#principles of faith

[thewordfortheday]

But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command; therefore the king was furious, and his anger burned within him.” (Esther 1:12) Although a pagan queen, Vashti had principles she refused to compromise. When Ahasuerus called for her to present herself before his guests, she refused to display herself to the leers of other men and thus refused the king's command and therefore was removed from her position as queen. Whether at work, in social or in the political arena, Christians face tremendous pressure to participate in activities and attitudes contrary to God's will and command. It's important, however, that we take an uncompromising position when it comes to our principles. May the Lord strengthen each one of us to stand for our principles.

[francesderwent]

I joke, but everybody is welcome to hang out here. I don’t have a DNI. if you think some of my thoughts are cool and interesting, and think some of them are taking the Christian thing a little far, that’s cool, you’re free to just take the stuff you like and ignore the rest of it. but maybe don’t be surprised when the Christian thing rears its head in a way that’s less subtle, because it is behind all of it.

[meduseld]

But also something so ! about how John Irving, the character with most faith thus most faith to be tested, is the one to find the salvation, the divine providence, the literal manna in the desert, of Koveyook and his party, taking it in with humility and gratitude is just. Irving really did get to see a form of God in the way William Blake wrote it:

“I sought my God and my God I couldn't find; I sought my soul and my soul eluded me; I sought to serve my brother in his need, and I found all three; My God, my soul, and thee.”

[nightmarish-fallen-angel]

My last post on the transandrophobia tag was a bit rambly and ranty, so it's been misinterpreted.

A better way to phrase it:

Generalizing the transmasc community as being misogynists is wrong. This negatively impacts us by both by shaming us for embracing healthy masculinity, and making it more difficult to get help for the misogyny we do face.

Transmascs are already isolated from sexual trauma and abuse resources and reproductive healthcare on the fears of our masculinity being uncomfortable to women. This has direct harm to the transmasc people who need those resources.

Everyone can be sexist, it is important to call it out when we see it. But my issue lies with the generalizations made of the transmasc community, a marginalized community, as it can have extreme negative consequences for us.

[myfairkatiecat]

Guys I don't understand what I did.

[oswaldthatendswald]

How on EARTH have I not thought of a trigun Donquixote brothers AU. They are literally just. The same guys in a different font. My god. I want to put Knives and Doflamingo in a room together. I think that would be funny.

[elisabethbabarci]

"One must always remain loyal and true to their ethics and principles."

Elisabeth Babarci

[amorrsinfinito]

Basic Information Before Leaving Earth

It can hurt to love

Can make you cry when you feel and try to heal

Even flesh wounds can leave scars

Because without forgiveness you are putting your own soul behind bars

Your heart is not a pump but in fact a vortex

A reservoir to carry both good and bad

This is why you can cry when you are happy and still laugh when you are sad

It is expensive to be poor

It may cost you your life

I agree that poverty is a crime

The change won’t add up you see because

At what expense do you decide if I can’t have it

No one man can

I do believe it is also a mindset

So will you consciously choose to commit a crime on yourself

And knowingly sentence oneself and others to this kind of debt

Let your last statement be of love for self and also for everyone else

You know what they say respect is not given it is earned

Yet if we met on an off day one’s actions and character can so easily be mistaken for the first impression

And now this is supposed justify a man’s lack of compassion and comprehension

I pray the next time you have a bad day you still find it in your spirit to give to someone who may be in need of some attention

Trust can be fragile, in man but not in God

Some built on sand or sea water

Some build from hardened steel or stone

With the right pressure sand can turn into glass and this still be broken

Salt water may not be good for consumption within but can still help to heal the skin

Trust too little with a heart made of steel and you may as well live forever in torment

Yet the trust of the cornerstone that the builder refuses can become the head

And not the tail

Trust is like the wind in a sail

Do what makes you happy if it does not bring harm to you, to your loved ones or others We are all here to serve wether that be giving ourselves what we deserve or choosing to share it with one another

-Cielamor**

[just-a-mod]

Cult of Tyme got it's first dissenter uwu coincidentally, it also got its first prison OwO

[y-rhywbeth2]

Something-something: parallels; trauma bonding with your horrific parent-figure deity; something about being stolen from your family and left to rot in deliberately engineered misery (or believe you were) so that you'd be grateful to your kidnapper when they swoop in and "save" you from it*; Sceleritas taking Durge to the temple and Viconia taking Jenevelle; god I love Durge/Shadowheart, platonically and romantically; *endless incoherent overemotional screaming*

*I seem to recall that EA Shadowheart had the urchin background and was led to believe that she was abandoned or an orphan or something, and I'm keeping that in my headcanons for the released game.

Astarion is probably judging them in the background during this conversation, because somehow he alone has the clearest view and understanding of abuse in this fucking party. Everybody else is nodding along with him while failing to grasp the nature of their own abuse.

All of you go to therapy.

[dionysus-complex]

.

[lavellane]

do i make ashara more devoted to mythal post trespasser or do i alienate her from the evanuris entirely. is she immune to propaganda by virtue of how badly solas damaged her ability to believe in anything or is she especially vulnerable to it now bc she still WANTS to believe in anything. is she sporting subtle mythal details in her costume design or is she not

[likealittleheartbeat]

"A fifth point concerning nonviolent resistance is that it avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent but has also refused to hate him. At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. The nonviolent resister would contend that in the struggle for human dignity, the oppressed people of the world must not succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter or indulging in hate campaigns. To retaliate in kind would do nothing but intensify the existence of hate in the universe. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can only be done by projecting the ethic of love to the center of our lives.

In speaking of love at this point, we are not referring to some sentimental or affectionate emotion. It would be nonsense to urge men to love their oppressors in an affectionate sense. Love in this connection means understanding, redemptive good will. When we speak of loving those who oppose us, we refer to neither eros nor philia; we speak of a love which is expressed in the Greek word agape. Agape means understanding, redeeming good will for all men. It is an overflowing love which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless, and creative. It is not set in motion by any quality or function of its object. It is the love of God operating in the human heart.

Agape is disinterested love. It is a love in which the individual seeks not his own good, but the good of his neighbor (1 Cor. 10:24). Agape does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people, or any qualities people possess. It begins by loving others for their sakes. It is an entirely "neighbor-regarding concern for others," which discovers the neighbor in every man it meets. Therefore, agape makes no distinction between friends and enemy; it is directed toward both. If one loves an individual merely on account of his friendliness, he loves him for the sake of the benefits to be gained from the friendship, rather than for the friend's own sake. Consequently, the best way to assure oneself that love is disinterested is to have love for the enemy-neighbor from whom you can expect no good in return, but only hostility and persecution.

Another basic point about agape is that it springs from the need of the other person--his need for belonging to the best in the human family....

Agape is not a weak, passive love. It is love in action. Agape is love seeking to preserve and create community. It is insistence on community even when one seeks to break it. Agape is a willingness to go to any length to restore community. It doesn't stop at the first mile, but it goes the second mile to restore community. It is a willingness to forgive, not seven times, but seventy times seven to restore community...He who works against community is working against the whole of creation. Therefore, if I respond to hate with a reciprocal hate I do nothing but intensify the cleavage in broken community. I can only close the gap in broken community by meeting hate with love. If I meet hate with hate, I become depersonalized, because creation is so designed that my personality can only be fulfilled in the context of community....

In the final analysis, agape means a recognition of the fact that all life is interrelated. All humanity is involved in a single process, and all men are brothers...

A sixth basic fact about nonviolent resistance is that it is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice. Consequently, the believer in nonviolence has deep faith in the future. This faith is another reason why the nonviolent resister can accept suffering without retaliation. For he knows that in his struggle for justice he has cosmic companionship. It is true that there are devout believers in nonviolence who find it difficult to believe in a personal God. But even these persons believe in the existence of some creative force that works for universal wholeness. Whether we call it an unconscious process, an impersonal Brahman, or a Personal Being of matchless power and infinite love, there is a creative force in this universe that works to bring the disconnected aspects of reality into a harmonious whole."

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "An Experiment in Love" (1958)

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Chloe Simon and Charis Hoard at MMFA:

On Monday, the Republican National Committee adopted a platform proposed by presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump that changed language regarding abortion, removing calls for various forms of national abortion bans  and replacing that with a statement that the 14th Amendment “guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process” and that the party will “oppose Late Term Abortions.”  Some mainstream media outlets initially took the obvious bait, publishing headlines claiming the party was “softening” its anti-abortion language and hardline stances, even though Trump and the party continue to be extreme on abortion and reproductive health.  Some partners of Project 2025, the extreme right-wing agenda for the next Republican administration, have split on the platform shift, but it is clear that the end goal of all parties involved remains the same -- a national ban on abortion and federal recognition of “fetal personhood."

Several Project 2025 anti-abortion partners have supported the platform, claiming the 14th Amendment language shows the GOP support for fetal personhood 

Several anti-abortion organizations have thrown their support behind the RNC platform, including some partner organizations of Project 2025, an extreme initiative led by right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation to guide the next GOP presidential administration on various policy issues including abortion. Partners including Americans United for Life, American Principles Project, and Citizens for Renewing America (part of the Center for Renewing America), among other organizations, signed a letter endorsing Trump’s platform, highlighting his commitment to “pro-life and pro-family policies.” The letter also commends the 2024 GOP platform as “a set of common-sense promises that will Make America Great Again.”  Other partner groups seized on the platform’s 14th Amendment language, saying it shows the GOP’s support for achieving fetal personhood -- a longtime goal of the anti-abortion movement that would “outlaw abortion and threaten the legality of both IVF and hormonal birth control.” 

Americans United for Life, which “played a unique unofficial advisory role” in drafting the platform language, claimed that the platform “defends the rights of preborn American children.” Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life applauded the GOP's commitment to the 14th Amendment, claiming that under the amendment “it is Congress that enacts and enforces its provisions.”  Similarly, Students for Life Action also jumped on the 14th Amendment language in the platform, saying that it was a “Significant Contribution” by the party to protect the “pre-born.”  SLA President Kristan Hawkins posted that the GOP’s “support of 14th amendment protections for preborn children is an open door to passing strong pro-life federal legislation.”  Many other anti-abortion organizations with a hardline stance on abortion -- including Project 2025 partner Family Research Council Action, Faith Wins, and the National Association of Christian Lawmakers -- lamented the changes to the party platform, in particular the deletion of explicit references to personhood that were in the previous 2016 version. 

[...] As The New York Times’ Jamelle Bouie wrote, “The Republican Party coalition is still grounded in the grass roots activity of anti-abortion groups and the ideological ambitions of movement jurists and politicians. The platform makes no real difference in their efforts to ban abortion and limit a woman’s right to live a free life and pursue her own vision of the good.”  And as author Jessica Valenti argued, “Taking out language about a national ban doesn't mean shit when they can use Comstock to enact a backdoor ban.” Anti-abortion activists are weaponizing the Comstock Act, a 150-plus-year-old statute that prohibited the mailing of anything “indecent, filthy, or vile” or “intended for producing abortion,” in an attempt to revoke the FDA approval of medication abortion mifepristone. The Supreme Court has halted the anti-abortion challenge to medication abortion access, at least for now.  Much of Trump and right-wing media's strategy around abortion has been to obfuscate and downplay their position and policy goals on the issue as they reckon with the unpopularity of their abortion agenda -- mainstream media outlets shouldn't lend them a hand.

My response to the recent platform changes by the Republicans on this issue: they have NOT “moderated” one bit on abortion, except rhetorically.

[bones-ivy-breath]

Marrying Outside the Faith by Anya Krugovoy Silver, from The Ninety-Third Name of God

[squishyliger]

I think the thing ppl don’t get whenever ppl make art of sexy nuns or make commentary comics about priests being pedo perverts is that it gives ppl the power to lightly strip that religion of it’s overwhelming power it has over their lives.

like I think it’d be one thing if christianity was just a normal chill religion with maybe a handful of nuts but the fact that the nuts have political & intuitional power over us and use that power to make the lives of people worse…

like idk I could be wrong but I feel like I have the right to make art of a busty furry nun drinking piss because of that maybe