#religion wise

[nohkalikai]

anyway. i will stop talking abt experiences i haven't had in a year.

[imsosocold]

Does anyone  in the DSMP fandom really like the majority of players  in it for their out of character personalities? Consumes their content regularly? Are invested in their lives? I thought we were all here for the subpar story damn.       

[kitthew]

i think the reason that kaos is such a successful adaptation, despite being so inaccurate to the myths, it’s that it’s so new, fresh, and entertaining

like, there isn’t one canonical Greek Myth. there are, of course, surviving texts from the era—homer, euripides, aeschlyus, etc. — but those are only what have *survived,* there are countless other myths and ancient retellings that have been lost to time. besides, even between the original myths, there are discrepancies and different interpretations. the myths originated in an oral storytelling tradition, and with each teller, the stories were different. sure, there were some things that stayed consistent throughout the retellings, but almost every myth has elements that varied across sources.

you could always argue that even though that might be true, they could have based the show more on less common myth alternatives that still have sources from the time period, but i personally think the fact that they’re kind of doing their own thing is literally just what the ancient greeks were doing with their myths as well lol

plus, the reason successful greek plays *were* successful was that they told existing stories in a new and interesting light. sure, it was more of a “no one goes to the theatre to find out what happens next, they go to hear how the writer is telling the myth in a new and interesting way” sort of vibe, and kaos *does* have an element of watching bc you don’t know what happens next bc so much has been changed from the original myths, but again, i think this is basically just what the greeks were doing. when something originated in an oral storytelling tradition, there isn’t One Definitive Way to retell it. kaos takes a lot of creative liberties with the source material, but there’s always room for new interpretations and ways of telling these stories

BUT the show is imo so engaging and successful despite all that bc it really gets at the heart of the myths, even though, again, it isn’t at all accurate. zeus is cruel, power-crazed, and incestuous. dionysus is literally just a boy. hera is trying so so hard to be a GirlBoss. hades and persephone are the only ones who seem to have their shit together. poseidon is a douche on a yacht. there’s some incredibly interesting and compelling world building. and at its core, the show is about two things: 1) the gods are human and fallible and 2) you cannot outrun your fate, no matter how hard you try.

and what’s more greek than that?

[madame-helen]

[hailmaryfullofgrace55675]

it’s awesome how jumblr coddles and encourages extremely blatant religious essentialism like this.

[thepersonalwords]

My question to the atheist is, do you want an atheist world or a peaceful world? And to the believer, do you want a religious world or a peaceful world? Religious orientation doesn't define peace, but the answer here may define one's true nature.

Abhijit Naskar

[rocksanddeadflowers]

Kvasir messes me up so so so fucking much you guys. Like I understand the vikings had a different approach to death and yada yada so forth whatever arguments you wanna make they're reasonable but still it. I just.

You mean this beloved man, known for his wisdom and poem and song, and who went around helping people with his wisdom and poem and song and was dearly beloved by the gods just. You guys he was straight up murdered and his blood stolen for magic fucking mead. There's no revenge for his murder or anything it's just that Odin saved his mead.

"Folk declares that every skald (poet) has a drop of Kvasir's blood in him. ... because a world without it's poets would be too dreadful a place to image."

Messed up or not, he lives on in poets, storytellers, and songwriters alike- all those with the understanding of the power of word, the wisdom to yield it.

In The Bifrost Incident it's still the same. His blood pumping and fueling the machine, running through arcane glyphs. He's always just been used for his blood, and even more irony drawn from it likely being Odin gaining the most use from his blood.

And yet, no matter how miniscule it may seem, Kvasir still lives on in his universe there too, in poets and songwriters and storytellers- somehow, The Mechanisms carry a piece of him in their travels ever since his death and Yddrasil's fall, just as you and I may have his blood in our veins.

[everymanpdf]

think im doomed to have my own personal vague spiritual beliefs due to being too quirked up for organized religion unfortunately

[thathilomgirl]

There are now 2 blue-haired Christian anime girls out there

[kingofthewilderwest]

Moral Orel hit me in a sweet spot. I think it’s beautiful seeing fans on different paths discussing how the show touched them. I’ve seen people who’ve left the church, agnostics, atheists, and Christians all say the show spoke deeply to them. Of course the show’s black humor on religion offended many, especially before its last season aired, but I think the show’s resulting legacy - connecting to people who’ve both left and who’ve stayed - demonstrates successful nuance to how Moral Orel was crafted.

The show’s creators have said it’s not against religion per se, it’s against hypocrites. Even with the first season, I felt that and found appreciation (frankly, joy) for what was satirized. Here was a show speaking up, exaggerating, and lampooning the facets of Protestant American Christian culture I’ve vented about in confidence to relevant friends and family - without, like many modern shows which tackle this subject do, mocking followers themselves, faith itself, and suggesting to viewers one way of life is better than another, one group of people is (ex: intellectually) superior to another.

Some people have stepped away from Moral Orel and said, “This show comforted me when I left church,” or outright, “This show taught me there is no god.” And that’s not an unfair way to interact with Moral Orel because it doesn’t preach what you “should” do there (a sign of mature writing, really). I stepped away from Moral Orel and said, “This show comforted me in the areas I get frustrated,” which assuages my feelings and makes me more confident in my faith and place within culture.

I feel awkward in contemporary culture because I was raised with minimal secular exposure - daughter of a worship pastor, student at a private Christian school until high school. Meanwhile, in adulthood, I didn't attended church functions for over a dozen years. My group of friends have largely been non-Christians who hold negative opinions about the religion and don’t live remotely similar lifestyles to what I was raised with. I love what I've learned from them. Unfortunately, this also means the cultural building blocks that make me who I am seem shared by no one I'm around, which, even though I'm in my 30s, remains disorienting.

On the flipside, I'm the weirdo with the third eye in Christian spaces, too. I’m an ever-thirsty knowledge-seeker who strives to comprehend forbidden topics from all angles. I spent my twenties researching, questioning, rebuilding knowledge, and critically analyzing everything about the Bible. Church attendees and services feel painfully artificial, with mental blockers to topics I feel are critical to understand.

In either community I partake in, I feel “off.”

I’m grateful to have been raised by parents who didn’t pussyfoot around issues, with a father who deep-dives research. Discussions, delving, and digging into the hard stuff has always been fostered. My family spoke to pastors when we disagreed with their theology. I grew up around people who practiced passive acceptance, but my family was not that.

In the last year, I’ve returned more strongly to my faith and have been reintegrating with the Christian community. In some areas, my faith has grown and, humbly, I’ve learned much from peers. Despite stereotypes, I want to note that, in certain fields, the church community has always been deep and meticulous! And there are so many beautiful and uplifting areas in the church. But likewise there are those areas that get assumed, aren’t questioned, and aren’t… responded to well by questioning spirits. There have always been areas in the church culture I find disingenuous, foolish, illogical, limited, oversimplified, denialistic, or susceptible to hypocrisy and immorality. I’m not better than any person on this planet, but I’m rubbing shoulders with a community that has different blinders than I do, who don’t even consider asking the types of questions or seeking out the information I find necessary for a solidified faith.

Moral Orel disparages the toxic elements of Protestant culture, the misinterpretations, the artificial facades, the mindless assumptions, the poorly-hidden underbelly, all the areas Christian community can and does go wrong. It makes me feel justified feeling awkward in two worlds: someone for whom Christianity is deeply important, but someone whose mindset doesn’t jive with the rest of the town. Someone who can find and wants to find the best lessons outside of Christianity. Someone who believes in questioning, rethinking constantly, raising her eyebrows at common notions within church culture, and striving for the actual love, sincerity, dedication, and goodness our faith should be based on.

[illustratus]

Three Magi on the way to Bethlehem by Hans Thoma

[jewelleria]

you will have the BEST possible day because i’m jewish and i said so

wait, jews control happiness too? what don’t they control these days?

[sophfandoms53]

That Chelsie DR and then she was mad Leah was upset and didn’t talk to anyone after the veto meeting

[palatinewolfsblog]

“Our world is not divided by race, color, gender or religion. Our world is divided into wise people and fools. And fools divide themselves by race, color, gender, or religion.” Mohamad Safa (Human Rights Activist and United Nations Representative).

[psalmsfordeedra]

Saint Sebastian

By Jim Wise

It’s easy to forget how radical those early believers were. They stopped looking for an invisible God up in the sky and found him in a person instead. No wonder they were hunted down and killed. After all, God must remain in Heaven and out of our business and leave the running of the world to his appointed priests. Right?

Even though they hate us for the heretics we are, I think Queers know the meaning of Christ better than anyone.

After all, we stopped bowing down and looking up a long time ago. We have been worshiping God in the the bodies of people our whole tribal life. Strangers, friends, partners, God is in the flesh of all our lovers and our devotion has been pure.

But if you find God in the bodies of human beings instead of up in the sky where a God belongs, if you worship God by worshipping the life-stained skin of those human beings, if your Eucharist leaves the taste of salt and sweat instead of bland bread on your tongue, if your devotion to God is best done away from the pomp of temple crowds, you’re likely to find yourself on the wrong side of an angry religious mob, shot full of arrows and loved only by God

[fideidefenswhore]

Do we know what Luther, Calvin and other Protestant leaders thought about Anne Boleyn's guilt/innocence after her fall and execution? I read somewhere that Luther was against Katharine and Henry's divorce, but I also read that Luther thought that the rise of the Reformist Anne to the English throne was a good omen).

Do we know if they current Pope, or any of the main Catholic rulers (Spain, France, Portugal) made some comment about it?

Is free from the projected journey to England, for, after these tragic occurrences there, plans have greatly changed. The second Queen, more accused than convicted of adultery, has been executed. These vicissitudes denounce the anger of God against all men, and show him that their own misfortunes and dangers should be borne with resignation. Melancthon to Joachim Camerarius.

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Now Sir, because [the Quene] was such a favorer of God’s word […] I tell you few men would believe that she was so abominable[…] T. Amyot (ed.), ’A memorial from George Constantine’, in Archaeologica, 23 (1831), 50-78

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Afterwards, in the great chamber with the others, drew a parallel between the fall of Lucifer and that of queen Anne, congratulating Sir Francis that he was not implicated.

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Henry VIII, the League of Schmalkalden and the English Reformation, Rory McEntegart

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Couriers of the Gospel: England and Zurich, 1531-1558, Carrie Euler

Tudor and Stuart Consorts: Power, Influence, and Dynasty (2022)

"In the years following her death, Anne had few defenders. One of them, though, was Étienne Dolet, former French embassy secretary in Venice and practically minded commentator on diplomacy. In 1538, he published an epitaph for the queen ‘falsely condemned of adultery’. The news of Anne’s arrest travelled rapidly south through Europe. It must have been a shock to the men who had toiled for six years to achieve her marriage to Henry, but then political conspiracies and swift executions were far from rare in Rome." The Divorce of Henry VIII, Catherine Fletcher

I don't recall if Luther remarked on it specifically; although he did refer to her supplanter as an 'enemy of the gospel', so if one was so inclined, one could read into that...?

The Pope, iirc, mainly believed it presaged Anglo-Papal reconciliation (he was mistaken); Chapuys forwarded letters from Charles V where he expressed shock and horror at Henry's near-miss from regicide (whether he believed this himself or thought it was politic to express that he did...things that make you go hmmm), Mary of Hungary was skeptical yet essentially said she deserved to die regardless, so no great wrong was committed.