#prayers are useless

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

"An alleged loving God that always waits for believers to beg and cry before it gives them what they need doesn't make any sense."

He likes to hear you beg.

[waldosakimbo]

OH MY GOD Heretic (2024) has me by the throat. I feel like this one is definitely worth rewatching, because it TELLS you so much, it advertises SO MUCH right away, and it's sinister how it plays out!

Does Sister Barnes have faith? Does Sister Paxton actually believe she's seen evidence of god from, hilariously, some amateur porn? You're given the idea Sister Paxton believes more but she has no converts and no baptisms. Sister Barnes is questioning, but she's more successful. Why is that? (Is it the big sad eyes?) When they spot the teenagers in the street and Sister Paxton earnestly says "I love them," they immediately betray her. She loves the world. Its cruel. She wants to save this man. He's cruel. Faith and cruelty. Iterations. The butterfly image. The dead moths coating the window. Belief and disbelief and god damn it's tasty. Quick aside, did anyone else think he drugged those drinks or not? I worried initially, but I think it was genuinely just another one of his tests for later. Also it's insidious how Reed tells them "truths." He tells them the walls and ceiling have metal but they don't know that would block cell phones. He tells them the front door locks by a mechanism timer that doesn't come undone until daylight, (but he can switch it off). He tells them the house is wired weird. He tells them he put the aromatic pie there, he tests them, and it's so. Good! So when he tells them about religion, his motivations, his study of theology, and the challenge from Sister Barnes (the faithless? Who choses Belief and stands up to him? Who has her throat slit as the sacrificial lamb? Beautiful, tragic) is the other side of that. The flipside of the coin. Hugh Grant is AMAZING in this, because he's Hugh Granting it up but instead of a comedy, it's a horror. Unsettling to the max. Why? Because it's just the power of humanity and faith. It's JUST. The power. Of humanity. And Faith. It's nothing supernatural. It's using knowledge, history, the arts, humanity and psychology. As a weapon. Longlegs fell short for me because it was eventually supernatural and I thought it clunky and mishandled in the second half. This one? It's just humans. It's just an evil man. And it's visceral. More grounded, which makes it Terrifying. Even when faced with a miracle, we learn it's false. It's a magic trick. Even when we could pray, we're told BY THE PERSON. WHO IS FAITHFUL, that it means nothing, but sometimes it's beautiful to still pray for someone. Which brings me to the point where Sister Paxton was stabbed and praying in level...three? of his twisted Dante's inferno house? Actually, quick aside to that, I love the back and forth of quoting Spider-Man or Voltaire. Quoting Virgil or the Swamp Thing. It's again putting them on opposite sides, another mirror. But also showing the house itself as a labyrinth, yes, but specifically I think that was Dante's Inferno poster in his office, making Paxton Virgil, travelling the levels of Hell to the frozen pit/horrifying chamber of cages where he keeps other pious women, going Through to get Out. "Sister P" Is praying even though she Just said it does nothing. Reed crawling towards her, his own throat slit. But there's this moment where he's draped over her, sobbing or choking, looking for the warmth of her prayer, I think trying to feel her belief because he's been searching for it for so long and he's left empty. Before he can find peace (or kill her, did he have his knife to her throat to kill her? I think he would, but I still think he had this moment where he wished he could believe to find peace with someone, especially after seeing that interview where Grant stated backstory of Reed that he was a lonely man who lost someone dearly to him and he searched through religions to find comfort and couldn't) he's killed. He's smashed in the head with the McGuffin from earlier. Victory. Did Barnes come back? I think she was saving her strength and had one final moment to help her friend. And then that fucking ending. Is she dead? Is she alive? Was the butterfly real? Did she believe? Is it only her belief, her butterfly, or is a final hallucination before she passes? Did she make it out of Hell? Anyways, I'm going to have to see this again soon. Delicious. Horrifying. Loved it.

[phoenixcatch7]

Something I love about the implications of the new ‘elemental’ weapons in totk is the idea that link is powering these things himself.

Like, in the first game the weapons were always on - they powered up whether they were being held or sheathed or even dropped. Give a monster a smack, drop it on the ground and it’ll light back up in a few seconds. Generally, this meant that link didn’t have magic, unlike other games in the series. Even the champion’s abilities were just that - the champion’s! He just indicated when to light it up!

But in totk it’s very different. Now, he’s crafting and powering his own gear. The gems were long theorised to be the main ingredient creating magic items, like elemental arrows or enchanted jewellery and armour, and now we have proof!! He’s even learned how to do it himself! Combining gems, or even monster parts to his weapons and lighting them up whenever he wants! Turns them on and off at will! He’s learned to channel magic sometime between botw and totk, something not all heroes learn to do! In fics he’s long been one of the few to have no magic talent whatsoever, and now that’s changed! Wild can officially join the ranks of the magic users!

There’s also the issue of where he learned it and who taught him, but the answer is pretty obvious, and speaks volumes of how far Zelda has come on her own journey. 

[internetcatholicism]

I have a new skin lesion forming in a spot that has proven to be exceptionally painful. Please pray for me that I caught it early enough that antibiotics can work fast.

[cultivating-wildflowers]

Prayer request for my sister-in-law. She’s 17 weeks pregnant and went to the doctor due to some spotting while she was at work today. Doctor didn’t seem concerned but they’re at l&d running tests to be sure. Baby is fine.

[loumauve]

our healthcare system is pretty good, comparatively, I usually pay at most 5 bucks for my regular medications. so that's 15 at most per quarter year or so. access to specialists is overall good, sure, sometimes you have to wait a while but most of the time you can get help fairly easily and quickly.

but god forbid you can't reach your Hausarzt for over a month, bc as soon as you don't have the regular Überweisung and you don't have the Rezept you are shit out of luck or at the very least in trouble when you're trying to see your psychiatrist

[nerdgirlnarrates]

I thought a patient was going to die yesterday. An artery was injured during surgery, and it took an hour and a half to get it under control. Two more attending surgeons came in, another scrub tech, and the attending anesthesiologist. They were working under the microscope, and the blood rushed up under the scope and filled the field. They were losing liter after liter, the anesthesiologist was yelling that whoever was getting the blood from the blood bank should run, pressure dropped to 60s/40s, and I was fucking shaking in the background convinced I was watching someone bleed to death. They got it under control though. Remarkably, the patient’s neuro exam was good this morning. Still, it was the scariest fucking thing I’ve seen in medical school.

[brightblessed-aa]

// finally unlocking new araid and this questline is so funny because roi.... is just.... so resentful of the gods....

[seeminglyseph]

Hey guys, Halifax is super in it for the wildfires now, spare some rain and fire fighting prayers or vibes or aspirations? wildfire season is hitting early and hard this year.

[tehjleck]

I'm always fascinated poor, oppressed tumblr christians who make "prayer request" posts... they must really think there is a threshold for likes or comments or whatever that will "activate" their fictional deity... but, no amount of strangers sending happy thoughts could *ever* affect the real world.

"oh, my (insert sick family member) isn't doing well... please pray for them"

Prayer is pointless when your god is a fiction. Because fictional deities have no power in the real world.

[liridi]

I cannot believe I’m saying this. But my dumb dog has hayfever

If you could please pray for my dog, hes had conjunctivitis for two weeks and we thought it went away and stopped medication at the time the vet told us to, but its suddenly back with a vengeance. It looks like his right eye has rolled upwards into his head. The hospital has told us to wait till monday to take him to the vet, but its so stressful going through this again, I really really pray he’ll be okay 🥲

[filosofablogger]

Cleaning Up The 'Toon Stash!

Last night I was going to put a music post on today’s schedule … just a redux, but still … a music post.  And then, Covid killed my headphones!!!  (Yes, I will be blaming the damn Covid virus for everything for the next few weeks, until I get my mojo back, at least!) They just went ‘belly-up’ and died.  I have new ones ordered that should be here tomorrow, but it meant I couldn’t do a music…

[roadlesstravelled]

to anyone affected by whats going on im so so sorry

[scottguy]

They do nothing to prevent the next slaughter. They only provide the illusion of caring.

[introverting-rn]

GENUINE IMPORTANT QUESTION: where’s the best place to donate money to help palestine/gaza right now? where can we be donating, what can we be doing? what is the best way to send money and other supplies to the people who need it and truly make a difference? it’s good to feel anger abt social justice but also i am someone who has materials to do something about it.

are there particular effective groups? are there sites to avoid because they aren’t actually helping the people? what’s up guys. has anyone made a page of good organisations and stuff?

thank you so much!!!

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

"If there were a good god, you would never have to beg him to do good things."

Does your omniscient, benevolent god not already know or not care? Why do you think he needs you to advise him? And what makes you think he'll listen to you when he's ignored everyone else?