#utterly horrifying

[queenlucythevaliant]

How do you believe Theistic Evolution interacts with other aspects of Christian morality and tradition? I mean, obviously the commands of God are the commands of God - but what new perspective do you think a Theistic Evolutionary viewpoint gives?

Oh my goodness, so many things! Broadly, though, I'd divide the implications into two groups: God's character and the unity of creation.

God's character

Theistic evolution is (I contend) the only framework for understanding creation that has an equally high regard for both Scripture and scientific empiricism; thus, it makes a very profound statement about God's trustworthiness, and about our confidence in him as the arbiter of Truth.

Seeing God's fingerprints in the creative process over the course of millions of years gives us a real sense of his patience and tirelessness. As Chesterton might say, he never gets tired of saying to the replicating cell, "do it again."

We also get a beautiful picture of God's sovereignty over creation: he is the God that knew, from the first time two organic molecules crashed together, that he was creating Man to glorify and enjoy him forever.

In the story of creation through evolution, we see a God who transcends time, but also works within it to bring about his sovereign will; who is endlessly patient, who is clever and inventive, who has an eye for beauty and a love for tangents and (ostensible) dead ends. What does it tell you about God that he spent millions of years creating the platypus? That he created dinosaurs at all? Through theistic evolution, we see a creator who plays across the vast landscape of time, creating endless forms most beautiful. Most importantly, we see a God whose wonderful works are faithfully recounted not just in the pages of Scripture, but in the very substance of the world he created.

Unity of creation

Knowledge of evolutionary history pushes us to think about our own embodied nature, our creatureliness, and our place within creation/the biosphere. We are united in lineage with all other creatures, both living and dead. We are embodied in the same carbon as every other living thing, deliberately, beautifully. This pushes back hard against the strains of "flesh bad" gnostic dualism that have run through our faith for pretty much its whole history. Heaven is not our "real home"; our destiny is the New Earth. God has woven us into its fabric.

Jesus stepped not just into the human lineage, but the lineage of the whole earth! In becoming flesh, he took on our place in the tree of life. Jesus shared DNA with Mary and her family, yes, but also with bacteria and brachiosaurs and banana slugs. While Christ died for the sins of humanity in particular, His stepping into the unity of life points to a future in which all living things are to be redeemed.

We must take the Biblical call to environmental stewardship very seriously then, if the rest of the biosphere is not merely our dominion but something of which we are an inextricable part. Evolutionary theory calls us to reconnect our theology and the created universe. In the same way that Scripture calls us to care for the world God created, evolution tells us of our direct relationship with the rest of creation, which implies a duty of care.

[ratatatastic]

maffhews horrified expression/kulis dumbfounded disbelief does make more sense with this context in mind LMAOOOOO

[gorgynei]

the way this was how allura fell for kima is CRAZYY. i knew allura was a little freak

[flowersfrombefore]

*sitting on my bed listening to The Magnus Archives with the anxiety levels of someone being hunted for sport*

“I am having the time of my life right now”

[logicaldelta]

I know in my heart of hearts that crime alley kid Jason Todd wouldn't be able to hear anything about the food bought by Bruce and Alfred without having a heart attack over the fact that they aren't choosing the cheapest option

Bruce is out here buying expensive name brand bacon when the store brand stuff is RIGHT THERE ! Alfred goes out of his way to buy the MOST expensive fruits and vegetables. Even Dick will grab the name brand candy without hesitation

But Jason is a bargain hunter, and no, he won't buy a pear that costs more than 30 cents because that is THEFT.

Dick takes him to really fancy stores just to see how he reacts because Bruce thought he was insane for reacting the same way when he first came to the manor and this is vindicating for him, because dammit Bruce, i told you this wasn't "normal for most kids"!

He'll grab a few things after school one day and boast about how little they cost him (and if he stole a lolly pop or two, who needs to know? The corporations won't miss it)

It gets to a point where Bruce comes to prefer some no name items, primarily because Jason would bring them out on patrol and happily offer him some and the memories of those moments make the low quality food taste better

[twig-tea]

Saw the director of Addicted Heroin Thailand had posted this on his Facebook account:

This man looked at the show that was the tipping point of the first big anti-gay censorship wave in China in the 2010s, and decided to remake it and intentionally self-censor, just to see if he could attract the "Chinese BL is superior because it doesn't rely on kisses or NC scenes to show the emotions" audience to Thai BL?

I am so mad about this.

[starry-bi-sky]

I'm having incoherent thoughts about clone danny again from the clone/clone^2 au (when am I not?) but more specifically I'm thinking about his reaction to finding out he's a clone. The standalone clone au digs into that a little more than clone^2, which is more focused on Danny and Damian's relationship. But neither (so far) really get into Danny's issues about finding out he's a clone after 15 years of thinking he wasn't.

Because he resents his parents for not telling him for so long. He resents the way he found out; through a trivial school project rather than a sit-down talk. He resents the fact that, apparently, they had meant to tell him sooner. But forgot. He resents the fact that they never told him because finding out feels like something was stolen from him when it had the chance to not be.

Danny Fenton, just fifteen, cloned not even half a year ago, knows what that personal violation of autonomy feels like. He knows what it's like to be cloned and while he loves Ellie, he does, she's his sister, and in this au his twin. But he is still left with that feeling of unsafety after realizing he'd been cloned. Being cloned is violating. The onset realization that it's so easy to get DNA without the other party noticing, and that what was stopping someone from trying to clone him again?

Followed only after with the rest of the inexplainable mix of feelings of being cloned, the rest of that inner conflict and panic that's an ugly mocktail of emotions that range from horror to fear. Trying to imagine what it's like to be cloned from the cloned party, and I imagine that it leaves you with the feeling of needing to crawl out of your own skin with discomfort.

And then he gets put on the other side of it. Danny Fenton, only fifteen, was cloned not even half a year ago, finding out he is a clone. And reactions, I imagine, can vary from person to person. But to him, it feels like something got stolen from him, like someone took a hole puncher and stuck it right into his chest and stole a chunk of himself from him.

It changes nothing about him and yet it changes everything. It's a betrayal on it's own to just find out he was a clone and they didn't tell him for fifteen years -- it shouldn't mean anything, because he's still Danny, and yet it means everything. It's him, it's him, it's about him. It's his personhood. It's about the fact that a load-bearing rock in his identity just crumbled beneath his feet and now there's a rockslide.

Because then he finds out that they used the wrong DNA. Its like pouring salt in an open wound. He's not even related to his parents or his sister, when for years he thought he was. It's the fact that pieces of his identity that he's been so secure in for so long just got ripped away from him in an instant. Then they tell him -- only through his own horrified prompting -- that the person whose DNA they used -- Bruce Wayne -- didn't even know he existed. That they accidentally used the wrong DNA, then didn't tell the person whose DNA they used.

The betrayal of being lied to for years turns really quickly into horror at his own existence. Something very similar to the horror he felt at being cloned and the skin-crawling discomfort that made him feel like his own skin wasn't really his. And then its not. It's actually not. Nothing but his own name feels like it belongs to him anymore -- not his hair, not his eyes, not his heart or his lungs, nothing feels like his anymore and he didn't know what that felt like until it was gone.

It's a question of Nature Vs. Nurture -- where does the line of "nature" begin and where does the line of "nurture" end? What of him is actually his? What of him is Bruce Wayne's? It's not logical, it's not supposed to be. It's a load-bearing wall on the house of his identity being destroyed and now everything else is caving down in on him. What belongs to Danny, what belongs to Bruce Wayne?

[lost-carcosa]

And naturally she's just put priti patel in her shadow cabinet.

Tories: “we lost the last election because of how far right we moved so to show we’ve learned we’ve elected Kemi Badenoch”

[nikanst]

I gave you everything

[the-kestrels-feather]

Reasons to Avoid Texas:

Too many Republicans

Hot

Too fuckin big

The Rolling Giant is a real thing that actually exists

[heliotrope155]

I think TFW deserved to go play laser tag or paintball. Yeah they have access to multiple guns and live ammo how often do you get to headshot your friends and family (with fun sound effects) without consequences, someone being possessed, blood and some form of lasting unaddressed trauma? They should've done it.

[tumblingxelian]

Fox Miraculous - Reimagined:

This is inspired by the fact its "illusions" cannot be seen by cameras. Rather than this being a weakness, its a reflection of the fact most users do not understand the fox.

Name: Trixx Animal: Vulpes Era: Caveasphaera Domain: Mirage and Manifestation Kindred: Horse (Action & Migration) & Butterfly (Transmission & transformation)

Mirage: The Fox is often mistaken for creating illusions, but this is not so, in truth it creates what can be described as hallucinations within a certain range, altering the perspective of those within it to match the imagined perceptions of the user.

Manifestation: The power to manifest one's innermost thoughts, an image, ideas, or more via the Fox can also be applied on others. Just as the Turtles Shield can encase the user or a foe, so two an the Fox manifest a mirage based on the perceptions of someone other than the Holder.

Some Mages Thousands of Years ago: ... and this one lets the handler place hallucinations in someone else's mind, or even externalize their targets thoughts, manifesting them as a sort of shared mirage. Useful for trickery and interrogation.

Trixx, who just got here: Yeah that sounds about right.

(Maybe) Lila/Alya thousands of years later: So what you’re saying is I can use this to make people see the world as I do. That I am essentially eroding the barrier between my perception of the world and theirs, imposing my thoughts, feelings and visions upon the target. Which could allow me to steadily warp and erode their sense of self and view of the world until its either the same as mine, or simply whatever I sculpted them into. Essentially allowing me to steadily overwrite an entire personality and perception of reality? With all it costs me being the risk of my own slower erosion of self as all those around me join together in a panopticon like hivemind?

Trixx & Some Mages Thousands of Years ago:

Note: One can try and reshape people over time, but one cannot always predict the results. So it could go really, really badly.

[columboscreens]

[puppetmaster13u]

Meat Marionette continues lol

I like to think that the baby robins' chitin and fur mimic exposed musculature, which would help them camouflage with the Hive, but they also have bright wing feathers as a warning. Similarly Bruce has a bright yellow pattern on his wings as a warning of hey, this big predator is venomous so back off.

Bruce's spikes can flatten like quills I think, so he can pick up things and people without worrying about accidentally stabbing whatever is in his hands. He's very careful even if Dick has the habit or leaping into his arms gives him mini heart attacks. Honestly that might be what makes him start carrying him (and the other kids) via his mouth and in the spine cavity.

Eventually Dick will grow and his chitin will darken to his Nightwing colors, but for now he's covered mostly in fine fur and feathers. Though if one looks closely at his wings they'll see there is membrane underneath said feathers. There's also hidden claws between the feathers too similar to Bruce's though less curved. He'll eventually get bigger and evolve more but for now he's a tiny buddy.

Even with Bruce's cavity, they do still have several bags full of supplies and even more hidden batarangs and other items hidden around the city. Mostly in areas one would need to be able to fly or have very long limbs to reach or even both. Bruce also of course deserves his cloak, long enough to shelter all of the kids, his own or otherwise.

Click on photos for a larger pic

pspspspsps @phoenixcatch7 I summon thee dear mutual for opinions <3

[greensaplinggrace]

I can’t stop thinking about how the darkling is a character that has existed in a survival mindset for literally hundreds of years. like I cannot even begin to fathom what that kind of thing does to someone’s brain

[demento-mori]