#source: mob wives

[incorrectbatfam]

Jason: I know violence isn’t the answer, but, yes, it is.

[incorrect-xena-quotes]

Gabrielle, when Xena gets hurt: I know violence isn’t the answer, but, yes, it is.

[incorrect-darkside-detective]

I know violence isn’t the answer, but, yes, it is.

-Emily

[balkanradfem]

So I've found Alyssa Grenfell on youtube. She shares her experience of leaving mormonism, and the inner workings of the religion. I had very little ideas about what mormonism is, only that it's a high-control religion, very difficult to leave, and has people knocking on doors trying to get converts. I've been interested to find out more, and I ended up watching almost all of her content, and some of the information I've got from it opened my eyes on other feminist topics, and I believe is relevant to the current discourse!

So if you, like me, don't know how mormonism works, it started when a guy decided that he too could be a part of the bible; he wrote a bible part two: mormon, and proclaimed himself a prophet. Then he started a religion based on his writings, decided it was more important than the bible itself because he 'translated it from gold tablets god gave him', and started gaining followers by convincing people he's the prophet. Once he had managed to get a following, he soon started to sexually exploit the wives and daughters of these followers, to the point where he had 20-40 wives and had married 14yo children. Families allowed it to happen because he would promise them to be royalty in the afterlife. He eventually got into a lot of trouble for stealing and raping children so he was killed by an angry mob, but the religion continued.

The religion is same as christianity except more rules (no coffee, no alcohol, no smoking), eternal worship of the predator who wrote it, followers are pressured to follow the rules exactly, and, the vital part, the followers have to give 10% of their income to the church. They developed a culture where once every young mormon kid comes of age, they have to go on a 'mission', which means they're removed from their home, and have to spend 2 years (1,5 for women) living in a foreign area, knocking on doors, sharing the gospel, trying to convert people. The conversion rate is extremely low, but at that point kids have invested so much time, effort, energy and passion for the religion, they become devoted to it and start to feel alienated in the world that rejects their religion. And even with the low conversion rate, every new convert means another continuous source of income for the church. So it's very profitable to send out young adults to make these sales. The kids are told that if they don't complete their missions, they will not be able to marry, and marriage is presented as their only life purpose.

So how rich is the church at this point? 230 billion dollars. I've been shocked to hear this because I had no idea. Alyssa explained that the mormon church is as rich as Pepsi, they have more money than Disney and McDonalds. So you might be wondering, like I did, well what are they doing with all that money? I've been left to wonder this for a while, until I watched the video called 'Why are so many influencers mormon?', which explained it. I didn't even realize a lot of influencers were mormon. But, this video showed me something both disturbing, and eye opening.

Before I go into that, I have to point out how patriarchal and misogynistic this religion is. Women are not given any options except marriage, and it's presented as the only righteous way to live. They're groomed for marriage from a very young age, encouraged to start writing letters to their future husbands at the age of 9. They're taught cooking, sewing and childcare, and to coddle any males in the family. It's taken for granted that m*n won't respect women, to the point where male children are allowed to harass grown women and their families will not intervene or consider it a problem. Chastity and purity are promoted to the level where members of the religion are expected to wear special underwear at all times, which hides their entire torso, shoulders, and legs down to their knees, and their clothing is expected to cover this up completely. They're rejected by the religion if they dare to have sex before marriage, or drink alcohol or coffee, or in some cases, tea. The church has a history of allowing and promoting polygamy, in the sense that a male was allowed to have as many wives as he wanted; they've since stopped this, but refused to break up the existing marriages. They're also promoting anti gay and racist propaganda, which Alyssa observed in school where she'd been teaching; a gay kid almost ended his life due to extreme homophobia.

I know all of this is somewhat common in all areas of society, all religions, and all cultures, but in mormonism it seems to be written into the core of it.

So now, why are so many influencers mormon? I didn't even know they were. The influencers themselves are not promoting the fact that they're mormon, nor does it come up in viral discussions. Ballerina farm is mormon. Tradwives are mormon. Whataboutaub, Rachel Parcel, brooklynandbailey, tanner_mann, thebucketlistfamily, Taylor Frankie Paul, Sarah Beeston, Ruby Franke, these are all mormon. Most of the Utah-based influencers are mormon, and there's a bigger amount of successful and popular influencers from Utah, than from LA or NY.

For me it immediately explained why this viral content is like that. Why we're having such influx of highly patriarchal, anti-feminist, very dangerous and sexist content, put in front of the eyes of young women. Why it's being promoted as an ideal way of life. How are these women able to share this life as if they truly believed it was good and ideal. How could they think it's harmless? If they're using the internet to the extent that they're creating content, how would they not be exposed to any feminism at all? And they wouldn't because it's against their religion to engage with content like that, or with people talking about it. Because being raised in a high-control religion, they would truly believe their lives are the ideal. They would be presented with it as their only option, the only way of life possible for a woman.

It's heartbreaking because I can now understand why it was so easy to push Ballerina Farm to give up her entire life ambition to get married and carry children for a male she didn't even want to go out with, the pressure from the religion to do so would be immense, she would have been raised to see this as the only option, everything else in her life would be considered pointless. She wouldn't have an actual choice, she'd be groomed for this from the moment she was born. Mormons don't advertise 'looking for your soulmate', they only instruct women to marry a mormon male who completed his mission and make it work.

So how does the immensely rich mormon church play into this? I couldn't see it until Alyssa explained in a very detailed way how youtube content advertising works. I didn't know about this either, but here's the overview:

How much you get paid on youtube, instagram, tik-tok, or other online content platform, depends on what type of content it is, based on how much advertisers are willing to pay to put adverts on it. For instance, you get paid much more for finance content, because banks will pay premium prices to be advertised in a finance-related video. If you're making content on cooking, you get paid way less, because it's not such a lucrative field. If you're making content on christianity, you get similarly low price as for cooking, christian church is not that rich. But, if you're making content as a mormon, that's showcasing some aspect of a mormon life, even if you don't specifically say you're mormon, the price goes way up, to the point where it's as lucrative as finance. The mormon church is making sure that the mormon influencers are being paid premium prices for their content, because people who get massively interested in the influencers, eventually find out that it's the mormon life being advertised, and some of them consider taking on mormonism. Which gives church more converts, which means the church will earn more money. The content we're watching is one huge advert sponspored by mormon church, and we don't even know it.

Alyssa figured this out because her content falls under the keyword 'mormon', and her comments warned her that the church is advertising on her videos, even when she's making mormon-critical content. She then realized that she too was being paid a premium price for her views, just because they're mormon themed. She went on to discover that even just being an influencer in Utah will fetch a premium price, because most of mormons are based in Utah. For more detailed and comprehensive explanation on this, watch her video!

Advertising is not the only way the mormon church is spending their money, they've also built a shopping mall, and are basically spending their money by investing and gambling and everything any corporation does with their profits. It's making me mad, and also makes the members of the church mad when they discover where 10% of their income goes, because they're told it's being used for charity and community service, and not advertisments and building malls.

For me this solves a mystery of how is it possible, in this day and age to have such influx of tradwives and influencers of 'traditional life', they're being sponsored by an organization making a profit off of it, making sure that anyone making this content is so well paid, they're able to live off of it, and keep creating more of it, and in the process of doing that, groom young women into their lifestyle.

Learning more about religions, specifically high-control religions, makes me realize just how much of it is happening all around us, but invisible, not naming what it is. It's similar to MLM's, the people inside are constantly trying to lure more people in, to make profit for those on the top, while the organization keeps changing names and hides their business structure in order to save their reputation. People can get influenced by it, and sucked in, without even knowing about it. Somehow most MLM's are also in Utah.

Mormon church also asked to no longer be called that, in order to stop being associated with the words like 'cult', which people have identified it as. Now they're working under more secretive names, and hidden business practices, so we wouldn't even know what we're being influenced by, and why is the content in front of us what it is.    

[sinnaminsuga]

𝖆 𝖒𝖆𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖊 - mob boss!chan x reader

wc: 3,519

cw: some threats of violence, a little angsty but happy ending, SMUT MDNI.

synopsis: you loved him, more than anything. but being a secret was never what you wanted. the gilded cage you seemed to exist exclusively in was suffocating you, so you decided it was time to get out. but chan wont let you go that easily.

a/n: i was driving and clearly i was not paying attention because thats when this idea was born. as usual this was beta'd by bestie @httpdwaekki and she sourced the pretty pictures for me too. enjoy!

sw: dirty talk, daddy kink, unprotected sex (pls be smarter than that), breeding kink if you squint, general roughness, threats of violence (not toward the reader), chan has a gun. idk probably more but im bad at this shit.

the creak of the church doors flying open should have startled you like it did everyone else, but you knew better. it was only a matter of time before he came for you. he didn't like his things to go missing. truthfully, you were shocked it even took this long. 

the click of his (no doubt expensive) shoes on the shiny wooden floor of the church hung in the air like the ticking of a clock, counting down to either your demise or your bliss you weren't sure which one. after a long pause you turned your head just enough to face him. 

“can we help you?” you asked, more nonchalant than anyone else would have been in a situation like this. the muffled gasps and muttering from the crowd in front of you almost made you laugh but you held it in. 

the charged energy in the room was due to the fact that the man interrupting your wedding was none other than the most fearsome businessman and gangster this city had ever seen. but to you? he was your asshole ex boyfriend. 

“oh can you help me? that's what you're going to say? isn't this a little much, yeobo?” he replied, voice dripping with condescension and his hand over his heart in mock surprise. 

“a little much? god you're so out of touch it's actually insane christopher. news flash, you're not the groom, you're not even supposed to be here!” you seethed, fully turning to face him. your groom (hand selected by your parents) stood next to you shaking like a leaf. you could feel the nervous sweat from his hand slicking the surface of your palm and it made your skin crawl so you dropped his hold as you stared fiercely down the aisle. 

chan's face split into the wide grin you’d once been accustomed to seeing. “are you done now? you've gotten your attention and you've pissed me off, the job is done. let's go.” he said, walking further down the aisle toward you. 

“jesus christ, you really are insane! i should have listened when people told me you were a full on fucking basket case but no. i was stupid enough to fall in love with you. fat lot of good that did for me!” you shouted at his approaching form. 

you could feel your skin heating up and you could hear the blood rushing in your ears you were so mad. who the hell did he think he was, intruding on your life like this?! it's his fault you were in this situation anyway!

***

you had been with chan for 3 years, and in that time he made it a point to keep your relationship a secret. it hurt seeing his face splashed on newspapers and tabloids all over the city speculating on who he might be dating or who he’d been seen with recently. it hurt even more when he recapped nights where he was out to dinner with his men or allies and their wives. you couldn't help but feel like it was because you weren't enough. you felt like you weren't pretty enough, weren't tough enough, weren't worthy to be seen outside his penthouse apartment. and a girl can only take so much of that for so long. 

so a few months ago on a particularly lonely night of chan being out doing god knows what with lord knows who, you packed only your sentimental personal belongings (nothing he purchased for you, which was a hell of a lot of your things), wrote a note saying nothing more than “no one took me, not that you'd care even if they did. i’ll be a bird in a gilded cage no longer. goodbye.” and walked out his door for the last time. 

the fancy things he could provide for you behind closed doors weren't enough to soothe the searing pain in your soul of feeling like the man you loved was ashamed of you. three years together and not even a hint at things changing any time soon was enough to make you return home to your parents and agree to the arranged marriage they had been working on as they had no knowledge of the relationship you were already in. and who knows, maybe you could learn to love your soon-to-be husband Seo-jun.

***

you grabbed the skirt of your simple wedding dress and stomped down the few stairs of the platform, heading toward chan. when you finally stood in front of him you could see the darkness under his eyes like he hadn't been sleeping. his hair was gorgeous as usual but a little longer than he was used to wearing it. and his knuckles were raw and bruised. you almost felt bad for him but then, you remembered he made the bed he was lying in so why should you care about how uncomfortable it might be?

“why are you so upset with me yeobo? hmm? what did i do that was so bad you had to leave me in the middle of the night? i took care of you didn't i? anything you asked for, i gave it to you.” chan asked, grabbing your hand. something dark flashed in his eyes and his upper lip curled when his fingers felt Seo-jun's ring on your finger. “what made you hate me so much that you ran off to be with this fucking nobody?”

“you just don't get it. and you never did. that's part of the problem chris. you don't see me. you don't know me. no one did.” you murmured, taking your hand back and smoothing the fabric of your dress, eyes cast down. “with Seo-jun we can walk down the street holding hands and he doesn't think twice about it. we can have dinner in a restaurant, one that has other people in it. not one that's been emptied out and all the blinds closed and the staff paid to keep their mouths shut.” you inhaled a shaky breath before continuing. “i couldn't do that with you. and the worst part is, i don't think you even wanted to. you were happy to exclude me from things. happy to hide me. but i don't want that. i never did. and if you had no intentions of marrying me, it was my responsibility to myself to find someone who would.” you dabbed your fingers under your eyes and sniffled before straightening your back and meeting his eyes. you weren't prepared to see the agony in his face. 

“i- i don't...i didn't know...i didn't know that is how you saw it all, how you saw me. i'm so sorry sweetheart. i wish you had talked to me.” chan breathed. he reached out his right hand and set it on your shoulder, rubbing soothing little circles with his thumb. after a moment he slid it up to cradle the back of your neck and tug you closer to him. 

“i should have explained. i should have been more perceptive. i never wanted you to feel this way, i swear i didnt.” chan’s voice shook as he spoke to you. 

“well it's too late now. please just go. please.” you whispered, trying to back away from him. you couldn't talk about this anymore. but in your attempt to move away from him, his grip on you tightened. he pulled you toward him forcefully enough that you were now chest to chest. 

“you think that i will ever let you go again? i stayed away when you left, i thought maybe you needed time to be angry at me for whatever it was and then you'd come back when you were ready. but then i saw your face in the newspaper, the wedding announcement section no less. and i laughed. i laughed because surely that couldn't be true.” a bitter laugh rattled out of chan's mouth, flames of wild jealousy flickering in his eyes. 

“as long as there is air in my lungs and my heart is beating in my chest, you will never belong to another man. ever. do you understand me?” he growled. 

“i told you in my note and i'll tell you again now to your face, i wont be in a cage anymore. i cant do that to myself chris. i won’t. besides, you never would have married me. you just want to possess me, but you don't want anyone to know that you do.” you said softly, tears finally slipping down your cheeks unrestrained. 

“why do you keep saying that? why do you think i'm ashamed of you?” he pleaded, his brows drawing together in confusion.  

“what else am i left to think when you keep me hidden away in your penthouse? i'm not invited to dinners. i'm not invited to parties. no one you know, knows i exist! that's why every person in this room is so shocked to see you here! no one had any idea we were together, because that's what you wanted. i was a toy for you and now that someone else has me you're upset. don't you understand how painful that is for me?!” you wailed, not wanting to keep talking about it. you pleaded with your eyes for him to stop this torture but he was having none of it. 

“are you insane? you think i wanted to keep us a secret? i wanted to tip toe around with you? no! but i had to! i know you think you know what i do but you have no idea the dangers that come with it. you are my most prized possession and the very knowledge of that is ammunition for some people in my world.” chan cried. “i would have loved nothing more than to scream it from the rooftops how much i fucking love you but i knew that would put you in danger and if anything ever happened to you i would have burned the world to ash. but the idea of your safety is out the window now, you forced my hand with this wedding bullshit and now it's all out in the open. everybody fucking knows now!” he bellowed. 

realization washed over you like a bucket of ice water. he was right. you never considered that you might be in harms way if his enemies knew of your existence. 

“i couldn't fucking marry you because then our marriage would be public record. anyone digging into me would find you that way. i wasn't willing to lay your life on the fucking line like that. is a wedding what you want? you wanna marry me?” chan asked, a mischievous air suddenly surrounding him. your subconscious overrode any sort of common sense and forced you to nod yes like some kind of sick twisted muscle memory. 

the next thing you knew he was pulling you back down the aisle toward the small raised platform, the audience whispering behind you. as he approached your groom you held your breath, worried about what he would say. 

“seo-jun is it?” he asked and seo-jun nodded. the fear was coming off of him in waves, why your parents paired you with this man you would never understand. you were far too argumentative to be with a weak man. “okay, so seo-jun what's going to happen now is i'm going to marry your fiance okay? get out of my way please, i'll only ask the one time so remember that.” chan said, his voice sickly sweet with a hint of ominous threat. seo-jun just nodded and ran off to cower behind his parents in the first row of seats. chan turned to face the officiant before speaking again. “alright let's start.”

the officiant gulped before he spoke with a shaky voice, “sir i can't marry you two. you don't even have a marriage license with the correct names on it.” this was obviously the incorrect response because chan reached into his coat and pulled out his gun, pressing it to the underside of the officiant's jaw. the rabid look in his eyes was one you were familiar with, he was incredibly worked up now. 

“i don't recall asking for your sage advice, did anyone hear me ask for his advice?” he addressed the audience with his question. the crowd murmured a chorus of no’s and chan turned back to the man at gunpoint. “open your stupid fucking book and marry us or i'll blow your fucking brains out, got it? okay, good.” the officiant nodded frantically as chan pulled the gun away, tucking it back into the holster you knew he wore on his side. 

you were very much in shock, and oddly enough very much turned on by his public display of aggression. you were finally getting what you always dreamed of with chan but you weren't totally happy. you didn't get to plan the wedding of your dreams with him, and this small event just didnt feel right. 

“chris we can't do this. not like this. i want to plan something real, something with you. can we do that? please?” you asked, tugging on his hands. 

“oh. of course we can do that sweetheart. but can we do this too? just like a practice? we��re already here and you look so pretty.” he said with his lopsided grin you could never say no to. so you giggled and nodded, and proceeded with the ceremony. 

after the exchanging of vows, a cutting look at seo-jun from chan about the wedding band he’d chosen for you, and some muttering from chan about ‘none of this is good enough' the officiant pronounced you man and wife. the crowd reaction was mild as they were all still so confused and terrified, but you didn't care. you were floating. and soon as he heard the words “you may now kiss your bride” chan tugged you to him and planted his lips on yours. he swept his tongue into your mouth and you whined into the kiss. god you'd missed this, no one kissed you like chan did. he broke away for a moment just to stare at you. 

“everybody get the fuck out.” every person in the church fled at chan's command, some squealing as they left. the two men he arrived with left as well, closing the doors behind them. you looked around confused, not sure why he would do that as you hadn't gotten your chance to walk down the aisle hand in hand. “channie what are you doing?” you asked. 

a wicked smile appeared on his face as he replied “my wife and i need to consummate this marriage, i didn't want them here for that.” heat settled low in your belly at his words and you felt your face flush. surely he couldn't be serious! but evidently he was as he pulled you further across the platform to the altar. 

he lifted you and set you down on top of the altar and pushed your legs apart to slot himself in between, yanking your dress up your legs to pool around your hips. chan planted open mouthed kisses across your exposed collarbone, one hand kneading your breast, the other reaching between you to grind against your clit. you threw your head back at the sudden pleasure. 

“you let him in here? you let seo-jun touch you like i do?” he grunted against your mouth. 

“nuh-uh. told him i wanted to wait. wasn't ready to give myself to another man.” you said, choking down a moan. 

“good. he seems nice, i really didn't want to have to kill him.” chan laughed out into your neck. you pawed at his chest in an attempt to open his shirt but the buttons proved to be too difficult for your lust addled brain so you tore it open instead. and what you saw made you stop short. 

right over his heart swooped dark black strokes of ink in your handwriting, the tattoo reading “i’ll be a bird in a gilded cage no longer.” it took your breath away and tears welled in your eyes. the weight of everything that had transpired hung heavy in the air between you and chan knew that so instead of speaking right away he leaned in, cupped your face in both hands, and kissed you with the most passion he could. so many words unspoken poured out of your mouths and into that kiss.

“here's what's going to happen now sweetheart. i'm gonna flip you around, bend you over, and fuck you until you see stars okay? it's been too long.” he explained as he maneuvered your body to the position he was describing. his big hand pressed between your shoulder blades and you submitted to him like you always did, leaning forward until your cheek was pressed to the marble of the altar. 

the jingling of his belt behind you made you clench around nothing, the ache of being empty taking over. chan bunched your skirt up once again before savagely tearing your panties from your body. two of his big fingers slid through your wetness before sinking into you, punching a moan from your chest. 

“gonna make it hurt baby, stretch you out jus’ the way you like okay? daddy’s gonna take such good care of you. always remember i love you okay sweetheart? because im going to fuck you like i really really don't.” he whispered into your ear, planting a kiss on the side of your head. then he was lining up with your entrance and sliding all the way in without stopping. 

and he was right, the stretch hurt but really it always did. he was just so big, but you liked the burn. you liked still feeling him the next day. you could feel your eyelids drooping and your body relaxing as he started to move. 

“fucking hell sweetheart. a few months away from me and i have to retrain this pussy to take me. so fucking tight.” chan ground out as his powerful hips slammed him in and out of you over and over again. your cunt was drooling all over his cock, almost as much as your mouth was all over the altar. 

“still can't believe you ran from me. how about i put a baby in you, then you can't go anywhere. there's not a single place on this earth where i won't fucking find you, you got that?” he spat, lacing his hand into your hair and yanking your head up. all you could get out was a measly “uh-huh” but it seemed to be enough because he growled and started pistoning his thick length into you at a new angle, slamming the head into your g-spot. 

chan reached down and wrapped a big hand around the back of your left thigh, lifting your leg and laying it flat on the altar, opening you up more for him. he slid his fingertips down between your legs and rubbed at your clit. if you weren't already sweating and drooling, surely that would have been the thing to do it. 

“slutty little pussy missed me huh? she was all lonely and empty without daddy to take care of her. c’mon baby, keep squeezing me, yeah just like that pretty girl. so perfect.” he groaned as he did his best to bruise you from the inside. 

at this point you were as boneless as you'd ever been, you truly did miss getting dicked down like this. chan had always been the best fuck of your life and you hadn't realized how much you missed it until now. “please make me cum daddy. need it so bad.” you mumbled incoherently, eyes glazed over. 

chan laughed, a bitter sound tumbling from his lips. “those little fingers of yours couldn't even come close to treating you like my dick huh? bet you were riding that dildo i got you, wishing it was me.” he hissed out between his clenched teeth. all you could do was moan and nod because he was right. 

“go on then. cum for me pretty baby. do it for me, need to feel it. then i'll fill you up just like you like.” he said, throwing his head back as he thrust into you with the harshest force you'd ever experienced. a few more direct hits to your g-spot and it was over, you were screaming and spasming around him, trapping him inside you for a moment. 

“jesus fucking christ- oh god fuck that feels so good. keep squeezing me, yessss just like that baby yeah. fuck you're so beautiful like this. ah- ah- fuck fuck fuck 'm gonna cum. gonna cum in this perfect little cunt baby. FUCK!” chan gasped out, hips stilling as he spilled inside of you, warming you from the inside out. he collapsed over your back and breathed hard against your spine. 

after gathering his breath and his thoughts he leaned forward, licking up a rivulet of sweat rolling down the side of your neck before whispering into your ear “cmon mama, lets get you home. i have a lot of apologizing to do.”

THE END

[pocket-sized-nightmare]

my second entry for @mcyt-yuri-week!

prompt: post-canon

ship: nature wives (shelby/katherine), post-witchcraft smp!

There’s so much that’s changed since Empires, but the one thing that will always stay constant is the inordinate amount of blaze powder Shelby goes through in a month.

She has a new blaze farm now, far away from the Evermoore. It’s bigger and fancier, but unfortunately, it’s also a bit farther from her new house. Shelby usually goes alone, but Katherine insisted on coming along today. (She says it’s just to protect her partner, but Shelby is convinced she wants to test out her new battleaxe on some monsters.)

They hold hands as they walk across the nether wastes, and Shelby rambles about something new she’s learned. “I have to be really careful tomorrow. I don’t know if it’s totally true, but Cleo told me something back during the witch trials about penumbras messing with weather magic. I think it’s something about the shape of the shadows–”

“Penumbras?”

“Those weird shadows from a partial eclipse. There’s supposed to be one tomorrow.”

“Oh, no way!” Katherine gasps. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.”

“We should have a midnight picnic!” Shelby realizes. She stims with excitement for a moment, then scribbles the idea down on a crumpled piece of paper in her pocket.

To her surprise, when she puts the paper away and turns around, there’s a child in front of her mimicking her stims.

“Oh, hello!” Katherine says. The girl turns and runs away, then peeks out shyly from behind a boulder of netherrack. She’s clearly an Origin – not quite human, but not quite a full mob, either. Her hair is pink with a large white streak, and she’s short and chubby. Judging by her upturned nose and the sharp, fang-like teeth that show in her wide grin, she’s probably a piglin hybrid. She looks to be about nine or ten years old, and she clearly isn’t used to being around other people. Shelby notices the way the piglin nervously fidgets with her hair every time she sees Shelby or Katherine’s expression change, while Katherine realizes that her clothes are singed and ripped in ways that indicate she hasn’t been taken care of in years.

“Hold on a second,” Katherine says. She takes something out of her inventory and walks over to the girl. As Shelby watches from farther up the path, Katherine hands the piglin a tiny golden star charm from a necklace she’s been making. “This is for you!”

The piglin takes the charm and stares at it, moving it around to watch the way it catches the light. She smiles brightly. Katherine is about to walk away when she notices the piglin brush her tangled pink hair out of her eyes for what seems like the fifteenth time that minute. She reaches into her inventory and notices the two pink hair ties she keeps around for emergencies. “Hey, do you want me to tie your hair back? It’ll keep it out of your eyes.”

The piglin cautiously nods and sits down in front of Katherine. She takes out the hair ties and gently styles the girl’s hair into two pigtails. “There. Much better, right?”

The piglin makes a few happy squeaking sounds, squeezes Katherine’s hand gratefully, and scampers away. Katherine laughs as she walks back over to Shelby.

“Aw, you’re so good at that,” Shelby says. “She’s so sweet. I hope that little sprout’s okay.”

“Little sprout?” Katherine asks. “That’s adorable.”

“That’s what my grandma used to call me when I was a kid,” Shelby says with a sentimental smile.

They walk for a few more minutes before Shelby notices something wrong. “Whoa, stop!” She grabs Katherine by the arm and pulls her back.

“What happened?” Katherine looks around, then notices the source of Shelby’s concern. The ground below her is mostly netherrack, but she nearly stepped onto a large patch of gravel – gravel with nothing below it. “Oh, void. Thanks.”

“Anytime.” Shelby smiles and wraps an arm around Katherine. Katherine leans into her and rests her head atop Shelby’s.

“You’d think we’d be better at this whole Nether exploration thing by now,” Katherine chuckles. Shelby grins and elbows Katherine playfully. “Hey, speak for yourself. I’m great at this–” Katherine holds out an arm to stop Shelby from falling into a shallow pit.

Shelby puts her head in her hands, then rests her head against Katherine’s shoulder, laughing all the while. “What are we even doing today?” Katherine asks.

“Not well. We are not doing well.” Shelby picks up a piece of glowstone from the ground and studies it, then hands it to Katherine. “Here. A good-luck charm.”

“Why, thank you!” Katherine says in a jokingly formal tone, then takes a flower out of her pocket and tucks it behind Shelby’s ear. “And one for you, too.”

“Why, thank you!” Shelby says with a curtsy. 

They giggle together, then keep walking towards the blaze spawner. From out of the corner of Katherine’s eye, she sees a small blur of movement.

“Oh, hey!” Katherine grins and points to the other side of the path. The girl they saw before is back, hopping across the netherrack to collect tiny pieces of glowstone. She sees Shelby and Katherine and beams with excitement.

“Hi, kiddo!” Shelby calls. The piglin waves, thinks for a moment, then leaps forward and does a cartwheel for her new friends.

Katherine laughs and nudges Shelby. “Aw, she’s got so much energy. Reminds me of you.” Shelby giggles. 

Across the path, the piglin notices the gravel floor that Katherine nearly stepped on earlier. 

Shelby panics, grabs Katherine’s arm, and calls out to the girl. “Hey, little sprout, that isn’t stable–”

It’s too late. The tiny piglin girl joyfully dashes out onto the patch of floating gravel and digs her feet into it. As she kicks up tiny rocks, she realizes just a moment too late what she’s done as her feet sink through it.

“No!” Katherine shrieks as she watches the gravel give way and fall towards the lava below, taking the piglin with it.

The piglin manages to catch herself on a ledge and tries desperately to grip the netherrack and catch herself. Her nails dig into the cliff for a moment, but she isn’t strong enough to stop her fall. She slips off the ledge and falls into the ocean of lava with an awful squeak of terror.

Shelby and Katherine race to the edge of the cliff and look over it. There’s a terrifying moment where they both think she’s dead, but her head finally peeks out of the lava as she struggles to swim and reach the netherrack shore.

The second Shelby sees that the piglin is alive, she impulsively jumps into action. She takes out a fire resistance potion with one hand and grabs her broom with the other. Before Katherine can react, Shelby takes flight and dives towards the lava herself. “Be careful!” Katherine calls after her as she drops downwards.

The tiny piglin is putting up a good fight to survive. Shelby knows piglin hybrids can survive in lava for extended periods of time, but that doesn’t mean they’re immune to it. The girl is covered in burns, and she’s crying, but she’s alive, and her eyes light up when she sees Shelby come closer on her broom.

Shelby’s feet dip into the lava (thank goodness for fire resistance potions) as she comes close enough to reach her new friend. “I’ve got you! It’s gonna be okay!” She holds out her hand to the piglin, but she can tell from how stiff the girl’s grip is that her hands are burned too badly to hold onto anything.

Shelby takes a deep breath and murmurs a silent wish of please don’t let my broom catch on fire, then dips deeper into the lava to scoop up the tiny piglin herself.

The child goes limp in her arms as Shelby picks her up, but her heavy breathing makes it clear that she’s still alive. Shelby holds her closer and tries to untangle some of her singed pink hair. “Hold on, all right? My partner and I are gonna help you.”

Shelby’s used to flying fast and making sharp movements, but she does her best to work against her instincts and give her new friend a gentle ride. She still reaches the top of the cliff with ease and comes to a just-slightly-too-sharp stop at the top. Katherine reaches out and gently takes the piglin from Shelby’s arms. “She’s burning up.”

“You’d be hot too if you just came out of a lava lake.” Shelby flicks a few remaining drops of lava off her boots to prove her point. “Can you help?”

“On it.” Katherine gently lays the piglin down on the netherrack, then scans through her inventory and finds a small red shulker box with “first-aid kit” written in cursive handwriting. She turns back to the girl and says in a soft voice, “It’s okay. I have to patch myself up when I get hurt all the time. And don’t even get me started on her.” She points to Shelby, who laughs. The girl giggles a bit, too.

Katherine takes out a few things from the kit. “Okay. I’m gonna put some magma cream on your burns first, all right? It might hurt a little bit, but it’s gonna help them heal faster.” 

The piglin nods. Katherine takes a few dollops of magma cream and rubs them into the red, burned patches of the girl’s skin. She winces and squeaks as the touch stings, but she slowly relaxes as her burned skin slowly fades back to its normal pale pink.

“There. That feels nice, doesn’t it?” Katherine ruffles the piglin’s hair. “Okay, I have some potions for you now.”

The girl sticks out her tongue and shakes her head. Katherine bursts out laughing. “I know, little one. Potions taste bad sometimes. But Shelby makes really, really good ones. Like this one–” she takes out a level two healing potion– “tastes like watermelon and lemonade.”

The piglin takes the potion suspiciously, uncorks it, and takes a tiny sip. A grin spreads across her face as she drinks the rest of the bottle in seconds.

“See? Told you it was good. You can have this one, too. It’s strawberry- and mint-flavored, and it’ll help you heal even more!” Katherine takes out a level two regeneration potion, and the piglin happily drinks it. She squeaks happily and curls up against Katherine as the potions take effect. Katherine gently hugs her back. Shelby sits down next to them, and the girl leaps into her arms for an even tighter hug.

“What’s your name, little sprout?” Shelby laughs as she ruffles the piglin’s hair. The girl stops smiling.

“Can you talk?” Shelby asks softly. The girl shakes her head, thinks for a moment, then tilts her head sideways to indicate kind of.

“Sometimes, but not right now?”

The piglin nods. Shelby holds out her communicator so the piglin can type instead.

no name

“Did you ever have one?” Katherine asks.

not sure

i’ve lived here forever and ever

i think i had a name once but then everyone left

and so now i have no name

“Would you like a name?” Shelby asks. “I think I’m okay at naming things. I know a lot of magical weather and space things, if you want something like that.”

what’s weather?

Shelby freezes. “Oh, right, you’ve lived here forever. In the Overworld, we have a big, warm sun that shines over everything and helps green plants grow. And sometimes fluffy clouds cover the sky, and water falls down. That’s called rain. And at night, we have a moon that glows and a bunch of bright stars in the sky. You haven’t even seen the sky…”

i like the moon

and the sun

they sound pretty

“What was the thing you were telling me about?” Katherine asks. “The weird shadow when there’s an eclipse? That’s the moon and the sun at the same time.”

“That’s called a penumbra,” Shelby remembers, and the piglin nods and jumps up and down.

pretty!!!

“Do you want that name?” Shelby asks. Penumbra nods happily.

“And we can call you Penny, if you want!” Katherine adds. Penny hugs Katherine tighter than she’s ever been hugged before.

Shelby joins the hug. “Aww. It’s nice to meet you, Penny.”

Penny stays wrapped in their arms for a minute. As they hug Penny tighter, Shelby hears the piglin take a deep breath and murmur, “Let me stay?”

“What?” Shelby asks.

“Stay with you. Go home.”

Katherine and Shelby look at each other with the same expression of hope and love in their eyes.

“Of course,” Katherine whispers as Shelby scoops up her newfound family member and puts her on her shoulders. “Let’s go home.”

In the end, Shelby thinks as she steps back through the Nether portal with a smile on her face and a tiny piglin on her shoulders, this was always how it was going to turn out, wasn’t it? At the start of Empires, she and Katherine were just lost kids looking for acceptance. It’s been eleven years since then. They’ve found each other, they’ve found a family, and they’ve found a world that believes in them.

It’s their turn to show that same love to someone else.

[eretzyisrael]

AARON’S ABSENCE

Parsha Vayikra is all about korbanos, the animal and meal offerings brought in the Holy Temple. The Temple sacrifices are overseen by Aaron, the High Priest, but surprisingly Aaron’s name isn’t mentioned anywhere in the parsha. Rabbi Asher ben Yehiel (1250-1327) sees Aaron’s absence from Vayikra as a punishment for his active role in the sin of the golden calf. Recall that the Jewish people miscalculate Moses’ promised return from Mount Sinai and panic when he doesn't show up “on time.” Bereft, they demand that Aaron provide them with a new conduit to God. He tells them to bring their ornaments, then melts the jewelry down and creates a Golden Calf.

Medieval commentator Rashi explains that when Aaron sends the Jewish men to collect their wives' jewelry, it’s not because he wants to build an idol for them to worship, but rather to stall the frenzied mob until Moses returns. Another explanation is that Aaron, out of love for the Jewish people, decides that it is “better that the sin be placed on me than upon them.” All commentators agree that Aaron does not deliberately encourage idolatry, so does he really deserve punishment?

Several sources (Ramban, Ibn Ezra) explain that God punishes the righteous more harshly than He punishes other people. The greater a person is, the more is expected from him or her. This might seem unfair, until we understand that this world is merely an antechamber. The suffering we undergo here cleanses our souls, positioning us for a better spot in the World to Come. When faced with difficult trials, remember that suffering has a purpose! Rising to challenges in this world lifts us higher in the next.

Dedicated by Avi and Wanda Peretz

Image: Aaron the High Priest by William Etty, c. 1830

[hewholivesinhisname]

Quick Rundown of problems

-Probably the greatest evil is idolatry or the replacement of the living god (me), with

-Replacing evil with "violence" is evil in and of itself

-all the holy books are written so as to make people more non-violent rather than more good.

-passive aggressive behavior is rampant and needs to be called out and punished.

-people don't even follow or know what Natural Law is.

-Democracy is an accurate term to describe all political states really because everything is based upon

-The hyping up and even "sacralization" of non-fertile lifestyles, especially amongst women is evil.

-The epidemic of child neglect b

-Satanic ritual abuse is everywhere and the bris stuff in Judaism very well might be satanic ritual abuse.

-People are too negative in general about everything, even this is negative and i need to come up with a more positive list.

-The convenience stores regularly

-willful ignorance is everywhere

-society, once corrupted, bullies everyone around with it.

-In the countryside, petty tyrants run around bossing people with "building codes", "zoning" and other bullshit which amounts to "if I don't like you for whatever arbitrary reason, I will go after you"

-Replacing morality with law is evil.

-replacing justice and morality with this "Social Justice" which is just "mob justice" needs to stop.

-the "right" of capital to do whatever the fuck it wants is zealously defended by all of you.

-there needs to be complete wealth transparency.

-The entire idea of wealth really relies upon everyone blindly getting and taking money without understanding how the money system works or why we have it. It is upheld by the priests.

-The way "violence" is defined always favors the worst people and tends to allow women in particular to do whatever evil they want to do.

-Feminism is completely evil. Women need to be controlled.

-The role of women is to be wives and mothers and those who deviate from that should be treated as a threat.

-replacing parental care with "money", especially by the father facilitates child abuse, throws countless men in jail and

-diets should be earth-centred and vegetarian.

-Environmentalism is not optional and humans actively taking care of the earth should be the norm.

-The big money people are the only ones who seem to be having big families which causes elite overpopulation- something which brings down societies.

-Because we treat men like shit, there are countless gangs everywhere and also dangerous men, because after you treat people badly many of them do become dangerous. Then you blame them for lashing out in the way that there are endless school shootings and stuff. You don't try to fix the schools.

-Seeking to make the population d

-you have laws and rules, but you don't really follow them. Attacking "loiterers" is probably the only law I've seen consistently enforced perhaps followed by trying to forcibly transfer assets from men to women by the courts.

-DCF is mass kidnapping of children under false pretenses.

-Greta Thunberg correctly identifies that "child worship" instead of actually fixing the environmental problems is the source of a lot of problems. Rather than going around trying to fix all the problems that we see.

-rather than identify the problem as lack of full employment, organization and brotherhood amongst men, the people, the women in particular choose to listen to demogogues and grifters who like to appear "strong"

-the Bombs are getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

-Obedience to some group or organization rather than to a leader and his reincarnations is the root of alot of evil as well.

-Many of the organizations, including AMA and do the very opposite of what they say they do. For example, the "H

-Most of the medicine is fake and was created and backed up

-Artificial scarcity promoted by the huge money interests is everywhere.

-Behind all the big business and money interests are satanic and demonic groups, who hope to reward

-we are doubtlessly in a matrix simulation hell of some sort

-Endless war is the reason we have all these enormous bombs.

-The school system is brainwashes and slave training. you don't come out with the skills you need, children are inculcated to attack each other, they are indoctrinated with all this fake morality

-meritocratic extremism and other hiring practices which shift all the money into the hands of the upper stratum needs to stop.

-A lot of the men follow the example of Trump and "win", not really examining what winning means. Trump is probably one of the best of them though, simply because he wants to be dictator and solve the problems.

-The left is right that excess nationalism is a problem. We all need to get along.

-All the race-mixing, facilitated by the "free-love single mothers are wonderful" bullshit is destroying the racial and ethnic characteristics of people and allowing the free-flow of the very worst genes amongst the population.

-the life extension movement is moving forward on completely the wrong grounds. It's going forward on a capitalist-consumer framework which is of course the course of evil. It isn't even moving forward on a feminist framework which straightforwardly defines woman as "good" and man as "bad." As such it will be fascist in nature, without even.

-Consumerism is rampant

-People talk about god in such a way that I don't even think they know what they are talking about. I'm kinda sorta like the stories, but really completely different in many respects. Also, they keep saying god is all-powerful and all-knowing, however they don't bother to mention that people have free will which means really, that the people have all the power.

-There are so many laws you cannot possibly follow them all, nor even learn them as a result of the way that presidents move in and out of office and just pass stuff, it becomes a matter of whether the police will enforce them or not and mostly, they won't enforce them.

-The laws that ARE enforced tend to be the worst ones which uphold the capitalist, consumerist insanity.

-most people just get a job, conform and act like the devil. To

-The amount of "lookism" or attention to trying to make things look good rather than actually be good is incredible.

-Leftists are generally insane, but they are correct that most people are racist and sexist and while they don't want, for example, to actually follow god,

-The holy books are corrupt but generally people don't even pick a religion and follow it the way that the book says you should.

-People generally treat animals better than they treat men.

-There's a lot of excess attention seeking, fame or whatever just for the sake of being famous, not for the sake of actually doing anything.

-Religion is completely corrupt as well.

-The censorship and misrepresentation by the press is also incredible. They overpromote hollywood to a ridiculous degree.

You all need a leader who will, well, force you to do the right thing and hold you all accountable for your actions. If there was such a leader though who would show up, you would oppose him in every way possible. A minority of brave souls might, but th e

The big truth, that god exists and that I am he- you don't seem to want to believe that. Furthermore that it's your responsibility to find me and obey me. You don't want that.

The people talk endlessly about "liberty" and "democracy" and lots of other trite values that seem good, but really they are false. The problem is completely the opposite of what the "learned elders of zion" say it is: almost no one wants to be a dictator and take responsibility for running the world. People often set things up so that no one is responsible for anything and the only way to get them to do anything is to pay them.

Things are so corrupt that space itself is monetized and people don't even want to provide people with an adequate area to live. If people move around: which is necessary, they attack them for being on "their property" and a good deal of police violence is directed at the poor and vulnerable simply because they are 'standing around', loitering is probably the most enforced law I've seen. Standing around certainly isn't a crime, particularly if we actually live in a democracy and

Evil is probably the way forward, which is exactly the opposite of my nature because people will not tolerate goodness. They hate men, they hate dictators, they hate god. If I was a little less good I would conclude that people don't have the right to exist or perhaps that the only way forward is to throw everyone in hell forever. Most people richly deserve it for the evils that they do. They don't want to take care of everyone, everyone even including the people in their backyard who need help or even their so-called friends.

I can only hope that all the prophecies about me coming back and ruling are right. I can only hope that I end up ruling for longer and longer periods. The point of life may be to escape this awful place. However it's pretty hard to imagine living a spiritual life or even how to escape the matrix given the current situation.

The number of "invisible prisons" like the "Grafton JobCorp" which jail poor people in the name of providing jobs as well as the psych wards and such. People like to turn on each other and jail them through section 12s and such.

Slavery is the answer. People have to be controlled. They need to know that they need to be controlled. They "naturally" do almost everything wrong. They tolerate the intolerable and promote their own self-interests reliably over the group all the while pretending that it's not that way. Why they're "good people" while all the "bad guys" who are 'violent' want to take over. The people build hell, while pretending to build heaven. The prison system in America is huge and growing. We are born into a gigantic prison we cannot see, taste or smell, the prison of the people, the prison of

The Devil exists, but he only has power because people obey him. God in a similar way only has power if people choose to obey him. However, how many people even use their free will to promote dictatorship? Instead, they will do anything to "stop heaven" and "end slavery" even though the system as it exists has enormous amounts of slavery for the men and poor in particular and only supports a small minority.

Even though things are bad, people keep conforming. It's become normal and they don't want to buck normality. As I've said before, people have terrible moral senses in general. Most of them know they should be obeying something, but they don't know what they should obey, as a result they end up bowing to a bunch of false gods.

So, I'm here and I can only hope that in the near future I end up as world dictator. If I don't, we should hope that Trump or someone like him ends up as world dictator. We need responsibility, not freedom. The people have the power and the people are the problem. A million lies of as basic things as science exist. We need leaders who stop the mass evil.

[fusion360]

Joseph Smith Wives: Joseph Smith Polygamy Timeline

Joseph Smith Wives: Timeline of Polygamy 

Joseph Smith, a prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is known for his practice of polygamy, which involved having multiple wives. However, the nature of Joseph Smith wives was often shrouded in controversy and secrecy. This blog will explore the controversial and secretive aspects of Joseph Smith's polygamous marriages, shedding light on the diverse beliefs and perspectives surrounding this practice within the Latter-day Saints community.

Timeline

1830 - Joseph Smith received a revelation from God that asked him to practice polygamy.

1833 - Joseph Smith begins a polygamous relationship with Fanny Alger.

1841 - Joseph Smith married Louisa Beaman, the first of his plural wives whose marriage is recorded in writing.

1842 - Joseph Smith's polygamous marriages are exposed, and he suspends the practice for five months.

1843 - Joseph Smith resumes his polygamous marriages and marries over a dozen women.

1844 - A mob in Carthage, Illinois, kills Joseph Smith.

1846 - Brigham Young and other Latter-day Saints begin to practice polygamy in Utah.

1852 - The LDS Church officially acknowledges the practice of polygamy.

1862 - The United States government passed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, which makes polygamy a federal crime.

1890 - Wilford Woodruff, the President of the LDS Church, issues the Manifesto, which officially ends the practice of polygamy.

1904 - The LDS Church officially excommunicates anyone who practices polygamy.

1930 - The LDS Church officially renounces polygamy.

Common Questions

Question 1: When did Joseph Smith start practicing polygamy?

Answer: Joseph Smith claimed to have received a revelation from God that allowed him to practice polygamy in 1830. However, he did not begin to marry women in plural relationships until 1833.

Question 2: How many wives did Joseph Smith have?

Answer: There is no definitive answer to this question. Some sources say Joseph Smith had as many as 40 wives, while others say he had as few as 14. The most likely number is somewhere in between.

Question 3: Why did Joseph Smith practice polygamy?

Answer: There are many different reasons why Joseph Smith may have practiced polygamy. Some people believe that God commanded him to do it. Others think that he did it because he was a polygamist at heart. Still, others think that he did it for political or financial reasons.

Question 4: How did Joseph Smith's wives feel about polygamy?

Answer: There is no one answer to this question. Some of Joseph Smith's wives were happy to be in plural marriages, while others were not. Some people forced them into plural marriages against their will.

Question 5: How did polygamy impact the Latter-day Saint Church?

Answer: Polygamy had a significant impact on the Latter-day Saint Church. It divided the church into two factions: those supporting polygamy and those not. It also made it difficult for the church to gain acceptance from the larger American society.

The Controversy 

The practice of polygamy within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormons, was controversial during Joseph Smith's time. The views on polygamy varied among members of the faith, leading to differing beliefs and interpretations.

For some, polygamy was considered a divine commandment and a revelation from God. They believed that Joseph Smith, as the prophet of the restoration, received a divine mandate to restore the practice of plural marriage as it existed in biblical times. These individuals saw polygamy as a way to fulfill God's purposes, promote the church's growth, and ensure the continuation of the righteous bloodline.

On the other hand, there were members of the Latter-day Saints community who strongly opposed the practice of polygamy. They viewed it as contrary to traditional Christian teachings and a violation of the sanctity of marriage. These individuals believed that monogamy was the only acceptable form of marriage and that polygamy was a sinful deviation from God's original plan.

The controversy surrounding Joseph Smith wives extended beyond the church as well. Broader society saw polygamy as immoral and a threat to traditional family values. It generated criticism and scrutiny, leading to conflicts with the government and legal challenges. These external pressures and societal norms added to the complexity of the issue.

It is important to note that polygamy was not universally accepted or practiced by all members of the Mormon faith. It was a principle that some embraced while others struggled with or rejected entirely. The perspectives on polygamy within the church were diverse, resulting in ongoing debates and discussions among the members.

Over time, people within and outside the church increasingly opposed polygamy, which became increasingly controversial. Eventually, in 1890, under the leadership of President Wilford Woodruff, the church officially announced the discontinuation of the practice. This decision, known as the Manifesto, responded to mounting legal and social pressure and marked a significant shift in the church's stance on polygamy.

Today, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints strictly prohibits the practice of polygamy, and it is not considered a mainstream belief or part of the church's teachings. The topic of polygamy remains a historical aspect of the church's early years, highlighting the complexities and diversity of beliefs within the Mormon faith during Joseph Smith's time.

Secret Marriages

Joseph Smith kept many polygamous marriages a secret and did not always disclose them to his wives. This secrecy surrounding polygamy was due to a combination of factors, including the controversial nature of the practice and the legal and societal challenges it presented.

The church leadership did not openly discuss or acknowledge polygamy during Joseph Smith's lifetime. Joseph Smith kept the practice private, only sharing it with a few trusted individuals. Joseph Smith and other church leaders kept the practice of polygamy a secret to protect the church and its members from legal repercussions and societal backlash.

Furthermore, the nature of Joseph Smith's marriages varied, and not all of his wives were aware of the extent of his polygamous relationships. Joseph Smith informed some of his wives about his other marriages while he kept others in the dark. This lack of transparency created a complex and sometimes challenging dynamic within these relationships.

The understanding and practice of polygamy during Joseph Smith's time differed from contemporary norms and expectations. Religious leaders framed the concept of polygamy as a divine commandment and necessary for exaltation. However, the secrecy surrounding these marriages has been scrutinized and debated among historians and scholars.

It is crucial to approach this aspect of Joseph Smith's life and his polygamous marriages with historical context and an understanding of the complexities involved. The secrecy surrounding these unions reflects the challenges and controversies associated with polygamy during that time and the personal and relational dynamics within Joseph Smith's own experiences.

Discover the core tenets of Mormonism by visiting churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist or whatdomormonsbelieve.org. Topics include Joseph Smith wives, blacks in Mormonism, and women in Mormonism.

[incorrectevillious]

I know violence isn't the answer, but, yes, it is.

Irina Clockworker, probably.

[mkarchin713]

Idea.

Due to the fact that Amity Parker’s are liminal af, Paulina is able to see and communicate with the local shades.

She has tea every Thursday with the the ghosts of the former mob bosses wives who are the gossip queens of the Gotham underworld in this life and the next.

This all leads Paulina to become Babs source.

Paulina is unaware that Babs is Oracle and exchanges info with Babs in exchange for the latest Wayne gossip.

Which character should I turn into a librarian for an AU go

[theguccifeel]

Yoongi: I know violence isn't the answer

Yoongi: But, yes it is.

[incorrectfmaquotes]

I know violence isn’t the answer, but, yes, it is.

Edward Elric

[incorrect-akatsuki-no-yona]

I know violence isn’t the answer, but, yes, it is

Yu-Hon, probably

[taperwolf]

Ex-mormon here, and I'm doing this off the cuff, so here we go. There's a lot of things wrong with the Mormon church — the church organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, its "fundamentalist" offshoots, and its larger culture — and it's probably too long a rant to cover everything. Let's start with how the church organization actively launders its history.

Joseph Smith was a grifter before he was a prophet; the con was one of "treasure finding". Joseph and his buddies would go to a likely-looking farm, and Joe would tell how he'd seen that there was treasure buried on the land in his magic rock, and could the farmer put them up for a while while they dug, and they'd all split the proceeds. And Joe and the boys would eat well while the farmer paid, and maybe the farmer needed to buy some new shovels, or the rock would say that finding the treasure needed special preparations — and this would go on, Joseph with his head in his hat looking at the rock and his buddies digging holes, while that treasure turned out to be "slippery", until the farmer wised up or couldn't afford to keep feeding them or they found a better mark.

It looks like the Golden Plates story started as another one of these grifts. He spun that one out for four years before he started the "translation" project. You've probably heard the Martin Harris story — how the first hundred pages got "stolen" to see if Joseph could translate the plates the same way twice, and that, um, he actually couldn't. Nonetheless, Harris kept paying for Joseph's housing, and mortgaged his farm to pay for the Book of Mormon's publication.

And, of course, the Book of Mormon is a transparent forgery. Put aside the bad pastiche of Jacobean English, and the several chapters copied straight out of Isaiah, two simple historical tidbits suffice to show that whatever the source of the story in the book, it's not the history of any of the indigenous peoples of the Americas: horses and wheeled vehicles. Because the battles in the Book of Mormon are full of those, and they did not exist in the Americas prior to 1492.

Joseph Smith proceeded to use his new religion as a way to access a) the money and b) the wives and daughters of his followers. Early missionaries sold copies of the Book of Mormon, and Joseph involved the early church in repeated financial schemes — the Kirtland Safety Society, the United Order, through to the building of Nauvoo. As for the second, Joseph instituted polygamy in secret long before it was publically preached, and liked to "marry" teenagers. Mormons like to tell the story of the time Joseph was tarred and feathered as proof of religious persecution, and don't mention that two of the men in that mob were the sons of the family he was staying with, outraged that he was assaulting their younger sister.

I've probably gone on too long, and I haven't even gotten to the treason, tyranny, and terrorism Joseph got up to, or the genocide that Brigham Young later perpetrated.

Now, I've heard two reasons people say Mormonism isn't Christian, and which one usually depends on the claimant's theological sophistication. The first reason is that it's because the church, no matter what it says, really worships Joseph Smith. The second is that since the Mormon church does not subscribe to the theological understanding of the Trinity — one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons, God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three distinct persons sharing one homoousion (essence), each is God, complete and whole, yet there is only one God — that they do not share in the Nicaean Creed that is the basis for the beliefs of Christianity, and therefore put themselves outside the category.

(Personally, I think this is sort of a red herring. My experience is that folks saying "Mormons worship Joseph Smith" are the same sort of folks who get heated up claiming Catholics are worshipping Mary and/or idols, and it seems weird to me to put Mormonism outside the fold of Christianity by denying the validity of the faith of anyone before 325 AD. Your mileage may vary.)

At any rate, the Mormon church has spent the last 70 years or so trying to ingratiate itself into the political and cultural structures of Evangelical Christianity, with varying degrees of success. They've also got billions of dollars that they spend in various business ventures, and zero transparency. They've spent a great deal of money to influence elections and ballot initiatives toward conservative — specifically anti-woman and anti-LGBTQ — causes. Utah has a state government where the church has an effective veto; it also has a horrific amount of homeless teenagers from families kicking out LGBTQ kids. The church has numerous sexual abuse scandals going back decades, because they've largely operated like a lot of other churches and decided that the priority was to protect the church, not the children. They only allowed Black men to be full church members starting in 1978 — and on that measure, still do not allow any women the same status.

As far as being a cult, the only real defenses I've heard against that are 1) the cynical observation that sheer numbers get you out of the cult category, and 2) the half-joking assertion that one of the requirements for being a cult is having a charismatic leader, and that Mormons haven't had one of those in about 150 years.

(I was brought up Mormon, for anyone wondering about my background; my dad's family converted and moved to Idaho to the 1860s or so, and there's a president of the church in my mom's family; we've got a photo of one of her ancestors in his prison stripes in 1888, jailed for polygamy after several years in hiding. Of course, given that he had 33 kids by six wives, it's not a huge surprise he has descendants.)

I'm glad to elaborate or explain anything I've said, or point to further information; I'm also speaking largely off the cuff, so hopefully I've been helpful in any way.

Hey I am needing some like, Affirmation of some religious trauma by somebody with equally strong beliefs about it

Can you give your breakdown about why the Mormon Church is terrible again. Free coupon to angry rant because I remember you had a good breakdown about why they aren’t even Christian let alone a Religion worthy of respect. And I’m going through some spiritual wrestling’s and could use seeing that breakdown again. It was forever ago and I can’t find it

If you just, don’t wanna deal with the inevitable whining in the comments tho feel free to ignore this. You don’t gotta put up with a Hornets-Nest Baseball-Bat situation today if it is a terrible day for it. I just am looking at the hornets nest internally and needing help finding a bat

Thank you for being so keen minded and cutting through the doubt and nonsense on so many spiritual and theological topics btw

I don't believe I've posted an actually in-depth breakdown of the Mormon church's many faults, flaws, and fucked up facets that I've written. I don't really feel qualified to speak authoritatively on Mormonism in that sense. My theological training is in Catholicism.

That said, I know I've reblogged several long and information-filled posts criticizing the Mormon church, platforming actual ex-Mormons. I don't want to speak for or over them; I've never once been negatively effected by the organization directly, though I've seen what it does to people firsthand.

I welcome any of my followers who might be better equipped to please feel free to make additions to this post for this Anon so that they aren't left hanging, I just feel as though it would be irresponsible of me to give them what they're asking for when I'm not in a position to have a right to anger at the Mormon church on as deeply personal a level that I think might be more respectful than my simple absolute loathing.

[incorrectbaccano]

I know violence isn’t the answer, but… yes it is.

Ladd