#understanding discipleship

[mindfulldsliving]

Daily Cross-Bearing: Living True Discipleship Today

Discipleship is a journey woven deeply into the fabric of Christian faith. It beckons us to follow in the footsteps of Christ, embodying His teachings day by day.

Understanding Discipleship: Taking Up Your Cross in 3 Nephi 12:30 and Matthew 16:24-26 When we consider the words of Jesus in 3 Nephi 12:30 and Matthew 16:24-26, we find a call that pierces the heart of true discipleship: “Take up your cross.” These teachings challenge us to weigh the essence of following Christ against the pull of worldly gain. Christ urges us to deny ourselves and embrace the…

[compassionmattersmost]

The Heart of True Discipleship: Understanding Matthew 7:21-23

Introduction In today’s world, where outward appearances and superficial commitments can easily overshadow genuine devotion, the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23 resonate with profound urgency. This passage challenges believers to reflect deeply on the nature of their faith and relationship with Christ. The Words of Jesus “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of…

[pastored123]

Justification Summary: Spiritual Formation #4

Christian Education- Being Justified SPIRITUAL FORMATION #4 – A Foundational Key According to the Bible and 10’s of millions of witnesses, the human hope of establishing a good, right, and secure place with the Creator of all that is known and unknown is a worthy and desired state of being and becoming. The Bible has many scriptural witnessing passages addressing this intention. It is called…

[yeslordmyking]

John 6:66 — Today's Verse for Thursday, August 24, 2023

[girls--complex]

So. Yeah. I can do this in the interest of vaguely trying to be helpful. I feel bad about brain vomiting at anon and then not editing myself when this is probably all they really wanted from me.

As you know I'm very much an intellectual who very much has a well researched and developed system of thought that I use and am not, like, just some woo ass freakazoid stoner, with holes in her brain and kind of a shitty education, who doesn't really inherently enjoy reading books. Yes reading books is extremely boring but I love to do it because I am oh so smart.

Soooo I'm limiting myself to FIVE books because five is a nice number. They are not books that require a great deal of literacy or education to read, or else I would not have read them. They are books that give what I feel is a helpful perspective on the Christian tradition. They will be listed in descending order of how much they mean to me personally to underscore the fact that I'm just some guy who is moreover just saying shit.

The Cost of Discipleship (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) Read this book if you want the text of the gospels to glow and pulsate when you read it and it doesn't already do that. Or you want it to do that more. Or you don't want to endlessly strive to be happy or healthy or a decent person anymore you just want to live. You won't like it but you can't argue with the testimony of Bonhoeffer's life. And then if you keep reading it you will like it. Sorry that it's Lutheran but no I'm not.

The Universal Christ (Richard Rohr) Read this book if you don't care about being cool or smart and you just want to be fucking happy for once.

Revelations of Divine Love (Julian of Norwich) Read this book if you want to encounter more than you want to interpret, if you enjoy freaky medieval shit that's actually awesome, if you are in the mood to scream and cry and throw up, or if you are considering a career in nursing.

The Sermons of Meister Eckhart (U know...) Read this book if you don't understand anything or if you feel like you understand anything or if you're a big fan of dharmic religions and want to read the Mandukya Upaishad as recieved by a catholic. Whats cool is they're all pretty short.

The Physics of Angels (Fox & Sheldrake) Read this book if you have some type of a heart for scary woo shit or want to develop a more balanced relationship to woo-ology, or if you want an overview of angels in the Christian tradition that steers clear of thoroughness or academic reliability in favor of wild psychedelic speculation and unchecked boomer optimism.

Thank U for asking me because I love to share. I know it's my blog so I can technically post whatever I want but I also don't want to post things no one cares about because that defeats the purpose of posting. OK bye.

[araksi413]

System SQQ thoughts (as in plural system, not SYSTEM, that comes in later)

- SJ is a trauma holder and host for most of their childhood, discipleship and then during their peak lord years. To him this is his life, their system is covert, and he's not aware of it.

- SY is a normal part, fronted sometimes during their childhood and life, in the calm moments. Especially during their disciple years when they were studying flora and fauna (SJ just thinks he zoned out.)

- The SYSTEM is the overseer and persecutor. It doesn't front, doing its job in the headspace and keeping the two from realizing they exist.

- But then The qi deviation happens, and SYSTEM decides that SJ is just not handling it properly anymore, putting their existence at risk. It pulls SJ into the headspace and shoves SY to the front.

- SY creates the "this world is a book i read" as an explanation as to why he doesn't have memories but knows how this world works (especially flora and fauna, must've been the only interesting part of the book!)

- The SYSTEM cofronts with SY a lot of the time, especially at the beginning, doing its job as a persecutor to keep SY in line. (None of the possession detection tests work, because it is the same soul. Just not the same person)

- SJ sometimes gets to see what's happening at front, especially when the SYSTEM is there and can't entirely block him out. SJ passively influences SY sometimes, especially when his Qi-ge is present.

- SJ hates SY at the beginning. SY stole his life, and is ruining it, and just doesn't understand what he's doing!

- Eventually SJ gets to cofront while they're teaching or doing paperwork, reluctantly helping SY. SY explains this to himself as just a kind of grumpy inner monolog. ("That form needs to go to An Ding right away, put it on the right pile idiot." "Right, right of course, right away me.")

- SY manages to save LQG in the Linxi Caves bc he has less of an emotional attachment to him then SJ, and it doesn't get in the way of stopping his qi deviation. Also he still views everyone as characters, which is an additional distance that helps him that calm enough in the moment.

- It's SJ fighting during the demon invasion. SY just doesn't have that much control, he has just enough to get by + muscle memory, but not enough to fight Like That.

- And of course, it's SY that gets them poisoned with Without A Cure. Of course. Life gets back to "normal", just with additional visits from LQG.

- Then the Immortal Conference happens. While standing at the edge of The Endless Abyss, SY heavily disassociates, only going through motions automatically, and only because the SYSTEM is there.

- Only when LBH is gone, he comes back to himself and breaks down. Collects the sword shards and disassociates some more, only getting back thanks to his martial siblings.

- SY is rarely not disassociated for a long time after LBH is gone. He stays at the sword mound most days, far away from the body.

- SJ hates this new development. He might even.. care.. for SY, though he'd never admit it. Eventually SJ starts fronting at night. Just to get them to eat something, to do their work, to help them live.

- When they get sent on missions outside of the sect, its usually SJ fronting. This becomes very confusing to LQG, who often comes with. SJ does try to act like SY, but it is a little off-putting.

- SY fronts during the missions when there's interesting beasts, or when it's something he needs to know to not get fully lost on what's happening.

- During succubus mission SJ comes to front, pushes LQG into the pond and runs away as fast as possible.

- When they're about to go to Jinlan city, they've got a pretty good system (hehe) down. SY is still mostly unaware, just knows that... something... is going on. Suspects its the "previous soul of this body" leaking through. He let's everything happen because he just doesn't care much anymore.

- Jinlan city is awful for both SY and SJ. Neither of them can handle seeing LBH, both of them are in a panic, blurring together. It's hell and terrifying and then they're in the Water Prison and it's so much worse.

- Those moments when SQQ doesn't say anything in the Water Prison? Noones fronting. It's all a mess. The SYSTEM tries to help, but it really doesn't work.

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

that's as far as my daydreaming got me! since idk what SQH deal would be here (is he an actual transmigrator? is he the original SQH? is it smth else?), idk if the Sun and Moon Dew Mushroom bodies would even be here?

so they probably wouldn't try to escape without a backup plan, SY's pseudo-suicidal tendencies would be kept in check by the other system members.

i dont know how the plot would continue.

additional thought: Luo Bingge splits after they push LBH into the abyss. He was a fragment before, psrt of a little nightmare here and there, but after the abyss he fully forms. He's a persecutor, doesn't front (SYSTEM won't let him), but he does uh, torture SY in headspace. maybe SJ doesn't realize for a while? maybe he sees it happen and that's why he's also terrified of LBH in Jinlan ? idk. what do they do with Bingge afterwards? also no clue. He's a fun thought but too much of a complication i think.

if anyone else has thoughts please please please please share them <3

[thatbitchery]

Just in case you needed a guide to human relationships & interactions and how to actually relate to people I have one for you, & it's made of 3 parts.

People are different from you. There's literally not one human being out there exactly like you, you could have an identical twin with the same parents same childhood &c and I promise you you're nothing alike. You've lived such different lives despite 75% similarity in DNA. Understanding that people form their opinions belief systems worldview & c on individual experiences based on their trauma, family dynamics, cultures, home value systems, literally climate etc and we are all different will save you from easily getting triggered when someone doesn't share your opinion bc you're not in their shoes you don't know why they have/that/ opinion so you have no grounds to go feral. People are different from you. Understand this & save yourself the embarrassment of pointless arguments & little virtue locks because you cannot fathom different opinions when it's literally the one single truth. Understand this sk you're not going to war with people on the reblogs for not having the same pov. Yours makes sense to you. Theirs makes sense to, them. Who are you to decide whose is the absolute truth?

You are not a God get off your little high horse you're a human being. People do not owe you worship or discipleship. They don't have to believe everything you say or buy into you. Well within their rights to look at what you say or do and say yeah that's a load of bullshit. You're not a God so you're not always right, remember this the next time you're about to lay your life on the ground over an opinion, you could be wrong. Nothing will hurt you more than that thewizardliz my way or no way mindset. Remember the things you used to defend with your life when you were like 10 that you're rn absolutely disgusted by? Leave space & never speak in absolutes & never degrade another's opinion to the ground, you could be wrong & it will be very very very embarrassing for you when you find out you were.

Everyone is right, all the time. There is no absolute in this universe. Unlearn debates they're mighty pointless, everyone is right every single time. Truth is very subjective so the girl that has been traumatized by M3n saying all m3n deserve d3ath is right, if you were her you'd say the same thing and the v3gan is right & the carnivore is right & the conservative is right & the liberal is right- because everyone is right all the time and I promise if you were in their shoes, you'd see it. You'd see it. Even when someone Says the dumbest stuff known to existence, from where they are standing, they're right. Debates are pointless. Extremely. You can not fathom the kind of life others have had, not even your siblings or children- what then gives you the confidence to decide what should be right to them? Know your place.

So human interactions work better when you understand these, they just do. Once you no longer feel the need to justify your pov because you know you're literally the only one with it it's just makes things, easier thats why the apostle Paul said to never argue with people about opinions, its useless & tempts them and you to sin. It makes you more understanding & empathetic & pleasant & sophisticated to be around, it's the winners draw. You unlearn the need to argue because you know they'll never see it like you and you'll never see it like them so you take the high road and find middle ground or nod along and go home or find a way to say I don't agree, but I can accommodate that you think like that, and watch how people completely flock to you. There's no power , at all, to 'my way or no way' find your own little planet & leave that thewizardliz mindset on YouTube. Human beings are social relational creatures, part of relationships is accommodation.

[amimuu]

The Lamb’s disciples…(ref sheets!!)

So as promised like—a month-ish ago, here is it :>! The refs for the Lamb’s disciples plus some some fun info abt them :DD!

Below the cutttt!!!!

Dipal

Lamb’s second first disciple, whom was raised in (almost) his entirety by them ever since they found and rescued him as a baby :] he’s very close to the Lamb and very faithful. Developed a very fun system for managing cult stuff that’s so awfully complicated only he understands. The Lamb lets him be cuz he really does get things running smoothly. Can feel lonely at times. But sure that’s not important

Sylvie

The Lamb’s second disciple! One of the few kids to be born amongst the cult and the only disciple who actually wears vibrant clothes. Their parents died from sickness when she was a teen so she was taken under the Lamb’s wing since he and Dipal were already close from childhood. Always the first one cultists come to when they need an ailment of any sorts. Their tail is very strong :]

Pamneur

The Lamb’s third disciple! She was the child to a couple of heretics that was taken in by the Lamb after they were struck down. She had a hard time adjusting at first but was quickly swept up by Dipal and Sylvie whom she later became close friends with. She has a strong sense of justice and is likely to deal with heretics by giving them passionate speeches on why they shouldn’t give up on faith.

-

These three are extremely close with each other and if you mess with one of them you mess with all. They don’t require golden skull necklaces cuz in my Au’s lore the status of discipleship (gaining a halo) grants immortality as long as the one blessed with it doesn’t lose faith in the god that bestowed it upon them.

So yeah :3 I hope you love em as much as I do cuz they will end up being pretty relevant to the lore. As always, my inbox is always open for further doubts or questions about these sillies. I’d love to hear your thoughts :D!! Until next time :3

[pretend-i-don-t-exist]

Bai Zhan Peak is always full of noise and energy, no matter how early or late it is. The junior disciples religiously follow a strict early morning to early evening schedule, but the senior disciples have more freedom in choosing their training hours. It is why Liu Mingyan is certain she'll receive an audience even if she arrives before dawn. Not that there is an emergency requiring such urgency, nor is she that discourteous to wake Bai Zhan– no, she arrives after dawn, despite how much she's itching to twist her idiot of a brother's ear.

Honestly, what was he thinking? Leaving with only a letter as a warning, only to come back as half a corpse with a mountain of beast corpses kept in his spatial ring. Liu Mingyan had the fright of her life when she received a letter from Qian Cao, asking for her help in distributing qi to her foolish brother's damaged meridians.

Now, not even a full month later, he's planning on another excursion to some mountain (Distant Snow Peaks Mountain, full of Divine Ice Flowers and White-Furred Arctic Sparrows that Qian Cao desperately needs) without telling her. If not for his head disciple's timely letter, she may have never known.

It's rather surprising. Not the 'leaving without prior warning' schtick her brother likes to use, only to send a letter one week after he left to remind Liu Mingyan that he's hale and healthy and having the time of his life driving her up the wall– the fact that he has appointed a head disciple at all. Liu Mingyan had expected a good two or three centuries before he even considers choosing one; Liu Qingge rarely settles down long enough to entertain thoughts about improving his peak's long-standing, inefficient system he'd inherited from his shizun.

Then again, this is the only disciple Liu Qingge chose himself. It was to spite Shen Qingqiu, Liu Mingyan is aware, but her brother would not accept in any disciple if he is not satisfied with their innate talent. This Yang Yixuan must be a talented individual indeed, if he was accepted by Bai Zhan's War God and claimed the position of head disciple only a few months into his discipleship.

She lands on Bai Zhan soundlessly. A nearby disciple perks up, tense, until they land their eyes on her. "Liu-shijie," they say warmly. "Are you here to see Shizun?"

She nods. "Yes. Is he still around?"

They dart their eyes, searching. "Oh. This one is not sure. He did meet Yang-shixiong earlier, so he would know better. If shijie will allow me to lead her...?"

"Very well." Liu Mingyan carefully does not accept the hand offered to her. Without missing a beat, they withdraw it with nary a change in expression. They received the polite rejection better than she expected.

"Yang-shixiong!" they call, and an elegant and refined youth turned to them. Ah. Yang Yixuan. "Liu-shijie is looking for Shizun, is he...?"

"Shizun is here, and preparing for the day," Yang Yixuan answers. He stands up from his seat and bows appropriately. "Greetings to Liu-shijie."

Liu Mingyan matches his greeting. Taking that as their cue to leave, the disciple who accompanied her leaves in a hurry. "Is gege well?" she asks, catching on to the mild undercurrent of worry in his voice.

Yang Yixuan blinks, straightening up. He lifts a hand to cast a sound-proofing talisman. "Shizun had a minor qi deviation earlier," he says, then hastens to continue, "Mu-shishu has already cleared him earlier, and advised him to push back his leave for three days to ensure that his qi is stable enough for travel."

"Gege refused, then." Liu Mingyan says flatly. While Liu Qingge would normally rest after an injury and accept Mu Qingfang's orders well, he's likely far too restless after a month of being banned from night hunts and missiond. "Ah. You called me in as backup?"

Yang Yixuan smiles guiltily. Crafty, especially for a Bai Zhan disciple. "This one has failed to convince Shizun and can only ask for Liu-shijie for her understanding and help."

Hm. "Alright." She watches him keenly as he relaxes. "I don't suppose Yang-shidi can humor me for a short spar while we wait for my brother?"

Yang Yixuan stares for a while, before shaking his head. "This one will be honored to," he answers. "First blood, shijie?"

Liu Mingyan directs him to Liu Qingge's personal training grounds and the youth does not seem surprised. Her brother must cherish him a lot, then, to give him access to his private ground. "Yes. First blood. Whenever you're ready."

[mindfulldsliving]

Understanding Doctrine and Covenants Section 1: Hearken to the Lord’s Voice

Doctrine and Covenants Section 1 isn’t just an introduction—it’s the Lord’s own preface to revelations meant for our day. This section calls us to “hearken,” emphasizing the urgency of listening to His words. It’s a reminder that His voice pierces confusion, offering guidance and promises of peace. As we explore this preface, we’ll uncover its modern relevance and the eternal blessings that come…

[corellianhounds]

It feels like the writers of The Acolyte watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and similar movies and came away from it trying to mimic the ideas of what the different characters’ perceptions and desires of discipleship, weapons training, and teaching were, but without really have a solid understanding of what their own character motivations or development were going to be in the show they wanted to make. It feels like mimicking the ideas of eastern martial arts movies but only having a surface level understanding of why characters in those movies actually do what they do.

There’s no compelling drive to most individual characters in The Acolyte and no end goals driving a more logical cause-and-effect that result in an organic, character-driven conflict and story, and if you as the writer save whatever is supposed to be compelling these characters for the end of the story, everything before that needs to suddenly slot into place for your reveal to work, or large parts of previous episodes are still going to be left as weak storytelling, not just moments of “Oh the audience won’t understand the full story until the end.”

Whatever core ideas they were trying to do in The Acolyte feel messy and disjointed the same way The Book of Boba Fett felt to me where they were taking surface level ideas from organized crime movies to try to evoke that feeling in the Mos Espa turf war, but not knowing how to use them effectively as a narrative device outside of wanting the vibes of “drug war, intimidation tactics, controlling (what parts of?) a city, five vaguely “crime families” controlling different areas, them betraying the leader they pledged allegiance to later.”

None of the crime lord or western aspects of TBoBF land correctly because they still don’t have an understanding of what makes those genres work, and the story they wanted to tell was moving people around instead of giving them character depth and seeing what happens as a result. Surprise endings aren’t going to have any meaningful impact if you haven’t written a story laying the groundwork and foreshadowing leading to that reveal. You can’t just keep cramming in what you think are interesting visuals and aesthetics in an effort to make a good show. Bad art can carry a good story, but good art can’t carry a bad story.

[pastored123]

Why Does Humanity Plagued by the Need for Order?  

By: Rev. Ed Schneider, MPTh It is perpetually upsetting to me to observe humanity’s stated desire for personal freedom is consistently thwarted by inflicted personal violence, cultic anarchy and seemingly illogical wars. The truth is humanity is constantly growing in its fundamental knowledge of the world around them. They are growing. They are slower than I would hope for but growing,…

[churchblogmatics-blog]

Books for spiritual formation

Books that have left an indelible mark on my understanding of God or the Christian faith in some way. My spiritual development is unfinished, so this list is unfinished - I'm always open to suggestions

Soren Kierkegaard

The Sickness Unto Death - Explained how sin works psychologically, illustrates how it can be its own punishment

Works of Love - What it means to love, what it costs, what it gives us

Fear and Trembling - What faith means, its miraculous nature

Karl Barth

Evangelical Theology - What theology actually means, how the gospel is good news

The Epistle to the Romans - Shows the need for continual reformation of thought within the church, introduced (to me) the idea of God's freedom in communication to man

Church Dogmatics II.2 - Election is good news! It is God willing to choose humanity despite sin - universal reconciliation can and should be hoped for

The Journal of John Woolman

What undying commitment to justice means, what it looks like

Martin Luther King Jr

Letter from a Birmingham Jail - Made me understand how Romans 13:1 can be integrated into radical politics

A Gift of Love - Brought to life 1 John 4:20

A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving

A narrative illustration of unwavering faith

The Imitation of Christ, Thomas Kempis

What we're saved to, salvation has a telos

Flannery O'Connor

Wise Blood - Life without Christ, the perils of sola scriptura

A Good Man is Hard to Find - Shows grace as an intrusive lived experience

Marilynne Robinson

Gilead novels (Gilead, Home, Lila) - Rich illustration of Imago Dei

When I Was a Child I Read Books - Bolstered my understanding of the 8th commandment (reading with charitable intent, in interactions with others in life and on the page)

What Are We Doing Here? - Illustrates what the glory of God means in daily experience

Garry Wills

What Paul Meant - Paul and Jesus were of a unified mind, stop reading Paul as a bible thumper, start reading him as a man who loved dearly and wrote with urgency on live issues

Religio Medici, Thomas Browne

Ecumenism is a beautiful thing and should be strived for in all Christian communities

The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton

The gospel brings peace of mind and soul, searching for peace is a valid epistemology

Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt

Wickedness is not inevitable, it arises from moral and intellectual sluggardliness

The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Learn to love the church, it is the arms of Christ; great exegesis of the Sermon on the Mount; great companion to the book of James

White Evangelical Racism, Anthea Butler

Evangelicalism did not emerge from theological first principles, it is a diseased expression of the faith informed by racism at the root

Jesus and John Wayne, Kristin Kobes du Mez

Evangelicalism did not emerge from theological first principles, it is a diseased expression of the faith informed by misogyny at the root

C.S. Lewis

The Great Divorce - Eternity begins now, sin is its own punishment and grace is its own reward

Till We Have Faces - God has compassion and patience for those who wrestle with him, to summon the boldness to contend with God can be a blessed thing

The Courage to Be, Paul Tillich

The dynamics of Christian faith explained in the abstract

As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner

The thinness of intellectual assent, the richness of faith

The Denial of Death, Ernest Becker

Explanation of the existential need faith meets in the language of continental philosophy

Confessions, St. Augustine

The most theologically and philosophically rich testimony besides that of St. Paul

An Unpublished Essay on the Trinity, Jonathan Edwards

What is the trinity, why is it important

John Milton

Areopagitica - Enforced virtue means nothing

Paradise Lost - Human beings are worth saving even if they aren't deserving of God's favor

Civilization and its Discontents, Sigmund Freud

Illustrates the necessity of grace by exploring a world through the assumption of its absence (excellent foil to A Gift of Love)

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

"Without the Holy Spirit, Christian discipleship would be inconceivable, even impossible. There can be no life without the life-giver, no understanding without the Spirit of truth, no fellowship without the unity of the Spirit, no Christlikeness of character apart from His fruit, and no effective witness without His power. As a body without breath is a corpse, so the church without the Spirit is dead." – John Stott