language. Gothard, for all of his talk of “faithful women” and “dynamic potential,” is actually proposing that churches implement a women’s discipleship program. That’s his “forgotten fundamental.” It’s not forgotten at all: there are literally thousands of resources available for these types of ministries, and hundreds of thousands of people involved in these ministries. They’re not new, they’re not unusual, and they’re certainly not “forgotten.”

So why does Gothard try to paint a women’s discipleship program in this light? Simple. He wants to be seen as the only source of wisdom on this topic. He doesn’t want to compete with other writers or speakers who have spoken on the subject. So he wraps it in strange terminology and claims everyone else has “forgotten” about it in the hopes that nobody will go shopping elsewhere.

This is how Gothard dupes people: simplify a problem that people want desperately to fix, and then claim he is the only one who knows how to quickly and easily fix that problem.

Next, Gothard lists ten benefits of training faithful women. Some of them are very interesting. 

Ok, cool. I have no issue with this reason. It’s good for younger women (and younger men and older men and older women too…) to have people they can look up to and emulate. But then we get a list of women in “God’s hall of fame” and it gets a little strange.

Several of these really jump off the page here. Deborah, a woman of discernment? Really? What about leadership? Bravery? Kick-ass-ed-ness? Or Priscilla, a helpmeet? Priscilla was an industrious craftswoman (a tent maker, like Paul) who was an important evangelist and church planter. Priscilla even functioned as a 1st century talent scout, seeing and nurturing the potential in Apollos (someone who Scriptures says “was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures.”) All her ministry boils down to “a helpmeet”?

Some of these make sense; Hannah, a woman of prayer, or Esther, a woman of courage. But honestly, this lists seems to cheapen them; it seems to convey that the great works and examples of these women were simply the result of working really hard on one of Gothard’s 49 favorite words. Maybe I’m being too picky here….but it still bothers me.

Reason number 2:

“The danger of…wrong attitudes or behavior of wives” is not clearly stated in Scripture. People are all capable of corrupting doctrinal truth; there is no particular sub-set of people who are more likely than others to corrupt. We do need to be aware of the danger of corruption coming from wives, but also from husbands, and from youth group leaders and song writers and from blacksmiths and computer technicians and U.S congressmen. Particularly singling out wives as a dangerous source of corruption paints them as time-bombs in our churches, rather than people loved by God.

The Scripture quoted here does not support the claim made by Gothard either. Briefly summarized, it tells us that young women should develop the character of Christ in their daily life (which, for those young women in Titus’s church and cultural setting, meant particular things), so that God’s word would not be spoken evil of.

Wow, every single one of them? Man.That’s tough. I wonder if men ever violate truth…

Now I’m confused. We need older women to teach women how to ask their husbands to teach them things? Wouldn’t it be a whole lot more efficient to just have the men teach their wives about this? And since women are so susceptible to doctrinal error, whose crazy idea was it to put them in charge of training other women?

I’m not going to address the quote from 1 Tim. 2, because, bluntly, I’m still very confused by that chapter, and I really don’t think I can speak with any authority on that passage. Perhaps some of my readers would care to share their thoughts?

“When a women pours out her problems to a minister, she exposes him to the strong temptation of becoming inappropriately involved with her in his emotions.” And loving her as a sister in Christ isn’t an option here? Weeping with those who weep isn’t a good idea? Sharing your struggles with someone who is charged with your spiritual welfare should be discouraged? And if a women sharing her problems with her pastor causes him to become “inappropriately involved” with her, is the real problem with her sharing, or with the pastor?

This tendency (that can be seen through IBLP material and at all IBLP sponsored functions) to build walls between the sexes is disturbing for multiple reasons.

It over-sexualizes all interactions and prevents real, solid friendships and real fellowship from happening. I remember not being allowed to eat at the same table as my sister when doing CharacterFirst! work in Memphis. (There were about 9 of us in the basement of a large church, and we literally sat on opposite ends of the fellowship hall.) Rather than speaking to a person, you find yourself speaking to a gender. It’s institutionalized objectification.

It divides the body of Christ, and prevents members from loving their brothers and sisters in Christ. (How can I “do good unto…the body of believers” if I am not allowed to even talk to a significant portion of them?)

Walls that prevent communication serve to protect abusers. If a women is not able to speak to her pastor about an abusive husband, that is one more door that is closed to her. And if we are to take all this talk about ladies speaking only to their husbands about their problems seriously, it does not take much imagination to picture a pastor telling a wife to talk to her husband about these issues!

“When a women seeks regular personal counseling from a pastor, she will usually cause signals of caution or alarm in the pastor’s wife.” Wow, there is so much more  wrong with this pastor’s marriage than a counseling session with a church member if the wife is getting signals of caution or alarm! There is an obvious lack of trust and understanding between the couple. At the very least this couple needs to have an open discussion about what they are comfortable with, and what type of boundaries they should put in place to protect their relationship. And if this alarm becomes “seeds of contention” that damage the marriage…well, again, there’s a bigger issue here that is causing the damage. A pastor counseling a church member does not destroy a marriage.

Side note: how insulting is this to pastors? Do we think male pastors (because female pastors are never addressed) are unable to handle a situation like this? If a pastor can’t manage to deal with the temptation of talking to church members about their problems, is this guy qualified to be a pastor? And if this pastor is honestly that weak, will preventing these conversations actually prevent problems at your church? Rather than giving advice on how to “pastor proof” your church, wouldn’t it be far better to put out a booklet titled Kick That Guy Out and Hire A God-Fearing Professional?

Finally, notice who is to blame for broken marriages and sex scandals in the church: women who try to seduce pastors. Those poor pastors! Those poor, passive pastors! Why, they had no more choice in the matter than you or I; these evil women seduced them.

No. This thinking is wrong. It’s disrespectful to women and to pastors. It paints women as the bad guys and men as innocent victims. It erects walls between members of the body of Christ. It excused the sins of pastors who abuse women in counseling.

Final note: Isn’t it interesting how Gothard carried on private counseling sessions with multiple young girls for literally years and yet had the audacity to teach this?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On a personal note, tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the passing of my son. My wife and I would appreciate your prayers.

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Source: https://throwingoutbathwater.wordpress.com/2014/11/22/139/