#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…

[livinglifeagainblog]

Verse of the Day: Isaiah 32:17

"The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever."

[macintaministries]

Blessings Of Hearing

[nathan-r-dooley]

Reconciling Repentance with Assurance in 1 John 4:15-18

I. Introduction: The Tension Between Love and Fear Opening Question: If perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), where does repentance fit in? Some believe fear of punishment leads to repentance, while others say love leads to obedience—so how do we reconcile them? Key Scripture: 1 John 4:15-18 (NASB 1995) Main Idea: God’s love removes fear of judgment, but a reverent fear of the Lord…

[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…

[tears-that-heal]

Hmmm.....let's ponder on this statement a bit more.

As a Follower of Christ, I do agree we're called to live a Christ-like, life that's "set apart". To stand firm in our biblical standards and values. As Christians, our faith declares that the term, Truth is equivocate to Absolute. We're call to not falter or compromise to the ways of this world. Which I believe clearly breaks down the core meaning of the presented statement above.

Just some further observation, I'm curious to why it says "we must defend the truth"? Hmmm. Why does the truth need defending always. If we sincere believe Truth is Absolute, then it'll outlast everything. You, me, earth, this universe; everything of this natural realm as we know it. The Truth is God! HE is Eternal & Everlasting. Anything we do or don't do in our short bleep of a life is alter that. The point is to keep a healthy and humble perspective here. God doesn't "need" us, HE "wants" us to be included and participate in His wondrous plans for the future.

'In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. '

John 1:1-5 NLT

Oh & just another 2 cents, the only one we need to "defend" against is our spiritual enemy whose agenda is to steal, kill and destroy all of humanity.

'For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. '

Ephesians 6:12 NLT

Keep pursuing Jesus & God Bless!!!!! 💖

[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.

[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…

[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

[gaywarcriminals]

One of the reasons that the "12 year old Binghe had a crush on SJ!SQQ" interpretations bothers me is the parallels between SJ's abuse of LBH and QJL's abuse of SJ. Both SJ and LBH were selected by their new master at age 12, and both of them were severely physically abused by said master, and the text draws explicit parallels between their experiences. Despite the similarities, I've seen many fans say that Luo Binghe fell in love with SJ!SQQ either at first sight, or early in his discipleship before SY transmigrated, while I've never seen anyone seriously claim that SJ liked QJL, and in fact many fans headcanon that QJL sexually abused SJ. I don't understand what causes the disparity in interpretations of similar events beyond simple favoritism of SJ. 

[mxtxfanatic]

I really like to read all your metas. And I was hoping if you would write a meta on classism and its effect on the world of mdzs and on the different characters of mdzs?

Classism is just something that plays a huge part in mdzs, and it's such a shame that not many people can understand how big of a deal it is.

The way Wei Wuxian combats how he is treated in the gentry will always be awe-inspiring to me. How he always rises up even though most would push him down. Not many fanfics write about this struggle and instead focus on fix-its (gosh, it's so annoying just because of how they're written). Those fix-its don't understand how the cultivation world works at all, they think just making Wei Wuxian change a decision will make the world a better place but it's not!

I don’t have a classism meta on mdzs, specifically, but I do have one on classism as a theme across all mxtx novels: here. Ultimately, the thing that the mdzs fandom (and the others, too) tend to get wrong about the classism convo is that they falsely believe that certain characters are good or evil based on class status and that everything would be resolved if everyone was a part of the “good” economic class because the “bad” economic class makes it impossible for people to be good. It’s where you get arguments like “wwx is only a good person because he was “raised rich,” while jgy and xy were never given the chance. If they had been raised rich, they would’ve been good, too!” or “lwj can afford to be a good person because he’s a clan heir, unlike wwx who had to struggle.”

This blatantly ignores how characters across the class spectrum share or have opposing moralities, even amongst those with similar backgrounds. A major theme in mdzs is that people should stand up for what’s right even if they do not gain approval or favors from their peers or superiors for doing so. Mianmian is a servant who rejects discipleship under the clan that employed her after having her position elevated, just to do the right thing. Lan Wangji is a great clan heir who rejects his family’s stance on morality because his clan was wrong. Both had different difficulties to face due to their circumstances but still made the same moral decision. Mxtx characters have autonomy and choose when to do right or wrong, and nothing about their class status changes that.

Also, extra note on how the common people in mxtx novels serve as a window into popular opinion, not a moral compass: here.

[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

[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,…

[eyeoftheheart]

“There was a great Sufi teacher in India who had a thousand adherents who were most devoted pupils. One day he said to them, "I have changed my mind." And the words "changed my mind" surprised them greatly; they asked him, "What is the matter, how can it be that you have changed your mind?" He said, "I have the feeling that I must go and bow before the Goddess Kali." And these people, among whom were doctors and professors, well qualified people, could not understand this whim, that their great teacher in whom they had such faith, wished to go into the temple of Kali and bow before the Goddess of the hideous face, he, a God-realized man in whom they had such confidence! And the thousand disciples left him at once, thinking "What is this? It is against the religion of the formless God, against the teaching of this great Sufi himself, that he wants to worship the Goddess Kali!"

And there remained only one pupil, a youth who was very devoted to his teacher, and he followed him when he went to the temple of Kali. The teacher was very glad to get rid of these thousand pupils, who were full of knowledge, full of their learning, but who did not really know him; it was just as well that they should leave. And as they were going towards the temple, he spoke three times to this young man, saying "Why do you not go away? Look at these thousand people, who had such faith and such admiration, and now I have said just one word, and they have left me. Why do you not go with them? The majority is right." The pupil, however, would not go, but continued to follow him. And through all this the teacher received great inspiration and a revelation of how strange human nature is, how soon people are attracted and how soon they can fly away. It was such an interesting phenomenon for him to see the play of human nature that his heart was full of feeling, and when they arrived at the temple of Kali he experienced such ecstasy that he fell down and bowed his head low. And the young man who had followed him did the same.

When he got up he asked this young man again, "Why do you not leave me when you have seen a thousand people go away? Why do you follow me?" The young man answered, "There is nothing in what you have done that is against my convictions, because the first lesson you have taught me was that nothing exists save God. If that is true, then that image is not Kali; it too is God. What does it matter whether you bow to the East or to the West or to the earth or to heaven? Since nothing exists except God, there is nobody else except God before whom to bow, even in bowing before Kali. It was the first lesson you taught me." All these learned men were given the same lesson, they were students and very clever, but they could not conceive of that main thought which was the center of all the teaching. It was this same young man who later became the greatest Sufi teacher in India, Khwaja Moin-ud-Din Chishti. Every year thousands of people of all religions make pilgrimages to his tomb at Ajmer, Hindus, Mohammedans, Jews, and Christians. To the Sufi all religions are one.”

~ Hazrat Inayat Khan, Vol. 10, The Path of Initiation and Discipleship 1. The Path of Initiation