#sorry for infodumping about one of my fave books it will happen again

[alainas-sims]

Viola Carroll, 1818

Viola is the main character from the book A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall. It's a beautiful and sweet Regency era romance with a trans heroine and I highly recommend it.

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

how to deal with feeling that you don`t want to read bible at all?

Read something else!!

For real, if you dread opening the Bible and get nothing out of it, it’s okay to leave it aside for a while and read (or watch, or listen to, etc.) other things. You have your whole life to dig back into it, if you ever feel called to do so at all. In the meantime, there is wonderful wisdom to be found in other sources too -- many of which, but not all, point back to scripture. I believe God would rather you be exploring those such works and actually gaining wisdom and connection to the Divine, than see you slogging through scripture as a chore and getting nothing but boredom or frustration out of it. 

You might, for instance, read books that are about the Bible in the hopes that they can help you learn what there is to love in the Bible.

I most highly recommend Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again by Rachel Held Evans. Read that and you’ll find a beautiful framework for reading scripture faithfully and critically, with advice on how to approach the more disturbing texts.

(for something shorter, you might also like my webpage on reframing scripture.)

Or maybe you don’t want a book that’s about the Bible at all, but is spiritually rich -- finding a good devotional is what you’ll want to do then. 

My personal faves are, like, anything written by Barbara Brown Taylor (An Altar in the World, for instance), A Tree Full of Angels by Sister Macrina Wiederkehr, Native by Kaitlin B. Curtice (not a devotional, actually a memoir, but so so rich). 

If you like shorter stuff than a full book, check out the Our Bible App for so many incredible devotionals, including ones by and for BIPOC, LGBT/queer folks, disabled folks, and more. 

Or maybe you want some quality spiritual poetry!

there’s Queering Lent by slats toole, my own book The Kin(g)dom in the Rubble by Avery Smith (i’ve also got poetry posted on my wordpress), poetry by Jessica Powers if you are into traditional Catholic Vibes....

If books aren’t your speed in general, you might prefer a good podcast -- some of my favorite “spiritual” type ones include 

Bible Bash (it is SUCH a fun podcast that looks at Bible passages from a queer/trans lens, or sometimes from an environmentalist lens); 

Everything Happens with Kate Bowler (which explores life after or in the midst of suffering, from chronic illness to a loved one’s death)

my own podcast (lmao i’m sorry, i’m that kind of person), Blessed Are the Binary Breakers, where I interview trans and/or nonbinary people of all sorts of religious backgrounds about their experiences with faith, gender, and life in general

So. Yeah. It’s okay to take a break from the Bible and explore other ways of connecting to the Divine, humanity, and all of Creation for a time. You’re okay. The Bible will be waiting for you, its pages as alive as ever, whenever you’re ready to try again.

___________

And when you are ready to check out the Bible again, whether that’s next week or years from now...

I highly recommend picking a version of the Bible with quality commentary and footnotes so you actually understand what’s going on haha -- see here for some suggestions

You absolutely want to know the history behind why any given Bible text was written. You try to read one of the prophets without knowing about the Exile? you’re gonna be bored. You might be disturbed. Ya gotta know the history!! Having a Bible with good commentary will help with that! 

I also recommend The Bible Project on Youtube’s videos for good historical context -- even tho I don’t agree with all of their theology, their history is sound and they have a wonderful concise engaging video on every single book of the Bible for you to watch. (Don’t like videos? Check out their website instead for info on each book in text format)

Know you don’t have to read from Genesis through Revelation all in order. You can pick the books of the Bible that most call to you. Some of my faves include Genesis, Exodus, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel (but i’m weird that way haha, you’ll want lotssss of good commentary for those), Amos, Joel, Micah, Mark and Luke, and 1 Corinthians. 

For help on picking a book of the Bible to read and all that, see this post

Or tell me what you’re looking for and ask me haha

It’s also cool to read a book or passage of scripture while engaging with a variety of interpretations on that same text at the same time! 

When I want to ~Resonate~ with what I’m reading, I seek out queer/trans and disabled theologies. 

When I want to be challenged to love my neighbor better and catch glimpses of God I (as a white, middle class, US citizen, etc.) would never catch on my own, I check out works by Black theologians, Dalit theologians, stuff from Mujeristas and Womanists and Latin American liberation theologians and on and on.

Find suggestions for such commentaries here in my recs tag. 

Or, if you’ve been taught how to read academic articles, you can visit academia.edu to search for free scholarly texts on any Bible passage you can think of, and see if there are any good ones from a perspective you’re interested in. (Example: if you search for “Isaiah 56″ and “disability” on there, you should find some gooooood stuff).

And if you’re ever reading a passage from the Bible and think “oooh I bet there are disabled/trans/Black/Indigenous/feminist/etc. theologians who’ve said some amazing stuff about this bit but I have No Clue how to find their writings on my own -- message me!!! I would LOVE to help!! Let me put my seminary Masters of Divinity to use and infodump about cool theology PLEASE

[bag-chips]

(Apologies for the length, messy handwriting poor quality uwu)

I binged all the Mechanisms albums in one day and became utterly obsessed with the idea of them being Jon’s uni band. On top of this I got thinking about the theatre lines in MAG 172. Ergo, here’s a master post of various Mechanism!Jon and Theatre!Jon scenarios! (it’s mainly Jonmartin fluff I’m not going to lie to you). It took four days. Last night I stayed up till nearly four trying to get it done cos I hate myself ;)

1) My design for Mechanism Jon. He’s absolutely one of those guys who grow excessive facial hair to look older and more mature. And, oh look! Some JonGeorgie stuff. Rather than being a member of the band, I’d like to think she acts as the behind the scenes manager, helping out with bookings lighting and costumes. It will become apparent that Jon is like my fave and I’m soft for this stupid little man.

2) Depressed S3 Jon with the Admiral. Jon prefers to not talk about the band, especially since most of the Archival staff make fun of him for it anyway. However, he absolutely ends up quoting Mech songs when he’s on his own, especially when emotionally compromised. The aftermath of this little sketch would be Jon spitting out the whisky and nearly throwing up because he hates the taste and can only really stand very weak alcoholic drinks (hey hi hello I’m projecting).

Stupid sketch of him taking part in a Shakespeare production. Jon was and still is a theatre kid, taking part in any play or musical he could during his uni years. He’s a dramatic little bitch but damn does he have a fantastic stage pressence. Georgie proudly supports him from behind the curtain.

3) Martin finds out about the Mechanisms through Tim, who uses the material to expertly tease Jon. Martin finds pictures. Martin’s crush is cemented he is homosexual he is transfixed by the images. This leads to him listening to the albums, which outside of them being by his crush he genuially does love them. He often finds himself listening to them whilst working around the Archives, but takes great efforts to hide his love of the Mechs from a curious Jon.

4) Everyone at the Archives knows about the band. Tim and Melanie are the lead culprits in mocking him about it, especially in the tense work environment of S3. (For context Mechanism shows had the tradition of Jonny De’Ville claiming he was the captain, with Gunpowder Tim and the audience then proclaiming that no he’s the first mate Jonny stop Jonny no. Go listen to the Death of the Mechanisms you’ll see).

5) Post-MAG172 argument. Who will win? The poetry nerd or the theatre kid?

6) (Read downwards until the next row the layouts weird cos I sketched it whilst sleep deprived at 2am ;) ). Jonmartin fluff!

TMA is a tragedy. Listening to the Mechanism albums has made that very clear. So the next couple of images would be set in a happy ending AU fuck u they’re going to get married let me dream.

7) (Apologies for the weird writing again sleep deprived). Jon wants to fulfill his side of the bargain and take Martin to the theatre. After many trips to Georgie’s and a lot of planning, Jon decides to take them on a date to see Cats at the West End, since it turns out Martin knows the original poems. Thing is, this is their first proper date. And it so happens to conicide with their first anniversary. And Jon wants to spoil Martin with an engagement present as an apology (Jon ruined the proposal with his eye powers). Jon wants to go big. And it just so happens that Elias left a lot of money. He decides to go ham and get them a private box. He gets Georgie to book it for them since he wants it to be a surprise and despite his Eldritch mind google he can’t figure out how to work a laptop.

Martin is told he’s going to the theatre. However it takes until they’re collecting the tickets at the front desk for Jon to reveal the seats and thus allude to the expenses. Martin has always worried about money given his upbringing, and panics, nearly having a full blown argument with Jon in front of the ticket man. Jon really should have listened to Georgie’s warnings.

8) (The Wikipedia text box thing was inspired by a brilliant TMA comic, once I find it again I’ll link it!) Jon is very much excited for the perfomance, and infodumps about it. Martin is still annoyed about the expense of the date but starts to relax and mellow out once he gets a glass of wine in his hand and a quiet moment to listen to his fiancée talk passionately about something.

9) The gays get ice cream and discuss who’s the prettiest actor in the interval. Martin is very much wired to how Jon works now, and uses the conversation to calm him down a bit (I think Jon was very much concerned that Martin might leave him over this bless that man).

10) The couple head home after a few quiet drinks at the bar. Jon is exchausted - mentally strained by the worry of perfecting the date, his emotional investment into the show and the two glasses of wine he had. Martin forgives him for the excessive nature of the trip, but would be lying is he said he didn’t enioy the show (even if it was mainly experiencing it through Jon’s expressive face, investment and him mouthing the lyrics quietly to himself). He’s going to ask if they can maybe listen to a different musical album whilst Jon recovers from his inevitable hangover tomorrow, but first he needs to gently carry his pissed and sleepy partner up to bed.

I wanted to draw soft things I’m sorry I love this podcast with all my heart have a nice day

[pseudoneiriic]

GET TO KNOW THE BLOGGER.

can be used for rp   &   non-rp blogs to get to know a bit about the person behind the screen   !

1. FIRST NAME:   pan  (no you are not getting the full version of my first name)

2. STRANGE FACT ABOUT YOURSELF:   to no one’s great surprise, i love writing and get depressed when i dont write something every day

3. TOP THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU FIND ATTRACTIVE ON A PERSON:   them: physical things me: having a contagious laugh, being cuddly, being talkative and passionate

4. A FOOD YOU COULD EAT FOREVER AND NOT GET BORED OF:   curry chicken, highkey. also penne bolognese

5. A FOOD YOU HATE: tomatoes. no one should ever eat raw tomatoes. i also really hate pickles, and... honestly i hate a lot of food i am extremely picky

6. GUILTY PLEASURE:   i, uhhh.... tend not to keep secrets, like even if i feel guilty about liking something i can and will infodump about it and generally be really open about liking it. i guess, uh... oh god, i used to read this french comic series when i was a teenager, and that was HIGHKEY my guilty pleasure at that age. i just found it in my local bookshop and i was like.... . . .  swea t s . . ... .. . . ive never read this in my l i  fe

7. WHAT DO YOU SLEEP IN: nightgowns! i have the same one in three different colours and i just swap them out.

8. SERIOUS RELATIONSHIPS OR FLINGS:   serious relationships...

9. IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN THE PAST AND CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WOULD YOU AND WHAT WOULD IT BE:   iiiii uh... tend not to think on these questions too much. like, i try not to look back at the past and think, man, i should have changed that. it’s just not conducive to my lifestyle. i try not to stay fixated on things i can’t change. so, you know, maybe i’d go back in time and destroy my abuser before he could hurt me, but i dont know what kind of person i’d be now if that never happened.

10. ARE YOU AN AFFECTIONATE PERSON:   yyyyes? probably, honestly.

11. A MOVIE YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN: meet the robinsons meet the robinsons m

12. FAVORITE BOOK:  i don’t really have a favourite book tbh? a series of unfortunate events has been a longtime fave, as well as enid blyton’s mysteries series. i also really loved the wish list by eoin colfer. sobs can you tell i read extensively as a child and then never picked up a book again. ok real talk though i DID read the long walk and i do love it. thank you lizzie for the food

13. YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO KEEP ANY ANIMAL AS A PET, WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE:     GOAT!!!! A GOAT!!!!!!!!

14. TOP FIVE FICTIONAL SHIPS [IF YOU ARE AN RP BLOG, YOU CAN USE YOUR OWN SHIPS AS WELL]:  in no particular order: hinata / natsumi, seven / zen, franziska / maya, ray / pete, kouta / ryou (im sorry charlight and akiteru i did you dirty.......)

15. PIE OR CAKE:   cake!!

16. FAVORITE SCENT:     uhhh... paper, or vanilla

17. CELEBRITY CRUSH:   lizzie

18. IF YOU COULD TRAVEL ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD YOU GO:   ummm... probably marseilles, and obviously paris too i just particularly want to visit marseilles

19. INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT:   me, shaking: a-ambivert

20. DO YOU SCARE EASILY:   yes.... i pretend like i dont but i do

21. IPHONE OR ANDROID:   iphone!

22. DO YOU PLAY ANY VIDEO GAMES:   i play every video game (im kidding i just...... animal crossing soon.......)

23. DREAM JOB:   any job where i get to work with kids one-on-one or in small groups, and im able to help them learn healthy coping strategies

24. WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A MILLION DOLLARS:   thinking about the real estate market where i live. i’d buy a condo and hope no one else can pay more than me

25. FICTIONAL CHARACTER YOU HATE:   im shaking. i hate hagakure. i dont even really have a good reason for it he is just mean and rude to all my faves

26. FANDOM THAT YOU WERE ONCE A PART OF BUT AREN’T ANY LONGER:   do i ever truly leave fandoms? well, i left animal crossing community, so i guess there’s that.

Tagged by: @idollatry  😭😭😭😭😭😭 Tagging: lizzie tagged like All of my friends so @godmotif @androphobias and im too tired to tag anyone else pls steal it from me if you wanna do it!!