#religion-and-philosophy

[thepersonalwords]

Believe and have faith in God.

Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind

[quotelr]

Keep trusting God. He will lead you in every step of the journey.

Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind

[creantzy]

CW: religious symbolism, mention of suicide, severed arm

[Read from left to right]

Speaking to the memory of him.

[typhlonectes]

[the-cybersmith]

I think we're all being rather too blasé about the fact that most of the anglophonic population doesn't seem to believe in democracy.

I'm not using "believe in" as a synonym for "endorse", to be clear.

I mean the general sentiment is that the nominally democratic institutions of our societies do not represent the will of anyone but a small, ideologically captured elite who do not share our interests, and who do not respect the values important to us.

Democracy has been elevated to a near-sacred status. It is preached in th schools, and the voting booths, and the civic offices, and in the courts, and in the town halls, and in the hallowed halls of legislatures.

It is the value upon which our system of rule justifies and legitimises itself.

In some sense, it replaced the divine right of kings. That failed when people ceased to believe in God.

What happens to our modern civilisation when we no longer believe in democracy?

Neitzche saw the downfall of the old order in Apostasy.

A new Apostasy is upon us. An Apostasy fuelled by increasing evidence that the god of the public will is illusion, and that the heavenly throne of electoralism is empty.

We are carried forward by momentum, not fuel.

The world as it has been suffered a bevy of wounds, and soon it will bleed to death. I know not what will be born from the carrion of Democracy, but I think we are all being unreasonably calm about it.

[porphurios]

Orphic ceremonial bowl (4th century C.E.) showing sixteen naked adepts, eight men and eight women. In the center is the Orphic Cosmic Egg or Omphalos, around which a dragon is coiled. The underside of the bowl shows four Eros figures and the following lines:

Gods, for it whirls through the infinite, great Olympus. Shining Zeus, may the cosmos be born. Hear from afar the swirling fire-wreathed circle. Heaven and earth were one form.

[perhaps-relax]

Religious alignment chart w/ internet quotes

I am not a theologian, hope this helps

Links and alt text under the cut:

Gnostic Theism: “Tell me the name of God, you fungal piece of shit” @personsonable on tumblr [link]

Anti-gnostic Theism: “If the zoo bans me from hollering at the animals, I will face God and walk backwards into Hell” @dril on twitter [link]

Agnostic Theism: “I don’t care where the sun goes at night, he’s an asshole” Firebringer by Starkid [link]

Gnostic Deism: “When I kill God, I will find the spigot from which he measures out grace and smash it permanently open” @Linux on twitter [link]

Anti-gnostic Deism: “God may not have to beg my forgiveness, but He’s got some ‘splaining to do” -Robert Semple on Quora [link]

Agnostic Deism: “I guess I would scream too-ie if I knew a God could hear me”  @soupygarbagejuice on TikTok [link]

Gnostic Anatheism: “Humanity named kindness, it must know kindness” @realbrucespringsteen on tumblr [link]

Anti-gnostic Anatheism: “Wide-eyed and hackles raised, I will conquer the Devil and rid the world of doubt.” @little-tunny on tumblr/@itslittletunny on twitter [link]

Agnostic Anatheism: “I need to sink my teeth into the material world and unmake God’s creation” @chaumas-deactivated20230115 on tumblr [link]

[liberatingreality]

There's simply no polite way to tell people they've dedicated their lives to an illusion.

Daniel Dennett

[violettressedd]

we got femme4butch, butch4butch, and femme4femme already, so can we make autisticlesbian4autisticlesbian next or is the economy too bad?

[tomonkey4]

If my body is a temple, then what deity is worshipped with?

Those who use this phrase usually have an answer for you, but they have their own temple, and you need not let them dictate your life, your virtues, or your praise. How many temples does their god require? And should we praise one so greedy?

Do you want to sing your words of worship? Do you feel like dancing will bring praise to your values? Do you sometimes sit in your temple with closed eyes and meditate? Or perhaps like me you write your prayers and cast them into the void hoping that they will reach someone, and that they may send something in return so that you know you are not alone?

Do you worship a god of blood, of war, of terror? Do you praise the struggle against death, or the benefits of community, or the bounty of the world? Perhaps it is silence, peace, and ease that you hold dear?

Whatever it is that you have enshrined within your temple, engraved into the boney pillars and the domed ceiling, painted in a thousand colors on the mural above the altar, and filtering the light of the world through those two stained glass windows above the door from which your songs (or silence) ebb forth... Be sure to act within your temple in a way that glorifies those things.

I would like to encourage you to open your doors often, and let your worshipers spread the virtues to the world in which your temple belongs; I know however, that there are those who worship destruction, and those who insist they follow a better god, and there are many who would shutter your windows and bar your doors so that they are not forced to think about what others may worship. Therefore I also must caution you to not spread your art of praise where there is danger, but pray at all times within your temple so that your god never forgets you, so that your values are never corrupted, and that your life story is one that tells of how your temple mattered.

[girlfishes]

so tired of people speaking/writing about harm caused by religion and then having to always start with a disclaimer like “I know that not all Islam and Christianity is bad and that you are probably one of the good ones and I’m not trying to offend you and religion can be good sometimes and you’re probably such a good person” before they make their actual point.

And I don’t think so only because I believe that both Christianity and Islam have misogyny and colonialism inherent to their core theology, but also because this disclaimer undermines any point about the religion itself and reduces it only to a sociological analysis instead of a philosophical or theological analysis.

It implicitly asserts that there is some sort of morally perfect form of Christianity or Islam that with just the right amount of liberalism can be achieved and harm absolutely no one.

And the thing is, if you are a Christian or a Muslim you probably think this is true about your respective religion. However, you would agree with me on this point about the opposing religion because the truth claims of Christianity and Islam are mutually exclusive.

[thepersonalwords]

Keep the faith. Allow Christ full reign in your life.

Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind

[quotelr]

Only that 'holy' book which teaches you to love all beings - animals or human things - read. Another one, idiots do, You let go, God speed.

Fakeer Ishavardas

[typhlonectes]

[seraphim-eternal]

For I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you.

Genesis 28:15