#none of these words were in the bible etc etc etc

[heechwe]

but daddy i love him | 𝐬𝐣𝐲

୨୧ pairing: sim (jake) jaeyun x fem!reader ୨୧ word count: 10.2k ୨୧ genre: fluff, angst, smut ୨୧ tags: badboy!au, innocent!reader, opposites attract, sexual tension, corruption kink, dirty talk, fingering, oral (m + f receiving), 69, pet names (baby, angel, etc.), face sitting, protected sex. ୨୧ synopsis: Just because there's a new and seemingly bad influence in your small town, it doesn't mean you have to fall privy to his charms, no matter how beautiful he is. But when he takes notice of you, none of the gossiping wine moms can stop him from getting what he wants. ➸ shoutout to @kwanisms and @mini-mews for helping this fic come to fruition, ily guys sm and this is genuinely one of my favorite pieces ive ever written aaa.

“Have you heard about the new family who moved into town? The son is a real piece of work!”

“He’s twenty-one but acts like he’s still sixteen on that damn motorcycle. No class or consideration whatsoever!”

“Maybe they’ll keep him in check if they decide to come to church this weekend. You know Reverend Park has no time for miscreants and delinquents.”

The familiar crowd on your mother’s front porch greets you as you’re attempting to exit the house. They cool themselves off with their makeshift fans and drink your mother’s homemade lemonade in the Saturday sun, continuing to harp on the locals in town that they’ve known for years.

Somewhere in their conversation, they drifted to the topic of the new family that moved in across the street. Three days was all it took for them to begin spouting their judgemental observations, every act from the new middle-aged couple and their son fodder for their discussion.

You smile politely with every fiber of your being, despite your instincts to snap at them and be on your merry way. If only they knew how ironic they are, pointing fingers at others from their high horses when the town kept enough space for their dirty little secrets. “Nice to see you this morning, ladies.”

They say your name with grace, their tones all air with little substance. “On your way to bible study?” Mrs. Choi asks, gazing at you from the rim of her glass.

You shake your head. “Just tutoring.”

“With the Nishimura boy? What a sweet kid.” When Riki’s name leaves Mrs. Lee’s lips, all the women hum in agreement. “Such a bright future ahead of him.”

“Of course, as long as he passes English,” you joke. The women’s faces don’t change, not taking your teasing with an ounce of anything but seriousness. The bags under their eyes, lipstick smudged in the tiny corners of their teeth, and piercing attitudes begin to damper your excitement for the day. You bid them goodbye quickly with another smile, walking down the stairs and onto the path down the street.

As you turn down the sidewalk, still hearing the resounding chatter from the women, your thoughts run wild. Is this what life would be like when you were older, doing nothing but kicking your feet up on a neighbor’s porch with only other people’s business to fill your time? Spending endless days and nights at church, listening to the same sermons leave Reverend Park’s lips until you become as overly critical as they all are?

The screech of tires halts your thoughts in their place. “Watch it!” A young man’s voice pierces the morning air, making you step back even further. You hadn’t realized how far you had walked into the road until you were back on the safety of the sidewalk. You trip on a crack between the two slabs of concrete, falling backwards and meeting the ground hard.

“Shit, are you okay?” He takes his helmet off, immediately hooking it to his handlebars to check on you.

Sim Jaeyun.

You had not met him formally until this moment, but the motorcycle and undeniable looks gave away his status as your new neighbor. Your parents had decided to let the new family settle in before trying to visit and introduce themselves. If they could see you now, your maxi skirt hitched up to your knees and the boy barely a foot away from you, they would have had a field day.

Sure, you both are of age. Butlike Mrs. Choi, Mrs. Lee, and other local townsfolk always do, people will talk about such a compromising position if you aren’t careful.

All those thoughts fade away though when Jake kneels beside you, his face flooded with concern. His eyes linger on the broken skin on your legs and then across your flushed face. “Does it hurt?”

You shake your head. “It’s barely a scratch. Sorry I almost ran into you.”

“More like almost ran into my bike.” He laughs, his expression one of relief as well as humor. “I’m just glad you’re in one piece.”

“Thank the lord.” You brush your hands on your skirt and begin to stand up, but Jake grabs you by the hand to help, taking all your weight with him.

“Thank you,” you say, brushing the free hair from your braid out of your face.

“You’re welcome.” He unclips his helmet from the bar and gestures back to his bike. “I can drive you to wherever you’re going if you want. I don’t have a second helmet, but–”

You can’t help the laugh that escapes your lips, the thought of riding on the back of a motorcycle too ridiculous to envision given your status as the deacon’s daughter. What would people say?

Jake just furrows his brows, his lips turning up at the corners. “Is my offer that funny?”

“No,” you say, “I would love to, it’s just–”

“Sim Jaeyun!” The shrill sound of Mrs. Choi’s voice makes you take another step away from Jake, unaware you were as close as you were to him. His presence seems to be magnetic, just like his smile. “Stay away from her or so help me God!”

Jake turns to the old woman down the road and nods his head, trying to be respectful but clearly irritated from her meddling. “Yes ma’am,” he yells, stepping back and getting closer to his bike.

“Maybe another time,” Jake says, “when you’re not flocked by the whining wine moms.”

You laugh and nod. “Maybe.”

Jake rides away on his bike, the wispy ends of his hair your last picture of him before he makes a sharp turn at the end of your street.

“Why do I need to learn this?” Riki groans, laying his head flat against his desk. The church bells ring as he knocks his head in the same rhythm against the polished wood.

“Because you need to be able to interpret text if you want to go off to college, Nishi. Otherwise you’ll be illiterate and an embarrassment to the entire town!” You put on your best harping, disapproving voice. It makes Riki laugh as he lifts his head. You’re glad at least the younger kids appreciate your sense of humor, unlike the older brood flooding your hometown.

“Alright, fine.” He opens his copy of Heart of Darkness, beginning to read the page in front of him. “I avoided a vast artificial hole somebody had been digging on the slope…”

A knock on the classroom door makes you and Riki turn. Yeri opens it with a shy grin, saying your name with the same nature. “Someone’s here to see you!”

“Who?”

“Some cute guy on a motorcycle? But don’t tell Jungwon I said that!” She runs back out the door and leaves you puzzled. Surely it’s not Jake. You just met him; he wouldn’t make the effort to try and follow you to your tutoring session, especially at the church of all places.

You head to the window to see Jake sitting against his bike, looking around at his surroundings. He’s wearing the same leather jacket and gray jeans, his white shirt marked with several spots of sweat. Riki comes up behind you, making a sound of acknowledgement. “Oh, that’s Jake!”

“Jake?” You look closer. “I thought his name was Jaeyun.”

“Yeah, but I call him Jake.” He laughs. “He’s my cousin.”

You nod your head, taking in his words. Jake’s sudden move made a lot more sense, seeing as Riki’s mother was getting sicker every day. She must have needed some help from her family to not only manage her household, but make sure Riki stayed on track.

“He probably wants to see you. Yeri must’ve gotten it all mixed up.”

Riki grabs his phone, scrolling through texts with his thumb. “Actually, he did mention almost running over a cute girl on his way to work.” The young boy smirks. “I’m gonna assume that’s you?”

You blush, the flush on your cheeks making you feel hot. “Whatever. He’s probably just picking you up!”

“I brought my own bicycle, dude. And as cool as Jake is, his driving makes me nauseous.” Riki begins packing up his belongings on the desk as you wonder what Jake would want to say that hadn’t already been said earlier. Surely he had no interest in talking to you beyond another apology for almost killing you earlier, not that you would have noticed.

As your thoughts continue on, you barely hear Riki’s parting words. “Have fun making out with my cousin!”

You venture outside and are greeted to Jake’s soft smile as he looks you over. “Didn’t expect you to be teaching my cousin how to read.”

You laugh. “When would that have come up? Before or after I fell face-first on the sidewalk?”

“Technically, you fell on your ass.” He looks over the cuts on your leg again. “Still doesn’t hurt?”

“Barely remember it.”

“Damn. Didn’t realize I was so forgettable,” he teases. You shuck your backpack over your shoulder, pretending his joke didn’t land. But you can’t help how your mouth curves into a grin. “Wanna take me up on that ride now? I don’t see any wine moms in sight.”

Being clear headed and not in the midst of a compromising position, you take a better look at Jake. He may look rugged from the neck down, muscles standing out through his jacket, but his face is incredibly youthful and vulnerable without a touch of hardness. Maybe the wine moms had gotten it wrong; maybe Jake’s actually a stand-up guy bundled up in a lot of leather.

Before you can answer, your father seems to appear from thin air. He wraps his arm around your shoulder. “Mr. Sim, pleasure to meet you officially.”

Your father holds out his hand for Jake, and Jake takes it with a steadfast grip. “Nice to meet you too sir. My mother was telling me how much you’ve been helping my aunt since she can’t attend services anymore.”

“Akemi is a pillar of our church. It’s only right to take care of one of our own as the deacon.” Your father squeezes you tighter to his side. “Glad to see you and my daughter have met. I hope she’s made a good impression upon you.”

“Yes sir. Very much so.” He smiles in your direction. The dimple in his cheek makes your heart flutter in your chest, the butterflies undeniable.

“Well, please tell your parents to come to ours soon for dinner. It would be a pleasure.” Your father begins the quick walk to his car, the silent request for you to follow him clear in his stern posture. You give Jake an apologetic smile before you leave, hoping your eyes hold the promise of taking him up on that ride someday.

When you’re both out of earshot and in the confines of your father’s car, he turns to you with a frown. “Do not get yourself involved with that boy. He doesn’t strike me as very forthcoming.”

You stutter out an excuse. Surely the first day of knowing Jake wouldn’t be the last. “F-Father–”

“Listen to me, sweetie. I know what I’m talking about.” He starts the car and begins the drive home, tightening his fists on the steering wheel. “I mean it. Do not see that boy again.”

The next morning, you’re sitting in one of the front pews with your mother, Yeri, and her mother. You see your fellow townsfolk in attendance in the other pews, Jungwon being one of them, Yeri’s longtime boyfriend. Mrs. Choi and Mrs. Lee look like they are partially focused on the attendees, but also on their own gossip.

All of you are dressed in your best outfits, your hair wrapped in a bun to maintain the peak of modesty. It doesn’t seem particularly realistic for a higher power to be judging you for your hairdo, but you gave in to your mother’s ridiculous requests as always. “We are important people in this community, darling,” your mother said as she stuck the umpteenth bobby pin in your hair. “If they can’t trust us, who can they trust?”

Riki sits behind you, his pew empty save for him. When you offer the empty spot next to you before the procession starts, he shakes his head. “Jake and his folks will be here any second.”

Your gut tightens, the words of your father playing over in your head. You know you have to heed his orders at all times, but the excitement you feel at the prospect of seeing Jake is unavoidable.

A minute before your childhood friend Heeseung sits at the piano to play the beginning of How Great Is Our God, Jake and his family walk inside. Jake’s impeccably dressed, clad in a red dress-shirt and suit pants. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, revealing a handful of tattoos you didn’t notice the day prior. He has his mother’s arm in one hand and a bible in the other, looking completely out of place but incredibly mesmerizing.

He winks at you when he sits down, making you turn your head back to your friend at the piano. You follow in your mother’s and Yeri’s lead, singing alongside them and forgetting the new buzz in your veins. You can feel his eyes on you throughout the songs and sermons, and you should say that you don’t enjoy it, but you don't kid yourself. His attention makes your body tingle in all the right and wrong ways.

You excuse yourself in the intermission, walking outside until you’re a good ten paces away from the church. You take several pins out of your hair, grunting. The incessant tools had been scratching your scalp uncomfortably for the past three hours, and it feels like freedom taking them out one at a time.

It isn’t that you don’t believe in a higher power or the teachings your father and Reverend Park have supplied you with your entire life. The town is just too suffocating on days like these, setting you up to feel like you aren’t good enough no matter how hard you try every day to perfect yourself.

The fashion show of your humble, presentable outfit, the whispered chatter from your community, the watchful eyes of holy men. They all make your skin crawl, that itch only intensifying with every day that passes. How could you stay in such a small room for years and feel misunderstood by everyone? 

Jake saunters up to you, making you gasp in surprise. “Jesus Christ!”

He smirks, hands stuffed in his pockets. “I thought you weren’t supposed to say his name in vain.”

You shrug, smiling in relief to find it’s just him and nobody else. No-one to meddle, judge, or question your absence. “I’ll just say a few words of penance. I’m sure he’ll forgive me.”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you.” Jake chuckles and steps closer to you, his eyes lingering on your dress. It’s incredibly modest, the only skin showing high above your cleavage. but the look in his eyes still makes your nerves tremble.

 You wonder what thoughts are swimming in his head and if a majority of them are impure. Would it be so wrong to confess that you feel the same? That whatever he’s imagining mirrors your own fantasies ten times over?

“The updo doesn’t suit you,” he says finally.

You giggle and cross your arms. “It doesn’t, huh?”

He steps closer, so close you can feel his breath on your skin. It lingers across your neck and shoulder blades. You shudder, hoping he doesn’t notice how his presence affects you. He reaches behind you and takes hold of the hair tie keeping your bun together. He expertly undoes it, your hair falling in waves around your shoulders.

Before he walks away, the church bells signaling the recommencement of the procession, he whispers in your ear, “Much more breathtaking with your hair down, angel.”

The next time you see Jake, he’s across from you at your family’s dinner table, all laughs with Jungwon and Yeri as your father passes out the rest of the side dishes. Riki is also there, discussing his mother’s treatment with your mother and Jake’s parents.

You can’t help the way your eyes attach to Jake across from you. It’s almost a form of punishment that you were made to sit in such close proximity, the weight of his stare on you swallowing you whole.

The feeling of his hand in your hair, his mouth against your ear–it was all so incredibly inappropriate. You shouldn’t have thought about that day last week with such excruciating frequency, but you did. You thought about it when you heard the wine moms whispering about Jake on your porch, when Yeri and Jungwon talked about him as you studied, and when you were alone at night. 

In your dreams, it was even more painful. In a perfect world, he would take his hand from your hair and keep it on your neck, holding you close. He would move his lips from the shell of your ear to the side of your neck, kissing and tasting what skin was available to him in that moment to make you come undone.

Yes, sitting across from him is torment. But the alternative is worse, not seeing him at all and having to conjure images of him alone in the quiet of your bedroom.

“Deacon, sir,” Jungwon pipes up from his spot next to Jake, addressing your father directly. “I was going to study with Jaeyun and Yeri at my house if you wouldn’t mind your daughter tagging along.”

The muscle in your father’s jaw clenches. He’s clearly unhappy with one of the attendees being Jake, but he hides it behind a smile. “It’s up to her. What do you think, sweetie?”

On one hand, you should absolutely say no. Jake may take you into a random spot of Jungwon’s house and make any resolve you still have disappear with the flick of his wrist. Even in the company of your friends, you know no place is safe when he’s around and close to you. And were you willing to crumble so easily?

At the same time, the distance is eating away at you. You can’t take another charged glance in your direction, words unspoken but begging to be released. If you have to catch his bedroom eyes on your body one more time, you may just snap in front of everyone, and care little when you do.

“Sure. I’d love to, Wonie,” you say with a grin. “Nishi, you want to come too?”

Riki shakes his head, enjoying the fruitcake your mom set out. “I’ll stay. Someone has to help clean up.” Jake’s mom squeezes one of his cheeks. Riki’s face suddenly turns pink from his aunt’s affection, making everyone laugh.

On your way out the door, your father catches you by the arm. He whispers, “No later than midnight. Understood?”

On the cusp of 10 PM, you want to protest that time with your friends is already so limited, but you obey with a nod and walk out the door. 

When you get in the backseat of Jungwon’s car, Jake too comfortable beside you, you feel your body flicker to life. “So,” you say, “your house then, Won?”

Yeri and Jungwon laugh, a conspiratory look in both of their eyes. “We’re just gonna make a quick stop first.”

Kiss ‘Em Creek was the unofficial name of the lake that ran through your town, a spot for teenagers to spend a few hours alone with their friends or partners. It wasn’t scientifically-correct, but it stuck nonetheless, many of the locals taking advantage of the not-so-secret hideaway. What went on there you only heard about through Yeri and the wine moms’ conversations, their voices littered with disappointment and condemnation.

Jungwon parks his car and turns his eyes to meet yours in the rearview mirror, that scheming smile still playing on his lips. “Ready to take a dip?”

Your eyes widen. You shake your head at a rapid pace, making your friends and Jake chuckle. “No way,” you say.

“C’mon babe, live a little!” Yeri winks and exits the car, Jungwon hot on her heels. The two of them begin to strip to their underwear, eager to jump in the water together. Jungwon picks her up in a bridal carry, Yeri laughing the entire way as he takes the first step into the awaiting lake.

As the two lovebirds continue heading towards the water, you and Jake sit in comfortable silence, your heartbeat slowly rising at the prospect of being alone in the car together. No distractions, no disappointed parents, no judgemental hags. Just the two of you under a cloud of stars and beautiful moonlight.

“I didn’t know if you would come tonight,” Jake says, filling the silence with a quiet chuckle. “Thought you were avoiding me at all costs, like I’m some kind of plague.”

“No!” You turn in your seat to face him. His expression is teasing but holds undercurrents of disappointment, clearly confused where your feelings lie. And he has every right to feel that way. One minute you’re wishing he would pull you closer, and the next you feel it’s better he keeps his distance. “I just don’t know what your intentions are.”

His eyes darken and his lips curve into a beautiful but intimidating smile. “Is it not obvious?”

You squeeze your thighs together, a wave of heat spreading through your bones. “Maybe I just want you to say it out loud.”

He scoots closer to you, his chest a heartbeat away from yours. “Well, to start,” he says, “I would really like to kiss you.”

You smile. A breathless laugh leaves your lips, eager to know what it would feel like to touch his mouth to yours. “I’d like that too.”

Jake runs a hand through your hair and rests it on your cheek. His touch is as fragile as the tension between you. “Then what are you so afraid of?”

You shut your eyes, trying to come up with the right words and falling short. “It’s just everyone–”

“Fuck everyone else.” He forces you to look into his eyes, the words leaving his mouth being some of the truest ones you’ve ever heard in your life. “You’re not a bad person or a sinner for wanting what you want.”

“I know that.”

“You may know it but you don’t believe it.” Jake’s lips ghost over yours, his breath tickling your cheeks. “Stop thinking about what everyone else thinks of you. Think of yourself for once.”

Maybe Jake’s right. All of your choices in life have been dictated by what your parents, friends, and total strangers have felt. If you listened to your own heart, you would have left all of them in the dust by now, chasing what you really wanted far away from this place.

At the same time, you’re glad to be in this car with Jake. He’s so close to you, telling you to take the leap and choose yourself for the first time in a long time.

When you press your lips to his, the feeling of his mouth on yours soft and tentative, you know you can’t wake up tomorrow the same person. This choice will ripple into all the choices you make from this moment on, but you don’t seem to care.

All that matters is his mouth, taking more control and setting a fire deep in your belly. He presses his tongue to the juncture of your lips, diving inside without protest.

You moan into his mouth, feeling one hand firmly pressed on your neck as the other runs down your shirt to squeeze at your breast through your clothes.

“Fuck, tell me to stop,” Jake says with a heady whisper, still kneading your breast with his palm. “Tell me to stop if you don’t want this.”

You shake your head, moving closer to him to the point you’re halfway on his lap, legs intertwined with his. “So help me God, don’t stop now.”

He snickers, pecking your lips again. “You said his name in vain again.”

You roll your eyes as he chuckles into your neck. “That wasn’t the first thing on my mind.” You move your lips to his cheek. “Or the second.” They trail down to his neck, taking your fantasies and etching them into his skin. “Or third.”

“Fuck,” Jake curses, holding you tight against him. “You’re too good at this.”

You smirk. “Contrary to popular belief, you’re not the first person I’ve ever kissed.”

He laughs, the rumble of it vibrating against your mouth. “I don’t care as long as you keep kissing me.”

“Wasn’t planning on stopping.” By the time you reattach your mouth to his, you’re straddling his lap. His hands are nestled on the small of your back, wanting to inch down further but unsure where or what your boundaries are.

You take the initiative, suddenly bold, and put both of his palms on your backside. “If you wanted to touch my ass, you could’ve just said so.”

Jake licks his lips, his accent coming out in a husky whisper. “I want to touch you in a lot of places. Your ass just happens to be easily accessible right now.”

“Oh really?” You giggle. “Care to enlighten me?”

Jake sharply switches positions, your back against the expanse of the backseat as he towers over you. He rubs his hands across the outside of your thighs, eager but patient. “Gladly.”

He kisses your neck, suckling and licking with perfect pressure, making you whimper. “Jaeyun,” you say out loud, his name coming out like a question more than a statement.

“Use your words, angel. Tell me what you want.” His eyes pass over your face, your kissable lips and lust-blown irises. You’re too entrenched in him now to walk away from this car the same girl, and you wouldn’t want it any other way.

It may end badly, crash and burn completely like everyone expects it to, but that’s the last thing you care about right now.

“I want you to touch me.” You take one of his hands on your thighs and place it over your underwear, its center damp.

“Jesus,” he says in wonder, rubbing his fingers against the cotton.

“You just said–oh,” you stop short when you feel Jake’s fingers against your clit. The sensation makes you buck your hips up into him, him discovering the bundle of nerves without trying hard. He’s clearly happy at the wetness he finds. He rubs your folds in the same fashion, biting down on his bottom lip hard.

“You feel so good already. So perfect,” he whispers, taking hold of your lips again with his own while he swirls his fingers in and around your essence. He switches between teasing your clit and rubbing along your pussy, his movements lewd yet graceful. Only when he puts a finger inside of you do you gasp and look at him directly, your eyes clearly giving away your fear.

“What’s wrong, angel? Did I do something?” Concern floods his face, but he doesn’t take his hand away.

“I’ve never gone this far,” you confess, looking to your side to hide your embarrassment.

“Hey, look at me.” He turns your head to face him again, fingers laying under your chin softly. “We can stop now if you want. I don’t want you to feel pressured into doing anything you don’t want to do.”

His response makes your heart clench. Most guys, you’d imagine, would be pissed off or pleading with you to continue on, to do what they wanted and enjoy the moment. That was how Jongseong was, pouting the entire time after you told him to pump the brakes on your makeout sessions.

Somehow, with Jake, it feels right to continue. You suddenly have no anxiety clouding your thoughts or expectations weighing on your heart. You kiss his lips tenderly and shake your head. “No, I want this. I want you.”

A cheshire-cat grin spreads across his face before he goes in for another kiss. He runs his tongue along the inside of your mouth as his finger slides across your folds once again. He plunges it deep inside of your heat, your body adjusting to the new sensation with surprising ease.

You thrash lightly underneath him, matching the tempo of his finger with abandon. He slips another digit in, groaning at the feeling of your soft, gummy walls becoming accustomed to him. “You’re taking my fingers so well, angel. ‘S fucking incredible.”

You gasp and feel the fire from earlier heightening in intensity, spreading from your belly into the other seams of your body. It makes your toes curl and your hand press against one of the doors of Jungwon’s car, needing something to clutch onto while feeling yourself losing what’s left of your control.

“Jaeyun, I think I–”

“I know baby,” he says, pressing his lips to your forehead. “You’re going to feel so good in a second, I promise. Don’t be afraid.”

His thumb makes contact with your neglected clit, rubbing in rapid motions as he pumps his fingers faster in and out of you. You suddenly become overloaded with pleasure; its immensity is something you’ve never felt before. You feel it coat the back of your mouth and take what’s left of your rational senses, your body moving on its own accord as you ride out what’s remaining of your orgasm.

You blush furiously when you come back down to earth, giggling like a schoolgirl as Jake kisses your sweat-drenched cheek. “That was…amazing.”

Jake chuckles, a smirk painting his features. “You’re amazing.”

You tuck your face in your hands, embarrassed but still enraptured by what you just experienced. He pulls one hand away, taking it in his own, his expression suddenly shy. “So, I guess this is the part where I ask you on a proper date.”

You laugh and sit up, placing your panties back around your hips and adjusting your skirt. “I would hope so!”

Jungwon and Yeri choose that moment to run back into the car, their hair drenched but their bodies properly dressed once again. Jungwoon looks at the two of you in the backseat and grimaces. “Not in my car, man!”

Despite the warnings from your parents and the wine moms, you and Jake had become inseparable within a month’s time. It took many late-night impromptu meetings and secret rendezvous to keep your relationship private, but you had succeeded thus far. And it only made the moments you both shared that much more special.

Riki had kept your secret, keeping his eyes out for any prying townsfolk and covering for his cousin and you if need be. Yeri and Jungwon also cheered you on from the shadows, hoping one day you could be public like they were without criticism.

Sitting in the field near the lake, a picnic blanket set across the grass, you have your head in Jake’s lap while he absentmindedly turns strands of your hair into miniature braids. It’s a beautiful Wednesday afternoon, the two of you occupying the resounding forest with no outside influences.

“Have I told you lately how beautiful your hair is?” Jake asks, kissing your forehead before he takes another batch of strands in his hand. If he has to pick one of your best attributes, in his words, he’d say it was a tie between your lips and your hair, the two of them constantly making his heart race. You called him a liar, but as time revealed, he was nothing but honest with you every day, and not just about what turns him on. 

Over time, you discovered his fears, his ticks, his aspirations past the small town you both found yourselves in. You admire his vulnerability, how open he is when sharing the thoughts that occupy his mind.

“At least three times already,” you tease, running your hand across his leg.

“It’s not bad to hear it a fourth time, right?” He plants another kiss to the crown of your head. He drops the braid he’s just made across your face, making you laugh.

“I’d rather hear how work went today,” you say, getting up to press your back to his chest, snuggling into him.

He shrugs, wrapping his arms around you tighter. “Not much to talk about. Working with roofs all day isn’t exactly exciting, angel.” 

You know Jake doesn’t want to work at his dad’s construction company for the rest of his life. However, it provides stability, and that matters a lot to him. He knows what it did to his aunt when Riki’s father walked out early on in his cousin’s life, and he wouldn’t wish that lack of support on anyone.

“At least you’re not running a tutoring center and a daycare in the same church,” you joke, your tone anything but humorous. The brood you dealt with every day was completely unlike Riki. They were kids that were carbon copies of their parents, children that would one day become exactly like their absentminded fathers and speculatory mothers. It put a taste in your mouth you couldn’t stomach.

You fall into steady silence, the uptick in both of your nerves ebbing away the longer you hold each other. Sure, Jake hates roofing as much as you hate disciplining whining toddlers and helping apathetic tweens with mathematics, but it doesn’t matter at this moment.

All that does is each other, enjoying the midweek sunset and the sounds of the birds flying overhead.

“What would you do if you were somewhere else?” Jake asks into the crook of your neck.

You grin, imagining a world of possibilities. The question never came up before, not from him or anyone else. It opens up a plethora of choices in your mind, but you narrow them down quickly, knowing what your heart truly desires.

“I’d like to teach,” you answer. “Really teach, maybe at a university. Something like poetry.” You turn to look at him, a newfound fire in your eyes. “Yeah.”

Jake smiles back at you, moving stray strands of hair from your shoulder to rest his head there. “I think you’d be great at that.”

“What would you do?”

Jake ponders the question, going over it in the same way you were moments before. You see realization wash over his features, and it makes you smile. “I think I’d write. Not literature or anything, but songs maybe? Teach music in the meantime. Still have to make money somehow, y’know.”

You giggle and push him down on the picnic blanket, running your fingers through his hair. “Sounds like a plan.”

He nods, sharing your happiness. “Maybe a kid and a dog can fit somewhere in that plan.”

Chuckling, you raise one eyebrow. “As long as I’m not having a baby out of wedlock, that sounds perfect to me.”

He turns you both over, covering your body with his and kissing you intensely. The passion runs from his body to yours, your heartbeats matching in their strong beats against your chests. “Perfect,” he whispers, his lips meeting yours once again.

It may be too soon to call it love, but you know you’re tiptoeing that line, and you wouldn’t mind falling headfirst on the other side of it as long as Jake’s there waiting for you.

“Are you sure they don’t know I’m here?” Jake asks, hesitant to walk up the stairs to your bedroom.

“It’s fine! They’re at a seminar all weekend with Reverend Park and his son, I promise.” You kiss his lips before running up to your room. Still on the fence, you hear his tentative footsteps trudging behind you.

Another few months rolled by, and your parents had softened to the idea of Jake being around more often. He showed up with his parents to church every Sunday, even if you both snuck off to make out in the backwoods when nobody was paying attention.

He’d stick around for the deacon’s sessions with Akemi, brightening her spirits with his guitar and a couple of songs to replace the ones she missed during normal processions. It helped that she seemed to be getting better, slowly but surely, with treatment and daily prayer.

When you heard your father call Jake a “nice kid,” you knew they were turning a corner in their relationship that you wished for since the night Jake kissed you in Jungwon’s car.

Now, that doesn’t mean they would be happy with finding him in your bed on a Friday night, but you’ve broken enough rules at this point. What’s one more?

“You’re trying to get me killed,” Jake jokes as you rip his shirt from his body, discarding the article of clothing on your bedroom floor. You sit on your bed and marvel at the muscles on his chest and stomach, all of it yours to caress and kiss at any time.

“Don’t worry, babe. I’ll follow you to heaven,” you tease, pulling him closer to kiss his body. Each press of your lips to his skin makes him tremble, cursing quietly to himself at the feeling.

“With the way you’re touching me, I doubt either of us will make it there.”

You giggle and link his mouth to yours. You moan when his tongue hits the roof of your mouth.

The intentions you had for tonight definitely involved numerous bouts of kissing, but the way Jake’s making you feel will certainly end up with his face or fingers between your legs. And as good as that sounds, you don’t want him derailing you from completing your mission.

There had been so many moments of him giving you pleasure up to this point, you wondered how he had stayed so composed and content after without expecting anything in return.

So, tonight, you decided to give him a bit of satisfaction, even if you’re walking into such activities without any kind of road map. Yeri gave you a handful of tips, but doing it for real is another beast entirely.

“Jaeyun, wait,” you say, taking his face in between your hands.

He looks up at you with eager eyes, wondering why you pulled him away from your neck. “What is it?”

“I want to take care of you this time.” You say, hoping your expression gives off the confidence you’re trying to portray. “I’ve never done it before, but—“

“And you don’t have to, angel,” Jake says with a dopey, relaxed smile. What on Earth and heaven did you do to find a guy like him?

“Please,” you beg, scooting closer to the edge of the bed. “I want to try.”

Jake’s conflicting feelings are evident in his eyes. Surely any man wants his girlfriend to go down on him with the same eagerness that you're giving him right now, but he doesn’t want you to feel obligated. 

In his mind, pleasure isn’t about some sort of trade-off. He makes you feel good because he wants to, not because it’s some duty he has to fulfill and expects to be paid back for later.

But, you asked so nicely and your eyes shine up at him so beautifully. He feels his resolve crumble enough to concede and do what you want.

You begin to unbutton his pants, your fingers twitching not from fear but excitement. When you pull down his jeans fully and see the outline of his bulge in his briefs, your mouth falls open slightly at the size.

Could it fit in your mouth if it was that big?

Jake chuckles and takes your hand to press to the gaping material covering him. “It won’t bite.”

You look up at him and begin to stutter, unsure how to continue once you take off his underwear. “D-Do you want me to use my hands first?”

“Whatever feels right to you, angel. I trust you.” He rubs his thumb across your cheek, and it calms all the nerves that came to the surface.

It’s in those three words that you find the courage to pull the remaining article of clothing off of him, taking in the sight of his cock in all its glory.

You gulp hard, trailing your eyes from the tip to where it adjoins to the rest of him. You’ve never seen one up close before, and you feel like you’re invading his privacy as you stare at it for another long minute. But who can blame you?

“It’s all for you, baby,” Jake whispers. “Do whatever you want.”

You feel a sharp pang of heat at the center of your thighs, his words spurring you on. You spit into your hand, as Yeri instructed, and wrap your hand firmly around Jake’s cock. With an easy but deliberate pace, you look at Jake directly to see if you’re starting off on the right foot.

And boy were you.

Jake hisses at the feeling of your hand encasing him, loving the tightness of your fingers as they continue sliding up and down his dick. He had envisioned this many times in the solitude of his bedroom, images of you and your beautiful body writhing underneath him enough to get him off. But those nights were nothing compared to this.

“Are you ready for my mouth now?” You ask timidly. Jake wants to laugh at how innocent you sound, the words coming so naturally off of your tongue.

“Yes, angel, please,” he answers, wanting to caress you by the hair and guide you down to his awaiting, leaking cock.

You move closer until you're an inch away from his tip. Flattening your tongue to take it into your mouth, you keep watching Jake’s face for the right signals.

His mouth opens, a satisfied whine leaving his lips. You feel a wave of pride at the fact he’s enjoying it so much, egging you on further.

“Your mouth feels so perfect wrapped around me,” he confesses. He soaks in the sensation of your lips and teeth softly running over the veins of his cock, your head bobbing across his length skillfully. How can an innocent and dutiful daughter like you give such mind-blowing head?

He can’t ruminate on the answer long, releasing a guttural moan as he feels his tip hit the back of your throat, the gag that rumbles from you making his cock even more sensitive.

“Angel, I’m gonna come soon,” Jake warns. “If you don’t want me to come in your mouth, let me know now.”

You look up through your lashes at him as you continue sucking on him with fierce passion, swirling your tongue across his tip. 

His hand is wrapped firmly in your hair now, fucking your face as softly as he can without forcing anymore of himself down your throat. When you take a hand to cup his balls, softly kneading them between your fingers, he’s done for.

He whines pathetically as his seed shoots inside your mouth. The taste isn’t particularly pleasing, but you milk it for what it’s worth to watch him fall apart so perfectly under your attention.

The orgasm rocks through him with an unshakeable amount of pleasure, his body completely helpless as he continues to spurt into your mouth. He can only hiss and whine as you continue to touch him, letting him come down fully and taking all of him without complaint.

Jake breathes in deeply when he gains clarity again, taking you in his arms and shoving his tongue deep in your mouth. “That was probably the best blowjob I’ve ever gotten,” he states, running his fingers over your face with adoration.

You scoff and roll your eyes, his words making you shy. “I doubt it, seeing as that was my first one.”

“It was!” Jake puts a hand on his heart. “Swear to the savior himself.” Before you can rebut, Jake takes your legs in his hands and moves you to the edge of the bed.

You wake up to the hard knocks at your bedroom door, the morning sun peeking out of your window to prove the previous night has long gone.

“Honey? What did we say about locked doors in this house?”

Your father’s booming voice makes you jump up from bed, smacking Jake hard on the shoulder and chest to wake him up.

“We had an odd feeling at the hotel, so we came home early,” your mother says as you shake Jake from his sleep.

“Ow, what the fuck,” Jake grunts, his voice not quiet enough to go unnoticed. You curse yourself and the reality in front of what’s about to happen, knowing full well your parents heard him on the other side of the door.

“Sweetie, who’s in there with you?” Your mother’s shrill but concerned tone makes you cringe. Jake’s eyes bulge in response, quickly leaping from the mattress to pull on his clothes in haste.

Just when you throw your dress from last night over your head and Jake buttons up his pants, your father slams open the door with his shoulder. Your parents gasp and yell at the sight before them, the man they began to grow comfortable with in a compromising position with their only daughter and precious child.

“What in God’s name is he doing here?” Your father asks no-one in particular, stomping towards Jake’s shirtless figure and yanking him by the neck.

“Daddy, stop!” You plead, scratching and clawing at his frame to pull him off of your lover.

Your mother begins blubbering, teary-eyed before you. “Oh honey, what did he do to you?”

“Nothing,” you scream. “Please leave him alone and let us be.”

“I told you to stay away from him.” Your father stares you down, eyes blazing with fury. “Not only did you betray me, but you betrayed the sanctity of your purity. It’s a disgrace.”

Jake coughs, your father’s hands tightening around his neck. “The only disgrace is the two of you holding her back, like she’s some weak bird in a cage,” he croaks. “She can make her own decisions.”

“You stay silent, you insolent pest,” your father growls, yanking Jake out of your room and down the stairs. By the time you and your mother make it out to the bottom step, your father has thrown Jake out and onto the porch.

“Stay away from my daughter, or you’ll have another reason to pray you don’t end up burning in hell.”

“Stop it!” You step in between your father and Jake, the latter putting on what’s left of his clothes. People begin to hover too close to your family home, suddenly entrenched in the scene playing out before them.

Jake kisses your forehead and walks away in the direction of his parked bike, unsure what else he can do unless he wants to truly end up six feet under. 

 Your father grabs you by the upper arm and pulls you in the direction of your porch, but you resist with all your might. “You can’t make me go back in there.”

“I am your father and you will listen to me,” he grunts, holding on tight.

“Daddy, I love him!” You scream as you yank your arm away from your father, your inner strength giving way. “If you can’t accept that, I guess I’ll just have to burn hell with him. Better than wasting another second here.”

You run toward Jake’s bike and sit behind him, cinching your arms around his waist. He smiles to himself, feeling the press of your chest to his back as he puts his helmet over his head. “Are you sure about this, angel?”

You nod furiously, not bothering to look back at your red-faced family. “More than I’ve ever been.”

All you focus on is his motorcycle rumbling to life before you speed away. Your hair blows in the wind as you both escape the horrified stares of the local vipers.

You end up at a motel on the other side of town, far away from the scandal that’s surely rocking your small community by now. The deacon’s daughter running away with the bad boy next door? What a tragedy!

You run inside to miss the upcoming rain, both of you shivering from the barrage of pellets that did land on your skin. You settle onto the mattress as Jake drops the small amount of belongings he had in his possession on the dresser.

He turns to you with quiet concern, arms splayed out on the furniture as he looks at you, searching your face for any lingering doubt. “No regrets?”

You shake your head, exhausted but glad to be out of that house. “None at all.”

He breathes out a sigh of relief and sits down beside you on the bed, rubbing your thigh with his fingers. “I’m sorry.”

Your brows knit together, confusion pouring over you. You take his hand in yours, intertwining your fingers. “You have nothing to apologize for. If anything, I should be apologizing to you.”

 You feel tears build at your eye ducts, your voice suddenly growing thick when you recall the scene from an hour ago. “I’m sorry my father was so horrible to you.”

“Hush, it’s okay,” he puts his other hand on your face. He kisses your lips tenderly and gracefully. How did nobody else but you see he possessed the most kind nature of anyone you’ve ever known?

Jake moves his head, his lips curving into the smile that always takes your common sense away. “I love you too, by the way.”

Your confession from earlier hits you like a heavy rock, your eyes going wide and your face turning pale. “That wasn’t the way I wanted to say it.”

“Then say it now,” Jake urges, your face resting gently between his fingers.

There’s no fear or pressure when the three words leave your lips, only the feeling of a weight lifting off of your chest. “I love you, Sim Jaeyun. I love you with my whole heart.”

His face lights up, the words seeming to set aglow something deep within him. The only right reaction seems to be in the form of his lips attaching to yours in a passionate kiss, your shared love creating a beautiful path forward for the both of you.

He whispers his next words so lightly, you almost assume the statement is a figment of your imagination. “Marry me.”

You feel your face contort into a mixture of disbelief and elation, needing to hear him say it again for it to truly resonate. “What?”

“Marry me,” he repeats, his smile stretching across his face. “Marry me now, or in three months from now, or whenever you want. Just say you will.”

You exhale a breath of astonishment, unsure if he knows how much you want to say yes, to make this as real as it sounds on his lips. He leaves your side with a kiss to your temple to grab something from his jacket. 

He comes back in record time, standing in front of you and twiddling the black box in both of his hands with anxious fingers. “I brought it with me to your house last night, I just didn’t know how to ask then. But I do now.”

Like in all the stories you’ve read and movies you’ve seen in your lifetime, he sinks down onto one knee before you. You place a hand over your mouth as he opens the box, a ring with an opal-shaped diamond cushioned in the center.

“Would you please do me the honor of being my wife?” Those words on his lips, visibly shaken from his own question, make a thousand butterflies flutter inside your chest.

Months ago, if you knew then you would end up here, from the edge of the sidewalk to now, you would not change a single moment. The world had been so gray before, you didn’t know what it was like to step in the sun until he came into your life. What other answer is there?

“Yes, yes, yes,” you respond, tears flooding your eyes as he shakily places the ring on your finger. It fits just right, the stone at the center sparkling in the darkness of the motel room.

You kiss Jake’s lips with all the force your body possesses, certain there’s no better future than right beside him.

The feeling of the gold band around your finger makes Jake shudder as it touches his cock. Your body is nestled perfectly on top of his as you take what you can’t put in your mouth between your fingers.

He laps up your essence with his tongue, ecstatic to have his face covered in your juices and smothered if need be by your wet cunt. If people think wedding nights are magical, engagement nights have to be a step up.

“Fuck, Jaeyun, yes,” you roll your hips into his awaiting mouth, his tongue available for you to lay your slit onto. The expletive leaves your mouth like honey, the feeling fitting for such a dirty word.

He knows exactly how to make you fall apart and be put back together, and the thought of doing this for the rest of your life makes you want to cry again from the pure happiness inside your core.

Jake takes his lips off of your pussy and sits up. Before you can ask what he’s doing, he takes you into his lap on the bed and kisses you fiercely. You taste yourself on his tongue as he skillfully takes your breath away with his lips. When you part, he says, “Angel, I know we said we’d wait, but I don’t know how much longer I can handle not being inside of you.”

You whimper at his words and suddenly rock your center into the tip of his cock, making him groan in the process. “I mean—we’re just starting early, right?” 

Jake releases a joyous laugh and kisses you hungrily, his face in a constant state of ecstasy since you said “yes” hours ago. “Right.”

 The anticipation makes you even wetter, crawling to the head of the bed as Jake grabs a condom from the bedside table. If there was one thing he had promised, he swore he wouldn’t get you pregnant. Not yet, anyway.

He rolls the rubber over his cock before joining you on the bed, lining up perfectly with your center. He rubs his tip against your folds, biting his lip at how easily it gets coated in your essence. “Ready?”

You nod eagerly, a smirk filling the entire bottom half of your face.

He pushes the tip in, the pressure a foreign feeling you had never experienced before. It took time and practice to get used to the size of his fingers, but this is another level of fullness that takes your breath away.

Once Jake’s partially inside and gives you a moment to adjust, he asks, “Can I move?”

You nod your head, holding onto his shoulders for support as he begins to thrust inside of you. He loves to see his cock disappearing between your legs, your body eagerly taking him in and stretching itself out to accommodate him. He loves the way you whimper at the movement of his hips and the pleasure you’re receiving.

Better yet, he loves you. He loves all of you, from the nonsensical words you speak in your sleep to the wrinkle between your eyebrows when you get mad. You’re all his, and he’s grateful to be the only one you call yours.

“We may never leave this motel,” Jake says, his words breathy as he continues moving his hips. “I could stay inside of you for the rest of my life, angel.”

“I love you so much,” you say, inching your hand between your bodies to roll your clit between your fingers.

“I love you,” Jake says. He takes your face in his hands and kisses you like he wants to pour all of his emotions from his being into your soul, just so you know how deep his love for you goes.

It’s all so overwhelmingly beautiful, you feel the swell of your release cresting over you like a tidal wave. “Baby, I’m gonna come,” you whisper, your mouth open wide from the moans and cries you cannot suppress.

Jake groans and slams his hips into you harder, filling you to the hilt repeatedly. “Come, angel. Come for me.”

You cry out as the orgasm takes hold of your body, your fingers working on their own accord on your clit as you fall off the edge.

Jake stills not a second later, releasing into the condom and taking the last remnants of his energy to thrust inside of you a few more times.

He pulls out and throws the rubber in a nearby trash can. His sweaty body clings to yours, hands rubbing up and down your arm tenderly as he kisses the curve of your shoulder.

You see the flash of your ring in the glow of the motel’s neon sign, and you think about how the night could not have gone any better.

Jake may be a bit reckless and not what you initially imagined for your future, but now that you have him, you wouldn’t give him up for anything. All the parts of you that stayed buried for so long have resurfaced because of him, and you could not be more grateful.

With your left hand a touch heavier than it was some hours ago, you fall asleep to the sound of the rain hitting the window and Jake’s rising and falling chest.

You walk out of your mother’s house, happy to have made a visit with her before she ran off to do her morning errands.

What you’re not pleased to encounter is the same crowd of women huddled with their homemade fans and cups of lemonade. They weren’t there when you arrived a few hours ago.  Of course they show up when you have no chance of escaping them, like the vultures they are.

“Mrs. Sim,” Mrs. Choi says, her tone entirely made of stone with little warmth. “Pleasure to see you.”

Your new surname gives you indescribable amounts of happiness. It took your parents some time to get used to, but eventually, they realized you put your heart in the right place. Your father took his sweet time getting there, begrudgingly admitting a short time ago Jake is a very acceptable son-in-law, the turnaround of his perception of your husband complete.

You give the crotchety ringleader a fake smile and attempt to walk away, but Mrs. Lee interjects. “How’s your mister doing working at the church now?”

“Great,” you say, genuinely happy to talk about a topic you care for. “Jaeyun loves the kids. Little Yuna might actually be a guitar prodigy from what he’s told me.”

They all coo, practically synchronized in their sips of lemonade and fan flurries.

“Soon enough you’ll have one of your own, I’m sure,” Mrs. Choi remarks with sarcasm, her red-lipstick-stained front teeth on full display.

“Not too soon now,” Jake suddenly says, walking up the pathway to your mother’s house and taking you in by the waist. “My wife has to finish her Masters first. How else is she gonna start teaching at the community college?”

My wife. No matter how long it’s been since you officially got married in your church, that day a year ago forever ingrained in your memory, it still warms you to the bones hearing those words leave Jake’s lips.

The women all express signs of agreement, some nodding while others hum.

“We better get back home now, but you ladies have a nice day!” Jake bids them goodbye and walks you both down the stairs with his hand on the small of your back. Even if he were to be more than the perfect gentleman in front of them, they would still linger around with pesky eyes and constantly moving lips.

“They’re still betting we’re gonna crash and burn, aren’t they?” Jake whispers, teasing you with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

You shake your head. You fall more in love with him every day that passes, no matter what the people around you do or don’t see. They may have their opinions, but it won’t shake the foundation you’ve built. “Well, they’re sure to be disappointed if I have anything to say about it.”

Jake’s eyes widen, his expression humorous yet surprised. “Easy, angel. Don’t want to have to tear my wife off of a nosy wine mom.”

Your heart aches at his words, him fully aware of what two of them in particular do to you. “I love you.”

Jake grins, inching his face closer to yours. “I’d love nothing more than to kiss you right now, but what would everyone say?” He asks with a mock face of horror.

You shrug without much care, grinning. “Someone once told me ‘fuck everyone else.’ And right now I couldn’t agree more.”

Jake laughs before he places a gentle kiss to your lips, the sun radiating off of him in waves as he pulls you closer.

No matter what anyone in your small town has to say, your choices are yours; you’re perfectly happy with how your life has turned out whether they think so too or not. And you will always choose Sim Jaeyun, now and forever.

@yvnempire @sjylouvre @mini-mews @jayparked @heesuncore @yoursjaeyun @sungbeams @jenoslutie @loserlvrss

𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 ౨ৎ˚₊

@kvanity-main @sweetvenomnet @onedoornet @sayxonet @violetanet @svthub @whipped-kpop-creators

[judaismandsuch]

Where do Jews pray?

Aside from the "technically true" answer of 'wherever they happen to be' this is going into the words used English for the specifically chosen buildings.

You run into a few different common ones: Synagogue, Temple, and Shul.

Each have different histories, and implications that many people may not know.

So I want to break down the etymologies, implications, etc. as well as mention some less well known ones.

1)Synagogue: Linguistically arguably the most correct. It comes from from french, latin, and ultimately greek, and ultimately is from the translation of the Bible into Greek. The word be created as a translation for the word Knesset. It literally would translate (in the original greek) to 'meeting place'. overall: 10/10, cannot go wrong with using this word.

2)Temple: A fairly Common word, but one that is rife with theological implications that many are unaware of. Basically it goes like this: There was the first temple and the second, and we are waiting for the third (in theory). When the Reform movement started, one aspect was that the Temple was no longer felt to be a necessary and lamented missing aspect of Judaism, and that the places of prayer were equivalent.* So they began to call their Houses of Prayer 'Temple's. No one in the Orthodox movement would use that term, nor would people in the Conservative movement call their houses of prayer 'Temple'. (at least none that I have seen, and very much none at the begining, I am sure that there are some conservative shuls nowadays that do use the term 'temple'). Now, this means that the use of the word 'temple' to describe a Jewish house of worship is also a theological position. So hearing people use the term 'Temple' as a catch all term instead of Synagogue will annoy a lot of more religious Jews. Now there are a few disclaimers about this: 99% of people aren't aware of this. I have met many a reform and conservative individual that was unaware of the history. So like all pieces of information on a small aspect of theology, don't assume a use of a term implies full knowledge of ramifications. Of course, there is the other issue "Temple" refering to loads of other religions' houses of worship, so it isn't really a good identifier. 2/10, find another word people.

3)Shul A loan word from Yiddish, it actually is the same linguistic root as 'School'. A place of learning. I like it, but a lot of people won't know it, so you'll need to then translate the word. 8/10, but I am biased.

Other words that you may see:

Jewish Church: The issues are obvious, but for some reason I like it.

Beit Knesset: The Hebrew word, 'House of Meeting' it's good, but y'know obv. issues of using hebrew in english.

*I am summarizing and simplifying a large religious movement, obviously this misses some nuance.

NOTE: There are a lot of terms! This is "Common ones you run into in North America" But there are def. terms for it from other Jewish communities that I never heard!

If you have one you didn't see on the list, put it in the notes! (or a direct comment, I'm no cop)

[secular-jew]

In 1920, Syria Palestina was a Roman-named colony or region, not a country, (aka Palestine), stretching from Iraq to southern Syria, and of course, there was no country called Jordan. The word Palestine was 100% derived from the Hebrew name for the Philistines. There is no evidence of a written language left by the philistines and the only name that they were known by was the name given to them by the Hebrews at the time. The evolution of the word went something like this:

פלש—פלישתים—ארץ פלשת—סוריה פלסטינה/פלשתינה—פלסטין/פלשתין

PaLaSh—plishtim—the land of paleset—Syria Palestina (the name given to the land of Israel and Judea as a punishment by the Roman)—- Palestine

PaLaSh is the Hebrew root word for invade meaning we called the sea fairing invaders by their actual name, invaders

Important to know that the Arabs absolutely DENIED ANY RELEVANCE and would not ascribe and meaning re: "Palestine" for themselves.

Arab nationalists in the post-WWI period ADAMANTLY rejected the designation. Arab spokesmen continued to insist that the land was, like Lebanon, merely a fragment of Syria. On the grounds that it dismembered an ideal unitary Arab state, they fought before the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry and at the United Nations. The Arab historian Philip K. Hitti informed the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry that “there is no such thing as Palestine in history.”

In 1937, Awni Bey Abdul-Hadi, founder of the first Palestinian Arab political party, testified to the Peel Commission, "There is no such country as Palestine. 'Palestine' is a term the Zionists invented. There is no Palestine in the Bible. Palestine is alien to us."

In May 1956, Ahmed Shukairy, who became the first head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (at a time when Jordan had annexed the "West Bank" and Egypt controlled Gaza), declared to the United Nations Security Council, “It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria.”

In February 1970, Prince El Hassan bin Tala of Jordan, stated to the Jordanian National Assembly that "Palestine is Jordan and Jordan is Palestine; there is one people and one land, with one history and one and the same fate." Seven months later, the PLO attempted to take over Jordan, lost, and were unceremoniously, kicked out.

In 1977, PLO Executive Committee member Zahir Muhsein stated, "The Palestinian people do not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for our continuing struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. … In reality there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese."

One might argue that this particular group of Arabs established, sometime in the mid 1960s, a political identity as "Palestinians," when Arafat returned from strategic partnership meetings with the Soviets communists who were attempting to gain a larger foothold in the region, and advised him how to use "Palestine" identity as a cudgel against Israel.

What they are NOT is "ancient" inhabitants of the region which, under Ottoman rule, was also dubbed "Syria-Palestine." What they are NOT is any sort of distinct ETHNIC group—like the Judeans (Judea/Samaria/Israel), the Phoenicians (Lebanon), the Kurds, the Druze, or the Circassians. They are Arabs, sharing the language, culture, religion, cuisine, ethnic group, etc. of the people of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Prior to the 1960s, before the PLO was created, there were ZERO Arabs self-identifying as Palestinians. During the 19 years that Jordan controlled the so-called "West Bank" (Judea and Samaria, which had been cleansed of Jews by the Jordanians) and when Egypt controlled Gaza, there was no movement to create a "Palestinian" state.

Attached is a photo of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra in 1936, which consisted of 73 jewish musicians, and conducted by none other than Arturo Toscanini (born in Parma, father was a tailor). Toscanini was the music director at La Scala, before spending spent 7 years conducting the New York Metropolitan Opera (1908-1915) and the New York Philharmonic (1926-1936). He lived out his latter years in NYC, about a 1/2 mile from where I lived for a decade from 2005-2015 in Riverdale (Bronx), which is now called Wave Hill, a non-profit cultural institution and botanical garden, located on 26 acres adjacent to the Hudson River.

[sailorspica]

sole salvation: zeke jaeger, messiah claimant

this is so long it has a table of contents, and prompted by an ask from @oxygenbefore1775:

salvation and atonement

recapitulation

genealogy

the paths as wilderness

biblical fiction

all the english bible citations are from the NRSVCE, i reference the gospel of john just once because it sucks, this is barely proofread and about ~4k. two shorter posts that might be of interest:

the founder ymir eve-mary replacement theology run

krista/christa

none of this is arguing iseyama consciously made any allusions!! this is just comparative reading

1. salvation and atonement

i looked up the japanese title for snk 114, "唯一の救い," mostly for the second part. "唯一" is kind of obviously "sole" or "only" (if i know any CJK characters it's number radicals), but i wondered about the nuances of "salvation" because of the association i have for it below. this had me running to good ol' biblegateway.com, whose only japanese bible translation is the from the heavily paraphrased/colloquial Living Bible. a search of "救い" lands us in exodus, isaiah, and my second-favorite gospel, luke.

you guessed it: it's part of the word choice for "messiah." section titles in bible translations are editorialization, really, but the beginning of the nativity story in matthew is headed

約束 さ れて いた 救い主 promise (...tense stuff idk) savior

救 = rescue, aid, salvation; 主 = host, leader, lord

in the hebrew bible context of exodus, 救い most often refers to god delivering the israelites from egypt through moses, while isaiah is christians' favorite prophet for all his shit cited as prophesying the messiah. the title "christus" is latinized from the earliest greek translation of the bible from hebrew, which used "christos" for "messiah." kings good and bad were anointed with oil (chrism) at the start of their reign, so "anointed one," "messiah," and "Christ" really just meant a monarch. quoting some old testament pseudepigrapha (psalms of solomon 17:23-24), the messiah was understood in second temple judaism as a future davidic king expected to "thrust out sinners from the inheritance / to crush all their substance with a rod of iron / to destroy the lawless nations with the word of his mouth." (rod reiss, zeke as marley's spear, the scream, etc)

now for the "sole" bit. i am cursed to read the kodansha USA title "sole salvation" with the connotation of the solae of the protestant reformation, which are 2-5 doctrines articulated by various reformers but not necessarily codified (or creed-ified, as it were), uh, in protest of early modern catholicism. theological authority comes sola scriptura (not the pope), justification comes sola fide (not by following rules the best), and salvation is available to all sola gratia (through god's grace, not individual merit/how many indulgences you can afford).

how we apply all this to zeke:

what is wild about christianity and islam after it is "humanity"'s fall from grace and the promise of a messiah to remedy it were initially about just one people. AoT's dramatic irony has the paradisians refer to themselves as the whole of humanity until grisha's basement, so jaegerist ethnonationalism is, really, in keeping with the prehistoric tribalism detailed in the history books of the hebrew bible. when the israelites encounter egyptians and semitic peoples of canaan and babylon, they know them as pagans, and proselytization is not on their minds at all, nor these other peoples' relation or lack thereof to adam and original sin. with zeke, we see this idea of salvation and its scale and recipients flipped between grisha and ksaver: grisha promises the restorationists that zeke will save eldia, while ksaver and zeke swear to save the world from titans with eldia as the sacrifice.

the lack of consensus of how to "save" eldia mirrors the hairsplitting of soteriology into what modern commenters call theories of atonement. there are many, but the only ones i'll mention are

substitutionary theory: the vague but broadly understood starting point that jesus died for humanity, and most subsequent theories hammer out the details. with this you'll often see writing connecting it to the story of abraham and isaac, and a classic work is derrida's the gift of death chapter 3, but i have to say if this story echoes for anyone in AoT, it is tom ksaver and not just because of the ram.

ransom theory: humanity has been satan's hostage ever since the garden of eden, so jesus was born and raised, incarnated as human by god, to be the perfect sacrifice to buy back our freedom. this is weird because it calls into question god's omnipotence: why respect satan as a debt collector?

satisfaction theory: jesus' sacrifice is more about ethics and respect in that his death is the "minimum" price for our sins, but he goes above and beyond by walking willingly through the exact cavalcade of physical torture that was the passion, which "satisfied" god, working from a classical/medieval fixation on honor and dishonor.

penal (not penile) substitution theory: god cannot forgive sin willy nilly, so jesus bore god's punishment for us. this is lutheran, and if you read martin luther's diaries from when he was an augustinian, this man just wanted a morally perfect Dom. libs and catholics don't like this because it makes god look bad. s/o my kenny post where i put grandpas ackerman and jaeger side by side with a bit of penal substitution, but it also makes me think of grisha (below)

and my favorite, recapitulation theory, which is simply the most literary way to read the gospels: christ's life, not just death, are a do-over of adam's. he succeeds where adam failed, perfectly inverting everything about the first man: he was born of a woman (the cause of adam's fall 🙄) but chaste himself (allegedly), he's tempted directly by the devil and resists, and in death the piercing of his side by a roman centurion echoes that eve was made from adam's rib. it's the root of the idea of jesus and mary as the "new" adam and eve that i dip into in the krista post—antisemitic supercessionism is a later addition. mary "recapitulates" eve by obeying god, not satan, etc.

i didn't do that comprehensive a skim, but grisha and zeke seem to be the only ones who use "salvation" language, while karina braun uses "atone" in snk 94. "atonement" has one of the silliest etymologies of all time: at + onement, unification, when two become one. so framing the crucifixion as "atonement," and referring to mysticism as self-effacement, jesus' death is supposed to reconcile man with god, like we were divorced. its more pedestrian, legal definition is for reparations and such, but i don't think the soteriological version can describe marley and eldia at all. it's not just penal, but penitential (sacramental) semantics on kodansha USA's part. i might go pester @tsuki-no-ura for a direct translation later. but the jesus-est and adam-est thing about zeke, to me, is physical at-onement when ymir fuses his body into the founder, or as zeke says to armin in snk 137, "did ymir eat you, too?" so the death of jesus' earthly body is a horror story if you aren't trinitarian: he is subsumed into god, made indistinct.

2. recapitulation

recapitulation is a useful idea for FOUR AoT characters: zeke, historia, eren, and mikasa. i really think the figures that do the most to "recapitulate" the eldian creation myth are mikasa and historia, though:

historia: have already said my bit! she's the anti-mary, snk 65 has the juiciest theological language of all. see my second favorite gospel luke. she disobeys where ymir's daughters didn't: she says hell no, she kills her dad. she's my hero.

mikasa: eren and armin's conversation about mikasa and ymir more casts ymir as a god with mysterious motivations, so i'd say "whatever mikasa did" gives us a more medieval "satisfaction" model of pacifying her rage

eren: the whole metaphor on humanity penned in like livestock, ymir's leaving the gate open for the pigs. eren's defence of historia, even from her own self-sacrifice in volunteering to inherit the beast, also makes him an anti-daughter of ymir.

zeke: has all of the prologue and expectation to make him seem like a savior. if he recapitulates any part of "from you, 20,000 years ago," he starts out as fritz by attempting to order ymir with his royal blood, but ends up just as bound as her. there's a screencap we've all seen overlaying the storybook illustration of "ymir" and "the devil of all earth" with eren, zeke, and ymir in the paths. i have feminist tbh satanist thoughts on the nature of knowledge and forbidden fruit that i slghtly get into in that krista/christa post

this is the point where it's important for me to say this is an atheist post and blog, and jesus of nazareth was one of like half a dozen messiah claimants knocking around judaea at the time, including his own cousin john the baptist. the first coming of the messiah was a nearly as absurd a prospect to jews in the late roman empire as the second coming of jesus is to us, so "claimant" doesn't even mean they said so themselves. some were preachers whose followers got a little too hype, or just actual con artists. but! zeke does have a lot more christian echoes going for him beyond the exact function of his death.

in the original question mae asked about zeke in either marian or christian terms, so i gotta say that jesus was also human and subordinated to god's will, in a similar position to mary, as was adam. adam's rib symbolism is so erotic and penetrative and all i think about when titans in AoT are constructed spinal cord first. to me everything about titan shifters is a feminist issue of bodily autonomy regardless of gender, and the power of the founder to "rewrite" eldian biology is the most god-like, terrifying, violating thing about it. this is where a lot of more progressive christian theologians struggle, too, with the question of how is god, in all his power and goodness, still permissive of suffering? or is it that god is not in fact powerful, simply all-knowing? and is that worth jack shit? which is the issue of the royal family keeping the founder after the walls went up.

and we leave this section with the jesussy, or more specifically "the holy lance" that made jesus' side wound. but i think levi went for, idk, his appendix? good enough.

3. geneaology

the gospels of luke and matthew start with lengthy and conflicting geneaologies in support of the claim that jesus of nazareth is of the davidic line through the tribe of judah, but matthew's is patrilineal from abraham through joseph, while luke's is surgically imprecise about jesus' father and thus is often argued to be jesus's geneaology through mary backwards to adam, supported by luke being the gospel to feature women the most prominently. not knowing those intricacies or how legal adoption worked in 1st century judaea, you can say that mary is royalty and joseph is just some guy, ben david or not, because he famously did not contribute sperm. looking at zeke, grisha is just some guy, and dina's blood is the whole justification for zeke's suffering. had she not married grisha, she still would be affiliated with the restorationists, and whatever other child she had would be sacrificed much the same. this supposes that jesus of nazareth was just some guy himself, a typical second temple jewish teacher whose followers were especially rowdy; whether god is real or incarnated himself as human is inconsequential when mary is directly descended from david.

but joseph Does matter from a purely pragmatic point of view of protecting and providing for mary and jesus, from keeping his troth with a pregnant teenager he'd probably never met before to the matthew account of fleeing with them to egypt to hide from herod, and in christian ethics through shit like the Feast of the Holy Family, which replaced the much cooler Feast of the Circumcision.

point is, jesus had two dads! joseph is generally understood as a dead during the time of jesus' three-year ministry, but any time jesus refers to his father he does not mean joseph. like ever. zeke nation knows better than i how often zeke discusses grisha, but in my recollection he calls him his full name or says "your father" if talking to eren. in my subtitles for the above panel re: the second paradis mission he says something like "as the former son of the terrorist grisha jaeger."

but to be clear joseph of nazareth is comparatively a non-person. it's reasonable to think he taught jesus his trade of carpentry, though, and two of the greatest songs of all time play with that, along with that tumblrina poem that goes around here frequently.

beyond daddy issues, protestants like this binary of "high" versus "low" christology to discuss jesus as god and jesus as man, though the exact meaning of either varies and frankly i question the historical accuracy of using either to describe ancient/antique christological debates. the way the liberal protestants at the seminary i dropped out of tended to use it is basically sorting jesus's qualities and behaviors in the gospels as divine or human. divine activities = miracles, prophecy, rising from the dead; human activities = flipping tables, being rude to his mom, getting hangry. now these mostly look like venial sins, to err is human et cetera, but the fig tree story is one of the silliest little humanizing details about him, to me tantamount to zeke having a cat's tongue. zeke's whole problem is he holds himself to an extrahuman (not divine, no, since he probably would go with demonic) standard while forgetting what makes him human. ironically, zeke rejects his inhumane father to claim his very human mentor as family, but ultimately half-lives his own life holding himself to or counter their visions of salvation.

the other bit of jesus' family worth connecting to zeke is his cousin john the baptist. but he more belongs to the next section.

4. the paths as wilderness

the torah or pentateuch, the first five books of the hebrew bible, have 99 uses of "wilderness" in the NRSV, and it pops up about 150 more times throughout the prophetic books. of all AoT's hamhanded judaic imagery, i think the paths actually get at something theological as opposed to earthly/fixated on eldia as a persecuted people. the wilderness is a testing ground and a kind of punishment itself, especially in genesis and exodus, for prehistoric figures like hagar, moses, jacob, david, and of course the israelites once they left egypt, wandering for 40 years. they starve and god saves them with manna; left unattended for two seconds they turn to idolatry; and they of course conquer various tribal people of canaan, including the philistines (root of palestine). after that, "wilderness" is much more metaphorical, referring poetically to estrangement between god and his people, the israelites exiled in the babylonian captivity, the destructon of solomon's temple, etc.

but there's one literal wilderness in the gospels. jesus' cousin john the baptist is introduced by a quotation:

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'" (Mt 3:1-3)

john the baptist is jesus' maternal cousin who he likely only meets once in adulthood, and i am too pedantic not to explain that baptism, or ritual bathing, is not a christian invention. he hung out around the river jordan wearing a hair shirt and preaching and dunking people in a kind of open-air mikveh. jesus visits him to get dunked as he starts his three-year ministry that ends with his death, but before they meet there are already whispers that john the baptist is the messiah. herod antipas, a roman tetrarch, had john beheaded shortly after this at the request of his stepdaughter, so when herod hears stories of jesus' ministry and miracles he dreads that he's john the baptist returned to life.

one could say the fateful meeting of john and jesus is the turning point for the birth of christianity, like the jaeger brothers in shiganshina, in part because the gospels have john insist up and down he himself is not the messiah, he's just preparing the way for him. this kind of makes him look like a bigger loser than he was; contemporary jewish historians of the time say he had a following to rival or even larger than his cousin's.

but right after his baptism, jesus fasts in the wilderness for 40 days, where the devil tempts him. it's the most detailed in luke 4 and matthew 4. jesus resists like a champ, but returning to "low" christology and questioning what actually makes "perfection:" after three years of preaching in galilee, jesus' resolve wavers, and the "willingness" of his sacrifice is 2,000-year-old point of debate. two moments in the gospels that show he fears his death are praying between the last supper but before his arrest, and just as he dies on the cross. gethsemane, or the mount of olives:

And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want." (Mt 26:39)

And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, "Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want." (Mk 14:35-36)

Then he withdrew from [the disciples] about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done." (Lk 22:41-42)

and as he dies in matthew and mark, he quotes psalm 22, "eli, eli, lema sebachthani?" or "my god, my god, why have you forsaken me?" he shows resolve and despair, i think so very like zeke. his line in snk 114 of "are you watching, mr. ksaver?" makes me think jesus' relationship to god was similarly distant, and three years of ministry have to have changed jesus as much as oh, 13 years of being a human weapon changed zeke. ymir "tests" both jaeger brothers in the paths, so i bet there's some heresy out there that jesus "stole" john the baptist's role and followers from him.

one thing i'm fascinated by that i haven't seen laid out is that grisha and the restorationists deify ymir, even calling themselves "the chosen children of god" (woof), while ksaver the scientist asks the more materialist question of "what was that 'something'" that ymir encountered if not "the devil of all earth"? but zeke has to split the difference between these two. or, the power of the founder and the paths are simply too "god-like" (kenny's words uwu) for anyone to remain rational.

when zeke first describes the paths after he blows himself up, the first thing i thought of was biblical wilderness. in snk 137, he tells armin he's spent "an astounding amount of time" in the paths trying to understand ymir; i'm cursed to fill in that blank with 40-something, years or centuries or millennia. zeke using the sand all around them as an example of lifeless objects that don't seek to multiply reminds me of two things in genesis:

god's covenant with abraham in genesis 15, reiterated in 22 after a ram(!!!) shows up to take isaac's place: "Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore" (Gn 22:16-17). of course ymir building titans from sand recalls genesis 2, that god molded adam from dust, but before god formalizes this covenant with abram/abraham, he also says "I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted" (Gn 13:16)

the memento mori verse that makes up the blessing for ash wednesday is "remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Gn 3:19) as he casts adam and eve from eden.

as a metaphor, i suppose wilderness in the bible evokes a time before creation, the void of possibility, and whether you find that beautiful or bleak, whether dust to dust makes you hope or dread, makes you closer to armin or zeke. my other atheist bestie from seminary was optimistic about the death of the human race because non-human life goes on, and that's okay and probably better; the earth can bounce back from the damage we dealt it, which is what trees growing in the colossals' footprints in the epilogue makes me think of. this makes me sound pro-apocalypse and well! i think this all solidifies that armin is the perfect counterweight, not just for the leaf and baseball; armin has always been curious about the planet, is a true scout, while zeke has been beyond the walls all his life, and has seen too much to be grateful. it's very mercury versus jupiter, details versus big picture.

5. biblical fiction

if you want to read the gospels as a total newb, start with mark because it's shortest, then i recommend matthew, then you can do luke and the acts of the apostles. but for juicy fiction that really digs into jesus as a human who struggles with the weight of expectation, you gotta get into:

the last temptation of christ (1988, dir. martin scorsese): i haven't read the book and only could stand the movie twice, yes even feat. david bowie as pontius pilate, but this was my first reaction to the the endng of AoT and the eremika cabin: jesus on the cross is tempted one last time by satan with a vision of running away and living as an ordinary man with mary magdalene. unfortunately zeke does not get a cabin vision but torment, and frankly his time in the paths is more like the three days jesus spent in hell before easter.

the liars' gospel by naomi alderman: is so crazy good, i love this writer deeply. it's more like four novellas stuck together of jesus' life and ministry and death narrated by his mother, judas iscariot, one of the sanhedrin that "tried" him prior to pilate, and barrabas, the criminal or revolutionary that pilate released to mark passover—all jewish, historical judean perspectives. to mary, jesus is kind of a deadbeat, awful eldest son (two of the gospels give him siblings; she did not die a virgin) who really should be working as a carpenter; to judas, he's an unworthy leader; etc. i think it's an excellent model for a novel-length, canon-compatible zeke fanfic.

if any sources are vague it's almost certainly out of the jewish annotated new testament (ed. levine/zvi brettler, 2017)

also tagging @pisspope 💜

[sleepyspoonie]

the unwanted guest spoilers:

i have an incoherent theory i've developed after reading tug that i dont know whether it has much consequence but would make a lot of sense if im on the right track

so the big focus of tug is the permeability of the soul and how exposure to other souls causes an interplay and intermingling between the two that causes shared memories, habits, etc.

my thought is this: what if this is why people are always quoting hamlet and the bible and fucking 21st century memes and pop culture and shit?

hear me out hear me out.

the 200 dead children from the ninth haunt harrow because they were used for her creation (abigail points out that harrow is MEGA haunted during one of the dream bubble sequences. additionally when harrow relates the story of her conception to john, he straight up specifically describes it as a RESURRECTION in htn).

compare this to john, who resurrected the original 10,000 (i think. dont quote me on this specific number.), caused the great resurrection, using the earth itself as a battery to do so. he was in a perfect lyctorhood with the soul of the earth (and thus intermingled with HER based on that same idea of permeation) when he did it.

now, we'll get to john specifically, but imo, it makes total sense that the interplay of humans living and dying on earth for thousands upon thousands of years would permeate alecto's soul and vice versa. alecto even when she had total amnesia as nona knew what an alligator was and drew it during school. but also, if that wasn't enough, look at JOHN.

because what do we know about john? mr none house left grief likes spitting dumb millennial memes and went to catholic school and thinks he's hot shit for knowing shakespeare (he named his first corpse kids titania and ulysses for fucks sake), and therefore may well be like. patient zero of all the nonsense that comes out of peoples' mouths around here.

TLDR. what im thinking is that the resurrection through alecto and john's lyctorhood and the interplay between the souls of john and the earth has caused a link between john and/or the people of the 21st century and the people of the houses who are descended from the people of the resurrection.

if it's john, i also have this afterthought of a tangent built upon the above - i think it makes MUCH jucier the idea that john believes he can kill everyone/wipe everyone's memories clean and start over as many times as it takes when his own memories and habits and feelings might be intrinsically interwoven into the souls of the people he does this to ("empty's just another word for clean?" you're not going to empty or clean much when your soul is intermingled with everyone your necromancy has ever come in contact with and your memories and your rage and your grief are a gaping wound bleeding into every human you ever touch)

[biblepercent]

Welcome to Bible%

Whether you're talking about pegging Crowley from Good Omens, doing unspeakable acts of horror to a political figure, or just being batshit insane on main, we here at Bible% are here to defend any and everyone who has ever been hit with the dread "None of those words are in the Bible."

Because, statistically speaking, 76.92% of those words are in the bible.

Inspired by @/t-counter There's more of us @bible-word-counter

SUBMISSIONS

STATUS: OPEN

We are currently accepting tumblr post submissions via @ing me in posts. Discord and comment screenshots are also being accepted via the ask box.

RULES OF SUBMISSIONS

I will not post every submission, if it's not funny or not tasteful it is not being approved. Shoot your shot, but if you don't see your post within the week assume you were denied.

The brain is a powerful tool, use it. I will not calculate any personal posts discussing ones personal life/kinks/etc on this blog. If it's something the op does not want in the spotlight, do not submit it here besties.

No video submissions unless transcript is already provided. I do not have the brain cells to watch a video in an attempt to capture every single word.

When submitting several posts at a time via the ask box, please link them all in a single ask -- if you spam my ask box, I will find you.

Stay unhinged xoxo

FAQ

Are you a bot? No. If I knew how to code a bot I would make this a bot, but alas.

How are you calculating this? This website, I use the King James Version

How do you choose what posts you reblog?

Easy! But also very complicated. I have a mental list of do's and don'ts when reblogging posts to this account. Obviously, the post has to be unhinged -- but there are other things I look for as well!

Will me adding religion to this post upset the op? If the answer is likely yes, I do not repost. Is this a personal post that obviously is not intended for a wider audience? If yes, I do not reblog.

9/10 fandom posts are safe for me to reblog, as well as anything under #none of those words are in the bible, but in general I just try to minimize the amount of discomfort I bring to the overall Tumblr community with this account -- as I know a lot of people hate religion.

WHO ARE YOU??

For the sake of this blog, I am N. I'm a non-bianary adult who uses she/they/he pronouns, and am a lesbian who is feral for any woman who could crush me.

I am not religious, I do not believe in a higher power. I have never read the bible, unless if you count the picture book bible my cousin had as a kid for some reason. This is for shits n giggles, nothing more.

[nochi-quinn]

legend of vox machina season 3 episode 4: hell to pay OR go fish

are you there sarenrae, etc etc

"we're gonna need all kinds of miracles" trailer line

I am rotating animated!pike trickfoot in my head like a rotisserie chicken; her relationship with sarenrae being Like That and how much of it is what Ashley originally wanted to do and how much of it was built in the in-between time with her playing two other main campaign characters & their points of view

now they can sell more toys

SDCC exclusive Demon Bunny Grog

just pulling every accent out of the bag

"the fuck?" you knew what you were getting into

I would love some concept art for Dis, there's So Much Going On it's hard to appreciate everything as much as I want to

wait he named his big demon castle the Brass Skull

you overemotional nerd

vax don't say the q word

"I could have made it cool" nothing you do is cool

fuck yes allura

oh pike

thanks I hate it

we're gonna hafta juuuuuump

lots of Aaah! Real Monsters! looking-ass designs in hell

this asshole

mala: they made him hot! me: what were they gonna do, not make him hot?

none of this narration is reliable

fucking cut-rate raphael

and I'm not even that impressed by raphael

would you like to form a contract

"such pure blood" hey what the fuck does that mean

godborn pike??

(please read edda-earth)

the lighting!!!

what happens if they deal out and there's no black skull

"are they within ten feet of me"

NONE OF THIS NARRATION IS RELIABLE

can we stop giving grog a quip every time they cut back to the rest of the team, you're killing me (and the tension)

the truth is vicious and you owe it something

the stained glass!!

the portraits!!

I'm gonna cry!!

OKAY I HAVE OPINIONS

everything that happened to zerxus was His Own Fucking Fault, he was a Lawful Stupid paladin who was so convinced he could redeem THE DEVIL, FROM THE BIBLE, that he entered a pact he was never going to come out the winner on.

ALSO (per yelling in chat with mala) avalir was always going to fall. the calamity was always going to happen. the situation simply wasn't sustainable. laerryn just happened to be the one that hit the button. big "kirkwall was always going to explode, anders just lit the fuse" energy.

...spoilers for DA2, ig

fucking reddit atheist

"we all have blind spots" boooooo

"thank you for losing graciously" give it time

"we are his blood"

"what are the chances that isn't for us"

the tradition of "if you can't get cast as a big stompy monster make your own" continues (matt was yenk)

[straynoahide]

re: misotheism

reposted with permission from @richardsphere

I genuinely asked this to know what you meant, so this post is not meant to be either a exposition of my own worldview, nor a polemic against those ideas. I instead wanted to make points about misotheism that are meant to be thought provoking, exploratory, or challenging assumptions that I notice.

mean technically, im an agnostic misotheist. There is probably really no way to put my complicated feelings on the matter of the universe, existence and/or divinity in truly simple terms. So this is gonna be a confusing ramble, but im gonna do my best. To start with the Agnostic part: I dont know wether a god (or multiple gods) exists for sure. They might exist or they might not, and if they exist its none of my business. If somehow, you proved to me definitively the existence of a creator, I would worship them no more then I would thank my Father for fucking my mom and bringing me into being as a product thereoff. He did that for his own reasons and I dont have to thank him for making me without my consent. (I know the analogy is somewhat crude, but its the best way I can put it into words).

I think you've done very well and this has many of the intuitions I share regarding misotheism and misotheists. When theists speak of "faith crises", sometimes they face similar philosophical questions, potential answers, doubts, etc., because these have plagued human beings forever. So I think theism and dystheism are closer in terms of a worldview and epistemology than non-theism.

In fact, historical misotheistic thinkers or polemicists against misotheism have been religious figures. These are sometimes incorporated into scripture (I'll get to it later), with one very salient example, that is in fact one of my favorite parts of the BIble.

I think most people who are real-world misotheists are always strongly agnostic. The emotionally crushing realization of misotheism with also a certainty in a monotheistic god would probably be too much of a 'heavy burden', too, well, maddening. A bit like cosmicism or Lovecraftian horror.

There seems to be an antinatalist undercurrent, the mere mention of consent to be born suggests it is a meaningful category, but that is not obvious. It's like when you speak of determinism and free will in philosophy and you posit the idea will is not meaningfully free because our brains are subject to natural laws (an anti-compatibilist view of the free will problem). What is it like to consent to be born, to consent to exist? "Consent" is defined already within a particular type of material, biological, mental and even developmental existence when there is enough complexity. So from that follows also that the idea of gratitude or thanklessness to sources of origination (parents, gods, etc) are not inherently absurd. You can be thankful even if you did not consent to be born. Do you however feel that existence is not something to be thankful for? That's the antinatalist undercurrent.

I also believe that, if they were to exist, all evidence in the reality of the world we can observe is that the nett sum of any such divinities (allowing for polytheism) is not only "unworthy of worship" but probably outright deserving of scorn. That is not to say I disallow for the existence of some degree of "benevolent divinity", but i think of that more like you'd think of the Hellenistic Hestia then the Catholic notion of an All-powerfull god. A single shred of genuine goodness surrounded by indifference, cruelty and outright malice so outnumbered that they're rendered largely irrelevant? That i can believe in. But the notion of a "Benevolent nett-sum-divinity" was disproven long before i was even born.

Mhm. Yeah. You praise a good god and you indict a bad god, from a system of moral values. What are those ethics based on? Ancient Greek thought already proposed a paradox called the Euthyphro Dilemma which goes like this: "Is 'Good' good because the gods declare it, or are the gods good because they have properties that are already ontologically good?" Though they phrased it more abstractly with "gods love good bla bla".

The paradox's purpose is to illustrate that if the divine declares morality into being, then it is arbitrary; if morality is already primordial to the divine, that merely acknowledges or follows it, then the divine is superfluous. You seem to follow here the part of the paradox that goes, "Gods are good [or bad] bc they have certain properties". So in your view, divinity is superfluous altogether. It's like a government's relation to morality, a 'cosmic government', they can be either good or bad 'rulers', but they don't create nor define moral goodness, and instead are merely subjected to it.

This way of thinking is incompatible with Abrahamic monotheism and so cannot represent a fruitful polemic against it, however. While it can in fact represent polemics against polytheism. Monotheistic ideology, imo a true revolution in the history of ideas, which began within the Ancient Israelite religion (in the form of yahwism growing apart from Canaanite polytheism), identifies goodness with divinity. Divinity is goodness.

Therefore, goodness is the ultimate reality. Misotheism is its most pessimistic therefore within the monotheistic framework: divinity is evil. Evil is the ultimate first-order value. Why, though?

If someone made this universe, best case scenario (to me) is that they did it by accident. Because only malice or incompetence could explain the reality that we inhabit, and the manner in which the fundamental observable laws that govern it seem to me, to be almost tailor-made to cause, inspire and incentivise cruelty and suffering. So I dont know wether gods exist (and even believe that on some level, something must). But if a (colletcitve of) creator/spirit/god(s) existed. I neither trust nor like them. #i really hope that makes sense#im not the best at words#The universe is cruel and uncaring#Darwins laws thrive on predation and cruelty#And Newton demands nothing but a slown drawn-out and inevitable loss#So why should a creator of said universe be trusted loved or worshipped?

Okay, so this is the observation. Because there is evil and suffering in the world, the problem of evil. One thing I notice also though, is the constant conflation between indifference and cruelty. These are fundamentally not the same. Indifference is mindless. Cruelty is either mindful (sadistic) or careless (neglectful).

For instance, a volcano or wild animals behaving as wild animals are amoral and therefore I don't think you can say they're cruel. You can feel them as cruel, but most of the world is not filled with 'cruelty' in that sense; most of the natural world is inert, mindless matter.

It is true most of the universe seems barren of successful life and civilization, but I don't think we can actually have a frame of comparison to say whether 'existence' in general (cosmos, multiverse) is fine-attuned towards life or towards lifelessness. What are we comparing to, in proportion, we cannot make percentages when we don't even know the possible range of existence, when science and our intellective limits still place a barrier for us to compare the "known unknowns" with the "unknown unknowns".

Maybe all the cosmological constants need to be at very precise ranges so that things like the curvature, age, etc, of the universe at least has old-enough, hot-enough stars, for one (1) planet with water and carbon-based life, and it is in fact, fine-attuned towards Earth. Maybe there are millions of civilizations and we just haven't realized yet (Fermi Paradox), and millions of types of abiogenesis. Maybe we are a cosmic colony through panspermia.

But, misotheism often has psychological and not philosophical explanations. You're speaking of the universe when probably most of these perceptions, negative emotions, feeling of disproportion, etc, are about the human world, i.e., societies, and human history. People are cruel instead of kind. But are they also not kind, or whatever your ethics place as opposed to the negativity of cruelty and suffering?

And do you really have a conviction that history will not play out in a way in which one defeats the other? How? Is the fact one act of evil has occurred enough to prove misotheism? Could a world without evil even exist at the same time as free will, if you believe in that? Is evil to be declared triumphant already? Can we avert it?

Misotheism would entail a world where cruelty is divine. Actually, I've been exploring this concept in speculative fiction. It's quite twisted. One thing is whether the divine is good or evil, or both, but another thing seems a different question- can we defy the divine? Is this part of free will? Is this an intentional part of free will if the creator exists?

The thing I was mentioning about Scripture dealing with misotheism- providence or 'theodicy', the justness of the cosmos from its creators' governance and morality; and misotheism, are explored in the Book of Job. It is a narrative framed in a way that makes a man lose every reason to believe in goodness, and offers him choices, and others make predictions about those choices based on their idea of what goodness and theodicy are. Have you read it? Total rec.

[inhaledpie4]

Curious about your use of the Divine Name:

Why is YHWH especially especially special; why not Elohim or El Shaddai?

Why are any of them necessary when, to my knowledge, none of them are used in their Hebrew forms in the New Testament?

Because YHWH is His Name. It is the name He gives us in Exodus 3. YHWH gives us His name so that we can use it - so we can call Him by that name. He wants us to use His name so that everyone knows that He is the god we follow. That's why I personally find it incredibly important to use His name. Lots of people take this same thinking and use English versions of His name like "Jehovah" and "Yahweh," which are legitimate ways of honouring His request for us to use His name as well.

God isn't a name. Neither is El/Elohim/Adonai/Lord/Lord of Hosts, HaShem, Adonai, El Shaddai/Almighty/Most High Father/Abba, etc. These are all titles or descriptions.

Why are any of them necessary? Well... we have to call him -something- right? We can't just go around saying He/Him and expect people to know which god we're talking about - much less that we are talking about any god at all. Furthermore, we don't go around calling Yeshua/Jesus "He/Him" all the time. We use (the many titles that were given to Him or...) His name - again because it was given to us to use.

The New Testament is written in Greek. Why would it contain the Hebrew letters "יהוה" or any of the other Hebrew titles for Him (Elohim=Lord and El Shaddai=Almighty/Most High, the examples you gave)? Are you making a case for us to use the Greek words and titles for YHWH and Yeshua? The New Testament uses the Greek words for God, Lord, and Father. If it means anything to you, I have a New Testament bible written in Hebrew and it uses His name, יהוה. Going back to an earlier point, I think it is reasonable for everyone to call Him by the words available in our own languages.

I hope this answers your questions :)

[hannahhook7744]

Claudine Frollo Application revamped;

Trigger warnings; Child abuse, neglect, religious trauma, etc.

🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

Name: Claudine Esther-Mary Frollo.

Known Aliases:  The Mouse girl, the rat girl, the weird religious girl, the Belle girl,  that weird Frollo girl, Crepe girl, Ms. Swabbie, She who does not make a sound, and Harriet's Swabbie.

Nicknames or Other: red, Mousey, the meek mouse, Classy, Leftie, the carrot top, Brainy, Dean, Essie, Einstein, Claudy, Dinny, Dina, Didi, Claw, Cherry, Bluey, Rosie, little Rose, Ruby, Brainiac, Beagle,  mystery, Rusty, Scarlet, star girl, Spitfire, chatterbox, and Bookworm.

Do not ever call me angel or goddess.

Date of Birth or Best Guess: November 1st, eighteen to nineteen years ago.

Place of Birth: the isle of the lost on the second floor of Frollo's Creperie.

Favorite Color: Grey because it reminds me of my rat friend and it's neutral.

it also makes my father less angry and less likely to punish me—

Favorite Activity: can I put more than one? I've heard you can put more than one, so I'm going to do that. Sorry if it's wrong and impolite. I like baking, cooking, drawing, painting, listening to music, reading, doing experiments, oil painting, tie-dye, sewing, playing music, sailing, learning languages, learning, and reading/writing poetry.

Favorite School Subject; Home ec because it's one of the only classes I have other than my bible study classes. I'm home-schooled, so I don't know any other classes one would have.

Father's Name (or alias): Claude Frollo.

Mother's Name (or alias): I don't know. My father doesn't like to talk about her and made that very clear the one time I asked. I think she's dead.

Father's Profession: Owner of Frollo's Creperie.

Mother's Profession: She's dead so none.

Who is your favorite of the first wave of VKs? There is no wrong answer.

Evie, I guess. She seemed really nice and didn't treat me as if I was creepy like her friends did.

In your own words, tell us why you want to come to Auradon. There is no wrong answer.

There's no wrong answer? Then I'll be honest.

I want to come to Auradon because I can't stand living on the same island as my father. It might seem harsh but it's the truth and you wouldn't understand unless you were here.

Everyone knows how he treats me. Knows how he's trying to keep me dumb so I won't go exploring 'sinful' things that I have interest in like equal rights, science, art, and music. Knows that he works me halfway to death and punishes me harshly for everything—even things out of my control.

I am everything my father despises.

Red headed, female, left handed, feminist, etc. He hates everything about me and makes it clear every time he sees me.

I don't feel safe here. I fear for my life and the lives of those harboring me.

They may be stronger than me and him but he has more power than us.

More influence.

And that scares me. Please, you're all supposed to be good and sweet and kind and right. You're supposed to be heroes and save people. So, save me and the other kids of the isle.

Please. I'll be good.

I promise.

Please.

I'll do anything, just get me out of here before he kills me. I don't want to see hellfire.  I don't want to go back to the closet or the flames. Please. Why did you let this happen? Why didn't you help us? What did we do wrong—

Signature:

Claudine Esther-Mary Frollo.

[thehandmaidofgod]

How to Fulfill Purpose in Life

                                   

The ability or potential of truly fulfilling one’s purpose in life is beyond physical efforts and can only be successfully achieved with the help of the Holy Spirit; this is as a result of the constant battle with the flesh in this realm.

From God’s word through the 43rd chapter, vs. 7 of prophet’s Isaiah, we get to understand that God created us all to bring Glory to him, this is obviously a spiritual assignment and clearly explains why this cannot be achieved by physical strength just like I stated in the previous paragraph.

Another point can be found in Prophet Zechariah’s book chapter 4:6b; where God said: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit (the Holy Spirit), says the Lord God of host.

God is spirit and whoever must serve him must do so in Spirit and in truth.

But then, in addition to the Holy Spirit’s assistance to help us live a fulfilled life (a life that brings glory to God), we have some physical roles to play on our own part.

Here are some of those:

Ask God for the Manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

This is the first and the most important of all; it’s true that we receive the Holy Spirit the moment we confess Christ and maintain a righteous life, but having a car that is dormant is as good as having none, so you must genuinely yearn and ask God in prayer for the manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s gift and fruits in your life; this way, every other requirement becomes very easy to practice.

Intentionality.

Now, the goal is to live a life that brings glory to God, right? You have to be intentional about it, by consciously incorporating this resolve into all aspects of your life, from basic life choices like thoughts, dress styles, manner of approach, actions we take on a daily basis, and choice of company, to secondary life choices and beyond, like life career, profession, spouse, source of livelihood, etc.

Total Surrender to God’s will.

You are no longer in charge here, because if you are; it’s the flesh at work. But when God is, it is the Holy Spirit at work, whatsoever he says; you do, hereby bringing glory to him.

Patience.

Learn to trust the process, God knows just what he is doing; it might seem too slow a journey for you but, God’s got you.

Invest your Talent into the kingdom’s Business.

God created each and every human with a talent/ potential, yours could be singing, playing a musical instrument, playing football, or whatever you can name, we all have one; mine is writing and here’s what I’m using it to do, to bring glory to God, whatever it is that you have passion in doing; I mean whatever, please do it to bring glory to God, do it to draw souls to God’s kingdom.

Remember the parable of the three servants in the bible (Mathew 25:24-30), the servants were handed coins to take care of, two of the servants invested theirs and made extra coins in addition to the ones they were given earlier, while one dug a hole and buried his (in other words, did not invest his), the latter part of this parable revealed how the first two were handsomely appreciated and rewarded unlike the latter, who was severely punished.

There is another vital point in the parable; the faithful servants used the coins they were given in honor of their master and not for their own selfish interests.

Faith in God.

Like I said, God’s got you; rely solely on him and do so unwaveringly.

Here’s a personal tip on three will question I ask myself prior engaging in anything:

Will it please God?

Will it help someone?

Will I be happy doing it?

So far, the above will questions have greatly influenced my general life’s decision making positively, and I’m sure they’ll do same for you.

While applying the above key points, it’s also important to take note of some possible threats to watch out for that might stand as a hindrance to fulfilling our purposes; I call them “The Purpose Fighters”, of which it is the devil, our adversary, who is the mastermind behind all of it.

Sin Generally.

All forms of sin as listed out in various parts of the bible can stand as a huge hindrance to fulfilling our purpose on earth, sin is not of God, hence one can never fulfill his or her purpose (Living a life that brings glory to God), while living in sin.

Impatience.

Impatience makes one see how slowly a thing is going, instead of actually seeing the positive impact of that very thing.

Lust of/for money.

This has driven many astray, the path of righteousness is a narrow and crooked way, it is not always rosy, but the world looks so flashy, the devil then presents diverse easy avenues (that doesn’t give glory to God) of generating extravagant wealth that always end in sorrow unless divinely intervened by God.

Remember, money is the root of all evil.

Greed.

There’s a popular saying: “The more money you have, the more money you want”, greed follows closely behind lust of money, and at this point, the money sub consciously becomes an idol to its victim.

Lust of the Eye.

Literally, everywhere we look these days are filled with pornographic materials, which ends up feeding the hearts of those that are caught in its webs with thoughts that in no way bring glory to God.

The eye is the gate to the heart, and the word of God tells us to guard our hearts with all diligence because out of it comes the issues of life.

Lust of the Flesh.

This mostly follows after the lust of the eye, fornication and adultery have become the order of the day and the lust of the eye hugely contributes to this.

Conclusion: Be alert, be vigilant, your enemy the devil, roams about like a roaring lion, looking for whom to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

[redswaberkez]

NOW CAN I HEAR UR HCS FOR P1 AND P2? >:)

NHGRRRR STRAINIG MY BRAIN our hcs also kinda same buutt anywayyyyy

there is kindaa a longread sooo

P1

- Among all dudes only P1 and sch.. sc.. SHTOPOR were at war (p1) or served in the army (shtopor (airbone)) - has sufficient paramedical skills due to military service - his hobbies are playing guitar and singing. Punk-like singing. Grunge-like singing. Not even singing, I would say SCREAMING - he doesnt understand almost all jokes. And if hes trying to make a joke probably its gonna be dark as hell\unfunny\scary\obscure or dad puns*tm (rare) - "You cant sleep now. Monsters are nearby" - can speak german - "Demonic voice wont shut the fuck up. Please help me." - P1 is very diff in comparison to other dudes. He is so serious. He is the one at party who stays in the corner (meme ref they dont know that [...]) - scary mask amd skary voice is only a cover. Deeply inside he is very gentle and caring. But nobody knows this. - He IS an antihorny. He HATES nudity - my todays dream is revealed that he has Cain (like cain and abel ykno) vibes. Im not joking. It was in my dream. and Im gonna stick to it. I DONT KNOW BIBLE THO!!!!!!!!! my mom just once mentioned cain yesterday AND HERE WE GO - he struggles with religion SO MUCH. (im not gonna explain it rn. im doin a fcking comic on it) - Hes always on the verge of a mental breakdown. But he perfer to not think abt it and go VIOLENT that let his true emotions out - migraine survivor - imo he is a cleany one, and his own hygiene is GOOD, altho he doesnt use hairbrush that often. - "Gifted but lazy kid" in the past. "Academic perfomance flew off. You need to show him to a doc. He Could If He Wanted To." - p1 doesnt smoke or drink. He actually doesnt do all these unhealty stuff - oh GOD LORD am NOT your STRONGEST SOLDIER😭

P2

- Can you gib me an ibuprofen. My head are exploding rn (literally) - homophobic bisexual - lit had married his wife cuz he didnt know his bi and thats the reason why their marriage is SHIT - postal dudess (i dont like word doe :/) is his younger sister - he would kill for her and she would kill for him. I love them sm. - also has struggles with religion, but less intense than p1, p2 actually solved them later (gonn explain it laterrrr) - his organism is a fucking garbage but somehow his addictions doesnt damage him that much. - stinky rat. Shower? more like shower of deodorant AHAHSHAH - Hes always perked up, always joking and funny and unfunny, horny, shit, sarcastic etc jokes. - His language is Sarcasm - "im gonna кмs in front of them just to switch trajectory of their lives LMAOOOOO" - Also Lazy Gifted kid*tm - "Evil as weekend entertainment)" - Would like to play drums - p2, p3 and shtopor would drink together - His sunglasses is his trademark, he doesn't go anywhere without his sunglasses. - AND OF COURSE he has his own OPINIONS ON EVERYTHING. Even if hes wrong. He is stubborn as fuck. You can't argue with him. - He can sleep literally anywhere. Even in a ditch (he did). And you cant woke him up. - The three S bingo*tm - stupid sadistic and suicidal - Jack of all trades, master of none - He is very private, when it comes to touch, altho he has a touch starvation - therefore ^ his love language is touch and tactile connection

Idk for now thst all 😖

[thewayofyehoshua]

Are you a FAN or a DISCIPLE?

Of all the religions of the world today none has as many divisions and denominations as (Roman Roots) Christianity. When speaking of Christianity, the word (is not in the Bible) by itself does not identify which of the many DIVISIONS of Christianity one is speaking of. (Question is, who has the truth?)

Although these churches have many similarities (a form of godliness, but they deny the power there of), some of them have great differences that are very crucial in defining what is supposed to be of they that follow the Messiah. These differences may include the identity/deity of Yehoshua Hamashiach (Jesus Christ), Elohim's (God) plan of salvation, the existence of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), the existence of Satan, the 3 god Trinity, following the Torah, Elohim's (God) current and future relationship with the Jewish people, the mission and destiny of the Kedoshim (set-apart ones) or (church), and of course the identity of the true assembly of Yehoshua Hamashiach (Jesus Christ).

So the question is? Were you called to BE . . . A Christian, Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic, etc?

NO YOU WERE CALLED TO BE A DISCIPLE!

Of what? Christianity? NO . . . NO . . . NO

Leave your former ways in greco-roman Christianity and moving on to follow the TRUTH of the Way of Yehoshua Hamashiach. (Acts_24:14, Acts_24:5, Rev. 18:4)

Be a Disciple of Yehoshua HaNetzari!

A person who is a disciple of the WAY, Yehoshua Hamashiach (Jesus the Messiah), is not just a believer in Him; they are a person who has been transformed through the (Ruach HaKodesh) Holy Ghost and his or her lifestyle is conformed to HIS teachings - accepting the whole council of Yehovah-God and the Hebraic foundations of both Brit-HaDashah (Renewed Covenant) and Tanakh (The Scriptures). Also continuing in the original teachings of the Apostles in the book of Acts (Apostolic Writings) (Acts 2:42), not just those parts of the scriptures that are comfortable for you. You are being called back to the Hebraic Restoration of the Faith (Jude 1:3)

[theotheradversary]

"Blood is thicker than water". Fucking Bible eh?

I like the counter point "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb".

The initial Bible quote is in reference to the blood of family can draw one astray from the light, god and the holy spirit.

But the counter point? That's lovely. And no reference to the Bible in that one. But purely about friends and family made through bonds is stronger than just blood lineage. This quote is from the... Early 1800s(?) i believe. Doesn't really matter. As long as there were free thinking minds, there will always be a clever person that would come up with something similar to that quote. It's just the most famous. But it was a poignant counter to the Bible quote. Also biting the thumb at religious belief on top of it all.

So. "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb". Keep that in your hearts my friends. It's one of the real truths of the world and reality as we know it. You can choose your own family and discard the link of blood.

My mum is a part of my family. And not because she gave birth to me, but because i chose her to be my mum. Which is very very very special. More special than "of the womb".

Others will choose another for their mum, guardian or similar. Because it is the right thing to do. Sometimes the family you're born into has really fucking shitty people in it. You may choose some or none to be apart of your Real, and i mean Real with a capital R, family.

Your family is built around your (hopefully) free thinking mind. You are never locked in to what ever life started your off with. Remember that friends.

Make your family. Never accept the default mode. Create. Develop. Love. Accept. You're fine the way you are (mostly, some of you are gods damned crazy/fucked out complete assholes and likely won't find a true family, being one of the few that are stuck with lineage). Remember. The people you accept have to accept you. So that bond is amazing and wonderful.

Find your love... Never be assigned it.

Love you all my friends!

Oh.. I'm looking at images of old scrolls, writs etc that have been uploaded to the net by various museums. It's been interesting seeing the detail that books like "Solomon's Key" and such have missed or out right ignored. Like the Puritans that translated the Solomon scrolls/writ, aka The "Solomon Key(s)" ignored every bit of the sex stuff. Knobs. Called it "arcana obscura". I think.

We need true modern historians to be given access to these old as Sin scrolls and writs so they can be properly analysed and translated. Now that we use digital technology, the artifacts can be preserved in darkness and climate control, while they/we will get amazingly detailed images/details, thus it can be translated by modern, objective eyes.

So I'm going to write to the museum's to revisit these artifacts and give us a modern, complete view. I think we'll find some amazing things that have definitely been missed.

Can anyone assist me with this endeavour? Ones that have better words, thoughts and understanding of the procedures involved?

I believe i have a contact at the museum in Munich. So I'll see if i can get into contact with them and see how such a thing can be done.

But.... Some help will be greatly appreciated. Even if it's only in writing a letter/request.

Again, love you all! Though, I'd appreciate it if you guys comment on my posts rather than just ❤️ it.

[bakurapika]

when i was a very christian kid with undiagnosed ocd and a focus on religiosity, i knew there were things required for "christian" behavior that weren't actually spelled out in the bible (i'm still not convinced that the obscure verse about spilling his seed is against masturbation). these were usually handwaved as being behavior the world thinks are inappropriate, and we need to keep our reputation clean to reflect god or whatever. with the caveat that jesus hung out with tax collectors and prostitutes so be nice to them

anyway i remember thinking very hard about why swear words aren't allowed. the closest justification i ever heard was another verse about keeping your actions/words/thoughts pure but that was so vague and arbitrary?

i realized that swear words (fuck) and words substituted for swear words (fudge, freak, eff, frig, frick, etc) were from an ethical standpoint identical. like there's nothing inherent in the word fuck that isn't applicable to the word fudge (when used as a swear)

so you'd think the next logical step would be to realize swearing is ok, right? but at that age it was still a religious tenant to trust your parents teachers etc and I couldn't call them liars.

so therefore, i decided that all swear words were morally wrong, including fudge.

i still remember there was a song from victorious or something called "freak the freak out" and i was sooo appalled (although i think i assumed it wasn't "freak the fuck out" but "fuck the fuck out" lol)

BUT, i can't attribute all of this to analytical tween me. i remember some teachers (religious private school) would be even stricter about it. I used to say "What the...!" because comics etc said that. I got in trouble for it once because a lot of bad words could follow that sentence. even when it was ok to say "what the heck" so. what the heck.

and some teachers wouldn't let you say "oh my gosh" because that was basically the same as "oh my god." even i thought that was stupid, because none of us ever prayed to Gosh. wtf

and in retrospect as an adult, i still don't really get the enforcement of censorship around the word God. because i honestly believe that most people think that's god's given name. Like God came into existence and was like "I AM GOD" the same way god might have said "CALL ME ISHMAEL" . so the commandment to not take the name of the lord your god in vain is "don't swear with 'god' because it's really rude to me, Mr. God, esquire"

in christianity we learned about all the different names of god, some being titles, some being actual names, so we knew that wasn't god's only name. but the way it's capitalized everywhere like a name... lol........

after leaving the religion, i did start using "jesus" as a swear which defeats this, because if god was god's given name, i would use that as a swear too. i know that might seem like "ohh im still being controlled by christianity, it's still present in my life" but like yeah it is. so being able to use those words casually is still big dick energy to me

in judaism btw people do censor "g-d" sometimes - my temple never does that, but i do it online as "gd" sometimes if im writing something specifically As A Jew About Judaism because i don't want to sound two-faced to someone who DOES believe in censoring "g-d." but even then, i never heard it as it being God's Real Name. just that the Name is censored for its holiness, but then the word referring to the name gets censored and people use another term even vaguer, and so on over the millennia. i really do believe that in another hundred years, people might start censoring hashem for the same reason

[thecaseforspacecases]

S01E01 We Gotta Get Out Of This Place

First off, apologies to the 12 people who followed this account back when I was camping on a SpiderDevil themed Marvel account name. This is now a Space Cases tumblr, feel free to unfollow if you're still around.

I decided to start writing here because I am, to this day, still in love with the 1996 Nickelodeon kids' show Space Cases. I'm a.) starving for content and b.) desperate to put my thoughts down somewhere and so here we are.

I'm going to use this space to do an episode-by-episode rewatch, go though the official website and show bible, find and curate other content I stumble across on the internet, post some old magazine scans I have that haven't seen the light of day since Livejournal, etc etc.

Today, I'm starting at the start and watching S01E01 "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place." I have the old VHS rips saved to my computer, HOWEVER, for this I'll be watching the uploads on the youtube channel "thespacecases" (link below) which has them in much better quality. My thoughts under the cut!

I'm going to be scribbling down my thoughts as I watch:

(For trivia and behind the scenes info, check out the episode guide on spacecasestv.com)

I'm trying desperately to read the Starcademy motto but I can't make out the first word. So something Sine Fronteras - ...Without Borders? I took a quick look around the wiki and spacecasestv.com but couldn't find it. Darn!

The opening intro to the characters is ICONIC. I can still quote it to this day.

Davenport: I believe in regulations and procedure, Mr. Band. If you added those two words to your vocabulary you could...

Catalina: Double it?

Hello, police? I'd like to report a murder.

Here we learn that Radu is the first Andromedan at Starcademy and it seems via context that he is the only one. Probably hasn't been there too very long. What a difficult thing to do, and then to end up in the remedial class at least partly because the students are prejudiced against Andromedans because their parents fought against them in Spung-Andromedan War. I believe I also read somewhere (maybe in the show bible??) that he was chosen to go by the other Andromedans because he didn't fit in with them. Maybe I made that up.

Anyway, fair warning, Radu has always been my favorite and I'm endlessly fascinated by the potential I saw in developing the Andromedan people.

I've also developed a soft spot for Harlan and his character development/potential for growth, and the development of his relationship with Radu, who he initially hated due to his prejudices against Andromedans. And I also ship it so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(@shmeiliarockie posted their thoughts after a season 1 rewatch awhile back and has a head-canon that Andromedans don't have gender which I LOVE and have not stopped thinking about. Click this for the post.)

Ok, I have got to be more brief I think, I'm only a minute and a half into this episode. BUT THIS EP IS SO GOOD.

Davenport: The vacuum of space isn't fair either, Mr. Band. It can destroy anyone who doesn't have what it takes to survive. And...none of you has what it takes.

Devastating.

I want breakdowns of all the different symbols on their uniforms and what they mean. Maybe the prominent shoulder ones symbolize the planet they come from? Harlan has three polyhedral like pillars which I've only just now thought may stand for Earth and the Lunar and Mars colonies.

Catalina is the eye roll champion.

Radu's "What is your problem?!" to Harlan. Yes, bby, don't take his shit.

Yes, why IS the Christa named after an Earth teacher, why IS Thelma a Techno-HUMAN emulating machine?? I do wonder if the creators knew or if they were just planning to figure it out if they ever got that far.

Personally, I subscribe to the time loop theory wherein the crew in the future sends Thelma and the Christa back in time to pick up their younger selves.

Thelma has the best gags.

Goddard: Band, Helm. Catalina, Engineering. Rosie, Bova, Scanning and Tactical. Radu, take Navigation.

I love this scene, chills.

They end up going through the White Circle anyway: 7 years, 4 months, and 22 days from home. Definite Star Trek: Voyager vibes, which had begun the year before in 1995.

Davenport is complaining that she had theater tickets for tonight. Where, ma'am?? The wiki says that Starcademy orbits Pluto.

Harlan is yelling at Radu and Radu looks INDIGNANT. I love him.

Goddard: I was three weeks shy. Three more weeks and my career as a teacher would have been over. I'd have been back out in space with a crew. Instead I'm...

Catalina: Back out in space.

Radu: With a crew.

Interestingly, a similar line was used against me in a DnD campaign when my ship captain then-Warlock was bemoaning his fate. :)

This episodes rules. What a great start to a series. The creators wanted Space Cases to be a "Star Trek for kids" and as someone who is also obsessed with Star Trek, well, well done, you hooked me as a child.

If you've made it this far, thank you very much for reading. And if you want to talk Space Cases, feel free to reblog/reply to this post or send me an ask. I'd love to chat about SC!