#liberties have been taken

[andersunmenschlich]

Thomas Jefferson to John Adams

Updated for the Modern Reader

You said you wished I'd stay alive and healthy long enough to become a Calvinist, or at least praise Calvin's god; that wish would make me immortal.

See, Calvin didn't believe in any god. What he worshiped was obviously a demon.

You and me, we worship the creator of the universe—a good guy who does good things! Calvin's "god" is so disgusting that it would actually be better to be an atheist than to insult God by saying He's like that.

Actually, on the subject of making atheism seem attractive: I think the idea that it takes a supernatural revelation to prove that God exists encourages atheism. Every Christian sect believes that, and they shouldn't! These days, apparently only 1/6 of all the humans in the world is Christian. By standard Christian reasoning, that means the other five sixths (since they don't believe in the Jewish and Christian revelations) completely lack all knowledge of the existence of a god!

This pretty much hands the win to atheists.

Modern atheists (the disciples of Ocellus, Timaeus, Spinosa, Diderot and D’Holbach) have this one argument that they think can never be debunked:

Whenever you're trying to figure out how things started, you have to assume that something always existed, right? And if you're going to reason logically, you shouldn't say there are definitely two things when one is enough to explain everything.

Then they say that it's simpler to assume that physical reality has always existed, with all its processes and changes and reproductions, according to the physical laws we see going on around us today and which may continue going on forever, than it is to assume the eternal existence of an invisible, unknown, non-physical, incomprehensible Creator.

I disagree.

Without appealing to revelation, I hold that all we have to do in order to know that there's a creator is look at how complex and perfect all of physical reality is.

Look at how the stars and planets and moons etc. are held so exactly to their paths of movement by the perfect balance between the force that makes things spin and the force that pushes things out and away from the center of spinning things. Look at the construction of our own planet, and how much water we have vs. air and land. Look at the plants and animals, and how well they work! Look at bugs! They're so tiny, but their bodies are just as functional and well-organized as the bodies of humans and elephants! Look at all the minerals there are, and how useful they are to us!

It is impossible for a human mind to take all of that in and not believe it was created on purpose.

You have to believe that there is design there. Cause and effect, all the way up to an ultimate cause, someone or something that makes stuff out of matter and motion, that upkeeps things it's currently allowing to exist in their present forms, that regenerates them into new and other forms.

We know that there's some superintending power that keeps the universe running in order. We see proof of it all the time. Well-known stars have disappeared and new ones turned up instead; comets probably run into planets and stars and so on and have to be remade somehow; certain species of animals have become extinct, and if there were no restoring power, eventually every organized living being would be extinct and there'd be nothing left but a chaotic, unliving mess.

This is such strong evidence that, for all of human history, most people have found belief in an eternally pre-existing god much simpler than belief in a universe that just exists on its own.

Only one in a million people has ever been an atheist—maybe less.

Surely the fact that most people throughout history have believed in a creator makes a creator the simpler hypothesis!

Besides which, some early Christians did actually believe in both an eternal creator and an eternal creation, without being confused about which came first in that case. Cardinal Toleto tells us that's what St. Thomas believed:

"Deus ab æterno fuit jam omnipotens, sicut cum produxit mundum. ab æterno potuit producere mundum.—Si sol ab æterno esset, lumen an æterno esset; et si pes, similiter vestigium. At lumen et vestigium effectus sunt efficientis solis et pedis; potuit ergo cum causâ æterna effectus coæterna esse. Cujus sententiæ est S. Thomas Theologorum primus."

See?

Now, that's not enough to tell us anything about the nature of this creator and maintainer.

Jesus tells us that God is a spirit (John 4:24), but doesn't tell us what "spirit" is. We know that down to the third century it was still considered a physical thing, albeit lighter and more airy than our own physical bodies. According to Huet's commentary on Origen, "Deus igitur, cui anima similis est, juxta Originem, reapte corporalis est; sed graviorum tantum ratione corporum incorporeus," while Origen himself said "appellatio ασοματον apud nostros scriptores est inusitata et incognita."

Tertullian said the same: "Quis autem negabit Deum esse corpus, etsi deus spiritus? Spiritus etiam corporis sui generis, in suâ effigie." These two experts, Origen and Tertullian, lived in the third century. So that proves what was believed then.

John Calvin seems to have copied the Jews to get his god's character. But the whole point of Jesus was to fix the Jewish idea of God's character: when Jesus spoke to the Jews, his goal seemed to be to take those blasphemous attributes the Jews had put on God and replace them with more worthy ones, pure ones, sublime ones.

Jesus's ideas about cosmology are clearly laid out in the first three verses of John 1: "εν αρχη ην ὁ λογος, και ὁ λογος ην προς τον θεον και θεος ην ὁ λογος. οὑτος ην εν αρχη προς τον θεον. παντα δε αυτο�� εγενετο, και χωρις αυτου εγενετο ουδε ��ν ὁ γεγονεν." The true translation of these verses is, "In the beginning God existed, and reason [or mind] was with God, and that mind was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were created by it, and without it was made not one thing which was made."

Obviously what Jesus meant by this was that all of physical reality was created by one supreme, intelligent being.

But modern Christians have taken this verse and twisted it to support their idea of three gods in one! They mistranslate 'λογος.' Sure, it can mean 'a word', but that's clearly not what it means here, because that's gibberish!

A word, an action or articulation of the voice and organs of speech, creating something? Don't be ridiculous! It obviously ought to be translated 'reason'. Translated that way—which is a perfectly legitimate way of translating it—the verse explains how God existed before everything else and created everything. Modern Christians insist it be translated as 'word' because they know that's gibberish, and the only way to make it even approach sense is to turn the 'word' into a whole other preexisting being and attribute the creation of everything to him instead of to God.

This allows the atheist to point and laugh at a god so useless that a vibration in the air does more creating than it, and to hold up the idea of a preexisting physical universe as infinitely more likely.

The truth is that the greatest enemies to the teachings of Jesus are those who claim to be explaining them. They have perverted the doctrines of Jesus to build the structure of an utterly incomprehensible imaginary castle that they like better than truth, a castle with no foundation whatsoever in Jesus's actual words.

Someday, the idea that Jesus was mystically generated in the womb of a virgin with the supreme being as his father will be filed right alongside the myth of Athena being mystically generated in the mind of her father Zeus, and I hope that that dawn of reason and freedom of thought in the United States will not only do away with all this artificial scaffolding, but also restore to us the genuine teachings of Jesus, who was a most venerated reformer of human errors (like the Jews'—and Calvin's—idea of God's character).

So much for your quotation of Calvin's "Mon dieu! Jusqu’a quand."

When addressed to the god Jesus worshiped, the god you and I worship, yes! I join you in that wholeheartedly. May we both end up in heaven whenever God wills it, us and all our ancient colleagues, and together hear God telling us, "Well done, my good and faithful servants."

[egophiliac]

so glad we finally get to see the clowns in their full clowny glory

[ruporas]

the interest check for the max vash plushie is finally available! he's the same size as his buddy wolfwood and comes with numerous accessories. there's more photos on the form itself, including what the current sample looks like.

if you're interested in him, please fill out the form here!

[theusernameiwantisntavailable]

What better way to experiment with rendering styles than panel redraws of Cassandra Cain

Og panel + alt ver under the cut :D

[smallerdelusions]

still not over their dynamic

partially inspired by this post!

[canisalbus]

I know little to nothing about Ludovica's partner, but to me seems she'd wear pink or purple (tho idk if those colors were popular during the 1500s) pink because itd be a neat contrast with ludo's green, purple because its a regal color

I also keep stubbornly visualizing her in pink! Not barbie pink but something along the lines of dusty rose or light mauve. I don't think I've ever seen pictures of any proper pink being worn in late renaissance times though, it doesn't exactly fit the aesthetic (but I could be wrong of course). Most pastel colors are strongly rococo (1700's) coded to me.

[sideblogdotjpeg]

ive been thinking about the red string superstition recently and also sol bufo always and it makes me sick how uncannily caldwell tanner has made sol to perfectly target me personally

(+ cropped versions !)

[copepods]

divine art of creation

[rockpaperscissuhs]

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH + BAND OF BROTHERS:

JOSEPH "JOE" RAMIREZ

Born October 5th, 1921, in Nebraska

Died April 8th, 1988 (age 66), in Martinez, California

Joe Ramirez enlisted in September 1942 (age 20) in San Francisco, CA, and he trained with Easy Company at Toccoa. Holding the rank of Private, he served in Normandy, Holland, and Bastogne. He was hospitalized in January 1945, and discharged in July 1945. After the war, he was married for many years, and had children and grandchildren. When he passed away he was buried with his wife, who had passed away 11 years earlier. Further information about him is scarce, but the brief character profile in the Band of Brothers series bible describes him as Mexican-American, and his personality as "sensitive and nervous."

Appears in Episodes 1, 3-8, and 10; portrayed by actor Rene L. Moreno

Sources below

A million thanks to @bleedingcoffee42 for tracking down this info for me!

[kuuniichi]

Prompto gets into... filmaking? A natural progression it seems!

[tabbi-mysteries]

Episodes 1-101 Mouri Ran's Wardrobe

So many doodle ideas for Detective Conan and yet what I actually end up doing is cataloging Ran's various outfits...

Still she has a lot of cute ones and it's interesting to see them all, I'll probably continue. That said there's a lot so they're all just sketches but feel free to use as references.

[ladiesoftheknight]

Chapter 4 - Part 4 - Ladies of the Knight

Read Chapters 1-3 at http://LadiesoftheKnightComic.com

Kofi - ko-fi.com/fionacreates

[dribs-and-drabbles]

Colours in My Stand In. 1/3: Green and Yellow/gold

Joe is earth-toned - green, blue, and brown. He’s hopeful and generous, sincere and loyal, but downtrodden and degraded. He is Ming's whole world…even if Ming has only just realised this.

Ming is heat and fire - yellow/gold, pink, red. He’s jealous and affluent, emotional and immature, aggressive and dominant. He’s the sun to Joe's Icarus: From a beautiful blush of dusk or dawn, to the dangerous heat of the fire burning within.

For Joe and Ming - Joe, who's always wanted someone to come home to, and Ming, who only smiles when with Joe - the green and yellow/gold is Joe and Ming's best versions of themselves. It's home, it's them together, it's their happiness.

Even if those moments of happiness are tinged with uncertainty or pain.

Ming, who likes his eggs "sunny side up", who met Joe for the first time surrounded by yellow and lights, and who fixed the mugs with gold - letting the light in.

And Joe, who the show is telling us is green, and who picked up a waiting Ming against a backdrop of green and yellow.

Green and yellow/gold is what they're both striving for and to get back to. It's why Ming's new apartment looks so similar to Joe's.

And why Ming believes Joe is still alive somewhere, and sleeps enveloped in Joe's green.

Ming thinks he's in love with Tong and that his affections began with seeing Tong's back, but we know now that Ming fell in love with Joe first...which is why we first see Tong illuminated in golden light wearing a green top, right after Ming had been captivated by Joe's back in the green light on the screen.

And why Ming is wearing blue and green in front of a green and yellow background when he first meets Tong, and why Ming has a green phone case and wants to feed Tong the green sweet.

He thinks Tong is his green guy but it's really Joe...which is why Tong's back in the green and gold makes Ming immediately think of Joe at home.

Ming thought he was in love with Tong but it was always Joe. Tong was always the stand-in for Joe...and that's why when Ming finally realised, he walked straight towards the firelight and home.

[worstloki]

Loki surveilling the skyline of New York from the top of Stark Tower and clocking that his favorite paired set of buildings are gone. sad

[indiehowell]

also i was at a broadway show when they dropped the homotron 3000 usa joint photodump so im gathering my thoughts today but NEW YORK PHANNIES we won...finally seeing some of where they went in the city.....i was hoping to see more of their nyc dates <3 bc all they mentioned at preshow was taking the subway the wrong way and i need more to be parasocial about

[halfricanloveyou]

ok ok ok like i thought “the chosen” would suck cause “blah another series about the life and times of jesus” like we GET it it’s been around for CENTURIES you guys make the same damn movie all the time

but it’s actually legit really good? lots of pretty good representation! not everyone in the movie is white. actual portrayals of jewish culture instead of just ignoring that part. disabled people. matthew being autistic. characters that aren’t just two dimensional. the people in it feel like real people. there’s actual jokes, jesus cracks a few and they’re really funny?? so far nothing hateful, no gay or transgender bashing. it calls out the church for being judgemental and hateful in a way that’s very tasteful

it’s not perfect tho. jesus is…still white for some reason? despite mary not being white? and no one else around him being white? no gay people in it which is kind of a bad and a good thing…but it’s a portrayal of jesus and the people around him as human. as real life people who felt things and made jokes and rolled their eyes and stuff. also the guy they cast as jesus is pretty hot as are all the disciples. which isn’t the point or whatever but i can’t say i’m complaining. it’s free online and i think it’s worth a watch!