#trying to make with give lovingkindness

[woundgallery]

Martha Collins

[transgenderer]

So there's an octavia butler short story, the book of Martha, where God gives an author (closely patterned on butler herself, but possibly intentionally less creative) infinite(?) power to remake the world, to fix humanity and/or its problems before we destroy ourselves. After considering a variety of options (it's possible she's only allowed to modify human nature? But the story never stares that. Maybe she's just not good at considering all her options) she just gives everyone extremely pleasurable dreams. So they're less ambitious I guess. And in general have nicer lives

Anyway this story has stuck with me in two ways. The first: so, assume you're not just gonna like. Give humanity infinite resources or whatever. How do you make a utopia? Well to me the answer seems obvious, based on my experience of my own psyche. The human mind needs more affection. It's too easy for annoyance or some petty issue to overwhelm affection. And then we are cruel and selfish and all this stuff. Like. Idk, I feel like I've experienced moments of clear-eyed saintlihood. My brain produces that...outlook/emotion/whatever. But it won't stick there, of course. But it feels like it wouldn't be too far a jump to just get the human brain to stick there more easily. Still let us access other states, for variety. Give us some sense of others freedom or whatver, so our care for each other doesn't make us all busy bodies. But like. It would only take the tugging of a few chemical strings to fix human nature. A little less rage, a little more philia.

This is of course an important piece of evidence that if there is a god he doesn't love us. He could have made us full of lovingkindness. He could have made us not want to hurt and humiliate each other. But he didn't. Because all that nastiness helps us succeed in the social games that increase our mating frequency, or selectiveness, or whatever, presumably, and so selective descent with modification doomed us all forever. Or, God is real but cares about something else. Maybe beauty. Maybe he feels the glory of war is worth it.

But the second thing, is noticing which parts of our world feel like a Martha has already been there. I was looking at the sky on the train home today (hmabhrg! There was a William Blake exhibition), admiring it, and I was struck again by how...excessive, superfluous, overflowing, decadent, additional it is. The sky could just be a simple blue, fading evenly to black. Clouds could always be blobby and indistinct. We could all be congenital shortsighted, so they were always blurry. But instead they're just this part of the world, detached from all the specifics of earthly life, that is achingly beautiful, most nights! Sunsets are so beautiful it's cliche, it's boring! That feels like a gift from a Martha. Someone a bit uncreative trying to fix the world in a way that doesn't shake it up too much

[albertfinch]

Scripture Of The Day - July 17, 2024

Psalm 100:4,5 - "Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations."

  Satan’s plan is to make us somehow accept, either through our upbringing, our experiences or through Church dogma that certain portions of the life of Christ are untrue or not valid in our case.  Every battle we face in life is over the word and whether or not we can build our lives upon the faithfulness and integrity of God.

Hebrews 10:23  - "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is FAITHFUL;"

Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Psalm 37:1-3

In this Psalm, David is instructing the children of God not to fret when it seems like everyone around you is prospering, especially the unrighteous. The antidote given by King David for "fretting" is to feed on the Lord's faithfulness.

Like Psalm 27:13 says, "I truly would lose heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord," nevertheless, there are more times that the worries of the world knock us out. This is why it is crucial that we feed on His FAITHFULNESS.

Yet, how do we do that? One of the primary ways is to feast on His Word -- for it is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).

RECALLING GOD'S FAITHFULNESS IN TRYING TIMES

In the third chapter of the Book of Lamentations -  the prophet Jeremiah, was suffering through God's chastisement along with his people. As a result of his distress, Jeremiah confessed that his soul was far from any peace, that he had forgotten what happiness was, and that his strength was gone. He felt that God shut out his prayers and had lost his expectant hope in the Lord through his terrible struggle.

Despite all his feelings of being forsaken, Jeremiah prayed again! He boldly said, "Remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall" (Lamentations 3:19). The word for "remember" doesn't imply that God forgot His children.  The Hebrew word used here is zakar (Strong's #2142) and speaks of recalling something, meditating on it, purposefully pulling it up in your mind. Jeremiah was asking God to think on him, to focus His Divine intentions on him!

"My soul still remembers and sinks within me" (Lamentations 3:20). Yet, after praying again to God, something happened. Instead of thinking on his circumstances, he "turned to the Lord" and found hope. "This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope" (Lamentations 3:21).

TURN TO THE LORD

"Recall" is connected to one of the primary words used for repentance, shuwb (Strong's #7725), and means to turn back or return. You see, Jeremiah was thinking on his distress and affliction, which was, in a sense PUTTING A SPIRITUAL DISTANCE BETWEEN HIMSELF AND GOD. All he had to do was turn his thoughts to the Lord, to return to Him.

 "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you..." (James 4:7-8).

Jeremiah went from thinking on his circumstances to thinking on God. -- Lamentations 3:22-26  - "The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'Therefore I have hope in Him.' The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the Lord."

He fed on God's faithfulness!  God uses ALL distress and affliction for His glory to produce character in us. "...tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope" (Romans 5:3,4).

Acts 16:25,26  -  "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God:  and the prisoners heard them.  And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken:  and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed."

God's faithfulness is triggered by our faith, while praise brings us into His presence.  When we praise God, He raises us out of our situation.

When we find ourselves in trouble, we use praise as a key to unlock the "prison doors" of our circumstances.  No matter what is going on in our life -- we fill our mouth with the ADORATION AND GREATNESS OF GOD.

ALBERT FINCH MINISTRY

[fadingplaidlibrary]

evergreen 🌲

pairing: marlon x marnie (marnie x lewis referenced)

word count: 607

notes: yearning pining longing etc, gentle angst but with a hint of a happy ending. mentions of death, aging, mining, and lewis being a jerk. lmk if i should add any other warnings. enjoy :D

marlon’s always had a soft spot for marnie.

he’s never told her, of course. they’re friends, the best of friends, and he’s not one to push his luck. he’s not as subtle as he thinks he is, though. anyone could see the way his gruff exterior melts away around her. he always gets her flowers on her birthday. he always greets her warmly when they run into each other; always asks how the animals are doing, always promises to keep an eye on her nephew shane and little miss jas.

even as they live separate lives on opposite sides of the valley, they watch the years roll over their hometown together. the seasons pass and the kids grow up; wrinkles frame her pretty eyes now, and his hair is all salt and pepper. she is his constant, and he is hers. she fusses over him whenever he comes back from the mines, swears she’ll never forgive him if he dies down there. he knows that the mountain favors no one, but he does try to stay safe for her sake. when he’s deep underground, the thought of her tethers his mind to the living world; when he surfaces, he quietly wishes he could go home to her.

every once in a while his phone will ring at some odd hour. she’ll be on the line, all lovingkindness as usual, just wanting to hear his voice. that’s how she greets him every time: “just wanted to hear your voice, lonnie.” (she’s the only one who still calls him that, and maybe the only one who doesn’t see what it does to him.) he savors these liminal moments almost selfishly, like a balm for the ever-present ache in his chest. he’d trawl the mines barehanded before he’d ever risk hurting her, and he’s sure a confession would do just that. what would he even say? what would she say?

he knows she adores lewis, though it’s anyone’s guess as to why. it burns him up inside to see her heart break over and over, hidden behind a brave face, but he respects her too much to interject. the heart wants what it wants, and her heart wants… that guy. marlon doesn’t understand it, but he makes no comment.

her nephew shane doesn’t always get on too well with lewis. they’re civil now, but marlon remembers when the kid was new in town. lewis had labelled him a “problem youth” back then. bullshit. shane had always been a quiet, decent kid; he just hated being condescended to, and that happened to clash with the good mayor’s almighty ego. lewis got real prickly whenever marlon stood up for the kid, but firmly worded letters don’t scare a unionized guildkeep much. old gil’s furnace swallowed up plenty of mayoral correspondence back then, burning through the stamped and sealed hissy fits just as well as any other kindling.

“she talks about you all the time, ya know.” shane had told him that one evening, out of the blue, as he walked the kid home from a shift of mandated community service. marlon remembers tripping over his feet real good instead of giving an intelligent response. shane hadn’t said much else after that, but he had noticed the blush on the older man’s face. from that day on, the kid started calling him uncle marlon. lewis stayed lewis; no title, no pomp or circumstance. but he was uncle marlon, first to shane and then to little jas, too.

and though she'd never admit it to anyone but herself, the gentle rancher thinks “aunt marnie and uncle marlon” has a real nice ring to it.

[jzlily333]

🌺06/22LiveWell活出美好🌺

God is a good God who always gives good things to His children.​​​

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times you may abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8).

06/22 Bible verses

Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me. (Psalms 66: 20)

Blessed be God; he has not turned away my prayers, nor turned away his love from me (Psalm 66:20).

06/22Good words of wisdom

1. Success is addictive. You often set small goals and enjoy the joy of successfully breaking through the goals. After success, you want more successes.

2. Whether you succeed or fail, at least try. Make the effort to try new things and life will get better.

Hymn: Taste the Lord’s Grace

https://youtu.be/_Fyg_7n_WCg?si=ewfj-OMhMmIWxA

🌺06/22活出美好🌺

上帝是良善的神，總是賜下美好的事物給祂的兒女。      

上帝能將各樣的恩惠多多的加給你們，使你們凡事常常充足，能多行各樣善事 (哥林多後書9: 8)。

06/22圣经金句

Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me.   (Psalms 66: 20)    

神是應當稱頌的；他並沒有推卻我的禱告，也沒有叫他的慈愛離開我 (詩篇66: 20)。

06/22金玉良言

1. 成功是會讓人上癮的，常常設定小目標享受成功突破目標的喜悅，成功之後還想有更多的成功。

2. 無論成功失敗，但至少要嘗試。努力嘗試新事物，生活就會變得更好。

詩歌：嘗嘗主恩 

https://youtu.be/_Fyg_7n_WCg?si=ewfj-OMhMmIWxA

[princessofthemosthigh]

One thing I’m guilty of and probably many of us are is praying in the morning and or night and forgetting about God in between. Because of this I felt off track in my relationship with Him and it began to suffer and eventually I started facing some spiritual warfare and lacking faith. I realized my relationship should be more than talking to the lord in the day and in the night before bed. It should be worshipping Him , listening to songs that praise Him on my way to work, giving thanks before I eat, delighting myself in the beauty and grace of Him the sunset and the sunrise, the beauty in the way the season changes and just marvelling at his creations, loving others (even my enemies), reading the word and trying to apply it in my daily life.

What helped me is reading books about related to faith. One book I’m currently reading and love is the “Well watered woman” 🌻by Gretchen Saffles. It’s about how seeking nourishment and refreshment in the Lord when we feel dry in our growth and faith. That’s something I needed as sometimes to be honest the bible can seem mundane but the book helped me acknowledge that’s where the truth is to provide us with nourishment and help us bloom when we’re going through difficult seasons. Reading the Bible shouldn’t be seen as a chore but it should be seen as our fountain of wisdom to quench our spiritual thirst and give us strength. ✝️

‭‭ “How precious is thy lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; And thou wilt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: In thy light shall we see light.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭36‬:‭7‬-‭9‬

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

A Lament over Zion

1 Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

3 They bend their tongue, [as it were] their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don't know me, says the LORD.

4 Take you heed everyone of his neighbor, and don't you trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders.

5 They will deceive everyone his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.

6 Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says the LORD.

7 Therefore thus says the LORD of Hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how [else] should I do, because of the daughter of my people?

8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays wait for him.

9 Shall I not visit them for these things? says the LORD; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the birds of the sky and the animals are fled, they are gone.

11 I will make Yerushalayim heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Yehudah a desolation, without inhabitant.

12 Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and [who is] he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? why is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?

13 The LORD says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein, 14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them;

15 therefore thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Yisra'el, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

16 I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.

17 Thus says the LORD of Hosts, Consider you, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skillful women, that they may come:

18 and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Tziyon, How are we ruined! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.

20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, you women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor lamentation.

21 For death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, [and] the young men from the streets.

22 Speak, Thus says the LORD, The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester; and none shall gather [them].

23 Thus says the LORD, Don't let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don't let the rich man glory in his riches;

24 but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the eretz: for in these things I delight, says the LORD.

25 Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will punish all those who are circumcised in [their] uncircumcision:

26 Mitzrayim, and Yehudah, and Edom, and the children ofAmmon, and Mo'av, and all that have the corners [of their hair] cut off, who dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Yisra'el are uncircumcised in heart. — Jeremiah 9 | Hebrew Names Version (HNV) The Hebrew Names Version Bible is in the public domain Cross References: Genesis 27:35; Leviticus 26:32-33; Deuteronomy 28:29; Deuteronomy 28:64; 2 Chronicles 7:19; 2 Chronicles 36:17; Psalm 12:2; Psalm 52:3; Psalm 55:6-7; Psalm 83:10; Psalm 107:34; Psalm 119:136; Proverbs 25:18; Isaiah 1:24-25; Isaiah 10:3; Isaiah 22:4; Isaiah 32:9; Isaiah 41:15; Jeremiah 4:19; Jeremiah 7:28-29; Jeremiah 12:6; Lamentations 3:48; Matthew 9:23; John 3:19-20; Acts 7:51; Romans 1:21; Romans 2:25; 1 Corinthians 1:31; 1 Corinthians 15:34; 2 Corinthians 10:17; Revelation 8:11

[childofchrist1983]

Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD. - Psalm 25:4-7 KJV

God keeps trying to lead and guide us, and we keep veering off the path. It is not just the sins of our youth that we need God to forget - It's the sins of our middle age and more. It is easy to get side-tracked. God keeps teaching, but the problem is, that we don't keep learning.

Sometimes, I think that the youth actually get it more than we do as we age. They know that they need to learn and depend on us to help them learn and not only the lessons they learn in school, but also the lessons they will need to learn for life. It is not good to give children bad example because they will follow us.

Over the years, I have watched many commercials on television, including retro ones from days of old, as they would often teach us both what to do and what not to do.

An old commercial showed a father and son and the son wanted to do everything his father did, so her pretended to shave when his father shaved, tied his shoes, etc., and pretended to smoke when his father did. It was an anti-smoking ad. If you swear and curse, so will your children. If you cheat or steal, so will your children, if you are kind and generous, so, too, will your children be.

God gives us guidance and we need to follow, and we also need to guide those who come after us. Jesus Christ gave us perfect example, and all Christians are called to do the same for others. He has given us the tools to follow Him. May He give us the will to do so. May we make sure that we give our hearts and lives to God and take time daily to seek and praise Him and share His Truth with the world. May the LORD our God and Father in Heaven help us to stay diligent and obedient and help us to guard our hearts in Him and His Word daily. May He help us to remain faithful and full of excitement to do our duty to Him and for His glorious return and our reunion in Heaven as well as all that awaits us there. May we never forget to thank the LORD our God and our Creator and Father in Heaven for all this and everything He does and has done for us! May we never forget who He is, nor forget who we are in Christ and that God is always with us! What a mighty God we serve! What a Savior this is! What a wonderful Lord, God, Savior and King we have in Jesus Christ! What a loving Father we have found in the Almighty God! What a wonderful God we serve! His will be done!

Thanks and glory be to God! Blessed be the name of the LORD! Hallelujah and Amen!

[st-tims-bible]

Another way to understand the teachings of the Buddha as the Middle Path is to understand that the teachings avoid certain philosophical extremes. One extreme states that the world of sense experiences, the world of presentation, of seeing and hearing and tasting, is real and solid. This view seduces us into repeatedly trying to find the singular experience that will give us unchanging happiness. What we have matters a lot from this perspective, and we continue to chase objects or people and try to hold on to them. Especially in a culture of relative freedom and plenty, one can easily become an “experience junkie,” ardently trying to experience more and more and have more and more. It is useful to spend some time reflecting on this tendency and whatever role it may have played in your life. Think of the ways you have sought perfect happiness through holding on to someone or something, and the repercussions of that.

The opposite extreme view is a type of nihilism, where we feel that nothing at all matters—everything is empty, fleeting, ephemeral—and we are disconnected and disempowered. Life is seen as meaningless, with no appropriate repository for our faith and no appropriate inspiration for our endeavors. We then overlook the truth that our actions have con -sequences. We forget that we can and must make effort toward our own release from suffering, and effort toward the release of all beings from suffering. If you have held this nihilistic view at some point in your life, consider the effect it had on your experience of connectedness, empathy, and goodwill. Rather than dwell in this dispirited hopelessness, begin to do metta, compassion, or sympathetic joy meditation. Observe whatever changes arise in your mind.

The Middle Way avoids the extremes of these two views of materialism and nihilism. Difficult to depict in words, the view of the Middle Way is sometimes best evoked in images, as when the Buddha described life as being like an echo, like a rainbow, like a flash of lightning in a summer’s sky, like a phantom, like a dream. The whole world of presentation arises—we see, hear, feel, and so on—and it is also true that nothing lasts, nothing is reliable, nothing has inherent, solid existence. lovingkindness - Sharon Salzberg

[angelojamal]

”Oh, that my head were waters, And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh, that I had in the wilderness A lodging place for travelers; That I might leave my people, And go from them! For they are all adulterers, An assembly of treacherous men. “And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me,” says the Lord. “Everyone take heed to his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; For every brother will utterly supplant, And every neighbor will walk with slanderers. Everyone will deceive his neighbor, And will not speak the truth; They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves to commit iniquity. Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and try them; For how shall I deal with the daughter of My people? Their tongue is an arrow shot out; It speaks deceit; One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, But in his heart he lies in wait. Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord. “Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?” I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, And for the dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation, Because they are burned up, So that no one can pass through; Nor can men hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled; They are gone. “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.” Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through? And the Lord said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them,” therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”“

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭9‬:‭1‬-‭16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

”Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider and call for the mourning women, That they may come; And send for skillful wailing women, That they may come. Let them make haste And take up a wailing for us, That our eyes may run with tears, And our eyelids gush with water. For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How we are plundered! We are greatly ashamed, Because we have forsaken the land, Because we have been cast out of our dwellings.’ ” Yet hear the word of the Lord, O women, And let your ear receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, And everyone her neighbor a lamentation. For death has come through our windows, Has entered our palaces, To kill off the children— no longer to be outside! And the young men— no longer on the streets! Speak, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Even the carcasses of men shall fall as refuse on the open field, Like cuttings after the harvester, And no one shall gather them.’ ” Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord. “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised— Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.”“

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭9‬:‭17‬-‭26‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

[queerian]

There are a lot of Jewish people working on unpacking the way Zionism is packed into many centres of mainstream Jewish culture, especially schools, from a very young age. It takes a LOT of labour to deconstruct that and reconstruct our identities, and it's an emotionally razing experience. Maybe this is something the asker is able to support their gf with, maybe not. Not everyone who has the potential to break out of that mindset has access to a supportive community of non-Zionist/anti-Zionist Jews, and maybe the people closest to her are more likely to bolster her Zionist beliefs than help her unpack them.

I've seen/followed a bunch of people on tiktok talking about how they unpacked the intertwined trauma, love, and programming and discover that supporting Palestinians is within their values - Jewish values! - and something they are now capable of directly supporting, speaking out for, and contributing to. (I tried to link one video in particular but it doesn't seem to be working.)

Most non-Jews really have no idea how much of it is baked into even progressive Jewish institutions, and how much pushback and resistance we get when we try to a) break free and b) change those institutions.

Thanks to ongoing exposure to and community with Jewish and non-Jewish Israel-critical/anti-Zionist voices, particularly people I trusted and whose opinions I respected, thanks to exposure to information and evidence I wasn't getting from mainstream sources, I was able to challenge the implicit acceptance of Israel as a Jewish state and grow from a person who (to paraphrase the haggadah) didn't even know what questions to ask, into someone whose Jewish values of tikkun olam (repairing the [broken] world), chesed (lovingkindness), tzedek (justice), and tzedakah (giving to those who need) explicitly support Palestinians.

Personally, focusing on my individual strengths, a lot of my work now involves sharing information, building and maintaining trust, and supporting peers through the same growth process. I'm tending to my community with love and compassion (selectively picking my battles tho lol, I do NOT have infinite resources here). The information has been so suppressed in many ways, and the explosion of information among disinformation now, in such an emotionally charged context, makes it very hard for people to challenge long-held beliefs that may be foundational to their concept of their identity/culture. And as many seasoned activists remind us, this is community work. Working alone is not just a reflection of individualist culture but is a fast track to burnout and ineffectiveness.

So, for the asker, I think it's a matter of whether the gf is open to new information from a loved one that challenges her current position/beliefs, whether engaging in that process with her is something the asker has the capacity for, whether they have the patience and resources and time to work with their gf as a partner in deconstruction and reconstruction or help her find a community that will support the transition. You don't have to be the one to accompany her on that journey. You can end relationships that hurt, even if there is also great love. If the dissonance is too much, if it looks like there isn't hope for your values to come into alignment, you can choose what to do.

I recently found out in an argument that my girlfriend is a zionist (ie: liberal positioning of the israeli government and its actions are bad, but Israel should exist because necessity for a safe place for jews). In the past I’ve had a lot of respect for her political instincts, both of us being leftists with at best minor disagreements on low-stakes queer issues.

However I’ve never before been in a position with a partner that I have so much love for just to find out one of their political positions is genuinely repulsive to me. The argument we had stretched well into the night, she seemed thoroughly unreachable. It was despairing.

I’m now wondering if my only reasonable course of action is to break up with her. I can’t parse whether this is unfiltered flight instinct on my part, or genuinely the correct moral decision to make. On top of that I cannot stop obsessing around the clock about this problem, and am thinking I should spare myself the trouble. On the other hand I very much still love her and would very much grieve the relationship.

I know this is an overlong and complex ask, and I don’t blame you for not taking it on. But in my place what do you think I should do?

Many people, especially many Jewish people, evangelicals, and conservative christians, have been propagandized extensively to see Israel as a crucial component of Jewish identity & safety. If she's been really deeply basted in this kind of messaging for a long time, then you will essentially need to engage in something akin to cult deprogramming level efforts to help her take apart the entire superstructure of the lies that currently makes up her belief system.

Can she acknowledge the Nakba? Can she acknowledge the original antisemitism behind the British plan to even create Israel? Can she acknowledge that it's an ethnostate where Arab people are largely excluded from political representation? Is she willing to have ongoing conversations with you about this, or is she defensive and quick to move on?

Only you will know the answer to your own question. But I think you can consider the depth of her misinformation & belief in the "project" of Israel, and how willing she is to continue talking about it with you. I think for me, I could only keep dating someone who was very willing to admit to every fact they'd had wrong all this time as i carefully and meticulously brought all of them up. Acknowledging the full history of Israeli settlement basically requires that we acknowledge what an unjust colonial state it is. If she can't confront basic facts, that's a bad sign.

Most of us are losing friendships over this right now and fraying family relationships, so I don't think it's a bridge too far at all to end a relationship over it.

[albertfinch]

FEEDING ON GOD'S FAITHFULNESS TO REDUCE SPIRITUAL DISTANCE

Psalm 100:4,5 - "Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations."

  Satan’s plan is to make us somehow accept, either through our upbringing, our experiences or through Church dogma that certain portions of the life of Christ are untrue or not valid in our case.  Every battle we face in life is over the word and whether or not we can build our lives upon the faithfulness and integrity of God.

Hebrews 10:23  - "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is FAITHFUL;"

Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Psalm 37:1-3

In this Psalm, David is instructing the children of God not to fret when it seems like everyone around you is prospering, especially the unrighteous. The antidote given by King David for "fretting" is to feed on the Lord's faithfulness.

Like Psalm 27:13 says, "I truly would lose heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord," nevertheless, there are more times that the worries of the world knock us out. This is why it is crucial that we feed on His FAITHFULNESS.

Yet, how do we do that? One of the primary ways is to feast on His Word -- for it is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).

RECALLING GOD'S FAITHFULNESS IN TRYING TIMES

In the third chapter of the Book of Lamentations -  the prophet Jeremiah, was suffering through God's chastisement along with his people. As a result of his distress, Jeremiah confessed that his soul was far from any peace, that he had forgotten what happiness was, and that his strength was gone. He felt that God shut out his prayers and had lost his expectant hope in the Lord through his terrible struggle.

Despite all his feelings of being forsaken, Jeremiah prayed again! He boldly said, "Remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall" (Lamentations 3:19). The word for "remember" doesn't imply that God forgot His children.  The Hebrew word used here is zakar (Strong's #2142) and speaks of recalling something, meditating on it, purposefully pulling it up in your mind. Jeremiah was asking God to think on him, to focus His Divine intentions on him!

"My soul still remembers and sinks within me" (Lamentations 3:20). Yet, after praying again to God, something happened. Instead of thinking on his circumstances, he "turned to the Lord" and found hope. "This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope" (Lamentations 3:21).

TURN TO THE LORD

"Recall" is connected to one of the primary words used for repentance, shuwb (Strong's #7725), and means to turn back or return. You see, Jeremiah was thinking on his distress and affliction, which was, in a sense PUTTING A SPIRITUAL DISTANCE BETWEEN HIMSELF AND GOD. All he had to do was turn his thoughts to the Lord, to return to Him.

 "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you..." (James 4:7-8).

Jeremiah went from thinking on his circumstances to thinking on God. -- Lamentations 3:22-26  - "The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'Therefore I have hope in Him.' The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the Lord."

He fed on God's faithfulness!  God uses ALL distress and affliction for His glory to produce character in us. "...tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope" (Romans 5:3,4).

Acts 16:25,26  -  "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God:  and the prisoners heard them.  And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken:  and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed."

God's faithfulness is triggered by our faith, while praise brings us into His presence.  When we praise God, He raises us out of our situation.

When we find ourselves in trouble, we use praise as a key to unlock the "prison doors" of our circumstances.  No matter what is going on in our life -- we fill our mouth with the ADORATION AND GREATNESS OF GOD.

ALBERT FINCH MINISTRY

[amjustabookfreak]

Grace, An Empowerment

I admit it. The first time I heard about God's lovingkindness, my heart was overwhelmed with unfathomable joy. A God who suffered, beaten, crushed and died on my behalf because my reckless actions and deceitful heart led me to a dead end and I cried for a Savior for a long time.

And I admit, that just because I have been saved by His grace, does not mean I need to walk this Christian journey by trying to earn and maintain Grace. Whenever I open my eyes in the morning to see the light of His mercy, I am still in awe of His goodness.

Why is He good? Because I have material blessings? Because I have friends I can rely on? Because my family is healthy? While it is “common” to base God's goodness on the good gifts, the unchanging truth is that God, the Giver, is good.

It is a roller coaster ride. To be honest, there was a time when I used grace to attract financial prosperity. But God, in His goodness, led me to attract wisdom instead. He introduced me the reality of life's hardwork and failures. That just because Grace is unmerited, I can automatically attract financial blessings while consuming it like a bigtime spender because I am poor and my Father in heaven is rich. Yes! My heart believed that. LOL. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we become against financial blessings and live in poverty, what I mean is, as Christians, we live in such a way that glorifies God. Live in such a way that we use His gifts to bring glory to His name and people wonder why: “Why is it that he/she still believes in virtues and principles to live a meaningful life.” “Why does he/she give too much to the poor?”

I don't try to live a meaningful life. God alone is my reason, and His meaning and purpose for my life follows.

Grace has been defined an unmerited and unearned favor. Some people, I believe that there are still “Pharisees” living among us, accuse that the Grace we preach is a licentious to sin! Good thing Paul knew what to answer to that. I remember it clearly from a passage: Romans 6:1-2,

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?

Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

Exactly! People who have been truly impacted by God's grace will be empowered to repent and allow God to change them inside out. But people whose hearts are harden may use it to grant them the liberty they want and redefine Grace. They may sound and act humbled but through the years of living by their own definition, one can never deny the result of their thinking.

I believe that Grace is more than unmerited and unearned favor. It is a popular view of God's grace, but I really believe it's more than that. While there are some truth in that, it makes people believe that they don't need a change, have growth or become mature because “God loves us just as we are.” This kind of thinking limits God's work in a person and denies empowerment. I like what Charles Capps defined it, Grace is “God’s willingness to use His power and ability on our behalf even though we don’t deserve it.”

It is His willingness to do in us, for us and through us that which we could never do on our own ability. Grace is an action, not an attribute. If we say God loves us simply without a payment for the penalty of sin. Action is denied, suffering is in vain and His holy image is just an accessory. Then we ask: “How can a loving God put someone to hell?” the answer we never want to hear is because: “We want a “kind” of god who is loving but has no truth in him.” A kind of god who wants me to stay in sin is not a god but a toy we hug for comfort, you will feel comforted but you will not be empowered.

Grace is God's love in action.

If God tolerates sin, then how can He be called a righteous God if He has tolerance to what contradicts His nature?

Isn't that why a mother looks out for her child so much that she goes worried if her little one has done something he/she shouldn't have that may harm him/her as a consequence of the action?

Isn't that why a father has to put limits and disciplines a child so that his little one may grow in love and in wisdom?

Everything a loving person does is for the benefit of their love ones.

I am going to share what I have read from a book:

“When we read and hear that God hates sin, we must know that it is not because God is a judgmental and spiteful God would put us in situations that ultimately lead us to His destruction of us. God hates sin because He loves us, and sin causes us to be unaware of how much He loves us and how His plans are way greater than ours. God does not hate sin because He wants to throw lightning bolts at us. He hates sin because sin hurts us.”

Titus 2:11-14 says, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Grace is an empowerment to live victoriously with God's provision. Not an entitlement to squander the riches of our Father.

[jzlily333]

🌺07/11LiveWell活出美好🌺

Rest is to stop struggling, to stop trying to find your own way. Rest is trusting in God’s grace and trusting that He has provision for all things.​​

For he who enters rest has rested from his own works, just as God rested from his. Therefore, we must strive to enter that rest (Hebrews 4:10-11).

07/11 Bible verses

Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul. (Psalms 143: 8)

Give me to hear your loving words in the morning, for I trust in you; make me know the way to go, for my heart lifts up to you (Psalm 143:8).

07/11Good words of wisdom

1. There is no so-called failure in life. Setbacks are just life asking you to change direction, and setbacks are the accumulation of energy for success.

2. Don’t just look at the surface of everything, because there must be a cause on the surface of an event, and there must be a related context between cause and effect. It is impossible to truly grasp the outline of the view by looking at the performance alone.

Hymn: My soul is at rest

https://youtu.be/yLewypc2ZDQ?si=h70NR1HPY

🌺07/11活出美好🌺

安息是停止掙扎，停止用自己的方法努力。安息是相信上帝的恩典，相信祂凡事都有預備。    

因為那進入安息的，乃是歇了自己的工，正如神歇了他的工一樣。所以，我們務必竭力進入那安息 (希伯來書4: 10-11)。

07/11圣经金句

Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul.  (Psalms 143: 8)      

求你使我清晨得聽你慈愛之言，因我倚靠你；求你使我知道當行的路，因我的心仰望你 (詩篇143: 8)。

07/11金玉良言

1. 人生沒有所謂的失敗，挫折只是生命要你轉個方向，挫折更是蓄積成功的能量。

2. 凡事不可單看表面，因為事件的表面必有動因，因與果間必有相關脈絡，單看表現無法確實掌握是見的輪廓。

詩歌：我心靈得安息 

https://youtu.be/yLewypc2ZDQ?si=h70NR1HPYi6vg1Sr

[togglesbloggle]

Hmmm, 16 and 31 please!

16. who was your first crush? 

Just listen to this on repeat for three hours and you’ll have the sum of the experience, I think.  That’s not entirely true- I made the classic mistake of falling for a straight friend in high school, and there was some associated drama about it- but, you know.  It’s always a bit messy.  Haven’t talked to the crush in over a decade, but that song still makes me think of him.

The biggest clusterfuck was that my little sister had a crush on the same guy.  I told him about it in front of her, which is one of the meanest things I’ve ever done to anybody.  We were jumping on a trampoline at the time, I remember.  It was jealousy, in retrospect, though she couldn’t have known that at the time, and I only barely did.  I don’t have too many acute regrets in life, but that’s one of them, and only partially blunted by the knowledge that children should be forgiven for almost anything, and that kindness is a skill that takes decades to learn.

She forgave me, eventually, if only because she’s the better of us.  These days we talk often over the phone still, and we’re playing Baldur’s Gate 3 in tandem and talking to one another about our choices.  The lockdown has been rough for us, but like the queen says, we will meet again. 

31. who is/was your favorite teacher?

When I was 21, I took a “History of Western Music” course as part of the university’s desperate attempt to culture its engineers some.  This project worked, marginally, though I wouldn’t actually pick up the trappings of true liberal education until much later- mostly it gave me plausible deniability about taking subjects for the sake of their beauty.  The music professor began with monks and their choirs, as one generally does in this sort of class, and skipped lightly through baroque and the romantics; if I was wiser in the ways of the world, I would have seen the warning signs of a teacher that loves modernist composition.

We spent roughly the second half of the semester on the twentieth century- this professor, now a jailer, waxed lyrical about chromatic scales and atonality.  A terrifically poor choice for non-music-majors.  At the time I just assumed he was a bit of a bubblehead, but having spent more time on the other side of the classroom, in retrospect it was probably more that he was out of shits to give.

In any case, there was one day that broke the mold.  The topic was musical indeterminacy, also called aleatoric composition.  At first it was just like any other weird day- almost exclusively focused on John Cage.  I recall him showing a video of ‘Inlets’ that wasn’t this one, and a few other things, which the class took about as well as you’d expect.  But right towards the end, he showed a performance which I haven’t been able to find since  (if you know it, by all means please tell me where I can find it!).  It was just an interview with Cage himself, discussing his philosophy and his theory of music.  John Cage being John Cage, this was intercut with video and sounds of collapsing construction sites and equipment, which would sometimes drown him out.  I have no recollection whatsoever of the words.  All I know is that somewhere in the process of watching that interview, I got it.

‘It’ here is, I’m afraid, not something I have the chops to explain.  When I try, it looks something like this:

Those chasing philosophical enlightenment in the Eastern sense tend to agree that it happens all at once; to be enlightened is structurally like getting a joke, not like studying math.  But they disagree about the best ways to prepare for this.  One of the points of disagreement is sometimes labeled ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ enlightenment, that is, whether practices like mindfulness, virtue, and lovingkindness should be used to make the transition more comfortable, or whether a student should just be thrown in the deep end and taught to deal with the crisis afterward.  Proponents of the so-called ‘dry’ side, the sudden unprepared catastrophe, are epitomized by the school of Zen Buddhism, famous for their koans and other such tools designed to provoke abrupt enlightenment.

John Cage was a Zen Buddhist.

After listening to the video and the end of class, I spent the next little while absolutely fascinated with sound.  Instead of going to my next lecture, I just wandered around the engineering building, letting the chaos of footsteps and half-heard conversations wash over me.  I’m sure I must have looked drugged, and speaking from experience, it was about as dramatic a psychological state as a half-dose of psilocybin, and much less transient in its consequences.  In the end, I passed the time standing under a sycamore on the south side of the building, looking up at the blue sky through its branches and letting the world pass through me.  

It wasn’t enlightenment proper, at least I don’t think so- at a guess, a practitioner would have called it a jhana.  After an hour or so it passed away, albeit leaving behind a significantly expanded relationship with the notions of cognition and sensation.  That sycamore tree is still a pretty good candidate for my favorite teacher, though.

[severalspoons]

Liveblog: Rewatching Trigun, Episode 10

-- I'm singing along with the intro music...

-- Who is Vash talking/narrating to? Not that I'm complaining. Tell me everything!

-- Bedhead Vash = adorbs!

-- Wow, Vash talks to birds! Just like a Disney princess! 

He's not very good at it, though. They just fly away.

-- It's appropriate he calls it the mayfly of love because mayflies are delicate and don't last long...and probably hard to catch... (Ok, obvious metaphor is obvious; I probably didn't even need to say anything...)

-- Ah, there's that meditation line that's been bothering me so much.

Life and love in 3 seconds. Those are topics you can devote your whole life to, and every lovingkindness meditation I'm familiar with takes longer than 3 seconds, just saying.

-- Dead girlfriend named Eileen? Clearly he was making things up, but how much was based on truth?

-- Vash missed his chance to sing Michelle Ma Belle.

-- Talking about a dead girlfriend and introducing yourself as the Humanoid Typhoon...yeah, that's not gonna get you a date.

Ouch. Shut down.

-- "A lecture! You've got to be pretty lame to take that kind of abuse." Ouch.

-- Aaaaand cock-blocked by Wolfwood, lol. Isn't knocking the table over a bit extra, though?

-- "It's a long story, even though it's kind of a short one." A Wolfwood classic

-- lol, Wolfwood imitating the voice and even the facial expressions of the criminal. I want to hear him tell more stories.

-- Wolfwood certainly likes getting all up in Vash's personal space. Trying to make him uncomfortable so he'll give in faster, or what?

-- Why is Vash acting so reluctant to help? I mean, it fits because he seemingly gets dragged into dangerous situations a lot. But this is exactly the sort of thing he’s been volunteering to do. Is he enjoying Wolfwood laying it on thick and guilt tripping him?

-- "Will you treat me to something?" "I'll have to think about it." Yep, there's Millie trying to scrounge and Vash not liking to say no.

-- "You haven't got a single clue, have you?" What does Millie mean?

-- That guy has the best trenchcoat. Too bad he’s just a bit character in this one episode.

-- Who is that man behind the curtain? Is he going to appear in a future episode?

-- Apparently Vash has blood type O. I know blood type is symbolic in Japanese culture...what does that say about him?

-- If Vash didn't want to be part of the competition, and is concerned about his reputation causing problems, why enter as himself? Why not make up a pseudonym/alias?

-- Can’t explain further, I just love this dialogue: "Aw, come on, you planned it from the start." "But I apologized."

-- "There you go smiling again. Looks good on you." That's so sweet I'm even grinning and blushing now.

#they’re at their best together #and when they smile I smile and melt like a squishy marshmallow

-- Wolfwood catching the girls eavesdropping, lol. Vash is usually the one to notice things. Guess he didn't want to make things awkward. Wolfwood doesn't gaf.

-- Oh Meryl, you've got to learn to express your feelings. What if Milly isn't there to act as your mouthpiece?

-- Oh, Milly, the life of the party. Just how much did she take off?

So far we have Wolfwood as the storyteller of the group and Milly as the wild one. Meryl is probably the Mom friend. Vash is the one who leads them into trouble adventures and has to get them back out.

-- "How come you're good?" Milly has a way with words. (And a good point).

-- Did Vash drink too much deliberately in order to lower his own acuity so his shooting skills would stand out less? Then blame Wolfwood for getting him "plastered?"

Notice that he suddenly stops wobbling around blurry-eyed and just goes for it once everyone can see how good a shot he is. The camouflage is no longer necessary.

-- "You really are the humanoid typhoon." I'm onto you Wolfwood, this is just an excuse to put your hand on his shoulder and get up in his personal space again.

-- I love how Vash turns the tables on Wolfwood and signs him up, too. 

-- Vash threw that stone before the gun even went off. He knew where the bullet would go before the gun even fired.

-- I love how Vash interferes with all the other fights. And Wolfwood knows, lol. They almost look like conspirators.

See what I mean?

-- How did they both do the Tabasco sauce trick at the same time without coordinating it? Did they plan this beforehand or are they just that good?

-- Vash's “wut” face when Wolfwood does the thing. Amazing.

-- Really? Now Vash objects to injuring people? He's been doing it the entire show so far in order to disarm them. What else are he and Wolfwood supposed to do to people trying to kill them? I think the real problem is that Wolfwood seemed like he was out of control and enjoying it.

-- I keep waiting for Wolfwood to argue with Vash about their different philosophies, but so far, the most he's done is grumble a little bit about not killing people. Maybe manga!Wolfwood is blending together with anime!Wolfwood in my head?