#just remember that everyone is everyone else's in-law and or love interested and or debtor and or narrative foil!! Easy!

[jeannetterankin]

In honor of middlemarch book club gearing up, I decided to make a nice, simple explanatory chart of the primary relationships, for those who are new to the novel!

See, you just start with the Main Four:

Now, let's add in blue lines for Narrative Foils, and red lines for romantic feelings/marriage:

Simple! Now, let's add in some of the other key characters, and use green for familial relationships (broadly defined):

Hmm, okay so far, but how are we gonna connect Bulstrode's whole..thing? Let's use purple for financial entaglements/employment:

Okay! Clear and simple! Now with just a few more details and some helpful notes:

There we are! That's still leaving out a bunch of the good stuff, and I really wanted to add cellular flagella to the chart in honor of their guest appearance in the novel, but refrained for the sake of simplicity. But this should be an easy guide to get you started!

[b612sunsets]

Ahhh I’m happy to see someone else loving The Devil Judge - it truly is amazing 😭😭🖤✨ I love Yo-Han and Ga-on’s relationship I swear let them be destructive together!

I hate waiting for new episodes so please tell me one of your theories, it can be about anything! 🥰

Right?! I love it so much, it's really good to have our lilttle fam getting bigger, can't wait until it airs on Netflix, we will have even more people going crazy about it in here! (at least I hope it will become a Netflix series after the show ends like Beyon Evil - another love of mine) and yes, lawful husbands can be destructive together but only to the bad people pls 🥺

It's tough waiting for new episodes every weekend and at the same time I wish for it not to end so soon. It hasn't finished but I already want Jisung and Jinyoung in a second season or working together in another drama. Their chemistry on screen is too good to stop there

About the theories, there's a few I saw on reddit/twitter and I make my own based on it and after watching every episode, but I think it's too early to talk about them. However, since you requested it, there's some that come to mind as interesting enough to mention.

The fire and the story behind it narrated by Yohan

1- Some people think Yohan did start the fire because he found out about the dirty politicians real intentions and decided to destroy them all in the same place before Isaac could donate the money bc he is "a devil" and capable of that since he was a kid as told by the priest with the school incident and the nanny with the maid and dog thing. side note: not for pranking some kids who bullied him because that's all it seems like, right? But in terms of observing, thinking strategically and being one step ahead when needing to punish the whole classroom who wronged him even as young as he was and feeling satisfied while watching the result and staying out of it. A type of mentality probably encouraged by Isaac and the books he gave him to read, unlike a regular kid who would just fight back or endure it. And we still have to see if it really was Yohan that contributed to the maid's death or if it was something/someone else and the nanny thinks it was him.

They think that Elijah even saw him in front of the door right before the fire started and smiled at him instead of smiling at her parents, like she did in the gates of the cathedral in the previous scene, so that's why she hates him so much now because she can remember seeing him as the responsible for it. But Yohan didn't intend to kill/hurt Isaac and the rest of the family, thinking he could save them or something, and felt guilty that he couldn't do so. Some even said that Yohan delayed too much in trying to save them after entering the church and seeing Elijah getting her legs hurt, that it may have been shock but why would he remember everything and everyone so clearly if he was in shock?

It's a good theory but I have my own remarks: why wouldn't he tell Isaac about the politicians himself if he knew the dirty about them then? They had a close relationship and Isaac gave him books about punishment and everything, it wasn't like Isaac was too naive and wouldn't believe his half-brother. He wouldn't have donated if Yohan told him. "Oh he was being the devil and finding a way to punish them instead of just letting is slide and not donating" still, Yohan wouldn't risk Isaac and Elijah with such a dangerous plan if he could avoid having Isaac and Elijah at all in the destruction scene by telling Isaac about it. It could have been shock and Yohan wanting to look and commit to mind everyone's face in that day responsible for hurting his niece and not caring about anyone else but themselves, pushing him away and delaying his attempt to get to them in time, leaving Isaac and the family behind (after they almost donated them their money) and things like that. So he can avenge them now, like he did in the school with the kids. That's why as soon as he could, he canceled the donation in the most easy way by saying his brother wasn't sane enough to make that decision before dying.

There's also the theories about Isaac being the insane/evil one, which wouldn't surprise me because I've considered it since episode 3 but at the same time I'll not be touching that topic now and I don't know if I ever will unless proven otherwise in some other episode

2- The other theory I have and saw people discussing (the one I'm most inclined to believe because I'm Yohan biased but again it's too soon to be sure) is that the story Yohan narrated is mostly if not completely true and he experiences extreme guilt for not coming back and saving Isaac when the church collapsed on him, as seen in the character introduction by tvN translated in this tweet that we now know it's about Isaac:

The last words Yohan said to Isaac was that he was going to come back for him, so he experiences nightmares like the flashbacks we saw in episode 1 and that's why we don't see any scene of Isaac in the middle of the church after the fire staring at Yohan or during the fire and turning to stare directly at Yohan when he narrates it. Because they're dreams and his guilty conscience and he remembers them when looking at Gaon. The flashback of Yohan kneeling down and touching Isaac with Elijah's bear close to him could be after he got Elijah out from there and he went back to put the bear next to him kinda like a "Sorry for not coming back in time", a reassurance that his daughter for whom he died for is safe and will always stay with him, a "Goodbye". He wouldn't just let Isaac's body lying there, he would go back even if it was too late.

Another thing is that when Yohan is showing Gaon his scar after telling the story, there's a book fallen at his feet. I think it was the thing that fell when Yohan standed up from the table and choked Gaon (trying hard not to comment on that choking scene as a 🔥 Gahan moment for our delight and imagination bc that's not the point right now lol)

This is the book:

And the first page of this book says "Never again will a single story be told as though it's the only one." - John Berger

I searched about it and it can mean that never again will a story be told as if it's the only one that matters. It could also mean that never again will a story be so encompassing of the elements it tackles that no other story need be written about these elements. A story has many perspectives that cannot be understood by just a single viewpoint. Isn't that what this kdrama is all about?

One of the translations of what Yohan said after Gaon left was:

But there's also another version:

The meaning of what he said changes a bit depending on which translation is more accurate, more so when we add the book quote to the equation.

Kim Gaon and his connection to Kang Yohan

People think Gaon could be Isaac's relative in some way or just a look alike (I think it's just a look alike to contribute to Yohan's obsession/curiosity and their proximity from the start, that's why no one really comments on it, not even Gaon when he sees Isaac's picture). Dear God, let them not be related because it would make shipping our lawful husbands really strange, to say the least.

What I'd like to say and almost everyone is forgetting is that in the tvN character introduction we already have Gaon's past and know he wasn't always a goody two shoes, the man was a juvenile delinquent and can even fight (the rebellious phase he said he made the tattoo in episode 3?). He too sought revenge for his parents when he was 16 because they committed suicide after losing their money and being deceived by multi-level con artists posing as social service workers. But the teacher and Soohyun were able to hold him back.

Yohan's father could be one of the reasons for their death. He was a loan shark and might have lend them money after they lost it all and it caused them to have a great debt, that's why Yohan did a thorough research on Gaon and was interested in him (not only because he resembled his half-brother). They shared one enemy in common and maybe even a place (churches, Yohan's father tended to confess his sins in a church when his debtors killed themselves). Or Yohan might have researched about him at the time he knew Gaon was chosen to be the associate judge sitting on his left side instead of way before, because it's important to Yohan to know who he is dealing with and the dirty of their past if they have any. And then Yohan discovered everything and saw his picture and resemblance to Isaac.

The thing is: they have the same distrust/repulsion of powerful people who deceive the world and had a painful loss because of that. Both of them think they have the other exactly where they want but they get more confused about what it is that they really want from the other and get closer (as said in the summary of episode 5 that tvN released) while figuring it out. They will come to an understanding and probably join forces at some point. We saw it in the end of episode 4, the scene of episode 5 when Gaon says he can understand Yohan's pain but can't trust him if he doesn't tell him everything and then Yohan says Gaon needs to decide if he will get in his way or stay by his side. Gaon might go back to his rebellious days and stay with Yohan to seek revenge together while distancing himself from Soohyun and Jungho who prevented him from doing so

And that's about it! Thank you for your ask and hope my answer is satisfying enough! 💙 The hardest but also most awesome part is having to wait to see.

[ohshcscenerios]

Could you do a HC of the angsty events that lead up to Kyoya and Haruhi confessing their feelings for each other and becoming a couple? I ship them so hard. 🙃 Thank you 💞💞

I apologize for my late response, it took me a while to decide how to answer this. Also please don’t be upset if it’s not very good, I literally wrote and uploaded this at 4:03am. I couldn’t decided between headcanons or writing a one-shot so I wrote... this? I hope you enjoy. 

Kyoya didn’t think much about the Host Club’s new addition; only keeping a sharp eye on her debt as she slowly paid it back with her services. However, a year mingling with the host maiden proved detrimental to his indifferent attitude. Beginning his second year he couldn’t be bothered with the opposite sex. His main priority in being named heir to the Ootori Group was greedy and didn’t allow room for anything else, least of all love. Nearing the end of his second year his foolish heart had convinced his foolish mind to at consider the foolish emotion; love. 

Haruhi had once considered herself level-headed; not as to brag but considering her straight forwarded nature it seemed to fit best. Her serious personality steered her on a straight path towards her goal. There was no time for bee-lining through life. She could stop and smell the roses once she finished her studies - once she graduated - once she got accepted into college - once she obtains her law degree - once she’s hired onto a law firm - etc. etc. She was a human bulldozer with horse blinders secured in place. So how did one year in serving the host club manage to loosen her reins and make her step out of line? 

Kyoya began noticing the little things first; how she tapped her pencil against the notebook paper when she was deep in thought, how long she steeped a tea bag for her preferred strength, how often she glanced at the clock when a she was expecting a supermarket sale to begin within the hour. He shouldn’t have paid any mind to these miniscule details for they served him no purpose. He cursed himself for even retaining the useless knowledge. Why would he bother himself with such fickle things that wouldn’t provide an ounce of merit in the future? The only considerable benefit was that he knew Haruhi a tad better than before.

Haruhi didn’t like noticing Kyoya’s quick glances as she busied herself hosting her guests. It proved to be a distraction. Haruhi hated that his brief glimpses of attention was distracting her. She wanted to focus on pouring tea for her giggling guests and recalling precious memories of her late mother to move her guests to tears. She wanted to focus on lowering her debt – the cursed debt that trapped her afternoons in music room three. She didn’t want to focus on her debtor.

Kyoya asked Haruhi to stay behind one afternoon to discuss the details about her debt. He didn’t often offer this liberty for he felt it wasn’t truly her business. Her responsibility was to lower the debt. His responsibility was to manage it. So far their mutual agreement carried on smoothly without any suspicious questioning or accusations. However that day Kyoya felt he should allow Haruhi to see her progress. The act of kindness didn’t offer him merit. There was nothing he could gain from Haruhi learning her progress. There was nothing Haruhi could gain either. So why? He pondered that question throughout hosting hours until his door of opportunity was wide open. Before she left for the day he called her over with a lazy wave of his hand.

Haruhi didn’t appreciate his tone. She didn’t appreciate his sly smirk as he reasoned the high interests and the damaged tea sets that somehow landed on her bill. He almost sounded condescending as if he enjoyed toying with her. Her freedom wasn’t something he could yo-yo for his amusement. The very thought made her sick. How could this faux egoist flaunt her debt like… like… like he’d own her forever. She would forever be under his thumb, scrambling for a foothold that would never appear. Haruhi feared she would never be rid of Kyoya Ootori.

Kyoya noticed Haruhi parted her hair differently one day. Usually she parted her bangs to the left but that day she parted her bangs to the right. It wasn’t a beneficial detail and he silently cursed himself for even noticing – yet he couldn’t help but like the sudden change. It was subtle enough to not draw attention but just enough to draw his attention.

Haruhi wanted to part her hair different that day. The sudden urge was thanks to the Hitachiin twins. She had overheard them spatting nonsense to their fellow male classmates before their sensei started class. They rambled on and on about how to coax forth a love interest living in the shadows. They bragged about their experiences in drawing forth the many young ladies who had crushes on them just by changing a slight detail in their appearance. If the young lady noticed the change then her heart belonged to them. That day Haruhi parted her hair differently to test the obnoxious theory. She had to question why she wanted to test it but an inkling urged her to go through with her plan.

Kyoya quickly adjusted his glasses when Haruhi noticed his persistent staring. However he didn’t notice her smallest of smiles after he looked away.

Haruhi was surprised to learn Kyoya was the only host to notice her little change that day. That night she lied awake in bed mulling over the same scene; over and over and over until it nearly charred her memory. She remembered how Kyoya adjusted his cool exterior after being caught by her assertive eyes. She remembered the slight blush on his cheeks. She remembered his guests swooning over his brief dishevelment, thinking their endearing flirts caused their cool host to stumble over himself. Haruhi smiled, knowing the truth was much weirder. The truth that Haruhi’s parted hair made Kyoya Ootori blush.

Kyoya wasn’t a stranger to long sleepless nights for they became his routine many years ago. He was fond of the silence of night, the chaotic clatter from his keyboard, and the occasional warm cup of tea. However that night Kyoya attempted to retire early. He prayed for sleep to befall him and deliver him from his pesky thoughts. That night Haruhi haunted his mind and he couldn’t shake her loose no matter how much melatonin he swallowed or how many prayers he offered to the ceiling. He couldn’t fall asleep with her in his mind. He couldn’t fall asleep without her on his mind. He simply couldn’t fall asleep and no matter the angle it was Haruhi’s fault. It was her fault for parting her hair to the right.

Haruhi greeted the next day with confusion heavily sitting on her chest. Her dreams were pleasant. Her dreams were of Kyoya. Pleasant and Kyoya were two words she never dreamed of stringing together in the same sentence and yet that’s exactly what happened. She had dreamed of Kyoya and she woke up… happy.

Kyoya woke up entangled in his silk sheets and growled at the sunlight pouring over his face. He would have a stern talking to the new maid for drawing his curtains before due time. He never cared for a rude awakening. When he moved to sit up he felt another very strange and very uncomfortable rude awakening… particularly one that stood at attention between his thighs. He had dreamed of Haruhi and woke up… happy.

Haruhi walked into an empty music room. It was strange considering she was three minutes late. Her tardiness wasn’t unusual but the silence was.

“Haruhi, you’re late.” Kyoya stood from his hosting couch and leaned against the arm’s rest.

“It appears so is everyone else.” Haruhi searched the music room but found no one else. No one but Kyoya Ootori.

“They are not late for they are not coming. I gave the afternoon off.”

“It would have been nice to know that Kyoya-senpai otherwise I’d gone home an hour ago.” Haruhi miffed.

“I didn’t want you to go home. I wanted you to come here.” Kyoya adjusted his glasses.

“Why?”

“How do you feel towards me Haruhi?” His eyes studied her closely as he spoke, determined to have this conversation. Haruhi had haunted his mind for far too long and he needed his rambunctious thoughts to obey him once more. If that meant inviting Haruhi into his life romantically then so be it. So be it.

“I don’t understand what you’re asking.” Haruhi didn’t want to understand what he was asking. She didn’t want to venture down the rabbit hole that she feared she’d inevitably dive into one day. The dark deep endless hole that is the beginning whispers of love.

“I believe you do.” He retorted.

“I should get going if I’m not needed today.” Haruhi turned to make her exit but was forced to a stop when two form hands gripped her arms. She was spun around and staring straight into a mad man’s eyes; a hungry mad man’s eyes. Kyoya seemed unnerved – no, distressed – and his intense glare sent shivers down her petite body.

“I need you to get out.” He nearly growled.

“I was about to before you grabbed me.” Haruhi barked back, anger coloring her cheeks a shaded red.

“No, I need you to get out of my mind.” Kyoya corrected, leaning forward until he nearly rested his forehead on hers. The intense dangerous emotions that heated his body just seconds earlier left his widened eyes and gnarled teeth; loosening his tense expression.

“Get out of my head.” Kyoya nearly pleaded. He closed the space between them and captured her gaped lips in a spontaneous kiss. Her skin against his skin. His breath merged with her breath. Her hesitance bowed to his hunger. His hand found her slender waist. Her fingers found his raven hair.

Haruhi pulled away for a fresh breath, long enough to see his charged dark eyes staring into her chocolate wells.

“You don’t want me to leave.” She said.

“No.” Kyoya agreed. He pulled her close once more, sealing her virgin lips with another kiss.

There was no merit for Kyoya to pursue the commoner. Her social status offered no valuable connections and her low-grade upbringing didn’t teach her a lady’s natural grace. He reasoned her two left feet would spark unfavorable gossip at Galas, her never ending appetite would be looked down upon by even his maids, and her blunt lethargic personality couldn’t keep up with the demanding life of an Ootori. And yet, Kyoya wanted her.

Haruhi found Kyoya to be an enigma; a kind selfless man wrapped in a cold callous shell. She learned to tip toe around him without ever being asked. She knew when to hold her tongue and her breath. His warped reality forced him to march on a difficult and reclusive path. She watched him swallow his loneliness for this sake of his pride; wiping his brow and adjusting his glasses to refocus his priorities. He didn’t ask for help, didn’t smile often, and enjoyed looking down on his opponents. And yet, Haruhi wanted him.

[ratmor]

Fairytale Lies Along

Well, my fan-story is not complete yet and not translated as well. That kinda sucks, but I’m working on it, even if I know that probably it would be next winter when I finish it, because I’m a slowpoke. 21 chapters already written and no sign of happy (or unhappy) ending. *sigh* Well, I’m posting the second part here, just for luck or something like that. The hero, I remind you, is a shitty person with shitty motivation, because he’s lost, so just you wait and you won’t get bored. If you’re interested that is. 

2. Family Matters

Emma and I had fun in the company of a cake, sparkling wine and a pleasant, non-binding girl, in short - Becky. This type of girl could be picked up only in bars, clubs or by lucky chance somewhere in the art gallery, but in our case it was obviously not an accident, because my dear mistress could not bear to calmly walk around museums and other similar "dullness" as she aptly expressed each time I dragged her there. Certainly, the only thing to blame was my insatiable enthusiasm in exploring this world, so my girl visited that kind of places enough for a lifetime. And while we had fun, I still couldn’t suspect anything about the approaching bearer, so to speak, of all my hopes and dreams for this boring, almost non-magical world. Therefore, we enjoyed the company of a half-naked beauty, I must admit quite successfully enjoyed, and she was already ready to spend the night with us. “With us” meant - I felt and saw everything, despite the fact that I’m removed from direct control of what’s happening.

Well, I don’t know how Emma felt deep inside, but some time ago I was nauseated by the greedy glances that idiot debtor was throwing at us. He tried to escape us so ridiculously, that Emma, who, due to my significant presence in her head and the equally significant presence of my rather gloating humor, learned how to manage her face at a decent level, still couldn’t handle the situation without sincere laughter. And she laughed on the way back to our apartment, when the face grimace and the convulsive actions of the jerk resurfaced in our dialogue. And in order to dispel this filthy feeling after unpleasant words, though they came from a complete stranger, I offered to call a friend who showed interest in Emma and they already have enough dates to have hours of sexual activity, as I call it, trying not to look and make myself jealous.

Swan was not too amorous, and it always seemed to me that I didn't play a very important role in that quality of her character. I was the only adult who had been with her throughout her life, even though I told myself not to give her any extra advice or help just because it’s a good thing to do. After the death of Cleo Fox, a woman who was chasing my careless Swan, I stopped giving advice at all and stopped saying anything other than "Decide for yourself, Emma Swan." "Why didn't you talk me out?" - It was the first thing she constantly told me when she didn’t listen to my advice, especially when it was about that woman’ death. Although it didn’t come to a quarrel, because Emma knew very well from my tales, which I rashly told her as a child, that I could not heal the dead. For this you need the Death Water and The Living Water, both. But in this world there were absolutely no such thing, and she didn’t want to give me control over the body to create the ritual. Cold blood, indeed. Throughout my entire stay in her body, I was like: “I’m the only one who understand you!” or “Oh, these modern dishonourable people,” or “You deserve more!” and, that one is the most used: “Try not to trust my ass-based feeling again when I say this person is sketchy!" Yes, yes, I am an evil freak, a manipulative pig, and, in general, I’m extremely aggressively defend my property from the encroachments of all kinds of other freaks, yes!

Well, I still feel everything that Emma feels, and her ignorance of my words about this Neal, who left her soul with disturbing wound, was based on the fact that I constantly grumbled about any guy looking obliquely at my beautiful girl, Emma. It seems, that I already considered this body my own to some extent, and that’s why I had such an attitude - Emma had to shut me up every now and then until she grew out of her teenage surges and began to listen to me more often.

The question arises - why I never moved into her body, taking advantage of childhood and the deplorable situation? It's just because I never do that! Children are inviolable, and the child can not, should not be absorbed by me. I didn’t think about the original reason for that decision, but I never had many problems with little Emma. I soothed her, sang songs when she asked, told her about my life in the guise of rhymed legends or tales, forced her to read, and that last one was for avoiding the horrible death from boredom in these many years. I would even associate myself with her parent, I had to educate her so much and so much to invest in her, but I would never trade my own undivided and indivisible, of course if you don’t take into account the possible dismemberment, body for her friendship. I could tell myself that only thing for sure even when Emma was an incredibly touching lost being, close to me in spirit and literally brought up by me from her very self-awareness of herself as a person.

Emma Swan, by the way, could be not only touching. She often pleased me with flashes of anger, which gave me a microscopic opportunity to pick up the drops of magic that emanated from her during that display of emotions, and it sparkled with such a bright flash when the doorbell interrupted the removal of the panties of our excited girlfriend.

“Oh, fuck this late guest!” - I growled and moaned with doom. - “Emma, your birthday and it’s eve are too full with surprises.”

Emma irritably pushed the beautiful girl away and went to open the door.

First, my ass-based feeling howled even more than when I met Neil or that strange girl, Lily.

Second, the boy said that Emma is his mother. The boy looked like someone else, but not Emma - I thought so at first glance at him. At his age Emma was much less self-confident, she never had this deceit and manipulation, which he showed later when we tried to expel him, and I personally suggested just throwing him out the door by the scruff. At the same time, I sent to the devil my non-quite-immutable rule-on-advice, again. And in spite of my old age extremes like paranoia and grumbling, I can't help but remember Emma when she was ten years old - this is exactly about the time when I finally and fully showed up, making a course of action with this active kid without a tsar in her head, really, and that means she was “flaky” and “rudderless”. The boy was dark-haired and quite puny. He definitely was not from a poor or especially unhappy family. Emma and I have always noticed these - their eyes were different, they were too incredulous for the age of the child, but this boy's eyes were alive. He smiled quite sincerely, didn’t try to hide and shrink under the stern look that Emma gave him for the interrupted party. And these are the signs from which I drew a conclusion - parents rarely shout at the boy, spoil him well and love him with high quality, I’d say.

“He seems to be lucky with his family,” I said to Emma as she walked off to the door with Becky, who was looking at the child with undisguised interest. - “Well dressed, taught independence, not intimidated, not clogged. For example, my father sold me before I was born to the Queen of the Sea because he couldn’t drink from the Living Creek asking for permission first, as everyone does. The King, for fuck’s sake, unable to just ask for the cure. At least, that’s why I met my future wife, yes... And since I was the firstborn, and very foolish as my father thought, it…”

“Listen, old man, stop nostalgia! I have already heard this story about the Queen of the Sea five times!”

In fact, I felt Emma’s panic and focused my attention on what was happening.

“A child came to me, I have no right to even see him, after what I did to him!”

“Then your foolishness is enough! Let's get the boy back!” - I snapped back and looked at the situation closer, trying to understand what Emma feels right now. - “I understand everything, you do not want to remember your oh not the best choice in life, but the result of this choice now stands before you, my darling!”

“Enough with this "my darling"! I constantly ask you to stop because it is contagious, and I repeat after you this mocking "my darling" without any need for it!”

“Emma, if there was no need, then throw at me ... Well, take what you can throw at me, then throw it!”

I laughed, forcing Swan to roll her eyes, and the boy, her son, took the grimace at his expense and put an extremely discouraging remark at the end of his speech.

“And if you won’t agree, I will tell the police that you kidnapped me!”

Emma couldn’t stand it and laughed, as if echoing me, and I literally just finished laughing in our inner world.

“Kid, you are very clever for your age and independent, yes!” - she trustingly patted him on the back - he sat on a bar stool and drank orange juice from the bottle throat. - “But you should know that the testimony of two adults that you yourself found this apartment and that address would beat your babble on this. Study the laws, kid! And please, if you come to stranger’s house, could you still ask permission or at least drink from a cup?”

Emma sighed, took the juice out of his hands and twisted the lid.

“And now, kid, we take my cake and... now completely your juice - after all, you drooled into it - and we go to your family. Would you like a sandwich? I’ve got with tuna and egg. Ok?”

He looked incredulously into our eyes, as if surprised at such an easy agreement on his request, but Emma — I knew — understood that she had no special choice, because she had a criminal record even if it was appealed and kind of amnestied, and that stopped her from any calls to the police. Emma didn’t wait for an immediate response from the child and asked.

- So, where to go?

- Storybrooke, Maine.

***

"Fairy tales?" - Emma repeated my thoughts, looking mistrustfully at the book that the boy was holding in his hands. - “Is this a fairytale book?”

“This is not just a fairy tale!” - the boy answered without any hesitation and I was somehow immediately alerted, after all, he was ten years old, not five. At this age, not everyone believes in Santa. - “It's true! Every story in this book actually happened!”

“Of course it did…”

I am quite sure that Emma did not argue with the kid, not because she was sorry to debunk the boy’s illusions. She was screaming at me now, panicking again, although in the real world she was simply frowning.

“Are you kidding me?! Is it contagious? Is it transmitted genetically? Is this some mutation? He thinks that fairy tales are real, and a relic of one of these fairy tales lives in my head!”

“Not these!” - I would have shook my head if I could. - “These are yours,” - I emphasized this word especially, - “fairy tales. Not ours, Emma. Not the ones I come from. We don’t tell tales of the Queen and the Snow White. We have other heroes, you know.”

“And how do you know that the book says about the Queen and Snow White?” - she was surprised, but didn’t forget to follow the road - we turned onto the highway.

“I read briefly just now”, - I answered and gave a laugh. “If you don’t see something, it doesn’t mean that I don’t see it, Emma. I need one glance to remember.”

“And why haven't I graduated the University with this ability yet?” - Emma sighed, but her sarcastic question didn’t require an answer, and I knew how much I would infuriate her if I answer it.

“Of course, because you're a stupid lazy bird,” - I drawled with pleasure. - “And not a swan, but a penguin. If you don’t kick it, it won’t fly!”

“Did you believe me?” - Henry decided to ask after a long silence and reached for a bag of juice and sandwiches. - “May I...”

“It’s much better when you remember to ask,” - Emma nodded but stopped short that parenting attempt. - “So what were you saying about fairy tales? What’s that about?”

“They are about you. You are there.”

The child shrugged and, putting the book aside, dug into a sandwich with indescribable pleasure written on his face, despite the fact that just couple of seconds ago the car was slightly inclined aside because Emma was a bit dumbfounded.

“It seems you have problems, kid…”

Emma sighed, straightening the steering wheel, and was hardly surprised when she heard the boy’s answer.

“Yeah. And you fix them.”

***

“Thus, the Sandwich Eater, I have a task for you!” - said Emma, when we moved into this Storybrooke of his and drove up to the clock tower. - “You must make your parents finish my cake with me on board. Judging by your ability of whining and persuasion, you are quite capable of it. It is going to melt to hell, and the holiday is already ruined enough. Though we will talk over a cup of tea about your behavior…"

We discussed Emma's further behavior strategy, and in the end she decided to ask kid’s parents why the boy ran away from home - Emma herself had similar runaways, and the reason of those wasn’t the great love of the adoptive family, for sure. But there was something obviously wrong in all that, and how he could find Emma was an unsolved mystery yet. I felt something strange somewhere on the border of Yavi, the Reality, but it could be just an ancient burial ground of some Indians, or a nasty cemetery, so for now I decided not to tell my mistress that I was slightly shaken by the thin Border in this terrain.

“I have no parents, I only have a mother,” - our little jerk replied. - “And she is evil!”

“Evil?” - Emma slowed down in the middle of the main square of the town and got out of the car. - “Get out!”

He obeyed, and I murmured to Emma, not to dare to hurt that little asshole, but she waved it off and sat down in front of the child so as to see his lowered eyes, shyly in search of a way out of the situation.

“Do you even think what you say? She is not evil! She is the person who became your family, when I - hear me - I was the very first evil in your life! And, you know, boy, life is not a damn collection of fairy tales - you are very lucky at least with the fact that you do not have to climb out of your skin just to eat enough.”

“My name is Henry!” - he exclaimed and looked us straight in the eyes. - “She doesn't love me. She only pretends to love. And you can help break the curse!”

“What other curse?” - Emma lowered the tone, during the interrogation of the little boy, asking me an extremely urgent question. Urgent for me, mostly.

“Old man, do you think he is talking about you? You yourself told me that this is your curse and you don’t know how to remove it ... Maybe it’s not by chance that everything's happening now? The kid fell into the hands of this book or… oh, backwards, and you always said that there are legends about you in our world, which definitely correspond to reality you lived in.”

I want to take your body, and you want to help me. Ironic, really. I would grin if I could. There’s too much inaccessible things to me that I would like to feel, that’s why I’ve long been thinking about how to finally seize that receptacle. And I'll pretend to be who you want as long as it is needed. I won’t repay good with good, no, that would be a mistake. Although, I wonder what Vasilisa would say on how exactly and how much I changed during this time? And does she know that I am alive, if finally I got lucky and came across the reality that’s parallel to mine?

“Emma, my darling, do you even know how to experience brain activity? I told you there was something about Snow White and the Queen in the book. Read it - and you would never find either Ivan, the son of tsar Vseslav, nor the daughters of Koschei, nor himself with his Sea Queen wifey. Although, on the other hand, no one knows what’s on the other side of the Infinity Forest…”

My mocking words were not particularly important to Emma, in any case, that was clearly unnoticeable. She didn't respond, continuing dialogue with the boy. He explained her exactly what kind of curse we are talking about. And it was clearly not mine.

“Look at the clock,” - the boy pointed to the tower, where the clock should've been hitting something around midnight long ago. - “Time is frozen here. The Evil Queen did it with her curse. She sent all of the Enchanted Forest here.”

“So, now I understand” - Emma put her hands on her hips and paraphrased. “The Evil Queen sent all the heroes of fairy tales that you told me about to this place?”

“Yeah, and now they are trapped.”

“Stuck in time and locked up in Storybrooke of Maine? Urban fantasy looks cool only in big cities, you know.”

Sarcasm obvious feel I in the Force... but she is right - I haven’t heard of such spells. My wife could, knew and practiced to transform the dead into a living, to unwind time, or with the help of mavka-navka, little magical fairy creatures, to collect magic and use it for whatever she wished to built. She also was quite good with fire and learned from her grandmother how to pick up soul-skulls and use them for magical purposes. But to clear the memory of all that people, not even for forever, when the cure is possible…

This is either hopeless stupidity, or such conditions were written into the curse, that wasn’t written by the Queen. So, the point is - it was the writing of someone else but that Evil Queen. Approximately and apparently she’s called like that as I was called the Terrible once upon a time, yet never Dark, this is a slightly different level. There was no other choice, and if there was, then the achievement of the goal was more important. Although I can’t even imagine how much you must not want to kill your enemies, the Queen... Instead of simply turning the whole reality into Stone or something like that, as the Stone Princess once wanted to do, and she was the blood of Yagg’s blood, who have protect the Reality because of that blood... That Queen bothered herself too much for petty avenge. Although, I think, the same thing guided the one who planted my soul into this semblance of the Underworld.

That Queen had not only the desire to make her enemies suffer, but had the desire to rule and entertain her Ego. After all, I cannot be compared to a large number of people to fit in the kingdom.

“It’s true!”

“So why don't they all just leave?” - Emma tried to appeal to reason, while I was silent, thinking about what is happening.

“They can not! If they try, bad things happen!”

Henry also seemed to appeal to reason, but for Emma it was clearly not an argument, and the boy was not allowed to explain more. We were interrupted.

“Henry!’ - slightly bald ginger man with a dalmatian on a leash approached. - “What are you doing here?” - he looked at us with a worried look and asked Emma. - “Everything is good?”

“I'm fine, Archie,” - the boy immediately started to stroke the dog, that showed his close acquaintance with a man who smiled uncertainly in the direction between Emma and Henry.

“And who are you?”

“I’m just bringing him home.”

Obviously Emma didn’t want to make new acquaintances here, as well as I really wouldn’t want to, if it’s not so suspicious and not connected to fairy tales. Once I asked Emma to look for something from the history of the Russian lands. The search ended in folklore, and most of the adventures from fairy tales named folk or based on them were true, but incredibly distorted, and that probably happened with…

Do I even believe it?!

“She is my mother, Archie” - said the kid, solding out my darling Emma for nothing.

“Not really,” - Emma clarified and asked Archie. - “Do you know about adoption?”

“Ah, yes,” - he let the dog off the leash and it came up to us, sniffed Emma's knee, and Swan immediately began patting it on withers. - “He goes to therapy. I had to find out.”

“Therapy? Kid, it gets harder for you to convince me, honestly!”

“Convince you?” - Archie looked at Emma inquisitively.

“No worries, we both know what I mean!”

Emma smiled awkwardly, winked at Henry, who wanted to answer, but realized that his mother had finally behaved like an adult who had learned a bitter experience and understood that the voice in her head was almost as serious as believing in a fairytale world, and very few of the “caring adults” will like it to such an extent that they decide not to do anything about it.

“Oh, he told you too!” - Archie's face lit up. - “So, what are you doing here?”

“I am searching for his mother's house,” - she shrugged and added. - “I think you could tell me the address, or maybe you want to take him there yourself…”

“Oh, no, no,” - Archie’s smile became tense, as if he definitely didn’t want to meet that woman. - It’s on Mifflin Street, the mayor’s house is the largest. You’ll recognize.”

“No matter who Henry’s mother is”, - I told Emma in a casual tone, - “she’s clearly no less annoying than her son.”

“Mayor! His mom is a fucking mayor! She will put me in jail!” - Emma panicked. She loves to panic in her own brain, especially when there is such a wonderful me, ready to listen, understand and forgive. For the time being, of course, but ... Sometimes I even like it.

“That’s why we come bearing the cake!”

[yoolee]

if lee wrote otome | #6 Spaghetti Hot Mess-tern (in Space)

The whole genre of Westerns is problematic at best, and I recognize that without knowing the best way to address it, and I want to at least acknowledge that before diving in here. My grandpa and I would watch them when I was little, and then college introduced me to Firefly and y’all, I’m sunk on Space Westerns, so here we go.

Premise:

At the raggedy edge of the galaxy is a planet that’s little more than rocks, dirt, rattlers and folks with nowhere else to call home. Some came to get as far from the law as they could, some ran out of money on their way to somewhere better, and some folks are just plumb crazy enough to like it. It’s where you can’t trust the lawmen to be on your side or their own, where missionaries sing from street corners and saloon girls pour you a whiskey and charge you for two. Money talks here, not that anyone’s got much of it. It’s the end of the line (maybe even yours)

Heroine:

The new sheriff in town. Or, well, planet, as the case may be. From the inner planets—far more technologically advanced, far more rightly reined in by law and order—she knew she wanted to be a part of the big picture from a young age. A promising, brilliant cadet, she was on track to be the top graduate, assigned to the cushiest position, when a test of obedience showed that she is not above taking the law into her own hands, and with her own interpretation. She’ll do whatever it takes to keep peace and order, even if it means being a little shady. There was a massive scandal, and now she’s being shuttled off to a backwater planet no one’s ever managed to keep lawful—but you can bet she’s going to. A competent, cool-tempered diplomat who believes, despite the evidence, that there’s a small dose of reason in everyone’s heart, and has made it something of a personal mission to bring those bits to the surface of the people in her new home, and such is her stubborn, creative nature, that through hook, crook, or xanatos gambit, she often succeeds. And when she doesn’t, that’s what laser guns are for.

Supporting Cast

THE DEPUTY: A trembling, timid coward. There’s just no way around it. They are paranoid and pessimistic, morosely convinced of their own ineptitude. The depth of their terror is outmatched only by the size of their heart, which is squishy and generous and so terribly large that it often gets them into trouble (or terrifying, horrible situations like facing down outlaws). It’s their heart that is filled, perhaps more than anyone else in the abandoned planet, with a veiled courage, because while every bone and drop of blood in their body hollers at them to run for the hills every time they’re called on to do their job, somehow, it always gets done, because the thing they fear most is failing the people who depend on them. Equal parts relieved that they’re finally getting a sheriff and horrified that she’s not exactly as upstanding a citizen as was expected – and that she’ll get herself killed trying to clean the place up.

SALOON OWNER: Though she’s fond of playing the damsel-in-distress, she is anything but. It just suits her to not be seen as a real threat. She is as sweet, loving, and feminine as she presents herself, but she’s also independent, rational, and when the time calls for it, absolutely ruthless with a level-headed calm in the protection of her property, business, and people of interest. She runs a tight, tidy ship so that she can afford to be charitable and generous when she chooses too, and her friendly free-spirit belies a shrewd mind for business and making deals that are inevitably skewed in her favor, and though her feistiness is dressed in a firm sophistication, make no mistake that it’s there. Luckily for town, this poised lady is steady believer in spreading the good stuff around (not the least because it keeps everyone on her side when it comes to outside threats), and she’s considered something of a motherly figure to more than a sizeable chunk of the town.

THE REGULAR: A former fighter with his heart ripped right out of him. He’s been drunk for a decade and seems determined to stay that way. He functions surprisingly well for someone who always has whiskey on his breath and in his blood, which probably has something to do with building up a tolerance. Gregarious, friendly and good-natured, he’s the town fool and he doesn’t care. He has a plan to drink himself to death and just hasn’t gotten there yet, and if he can make a few people laugh in the meantime, well, someone oughta be able to. Sober—not that you’ll ever see him as such—he’s a steel-eyed soldier who survived four years of hell strictly on the basis of skill with his weapon, and as hard as any bounty hunter in the territories.

THE MAGNATES: (also possible LI’s MAYBE)

‘Railroad’ Baron: sole control of transport around the planet - actually a decent human being, but running a rough, tough business so can’t always give into bleeding heart because it would mean going under.

Port Authority: sole spaceport on and off the planet - greedy, greedy, pays off just about everyone and since no one ELSE has any money, they’re all too eager to take what’s offered. Leader of what amounts to a bunch of space pirates that they allow to dock - and wreak havoc on nearby systems - with the excuse that no one ELSE is paying to land on this rock

Arms Dealer: cold, cold, cold as ice. Takes advantage of the desperation, limited oversight, and lack of options to build an empire out on the middle of nowhere. Works closely with Port Authority, even though all three are in uneasy alliance at best, mostly only united in keeping the sheriff out of their business.

The Mine Owner: Majority property owner of the lesser-explored reaches of the desert planet, they’re keeping it under wraps just what’s under those mountains - and what they’re making from it. Philanthropist, but slippery slippery.

Love Interests

THE POSTULANT: An aristocrat from the inner planets, stranded out in space after a bad business deal destroyed her family and they had to hide from the debtors. Ladylike, but back her into a corner and you’ll find she’s as feisty and scrappy as her brothers (the saloon’s piano player and an outlaw, respectively)—not that she’ll ever admit a day in her life that they’re related to her. She may love them, but her position in the town is precarious enough without letting it get around she’s got a drunk and a criminal as her only living kin. She hasn’t got a penny left to her name, so she falls heavily back on manners as her strongest defense, and has the elegance and propriety of any lady in town, though she longs for her spoiled, pampered life back on her home planet, and daydreams about it frequently. She has moments of clever, curious sarcasm… when she’s not being a prissy miss. (sibling to Accidental Outlaw)

THE ACCIDENTAL OUTLAW: In over his head and going downhill fast. A funny, friendly artist by nature, he got tired of being teased for his love of painting as a kid and insisted someday he’d be big, bad, and tough. Only now he’s living it, and he just wishes he could be home again with a brush and a pad of thick paper. But on the raggedy edge of space, with the gang he runs with, that’s an attitude that will get you killed. His skill with his hands has shifted from holding a brush to pulling a gun, his eye for detail keeping him alive and alert. Each day he gets a little bit harder, a little less laid-back and easy- going, but his kindness hasn’t been stomped out yet. When he can, he tries to smuggle a few credits to his sister and brother, though for their own safety they can’t claim him as a brother anymore. And sometimes, when everyone else asleep and it’s just him and his horse, he draws in the sand, and remembers what it was like. (sibling to Postulant)

THE ‘BODYGUARD’: Competent. Frighteningly, efficiently, competent and doggedly persistent. All of which, perhaps, would be admirable traits, if it weren’t for his rather (to all appearances) complete and entire lack of a moral compass. Cold to their core, utterly ruthless and unswayed by social order or cries for mercy, their cruelty is almost casual, as efficient as anything else they do, and they’ve taken lives in the name of their employer without so much as batting an eyelash. When called upon to be by that employer, they are als adaptable – able to change themself into whatever is needed: thief, an enforcer, a smuggler, a searcher, a bodyguard, a body burier or a straight out murderer. Doesn’t matter, one way or another. Perversely loyal, in their own way, but to whom and why is something only they know. Runs too cold to have any temper to speak of, and their even-keeled approach to everything can be unnerving. (works for Arms Dealer)

(may swap gender) THE SMUGGLER (idealistic outlaw): Reckless, selfless, arrogant, sly as fox and chivalrous as a knight, always ready to stand up and for those whom authority ignores or oppresses. She is clever, heroic and undaunted by the law, and, due to her talent for making frequent escapes from perilous situations, often arrogant and a little too sure of herself. She is good-natured and merry, a generous optimist at heart who would give her last credit to a hungry traveler if she so much as heard their stomach grumble. She is incredibly idealistic, and while outlaws aren’t often noted for their morals, she has hers, and sticks to them. She has a knack for disguising herself, and charisma aplenty to convince other to go along with her. When she wants something, she can come up with a plan as wild as she is, and so far, she’s had incredible luck in making them come to pass…(officially works for Port Authority, but is spiting them)

THE HOMESTEADER: Prideful, stubborn, organized—some would say obsessively so—practical and quick-tempered, a control freak who insists on doing things exactly right, in their precise way and in the proper order. Everything has a place and its place is particular, and woe to the unwary who tries (intentionally or otherwise) to disrupt that structure, particularly when it comes to their farm. Harsh, unforgiving, and abrupt as the land they live on, their mercurially tempestuous nature is somewhat legendary in town, as is their minute attention to details no one else will notice. In fact, the whole town might have written them off as an unhappy hermit, save for their habit of taking in and caring for strays no one else wants, though they’ll and grumble about it the entire time. That soft side, though, is reserved strictly for children and small animals, and those rare, few friends who sometimes get a taste of it through snarling stubbornness. Anyone stupid enough to think that those small kindnesses by a small-time farmer make for a weak target will find themselves sadly mistaken—they guards their farm and their charges with double-barrel shotgun and an aim as spot-on as their attention to detail.

THE INVENTOR: A self-taught genius, who learned from scraps and clips of lectures when the planet actually gets intergalactic service. Mostly designs weaponry, because that’s where the money is, and they’ll compromise their morals and ethics a bit if it means they can afford to buy equipment and build their dreams. Incredibly creative, prone to talking to themself as they work, able to make do with scrap parts and trash. Has a bit of a complex about the fact they never went to formal universities. Quick-tempered but also super, super easily distracted. Less reckless than they used to be since one of their inventions took off part of an arm. They learned how to make their own prosthetics/assistive devices and are constantly fiddling with them. Really just wants to be left in peace to invent but also likes to explain, at length, all of the exciting STUFF everything can do so is in constant war with themself over introverted and extroverted tendencies.

See the rest here or if that doesn’t work, from my masterlist

[rethinkingthefaith]

Rethinking the Purpose of the Crucifixion

The cross has long been the chief emblem of Christianity. The New Testament writings give it a preeminent place. The death of Christ is said to have reconciled us to God, defeated the principalities and powers, destroyed death, provided a ransom, removed our sins. Everywhere, we have language that conveys this idea: The death of Jesus has brought us life.

Out of this language have come elaborate theories of the atonement. These theological formulas attempt to explain how a Jewish preacher's death two millennia ago could remove our sins. Chief among these theories today is penal substitution. For multitudes of Christians, it is the only conceivable way to view the crucifixion; it is the dogma of evangelistic tracts and conservative preachers.

In a nutshell, the doctrine is as follows:

God, because He is infinitely holy, cannot look upon or tolerate sin in His creation.

At the same time, God loves us and desires our fellowship.

This poses a problem of sorts for God, because He must be true to His justice, which demands retribution against all sin.

The cross is a resolution to this problem. God poured out his wrath upon Jesus, who took our place at Calvary. He was punished in our stead.

Because of the cross, God's justice is satisfied and he is free to welcome us into His presence.

This idea draws support from passages that speak of Christ bearing our sins. According to penal substitution, God vicariously imputed our sins in some mysterious way to Jesus, who suffered for them—just as if he had been the guilty party.

Despite its popularity, the view has some serious difficulties.

For one thing, it asserts that Jesus bore the actual punishment due all people while he was on the cross. The punishment that rightly falls on us fell on him, we hear. But what is the punishment that conservative orthodoxy tells us awaits the sinner? To endure the agonies of a cross for several hours and expire?

I ask this with all gravity, knowing that we are speaking of something supremely solemn: What punishment did Jesus literally bear? The Adventist believes the punishment of sin is permanent extinction of being, annihilation. But Jesus was not annihilated forever—he lives on. The traditionalist believes that sinners will go to hell forever. But Jesus certainly did not do this, either.

Again, this is not an attempt to make light of something so profoundly serious. The point is to show how the penal substitution theory fails to connect the cross to the sinner's ultimate punishment in a literal way.

At this stage, we will get arguments about "equivalence of punishment." Christ's death on the cross may not be the same punishment as ours, but is equal to it because Jesus is the Son of God. All such speculation brings us far outside of Scripture, which never tells us that God exacts one debt from our substitute and a different one from us.

Another problem is that penal substitution undermines the concept of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the free discharge of a debt, not the exacting of payment from another. Suppose a landlord is ready to evict a tenant, but at the last minute receives payment from a tenant's friend. We can never say that the landlord forgave the debt—he didn't. He simply got paid by someone else. Penal substitution unintentionally contradicts the free forgiveness it proclaims.

"Be mindful of your mercy…. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions," wrote the Psalmist. "According to your steadfast love remember me for your goodness' sake, O Lord" (Psalm 25:6-7). God here forgives because of His "mercy," "steadfast love" and "goodness." That benevolent disposition is always the ground of divine forgiveness. Jesus told us to pray, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" (Matt. 6:12). Do we withhold forgiveness until we have exacted payment, either from the transgressor or a substitute? No, we are bidden to forgive as God forgives: freely, abundantly and mercifully.

It is unreasonable to demand one simple explanation of Calvary and its relationship to our redemption. After all, many different views of the atonement have ascended, then fallen over the centuries of church history. The ransom-to-Satan theory, Anselm's theory and many others have come and gone.

The implications of the cross are too vast to fit into a credal "one liner." Christ's death is multi-faceted. The following is an attempt to approach the truth of that staggering event from several directions.

One of the aspects of the cross seldom appreciated by mainstream Christians is its role in defeating "the powers" or "the authorities." In Colossians, Paul writes, "[Jesus] disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it [the cross]" (2:15).

The system crucified Jesus. First, the religious authorities handed him over to be killed. Then the Roman government, the most powerful secular force on earth, carried out the deed. The evil system of this world –- the one that adheres to "might makes right," that seeks power over others and crushes its rivals—fastened our Lord to the tree. The authorities sought to wipe him out the way it had done with thousands of others: brute force.

Jesus stood up against the authorities with the weapons of humility, nonviolence and trust in his God. He defied the sword, the spear, the lash. And he triumphed. He started a movement that swept across the globe, despite all efforts of the system to destroy him. Now, the name of Caesar is little more than a curiosity of history buffs; the name of Jesus holds sway over millions.

In an act of nonviolent resistance, Jesus defied the evil world system of domination, and won out. Calvary’s cross has beaten the principalities and powers in a public display of meekness.

The cross is an open and graphic condemnation of the violent world system.

There is another simple way of looking at the cross, one that remains true to Hebrew figures of speech. It also takes seriously the ethics of Jesus as a crucial part of redemption. It is simply this: Jesus went about preaching the kingdom of God, calling his hearers to radical love, peace and selflessness. He introduced God as a loving Father in heaven. He befriended the lowest of sinners, urging them to repent. Throughout his ministry, Jesus wonderfully transformed lives and set people free. Despite his knowledge that certain death awaited him were he to continue his ministry, Jesus pressed on. He laid aside self-interest to do the will of his Father, and was crucified for it.

That death was a manifestation of everything God calls us to be. Like Jesus, we must lay aside our own interest for the imperatives of love. When we do this, we experience redemption from what we once were. Had Jesus lived out a long life, modifying his message to keep himself alive, his words may no longer reach us through the ages. But he sealed his words in his own blood, forever imprinting them on the human consciousness.

Jesus ratified a New Covenant with his death. His blood was the stamp upon the proclamation of a new era—an era of unmatched grace and forgiveness. The cross is a marker suspended in history, dividing the age of ethnic favor and the age of "whosoever will." Therefore, the blood of Christ cleanses us from our sins.

We sometimes hear this kind of language applied to patriotic themes. "The blood of the patriots has made us free," someone might say. Does he mean this in a mysterious sense, a literal sense? Everyone knows this is not the case; he is saying that the deaths of these people set in motion events that led to our freedom. If we can understand such usage in secular language, why not in sacred?

Calvary set in motion the events that gave birth to the Christian church. It was also a symbol of inclusiveness—the Old Testament sacrificial system that built walls between Jew and Gentile, male and female, was fulfilled. Christ was "hanged on a tree," a cursed condition under Old Covenant law (Gal. 3:13). Therefore, he could relate to the needs of the "cursed" Gentiles who wished to know God. The death of Christ, accordingly, brings redemption to those once shrouded in darkness.

The cross was also the vehicle to the resurrection appearances that so galvanized the disciples. Without his death, Jesus could not have risen. The hope of life beyond death is bound up in the fact that Jesus died and yet now lives. Therefore, the death of Christ brings us life.

Why do we need a doctrine of atonement beyond this? Is the beauty of Jesus' resignation to death not obscured when we turn it all into a cosmic transaction that automatically "fixes" our legal standing with God? With all due respect, penal substitution seems to turn us from the Hebrew thought world, with its grand figures of speech and metaphors, and usher us into the mist of Greek speculation.

And what of this dilemma within the nature of God, the alleged struggle between His justice and His love? This doctrine reduces the death of Christ to the fulfillment of a legal obligation to which God was supposedly bound. Strangely enough, this view suggests that the cross reconciled God to Himself—it furnished God with a kind of "escape clause" whereby He might now be merciful in a way He could not be before. But doesn't this turn the death of Jesus to a kind of divine legalism?

Yet, many will insist that the Bible clearly teaches penal substitution. They will point out, for example, that Scripture sometimes tells us that Christ "bore our sins." Is this not an indication that the early Christians believed in penal substitution? This is a possible interpretation, and such a view may be a "minority report" from Scripture. But this is not the only way to interpret such passages.

First of all, we must ask this question: Did Christ "bear" our sins (1) for the purpose of suffering for them in our stead, or (2) for the purpose of carrying them away from us (symbolic language)? The latter makes more sense, given the entire scope of the Bible's message.

One text sheds abundant light on this subject. During his healing ministry, Christ is said to have fulfilled the words of Isaiah, "He took our infirmities and bore our diseases." (Matt. 8:17) Note here that by healing, Jesus was "bearing" the people's diseases. Was he taking them upon himself and becoming sick in their stead? Not at all—he was "bearing" their sicknesses away from them by imparting wholeness. Metaphorically speaking, he was picking up their sicknesses and transporting them away from the sufferers.

In the same way, Christ's death carries our sins away from us by teaching us love, self-denial and goodness. An ethical view of the cross does justice to Christ's bearing of sin. This is consistent with the Old Testament image of the scapegoat, which symbolically carried away the sins of Israel into the wilderness.

Another argument commonly advanced in favor of penal substitution involves the burnt offerings of the Mosaic law. The sacrifices presumably took the place of the penitent, just as Christ takes our place. But the real point of the Old Covenant sacrifices was not the animal's death nor its sufferings. The bullock was not being "punished" in the place of the sinner. Its death was swift and sure, involving little agony.

The main issue of the sacrifice was the application of the blood. The death of the animal was itself only the beginning of the sacrifice. Elaborate ritual surrounding the use of blood was the essence of atonement, a practice fraught with mystery. Whatever its meaning, and however it may typify the crucifixion, the Mosaic sacrifices bear little resemblance to penal substitution.

I believe that we preserve the grandeur of Calvary when we view it as a means of sanctification. Jesus' death works a change in us so that we give up our sinful, self-absorbed life and walk in his steps. This is salvation, the life of cross-carrying discipleship. But for many Christians, the response here is automatic. Christianity is not about living right or being selfless, but simply about accepting Jesus as Savior and believing in his vicarious atonement. The death of Christ is more about getting us "off the hook" for our sins than about making us better people, they tell us.

The New Testament, however, supports the idea that Christ died chiefly to bring us into a state of transcendent goodness. Note the following:

"He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people who are zealous of good deeds." (Titus 2:14)

The cross is here set forth as a means of purification and good works, not a means of changing our legal standing in God's eyes.

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." (1 Pet. 2:24)

Here we find the familiar idea of Jesus bearing sin, but for the purpose of making us "live for righteousness," not for the purpose of intercepting our punishment in a substitutionary way.

"And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them." (2 Cor. 5:15)

Clearly, the cross was designed to turn us away from self-centered living to follow Jesus.

The message of the cross should always be coupled with the message of discipleship. We must take up our cross and follow Christ in a life of servanthood and love. It is common for the New Testament authors to speak of the cross, then to speak of our need to "die" to sin and self-centeredness. And that is the crucial point—the grand objective of the crucifixion. It is for our sanctification that Jesus gave his life. Paul's declaration "I am crucified with Christ" should be ours.

But is there no place for the idea that Jesus in his death effected our redemption in a way that goes beyond ethics? Is the forgiveness of sins not tied in some way to Calvary? This I will not deny. I leave room for that possibility in my belief system. But I will say that such ideas must be regarded as mysteries hidden within the Divine.

When we speak of the crucifixion, we ought not devise theories, but sit in awe of such great condescension.

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Debt Settlement Companies Are They A Scam Or They Do Legit Work?

When it concerns looking for financial obligation relief, numerous Americans feel the only viable alternative they have is credit counseling or filing personal bankruptcy. Exactly what many people are not familiar with is the unknown process of debt settlement. The objective of financial obligation settlement is too, one please your lenders for less than what they declare you owe and two save you as much loan as possible throughout the process.

One factor many people pick a debt settlement business is due to the fact that their debt amounts are expensive for them to realistically handle to payback completely and wish to prevent insolvency. Another reason that thousands of Americans choose a debt settlement company is because they are exceptionally upset and fed up with the credit card business over the fact that their rate of interest has actually increased to an unjust high rate like 28 - 30% and the company refuses to decrease it no matter how much you plead.

However the top reason Americans select a debt settlement business is since their desire to have closure on being in debt and their top priority of becoming debt complimentary becomes their number one objective and it surpasses any real or viewed idea of any negative impact that it might have on their credit rating while going through the process of financial obligation settlement.

According to the Fair Isaac Business your debt to credit line ratio accounts for more than 30% of your rating, so it ends up being definitely important to eliminate your debt first when you are trying to enhance your credit rating. Likewise remember your credit report is only a picture in time and is never ever a permanent record, you can recover and improve your credit rating in time. Everyone gets a 2nd possibility in America!

The banks would love to keep you in the mind set that your credit rating is definitely the most fundamental part of your life and by not paying them back completely would reduce your score and put you in the gutter forever. By all means your credit is necessary but must not entirely control your life. This mentality works in the banks behalf and keeps you in worry, just where they desire you.

But think of it, if the banks where actually were worried about you and your credit report then why would they extend you more credit on your current charge card so you can charge more when they know that this will decrease your score. So do they truly care, NO.

When researching the alternative of financial obligation settlement as your choice to become financial obligation totally free understand that there are basically 2 types of business to utilize when considering who you will opt to settle your financial obligations. Initially there are the typical non-lawyer based financial obligation settlement companies which consist of over 95% of the business presently marketing online and TV. The rest are law practice that practice financial obligation settlement as one of their services.

In the rest of this article I am going to note some of the major essential points that you need to consider when choosing a financial obligation settlement business to assist you end up being financial obligation totally free. Along with provide you a warning sign for each point when talking to the representative of a debt settlement company.

1. The business must save you at least 40% of your debt consisting of costs and paying your creditors.

You can normally conserve 20% on your own with hardly any effort however anymore than that needs experience and working out savvy.

Warning Sign:

When you are speaking with the agent from any debt settlement business you need to be cautious and do your homework. There are lots of financial obligation settlement business that just want to make as much money as possible without any genuine regard for the customers benefit. A great deal of these representatives will state practically anything that pleases you to register you in their program. One way to recognize this type of business is by the technique of setting a month-to-month payment amount to whatever the client wants. Usually very low and for a lot longer amount of time than exactly what other trustworthy companies provide. This beats the function of their claim of conserving substantial amounts of money since the interest keeps growing and the consumer does not understand that the longer the payback plan amount of time the less they conserve.

The majority of Americans are getting captured in the magic bullet or quick fix syndrome, which these deceitful business' operators comprehend all to well and sign up 10s of countless relying on people each year. If the representative is saying that they will conserve you over 60-70% of your financial obligation beware, in the beginning it may sound fantastic but validate what the overall cost is before signing on. Once they additional their fee and include your payback to your financial institutions it will be a lot less and they never discuss this. Ensure to ask the representative if their claim of high cost savings for you is also including the companies charge.

2. Make certain your payback plan remains in a reasonable timespan to finish this process.

The major advantage of debt settlement is to become financial obligation complimentary in a very short period of time verses paying minimum payments to the credit card company which averages over 38 years to pay back. You ought to select a financial obligation settlement business that will focus and emphasize on enrolling you to becoming debt free in two years or less, but only under particular circumstances not than three years.

Warning Sign:

By extending a financial obligation settlement repayment strategy farther than three years you'll never receive the full benefits that you were told in the beginning. Why, because of accruing interest. Simply puts the portion of cash your conserving on the initial debt decreases considerably when you register in a program that has you paying for four or five years due to the fact that the financial obligation quantity drastically increases.

3. Make certain the collections calls will be stopped.

One of the negative aspects of financial obligation settlement is that you do need to fall behind in order for these lenders to be going to accept less. While falling behind you will get barraged with calls from debt collector. Simply put these can be extremely frustrating, scary, awkward, and aggravating. Now when it pertains to avoiding collection calls from 3rd celebration collectors, just by keeping a lawyer to represent you will stop them from calling. The Fair Financial obligation Collection Practices Act states that if a customer has attorney representation the 3rd celebration collector by law must handle the attorney and not the debtor. As soon as the collector has been informed but continues too call you straight then the collector ends up being subject to a prospective lawsuit.

Warning Sign:

If a representative from a non-attorney based financial obligation settlement company informs that they can stop the collections calls ask them how and why the collector has to abide by what the debt settlement company declares. By law the collector does not need to deal with them. Generally their encourage is to send out a stop and desist letter, this can stimulate a hornets nest. While this might stop the calls it will leave the collector no other option of calling you to gathering the debt. So if they wish to continue to pursue with their collection attempts they will need to serve you documents to appear in court. Suggesting that you will be sued.

4. Ensure the business is reputable.

A good place to start is to inspect the Bbb (BBB). Next thing to consider is for how long the business has been in business. A general guideline is to search for a company to have been in business for over Ten Years. Thus guaranteeing that they understand exactly what they are doing and have actually settled many individuals's debts in the past. Exactly what the rip-off operations do is open up as ABC business executed hundreds of individuals on their program that they understand are not gotten approved for debt settlement simply to take costs. Once they have these individuals complaining about not doing the best job they close down and launch somewhere else brand new as XYZ company. So if the business is brand new within a year or two that may raise a warning and ought to be a significant concern.

When it comes to law practice you have an extra layer of protection, the bar association. Examine the state bar for the lawyers standing if you are going with a law practice. The attorneys are held to a greater standard by being a member of the bar association. With unanswered problems to the bar a lawyer can lose his/her license and business. The lawyer can not get another law license and simply open up somewhere else. So it is in their benefit to do the best job for the customer.

Warning Sign:

This is pretty apparent, if a company has an unacceptable record with the BBB and is not a member it would be best to stay away. If a law office is not in good standing with the bar in other words under investigation, then stay away. If the company is relatively new and is showing a few of the warning signs mentioned above, absolutely keep away.

While debt settlement can be a really clever and feasible alternative for many you need to be very mindful about the organization you are utilizing. By following the points and indication above you will significantly decrease the threat of being enrolled into a program that will not benefit you.