#speak as gospel nor would i want to

[nabsthevulture]

The reason I asked in the first place is because I follow a youtuber that is a strictly works from home person with a very small dog that they often send off to daycare and I quote "to get her out of my sight sometimes"

It rubs me the wrong way every single time they say it because its like...teach your dog a nice out of the way method of settling, crate train them, give them their own activity in another room, etc. It's not like you're dealing with a 50+ pound dog, she probably weighs like 15 pounds.

cmon now

What are yalls feelings on Dog day care

[alternate-real-ities]

I'd love to see what alternate versions of this guy there are.

Sure buddy. It wasn't easy tuning my machine this time, but I think I've found some interesting realities out there! Hope you like them :)

In an alternate reality not so different from our own, this bearish hunk has taken on a more muscular, less chubby form - transformed into a behemoth. Here, he's not just any old gym rat; he's a world-famous powerlifter and internet celebrity whose influence knows no bounds.

Young men from all corners of the globe look up to him as their idol, their motivation, their reason for living - especially when it comes to getting swole. They follow his every post, eagerly absorbing each tip on training and nutrition like gospel from a fitness prophet. And why not? With a physique like his, who wouldn't want to emulate perfection?

His pecs are massive, each one a study in taut, rippling muscle that defies the laws of physics. His arms bulge with thickness, as if carved from granite by some mythical sculptor. His thighs are tree trunks, powerful and unyielding, while his calves are chiseled masterpieces of human anatomy.

But his influence extends far beyond the gym walls. In this world, a new wave of ripped teens has become the norm, thanks largely to their idolization of this muscular beast. Gone are the days of skinny, awkward youth; now, every boy from puberty onwards is driven to get big and buff in order to measure up.

Parents worry about the health implications, but who can blame them for wanting their sons to grow up strong and confident like this fitness icon? And as for the young men themselves, they'd follow him anywhere - even into the depths of steroid abuse if it means achieving that perfect, chiseled physique.

In this world, there's no escaping his shadow - nor would anyone want to. For in the presence of such unadulterated muscle majesty, all other men are but mere mortals, forever relegated to the sidelines while he reigns supreme as the ultimate embodiment of human potential.

In another reality, our bearish hunk has been reborn as a towering Latin stud, the kind of papi that makes hearts race and loins stir across every continent. Hailing from Colombia, he grew up in a world where machismo is king, and his rugged good looks and powerful physique were destined for greatness.

Here, he's known as Papi Leche, a towering figure of masculine perfection with a body that could make even the most devout Catholic priests weep with lust. His skin is a rich, burnished brown that glistens with the sheen of oil and sweat after a long day at the gym.

But it's not just his physique that sets this Latino daddy apart - it's his legendary cum, renowned throughout the land for its unparalleled potency and addictive quality. Gringos from all over the world can't resist the allure of his Latin leche, once they've tasted its salty, intoxicating flavor.

He takes great pleasure in breaking them down, both physically and mentally, until they're nothing more than obedient little cumsluts desperate for another taste of his golden nectar. And he always delivers, pumping load after massive load into their eager mouths and throats until they're drowning in Latin dick juice.

And it's not just a physical addiction. They gradually change the more leche they drink. Their skin darkens, their features soften, and their accents change until they're speaking in perfect, melodic Spanish.

Before long, this Latino daddy has an entourage of half-Latino, half-gringo chicos who worship him and vie for his attention - all of them hooked on his leche like junkies on a fix.

So if you ever find yourself in Colombia, make sure to keep an eye out for this hulking bear of a man - but be warned: once you've caught sight of him, there's no escaping his gravitational pull. You'll be drawn in like a moth to a flame, helpless to resist the allure of his latin leche until you're nothing more than a mindless, cum-addicted shell of your former self.

Finally, in yet another reality, our bearish hunk has been reborn as a cocky, wealthy young Arab stud - the epitome of Dubai's high-flying elite and a player in every sense of the word.

Here, he's the king of the scene, with a body that's equally at home on the beach or in the boardroom. His skin is a flawless, golden brown, his features chiseled like marble from the hands of a skilled sculptor.

As a member of Dubai's elite social circle, he moves through life like a prince among paupers - except instead of a crown, he wears a gold-plated watch on each wrist. He cruises the city in his gleaming black Lamborghini, with a string of adoring twink boys piled into the backseat for good measure.

These young men are just playthings for him to use and discard, their tight little holes and eager mouths mere receptacles for his boundless sexual appetite. He'll fuck them raw, pump them full of cum, and then toss them aside like yesterday's trash - all while smirking in satisfaction at the knowledge that he's left another broken little twink in his wake.

But it's not just about the physical act for this Arab stud; it's about the power dynamic. He loves nothing more than to humiliate his conquests, reducing them to quivering, tear-streaked messes as he lectures them on their place in the world - namely, at his feet, servicing his every whim.

And when he lets loose with that massive, cut Arab cock, it's a sight to behold - thick, veiny, and heavy as a horse's head, with a bulbous, slit-tipped crown that glistens with precum. It's the kind of dick that can stretch even the most well-fucked hole to its limits, leaving its recipients gasping in awe at his sheer size and potency.

And yet, despite all the degradation and abuse, these twinks can't get enough of him. They're addicted to the thrill of being used by such a powerful, dominant figure; they crave the taste of his cum on their tongues and the feeling of his thick, veiny cock splitting them open.

But despite all of this, this Arab boy has a soft spot for romance. He adores showering his favorite twink with expensive gifts and lavish dates - taking him to the finest restaurants and clubs, then whisking him away to his private villa for a night of passionate lovemaking under the stars.

So if you ever find yourself in this version of Dubai, keep an eye out for this hunky Arab stud. Just be prepared to worship him... and pray that he deigns to notice your pathetic little existence.

And so, once again, we have explored the possibilities that the multiverse provides. Which version of our friend here do you think is the most appealing? Or perhaps you have your own alternate version in mind? Who knows, the possibilities are endless...

[exaflux]

How good is BTAA Scarecrow at therapy really? (An analysis) (Part 1)

So I naively thought that this'd be a laugh. Take the unethical psychiatrist, analyse his techniques, highlight what he's doing in real world contexts and give him a rating. After hours of working on this though I unintentionally managed to construct a theory on how BTAA Jon might approach therapy. Oop.

This part contains- a breakdown of some psychological approaches in therapy settings, character analysis/theory of Jon (in the conclusion), Jon being awful

Disclaimer- I am not a trained psychologist or therapist or anything of the like. I did study the topic under a teacher who was a trained psychologist though, and I still very much like psychology, so that basically makes me an expert in this field. This is a joke. Do not take my word as gospel. This post was written for fun and will probably have a mistake somewhere.

Harvey and Two-face will be referred to seperately in this analysis, but if referring to both Harvey will be used as default. Jonathan is Jonathan.

A-Level psychology don't fail me now 🙏

Session one/"two"-

The following all takes place in S2, Episode 5

The first section of our analysis takes place on March 4th and the time is 2:02pm, surprising no one as Two-Face is present. Jonathan begins the session by setting up a recording and going through standard legal procedure, following the “Code of Medical Ethics” (0:15) of Gotham. He also makes note that the first tape was destroyed, again probably for legal reasons. Good start.

Being that it was Harvey that destroyed the last tape machine due to a mishap of it not being the first session and Harvey refusing to perceive the number one, Jon asks him to elaborate- “tell me more about that” (0:56). Asking for more info on something a client has said often shows interest, which helps with relationship building, and on the mental health professional’s end would help build an understanding of the client. It has been established at this point that the session is for “introductory psychoanalytic examinations” (0:24), so that latter point is especially important. Killing two birds with one stone, very efficient. Whether Jon actually shows interest towards Harvey’s fascination for the number two though is a completely different matter. 

In addition, throughout all this Jon also gives terse responses, “I see.” (00:49) (1:11), to Harvey’s statements to indicate he’s listening and doesn’t try to weigh in. One-sided conversation such as these allow the client to speak as much as they need to, the sessions are for them after all.  

So overall, Jonathan is being very professional so far. 

At 1:21 of the episode is when Jon finally decides to give his thoughts (after Harvey has finished talking) stating that "The best way for [him] to help [Harvey] is to establish a bond of trust between [them]” (1:26), something that Harvey agrees to. Truthfully, another thing that is important between client and mental health professional, so his approach isn’t wrong.

Upon Harvey agreeing to this, Jon promptly demands that he be given the coin, something Harvey doesn't want to do. At being told that he isn’t comfortable with that, Jon points out that "it's not up to [Harvey]" (1:46) and takes the coin anyway through it's infallible decision-making prowess and the full knowledge that Harvey relies on the coin for all his decision making. He successfully gets the coin, Harvey is unhappy, and trust is established. But not really because Jonathan didn’t respect Harvey’s personal feelings nor wishes. Which is a breach of ethics. Horrible decision really. Jon places the coin on the table, presumably in a place where both he and Harvey can see it, and he declares aloud that it's on the table. In any other context this might have actually been a good way to maintain trust while seperating an item of emotional importance from a client, but such actions should only be taken with the consent of said client. 🚨 JONATHAN IS BEING UNETHICAL HERE. 🚨

Afterwards Jonathan reopens the session, “We meet again for the very first time” (2:06) as though everything said and done previously never happened. He goes on to ask the pair to reintroduce themselves. He notably sounds more casual here and upon hearing that Two-Face is older asks “Harvey was here first, wasn’t he?” (2:21) in a tone that doesn’t sound genuinely surprised. The question was most likely asked as a method to fish for confirmation or another elaboration.  

He then moves on after Two-Face is done speaking, very obviously not caring about the reasoning given for Two-Face's origins, to say that he heard “a horror story” (2:58) referring to the courtroom incident. Despite Two-Face's response being a positive one, claiming “That day set me free, like it was in the beginning” (3:11), Jon instead believes that the incident “found [Two-Face] in [his] hiding place” (3:17) and that he was hiding because he was, and still is, “afraid of what [he] would do without Harvey” (3:27). Jon weighing in should have ideally been avoided here. Therapy is normally approached with a mentality akin to teaching a man to fish, where the point is to teach a client how to identify and analyse their own feelings.

Instead of stating why a client thinks/feels as they do, a mental health professional will tactically ask questions in an effort to get a client to reflect. Jon asks some of these questions- “Do you ever wonder what if that acid had taken more than half of your face that terrible day? [...] What if when the acid had done its business, there wasn’t enough of Harvey left to do the serious work?” (3:30) which, in a way, counts. There is still criticism to be had here though as wording can passively influence how a client thinks. Describing the day that Harvey went through his incident as being “terrible”? Probably made Harvey view a day considers favourably as something more negative. Likewise, stating that Harvey could have somehow been lost that day from the acid in all certainty no doubt might have instilled some sense of unease in Two-Face. You should avoid making clients uncomfortable. Bad therapy moment.❌And then Jon follows these questions to Harvey up with another explanation, "You won't let it [cross your mind] because it frightens you [...] the thought of being alone." (3:50).❌❌

“Let’s try something. Bear with me” (3:58) Jon says next, reaching for the acid he inexplicably keeps in his draw. Upon being asked what he’s going to be doing with it by one (two?) Two-Face, Jon retorts with his own question, “What are you afraid I’m going to do with it, hmm?” (4:18) before pissing around with the acid and wanting Harvey to “Tell [him] about the fear” (4:29). This is an example of Jonathan being unethical again. Remember gaining the consent of clients of a therapeutic activity you want to do together is of utmost importance. Likewise, then Jon clarifies that he thinks that Harvey is scared of the “other” (5:05) attribute he acquired that day that wasn’t just the acid damage. Believing that tapping into this fear would cause emotional distress, he proceeds to dunk Harvey’s coin into the acid, destroying it. 🚨JONATHAN IS BEING UNETHICAL AGAIN, DO NOT DELIBERATELY CAUSE MENTAL DISTRESS TO CLIENTS OR DESTROY THEIR PROPERTY. 🚨 According to Jonathan himself he considers his actions “aggressive intervention” (5:30), but Jonathan’s judgement for considering this necessary can be called into question. 

Finally, after everything is said and done and Harvey has in fact been reduced to “a puddle of quivering terror” (5:10) like Jon predicted, Jon is again back to asking Harvey questions about his feelings and acting like a good mental health professional. He even reassures Harvey that he understands! Creating an environment of understanding and lack of judgement is important in any therapy setting. And, further playing his role as a psychiatrist, Jonathan in all his understanding of Harvey’s inability to make decisions anymore prescribes him with meds of his own creation. He explains what the medication does positively, in fluffy terms rather than anything technical, and gets Harvey to take it. While Jonathan is allowed to prescribe medication like this being a psychiatrist rather than just a psychologist, the fact that he starts tooting his own horn about how good the meds are, neglecting to talk about the potential side effects, and then makes Harvey take them anyway is, again, unethical. Informed consent should always be taken from clients before prescribing and a therapy session is an inappropriate setting to advertise your products.

In conclusion:

Jonathan takes more Ls in this session of therapy than he has moments doing his job in the proper way, and his approaches to psychological methods indicate that he takes those Ls not from any amount of ignorance on his part but from a blatant disregard for the well-being of his clients. He plays nice and uses correct therapy techniques consistently only up until he establishes a "bond of trust" by removing Harvey's coin, despite Harvey's feelings. After, Jon can be observed descending more and more into ignoring basic therapy practices; providing his own viewpoints on events, outright stating why Harvey feels as he does, refusing to explain what he's planning to do, eventually getting to the point where he's talking more than the clients during the session. All this happens until Jon permanently rids Harvey of the coin for good, leading to an emotional breakdown in the clients and a subsequent administration of drugs.

If I didn't know any better I'd say that during these events, Jonathan goes from setting up the session like any mental health professional would to gradually steering the session into the direction he wants it to go. Even moreso if one regards how he brings up the court room incident of his own volition completely unprompted (2:50) which then leads that into bringing up the topic of fears. Which eventually leads to dropping the coin into acid... Now this idea is insidious enough as it is, right? I'm sure this Dr Jonathan Crane is a well meaning psychiatrist, I mean he's following Gotham's Code of Medical Ethics! So here's also a slightly different perspective to all this:

Jon is speedrunning therapy.

I mean think about it- not even two minutes into the session and Jon basically forces Harvey into "trusting" him. This is only the second time that they've had a session together mind and trust is a thing that often takes months or even years to form between a mental health professional and a client. The chosen method of building trust was to remove a valued item from Harvey and one that he relies on, again something that takes multiple sessions to build up to and- as had been stated- is a valid trust building technique. After taking the coin Jon still leaves it in a place where Harvey knows where it is, just like you'd expect in a therapy setting. Jon even asks the pair to introduce themselves before deliberately steering things into talking about the court room incident which is the nexus point for why Harvey relies on the coin as far as he's concerned. Even him outright telling Two-Face what his fears are could be interpreted as him not wanting to spend months doing the standard therapy approaches that aren't even a guarantee for any progress.

In fact, Jon doesn't even attempt to destroy the coin either until the following happens in order: he tells Two-Face he thinks the court room incident found him and he was hiding out of fear of what he'd do without Harvey, he then asks Two-Face if he's ever thought about what he'd do if Harvey was unable to do much of anything anymore, then outright tells Two-Face he's afraid of being alone before then saying "Let's try something" (3:54) as though he's about to demonstrate his point, forcing Two-Face to acknowledge it.

"I think we had a breakthrough" (5:36) indeed. Breakthroughs are when a client successfully identifies something about themselves, like where a thought or feeling or bad habit stems from. A client having a breakthrough is the point where therapy can progress. And, hey, Harvey probably did make a breakthrough from losing his coin, though it was forced. This breakthrough led to being given a special drug. Which is something to be explored in a later part.

Of course though none of this really matters. Therapy is about treating a person as a person and "teaching a man to fish". Apparently Jonathan doesn't care about fishing.

FINAL SCORE FOR THE SESSION:

🎊 3/10 🎊

Jon is definitely not lacking in skills when it comes to psychology or therapy techniques, in fact he seemed decent enough for the first chunk before the session metaphorically drove off a cliff through his driving- intentionally no less. He simply lacks regard for the feelings of his clients and is a walking ethics breach. Likewise he took deliberate control of the session, and whether the end result was intentional or not this is definitely not something to do in a therapy setting. His approach to "therapy" may lead to breakthroughs, making his clients recognise the things he identifies, but it's not in the true spirit of therapy. It's doubtful that a client under him would ever learn the techniques they need to overcome whatever things they might struggle with.

...And this isn't even getting into how much enjoyment he seems to get from making his clients uncomfortable.

[tkaulitzlvr]

loved your new fic :) was wondering if you could possibly make a part two of it that would just be the morning after with lots of fluff n cute stuff as they just got back together?

obviously it’s absolutely your choice & there is no rush at all <3

SORRY (2) - T. KAULITZ

synopsis: for the first time in over a month, you wake up beside tom. at first, you are unsure of what to make of the situation, tom quick to reassure you.

content: fluff

a/n: thanku so much!! part 2 to this - i feel like i hardly write fluff and all my page is smut (it gets a little boring sometimes) so decided to write this req to compensate for the lack of fluff i post. this is something a little short, but hope u enjoy!! 💞

warmth. the first thing i am able to register when my body begins to stir, eyes fluttering open and shut on the verge of consciousness is the heat that envelops my skin. the feeling is foreign, almost new to me, though somewhere within the haze i find the familiarity of it all, gaze slowly falling downward to find a pair of arms wrapped securely around my waist, the person who they belong to also just as close, soft breathing tickling the skin of my neck as his head rests beside it. i probably would pay little attention to the increase in temperature as i wake, if i hadn’t done so alone the past month, usually greeted with the harsh realisation that tom wasn’t mine anymore - until now.

but i don’t feel secure, nor happy, that i wake up beside the man that i love, as i had thought i would if the day ever came that i managed to get him back. instead, i feel strangely out of place, thousands of questions circling my mind as this situation leaves me more confused than ever. sure, i remember the night we shared, the passion, the raw emotion - it is one that cannot be mistaken for anything but truth, because if tom was lying about what he had told me, then god, he’s a pretty fucking good actor. hell, even i couldn’t brush his words aside ‘they weren’t you’. how could i? he had told me exactly what i wanted to hear, and yet i lay here, not as ecstatic as i should be, my heart failing to burst with joy at the sudden confession that he still loves me. he knows that he leads me blindly, his words sweet as honey, meaningful as gospel, igniting the dull flame within me whether they were true or not - i am far too devoted to consider their credibility.

tom however, clearly isn’t overthinking half as much as i am. his mouth agape, obnoxiously loud snores escaping from it, his body tangled within the sheets and my own - he probably wouldn’t notice if a burglary happened right next to him. hesitant to wake him, the idea of facing the awkwardness that will arise from whatever happened last night makes my stomach churn with utter dread. so i lay silently, eyes fixed to the ceiling, looking for any distraction from my wondering mind, though the quiet doesn’t help, fuelling the ‘what if’s’ that continue to give me nothing but a massive headache, eager for the remedy that is his consolation.

the secure grip around my waist begins to tighten, too much for it to be accidental. silently praying that he is just stirring in his sleep, my body stays still, head betraying my mind as it slowly turns to face him, only to be met with his own eyes fluttering open, a low groan leaving his lips as he stretches out.

“morning leibe.” he states so nonchalantly it is almost like we had never broken up, his lips nearing my own as they attempt to pull me into a kiss. i turn my head, slightly hesitant to melt into his embrace, unsure of what we are right now, the questions in my mind far too important to be ignored, even when his lips are so close to mine, soft and pink, almost gravitating me toward them against my will.

his eyebrows furrow at my rejection, arms slowly moving away from my waist, instead resting a gentle hand against my hip as he speaks. “what’s wrong? did i do something?”

my heart breaks, tugging at the strings at his confusion. honestly, he hadn’t done anything wrong - not right now anyway. i don’t know what we are, and that thought scares me, more than he realises at first glance. i have always been this way, liking answers to be clear, on paper, with zero doubt of them being interpreted differently. so this situation is a nightmare come true, tom’s intentions, though seemingly clear last night, still a hazy blur amidst the thoughts piling in my mind. and i hate leaving him in the dark, though he is unconsciously doing the same to me right now. but i know that it isn’t fair to shut him out as i always do, deciding to speaking my feelings, whether things end well or not.

“i just- i don’t know what we are. did you want me for a quick fuck last night, or-”

“you really think i want you for a quick fuck?” he asks, voice low and soft, lacking any anger within it as i had expected. instead, he remains calm, hands tentatively reaching upward to cup my cheeks, my entire face resting within his heavy palms. his thumb slowly strokes the skin next to my lips, face inches away from my own as the soft breaths escaping his mouth fan against my cheeks.

my silence speaks volumes - letting him know how confusing this whole thing is to me, though it seems the lack of clarity is clearly one sided: tom’s brows furrowed, eyes slightly narrowed as his mouth parts, little sound escaping from it. but my silence, whilst surprising to him, is equally precious, because it buys him time to continue. his hold on me strong, yet his words slow and soft as they pour from his lips turn out to be the most beautiful - and somehow reassuring, contrast imaginable, especially when in this moment, i desperately clutch onto any comfort that he shows. and, luckily for me, he intends to remind me that my worries are mere delusions - his confession music to my ears.

“schatz…c’mon, you know you’re more than that to me.” he seems at a loss for words, tongue swiping nervously across his bottom lip between words, knocking the small metal ring that adorns it to the side, playing with it in an irregular motion, his eyes just as skittish.

silence indulges the room as he awaits my response, his eyes scanning my expression almost desperately, the same way i had looked at him moments ago, the roles reversing far quicker than i had expected. he is waiting on me, seeking my reassurance, his statement coming out as more of a question, though it seems directed to the both of us. he is asking himself the same thing - soon realising that he is equally as keen to receive consolation as i am.

“i don’t know it’s just- weird, i guess? i’m not over it. i tried to act like i was, but look where i ended up, at some shitty club with a random guy at my hip.” each words that falls from my lips becomes harder to say, soon realising that this is the first time i have spoken about how i truly feel after we parted. feelings change, people move on and time continues to run its course, but none of that had happened, my soul just as empty as it had been the second he left. my expression mirrors my emotions, tears soon building around the brim of my eyes, threatening to spill from them with another word. but i take that chance, knowing that i am in far too deep to keep anything left unsaid - especially when he is here, and i have him listening, really taking in my words, instead of brushing them off as he did before. “and i can’t go through having my heart broken again. once was enough, don’t break my heart again, please.”

“baby…” he trails off, his arms wrapping tightly around my trembling frame, body following as it presses against mine, soothing me in the way i wanted, no, needed. truthfully, my confession couldn’t be taken as a complete surprise. i know it, and tom knows it too, his brief silence proving that he wants to try, the small circles trailed along my back temporarily taking away the pain, giving him the time to think about what he is saying, to properly consider his choice of words, rather than spewing out anything that will console me.

a minute passes, heavy breaths escaping from my lips, masked within the small sobs soon mixing into the soft air until they eventually turn into silence, my eyes soon drying, thin red lines stretched across the sea of white surrounding my irises, in place of the saltiness of my tears. it is at that moment when his face appears from my shoulder where it had once been resting, lips nearing my cheeks as they slowly, oh so slowly, begin kissing away the remnants of dried tears, gently making any evidence of my sorrow disappear, replacing them with the tender consolation of his company, though now it is beyond that - his kisses show far more than the reminder that he is here with me, they show that his love is there too, far stronger than his presence alone.

“i love you. i love you so much. never doubt that for a second. when you think you’ve lost everything, you’ll never lose my love for you. i could live a thousand lifetimes, and it would still be you.” it is clear that he means it this time, but if his words themselves hadn’t made that obvious, then the kiss that he places onto my lips afterward reaffirms their truth, compelling me to kiss back as soon as i am able to process the feeling of his lips, soft and pillowy, on my own.

this is love. not two people pretending to show affection, blinded by lust over true passion. because before tom, i realise that i had no knowledge of the word. the way his lips move slowly against mine, no sexual intent behind the kiss, drives me further and further into the abyss that is his love, devoted to him whether it is good for me or not. i am far too blind to be able to distinguish between right or wrong, my heart and soul in total agreement that he is the one, regardless of the fact that moments ago, i was unsure. all it takes is his reassurance, his lips on my own, to understand that nobody else is capable of making me feel this way.

seconds feel like hours, the entire concept of time slipping away as i latch onto him, lips becoming pink and swollen as they collide messily, unable to part despite the feeling of breathless that soon takes over. it didn’t matter, none of it did, because tom is my oxygen, and as long as i am able to feel his soft lips on my own, nothing else seems important. moments like these are unable to be recreated, heat rising between us, yet the distance only decreases, until my body is on top of his, tangled within the sheets, kisses soft despite the strong hold he maintains on my hips.

even when our lips separate, our foreheads remain rested against each other’s, content smiles spread across our faces, nothing needing to be said as our expressions sum everything up. his hand moves upward, running softly through my hair, removing loose strands that had found their way onto my face, tucking them slowly behind my ear. for the first time, i am not worried. i don’t waste a second considering ‘what if…’ or ‘what about…’, because it doesn’t matter to me, and once a peaceful silence envelops the both of us, it quickly becomes real, all of it - from the soft kisses, to the sincere confessions: love, there are countless ways to display it, but nobody seemed to get it right, until tom.

his fingers jab playfully into my sides, disturbing the peaceful moment, though it doesn’t alter my mood, a wider smile spreading across my face as i squirm above him, hitting his chest whilst small giggles leave my lips. in one swift motion, he manages to flip us over, somehow dragging the covers over the both of us in the process, his body now on top of my own. the same smile that fails to falter on my own face now spreads across his, though it doesn’t last as long, his mouth opening to speak whilst his hands run up and down my waist rhythmically.

“how does breakfast sound? whatever you like.” he lifts up, moving off of me and to the side, bringing my body closer to him, his arms snaking around my waist comfortingly, lips placing a quick kiss onto my forehead. “let me take you out today. shopping maybe? or what about that pizza place you like?”

“hm, i’ll take you up on breakfast. but can we stay here today? i’m tired, and i forgot how comfy your bed is.” i chuckle quietly, allowing the soft sheets to envelop me further, consequently snuggling closer into tom’s embrace, his body accepting my proximity as he wraps his arms tighter around me.

he laughs lowly at my words, nodding slowly against me, his head tilting to the side as his lips plant a firm kiss into my hair. “sure, anything you want schatz.” i smile contently at his response, sighing softly in relief, closing my eyes at the feeling of peace that soon takes over, careful not to take any of it for granted, relishing every second that i remain within his arms.

and he sticks to his promise. our bodies remain tangled together, wrapped up within the sheets until the familiar blend of oranges and pinks leak through a small gap in the curtains, casting its light throughout the room, somehow highlighting tom’s features in the most beautiful way possible, from the soft pools of brown that are his eyes, to his skin, so smooth it resembles silk itself, the golden rays melting onto his lips, still a light shade of red, decorated with the small metal ring that i have seen so many times. it is perfect: sharing ‘quick’ kisses - though they never ended that way, tom insisting on deepening them until we had to pull away, warm and breathless, meaningless conversations, soft laughter sounding throughout the room, filling the thick air with a reminder of our love for each other. the day ends the same way that it had began, my legs tangled within tom’s, arm draped lazily across his chest, his fingers running soothingly up and down my waist, lips planting quick kisses wherever they are able to gain access to. and, like clockwork, those lips utter the same words they had just hours ago, with the same truthfulness behind them as the first time they had been spoken, only this time, i am certain that he means it.

“i love you, schatz.”

requests are open! keep sending them in!!

[pinknipszz]

golden girl

↷ ˊ- neteyam/metkayina reader | (i.), (ii.), (iii.), (iv.)

“cause i have walked a thousand miles for the golden girl, golden smile.”

neteyam had finished the spearhead in a matter of days. after having secured the carved bone to the end of a sturdy pole, he tried its durability against some fish, but not without whispering a few prayers beforehand. his arms had grown taut from the strain, and neteyam feels sorry for leaving you worried, even when he had apologized that he’d be missing another day’s lessons for reasons so futile.

but you, oh so beautiful you, had placed a gentle hand on his chest that spoke a thousand reassurances. the skin underneath your palm rejoiced at the contact, buzzing with delight. neteyam couldn’t even begin to recall what you had really said to him. but if you asked what beads were in your hair or what your eyes remind him of, he’d have an answer. he’d say it like gospel truth. 

after you had left, he returned to the spear. he was still a warrior at heart. 

neteyam remembers how the weight of it felt strange in one hand, and how he didn’t quite know what to do with the other. if you had been there that day to watch him, hunting fish with an aim that wouldn’t even impress a baby, you would have called him out on his tense shoulders or unsure feet. it just felt awkward, unfamiliar. his stance, his spear, the sea. but he didn’t want to call it wrong.

sure the smooth stone was too heavy for an arrow and too thin for a spear, but he would never call it wrong, a freak of nature. maybe he would have in the past, but now he knew what it really was: a little like him. carved for the forest before he changed its purpose. now the weapon was neither arrow nor spear. neither land nor sea. it lays tucked away in his family’s marui, collecting dust and dreams he dared not speak.

visiting the tidepools became a pastime, just as you predicted. it had not even been several days since neteyam last asked you to accompany him, but you didn’t mind. it made up for his recent absences. while you do adore his siblings and treat them like your own, you admit that there’s a charm in the eldest that simply could not be replicated. so when he had asked you one morning, your heart jumped eagerly.

you felt guilty the more you realized the reality of the situation. you joined the group for tuk out of the goodness in your heart, and now you yearned for her older brother. it made your stomach churn, yet a quiet, selfish part of you wondered what it would be like to stand by neteyam’s side, to call his family your own, and to have his child. you wanted a hand to slap you across the face, hard, for such thoughts. 

the sun peeked through the overgrown palms as you and neteyam followed the familiar path to the pools. it didn’t take much convincing from your parents, much less his own, as if they could see something far beyond the line of friendship. growing and taking shape. the thought left you stubborn, willing to deny and fight for your pride, but you knew that it’d be for naught. neteyam captivated you beyond recognition.

you grew shy of his advances too, if you could even call them that. his silly attempts at conversation, the looks he gave you from afar, even now, with his hand entwined in yours, as he led you to the spot. they fell under an umbrella without a label, or on a blurred line between friends and something more. you bit the inside of your cheek until it drew blood, nervously savoring its copper.

“there will be more fish today.” neteyam said almost to himself, his eyes trained forward. “the waves were high last night with fish of all sorts of colors. you will like them.” you’re not sure if that’s how it works, but you didn’t comment on it.

“then we’ll bring fish for your family.” you squeezed his hand, committing his rough calluses to memory. warm. so warm. “you’re siblings are doing much better now. i wish you had been there to see it.” you remember how lo’ak had finally beat his record of twelve minutes with a commendable sixteen. truly a magnificent feat considering it had only been a few months worth of progress.

tsireya had been the first to congratulate him, all sunshine and smiles. kiri and tuk joined right after. you were fourth, and ao’nung the reluctant fifth. the metkayina trio had decided to end the lessons on a high note by dedicating the rest of the day to “unsupervised” ilu riding. truly, lo’ak had grown spoiled. but there was the unmistakable glint of disappointment in his eyes at how neteyam had not been there to see it.

his steps slowed as if to absorb your words properly, before turning to you with a strange expression. “is that how you feel? if you had asked me to stay, i would have.” neteyam said so easily, his voice light and borderline teasing. how cheeky! you looked away first, unable to maintain eye contact for too long. 

the sea smelled stronger here at the edge of the mangroves, numbing your senses. you could only imagine how neteyam felt. the pools were closer too, and oddly enough, he had been right. the pools were higher, deeper, fuller. they reminded you of what you suggested prior. fish for his family.

“did you bring your spear with you?” you asked.

neteyam shook his head, shrugging. “left it at home.” home. you didn’t catch his slip.

he let go of your hand so you can jump off the rocks. then, he followed suit. neteyam memorized it by now, the patterns in the rock. where to step, to pause, to turn. how one had more algae than the other. he doubts he’ll ever get over the feeling of wet algae though. it nearly left him nauseous, but he won’t tell you that. “then how do you suppose we catch fish?i thought you were a hunter.” you huffed.

“a warrior,” he corrected.

“is there a difference?” 

surprised with your sudden curiosity, neteyam thought for a moment. truthfully, there wasn’t much of a difference when both hunters and warriors fought to survive. most times he felt like one or the other, other times neither. “somewhat,” he decided, choosing his next words carefully. “one hunts, the other kills. unless you plan to eat your enemies, then you could be both.” your face scrunched in disgust and you punched his shoulder.

chuckling, neteyam reached down to splash water in your direction. “i’m glad you can call yourself a hunter,” he continued. “i don’t want war to touch this place.” fish darted to and fro, and plants waved their tendrils at you. when his eyes grew distant, focusing on violent memories, you watched him quietly. never had the differences between you two been so clear, like the waters of your home. 

you were a hunter, he was a fighter. you hunted with intent to feed, he fought with weapons to kill. the cycle of life and death, just as the great mother had embedded in your psyche. like natural law. it was just as strange how two na’vi of two clans could stand so close together, so strongly juxtaposed. sometimes you wondered if this was wrong, or simply one of the many unexplainable things that ewya had intended. 

but how could you ever call it simple? even when his shade of blue was so different from yours, and how arms and legs and tail were so much thinner, you swore nothing has ever looked, felt, so right. “did you hunt in the forest?” you asked.

“often.” neteyam looked at you, so much lighter than he ever has before, at the mention of his first home falling from your pretty lips. two of the things he loves most entwined together. he fought the urge to kiss you, to feel the forest and the sea at once. “the first thing i caught was a fish.” 

“you and i aren’t so different then.” you grinned.

neteyam finally felt that, after all this time, the move had been worth it. he promises to bring the spear next time.

(masterlist)

[lilgreeneyes71]

Vain Worship

Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Lukewarm Christians

Revelation 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Characteristics

1 : They have no desire to depart from sin the want to try to get by on grace alone.

1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

2 : All of their conversations are about worldly things and the cares of this world

1 John 4:5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

3 : Their actions ( No Change in them ).

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

4 : They spend no time praying or alone with God they might show up for church once a week but God is always on the Blackburner .

Psalm 145:18 The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

5 : The conversations they have never involve God but rather business or financial or plans they have made. Or what new item they intend on purchasing.

Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Philippians 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

6 : No conviction of sin they feel no grief or guilt for sinning.The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (see John 16:8-9)

Jude 1:18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.1:19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

7 : They could care a less about the unsaved or reaching out to them. They outright try to stop us from preaching to the unsaved

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Proverbs 29:10 The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul.

Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

8 : They care more about pleasing people rather than pleasing God

Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

9 : They fear man but have no fear of God

Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

8th September >> Fr. Martin's Homilies/Reflections on Today's Mass Readings for The Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) (Inc. Mark 7:31-37): ‘He has done all things well’.

Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Homilies (6)

(i) Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

We always appreciate it when people give us their full attention when we need it. We sense when people are not giving us their full attention. Sometimes it is very obvious, as when someone looks beyond us to someone else while we are talking. At other times it is less obvious, but we sense the person in front of us isn’t really attending to us. Perhaps they have something else on their mind at the time. However, when someone does give us their full attention, it can be very life-giving for us. Even if they have no solution to our problem, their attentive listening gives us greater strength to live with our problem and, perhaps, to see beyond it.

The man in the gospel reading who was deaf and had a speech impediment may have had little experience of people giving him their full attention. People may not bothered to listen to him because of his inability to speak clearly. They may not have spoken to him because he was deaf. In the oral culture of Jesus’ time, where only a small proportion of people could read and write, speaking and listening were very important. Not to be able to hear or to speak clearly would normally leave someone very isolated. Those who could neither hear nor speak were invisible. I can hardly begin to imagine just how isolating deafness must be even today, even though hearing aids have much improved over time. The man in the gospel was fortunate enough to have some people around him who paid attention to him in his isolation, who befriended him. Even though he could not speak clearly, these friends heard the stirrings and longings of his heart. Their attentive listening to him lead them to bring him to Jesus who had a reputation for bringing new life to the broken. Although the man could not speak clearly, his friends spoke up for him to Jesus, asking Jesus to lay his hands on him. In bringing him to Jesus, they opened the man up to a life that was richer and fuller than he had ever known. It was their initial attentive listening to the man that was the starting point of his transformation. If they had not first listened carefully to him, giving him their full attention, they would not have taken the initiative to speak up for him to Jesus. We can never underestimate the power of our own attentive listening in someone’s life. Just as Jesus worked through the attentive listening of the man’s friends for his healing, so the risen Lord will work powerfully though our own efforts to listen carefully to those who need to be heard. Very often, our own sharing in the Lord’s life giving work begins with attentive listening, a listening to the whole person and not just to the words they speak.

Not only were the friends of the man deeply attentive to him, Jesus was attentive to him in a very personal way. The personal attention that Jesus gives this man is striking. He takes the man away from the crowd, so that just the two of them could be alone. Jesus gives him all his attention. Although the man cannot hear or speak clearly, he can experience the sense of touch, and so Jesus touches the man’s ears, putting his finger into them, and then touches the man’s tongue with his own spittle. Jesus invests himself in a very personal and tactile way with this man’s healing. Jesus then looked up to heaven, in prayer, because it was Jesus’ relationship with God that would bring new life to this man. The first voice the man heard for many years was the voice of Jesus,crying out, ‘Be opened’.

There is a sense in which the Lord continues to say to us today, ‘Be opened’. He wants us to have hearts and minds that are open to all he may want to say to us. We may have good physical hearing, but we can be spiritually deaf to the Lord. The Lord speaks to us in a whole variety of ways. He speaks to us through his word in the Scriptures and from deep within our own hearts. He speaks to us through others. Very often he speaks most powerfully through those who are most vulnerable, like the man in the gospel reading. The Lord was speaking through his broken speech, calling on people to respond. Fortunately, some people heard the cry of the Lord coming through this deaf man with a speech impediment, and, so, they became channels of the Lord’s healing presence. The man may have been invisible to many but not to them. In the second reading, James warns the members of his church not to be making a fuss of well-dressed people who join their prayer, while ignoring those in shabby clothes, because, as James says, it is often the poor who are rich in faith and through whom the Lord is calling out to us. By our attentive listening to others, we can be channels of the Lord’s healing presence today. Also, if we come before the Lord in our need, he can be a healing presence for each one of us. Whenever we approach the Lord in prayer, he gives us the same personal attention he gave to the man in the gospel reading.

And/Or

(ii) Twenty Third Sunday of the year

We can all think of people who have enriched our lives in one way or another, friends and family who have helped to bring out the best in us, who have helped us to become all that God is calling us to be. We cannot really be all that God wants us to be without the support and the help of others. There is so much we can receive only in relationship with others. We all realize deep down that we are far from being self-sufficient.

In the gospel reading this morning a deaf and dumb man is brought to Jesus by others. There were obviously people in this man’s community who were looking out for him, and they brought him to someone they believed could be of help to him. They led him to a place, to a person, that he could not have reached by himself. They were a live-giving presence in his life. That kind of scene is repeated more than once in the gospels. Another example is that passage where a paralysed man was brought into the presence of Jesus by a group of his friends, even though it meant that they had to create a hole in the roof of the house where Jesus was staying. They stopped at nothing to bring their friend into a healing presence that he could never have reached on his own.

Those gospel scenes are repeated in the lives of people today. We might think of those who help to bring the sick to places like Lourdes. There are many who take time out of their holidays to do this. They become the hands and legs, the eyes and ears of those who are seriously disabled. In all kinds of other ways people take on the role of those people in the gospel reading who brought the blind and deaf man to Jesus. There are many who do this work in their own homes without travelling to Lourdes or elsewhere. Within the confines of their own home or their own area, they are a life-giving presence for others, and are present to them in ways that enable them to life fuller lives. We all have that capacity to make life richer for others. God’s creative and life-giving spirit is latent in all of us. To the extent that we are in touch with that creative spirit of God within, wonderful things can happen through us and the lives of others can be greatly enriched.

You may remember a film some years ago called the Secret Garden. The main character was a young boy called Colin. He was a sickly child who had been overprotected because of his illness, and had never learned to communicate his feelings. It was his lively friends who helped him find the secret garden, a garden in the grounds of an old house. It was there, in that garden to which he had been led by his friends, that Colin found a lost part of himself. Factors external to him had impeded Colin’s growth, but his friends helped him to discover who he really was and enabled him make contact with his deeper self. As a result, he came alive in new ways. His friends had become for him channels of the creative spirit of God.

The gospel reading this morning reminds us that we need others to help us become our best selves, the person God desires us to be. We need compassionate and concerned people to take us to those secret gardens that have live-giving power, and that would remain a secret to us if others didn’t show them to us. We have our own version of the secret garden on the edge of the parish in the form of the Botanic gardens. That might be a place to bring someone to who couldn’t get there of their own accord. It is a wonderful resource. In various ways any one of us can become a gate to life-giving gardens for others. The God in whom we believe is a Creator God. God’s creative work never ceases; creation is continuous. We are all called to be channels of God’s ongoing creative work. God desires to work through us in creative ways so that the lives of others are enriched. We can all help each other to attain what Paul in one of his letters refers to as the glorious freedom of the children of God.

In today’s gospel reading the man that people brought to Jesus was both deaf and had an impediment in his speech. It was only when his ears were opened by Jesus that he began to speak clearly. The healing of his deafness was prior to the healing of his speech impediment. This is a reminder to us that our ability to speak is dependent on our capacity to hear, to listen. Hearing comes before speaking. This is true not only in our own regard, but in our dealings with others. Our capacity to hear someone, to really listen to them, can be more important that anything we might say to them, or do for them. One of the ways we mediate God’s creative power to others is listening attentively to them. That act of listening can be powerfully life-giving in its own right, even before we say or do anything on their behalf. When people are listened to in a non-judgemental way, they can begin to come alive in new ways.

In the light of today’ readings, we might pray this Sunday for the grace to discern the ways in which the Lord may be calling each of us to be channels of his creative power in our world today.

And/Or

(iii) Twenty Third Sunday of the Year

In the most recent war in the Middle East we heard much about the Lebanese cities of Tyre and Sidon. In this morning’s gospel reading mention is made by Mark of a journey that Jesus made to Tyre and Sidon. From these cities he travelled to a region called the Decapolis, most of which is now in modern day Jordan. These were all places where Jesus would have expected to meet pagans more than Jews. The deaf and dumb man who is brought to Jesus in today’s gospel reading is presumably a pagan rather than a Jew. Although Jesus’ mission was primarily to Jews and he himself was a Jew, the evangelist presents Jesus as travelling beyond the confines of Israel and ministering to people beyond his own religious and ethnic group. In the words of James in today’s second reading, Jesus did not make distinctions between classes of people. By his words and his actions, he brought the gospel to Jews and Gentiles, to rich and poor. When it came to people his mindset was not that of ‘either/or’ but rather ‘both/and’.

The church that Jesus founded is called to have the same mindset as Jesus. The church is a universal family that embraces people of every race, colour and nation. It seeks to show the face of God, the face of Jesus, to all peoples, regardless of their background or culture. As members of the church that Jesus founded, which is the body of the risen Lord, we are called to have the same open, non-discriminatory attitude to people that Jesus had. James in the second reading condemns those who use different standards for people who came from different social backgrounds. It is a human tendency to use different standards for different groupings of people, whether that is on the basis of different social backgrounds or different religious backgrounds or different ethnic backgrounds. We can be prone to favouring one group and ignoring another or trusting one group and treating another with great suspicion.

Within our own living memory we have experienced the awful consequences of radically different standards being used for different groupings of people. In a European context, the attempted extermination of the Jews by the Nazi party will come to mind for many people as the most horrific instance of such discrimination. Many Moslems living in Europe may feel that people use different standards in relating to them because of recent terrorist attacks and threats. Up until quite recently, Ireland was very homogeneous in its population profile. We are becoming multi-cultural very quickly, as we all know. A growing number of people of the faith of Islam are coming to live among us. We have an opportunity of witnessing to our Christian faith to them while, at the same time, showing total respect for their own Islamic faith. We have something to learn from as well as something to give to our Moslem brothers and sisters who are living among us. Their prayerfulness, their tradition of fasting and pilgrimage, their placing of God before all else, can inspire to take our own Christian faith more seriously. In turn, our own conviction that Jesus is the fullest revelation of God in human form can move us to share with our Moslem brothers and sisters who Jesus is and, therefore, who God is. There is no reason why the coming of Moslems to live among us could not be a source of mutual enrichment for the adherents of both faiths. We are, ultimately, children of the one God. We have a shared responsibility to nurture and care for our earth and for everyone on it.

When Jesus entered the pagan region of the Decapolis, a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech was brought to him. Jesus first opened his ears and then the ligament of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly. The man’s inability to hear was preventing him from speaking. In healing his deafness, Jesus could heal his speech impediment. Most of us can be grateful that we have the gift of hearing and speaking, yet, in other respects, both our ability to hear and the quality of our speaking can leave a lot to be desired. Of those two failings, our inability to hear and to listen can be the most serious and can be at the root of the poor quality of our speaking. Part of our calling as followers of Jesus is to listen carefully to those whose social, religious or ethnic background is different to ours. Just before healing the deaf and dumb man, Jesus healed the daughter of a pagan woman, a Syrophoenician. Initially he seemed hesitant to cure her daughter, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs’, he said, but by listening to her insistent plea he came around to granting her request.

You have often heard the expression the dialogue of the deaf. On the international scene there seems to be a certain amount of such dialogue of the deaf going on especially between certain Western regimes and certain Middle Eastern regimes, between those who profess Christianity and those who profess Islam. As individuals, as small groups, we can all play a part in promoting genuine dialogue between Christians and Moslems. A precondition of such dialogue is a readiness for deep and respectful listening, a prior recognition that God may have something to say to us through those who are different from us. An equally important precondition of such dialogue for us as Christians is a confidence in our own Christian faith. We share out of the depths of our own personal relationship with the Lord, out of our conviction that, in the words of the gospel reading, the Lord ‘has done all things well’.

And/Or

(iv) Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

When it comes to people it is very difficult for us not to make distinctions. We invariable favour some over others. We choose some and not others. A man chooses one woman to be his wife out of several he may have come to know. A woman chooses one man to be her husband. We choose our friends, and some people choose their friends carefully. Parents will favour their own children over other children. It is natural and human for us to make distinctions. In this morning’s second reading, James calls on the members of the church not to show favour on the basis of social class, making a fuss of the better off. James is saying that certain forms of favouritism are never acceptable within the community of believers. Everyone is to be treated equally regardless of their social background; in the context of worship there are to be no special seats for the more socially prominent. He In all areas of church life everyone should feel equally valued. This is very much Paul’s vision of church as well. In his letter to the Galatians he declares that in virtue of baptism, ‘there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer salve or free, there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus’. James spells out that vision of Paul in very practical terms. That second reading from James prompts us to ask if any form of unhealthy favouritism is to be found in our own church, our own parish. Are there people we are not noticing? Are they voices we are not hearing? Are there people who would like to be involved in the life of the parish but who feel that they are not welcome, that their potential contribution is not valued? I hope not but it is something we all need to keep alert to.

The letter of James claims to be written by the brother of the Lord. If so, then James knew the Lord’s mind and heart well and his outlook on things reflects that of his more significant relative. The gospels strongly suggest that Jesus was not partial to people on the basis of social class. Indeed the portrait of Jesus we are given in the gospels suggest that he favoured the vulnerable, the poor, the weak, the defenceless. He was partial to the voiceless and the afflicted. This morning’s gospel reading bears that out. A man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech was brought to Jesus by his friends. In an oral culture where people were largely illiterate, not to be able to hear or speak properly was an enormous liability. Those who could neither hear nor speak were invisible; they could not be communicated with in any meaningful way and they could not communicate. This man was fortunate to have people who cared enough about him to bring him to Jesus who had a reputation for giving new life to the broken. The personal attention that Jesus goes on to give this man is striking. He takes the man away from the crowd, so that the two of them could be alone. Although the man cannot hear of speak, he can experience the sense of touch, and so Jesus touches the man’s ears, putting his finger into them, and touches the man’s tongue with his own spittle. Jesus also looked up to heaven, in prayer; it was Jesus’ relationship with God that would bring new life to this man. Jesus invests himself in a very personal and tactile way with this man’s healing. It is worth noting that this man was a pagan, not a Jew. The Decapolis where the healing story is set was a predominantly pagan region. Jesus favoured the voiceless and the afflicted, whether they were Jew or pagan.

The behaviour of Jesus in the gospel reading is an even more powerful message than the words of his relative James in the first reading. If, as people who have been baptised into Christ, we are to have favourites, they are to be the voiceless, the afflicted, the vulnerable and the weak. The friends of the man in the gospel reading can be our inspiration in that regard. They brought man to Jesus, and, in so doing, they opened him up to a whole new life, a life that was richer and fuller than he had ever known. They were strength in his weakness. Their voice, their speaking to Jesus on his behalf, led to him coming to have a voice of his own. Even though he could not speak, his friends heard him; they heard the stirrings and longings of his heart, and their attentive listening lead on to him being able to hear for himself. Their attentive listening to him was prior to their speaking on his behalf. If they had not first listened to him, they would not have taken the initiative to speak up for him. Very often, our own sharing in the Lord’s life giving work, in response to our baptismal calling, begins with attentive listening to someone, a listening to the whole person and not just to the words they speak.

And/Or

(v) Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Some people’s hearing deteriorates with the passing of the years. The gradual loss of hearing can become a real burden to them. Something like our loop system which allows them to hear clearly what is being said at our liturgies with a hearing aid is much appreciated by them. There are also people who lose their hearing at a relatively young age. I had a friend who experienced serious hearing loss in his early forties and it was a tremendous burden to him. When people suffer from hearing loss it not only has a profound impact on their own quality of life but it also impacts greatly on those around them, especially those who are closest to them. Those among you who live on a daily basis with a loved one who is experiencing severe hearing loss will know that only too well. Those whose hearing is impaired make a particular call on everyone who encounters them. Those of us who have the blessing of full hearing are obliged to make a special effort to communicate with them. We try to express ourselves in a way that makes it easier for the other person to hear us, or we might work at opening up possibilities for them that might not otherwise come their way.

In this morning’s gospel reading we are given a very good picture of how one particular man, who had both a hearing loss and a speech impediment, was attended to by others in a very striking way. They all lived in a region called the Decapolis, which was a predominantly pagan region on the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee to where Jesus normally lived and worked. When the friends of this man heard that Jesus was in their region, they brought him to Jesus. They did something for him he could not have done for himself. As a result of their initiative in bringing their friend into the healing presence of Jesus, he regained both his hearing and his ability to speak. The man’s need called forth his friends’ attention, and their attentiveness to him helped him to live a fuller life than he could otherwise have lived. Their attentive presence to their friend in his need created a space for the Lord to work in his life.

An inability to hear clearly is only one way that people can make a call on our attentiveness in their need. Indeed, we are all needy in some sense. We are all in need of some kind of healing. None of us is complete. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, says that ‘the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now’, and he immediately adds, ‘not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies’. Paul is declaring that the whole of creation, including those of us who have received the Holy Spirit in baptism are groaning inwardly, out of a sense of incompletion. In the words of Isaiah in today’s first reading, we are all blind and deaf and lame and dumb, if not in the physical sense, in other deeper senses. We may not all be physically deaf but we are all in need of having our ears opened more fully to the Lord’s word and call.

In the Scriptures, deafness is often a metaphor for our inability to hear the Lord’s call to us and respond to it. Towards the end of the Rite of Baptism the priest says to the child, who has been baptized, ‘The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak. May he soon touch your ears to receive his word, and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father’. It is an appropriate prayer to pray at the beginning of our Christian lives because we spend the rest of our lives as followers of Jesus learning to receive the Lord’s word and to proclaim his faith. Just as Jesus addressed the man in the gospel reading with the words ‘Be opened’, so the Lord addresses those words to each of us every day of our faith journey, calling on us to be attentive to his word as it comes to us in the Scriptures and from deep within our own heart. The baptismal prayer asks that the Lord would touch our ear and our mouth. There is a relationship between how well we listen to the Lord and how well we proclaim him to others. In the gospel reading, when Jesus opened the man’s ears, his power of speech immediately returned. Speaking well, in the Spirit of the Lord, flows from listening well to the Lord’s word. Without the man’s friends who brought him to Jesus, Jesus would not have been able to open his ears and his mouth. There is an image here of the Christian community, the church. The Lord works through the community of believers. We each have a role to play in helping one another to listen to the Lord’s word so that we can proclaim it not just by our lips but by our lives.

And/Or

(vi) Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

There was a film made in 1993 called ‘The Secret Garden’. One of the characters is a young boy called Colin who lives in the rambling mansion of his father, Lord Craven. He was a sickly child who had been overprotected because of his illness. He never left his room and never learned to walk. His young cousin Mary had recently come to the house. She had been orphaned in British India and had been sent to her uncle Lord Craven. As she explored the grounds of the mansion, she discovered a garden that had been locked since the death of Lord Craven’s wife. Mary went looking for and eventually found the key which unlocks the garden and with the help of a young boy, named Dickson, she gradually brings the garden back to life. As they did so, Mary herself became more alive. One day, Mary discovers her cousin, Colin, in his room, and realizes he is the source of the crying she had been hearing all this time. She gradually encourages him to go outside, and she and Dickson take him to the secret garden. There in the garden, Colin begins to heal physically and emotionally. His friends had become for him channels of the Lord’s creative Spirit.

There are times in our lives when we need others to lead us to the equivalent of a secret garden, where we can experience the Lord’s healing presence. Today’s gospel reading features a man who was deaf and unable to speak. In a culture where most people could not read or write, the inability to hear and speak was hugely impoverishing. However, this man was fortunate to have people in his life who took an interest in him and who brought him to Jesus, whom they knew had a reputation as a healer. Jesus went on to become this man’s secret garden, the place where God’s creative Spirit touched his life. In the gospels, Jesus often heals people with a word or just by placing his hands on them. However, Jesus’ encounter with this man is very intimate. He gave the man his full attention. He firstly takes him aside in private away from the crowd. He then puts his fingers into the man’s ears and touches his tongue with his spittle. Then, looking up to heaven in prayer to God his Father, he cries out, ‘Be opened’. The opening of man’s ears then resulted in the loosening of his tongue.

When we read a gospel passage, it can be helpful to ask ourselves ‘Where do I find myself in that gospel story?’ The same gospel story can speak to us in different ways at different times in our lives. At one moment in our lives we might identify with one character, and at another moment with a different character in the story. In today’s gospel reading, we might find ourselves identifying with the man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. There may be times when we need someone to take us to a secret garden where we can be renewed and restored, a place that would remain a secret to us if someone didn’t bring us there and show it to us. The Lord is present to us in and through such places that are restorative and healing for us, and that, in the words of one of the psalms, revive our drooping spirits. The Lord is present not only in such places but especially through those people who lead us there. In today’s first reading, the Lord says to Isaiah, ‘Say to all faint hearts, “Courage! Do not be afraid!’ There are times in all our lives when we need such messengers of the Lord who speak encouraging and hope-filled words to our faint hearts, people who can make real for us the imagery in that first reading of water gushing in the desert, of streams flowing through the wasteland. In this Season of Creation, that image of nature at its best, as a wonderful garden, is a symbol of the human person fully alive.

There are other times when, on hearing the story in today’s gospel reading, we might feel drawn to identify with those who cared enough for the man to bring him to Jesus. Jesus was the source of the man’s healing, but he needed others to bring this man to him. In various ways any one of us can become a gate to some life-giving garden for others, a gate to the Lord’s healing presence. The risen Lord desires to work through each one of us in creative ways, so that the life of others and of our world is enriched, recreated. Today’s second reading reminds us that Jesus revealed a God who is especially attentive to the voiceless and afflicted. In the gospel reading, Jesus gave his full attention to the man who was brought to him. The greatest gift we can give to someone is often the gift of our full attention. Such attentiveness on our part can be like a gate to a secret garden, the opening through which the Lord touches the life of someone in a truly life-giving way.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[transflynnscifo]

Tell me about ur Flynn Scifo thoughts

HI sorry for taking a bit! I decided to take the tangent I caused in my friend's DM's and structure it more coherently

Choc's original question: “Do you think Flynn might get touch starved while hes in the knights? […] I don’t have context, I was just thinking about how Yuri probably gets to casually touch ppl all the time, but Flynn has duties.”

DISCLAIMER this is headcanon-y and self-indulgent. While I give specific examples to support certain ideas, I by no mean intend to act like this is gospel.

This has spoilers for the game too

I assume that because Flynn and Yuri grew up together, they definitely were able to hold hands/hug/nap (and obviously sparred together). The former things probably got dropped as they entered adolescence as a lot of teens tend to be mortified over showing they have any feelings. This is to establish that they have likely always been comfortable around each other. Regardless of how much one may consider side content canon, it is enough to infer from in-game that Yuri’s leaving the knights resulted in their relationship becoming strained. Though Flynn pre-game is stated to have dropped by often enough in the lower quarter, it still shows that they probably barely interacted normally until Capua Nor in Act 1. (and even Capua Nor interactions are something, to say the least)

In my opinion, by the start of the game, Flynn had become good at suppressing a lot of different thoughts and feelings. I’ve already mentioned it in a previous post, but Flynn has a tendency to be quieter in group skits where he isn’t the topic of discussion. Though there is a subtle characterization I enjoy there-- he does react with his portrait changing even whilst not speaking. But even when prompted for an opinion, he struggles to express it, defaulting to saying a general statement that ultimately results in a non-answer on at least one occasion.

This suppression would behave like a sleeper agent. As the game progresses, the player is able to see more of Flynn. His banters get more known, his flaws stick out more, he becomes more closer to a regular man VS the knight paragon that he is expected to be. Those walls could have subtly started crashing around the time he and Yuri started speaking again. Now, I also look at it through a fluri lens. After not having spoken for years, feelings would naturally reignite, and Flynn would become stuck with feelings of longing for more.

That’s where it gets trickier for Flynn. Though he shows signs of opening to the other party members, we are dealing with years’ worth of repression. Though Flynn’s primary character conflict is about where one would draw the lie between crime and justice, there is another that is strongly related to another important theme of the game: choices, and being able to make them on one’s own. This part of Flynn’s character development is most apparent in the second act of the game, especially notable during the part of the game where Estelle is absent. It’s about what he wants to do himself, as opposed to what he should do as a knight. I won’t go too much into it, but the Baction and Heracles dungeons, as well as the scenes before Zaphias castle exemplify what Flynn ends up operating on. Ultimately, he is stuck doing the job he has vowed to take up, as there is no one else to do it. (Much like Yuri choosing things of his own volition, but only because no one else wants to.)

But going back to touch starvation and yearning, this would all come to a head for Flynn until, I presume, post-game. This is because by Aurnion, Yuri and Flynn are finally able to patch things through. The game strongly implies in certain ways that their repaired bond (regardless of whether one sees it as romantic or not) would be stronger than ever, and harder to damage. But even as they become on good terms again, they aren’t able to often see each other. This part is apparent even throughout the game, as Flynn and Yuri are pulled in different directions until their paths cross again. This could be like an odd repeat of the few years they barely interacted, but this would be not because they would be avoiding each other. Rather, this is because they’re finally maintaining the promise over protecting the smiles of people, and making the world a better place.

It could make the times they spend together both a relief and an incredible pain for Flynn, who is able to spend time with his best friend, but the nature of their roles now means that they are ever so slightly out of reach from one another. Flynn would be happy to be in Yuri’s life again, but would he allow himself the selfish wish of having Yuri around always? When he has knights to lead, and Yuri is free to travel and do as he pleases? (in the “Feelings regarding the knights” skit, Flynn, albeit jokingly, wishes Yuri could still be in the knights, while acknowledging that the freedom he has now suits him better.)

And Flynn’s duties matter too much, that much is true. However, Yuri matters even more. Remember how he used his knightly authority to use ships to look for Yuri’s body post-Zaude?

The worst part of Flynn’s touch starvation is if he is actively pining for Yuri in the romantic sense. Imagine wanting to take Yuri’s hand in the same way like you used to, except you are both too busy and important as people to indulge so simply. That isn’t even acknowledging Yuri’s complexes against Flynn and the manner of which he puts Flynn on a pedestal by the end of the game. I don’t think Flynn would worry that he doesn’t deserve Yuri, though I myself like to entertain the idea that if Flynn had insecurities about being good for Yuri, they would definitely manifest differently. The issue for Flynn would be essentially choosing between his happiness as a person or to jeopardize that because he is the Commandant. And Flynn tends to be characterized as a workaholic due to how serious and dedicated he is to his tasks.

Interestingly, Baction (which is the earliest dungeon of the three), has Flynn behave selfishly in his wish to help save Estelle and inquire Alexei for his motifs. But when Flynn wanted to go with Yuri and the others in Heracles and Deidon hold, he went against those wishes in order to lead the knights who needed a leader. Ultimately, it all ties back to the fact that his duties as a knight, and as a leader, mean that he has to jeopardize his desires. He expresses that he missed traveling in the “Battle maniacs” skit. He enjoys fighting, but he also doesn’t get to do it as much when he isn’t in the party. By extension, he would also miss spending time with Yuri like how they used to. He would be biting down leather with his teeth over this, in private. Unable to have time for what he loves.

Though there is warranted criticisms over certain aspects over Vesperia’s comedy, Flynn is, admittedly, definitely repressing certain thoughts. In skits, if a dialogue/topic with a more suggestive tone comes on, Flynn tends to become embarrassed and quiet about it. Though this is intended with a humorous effect, given Flynn is the designated “spoilsport” in many aspects, it does leave an interesting implication: the one most against suggestive topics gets the most embarrassed about them. I tend to see it as Flynn’s imagination running rampant enough to go down the gutter by itself. So it’s worth to assume that Flynn’s self-imposed repression isn’t even doing that well, given it is fairly easy to generally fluster him. Applying that to the fact he already is strongly guarded, he would probably short-circuit if he received a hug from anyone (and for the sake of this post, likely from Yuri too). It’s a metaphorical imagining of Flynn’s very armor. Does it protect him from attacks? Yes. Does it make it harder to see him under the bulk and to touch the skin of his hand? Absolutely.

Even if he took Yuri’s hand, he wouldn’t feel it under his glove, and Yuri, in turn, wouldn’t feel Flynn through it either.

Yuri acting skittish about his insecurities wouldn’t help either. And that’s what makes it even more compelling for me! In many pairings where one character is a knight, it’s usually the other party that wants to push the knight to accept selfishness. In fluri’s case, Yuri first has to stop thinking he’s going to hell in order to consider wanting to push Flynn into indulging his own wishes!

And then Choc told me they meant general touch deprivation, like even with friends, to which I put my clown nose and honked.

[expressingexperience]

A Sacrifice

a short story about a girl's struggle with her family's religion. tw for violence

I sit in the church pews; the smell of pine oil overwhelms my senses, and my attempts at prayer are quickly stifled. Though I’ve always struggled with the concept. My sister—has never struggled. I watch from here every Sunday as she sits pretty with the choir board. She is a beautiful girl, a beautiful singer. I envision myself in her place, feeling accepted like she does. I keep my head bowed, trying not to think selfishly when I pray. My eyes are closed so tightly that I see static. My pleas to the Lord have gone ignored for as long as I can remember. However, my sister says I am blessed in ways I can’t yet understand. She’s always saying just the right thing, doing just the right thing. She carries her Bible with her almost everywhere; though it’s pristine, you can tell she’s had it for years. Each page is filled with color-coded sticky notes. She tries to teach me, but it never works. Her interpretations of the word feel like gilded lies. I open my eyes to the wooden details, the tall ceilings with ornate decals. My eyes are pulled to that colorful stained-glass display of Jesus with his wounded head resting on his shoulder. The magnificence of this building can’t be denied, nor can the faith that carried so many to build this church. I yearn for that faith. Yearn for a sign that my sister and everyone else are right. That there is more to these teachings than violence and pain.

Though I feel no comfort during service, the empty church has always brought me solace. Its beauty makes me want to believe. All the people who would soon fill this building are consumed by the word of God, so engrossed in only his gospel that it affects their every action, thought, and manner. I wish to relinquish myself to him in that way. I consider how hard it is for my family to have me, the doubting sinner, always going against the grain whenever the chance presents itself. I won’t say I make it easy for them. A primary tenet of Christianity is to follow the flock. Denying it is to exile yourself. I stand up and walk to the podium, imagining myself as our priest. Celibate and forever chained to the Lord. He seems happy, up here preaching to us all. He shakes everyone’s hands at the end of service and smiles big, toothy smiles that make me wince. I put myself in his shoes to be a leader and a voice for the Lord. To have Him speak to you constantly, sometimes I believe I hear Him. I tell my sister what I hear; she gives me a look she always has to reset, a look of disgust and fear before she tells me to ask for clarity.

Standing on the stage, looking down at the empty pews, fills me with a swirling sense of power and pride. The seat I previously occupied quickly blends with the rows and rows before me. There is a mightiness in this position, a feeling I wish to memorialize for all the coming disciples. I have felt connected to some stories from the Bible. The ones centered around power and anger and greed and lust showed me in his image. All the sins that boil inside me like a teapot ready to shatter. I've related to Cain and Judas, and the betrayals they’ve taken have rebuilt the congregation tenfold. Making each believer stronger and more resilient in their belief. I feel myself begin to shake from the thought of my next actions. Eyeing the gas canister I left by my seat, I pull a lighter from my pocket. This glorious building made to house devotion and love will soon catch my flame and incinerate me with its artful architecture. This is what the Lord has asked of me. A sacrifice. Hellfire in His sanctuary for all eyes to gaze upon. Gasoline invades my nostrils, and I accept it graciously. Deeply inhaling my actions while I listen to the spillage. Our message will be that much more powerful when my charred body is found melded in the evidence of undying faith.

[barbaramoorersm]

November 17, 2024

November 17, 2024

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Daniel 12: 1-3

This Old testament prophet refers to what we call” the end times.”

Psalm 16

God is described as One who promises fidelity and protection from corruption.

Hebrews 10: 11-14,18

Jesus is referred to as the great high priest.

Mark 13: 24-32

Jesus speaks of the “final days.”

The words of Mark this weekend remind us of the words of Daniel the prophet which point to the “end times.”  One author tells us that apocalyptic warnings such as Daniel and Mark share today about the “end times,” often come from a people who are frightened or threatened.  During the time Mark is writing, his listeners are struggling with upheaval and poverty in their community.  Many wanted to overcome the great power of Rome’s dominance over the community. The motive of Gospel is to move people from great fear to hope that the Son of Man would return.  But Mark is very clear that “of that day or hour, no one knowns, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son but only the Father.”  The apocalyptic images we hear today are vivid and dramatic and their point is to share that God will bring new life.  At times, such language is compared to a woman’s labor pains which lead to the joy of birth and new life.

Our nation has just moved in and out of a painful moment for some and a joyful moment for others, as we ended our election cycle.  But as Mark tells us, God is in charge and will guide us into the future if we remain open to the Gospel and the One, we serve.

Father Joseph Donders, a former missionary in Africa writes, that, as we observe the growth of the fig tree Jesus mentions in the Gospel, we are invited to keep looking around us and we will see, small buds, growth, new life, and eventually dead limbs break during the process. Joy and suffering are always present in life and the cycle continues. 

Our focus on joy or sorrow needs to rest in our Christian faith which always contains a promise of new life.   We are being asked to trust in God and to pray for the new life that we all need.  My guess is that each one of us during our long or short lives have experienced great sorrow and pain but as we work through the situations we are in, with God’s grace newness can be found.  That does not eliminate the pain that we experience but our life tells us that newness can be sought and found.  Life also teaches us that we are needed to help alleviate the pain and sorrow of one another.  The Psalmist this Sunday give us a glimpse of the new life that is promised even in the most difficult times.

“O Lord, my allotted portion and my cup,

You it is who hold fast my lot.

I set the Lord over me;

With God at my right hand, I shall not be disturbed.”

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Published: Jul 12, 2023

A few months ago my doorbell rang unexpectedly. In the spirit of curiosity, I went downstairs to see my surprise guests, who quickly revealed that the purpose of their visit was to share with me the good word of the Lord. I graciously expressed my lack of interest, and thanked them for stopping by. To their credit, they left agreeably, and neither tried to make me feel like an unrepentant sinner, a hateful reactionary, or someone who was actively obstructing their ability to exist. We went our separate ways without conflict, something only possible in a culture that values freedom of religion.

Which includes our culture, for the most part. It’s a standard tenet of classical liberalism: you believe how you want to believe. Even for those who see the United States as a “Christian nation,” most are content to let others have their different faiths, so long as they’re not proselytizing or engaging in acts of violence. Live and let live.

Door-to-door evangelism is a kind of activism I can respect, even when I disagree with the message. Compare this to the kind of activism happening at Kellie-Jay Keen’s ‘Let Women Speak’ events: people screaming at and physically assaulting people with whom they disagree. Even if we aren’t completely aligned on exactly how much free speech we should tolerate in a civilized society (shouting fire in a crowded movie theater? I say no!) and whether there is a meaningful difference between objectionable words and physical violence (I say yes!), it remains true that every person has a right to express their thoughts and feelings. Likewise, opponents have a right to express their disagreement. But they do not have a right to respond with physical violence.

The question of “when is violence justified” is out of scope for this essay. However, I think most people would agree that when those Jehovah's Witnesses showed up at my door and tried to persuade me to join their church, neither of us possessed the right to bring physical violence into that conversation.

Gender identity ideology, the belief that there is a gendered spirit that exists separate from the body, is a religion in all but name—and its successful penetration of our institutions depends on it not being seen as a religion. What makes it a religion and not ‘a natural progression of enlightened thought,’ as gender activists claim, are three things:

1. A hysterical disregard for evidence-based, reproducible research. ‘Children are dying! No time to wait for studies!’ 2. The levels of initiation (like Scientology), in which one can ascend up the ladder from ‘cis ally’ to some variant of ‘trans’ (or chic alternative), often combined with increasingly complicated and risky “gender-affirming” surgeries. 3. Resistance to any kind of critical inquiry (of even its most extreme positions). “Trans voices” have unquestionable authority and must be treated as gospel.

Understand that I'm not attacking religion here. I’m saying that gender activists framing their belief system as the only morally justifiable worldview and calling for all unbelievers to be shunned is the type of thing that religious fundamentalists would do, not civil rights activists.

Nor am I attacking gender identity ideology. I just want it to be understood for what it really is. As an increasingly alienated leftist, I’ve seen too many of my own friends absorbed into this leaderless cult, suddenly unwilling to contemplate or discuss any other perspective. Whether they’ve adopted it intentionally or through community osmosis, the believers argue that gender identity ideology is true, has always been true, and to express anything other than wholehearted support is equivalent to injury.

I do think it's possible for people to believe in gender identity without resorting to intolerance or the worst excesses of the self-appointed revolutionary vanguard. But those people, quietly trying to live their lives, are not the theatrical attention-seekers who publicly delight at forcing ideological compliance. Part of my motivation in writing this is to inspire a more nuanced conversation about "trans rights" in the culture wars. It is a legitimate subject worthy of discussion. What rights do trans people have, and not have? In what cases, if any, are their rights more important than the rights of women who want to have single-sex spaces? If the gender identity activists truly want to create long-term change that actually benefits their demographic, they will need to do politics instead of just bullying their neighbors into submission.

It is the lack of willingness to have discussions about the thorny areas where their wants come into conflict with the wants of others that make this such an intolerant movement. And the one message we keep hearing is that if you do not believe as the gender activists do, you are a problem, and your lack of proper belief justifies the use of violence against you. This is a textbook example of religious extremism.

What is the significance of it being religious in nature? Because religion occupies a special niche in our culture: it shapes our ideas of the sacred and the profane. But even though there is widespread disagreement on the specifics of what constitutes each, we've managed to form some kind of common ground along the lines of respecting each other's personal freedom to act and believe as we choose, so long as our actions and beliefs don't interfere with others exercising their own freedom. ‘The Golden Rule,’ if you will. Most people, I think, would argue that people are free to worship however they choose. Of course, this ideal picture of tolerance is not always the case. History is full of crusades and jihads and persecutions for heresy under various names. Human society has a long relationship with the virtues and the horrors of religion. We know what it is, even if we still struggle with it.

So we can recognize, understand, and even empathize with a person motivated by religious fervor. We can respect the passion shown by a person in a state of religious ecstasy. But none of that requires that we unconditionally lower our psychic boundaries and adopt their beliefs at gunpoint. If such a person can accept that they will not convert you, and go their own way, there is no issue. But if that person threatens you with social repercussions or even physical harm for not assimilating, that is extremism.

Therefore, we hold religious people to certain standards. We accept their idiosyncrasies, while reserving the right to arrive at one’s own faith uncoerced. If we see gender identity ideology for what it is—a religion dressed up as a civil rights movement—we would be much less willing to entertain those ideologues in our schools and institutions. Also, in the United States, thanks to the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, the legal standing for gender identity ideology in government goes away completely once it is accurately classified as a religion. 

Gender identity ideology as a religion further means that we can (and should) have reasonable boundaries around how children are exposed to it. Here's a fun thought experiment: Would you be OK with a devout Christian, Jew, or Muslim going into your child's public school kindergarten class to lecture them about Jesus, Moses, or Mohammad? Probably not. If you were at the grocery store and you ran into a 6-year-old wearing a crucifix who told you that you were going to hell unless you devoted yourself to the church, you'd probably walk away from that encounter thinking, “well, that was weird and disturbing." But right now, gender disciples around the world are perfectly on board with a 6-year-old girl telling them with complete certainty (to the extent a 6-year-old can be certain about anything), "I am not a girl, I am a boy." No need to critically examine the circumstances, because it is a holy sign. Even the Abrahamic religions have a concept of Age of Majority, but in the world of gender identity, no age is too young to be sacrificed on the altar of hormones and surgeries.

Here's another thought experiment: next time you read the words “transwomen are women,” imagine it says “Jesus is Lord” or “Praise Allah.” It’s the same thing! 

The most important difference between gender identity ideology and other religions is that it has no concept of the divine. There is no greater power at the center of the belief. The highest authority of gender identity ideology is the self. Thanks to social media, never before have young narcissists been able to organize with middle-aged narcissists so effectively, and then claim to speak for all queer people. The rest of us are not given the choice to opt out. Gays, lesbians, and bisexuals are forcibly conscripted into this doctrine, or we are excommunicated.

Humans are social animals. We are deeply influenced by each other. It’s one of the reasons that politics and religion exist. So, considering this kind of cultural dispute isn't anything new, why is the conversation about transgenderism so fraught?

Because the issue of men trying to be women (and vice versa) mirrors the central, much larger conflict in our society right now: the issue of humans trying to be God. There is a mischievous aspect of our nature that seeks to be subversive, to upend conventions, to do the impossible. This inclination to push against our limits has brought us the great technological gifts of the modern era. Yet this mischievousness is a double-edged sword, like so many other aspects of human nature that walk a fine line between adaptation and maladaptation. The only way out of this unsolvable predicament is to put down our fantasies, and to stop the foolish exercise of insisting to be that which we are not.

Am I anti-trans? No. I am anti-delusion. I want to live in a world where people are free to play with gender expression in self-love and with full, conscious acceptance of their bodies. The notion that anyone could be born in the wrong body is among the cruelest ideas to emerge from the unholy marriage of postmodernism and late-stage capitalism. There’s no profit to be made in teaching us how to love ourselves, but every gender-nonconforming person that embarks down the pathway of medicalization becomes a prisoner of the gender industry, and a customer for life.

We can argue all day over how much of the self is caused by nature versus nurture, but understanding the mechanics of our own existence is secondary to finding the ability to live at peace with one another, and to share in both the joys and hardships of life. Let us not be children, demanding that we submit to each other’s capricious, imaginary worlds. Let us be adults, willing to talk to each other as living beings worthy of mutual respect.

The author is a bisexual man living in the Northeastern U.S.

==

I don't participate in other people's delusions. Of any kind.

[eli-xr8]

saw ur reply to the hell post. i want to hear your beef

ALRIGHT. Warning, I have a lot of this.

This is a guide to every heresy, every scandal, and every instance of utter bullshit I know of from Hillsong, Elevation, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Kat Kerr, and others. This is a message to those that follow their teachings, and a guide for those who wish to educate others on this topic.

TW: Mentions of pedophilia, spiritual manipulation and spiritual abuse, etc; general Word of Faith/Prosperity Gospel movement activities.

What are my sources?

· Justin Peters: Why are Charismatics so Weird? series, other assorted videos from him; here's his channel link: https://m.youtube.com/@JustinPetersMin

Warning, the above person is homophobic and calvinist, but it in no way discredits his words about the heretics I will be speaking of here. While I will not go in depth nor take the time to find the proof of the following events, Justin does. His videos are informative and useful, and I reccomend watching his videos if you have the time.

· Fight for Truth Ministries YouTube, Daniel C on YouTube, among many others.

· Scripture and these "preachers'" own YouTube and TV programs.

♪———————

Let's start with one of the richest, well-known and popular Prosperity Gospel teachers.

Kenneth Copeland. Yeah, he's the one that yelled at that reporter and has the eyes that sometimes look like they glow really unnervingly.

First of all, what the fuck is this man doing with the money he receives? Using it for church and ministry expenses, of course!

What are those church and ministry expenses?

· multiple private jets

· huge-ass mansion and multiple vacation homes

· many other things

All tax exempt of course, because it's "church property".

He prophesied Covid-19 would die in 2020 during a heat wave, spectacularly it never happened, and refused to mention it ever again.

Dear Kenneth here also claims to be able to hear God speak (he'd be dead if he did, also would have to be an apostle and have met Jesus beforehand), can supposedly heal people, and speak in tongues — all of which is false. Preaches the Little gods doctrine

——————♪

Hillsong Church

Pastor Brian Houston supposedly concealed his father's child sex crimes, was ruled not guilty but do with that what you will.

Pastor Carl Lentz housed Justin Bieber when the latter was a teenager despote Bieber having a perfectly good mother (as far as I'm aware). Also do with that what you will. Has said many heresies and blasphemies which I can't be bothered to remember (go check out Justin Peters for more info). same financial scams and vision claims as Kenneth.

Close ties with Faith healer ministries.

♪——————

Elevation Church

Pastor Steven Furtick has called himself God Almighty on three occasions. On one he tried to play it off as a tongue-tied moment, same financial scams and vision claims as Kenneth.

——————♪

Joel Osteen

Financial scams mostly directed at the poor, refusal to talk about Hell and sin, etc.

♪——————

Benny Hinn

Where do I even start? He's caused so many to lose their faith because of his healing crusades, where nobody comes out healed, and he's stripped so much money and hope, especially from the lower class. Have you ever seen some of his crusades? He glorifies himself, and swings around his stupid white jacket like a lightsaber and acts like it's Elisha's cloak mixed with Jesus' robe and that it can heal people just by touching them. Also, he's very aggressive about it when he shoves people to "heal" them.

——————♪

Kat Kerr

Fucking delusional. Go watch Justin Peters video about her.

Says heaven has a candyland. Go figure.

♪——————

Joyce Meyer

Has profited off people's money to the point she has a golden toilet. Teaches Little gods doctrine, and the "just have enough faith" healing doctrine.

——————♪

I believe that is all I can remember. Thank you for reading, and stay sharp.

Matthew 19:21:

"Jesus said to him, 'If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me. '"

[nerdygaymormon]

What do you think I should do after a temple recommend interview gone wrong? My stake president insisted on asking me more questions about whether I lived the law of chastity, citing his priesthood authority. He tried to ask me very specific questions, and he told me he was doing this because I had told him I was queer. He also had some very strong words about attending the temple unworthily. I had to tell him I had not had sexual relations several times before he moved on to the next question. This has never been my experience with temple recommend interviews before, even when I was out to priesthood leaders in the past. I want to report him, but I don't know for sure who my area president is, and even if I did, would he be on my side? I hate feeling like I have no resort.

I'm so sorry this happened, it is the very essence of what is meant by "leader roulette," in that the queer experience at church varies dramatically depending on who is chosen as the local leader.

I applaud you for resisting those questions until the stake president insisted and threatened to withhold the temple recommend if you didn't answer his questions.

I like your idea of writing the area president to share your experience and to explain how as a queer member you already make a big sacrifice to remain that isn't requested of other members, and rather than be welcomed and embraced, this interview makes you feel like you're viewed with suspicion, it makes you feel othered.

You'll need to determine which Area you live in. Here's a map. If it's not clear, such as if you live near the border, you can google. For example, google the words "LDS Utah Area" and it'll bring up a webpage for the Area and that page includes a map. Once you've identified your Area, here's the list of Area Presidencies.

Area Presidencies in North America live in Utah, you can send a letter by writing to this address: Elder So-and-so 50 East North Temple Salt Lake City , UT 84150

For Area Presidencies outside of North America, the webpage for the Area hopefully has the address for the Area offices.

My experience is a written letter is most likely to be read and responded to, emails are less likely to be seen.

Stake Presidents serve for 9 years, so it's likely your stake president will still be serving next time you need to renew your recommend. You could request the stake executive secretary have you meet with one of the counselors.

Also, you are allowed to bring another adult into the room with you, and I think it's a good idea. Having another adult in the room usually makes it less likely the church leader will stray from the standard questions. And if they do go rogue and ask more invasive questions, your friend can speak up and ask why? Your friend can point out Handbook 26.3 says he isn't supposed to add any requirements nor add any personal beliefs or interpretations. He is supposed to ask the standard questions to determine if you have a testimony and are striving to live the gospel, and you can appropriately answer the questions, he shouldn't be adding additional questions or requirements.

Good luck to you, my friend

[steveezekiel]

HOW AMAZING GOD'S GRACE AND GOODNESS COULD BE

19 “OR God disciplines people with pain on their sickbeds, with ceaseless aching in their bones. 23 “But if an angel from heaven appears—a special messenger to intercede for a person and declare that he is upright— 24 He will be gracious and say, ‘Rescue him from the grave, for I have found a ransom for his life.’ 25 Then his body will become as healthy as a child’s, firm and youthful again." Job 33:19,23-25 (NLT)

The above Bible passage was part of what Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite shared after the three friends of Job ceased to speak, because he was righteous in his own eyes (Job 32:1,6; 33:1).

Elihu was trying to correct Job, he wanted to let him know that he was not righteous As he claimed to be (Job 33:12).

Elihu wanted Job to know that God is not responsible to anyone, that is, He does not take permission or order from anyone before He could do a thing (Job 33:13).

It was in the context of this he started talking about how God treats man; how He speaks through things which humans might not perceive or understand (Job 33:14). And also how God chastises Man, humans, with pain (Job 33:19).

Elihu, however, talked that If a messenger or an angel interceded for the person being chastened or disciplined with pain, God will consider and grant the release to the person—because a ransome or mediator has been found (Job 33:23,24).

God has reasons best known to Him when challenges or trials are permitted in a Believer's life.

Jesus Christ paid His life as a Ransom for the Sin of the whole world. He is the propitiation, the appeasement, for the Sin of mankind (1 John 2:1,2).

Since Jesus Christ has paid the price, the penalty, for the Sin of mankind generally. He, Thus, delegated the assignment to those who are Believers in Him. To stand in the gap, reconciling the world to God (Ezekiel 22:30; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

God wants Believers in Christ Jesus to be the stand up and rescue, reconciling others to God.

Whoever is under the condemnation, or pain, would need someone to stand as Jesus' representative or delegate to plead or lead such to God.

The assignment or ministry of reconciling others to God is given to every Believer (2 Corinthians 5:18,19).

When Believers stand to intercede for those who are perishing and take the good news, the gospel, to them, that Jesus has paid for their Sins and God is calling them to come and reconcile with Him (Acts 17:30; 2 Corinthians 5:20,2; 6:1,2).

God preserves sinners from death, though unknown to them, that they may have the opportunity to know Him, or reconcile with Him (Job 33:17,18).

God speaks severally, keep giving warnings, to whoever is heading towards destructions. And mostly they could not hear nor heed His Word, or perceive what He is saying (Job 33:14).

The pain mentioned in the Bible passage which is our text means discomfort or whatever challenge or problem (Job 33:19).

Pains are usually permitted mainly for the correction of the erring child of God. This is why It is difficult for a believer in Christ Jesus to fall into a Sin or terrible problem without being alerted or given a sign. A pain is usually a sign given by God to an erring Believer.

Those who find themselves in distresses, or Sinful Acts; one problem or the other, are always those who trivialized or take for granted the warnings or signs or pains which are being sent as a warning to them.

Being sensitive means being watchful in the Spirit. God speaks to His children who Care to hear, except those who are dull of hearing or those who cannot discern what He is saying (Hebrews 5:11).

God speaks spectacularly and generally or non-spectacularly: 15 HE SPEAKS IN DREAMS, IN VISIONS OF THE NIGHT, WHEN DEEP SLEEP FALLS ON PEOPLE as they LIE in THEIR BEDS. 16 HE WHISPERS IN THEIR EARS and TERRIFIES THEMWITH WARNINGS. 17 HE MAKES them TURN from doing WRONG; HE KEEPS THEM FROM PRIDE" (Job 33:15-17 NLT).

Believers, and unbelievers alike, are always given the chance or the opportunity of repentance when Judgement is looming over them, because of what they are doing wrong.

Pains and Afflictions, and other challenges of life, are warnings which God usually use in calling whoever is heading towards destructions (Job 33:19).

Judgement of God is usually meted out after several warnings, and repeated failures, when divine corrections are unheeded.

God usually would raise someone to stand in the gap, either for the unbelievers or the Believers who are treading the path of destructions.

The Believers are kept from the traps of the devil, except If such heeded not the calling or the crying of wisdom to desist or depart from what he or she is doing (Proverbs 20:20,21).

If you are currently experiencing pains in any area of your life, It may be bodily pain or pain in other areas of your life: financial, academia, or whatever; God might be speaking to you through it.

This teaching you are reading now could be a messenger or an angel sent to you that you may change your ways, and right your wrongs: 1 AS God’s PARTNERS, WE BEG YOU NOT TO ACCEPT THIS MARVELOUS GIFT OF GOD'S KINDNESS and THEN IGNORE IT. 2 FOR God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped YOU.” INDEED, THE “RIGHT TIME” IS NOW. TODAY IS THE DAY OF SALVATION" (2 Corinthians 6:1,2 NLT).

You will not fail in Jesus' name.

Whatever is contrary to your health is cursed and rooted up in Jesus' name.

I declare you for total health as from now onwards in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Peace!

[buggie-hagen]

Sermon for Transfiguration of Our Lord (2/11/24)

Primary Text | 2 Corinthians 4:3-6

---------------------------------------------

Dear People of God,

          With a name like Transfiguration for today we might be led to believe the only thing going on is the Transfiguration of Our Lord—when on the mountain Jesus’ face became mysteriously bright with light. Historically, and to this day, when it comes to the Transfiguration, there has been a hyper-focus on the light coming from Jesus’ face—trying to make it a sort of mystical experience. By doing this, we have pulled a Peter and James and John who were terrified by this sudden, overwhelming light—which caused the disciple Peter to not know what he was saying and blurt out “Lord, let us build three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” For our purposes, I would compare the Transfiguration to a great, big highlighter. When Jesus shone with his light like that, it was as if God took a highlighter to Jesus. Now who doesn’t like a good highlighter. I have all the colors, green, purple, yellow, red, blue, pink. Although the colors can be fun and pretty, they’re function isn’t for their own sake. That’s what a marker is for. So, what was God using a highlighter to emphasize? We know God wasn’t doing this as a joke to jumpscare the disciples. Nor was he doing it to play games with them. We hear it in the next verse that St. Mark reports, he says: Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” (9:7). With this in mind, instead of calling it Transfiguration of Our Lord, we could call this day Declaration of Our Lord. On this mountain God declared to his disciples who Jesus is—God’s Son, who he dearly loves, and that they need to hear him. God turns Peter and James and John away from the wonder of what they saw and points them to the words that come from Jesus’ lips—Jesus, the Son of God, the only one who speaks life into being when there is no life to be found otherwise.

          The Lord God Almighty wants us to listen to Jesus. That means that Jesus has a voice. A voice all his own—not one of our own making. This has implications for us in our belief. Because there are other voices out there which aren’t His voice—some claiming to be his voice, and others just competing against his voice, such as this: That some will say that we construct our faith—whether to tear apart what we previously believed, or to pick up the pieces and put something together from the ruins. Although such an approach is appealing, because we like when things are in our control, it isn’t actually gospel—the thing that liberates us. It is rather a life built on the law—just a different law than the one we had before. Let me put it this way. We don’t, in actuality, want a Lego-god. A god-made-of-Lego-blocks that we have put together. It's a matter of who is the one who builds our faith. Faith comes by hearing (Rom. 10:17). Something external. The Holy Spirit does it all. The human being is passive. The gospel isn't comparable to "Go to all nations and say, 'Now, here's your Lego set. You put them together.'" So, we begin to say: "This block can be a Trinity block. I suppose this block can be a Creed block, etc." Such an approach is what the Scriptures call a “burden.” Whenever faith is put in our own hands, when it is up to us to keep and maintain and build it, our comfort is taken away. Whatever is in our hands we cannot keep. But whatever is in God’s hands, that we will never lose. The gospel (which is the voice of Jesus) is from beyond ourselves—so our faith is not in our own hands but in God’s hands. In the proclamation of Christ crucified and risen, in whom we are justified by faith alone—the old you is put to death, the new you is raised to new life. So, if one says "Christ is Lord" or if one believes rightly in the Trinity or the Creed, it is because God has brought them to it. The Holy Spirit works everything, in everyone (1 Cor 12:6).

          Again, there are many voices out there. But only one voice is a light—that is, there is one voice with highlighter dashed all over it—so that St. Paul can refer to it as “the light of the gospel” (2 Cor. 4:4). That is, Jesus’ voice alone. How do we recognize his voice and distinguish it from others? We know this much, it is not the voice which proclaims Jesus as your taskmaster which says— “if you really love Jesus this is how you will live.” Strangely enough, Jesus the Taskmaster is dominant through both ends of the right-left political spectrum. This is nothing other than taking a ruler to yourself and saying a tentative, “Hopefully I can do enough and be good enough and God will smile upon me.” This always ends up being a proclaiming of ourselves instead of a proclaiming of Jesus Christ—which leads either to smugness, or to despair. This fake gospel voice has shattered the faith of many. God, this Holy Trinity we believe in, does not want us to know him as Taskmaster. Let us draw from our heritage in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, where it says: This is how God wants to become known and worshiped, namely, that we receive blessings from him, and indeed, that we receive them on account of his mercy and not on account of our merits. This is the richest consolation in all afflictions, which the opponents destroy when they trivialize and disparage faith and only teach people to deal with God through works and merits” (4:60), that’s from the article on justification. This is to say that the God we worship in Jesus Christ doesn’t want to be known by the things you and I do or don’t do, that instead God wants to be known by what he does, as giver of blessing, of his undaunted faithfulness, as the one who does not exact against us our every little failing, God wants to be known as the one who graciously lifts us from our burdens, embraces us and gives us new life. At the Transfiguration, or the Declaration, God declares Jesus as his beloved Son—which ends up being a promise from the Father to the Son. Now Jesus, God’s beloved Son, turns around to you with that same promise and gives it to you, saying “You, child, are My beloved. I have made you My beloved. I have a righteousness apart from the Law, and I make you righteous by taking away your sin. Readily, gladly, freely, and surely. First in your baptism. Then in communion and in the oral preaching of My word. And then on and on all your life without stopping. My light shines in your heart not on account of what you have done but on account of what I have done for you—in dying on the cross and rising from the dead. God’s thoughts for me as his beloved Son are also God’s thoughts for you—because he has graciously brought you to me.”

[tea-with-evan-and-me]

“Why do you followers take tarot seriously? like it's just a hobby that these people like, it's supposed to be entertainment, not rivalry between celebrity blogs, it's supposed to be fun, not heavy, no one can predict anyone's relationship, and there are people getting messed up, because some girls read and publish these readings”

if it wasn’t serious, then how come y’all lose y’all’s marbles whenever someone debunks the readings given about Evan’s love life. Why do y’all start to insult people when they hold a different opinion to tarot. What y’all and those readers don’t seem to get is how y’all are invading Evan’s privacy by doing readings without his permission and about his personal life. It’s not only Evan but also to other celebrities. How would y’all feel if someone would do that to y’all without ya permission? The very first tarot blog about Evan was fucking iconic! The admin was down to earth and knew how to give readings without pushing it. All the other ones who came after her are…something else. mycovenofchaos actually wanted og admin to get back to her new blog, but og admin did not respond which I get. About this Maddie girl- mycovenofchaos would almost worship her. She would kiss the ground she walked on and no matter what was said or done-she held Maddie’s words as gospel because according to Maddie Natalie is not right for Evan. All of it was kind of creepy. I think there’s a solid reason why og admin does not want to be involved with these ladies anymore.

you’re not wrong, anon. i mean, if it wasn’t serious then other fan’s opinions, and actual reality being in opposition to their tarot readings wouldn’t cause them a visceral reaction. they wouldn’t be stressed over it. and it’s never just been entertainment to these people 💀 look at the irony of the first post where she agrees with rosa about theories being presented as fact, juxtaposed with her speaking about tarot readings as factual information. funny how rosa nor the others ever bat an eye so long as the readings reassure them evan hasn’t found his “soulmate” yet.