#Christianity does not teach that women are supposed to save men!!

[francesderwent]

so I heard you wanna talk religion in ttpd! let’s talk I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can).

“they shake their heads saying ‘God help her’ when I tell ‘em he’s my man.” this isn’t the outright controlling judgment of the saboteurs in But Daddy I Love Him. nobody is trying to tell her what to do or force her to break up. this is a simple admission that the situation she’s in is difficult, that she’s chosen a hard path and needs help. and what is her response? “your good Lord doesn’t need to lift a finger, I can fix him, no really I can.” she admits salvation is needed. but Taylor is casting herself as the savior. she doesn’t need any help, any grace, any divine assistance. in fact, she doubles down: “only I can”. she and she alone has the power to reform this man, because of the love between them. it’s reminiscent of False God, except now the idol isn’t their love, it’s just her. she’s going to save him.

what’s interesting to me is we don’t know how the themes of salvation would have been recapitulated in light of the reversal at the end of the song, “whoa maybe I can’t”, because the song ends there. maybe she can’t fix him because he is ultimately unfixable, irredeemable, worthless. or maybe she can’t fix him because she’s not God. and honestly, I think the song is meant to leave us wondering. she’s waking up to reality, but is the reality his smallness of soul or her power trip?

so what is the blatant Christian language in this song for? is it telling us that Christianity is evil for implanting the idea of redemption into our minds when it doesn’t really exist? or is it a hint that trying to become our own gods, even with the best of intentions, is a pathway that leads only to death?

[violentferalcat]

(just a personal thing because i do not know where to put my reading notes)

19/07/23 E. Kübler-Ross “On Death and Dying”

Chapter II: Attitudes Toward Death and Dying

Abstract:

Due to the increase of stress in day-to-day life because of weapons of mass destruction, etc, the warfare has gone from individual level to a national one.

It increased the fear of death, but since you cannot forever deny death, society has begun to try and "master it".

It can result in conflicts, wars, dangerous sports which help people believe that if they survived this, then they are immortal.

The decrease of religion (that provided seeming immortality) only increased the anxiety and fear.

The attitude of the GP/doctor can greatly affect the patient's own attitude towards death.

Doctors and medical staff should examine their own feelings towards death before telling the news to the patient.

The empathy of the GP/doctor can help through the hard and dark times both their patient and their family.

E. Ross opens up her chapter with pondering the question whether the medical profession and its teachings are becoming less personal. She explains that the fear for death has gone from an individual level to a national paranoia due to the creation of weapons of mass destruction. Now, every citizen, women, men, (non-binary) and children have to worry about sudden death. Due to the increased amount of possible dangers, people, society as a whole, has to put up more psychological defenses.

"He [Man] cannot maintain denial forever," says E. Ross. "If we cannot deny death, we may attempt to master it." By this she means that humans, society is seeking ways to tell themselves, to prove to themselves that they are, in fact, immortal. That they have mastered death itself. We understand that this is untrue, it does not matter whether you are a veteran of war, you can still die from leukemia or in a car crash back home.

E. Ross believes that this want, need to master death, to prove to oneself that you truly are immortal, can spill out in aggression. "Is war perhaps nothing else but a need to face death, to conquer and master it, to come out of it alive—a peculiar form of denial of our own mortality?" and "[One woman believed that] his [young man's] survival on the battlefield was supposed to have guaranteed immunity from death back home."

She further explains the importance of religion in old-fashioned societies, as it provided the benefit of seeming immortality. Christianity tells us that there will be life even after death, that we will achieve either infinite bliss or infinite torture. But still, death would only be a middle point between life on earth and an afterlife. However, modern society, with the decline of religion, cannot provide such sustainability. Humans believe in religion less and the fear of death, the want and need to avoid it has only been increasing.

"[The modern society has taught us] to kill in order to avoid the reality and facing of our own death," says the author.

Farther in the chapter E. Ross provides her first example with a real patient. In short, the paralyzed patient could not move and wished for death, while his doctor [in an attempt to deny death] tried all their best to save the patient. It resulted in a conflict patient/doctor stemming from the doctor's inability to listen to patient's opinion and the patient's loss of hope for his life. The full example can be read in the original text.

Autumn, 1965 was the beginning of "An Interdisciplinary Seminar On Death and Dying". It attempted to further the human's knowledge of the effects of death and dying not only on patients but on the medical staff too. The four students, who had original proposed the idea, together with E. Ross strived to record conversations with terminally ill and dying patients. They would then discuss their opinions, emotions and feelings, share their beliefs. They oftentimes focused not just on the patient but on themselves too.

"The last [anger, rage, and other negative behavior] has occasionally happened when a patient apparently faced death with calmness and equanimity while the student was highly upset by the encounter. ...it was inconceivable to him [the student] that anyone could face such a crisis [dying] with so much dignity." She says that the seminar turned into a more of a group therapy session for participants and has taught both her and the students many things. It later became a more popular event with many doctors, students and other medical staff coming to hear the conversations with the patients.

In the last section of the chapter, E. Ross goes onto the explain how the behavior of the GP and/or other assigned doctors can greatly affect the patient's attitude towards death and dying. She noted that those [doctors] who themselves deny and fear death will invariably project their attitudes on their patients. She says that it is greatly important for the doctor to not be afraid of death, not deny it, not run away from it, not be anxious about it.

"...each and every patient has to keep [and maintain hope], including the ones who say that they are ready to die."

E. Ross believes that every patient has individual tendencies and their attitudes do not entirely rely on the behavior of their doctors. She then circles back to reiterate her point in the beginning of the section on whether the doctor should tell the patient or not. "...I believe the question should not be stated, “Do I tell my patient?” but should be rephrased as, “How do I share this knowledge with my patient?”"

In summary, it is in hands of the doctor how well the patient will be able to accept grim news as well as their family. Before that, the doctor has to first ask themself what their attitude towards the matter and dying is. "...the sense of empathy [...] counted more than the immediate tragedy of the news."

(my notes were written based on the Russian translation of the original text, quotes are taken from the English version)

[addieinfanworld]

Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) is a beautiful critique on the American evangelical movement and how it is no longer anywhere near the teachings of Christ.

Frollo is a power hungry asshole. He openly lusts, openly preaches racism, openly harasses women, and openly abuses the person he was instructed by god to care for. Frollo hates the bishop, who is the one man truly still connected with god and his love for humanity. The Bishop in this film is the one who pushes Esméralda to speak to god and ask for help. The bishop risks his life in order to save Quasi and Esmerelda, because he values human life. Frollo does not value human life.

God Help The Outcasts is still the most hauntingly beautiful song I have ever heard, and that’s from someone who has completely divorced herself from the church. Seriously, if you haven’t heard it in a while I recommend giving it a listen. Esméralda is a Romani woman asking god to help her community, asking not for selfish gain but for those around her who are struggling. She sees firsthand the pain and despair caused by the evil selfish men who are in power. She is the cathedral in the first place because she is hiding from guards who were told to arrest her. Her crime? Fighting for justice.

Quasimodo sees this woman in the church halls, surrounded by selfish bigots, praying for money or fame. He sees her praying for her community, for the outcasts, like him, like his mother. Obviously the poor boy falls head over heels in love with this woman as she becomes his closest friend and ally.

Just like many children who grew up in a church, Quasi learned about kindness and generosity only to find out later that the church’s kindness is conditional. Quasi starts questioning Frollo and the church after hearing what Esméralda has to say about the outside world. He finds out that the man who raised him (and who is supposed to be leading the church) has been lying his entire life. Frollo is the villain of the story. Frollo is toxic masculinity and toxic Christianity. He uses his power to abuse, to rape, to exploit, and to control. He hates holidays, he hates music and dancing. He finds joy only in power and violence.

Quasimodo himself is the picture of healthy masculinity. When Quasi finds out the woman he loves is dating another man he is sad, but ultimately supportive of their relationship and they all continue to be friends. He never brings it up again, he is content just having her in his life even without romance. Quasimodo is masculinity without toxicity. He is strong, very strong and powerful. Have you seen his arms? They are gigantic, he has been building upper body strength for 20 solid years. But Quasimodo is also kind and gentle. He carves miniatures, he paints, he creates music with his strength. Quasi only ever uses violence as a form of defense, either self defense, or defending those who are powerless to fight for themselves alone.

Also the black horse in the movie is named snowflake and that’s just a good little joke that I like.

[young-dumb-and-vaccinated]

The Sommelier (Hannigram x Female!Reader) pt. 25

Y/n puts an end to everything.

@dovahdokren @deadman-inc-bikeshop @lov3vivian @wisesandwichshark @scpdragon

⚠️HUGE⚠️ trigger warnings: rape, drugging, sex trafficking, VERY graphic descriptions of violence, physical violence (please let me know if I leave anything out)

Hannibal could walk through a valley of human suffering and not even flinch. You couldn't tell if that made him subhuman or superhuman. You, however, were just human.

You wanted to be a badass. You wanted to kick the door down and make a scene. But one woman was enough to break you.

She was wearing only a large t-shirt. A cloth bandage covered in blood covered her pubic area like a makeshift pair of underpants. She laid limply against a stone. Her arms were punctured where needles had been.

"I don't..." she mumbled, clearly intoxicated beyond function. "...don't make me..."

You knew you couldn't afford to stop. But compassion kept your feet firmly on the ground in front of her.

"What is Chase making you do?"

"I can't-" She said, pressing her forehead against the rock. "I can't be an unwoman-"

She began to slam her head against the rock with clear intent to take her own life. Without thinking, you grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her into the grass. She sobbed, a bloody, but thankfully, survivable, gash on her forehead.

"Tell me your name." You demanded, squeezing her shoulders.

"...Tiffany." She said with a sudden lucidity.

The name unlocked a memory in you. It was the still image of a sunny young girl, immortalized on a faded missing person's ad hung up at the grocery store. Tiffany Rose Pierce, it read.

"I'm gonna get you out of here, Tiffany." You whispered. "I'm gonna get all of you out of here."

"Vanguard won't like that." She said, slipping back into a state of minimal consciousness.

"Stay here." You instructed, pushing yourself back to your feet.

You readied your gun and slowly, carefully pushed the cabin door open. Suddenly, the stained glass window was the least of your worries.

The entire area was lined with cheaply-constructed bunk beds, like an overgrown henhouse. Women with distinctively long hair were shackled to the lower bunks. Their shaven counterparts, the unwomen, were forced to be the slavedrivers. They held the chained women down.

You heard the rattling of chains coming from the right. It was accompanied with screaming and wet slapping.

"Take daddy's cock you filthy fucking broodmare." A familiar voice grunted.

The only way you could look at him was behind the barrel of your gun. He was exactly how you pictured him while listening to his voice in the car. Unremarkable, middle-aged and serpentine.

"Pastor Armitage!" You yelled.

To hear someone call him by his title in the midst of violating a person was enough to send him into a panic. He sputtered and his entire face turned red.

He didn't suffer for long, though. A 12 gauge shell right through the face took care of that. Fragments of his head, his blood and brain matter splattered everywhere. His knees buckled and his limp body collapsed.

The room fell silent. Smoke trickled out of your barrel.

"Where's fucking Chase?" You asked the room.

Someone weakly pointed up the stairs. You met her eyes and nodded.

"Sorry about the mess."

Now you knew how Hannibal felt. Blowing someone's head off made you acutely aware of your own head on your shoulders. You held it higher. You felt no remorse as you ascended the staircase with your gun blazing.

You came across a room with some words etched in the door. 'Skin room'. You launched your foot squarely into the door, causing it to violently swing open. 

You examined the room from behind the gun. Chase had done a hell of a job dressing up this cheap cabin bedroom like a hotel suite, but the smell hit you before you could be fooled. A brick chimney, a wine cooler and a mahogany desk were positioned so the eye would gravitate towards the luxury while the nose picked up the brutality. The stained glass window was suspended in front of the real window, absorbing the mid-morning light and giving the room an eerie sepia tint. 

You cocked your gun to announce your presence. You heard the sound of running water, and then a side door swung open. 

“You’ll forgive me a couple minutes to freshen up.” Chase said, shaking his hands dry. “Cleanliness is close to godliness, after all.” 

You said nothing. You didn’t want to dignify him with a conversation. 

He bent over and pulled a bottle of wine from his cooler. He placed it squarely on the desk. You looked at it, then did a double take. He grinned sadistically. 

“Is that...” You leaned in to get a closer look. “1907 Heidsieck Monople Gout?” 

Chase shrugged. “You tell me. You’re the wine expert.” 

You’d heard many a conflicting story about the legendary 1907 Heidsieck. Some said as many as 2,000 bottles were pulled up from the depths of the freezing Baltic sea. Some said a single bottle could go for half a million dollars. With that kind of precedent, you never thought you’d ever have to worry about it. Yet, there it was. Right in front of you. 

“I’m saving it for a special occasion.” Chase said, suddenly reminding you where you were.

You returned to your gun. “For when you kill me?” 

“For when I save you.” Chase smiled, his unnaturally white teeth glistening in the sepia light. “See, Miss [F/N], you survived two of my attempts on your life. God has smiled down on you.” 

“Or, maybe,” You interrupted. “You’re just horrible at killing.” 

Chase raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.

"A knife through the hand hurts like a bitch, but it isn't fatal." You shrugged. "And you didn't do a good enough job beating the fear of death out of Catherine. Else she might have actually gone through with it. Maybe if you'd sent Tiffany-"

"God loves you." Chase interrupted before you could poke more holes in his attempts on your life. "Why you're still alive when so many less deserving of death have died is beyond me, but god works in mysterious ways, doesn't he?"

"She sure does." You smirked.

Chase cleared his throat. You'd pegged him as the type to get irrationally angry at the implication of god being a woman, so his reaction surprised you.

"Well, let's get down to business, shall we?" He gestured to a seat across from him.

You narrowed your eyes. "I don't think so."

"Pity." He pouted. "Not even for poor Mr. Graham?"

It dawned on you that he probably still thought he had Will, and you could use it to your advantage.

You held your gun at your side and hesitantly sat down in the seat. A gluttonous smile spread across Chase's face.

"So it wasn't wine after all." He said. "It wasn't even your own life. You're only willing to save your soul for the sake of your precious Will Graham."

"What do you care?" You growled through your teeth. "This is just a power grab for you. You wouldn't know what genuine empathy for another person feels like."

He grinned, as if someone had just flipped his 'on' switch. "Jesus does."

"Did Jesus use his influence to lure teenage girls into a sick breeding ring?" You sneered. "I don't remember that from VeggieTales."

"Genesis 1:28." Chase said. "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply."

"I suppose you also don't eat shellfish or wear mixed fabrics." You rolled your eyes.

"It's always the same arguments from you atheists." Chase scoffed, adding a distinct bite to the last word. "When are you going to show some actual proof that the bible isn't an infallible model for human morality?"

"Maybe when you stop eating shellfish and wearing mixed fabrics." You repeated.

"They are minor sins at best." Chase grimaced. "I have gotten right with Jesus. You, on the other hand, oh, you. Your sins are weighty."

"I did just blast a rapist's head off." You admitted. "And it's going to be two very soon if this one doesn't get to the fucking point."

"I know about your exploits." He squinted. "With Mr. Graham and the man with the Nazi accent."

"He's actually from Lithuania, which, if you wanna be technical," you corrected, just for the sake of being annoying. "Is an ex-Soviet state, but whatever."

Chase tensed up at being corrected. "I know about your hedonistic sexual activities with two men, your exploration. But in the bible, Satan approaches these two people called Adam and Eve..."

"No he didn't." You shook your head. "It was a serpent. The devil wasn't a concept when Genesis was written."

Chase gritted his teeth. "God made one man and one woman. Each to fill each other's sexual desires, within the context of marriage, entirely-"

"But Adam had two spouses, didn't he?" You cocked your head and smiled. "Eve wasn't even the first woman in Adam's life. That was Lilith."

Chase heaved a frustrated sigh. "How do you know that?!"

"I was raised catholic." You said in the tonal equivalent of smacking him upside the head. "I was forced into religion at a young age and brainwashed to hate myself."

"See, that's where we agree." Chase tented his hands, thinking he found a genuine point of connection. "Organized religion is a cancer on society. Christianity is fundamentally about a relationship with god."

You laughed. It was the first real, good laugh you had in a while.

"Don't laugh." He scolded. "I am sorry that that was your experience with religion and that the Catholic church modeled a false teaching of who god is and what he wants. Not all christians-"

You wiped a tear from your eye. "Homie, you killed four people in front of me."

He placed his hand over his heart. "And christ forgave me. And he can forgive you too."

"Alright, this has been fun and everything," you said, standing up. You aimed your shotgun and cocked it. "But, I did come here to kill you, so, open wide."

Chase put his hand squarely over the barrel and pushed it out of the way. "You don’t have the guts to pull the trigger."

You pulled the trigger and blasted his hand clean off. Any hope of reattachment was shattered, as bits of his hand painted the walls and floor.

You opened the gun and let the two empty shells fall to the ground while Chase screamed in agony.

Instead of going through the motions of reloading, you smashed him over the head with the gun. He wrapped his good hand around the barrel and attempted to wrestle it away from you. You took this as an invitation to corner him against the wall with the still-hot barrel against his neck. He smashed his forehead into your nose, sending you tumbling backwards.

The shotgun fell to the ground. You pinched the bridge of your nose to control the blood flow. Chase wrapped a champagne towel around his stump and picked up a small revolver on his desk. He let off a shot, which lodged itself into your shoulder. By the time he let off the second shot, you were on the ground. The third shot didn't fire, just let out a flash and a bang.

"Goddamn blanks!" He cursed.

He tore open a drawer and rummaged around for bullets, giving you a window to come up from behind and gouge your fingers into his eyes. He screamed, dropping a handful of bullets. He flailed aimlessly, then charged backwards, slamming you into the cheap drywall.

He felt around for the bullets without the advent of eyesight. You knew you wouldn't be able to take aim with your shotgun with a bullet lodged in your shoulder, so you dove for the revolver.

Chase grabbed you by the ankle and dragged you down. You hit the floor with a thud, the collision making the bullets jump. Chase grinned, using the sound to place them. He turned around and reached for one, while you scooped up another that had rolled under the desk.

You scrambled to your feet. Chase's hand was just centimeters from the revolver. Thinking fast (but not so thoroughly), you grabbed for the revolver. You wrapped your hand around the barrel, putting yourself at a disadvantage if he fired off another blank.

Chase, however, wasn't that forward-thinking, and opted for a childish game of tug-of-war instead. Knowing he had the brute strength advantage, you waited for him to pull back and released your grip. Chase tumbled, cursing on his way down.

With no thought on your mind but ending this, you launched your foot into his sack, causing him to scream and drop the gun.

Just as you thought it was over, just when the gun was in arm's reach, he kicked your knees backwards and you fell. You swallowed the pain and army crawled for the revolver.

"I don't think so." Chase spat, smiling like a maniac. He grabbed your face with his good hand and his fingers slithered down your throat.

"Choke..." he demanded. "Choke, demoness."

Strengthened by animalistic instinct, you crushed his fingers under your teeth. The sound of snapping bone filled the inside of your head and a sudden rush of blood flooded into your mouth. He withdrew his hand, leaving a finger behind to limply fall down your throat.

You coughed and gagged while Chase screamed. A single bloody digit dislodged itself from your windpipe, flew across the room and landed on the desk.

Chase sputtered something resembling a laugh. "Maybe you're not such a dumb bitch after all."

You grabbed the gun and pushed yourself up with the help of the desk. The finger stared up at you as you loaded the single bullet.

You positioned the finger onto the trigger and guided it with your gloved hand. Then you aimed it at his forehead. Dead by his gun, by his trigger finger. Bleeding on the ground in his private bunker while the empire he built collapses around him. A coward's death. It was poetic enough an end as he deserved.

"You want to say a prayer before you meet god?" You offered.

"My soul is saved." Chase said through ragged breaths. "My place in heaven is secured."

Bang. One bullet, right between the eyes. A bloody fingerprint on the pistol. You dropped the revolver and collapsed. You just laid there, listening to your phone buzz.

[writingwithcolor]

I’m drafting a fantasy story where the main character is a native woman of color (& native tribes are present and active on the continent where the story takes place). There is a colonial kingdom who is not violent toward the natives (they usually don’t interact with each other at all) but the course of the story includes the native Mc being called upon by the gods to help out the colonial queen because the continent is being invaded by different violent colonists. (1/2)

It’s supposed to be more of an “everyone will lose magic if you don’t end up helping these people, because they’ll hurt everyone here”; I should note that the queen is also the mc’s love interest. Tl;dr the natives in the story are indifferent to a non empirical colonial kingdom they’ve coexisted with for about 30 years, & the gods tell the Mc to help save the kingdom from other colonists. If I’m writing this then I want to do it the right way, avoiding any stereotypes etc. (2/2)

Natives Helping Powerful (Colonial) Empire

Before I begin, please do not conflate “colonial” with “white.” Colonial powers are always violent, and are always an active oppressor of the people they are colonizing. It is not a word to toss around lightly. 

The reason it is used so much in modern day is because there is only one Indigenous population currently unoccupied by colonialism on the planet, and it’s on a small island. Every other Indigenous group is actively being oppressed by colonialism, and whether that violence is physical or cultural it is still violent.

If you truly mean that this is a colonial power, then I’m going to ask you please not, because Natives helping colonizers is an extremely touchy topic best left for #ownvoices. It does not matter if this colonial empire hasn’t hurt the Native populations yet (and it is “yet”; colonialism is always hungry for victims). Colonialism and our relationship to it is ours to write about.

With how America has just recently blown up a burial site for a border wall and Canada is actively invading (unceded) Wetsuweten territory for a pipeline (with full military vehicles), having any sort of colonial/Native alliance handled by an outsider would be extremely harmful and perpetuate oppression.

If, however, you meant to write “white neighbouring kingdom”…

For starters, the whole concept of “Gods called to do/be x” can be a very Christian/European pagan thing. Native spirituality is a much different beast, and each nation has different ideals and relationships to their deities. 

You’ll have to do research into how we move to action, because Native people in general have lower individualism and a higher community focus than the American ideal.

Can’t speak any more specifically than that, because each nation is different in how they relate to their spirits.

Next up, there is certain caution to be applied when you have Indigenous peoples be the most magically attuned. This tends to be dipping into the toes of Magical Native, Noble Savage, and general concepts of misconstruing our responsibility to protect the land as any sort of white person fantasy. 

I’ve talked about this at length in the Noble Savage and Magical Native tags. Tl;dr we’re also heavily scientific along with a deep spirituality, and removing our centuries of scientific advancement is a disservice to us.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you have to be careful you don’t fall into the “Thanksgiving” kinds of narratives. Look at how nice and generous and kind Natives were, helping everyone, allowing American culture to flourish, giving away all the land America needed.

It’s a deeply, deeply weaponized narrative, and it sanitizes the active colonialism that was beginning even at the start of America’s history. Land was stolen from the start, and Thanksgiving gives thanks for massacring us.

Natives do not exist to be saviours of white people, which I think is how a lot of non-Natives view our environmental work. They see Natives as wanting to save the whole population, when we are trying to save our home. 

We are allowed to be selfish about it, and a few of us have no intention of ever working with white people from how deeply we’ve been burned. Our goal is to save our home, to save the place that gave us our lives, the place that teaches us how to live. 

Which I think, deep down, is what upsets me about the story. The whole plot (as presented here) is basically “Native person forced to save white man because I the author say they have to.” That’s how white people view us. That’s how America’s history is taught.

That is not our reality.

There’s also a ring of ahistorical to it, because Indigenous people were either at war or trading with their neighbours (and alternating between the two), so the whole “completely closed off” thing either came from the white kingdom being deeply rude to the point of basically a war/enemies declaration, or you end up painting Natives as haughty and impossible to work with. If the former, your “indifference” is wrong, and if the latter, it’s racist (based off a misconception around the Thanksgiving narrative mentioned above—they were so nice but now they’re so mean for no reason).

People were people, which meant people traded. People had wars. People got curious what was over the fence and cultural diffusion happened all the time. You can trace the trade routes Indigenous people had by tracing how corn spread across the continent, because while it’s a North American crop, it was first domesticated in the south and moved all the way up to the Great Lakes.

If you want an example of how white and Indigenous culture mixed, look up the Metis in Canada. They’re a whole nation that blends primarily Cree and French (with a dash of Scottish) culture together, thanks to intermarriage between white settler men and Native women that mutually benefited both sides for a very long while, and created a very large population of people who are all some percentage of mixed white/ Native. Whatever mix they have does not invalidate either side because they’re built off being mixed and pulling heavily from both, then making it their own.

The whole concept of “they simply coexisted without interacting” doesn’t work, not unless you create a situation that forced them to close off, and “Native person breaks code of silence to help rude-at-best white people” is starting to get back into a type of story best left in Native hands.

All in all, this story doesn’t ring true on multiple fronts. I’d go back to the drawing board based off the points I raised above, and see what a better fit for your story is.

But to reiterate: if this is truly a colonial empire, know that “non violent colonial empire” is an oxymoron, and having a Native person work with a colonizer is not your story to tell.

~ Mod Lesya

[nerdygaymormon]

So, I know the Church places,a lot of emphasis on getting married in the temple, and I think somewhere I heard it was necessary to achieve the highest level of glory, but recently I've been considering the label a romantic for myself and I was wondering what my place in the church would be. Is marriage really necessary for exaltation?

I wrote a very long response, and then at the end figured out the answer I should give you.

Listen to your heart. What is the Spirit trying to whisper to you? 

Since you’re aro, check out the apostle Paul’s message in I Corinthians chapter 7. He says if you’re ace/aro, great! God has work for you. In fact, Paul seems to value being ace/aro over being married.

———————————————————————

I’ll still share the really long answer about whether marriage is necessary for exaltation, 

I’ll begin with the Church’s answer. Then I’ll provide some historical context. And finally, I’ll share my thoughts. 

———————————————————————

I suppose we should begin by defining what the LDS Church means by someone being exalted.

They will live in the presence of Jesus and God (which means living in the highest level of heaven)

They will become gods (children of God grow up to be like God)

They'll be united with their spouse for eternity, and linked to their righteous children and others through sealings

They will have eternal offspring (Wendy Watson Nelson is quoted in a 2020 manual for Sunday School teachers as saying marital sex "will continue eternally")

They'll receive everything Jesus and God have--power, glory, dominion and knowledge 

Two of the items on the list involve being married/sealed together, which is why the LDS Church puts such an emphasis on this.

For those who are unmarried, or whose marriages aren't sealed in the temple, they can still make it to the highest kingdom of heaven but they will not be exalted, they'll be ministering angels

——————————————————————— 

In the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), a person has to strictly observe all the Jewish laws involving sacrifice, prayer, and observance of holy days. 

These laws cover everything from what clothes a person can wear, what they eat for lunch, and even if it’s okay to have sex with your wife when she is menstruating. God is very involved in the details.

These laws could be considered the "covenant path" of the Jewish faith.

————————— 

Jesus & his apostles reject the idea that people have to keep all the Jewish laws in order to be saved in heaven.  

Rather than a bunch of boxes to check, Jesus taught there's simply 2 great commandments.

The first is to love God above all else. 

The second is to work diligently for the welfare of others, especially the poor, outcasts, strangers, foreigners, marginalized and even those who are our hated enemies. In other words, help God accomplish His great work, which is us.

————————— 

This idea that Jesus rejected following strict laws and covenants, along with the command to love God, it lead to the Christian teaching of people being "saved" through their faith in Jesus. 

First, a person has to believe that Jesus is the Son of God

Next, they must believe that they can't go to heaven unless Jesus saves them

Then they ask Jesus to come into their life by prayer. They admit that they've sinned and ask for forgiveness and pledge to follow Jesus for the rest of their life. This is often referred to as being "born again" 

Finally, they are baptized as a sign of their commitment to Christ (baptism is not a requirement to get into heaven, but is a way to follow Christ’s example and show they've had a significant spiritual experience)

————————— 

Joseph Smith taught that most people go to heaven, and that heaven has layers. 

To get to the highest level we must complete certain ordinances and live a certain way. President Nelson refers to this as the "covenant path." 

Faith in Jesus (not an ordinance, but a requirement to begin this path)

Repentance (not an ordinance, but having a desire that to do better)

Baptism by immersion (symbolic of our repentance that washes us clean and saves us from eternal death to eternal life)

Laying on of Hands to receive the Holy Ghost

Melchizedek Priesthood ordination (for men only) 

Washing & Annointing ordinance

Endowment ceremony 

Celestial Marriage (sealed to spouse in the temple)

Sealing to parents (done in the temple, or if your parents were sealed to each other at the time of your birth, you were born sealed to them) 

These collectively are known as the saving ordinances. 

For people who died without completing this list of ordinances, these can be performed vicariously for them at the temple (except for the ordination to the Melchizedek priesthood). 

————————— 

Since Joseph Smith put this new path of ordinances in place, there’s been a big change.    For decades, "Celestial Marriage” meant polygamy, without it exaltation was not possible. 

Since the Church was forced to stopped practicing polygamy, we've changed how we interpret the scriptures that talk about celestial marriage. 

————————— 

In order to go to the temple to receive the saving ordinances necessary for exaltation, the Church requires we pass a worthiness interview. I suppose that in a sense, these are changes as to who qualifies to be exalted. This additional list of requirements includes: 

follow the Word of Wisdom

sustain the current prophet and apostles

obey the law of chastity

pay a full tithe

attend church meetings and partake of the Sacrament

if divorced, pay your child or spousal support

wear the temple garments

——————————————————————— 

A Safeguard

There's many people who find themselves outside of this Covenant Path. 

Many lived and died without knowing anything of Christ, and we do not have records for them and thus can’t do temple work for them

Some people are specifically forbidden by the Church from completing the requirements for exaltation

Queer people

In the past, people of African heritage were also forbidden by the LDS Church 

Given there's an obvious lack of fairness and opportunity, there has to be a way to fix things, otherwise God would be very unjust. 

I believe this idea has influenced the LDS concept of the Millennium, which is a period of 1,000 years of peace after Christ comes again. 

The Church believes that during the Millennium, people will be taught the gospel, repent, marry, raise children. The temples will be busy with resurrected people getting temple ordinances done. 

People who died single will have an opportunity to find someone to marry. 

Some people believe that queer people will not be queer anymore and this will make it so they can find someone to marry and be sealed together.

——————————————————————— 

My thoughts.

We know next to nothing of heaven and post-mortal life, yet we speak about it in very definitive terms--what it’s like, who’ll be there, what they’re doing.

—————————

I know we often speak of the highest level of heaven as very exclusive, but I’ve had the opportunity to speak with several Seventy and an apostle and they speak of the Millennium as the great hope. 

Parents with wayward children should have hope, the lesbian should have hope, all will be made right, we all will have an opportunity to develop and grow. It sounds like everyone will be exalted if they want to be. 

While I don’t quite agree with all the ways they think things will be fixed in the Millennium, I can get on board with the idea that God will make things right. 

For example, the idea of a queer genocide that wipes out all LGBTQIA+ people and replace them with a cishet version of the person just doesn’t sit well with me. 

What I do believe is that any blessing a person should’ve had during their lifetime will be made available to them. 

—————————

Something about the idea that in heaven married couples are having sex and creating babies for eternity is a little weird to me. Do women like the idea of an eternity of pregnancy? Imagine an eternity of morning sickness and child birth as your destiny.

Mormon scriptures teach that we all began as intelligences, without beginning or end. God came and organized intelligences into spirits. In that way we’re God’s spirit children. Does that sound like sex? It doesn’t to me. I don’t know when celestial sex became the Church’s explanation of what it means to organize intelligences.  

————————— 

The ideas of what exaltation is causes leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to struggle with the idea of people who are ace, trans, gay, aro and so on. They see themselves in the idea of heaven and not the rest of us. 

Their idea of what exaltation means makes them see no space for queerness in God’s Plan. 

That’s pretty bold to deny the existence of God’s diverse creations. Here we are, we exist, we are known, yet rather than expand the Plan, to find how we can fit into the Plan, they choose not to see us.

—————————

It makes me very sad to think our Heavenly Parents might have set up a plan that would cause most of their children to not be exalted, and that means they’d never get to see those children or speak with them again, yet that’s what many Church members seem to believe. 

If our Heavenly Parents are supposed to be a model for us on how to be parents, most humans would reject the idea of setting up a plan to make their kids fail so they would never see or speak to them again. That's the opposite of what we'd consider good parenting. 

—————————

While I find meaning in the ordinances performed by the LDS Church, I'm more inclined to believe what Jesus taught on the matter--Love God, love & lift those in need. Jesus called this "true religion" and those who follow it will find they do well in heaven, no matter what earthly church or religion they belong to. 

I think of the story of 3 eighteen-year-olds who carried members of the Martin Handcart Company across the icy waters of the Sweetwater River. Those young men died from the extreme exposure, and upon hearing of what they did, Brigham Young wept and said they’d be exalted for their sacrifice. Their exaltation wasn’t dependent on being married or having the Melchizedek priesthood. Service & sacrifice for people in need was enough. 

I imagine Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and others who've spent their life developing Christlike traits (regardless of whether they were Christian) will be much further ahead when the Millennium arrives. It only takes a few hours to complete the ordinances, and so much longer to become the kind of person who can be exalted.

I suspect a lot of Mormons will be surprised to find that their ordinances weren't enough to qualify them for exaltation

————————— 

Since I'm forbidden by the Church from being sealed to a husband, I instead focus on being a good person, on helping others, on being a great uncle and a good neighbor and friend. 

Is marriage really necessary for exaltation? I don’t know.

I don’t know what heaven is like, there’s some Mormon beliefs about heaven that I really like, such most everyone goes to heaven, and we can be together with the people we most love. 

While I don’t know much about heaven, I think we can know things about God’s character, and that’s what causes me to question some of what is taught about heaven & marriage and a Plan that excludes queer people.

[waritawrites]

Gender Dysphoria & Trauma

https://followerofthewayforever.wordpress.com/2021/07/08/gender-dysphoria-trauma/

Gender Dysphoria seems to happen to some when trauma has occur. Taking on the opposite gender can be at least four things: Defense Mechanism, Self-Comfort, Escapism, and Symbolic Rejection.

- Defense Mechanism

°One takes the strength if the opposite

gender as shield to protect. In cases where parent of the opposite gender was neglectful or abusive, the person takes on an identity that is dominated by the strength that the parent in question lacked.

- Self-Comfort

°Similar to Defense Mechanism and often a defense mechanism in and of it itself self-comfort. Using opposite gender traits to comfort oneself, especially in cases of Dissociative Identity Disorder, is a way of giving oneself self-validation and assurance that things will get better. That you will get better.

- Escapism

°You just don't want to be you anymore. It hurts too bad. You want start anew in a different way.

- Symbolic Rejection

°Seeing bad examples set by a signifcant person(s), such as a son being traumatized by the actions of an abusive father, may cause the son to reject his own male identity because he wants to be nothing like his father.

For those dealing with these issues, please seek GOD. I know it may sound cliché. However, GOD is a healer and HE teaches us how to overcome and triumph the most horrible things that happen to us.

Philippians 4

1Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.

2I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.

3And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.

4Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

5Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

6Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

9Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

10But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

11Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

12I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

13I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

14Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.

15Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only.

16For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity.

17Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.

18But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.

19But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

20Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

21Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you.

22All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household.

23The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. (To the Philippians written from Rome, by Epaphroditus.)

We don't have to be in bondage to trauma. We need not base our every decision on trauma. We are in a spiritual war that manifests in this physical world. Satan is our enemy. He uses trauma to weaken and destroy us. He even uses it to get us on his side in a twisted way. satan is the abuser who beats you then tells you he loves you afterward. Like many abusers who want to separate their victims from those who love them, satan wants to separate you from the Love of GOD. GOD gives us all free will, the freedom to choose life or death. It is satan's goal to tempt us all to choose death and destruction. Please resist him.

1 Peter 5:8

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"

satan is a thief and a murderer. he wants us to destroy ourselves and those around us. he wants to steal our lives, steal our souls, and destroy us. Jesus, God The Son, says in John 10:10:

John 10:10

10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

satan wants us to believe that it is GOD's fault for letting the trauma happen. satan doesn't was us to recognize that he is source of trauma. he does not want us to see that he is working through those that hurt you. satan and his kingdom of darkness are your abuser. he will stop at nothing to prevent you from holding onto GOD, even if he has to pretend to be GOD to deceive into turning to him. Here is what GOD, speaking through the writings of Paul, said of satan, satan's false ministers as well as Paul speaking on the victory that he has in GOD even in tribulation, 2 Corinthians 11:

2 Corinthians 11

1Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.

2For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

3But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

4For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

5For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

6But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.

7Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?

8I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.

9And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.

10As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.

11Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.

12But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.

13For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

14And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

15Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

16I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.

17That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.

18Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.

19For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.

20For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.

21I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.

22Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.

23Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

24Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

25Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

26In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

27In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

28Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

29Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

30If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.

31The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

32In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:

33And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.

#GOD #Yahweh #Jesus #HolySpirit #HolyGhost #TheBible #HolyBible #Christianity #genderdysphoria #sexuality #christianity #homosexuality #transgender #transgenderism #satan #trauma #abuse #virtualreality #roleplayinggames #rpg #imvu #secondlife #avakin #dissociativeidentitydisorder #DID

[drunklander]

Drunj!Der Yells About Outlander

Thoughts on Ep. 508

I mean, shame on me for allowing myself to get my hopes up that the show might have turned a corner last week. I should know better by now.

At least Young Ian’s back. And Marsali had a nice moment. And that’s about all I have to say about this episode that’s positive. I swear to fuck, this show hates Claire as much as the author of the books does. Where the fuck is the lead protagonist, show? Can she come back? Can she get a story line of her own that’s more than just a random scene every few episodes, please? And can Bree please be given something to fucking do that doesn’t involve Roger, Jemmy or rape? Does Fergus still even live on the Ridge?

But yeah, I guess let’s just all watch the episode twice so our dumb lady!brains can understand that Matt’s stupid silent movie gimmick was actually ~ArT~ and not, you know, a stupidly bad creative choice. Seriously, fuck that guy.

I can’t tell you how much idgaf about watching Roger teach. Also, Bree’s like his students’ age since she was in college too. So really all this bit is doing is to make me skeeved out about their age difference.

“Can you tell me why anyone would go to the trouble of burying one?” he said, condescendingly, like the doucherocket he is. Do not disrespect Young Ian like that, asshat.

“People live and die by their words.” *gestures to the beautiful shitposts on this hellsite* sure jan dot gif.

I already want to fastforward.

Would 100% rather sit through a lecture on suspension bridges than watch silent movies, tbh.

Hate the title card. Hate this whole gimmick.

Hate.

HAAAAATE.

Roger got hanged. Roger was dumb, Buck was an abusive and toxic fuckwad. But still, Roger got hanged and this is how we find out he’s alive and how he was saved?

It should be this big emotional moment. It should make me feel a thing in spite of myself. But nope! Gotta do this fucking silent movie thing. Which is hilariously terrible. And I laughed at it the whole time. In a mean and judgey fashion. What a craptastic creative choice. Whoever’s idea that was is a fucking idiot. *stares at a certain pompous af showrunner*

Ok but for real though, does LJG just like live in North Carolina now? Why is he always around, besides, you know, so we don’t forget he’s a character who exists.

For real though, he lives in Virginia and gets more screen time than fucking Fergus and Marsali who live fucking next door.

At least writing this recap is gonnna be quick and easy since they waste so much time re-showing the stupid silent movie footage.

Yes, I know, they’re trying to show Roger’s PTSD. Which involves flashbacks. And gradually turn it to color once he’s like come to terms with what happened and starts to move forward. But the execution is so bad that the whole arc is wasted because it’s just so poorly done.

Oh hey! A Claire and Bree scene! I love those. Except oh wait, it aggressively fails the Bechdel Test.

I JUST WANT THE FUCKING WOMEN ON THIS SHOW TO HAVE SOMETHING TO DO THAT’S COMPLETELY FUCKING SEPARATE FROM THE MEN. ARGH.

Jocasta singing at Murtz’s cairn is a reminder that everyone should check out MDK’s music.

And her wearing the necklace Murtz gave her makes the existence of show!Duncan even dumber. Like oh hey, new husband, don’t mind me, just mourning my dead boyfriend and wearing his jewelry. But it’s totally normal since my niece-in-law still wears her abusive ex-husband’s ring.

Sorry, show!Duncan, but a more pointless character was never included. Show!Duncan wins the prize for most BeCaUsE tHe BoOk dumbassery.

Repeatedly showing what’s basically a snuff film is...a choice.

LJG has no sense of personal space when it comes to the Frasers. And it’s fucking creepy.

Oh look, another scene where all Claire gets to do is comfort someone about a man.

*BANGS FIST ON TABLE* GIVE CLAIRE BEAUCHAMP THE STORY LINES SHE DESERVES.

Jemmy aged like 3 years in the 3 month time jump.

Ok, I totally get why Roger hadn’t spoken yet. But once he did, the seal was broken. Not talking after he yelled to stop Jemmy, even a little bit, is just a dick move. Not that he’d be magically better. But he like refuses to even take baby steps.

CAN WE PLEASE GET THROUGH AN EPISODE WITHOUT A MUSICAL INTERLUDE. I FUCKING HATE THE CLEMENTINE SONG.

GRANNIE CLAIRE AND GRANDA JAMIE ARE MY FAVE.

OMFG AN ARROW. THAT CLEARLY MEANS...YOUNG IANNNNN!!!!!

So glad he’s back. So fucking glad. Yes, it means one more character to dilute how much time we can spend with any given person, but it’s a character that I like so hopefully he takes away from some of the time given to ones I don’t like?

Aaand Roger can’t even bring himself to try to talk to the guy who gave himself up in his place. Fuck Roger.

Claire does a better job at first than Jamie at picking up the vibes Young Ian is putting off, but like, for two people who are supposed to be emotionally intelligence, neither of them do a good job at first of really *seeing* Ian.

John Bell is really good in this episode.

Omfg Marsali has tarot cards. She’s like leaning full on into being the white witch’s apprentice and I fucking love her so much.

Also, the Hanged Man card is representative of self-sacrifice and martyrdom rather than like being actually hanged as a punishment. But whatevs.

Ok I think the reason Jenny yelling at Jamie to snap out of it in S3 bugged me where this scene with Bree yelling at Roger doesn’t is because sibling dynamic is completely different than spouses where both of them have gone through something unimaginable.

That he can’t even say anything here. Or give her any kind of sign that he’s still in there is a dick move. He *can* speak. He knows that now. So does everyone else. He’s actively choosing not to. Even to say that he just needs more time to work through his shit. No one’s asking him to be a chatterbox and totally back to normal.

Young Ian just sitting there while everyone else does grace is literally me at every family holiday.

Oh look, a wild Fergus appeared!

Ok, I never got the surveying thing. Wouldn’t the land already be registered? Since they were given the paperwork and shit for it from the governor? I know there was some bit about it in the book about keeping it after the Revolution but like, who the fuck else are they registering it with that would make a difference? The gov’t is still the English gov’t?

“But there are things you keep hidden from others. You and Claire both.” Ok, can he please be talking about time travel? I mean, I know he’s talking about his wife and their miscarriages, but I just want someone else to know about time travel already please and thank you.

HOW THE FUCK IS MARSALI STILL PREGNANT?! SHE’S BEEN PREGNANT FOR LIKE A FUCKTON OF TIME.

Fuck yeah not-Catholic-anymore-Ian. No grace, talking about the creator in a way that isn’t explicitly the christian god. Good job, kid.

My parents called me to say happy easter and I had to be like, uh, you remember that I don’t celebrate that, right?

Happy Zombie!Jeebus Appreciation Day to all the still christian people. And happy chance to have fun with burner zoom accounts named Elijiah to the jewish folks.

Jokes aside, the scene with Young Ian and Marsali was really nice and Marsali remains a fucking saint. It’s nice that Young Ian has someone who like actually gets what it’s like to find a home in a group of strangers.

Oh Claire, think more highly of your assistant. Also, what a clunky fucking way to be like oh hey, one of the emo!bros is gonna try to off themselves.

Ok but with the paper airplane now too, can we please show Young Ian finding out about time travel? Please?

Ok, but Claire automatically jumping to Roger wanting to off himself with her herbs... It’s making me judge both of them a little that neither picked up on just how clearly Young Ian was suffering. Like come the fuck on, y’all. It wasn’t subtle.

Also, can we please have more Adso?

SOMEONE GIVE YOUNG IAN A HUG! NO, NOT YOU, ROGER! SOMEONE GOOD!

Yada yada yes they both have been through something shitty and call me a biased asshole, but I can’t bring myself to feel anything about Roger and I feel all the things about Young Ian.

So Roger won’t talk when his wife begs, but he’ll talk when someone calls him on his bullshit. Cool. Cool cool cool. Nice dude.

NO ONE WAS ASKING FOR THE OLD ROGER, YOU TWATWAFFLE. THEY WERE ASKING FOR *A* ROGER. INSTEAD OF A ZOMBIE.

Again, there’s more to that tarot card than a literal hanged man, but whatever, show.

Oh thank fuck the episode is finally over. Expectations are back down in the gutter for the rest of the season. Please pleasantly surprise me, show, but I will not make the mistake again of thinking you’re actually gonna be consistently good again.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Sun Myung Moon’s justification for sex with the wives of the first 36 couples

▲ Here are many of the 36 wives that Sun Myung Moon ‘womb cleansed.’

This post was copied from The Tragedy of the Six Marys website.

The starting point for complete restoration of the blood lineage is a man’s seed going into the woman’s womb.

Change of Blood Lineage: The Real Experience of Salvation by the Messiah Sun Myung Moon: speech given on October 13, 1970 in Seoul, Korea

“The realm of total perfection cannot be achieved without a condition for restoring fallen Eve. The Holy Spirit and Jesus must give rebirth centering upon original love. In order for Jesus to be born, God in His providence prepared a certain historical foundation of heart. That providence must involve the womb of a woman.”…

“A person is born through a man’s seed going into a woman. Where does the way of reversal begin? It is within the woman’s womb. The condition must be established so that history is reversed in the womb. For complete restoration, the starting point is the seed which exists in the body of a male. The condition must be established in which the seed within a male is united with God’s love. Without establishing that condition, complete reversal of the blood lineage cannot be established. Religion must follow God’s way. That is why a world level religion must teach the necessity for rebirth. Therefore, Christianity has become a world religion both in concept and in reality. It teaches that everybody must be reborn, just as Jesus told Nicodemus, ‘Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ (John 3:3)”

_________________________________

1991-92 Pikareum lecture notes introduction

The lecturers were Mr. Yoshiaki Hiro, Mr. Kunio Sano and Mr. Yasutomo Shirai. The one-day and four-day workshops took place at the Miyazaki Dai Center near Tokyo (where 300 members attended January 9-12, 1992) and in about four other cities in Japan between summer 1991 and spring 1992. The workshops were held because many Japanese members had heard about Moon’s pikareum sex rituals and were asking questions. Also the publication of The Tragedy of the Six Marys was anticipated. This book was an exposé of the early history of the Unification Church written by Chung-hwa Pak who had started to follow Sun Myung Moon in 1949, but finally left in the 1980s. He wrote the book based on his 6,000 pages of handwritten notes and included information about the early versions of Sun Myung Moon’s theology. Many of the 49 photographs in the book were supplied by Hyo-min Eu. He was one of the 36 couples who had left and also contributed to Pak’s book. Hyo-min Eu published a Korean edition of Pak’s book in 1996. The Unification Church failed in their legal efforts to block the book in either country. The book stood up to scrutiny as factual.

The Unification Church held the workshops to “inoculate” the Japanese members against the now proven facts revealed in the book. Moon’s sexual theology was too much for some of the members and they left. The pikareum workshops were terminated in 1992. (Interestingly, there had also been some pikareum workshops for members in Japan in the 1980s.)

The following pages of notes and diagrams are based on the notes of four workshop participants who were at different workshop locations. They all left the Unification Church and shared their notes with others. Their notes were consistent with each other.

A 1975 FBI report from San Francisco documents Moon’s sex theology. There are many Korean and Japanese language accounts of Moon’s peculiar activities. Young-oon Kim, Won-pok Choi, Young-hwi Kim, Won-pil Kim and all the top Korean leaders kept the pikareum well hidden.

In the past few years two of Moon’s sons, first Hyung Jin and then in 2017 Kook Jin, have clearly and publicly explained (on video)  the “necessity” for their father to perform pikareum (chiwake in Japanese) sex rituals to cleanse original sin. In Korea, since the 1930s, there have been other messiahs who also did sexual womb cleansing, for example Baek-moon Kim and Tae-seon Park.

It seems that Jeong Myeong-seok (JMS, Jesus Morning Star), leader of the worldwide Providence Church, may have the same theology. He is a former disciple of Sun Myung Moon. He was released from jail in Korea in 2018 having served ten years for multiple rape. JMS VIDEO

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What was Sun Myung Moon’s secret pikareum sex ritual?


In Korean, pikareum 피가름 means blood separation ( 피 pi = blood and 가름 kareum = separation. ‘Blood separation’ refers to dividing the blood from the ‘satanic blood’ supposedly introduced by the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. (Adam and Eve never actually existed.) According to Sun Myung Moon, the fall was caused by the Archangel Lucifer seducing Eve in the spirit, and she in turn seduced Adam in the flesh. This sexual intercourse produced a bloodline tainted by the ‘original sin.’ All mankind allegedly carry this sinful, satanic blood.

Sun Myung Moon taught that to reverse the illicit sex that caused the original sin, sexual intercourse had to be performed with a sinless man in a ritual called pikareum. The process is also called ‘womb cleansing’ – consequently no contraception should be used.

Moon said Jesus was the second Adam and that he himself was the third and sinless Adam. Moon said that pikareum had to be done three times, with himself, to purify the women. This represented the three stages of ‘formation, growth and perfection.’ He also said that there had to be a witness for the process to be valid. The reason for the witness was to ‘remove the element of shame.’ This is because Adam and Eve hid from God in their shame at having ‘fallen.’

Sun Myung Moon personally performed pikareum with all the wives of the first 36 couples which he ‘blessed’ in marriage, as well as every wife from the 72 couples. (Hyo-min Eu was one eyewitness.) Those couples all became known as Moon’s tribe, or ‘the Royal Couples’ from the ‘Holy Weddings.’ Purified men and women had a duty to restore others in a ‘sex relay’ that should have expanded to cleanse all mankind.

In the Unification Church today a very similar expression, ‘change of blood lineage,’ is used. The words are slightly different but the meaning is the same. When Sun Myung Moon’s mass marriages became too large, he introduced the ‘three day ceremony’ which symbolized pikareum. The couples themselves had to do three days of ritual sexual intercourse in different positions.

Sun Myung Moon started his sex rituals in Pyongyang in 1946 and was soon arrested on “morals charges.” In 1948 he was again arrested for “disturbing the social order with women.” He was sent to Heungnam prison for five years for that, and for bigamy (ref. bigamy of Sun Myung Moon in the Los Angeles Times). In 1948 Sun Myung Moon was also excommunicated by the Presbyterian Church of Korea which “ruled the Unification Church (FFWPU) as heretical for three reasons: (1) Sun Myung Moon has placed himself, more than Jesus Christ, as the object of faith; (2) their doctrine violated the morals of modern society; and (3) they would destroy the church by deceiving pure and sincere Christians.” (William J Petersen, 1975)

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It is indeed official UC teaching that Jesus had sex with Mary Magdalene.

Andrew Wilson, PhD, Unification Theological Seminar (UTS): “According to True Father [Sun Myung Moon]’s first Principle text, Wolli Wonbon (written in the early 1950s), Jesus was indeed married to Mary Magdalene. It was a conditional marriage, however, because Mary Magdalene also had been sleeping with another man in the Archangel position (Judas Iscariot), who was supposed to give her to Jesus. Mention that Jesus would have to restore Eve in this way is hinted at in Exposition of the Divine Principle in the discussion of Abraham and Sarah in Egypt”

Bible quotation omitted

“God set up this situation to restore the Fall of Man. God had created Adam and Eve to become husband and wife, but Lucifer slept with Eve and stole her from Adam. To restore the Fall, this action had to be reversed: an Archangel-type husband would have to give up his wife, representing Eve, to a man in the position of Adam — and do it voluntarily. Thus Pharaoh (the Archangel) was induced to give up Sarah (Eve) to Abraham (Adam).

In this regard, Wolli Wonbon describes a triangular relationship between Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Judas, who were in the positions of Adam, Eve and Archangel: Jesus tried to set up Judas’ wife as the woman in the position of Eve who would fulfill the original purpose of the Will. Mary Magdalene was this woman. Although she was Judas Iscariot’s lover, she absolutely obeyed Jesus’ will. Thus, as Satan had taken Eve from Adam, Jesus would try to take Judas’ wife for himself and thereby fulfill the Will according to the Principle.”

Source: http://www.utsalumni.org/news/the-wife-of-jesus-seen-from-the-perspective-of-divine-principle-by-andrew-wilson-ph-d-uts78-5075/

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Passages in [ … ] have been added for the sake of clarification.

The “Six Marys” theology of Sun Myung Moon explained Why did Sun Myung Moon choose married women, one after the other, to perform “sex evangelism”? According to Mr. Chung-hwa Pak’s book, The Tragedy of the Six Marys, the reason is Moon’s peculiar interpretation of Christianity.

Adam and Eve were the first human beings. Eve had sex with Satan and so all mankind became descendants of the devil. Therefore God sent Jesus Christ to earth as the second Adam. The mission of Christ was to take Eve back from Satan who had stolen her. To do this Christ must have sexual intercourse with six married women, including Mary his own mother, in order to cleanse the blood. (Moon called it “the return” or “the restoration.”) But Jesus Christ left this world having failed to save even one married woman by doing pikareum with her.

So God sent Sun Myung Moon to earth as the third Adam. His mission was to cleanse the blood of six married women, namely the Six Marys. This was to be done by sexual intercourse with Moon three times [formation, growth and completion]. Through a kind of sexual intercourse relay with these Marys, humankind could be cleansed and saved and brought back to God’s side for the first time. [Moon required each cleansed person to have sex with many others to purify them.] It was Moon who preached this “Principle” to Mr. Pak. LINK

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According to Sun Myung Moon, the most important relationship is that between parent and child. Satan claimed that relationship at the fall in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, to restore that relationship, incest on the side of God must be performed. That is why Jesus should have restored his mother, Mary, by having sex with her.

Sun Myung Moon also explained about this heavenly incest is his speech of August 9, 1997 “Chil Pal Jeol” given to 7,000 Unification Church leaders from all over the world at the Central Training Center in Guri near Seoul. (The Korean and Japanese texts are the most accurate; the English translations were heavily redacted. From some point around this time, or maybe earlier, UC lawyers were involved in vetting any translations of Moon’s words from Korean or Japanese.)

On August 9, 1997 Moon said (from the Japanese) that “incest started from Satan” and is evil, but “incest started by God” is said to be noble. “absolute ideal relationships with close relatives” are good, but “incestuous relationships” are not good.

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Change of Blood Lineage Lecture

1991       広 Hiro  義昭 Yoshiaki     講師 lecturer

John the Baptist had a mission to testify to Jesus as the messiah, to become Jesus’ first disciple, and to lead Israel to follow Jesus. However, John was quite proud and was older than Jesus. After he initially testified to the people that Jesus was the messiah, he saw the reality that the people were going to Jesus to be baptised. This left John with a feeling of diminished power and less influence. His love for Jesus declined and he did not want to be Jesus’ main disciple. As a result, John the Baptist failed to fulfil his mission, and so he brought the providence to failure.

Since John the Baptist failed the providence of restoration, Judas, whom Jesus trusted the most, was asked to carry out the mission in the place of John the Baptist. (He was the most educated man among the 12 disciples, and was [entrusted with] doing the accounting.) Being asked to replace John meant that Judas had to pay an indemnity condition to overcome John’s feeling of experiencing less love for Jesus. Judas was showing his feelings of attraction to Mary Magdalene who was among the crowd that came to Jesus at that time. Jesus took her and had sex with her [even though she was involved with Judas]. This was to create the opportunity for Judas to overcome [the same feeling that had been too difficult for John to overcome]. However, Judas [should have willingly offered Mary Magdalene, whom he loved, to Jesus, but Judas] couldn’t overcome his feeling of diminished love [for Jesus]. Judas finally betrayed Jesus for money. [Because of this Jesus couldn’t marry and have children, and so there was no new lineage free from original sin.]

In the providence of restoration centering on Teacher Sun Myung Moon, Baek-moon Kim was the person in the position of John the Baptist. However, he too couldn’t overcome the feeling of a decrease of love for Teacher Sun Myung Moon, and so Baek-moon Kim failed. The indemnity for this failure had to be paid by the 36 blessed couples, whom Teacher trusted the most. Accordingly, each of the 36 husbands had to offer his beloved wife to Teacher Sun Myung Moon, in order to overcome the feeling of a diminished sense of love. This was called the Body Ceremony, which was also known as the Three Day Ceremony. The contents of this Body Ceremony were clearly explained by Teacher Moon, and it was a fact that he himself also practiced it.

Baek-moon Kim had originally also revealed very similar contents [in his books], Theology of the Holy Spirit and Fundamental Christian Principles. Baek-moon Kim carried out the Body Ceremony in front of his disciples. [He wrote about the ‘fall’ and a ‘three-day ceremony to purify the blood’ on pages 128-130 of the first of his three books, Theology of the Holy Spirit, which was published in 1954. Sun Myung Moon’s first book of theology, the Divine Principle was not published until 1957. Before that a few handwritten notebooks were circulated by church members.]

Adam and Eve should have married after having achieved their perfection of character [or the fulfilment of the first blessing, Genesis 1:28] and established a sinless lineage. However, because of the Fall with Lucifer, they left behind a fallen lineage.  (Genesis, Chapter 3) (Divine Principle, Chapter 2)

Tamar was married to Er and then to Onan, two sons of Judah. However, both of these men died [before fathering any children], and there was no lineage from them. When Tamar realized that she couldn’t marry Shelah, Judah’s last son, she decided to trick her father-in-law into a sexual relationship to [conceive a child and] continue the blood lineage.  (Genesis, Chapter 38)

[King David later came from this lineage.]

King David took Bathsheba to be his ‘wife’. [He got her pregnant while her husband Uriah was away fighting a war. David called Uriah back to Jerusalem, but Uriah would not have sex with his wife. For this reason] King David sent Uriah to die on the battlefield.  (Second Book of Samuel, Chapter 11)

In response to a revelation from God, Mary went to [the house of] Zechariah. [There,] she had a sexual relationship with him and became pregnant with Jesus.  (Luke, Chapter 1)

Mary Magdalene was the lover of the most trusted disciple, Judas. To change the lineage and to leave one without original sin, Jesus should have taken Mary Magdalene and had sex with her.

• At the time of Jesus

[At first John the Baptist was positive towards Jesus and baptised him.] John should have become Jesus’ first disciple and testified to the world that Jesus was the messiah. But because John’s love for Jesus decreased he failed. [John separated from Jesus and went his own way.]

Judas really loved Mary Magdalene. He should have overcome his feelings of jealousy towards Jesus [and dedicated Mary to him. This would have reversed the failure of John the Baptist.] However, Judas could not overcome his feeling of reduced love for Jesus, and he betrayed Jesus for money.

• In the case of Teacher Moon → he is in the position to restore through indemnity the failure of Jesus

Since Jesus didn’t have original sin, he wanted to have a change of blood lineage [ceremony] with Mary Magdalene, so that he could leave sinless descendants. However, Jesus was not able to have a family and leave children without original sin in the world, so he failed.

↓

Sun Myung Moon [comes with pure blood, and he] must perform the pikareum blood cleansing ritual. He must leave a new lineage free from original sin.

[In summary, including points from notes by other workshop participants: Sun Myung Moon has the duty to do the pikareum sex ritual with the 36 wives to cleanse them of original sin. The husbands must overcome any feelings of jealousy they may have. They should be happy that their wives are being freed from original sin by Sun Myung Moon. The husbands can then be cleansed by having sex with their wives. Moon had to go this path because of the failures of John the Baptist, Jesus and Baek-moon Kim.]

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At one of the workshops Mr. Ueyama said, “There was a good possibility for this kind of thing (pikareum) to take place for True Father to be victorious as the Messiah.”

Another point was about Hyo-jin Moon [the husband of Nansook Hong]. Mr. Ueyama asked the workshop participants if they had heard about Hyo-jin Nim’s fall (adultery) from the Christian ministers who opposed the Unification Church. (He asked the members to raise their hands.) Mr. Ueyama said when ‘Black Heung-jin Nim’ came, Hyo-jin Nim confessed this adultery as a fact.

A further topic at the workshops was on how to deal with the serious persecution of the Unification Church / FFWPU from the Christian churches of Japan.

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Gil Ja Sa Eu, one of the 36 couples, and wife of Hyo-won Eu who wrote the Divine Principle, said: “Because the first three blessing groups, up to the 124 Couples, are part of ‘Father’s royal family,’ Father was very careful in selecting who should be part of that group.” LINK

Moon restored all the wives of these first three blessing groups (3+33 = 36, 72 and 124), therefore they are known as the Father’s Royal Family.

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VIDEO: Hyung Jin Sean Moon confirms his father, Sun Myung Moon, had sex with Six Marys and more women than that as part of his messianic mission

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FBI Report (San Francisco office) on the Unification Church, September 1975

A letter from the Church of the Nazarene in Seoul, reproduced on pages 9-11 of this FBI Report gives an interesting summary of the official and the unofficial theology of the Unification Church.

The following doctrinal statement [was] filed with the Korean Government by Moon’s Unification Association. Here are the secretly observed other beliefs and practices:

1) Founder Moon is the Second Advent Jesus. 2) A believer receives a spiritual body by participating in a ceremony known as blood cleansing which is for women to have sexual intercourse with Moon and for men to have intercourse with such a woman. This idea of blood cleansing comes from the teaching that Eve committed immorality with the Serpent and she passes on to all of us serpent blood. 3) Secretly observed doctrines are Holy covenant and are of more value than the Bible. 4) Members who have experienced blood cleansing can produce sinless generation [children]. 5) Founder Moon is sinless.

LINK to Chicago Tribune article and the 1975 FBI report

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Pak Chung-hwa interviewed about Moon’s “SEX relays”

Ewha Womans University sex scandal as told in the 1955 newspapers

Sun Myung Moon found guilty in 1955; started two year jail sentence

Sun Myung Moon used a ‘Honey Trap’ – Choi Soon-yeong explains

Pikareum sex emerged at Ewha Womans University in 1955

Sun Myung Moon’s “Gigantic lie” by Eu Hyo-min (36 couple)

Moon’s first wife, Choi Seon-gil, and Kim Deok-jin interviewed

How “God’s Day” was established on January 1, 1968

Change of Blood Lineage through Ritual Sex in the Unification Church by Kirsti L. Nevalainen

Chicago Tribune: “The Moonies: Government Files Trace Church from Sex Cult to Korean CIA”

The original Japanese workshop notes are HERE

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[orthodoxydaily]

Icon,Saints& Reading: Wed., Nov, 25, 2020

Commemorated on November 12_ Julian Calendar

Saint John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria (620)

     Saint John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, was born on Cyprus in the VII Century into the family of the illustrious dignitary Epiphanios. At the wish of his parents he entered into marriage and had children. When the wife and the children of the saint died, he became a monk: strict at fasting, prayer and love for brother.      His spiritual exploits gain him reknown, and when the Patriarchal cathedra-seat at Alexandria fell vacant, the emperor Heraclius and all the clergy besought Saint John to occupy the Patriarchal throne.      The saint worthily assumed his archpastoral service, concerning himself over the moral and dogmatic welfare of his flock. During his time as patriarch he denounced and drove out from Alexandria the heresy of the Antioch Monophysite Phyllonos.      But his chief task he considered to be charity and beneficence towards all those in need. At the beginning of his patriarchal service he ordered an accounting of all the poor and downtrodden in Alexandria, which turned out to be over seven thousand men. To all these unfortunates the saint daily distributed food, gratis and for free. Twice during the week, on Wednesdays and Fridays, he emerged from the doors of the Patriarchal cathedral, and sitting on the church portico, he received everyone in need: he settled quarrels, aided the wronged, and distributed alms. Three times a week he visited in the sick-houses, and rendered help to the suffering. It was during this period that the emperor Heraclius led a tremendous army against the Persian emperor Chosroes II. It resulted with the Persians ravaging and burning Jerusalem, and taking a multitude of captives. The holy Patriarch John gave over a large portion of the church treasury for their ransom.      The saint never refused suppliants. One time along the road to the sick-house he encountered a beggar and commanded that he be given 6 silver coins. The beggar, having made a change of clothes, ran on ahead of the Patriarch and again began to entreat alms. Saint John again gave him 6 silver coins. When however the beggar a third time besought charity, and the servants began to thrust away the obtrusive fellow, the Patriarch ordered that he be given 12 pieces of silver, saying: "Is Christ not indeed putting me to the test?" Twice the saint gave money to a merchant that had suffered shipwreck, and a third time gave him a ship belonging to the Patriarchate and filled with grain, with which the merchant had a successful journey and repaid his obligations.      Saint John the Merciful was known for his gentle attitude towards people. One time the saint was compelled because of some offense to remove from the Church a certain clergyman. This fellow was angry at the Patriarch, and so the saint wanted to summon him and talk it out, but it slipped his mind. But when he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy, the saint was suddenly reminded by the words of the Gospel: when thou bringest forth thine gift to the altar and do recollect, that thine brother hath something against thee, leave hold thine gift and first make peace with thine brother (Mt. 5: 23-24). The saint came out of the altar, called over the offending clergyman to him, and falling down on his knees before him, in front of all the people he asked forgiveness. The clergyman, shaken with surprise, repented his doings and afterwards became a pious priest.      Likewise there was a time when a certain citizen insulted George, a nephew of the Patriarch. George asked the saint to avenge the wrong. The saint promised to reward the offender, in a manner that all Alexandria would see. This calmed George down, and Saint John began to instruct him, speaking about the necessity of meekness and humility, and then, having summoned the insulter, he declared, that he would release him from payment of a church tax on his land. Alexandria indeed was amazed by such a "revenge", and George learned the lesson in the teaching of his uncle.      Saint John, a strict ascetic and man of prayer, was always mindful of his soul, and of death. He commissioned for himself a crypt-coffin, but he did not bid the master-craftsmen to finish it off, instead each feastday he would have them come and ask, if it was time to finish the work.      Shortly before his death, Saint John through illness was compelled to resign his cathedra and set off to the island of Cyprus. On the ship-journey the saint in his illness had a sign: in a sleep-vision a resplendent man appeared to him and said: "The King of kings doth summon thee unto Himself". The vision announced the impending death of the Patriarch. Having arrived at Cyprus, in his native city of Amaphunteia, the saint in peace expired to the Lord (616-620).

The Holy Monk Nilos the Faster

     The Holy Monk Nilos the Faster, a native of Constantinople. He lived during the V Century and was a student of Saint John Chrysostom. Having received a fine education, the saint while still a young man was appointed to the important post of prefect of the capital. During this period, Nilos was married and had children. But the pomp of courtly life bothered the couple. Saint John Chrysostom exerted a tremendous influence upon their lives and their strivings. The spouses decided to separate and devote themself to monastic life. The wife and daughter of Nilos set out to one of the women's monasteries in Egypt, and the Monk Nilos and his son Theodoulos went to Sinai, where they settled in a cave dug out by their own hands. For forty years this cave served as the dwelling of the Monk Nilos. By fasting, prayer and works, the monk attained to an high degree of spiritual perfection. People began to come to him from every occupation and social rank – from the emperor down to the farmer, and each found counsel and comfort from the saint. In solitude the Monk Nilos wrote much. A letter of his is known of – in which there is an angry denunciation of the emperor Arcadius, who had exiled Saint John Chrysostom. And widely known are the ascetic works of the Monk Nilos: they are perfectly executed in form, profoundly Orthodox, and filled with sincere sense and clear thought.      The Monk Nilos suffered many a misfortune in the wilderness. Thus, for example, Saracens captured his son Theodoulos, whom they intended to offer as a sacrifice to their pagan gods. Through the prayers of the saint the Lord saved Theodoulos, and the monk found him with the bishop of Emessa, who had ransomed the young man from the barbarians. And this bishop ordained both of them as presbyters. After ordination they returned to Sinai, where they asceticised together until the death of the Monk Nilos.

All texts© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.

Icon: the "Merciful" ("Kykkiotisa", "Milostivaya")

Commemorated on November 12, December 26_ Julian calendar

     The Icon of the Mother of God, named the "Merciful" ("Kykkiotisa", "Milostivaya"): This icon was written, according to tradition, by the holy Evangelist Luke. It received its name "Kykkiotisa" from Mount Kykkos, on the Island of Cyprus. Here it was situated in an imperial monastery, in a church named after it. Before its coming to the Island of Cyprus, the wonderworking image of the Mother of God long wandered about through the will of God: at first it was situated in one the earliest Christian communities in Egypt, and then it was taken to Constantinople, where it remained during the time of Alexius Comnenius (end-XI to early-XII Century). During these years it was revealed to the hermit-elder Isaiah through a miraculous sign, that by his efforts the wonderworking image written by the Evangelist Luke would come to reside on the Island of Cyprus. The elder exerted much toil into fulfilling the Divine revelation. When the icon of the Mother of God arrived on the island, many a miracle was worked by it. From of old through the present to the monastery of the Mother of God the Merciful there throng those from every side afflicted by every sort of infirmity, and they receive healing through faith. In the miraculous power of the holy icon believe not only Christians, but also those of other faith who hearken to it in misfortune and illness. Inexhaustible is the mercy of the MostHoly Mother of God, Mediatrix for all the suffering, and Her image accurately bears the name, the "Merciful". The wonderworking "Kykkiotisa" Icon of the Mother of God possesses a remarkable peculiarity: from what time-period is unknown, but it is covered by an half shroud from the upper left corner to the lower right, such that the faces of the Mother of God and the Divine Infant no one is able to make bold to see. The depiction of the Mother of God appears to be of the Hodegetria type, as is also the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. The head of the Mother of God is adorned with a crown.      At present a copy of this icon is particularly venerated at the women's Nikol'sk monastery in the city of Mukachev.

Luke 13:1-9 

1There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 6 He also spoke this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?' 8 But he answered and said to him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 'And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.'  

Thessalonians 2:13-3:5

13But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our LordJesus Christ.15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.

1Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, 2 and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. 4 And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you. 5 Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.

[madewithonerib]

2 Timothy 3:14-15 | But as for you, continue in the things you have learned & firmly believed, since you know from whom you have learned them. From infancy you have known the Holy SCRIPTURES, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in CHRIST JESUS.

       ●  Titus 1:9 | We must hold firmly to the trustworthy             message as it was taught, so that by sound             teaching we will be able to encourage others             & refute those who contradict this message.

       ●  1 Timothy 4:16 | Pay close attention to your life &             to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for             by so doing you will save both yourself & those             who hear you.

       ●  Colossians 2:1-3 | For I want you to know how much             I am struggling for you & for those at Laodicea, & for             all who have not met me face to face, that they may             be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, &             filled with the full riches of complete understanding,             so that they may know the mystery of GOD, namely             CHRIST, in whom are hidden all the treasures of             wisdom & knowledge.

       ●  1 Thessalonians 2:13 | And we continually thank GOD             because, when you received the WORD of GOD that             you heard from us, you accepted it not as the             word of men, but as the true WORD of GOD—the             WORD which is now at work in you who believe.

     2 Timothy 3:12-15 | Indeed, all who desire to live godly      lives in CHRIST JESUS will be persecuted,      while evil men & imposters go from bad to worse,      deceiving & being deceived.      But as for you, continue in the things you have learned      & firmly believed, since you know from whom you have      learned them. From infancy you have known the      Holy SCRIPTURES, which are able to make you      wise for salvation through faith in CHRIST JESUS.

Joseph Benson, Methodist [1749–1821] | 2 Timothy 3:14

1.] From infancy you have known the Holy SCRIPTURES

The apostle calls them holy or sacred SCRIPTURES, or writings, because they were given by inspiration of the HOLY SPIRIT, through the instrumentality of holy men, because they deal with holy things, contain holy doctrines, precepts, & promises,

           And are designed & calculated            to make people holy.

It must be remembered, that Timothy’s mother & grandmother, being pious Jewish women, had trained him up from his childhood in the knowledge & belief of the writings of Moses & the prophets.

And their care in thus instructing him, being commended by the apostle, shows us that little children ought to be made acquainted with the SCRIPTURES as early as possible;

And that they may derive much benefit even from that imperfect knowledge of them, & of the principles of religion, which they are capable of attaining in their tenderest years. 

2.]  Which are able to make you wise unto salvation

Even the SCRIPTURES of the OT were able to make men thus wise, through faith in the MESSIAH, before HE came.

How much more are those of the O&NT, taken together, able, in GOD’s hand, to make us more abundantly wise unto salvation, through faith in HIM actually come, even such a salvation as was not known before JESUS was glorified?

           1 Peter 1:10-12 | Concerning this salvation, the            prophets, who foretold the grace to come to you,            searched & investigated carefully, trying to determine            the time & setting to which the SPIRIT of CHRIST            in them was pointing when HE predicted the            sufferings of CHRIST & the glories to follow.

           It was revealed to them that they were not serving            themselves but you, when they foretold the things            now announced by those who preached the            GOSPEL to you by the HOLY SPIRIT sent            from heaven.

           Even angels long to look into these things.

Matthew Henry, Nonconformist [1662-1714] | 2 Timothy 3:14

      We best oppose error by promoting a solid knowledge       of the word of truth; & the greatest kindness we can do       to children, is to make them early to know the BIBLE.

Albert Barnes, American Theologian [1798-1870]

     But continue you in the things which you have learned      & been assured of - To wit, the truths of religion.

     Timothy had been taught those truths when a child,      & he had been confirmed in them by the instructions      of Paul.

     Amidst the errors & seductions of false teachers,      Paul now exhorts him to hold fast those doctrines,      whoever might oppose them, or whatever might      be the consequence [See notes at 2 Timothy 1:13]

2.] Knowing of whom you have learned them - To wit,      of his mother 2 Timothy 1:5, & of Paul      [2 Timothy 1:13].

     The reference seems to be particularly to the fact that      he had learned these truths first from the lips of his      mother [see 2 Timothy 3:15];

     & the doctrine taught here is, "we have received the      views of truth from a parent's lips, is a strong motive      for adhering to them."

           It is not to be supposed, indeed, that            this is the highest motive, or that we            are always to adhere to the doctrines            which have been taught us, if,            on maturer examination, we are            convinced they are erroneous;

     but that this is a strong reason for adhering to what      we have been taught in early life. It is so, because:

     [1] A parent has no motive for deceiving a child,            & it cannot be supposed that s/he would teach            them what s/he knew to be false;

     [2] A parent usually has had much more experience,            & much better opportunities of examining what is            true, than their child has;

     [3] there is a degree of respect which nature teaches            us to be due to the sentiments of a parent.

     A child should depart very slowly from the opinions      held by a father or mother; &, when it is done, it should      be only as the result of prolonged examination & prayer.

     These considerations should have the greater weight,      if a parent has been eminent for piety, & especially if      that parent has been removed to heaven.

     A child, standing by the grave of a pious father or mother,      should reflect & pray much, before s/he deliberately      adopts opinions which s/he knows their parents would      regard as wrong.

Donald Spence Jones [1836-1917] | 2 Timothy 3:14

     Abide for continue, Abide thou, etc.

     Be not like these juggling heretics, blown about by      every wind of doctrine, & always seeking some      new thing,

           but abide in the old truths which            you have learnt from your childhood.

     Have been assured of only here in the NT      [1 Kings 1:36]

     In classical Greek it has the same sense as here      [among others], "to be made sure of a thing."

     Of whomyou have learned them, or according to      another reading of nearly equal authority.

     If τίνος is the right reading, it must refer either to      GOD or to Apostle Paul.

     In favour of its referring to GOD is the expression      in the Prophet Isaiah commented upon by our      LORD in John 6:45, where παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς      answers to παρὰ τίνος;

           the promise concerning the Comforter,            "HE shall teach you all things"

     [John 14:26, etc.]; & the very similar reasoning      of Apostle John, when he is exhorting his "little      children" to stand fast in the faith, in spite of those      that seduced them:

           "Let that therefore abide in you which you            have heard from the beginning;"

     for "the anointing which you have received of      HIM, abides in you, & you need not that      any man teach you:

           but as the same anointing teachs you of            all things,...& even as it has taught yon,            abide in HIM" [1 John 2:24-28];

     & other similar passages.

     There would obviously be great force in reminding      Timothy that he had received the GOSPEL under      the immediate teaching of the HOLY SPIRIT, &      that it would be a shameful thing for him to turn      aside under the influence of those impostors.

     If τίνων does not refer to GOD, it must refer to      Apostle Paul.

     If, on the other hand, τίνων is the true reading      [which is less probable], it must refer to Lois &      Eunice, which seems rather feeble.

Yet to be asked this but been challenged a few times whether LGBTQ is sin This is an opener to the ultimate question of the LORDSHIP of JESUS, who proclaimed not only is HE the only way the holiness of GOD provided salvation for HIS followers to lead holy lives 1Pe 2:21; 1Jo 2:6

RE: twitter.com/Ligonier/status/1289984312691974144

     When @RCSproul was in college he was asked,      “Is CHRIST the only way?” In this brief clip, he      shares how he responded.

1 Peter 2:21-22 | For to this you were called, because CHRIST also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in HIS footsteps: “HE committed no sin, & no deceit was found in HIS mouth” 1 John 2:6 | Whoever claims to abide in HIM must walk as JESUS walked.

Challenged by when they declare marriage to same sex while working for Salvation Army, or by some such boasting—which requires gentle reminder: GOD alone defines right & wrong; tho only our LORD lived perfectly still we're mandated to imitate HIM by power of HIS HOLY SPIRIT

1Th 1:6 | you became imitators of us & of the LORD when you welcomed the message w/ joy of the HOLY SPIRIT, in spite of your great suffering Shame springs from sin—not joy We suffer plague w/ temptation & as we grow in truth—keep repenting knowing it will end at return of JESUS

At the heart of the issue of sin, be it living in sin or refusing to accept the sovereignty of GOD: >>no amount of avoidance/denial make it true/right Opinions won't clear us of our crimes, outward rituals likewise meaningless if it doesn't shift our hope & joy to stem from GOD

@threadreaderapp unroll RE: twitter.com/RyanOsinski/status/1289995668681969665 RE:RE: twitter.com/RyanOsinski/status/1290006705632247815

We know historically that the early Church did not meet in large gatherings. They met in small gatherings from house to house. It was a lot safer,  cheaper, & there was food.

1Pe 2:13-15 | Submit yourselves for the LORD’s sake to every human institution, whether to the king as supreme authority, as those sent by HIM to punish those who do wrong & to praise.. For it's GOD’s will by doing good you silence ignorance of foolish men.

At least 10 statements of GOD’s will 

Christians ought to make GOD’s will the practice of their life —nothing more, nothing less, & nothing else.

There are at least 10 specific statements of GOD’s particular will in the BIBLE for true believers.

1. Salvation 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9 2. Sacrifice Romans 12:1-2 3. Spirit-control Ephesians 5:17-21 4. Sanctification 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 5. Submission 1 Peter 2:13-15 6. Satisfaction 1 Thessalonians 5:18 7. Seeking 1 John 5:14-15 8. Serving Psalm 103:21 9. Suffering 1 Peter 3:17; 4:19 10. Shepherding 1 Peter 5:2

The MacArthur Bible Commentary | 1 Thessalonians 5

     1 John 5:14-15 | And this is the confidence that      we have before HIM: If we ask anything according      to HIS will, HE hears us. And if we know that HE      hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we      already possess what we have asked of HIM.

[notsimplysusurrus]

So...I’m back on my bullshit, y’know, watching more documentaries about “father-daughter purity balls” and writing my feelings about them. 

But this time, they interviewed frat boys, which tbh was much better than I imagined it would be. They were surprisingly sex-positive? One guy straight up was like “too many people put sex up on a pedestal, but it shouldn’t be”. I agree random, frat boy. 

They have a chat with the despicable institutions known as “[crisis] pregnancy centres”. You don’t have to be a doctor/nurse to work there--only a “Bible-believing Xtian”. We love manipulating pregnant people into doing things they don’t want to do /s/. Moreover they, of course, offer abstinence-only sex education. 

Wowza, people seriously talking about religious guilt in regards to sex (and in general). And he’s still an Xtian yet not shitty! That’s not to say I dislike all xtians but rather to say ive had enough bad experiences with them to be cautious. Good for you, mate. He said that Xtianity dampens a person’s ability to express themselves sexually--even if they are married (as in his, personal experience but I believe it).  Xtian man strikes again, saying that saving yourself for marriage doesn’t make you better than anyone else. Again: good for you, mate.

An American Idol contestant is being interviewed on a radio show? She’s so pure uwu /s/. SHE SANG A SONG ABOUT PURITY. I fucking can’t. It’s called “Count Me Out” if you were wondering. This concept of “spiritual purity” after you’ve chosen to lose your virginity (and done so consensually) is so silly to me. 

Damn one (1) queen points out that “saving yourself for someone special” is shit when you get married to someone you later find out isn’t all that special. Then they provide a quote that says “Evangelical Christians have the highest divorce rate out of any social group in the United States” (source provided: The Barna Research Group). 

1996 - “The Silver Ring Thing” was founded

*TSRT is apparently a stupidass abstinence-only education program

*“gOd cReAtEd SeX aND MarRiaGE”

*“PRO VIRGINITY MUSIC AND SKITS” WHAT IS THIS? Every time I watch one of these videos, I feel more powerful as a non-married, non-virgin

*They claim “safe sex isn’t”....okay Karen AND the US Gov fucking aids in its funding im going to kms

*“Are you both virgins?”

“My religion is Catholic” --> this carries so much “I thought you were aMeRiCan” energy

*“a “women” [who they define as “women”] is supposed to bleed the first time they have sex” NOnoOnonononononnoNOoo. You might, but that’s not a given if you’re properly aroused STOP TEACHING YOUNG PEOPLE LIES

*This mans also claims, basically, that you’ll never bleed again after losing your virginity when you’re “supposed to” but that is NOT true--people with vaginas can bleed any time that penetration occurs. Again, it depends on how lubricated and/or aroused you are--not virginity (lube is your friend, trust me.)

*I’m going to punch him “spIriTUal HeALiNG maDe heR BLeEd on Her WedDinG niGhT”. NO, IT DIDN’T! She just wasn’t properly aroused and or lubricated (probably because your virgin so-called friend is ignorant asf). He also considers this “healing” IM GOING TO LOSE MY MIND

*...the story wasn’t really about his “friend”...it was about him...so he’s the dumbass here--USE FUCKING LUBE. ANd he shares this story with people???

2005 - ACLU sues TSRT bc it uses tax dollars to promote Xtianity 

2006 - TSRT refuses to change and loses federal funding 

Good for the ACLU. The US Gov is supposed to be secular (though it’s often not, and I recognise that). 

Dr. Douglas Kirby “The Grandfather of Sex Education” appeareth and local fucker compares safe sex to drunk driving while wearing a seatbelt and smoking filtered ciggies. More at six. Dr. DK throws down about the merits of comprehensive sexual education.

Aforementioned fucker claims that his “research” on condoms revealed that they’re “not effective” (when used properly, they most definitely are btw--in regards both to pregnancy prevention and preventing STDs). 

“When you’re using a condom you’re having unsafe sex. When you’re [practising] abstinence, you’re having safe sex.” -aforementioned fucker

Journal of Religion and Society (2005): “Higher rates of a belief in a Creator correlate with higher rates of STDs, teen pregnancy, and abortion. 

A woman who had an abortion (unknowingly) makes the case that religious guilt often makes people feel bad about having an abortion. Also, her ex-boyfriend was a real wanker, so I wish Penny the best. 

Annnd some of the frat boys end up being expectedly shitty later on -.- “no woman with my baby is getting an abortion”. Go fuck yourself. 

Aforementioned fucker doesn’t believe there ought to be exceptions for abortions in the case of rape or incest. I’m...disappointed but not surprised.

Abortions used to be covered by Medicaid?? Why is the US so good at going back on decent decisions and being an asshole, instead? And the feminist writer who points this out is a whole ass comrade, talking about how the poor are being especially fucked over by anti-abortion legislation. 

Dr. Claire Brindis points out that the “pro-life” movement is really hypocritical because it doesn’t support government programs that would aid poor, single mothers they so desperately want to keep from having abortions. 

Ffs Teddy is complaining about being sleepy and ready to go to bed, so idk if we can finish this tonight. There’s less than 30 minutes left though! Maybe I can bribe him.

Dr. CB - some women tell me “the only way I could get out of a gang was by getting pregnant” oh deer, oh my. But also...that’s probably not the best environment for a child. DR. CB also says that CSA can cause [afab people] to engage in/want relationships with older men...so that explains a lot about me.

The United States has the highest rape rate among countries that repost such statistics - 4 times higher than Germany, 13 times higher than England, and 20 times higher than Japan. 

Yikes, yikes, yikes. Feminist writer woman is back with straight facts: “age-appropriate sex education starting in kindergarten can protect children from sexual abuse bc if you’re not talking to [them] about what parts are private, [they aren’t able to tell an adult that they’re being abused because they don’t always realise what’s happening is abuse].” 

Random aside: there is a stripper talking about how she was raised Catholic and now teaches pole dancing, and she’s...very talented. 10/10 do support. you go, gurl.  

95% of young people have sex before marriage acc. to Dr. Douglas Kirby

Okay, the woman who teaches pole dancing is a straight queen, talking about how she wants her daughter to have safe sex if she’s going to with a guy or a girl, and I love this woman. Aforementioned fucker, on the other hand, says that he wouldn’t tell his daughter to use a condom bc it “wouldn’t protect her”. Again...incredibly disappointed but still not surprised. 

My ex-stripper QUEEN SAID “MY FATHER DOES NOT HAVE CONTROL OVER MY PUSSY” What a goddamn queen?! Gods and she says that this whole purity ball bullshit is about male power. Be my friend. Realise how powerful you are! I love her. 

Awww in the post-credit scenes, it says that the girl who I talked about having had an abortion feels much better about her decision now. Good for her!

Anyway, @ntis this is why not educating children and teens about sex is super no bueno. 

[confrontingbabble-on]

“...when I think about mindfucks I think—as a former Evangelical—about Evangelical Christianity, which traffics, wholesale, in mindfuckery...

1. It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship (with your imagination...!). ...it’s one of Evangelicalism’s favorite ways of saying, We’re not like all those other (obviously false) faith-based belief systems. We just love Jesus and Jesus loves us, and he loves you, too. From the inside, this relationship thing feels really real and really good. But from the outside it’s a bunch of transparent hooey. Your born-again Christianity is a love relationship—with a character whose name and history you got from a set of ancient texts that were compiled and handed down by a vast hierarchical organization that once torched dissenting texts (and people). And this not-religion has sacred writings and rituals and leaders and schools of systematic theology, and it dictates what people are supposed to believe and how they’re supposed to behave. And it provides all the same social functions and structures as religions.

2. That’s the OLD Testament. In my childhood Bible, the Old Testament is bound together with the New Testament in a gold-stamped blue leather cover with these words on the title page, “The words of Scripture as originally penned in the Hebrew and Greek . . . are the eternal Word of God.” This statement is followed by a verse from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever (Is 40:8).To Evangelicals, the Old Testament is the timeless Word of God, except when the vile atrocities described there become inconvenient or when people quote horrible verses—say those that demean women, endorse slavery, condemn homosexuality and shellfish eating, promote the idea of Chosen bloodlines, or make statements that are scientific nonsense. Then it’s just the Old Testament, and Evangelicals pull out all kinds of fancy “supersessionist” language to explain that those verses don’t really count because of the “new covenant” or the “Dispensation of Grace.” But just try suggesting that a Bible believer take the Old Testament out of the Holy Bible.

3. Yes, no, maybe. God answers prayer. Except when he doesn’t. The New Testament says, And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive  (Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24). But everybody knows that in the real world that doesn’t happen. Christians face bankruptcies and bad test scores and death at the same rate as other people. God answers prayer at the margins of statistical significance, if at all—even when parents are asking for their kids to get healed from cancer, or kids are pleading that parents stop hitting them.How does one explain that? The age-old Christian answer has been that when your prayers aren’t answered you should doubt yourself rather than God, assuming that your faith was too weak or you wanted something you shouldn’t. But Evangelicals have come up with something even more clever: God does always answer! It’s just that he sometimes says no, or maybe, instead of yes. That ask anything and it shall be done Bible verse really meant, ask selectively and he might say yes.

4. Be selfless for your own sake. If you want to be great in God’s kingdom, learn to be the servant of all, say the lyrics to one Christian song. Got that? “If you want to be great,” not “if you want to do the most good in the world.” Granted, learn to be the servant of all beats some other paths people take when they seek status, but it is a path to status nonetheless, which is why the church is full of self-proclaimed servant leaders who actually aspire to great man or woman status.

5. Christianity is humble. According to Catholic theology, pride is one of the seven deadly sins. Evangelical preachers tell us it was Satan’s original sin. Pride cometh before the fall, so humble yourself before God. Couple this claim about humility with the idea that you should preach [your version of] the gospel to every creature—and things get turned inside out and upside down.Famed Puritan hellfire-and-brimstone minister Jonathan Edwards said, “We must view humility as one of the most essential things that characterizes true Christianity.” Edwards also expounded with righteous certitude about the torments of the wicked in hell—wicked meaning anyone who didn’t share his Puritan beliefs.Anyone who has spent much time in an Evangelical church community knows that superior humility can be a powerful form of one-upmanship. But competitive humility aside, what could possibly be more arrogant than thinking the universe was made for mankind, that only we bipedal primates are made in the image of God, that all other sentient beings are here for us to use, that you happened to be born into the one true faith among the tens of thousands of false ones, and that the force that created the laws of physics wants a personal relationship with you.

6. Christianity isn’t sexist; God just has different intentions and rules for men and women. Just because in the Old Testament God (identified by the male pronoun) makes man first, puts men in charge (male headship), gives men the right to barter women and take them as war booty doesn’t mean they’re unequal. Just because the New Testament forbids women to speak in church, tells them to cover their heads and submit to men, and excludes them from leadership positions doesn’t mean that women are inferior to men!

The Bible may be rife with stories with predominantly male protagonists. It may show women competing to have sons. Genealogies may be determined by paternity. God may convey his word exclusively through male writers and may take the form of a male human. But that doesn’t mean men and women are unequal! They’re just “different.” All of those generations of Patriarchs and Church Fathers and Reformers and Preachers who said vile things about women—they just misunderstood the Bible’s message on this point.

7. Believe and be saved. Right belief, according to Evangelicalism, is the toggle that sends people to heaven or hell—as if we could simply make ourselves believe whatever we want, regardless of the evidence, and as if the ability to do so were a virtue. Right belief makes you one of the Righteous. Wrong belief makes you one of the Wicked. God may have given you the ability to think, but you follow logic and evidence where they lead only at your own eternal peril. If you don’t believe, it’s because you secretly just don’t want to.Granted we all are prone to a greater or lesser degree, to what psychologists call “motivated belief,” meaning we have a tendency to selectively seek evidence for things we either want to be true or, more rarely, fear to be true. But this is hardly a sign of robust character or moral virtue. Quite the opposite.

8. God loves you and he’ll send you to hell. And once you die, it’s all irreversible. George Carlin put it best: Religion has convinced people that there’s an invisible man … living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn’t want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you and he needs money.

OK, Carlin didn’t have his theology right, at least not from an Evangelical standpoint. You don’t go to hell for violating the Ten Commandments. You go to hell for not accepting Jesus as your savior. But yeah, he loves you, loves you, loves you, and if you don’t love him back and worship him and accept his gift of forgiveness for your imperfection, he’s going to torture you forever. Wrap your brain around that definition of love.

9. Free choice under duress. Why is the world full of sin and suffering if God is all powerful and all good? Because he wanted us to worship him of our own free will. He loves us too much to force us, so we had to be able to choose—so the story goes.But, if what he wanted was love and adoration, freely given, then why did he entice us with promises of heaven and threaten us with eternal torture? Can someone really love you if you demand their love at gunpoint?

10. Lean not unto your own understanding. Faith is just believing. Trust and obey. Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong (1 Corinthians 16:13). The fool has said in his heart there is no God (Psalm 14:1).

The idea that your own mind, logic, and the evidence in the world around you is not to be trusted may be Evangelicalism’s biggest mindfuck, because it is subtext in all the others. Any doubts are just evidence that your mind (and basic human decency) are shaky. Since doubt is a sign of weak faith—and sometimes even direct from the devil—you should never ever trust what you think, feel, see or experience over what the Bible says and the Church teaches. Walk by faith, not by sight. Stop asking questions! “

Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and writer in Seattle, Washington.

https://valerietarico.com/2019/02/08/evangelical-christianitys-ten-biggest-mindfucks/

[mrlnsfrt]

For The Sake of the Mission

Last month I was asked to speak at a funeral service in Indiana. It was a different environment from what I am used to in my home in South Georgia. I guess most places in the US are more secular than South Georgia. As I rode to the cemetery in the hearse and talked with the funeral director he shared with me how fewer and fewer funerals had a spiritual or religious side to them. He said it had been a while since he had someone open the Bible and read from it as I had done at that funeral. As we talked he asked me what made me want to go into full-time ministry. This is a question I had not been asked in a while. My answer has usually been along the lines of “I could not think of a better way to invest my life.” As I told him about my decision to study theology it became even clearer in my mind that this journey began because of the sense I had of the importance of the mission. In other words, I felt, and continue to feel, that people need Jesus and that a closer walk with Him is beneficial to everyone in the world.

Many of you may already know this, but I am an immigrant here in the United States. I was born in Brazil and did not come to the United States until I was about to turn 13 years old. Transitioning to a different country, language, culture, etc. was very challenging and the church I attended played a vital role in my life as I figured out who I was. As a teenager, I was figuring out who I was since I was no longer a child, and that can be challenging enough by itself, not to mention my identity as a Brazilian living in the United States, and as a Christian. I lived near Boston at that time and being a Christian in the northeast is very different than being a Christian in the southeast.

My father is a pastor and I witnessed him lead the church to mission, I witnessed lives being transformed, families coming together in love, I participated in outreach to the community and service projects. As I got older I helped teach and mentor younger kids. Things were not perfect. Some would cause trouble, leave the church, get divorced, or behave in abusive ways, people were still people. But overall, I could tell that our church made a difference in the lives of the people in that community. I witnessed the second generation, my generation, graduating from college, avoiding gangs, getting married and staying married. I witnessed a change in values and behavior for the better.

When I was in high school I felt the need for more of that. I realized that communities needed churches and that people needed Jesus. I was already involved in ministry and I wanted to do more, I wanted to help others, I wanted to make a difference in the world. So I decided to study theology and God has continued to guide me since then.

So the short answer for why I am a full-time minister, a church pastor, an active Christian, is that I really believe in the mission Jesus gave us. I am here for the sake of the mission.

Having a clear mission yields several benefits.

1 Focus

The main benefit of having a mission is that it gives you focus. You don’t have to wonder around aimlessly when you know your mission. You may wonder regarding the best way to accomplish your mission, but even that wondering is already more focused than being completely directionless.

2 Optimum Use of Resources

Another benefit of having a mission is noticed regarding the use of your resources. You work and you make money, what is the best way to use that money? You have 24 hours each day, what is the best use of your time? Your health, your mind, your abilities, the skills you have picked up, in sum, all that you have, all your resources, what is the best use for them?

Without a clear mission, you can end up chasing a career because of how much money you will make, then using that money to buy things your friends seem to value. Living like that gets you a house full of things that are not necessarily useful, debt, and a job that you dread going to every day.

Having a mission gives you a clear purpose for your work/career, your money, your possessions, your time, your abilities and talents.

3 Peace of Mind

Awareness of your mission can give you peace of mind. When you know you are doing things that contribute to the mission your mind can be at ease. You know you are on track.

4 Clarity to Decision Making

Clarity in decision making is closely linked to peace of mind. In life, there are so many options that decision making becomes a daunting task. What should you pursue, what should you say “yes” to, what should you say “no” to? Knowing what you are trying to do means that you can now ask: “does this activity contribute to my mission?”

5 More Freedom of Thought

Having a mission can help release your creative energies so you can focus on how to accomplish it. You’ll start to look for ways to make it happen.

Jesus gave us our mission.

We are called to be co-laborers with Jesus in the work of saving the world. You read that right, the entire world!

The task is daunting and more than we could ever accomplish on our own. The good news is that when Christ gave us our mission He made full provision for the execution of the work, and took upon Himself the responsibility for its success. So long as we obey His word, and work in connection with Him, we cannot fail. We are to go to all nations, to the farthest parts of the habitable globe, but know that Jesus’ presence will be there. We can work in faith and confidence, for the time will never come when God will forsake us.

Right now, you are fully equipped to reach someone and bring that person one step closer to Jesus. You can do this because God calls you and enables you and it is His will that you do this. As you go about your Father’s business He will continue to use you and equip you to do more and more for Him. But you have to start now, where you are. If you wait, you will be waiting forever.

Jesus did not only give us a mission, He guarantees our success, as we do what He has called us to do.

Jesus’ commission to the disciples included all the believers. It includes all believers in Christ to the end of time. It is a fatal mistake to suppose that the work of saving souls depends alone on the ordained minister. All who receive the good news are responsible for sharing it with those around them. All who receive the life of Christ are ordained to work for the salvation of their fellow men and women. It was for this work that the church was established, and all who take upon themselves its sacred vows are thereby pledged to be co-workers with Christ. (The Desire of Ages page 822)

It is vital to notice that it is in doing Christ's work that we have the promise of His presence. Go make disciples of all the nations, He said; “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20 NKJV) Accepting the mission is one of the first conditions of receiving His power.

The very life of the church depends upon her faithfulness in fulfilling the Lord's commission. To neglect this work is surely to invite spiritual feebleness and decay. Where there is no active labor for others, love wanes, and faith grows dim. - The Desire of Ages p.825

It’s not a question of whether or not God has called you to ministry, but rather what type of ministry has God called you to. God has called you to make disciples, the question is only how are you to use the gifts and resources He has given you to do it.

As Christians, we are aware that divine love has been stirred to its unfathomable depths for the sake of us humans. Imagine the angels shocked to behold in us, the recipients of so great love, a mere surface gratitude. The angels of heaven must marvel at our shallow appreciation of the love of God. Heavenly beings stand indignant at the neglect shown to the souls of men and women. Do you wonder how Jesus feels regarding our lack of interest in the salvation of those around us?

“How would a father and mother feel, did they know that their child, lost in the cold and the snow, had been passed by, and left to perish, by those who might have saved it? Would they not be terribly grieved, wildly indignant? Would they not denounce those murderers with wrath hot as their tears, intense as their love? The sufferings of every man are the sufferings of God's child, and those who reach out no helping hand to their perishing fellow beings provoke His righteous anger. This is the wrath of the Lamb. To those who claim fellowship with Christ, yet have been indifferent to the needs of their fellow men, He will declare in the great Judgment day, “‘I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’” Luke 13:27. (The Desire of Ages p.825 bold mine)

The mission is an issue of salvation, yours and that of those around you.

[seasaltmemories]

To Live As Free Men and Women

Over and over again I hear the conflict of echoes summarized as “shifting from relying on gods to relying on humanity’s own accomplishments.”  And on the surface that makes perfect sense.  All the endgame quotes are about refusing to bow down to Duma and wanting to fight for their world.  

However this reading has always not sat well with me because of two things.  First this celebration of humanity’s individual strength is not brought up until the last moments of Act 5.  To call it the main theme when so much of the earlier conflict was about class feel disingenuous.  Second, this reading tends to pit Alm and Celica as opposites where Alm shows Celica the light.  Aside from disliking the convenient dismissive treatment of the female protagonist, my obvious bias aside, it just isn’t good storytelling to have one of your leads solely exist to be wrong.  Not to mention the game is going for a sort of dualism between the two of them, so to paint Celica’s route as just one mistake is short-sighted.

So the question remains, what is the main theme of Echoes?  Does it have a theme?  Regardless of your thoughts on the game, it still sends a message, every piece of art does, even if it is as banal as “good will always triumph,” that is still a theme.  So to examine echoes, thoroughly we have to find a thread that manages to link the entire game together.

The best place to start is obviously the beginning.  After the opening video.  We are given a little exposition dump about the state of Valentia.  Two countries and two gods, one emphasizing war and the other emphasizing peace.  Makes sense, it is pretty obvious which one we’re supposed to root for and what country we’ll be following.  Cue the prologue where after everyone was so excited to meet the knight in the woods, he turns out to be totally willing to murder children.  It would be so easy to write Slayde off as a bad apple but the narrative makes no attempts to try and act as if anything about him is non-standard.  If anything the start of Act 1 goes out of its way to detail just how rotten Zofia is.  It’s fitting that Alm joins a rebellion first and foremost, and it is not until Act 3 Rigel really becomes an antagonist.  And much of Act 1 is targeting Zofia’s own corruption, its bandits and power-hungry nobles.  Despite being massive problems, Alm rushes headlong into them, wanting nothing more than to protect people.

Act 2 starts similarly, Celica learning of just how horrible the pirates are, and how they have been allowed practically free reign of the seas.  She has even fewer reasons to get involved, considering her party is literally five people, but she can’t secure safe passage otherwise so let’s do this.  If it takes fighting necrodragons then she will fight necrodragons.

Despite both of their reckless behavior, they accomplish real change and make things for the better.  And so after growing up into the people they are today, Alm and Celica in an obviously heartwarming manner.  Except quickly things tilt sideways.  

Celica’s hypocritical behavior has been long-pointed out, wishing him to avoid bloodshed after just killing a pirate king, but things still stay civil until this moment.

“Alm: Nrgh… If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear I was speaking to a blue blood. My station doesn’t matter, Celica. I’m here because I was called. I have a duty to perform, and I’ll perform it. No more, and no less.

Celica: Oh, Alm…

Alm: Do you think I WANTED this fight? This all started because Lima IV went and angered the empire. If you wish to point fingers, point them at the ruler who failed his people. It’s his fault we’re in this mess.”

Alm points to Lima and the system that failed Zofia, and while he is not wrong, as the Zofian heir, Celica is just as much a part of that system.  And to have someone so important to her throw the failings of the state at her feet, when all her life she has simply tried to survive, feels like the worse betrayal.  And when Alm still expects her to hold responsibility for all those mistakes (even if he doesn’t directly ask it of her) she explodes.  Now obviously Alm didn’t know how his words would impact her, and Celica was the first to go on the offensive, but often this discussion gets characterized as just being about violence, when that discussion is just a footnote to the real conflict.

Starting with Alm, Act 3 opens with Alm finally meeting Berkut face to face, someone who represents all of Rigel’s teachings about power and strength.  While a fearsome opponent, he has an utter meltdown after Alm’s army beats him.  As they go on their way to face Desaix, even Clive starts to fail Alm by doubting him and questioning if it is worth it to try and save Delthea, and depending on how well you play the next few levels, he really might fail Alm such as when/if Mathilda dies and he blames Alm for her death.  While he still will eventually come around to believe in Alm once again, we see that even after retaking Zofia, the old order is still not completely gone.

Celica meanwhile has to confront another outlaw king, but this time Greith is more personal, aside from people in her army having been directly harmed by him, there’s this lingering thread of Greith only having been able to grow so powerful because of Lima’s negligence.  In-universe there is no reason she has to go and stop him, it is a significant detour from her pilgrimage, still she refuses to enable this injustice.  Greith warns her that there will always be another one like him, and when they arrive at the temple, Mila is gone and unable to fix everything like she wanted to do.  So Celica does what she has been running away from her entire life, she reveals her status as the lost princess and promises to protect Zofia and Mila.

However while this is a good choice both for her development and from a logical standpoint, we start to see that even it is not without consequences in the Act 4.  Determined to save Mila, Celica eventually comes into contact with Jedah, who says as long as she gives up her soul to Duma, he will return Mila.  Now while Celica is often lambasted for this choice, let’s look at how she sees this and why she doesn’t immediately distrust him.

While we have seen Jedah be a creep all game, this is the first time Celica has seen him, and while he is othered and marked evil with a lot of traits, such as his blue skin, how stupid would it be if in real life you refused to work with people because “they looked evil” not to mention he is the leader of a similar faith, it would be like if a protestant Christian talked with the Pope.  Jedah is a scumbag but Celica has no reason in her eyes to immediately distrust him/assume he is lying.

And having traced Celica’s actions up until now, how she hates the suffering of others and will do anything in her power to fix things, why would she not consider herself a worthy exchange for Zofia’s restoration?  With Conrad’s reappearance, there’s even another heir ready to take over.  All her life she’s been confronted with her father’s failure, and what kind of ruler would she be if she followed in his footsteps?  

Still despite this mindset, she does not go to Duma Tower to die.  She plans to see Mila and rescue her first and foremost.  But when it looks as if Mila is completely gone and impossible to recover, she decides she will at least try and protect those she loves.

Before we can look at how that decision go, we need to return back to Alm.  In Act 4, we learn that Rigel is pretty much as corrupt as Zofia.  People like Nuibaba and Jerome manipulate good people like Zeke and Tatiana purely for their own selfish gain.  Throughout all this Alm is treated as if he is already King of Zofia, which Alm never really confronts and very obviously chafes at the thought.  He stands poised to become a living legend, when horror of all horror he ends up being the one to kill his own father.  

While Rigel welcomes him with open arms as there prince, Alm finds no joy in the title and learns that all his hard work was just to fulfill Rudolf’s plans.  And the closer he gets to the climax the more and more trauma he suffers,  having to kill his only remaining family left, Berkut having gone mad from his failure to live up to Rigel’s ideals of power over everything.  In the end it culminates in Alm having to even kill the woman he loves.

The only thing that keeps this story from becoming the tragedy we first saw at the beginning of the game is the fact Mila takes pity on them and decides to release Falchion for Alm.  So to act as if the events of Echoes were purely fueled by human ingenuity is disingenuous.

So what was the point of this little recap?  Well when you look closely you see it is not just Duma and Mila who failed them, but the entire way their world was structured, the sins of their fathers who created/maintained a world where the weakest were always exploited the most.  A world where they were denied happiness and set up to fail.  Celica has her entire life defined by being a part of this system, less an individual person and more a title.  What use was she as an individual, if she didn’t give her all for a country her blood had left down?  And Alm was denied a family, and forced to kill them simply because of Rudolf’s plan, even if it was for the greater good.  The world Duma and Mila set-up centuries ago is not the type of world these people need anymore.  Killing them is not enough, they have to change the entire structure of society as they know it. It’s why they get rid of Rigel and Zofia in the end to create the One United Kingdom, because only then can they start fresh, free from the influences of before.

Now some might say, why explain make such a big deal over such a minor detail?  Gods, society, what’s the difference?  But like I said earlier a theme needs to encapsulate the entire work, not just the climax.  And society’s failing manifest in multiple ways in Echoes, from classism, to tragedy of Sonya’s family, to Valber’s loss.  From start to finish Echoes never lets you forget what a broken world Valentia is.  And to fix it you can’t just take Alm’s impulsive idealism or Celica’s country-bound devotion.  Sometimes you need both, and to attack the problem at the source of its roots.

[christianstevefinnell]

A DIFFERENT LOOK AT THE INQUISITION --GEORGE L. FAULL, REL. D.

IN ZURICH SWITZERLAND, ON JANUARY 18TH, 1525 AN ORDER WAS GIVEN BY THE ZURICH COUNCIL THAT ALL INFANTS MUST BE BAPTIZED WITHIN 8 DAYS OF BIRTH. THOSE NOT COMPLIANT TO THIS RULING WOULD BE BANISHED FROM ZURICH. ON JANUARY 21ST, ALL OPPONENTS OF THIS DECREE WERE NOT ALLOWED TO MEET OR SPEAK IN PUBLIC.

THIS LED TO MARTYRDOM AND MANY OF THOSE WHO WERE MARTYRED WERE ANABAPTIST. AN ANABAPTIST IS NOT SPEAKING OF THOSE CALLED BAPTISTS TODAY. THEY WERE A PEOPLE WHO WERE NICKNAMED “ANABAPTIST”. THIS COMES FROM THE GREEK WHICH MEANS “OVER AGAIN” AND “BAPTISM”. SO AN ANABAPTIST IS “ONE WHO BAPTIZES AGAIN!” THEY DID NOT CONSIDER INFANT BAPTISM OR SPRINKLING A RECOGNIZED BAPTISM, SO THEY DID NOT CONSIDER BELIEVER-BAPTISM A REBAPTISM SO THEY REJECTED THE NICKNAME.

IN MARCH OF 1525, THIS ORDER WAS GIVEN: “YOU KNOW WITHOUT DOUBT, AND HAVE HEARD FROM MANY THAT FOR A LONG TIME, SOME PECULIAR MEN, WHO IMAGINE THAT THEY ARE LEARNED, HAVE COME FORWARD ASTONISHINGLY, AND WITHOUT ANY EVIDENCE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, GIVEN AS A PRETEXT BY SIMPLE AND PIOUS MEN, HAVE PREACHED, AND WITHOUT THE PERMISSION AND CONSENT OF THE CHURCH, HAVE PROCLAIMED THAT INFANT BAPTISM DID NOT PROCEED FROM GOD, BUT FROM THE DEVIL, AND, THEREFORE, OUGHT NOT TO BE PRACTICED… WE, THEREFORE, ORDAIN AND REQUIRE THAT HEREAFTER ALL MEN, WOMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS FORSAKE REBAPTISM, AND SHALL NOT MAKE USE OF IT HEREAFTER, AND SHALL LET INFANTS BE BAPTIZED; WHOEVER SHALL ACT CONTRARY TO THIS PUBLIC EDICT SHALL BE FINED FOR EVERY OFFENSE, ONE MARK; AND IF ANY BE DISOBEDIENT AND STUBBORN THEY SHALL BE TREATED WITH SEVERITY; FOR, THE OBEDIENT WE WILL PROTECT; THE DISOBEDIENT WE WILL PUNISH ACCORDING TO HIS DESERTS, WITHOUT FAIL; BY THIS ALL ARE TO CONDUCT THEMSELVES. ALL THIS WE CONFIRM BY THIS PUBLIC DOCUMENT, STAMPED WITH THE SEAL OF OUR CITY, AND GIVEN ON ST. ANDREW’S DAY, A. D., 1525.”

RESULTS: FELIX MANZ, HENRY REIMAN, JACOB FALK WERE DROWNED. DECEMBER 1527 THEY WERE TOLD, “HE WHO IMMERSED SHALL BE IMMERSED”. A TOWNSMAN SAID, “THEY LIKE IMMERSION, SO LET US IMMERSE THEM”.

BALTHASAR HOBMAIER SAID, “THE COMMAND IS TO BAPTIZE THOSE WHO BELIEVE, TO BAPTIZE THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE, THEREFORE IS FORBIDDEN. HE WAS IMPRISONED AND LATER WHEN HE WAS SUPPOSED TO RECANT INSTEAD HE SHOUTED, “INFANT BAPTISM IS NOT OF GOD AND MEN MUST BE BAPTIZED BY FAITH IN CHRIST. I HAVE NEVER TAUGHT ANABAPTISM…BUT THE RIGHT BAPTISM OF CHRIST, WHICH IS PRECEDED BY TEACHING AND ORAL CONFESSION OF FAITH, I TEACH, AND SAY THAT INFANT BAPTISM IS A ROBBERY OF THE RIGHT BAPTISM OF CHRIST.” ON MARCH 10TH, 1528 IN VIENNA, HE WAS BURNED AT THE STAKE AND 8 DAYS LATER, HIS WIFE WAS DROWNED.

NOT ONLY IN ZURICH AND VIENNA WAS THIS PERSECUTION AGAINST THOSE WHO WERE FOR IMMERSION AND AGAINST INFANT BAPTISM PRACTICED BUT AT ST. GALL, SWITZERLAND THEY ISSUED THIS DECREE – SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1527: “IN ORDER THAT THE DANGEROUS, WICKED, TURBULENT AND SEDITIOUS SECT OF THE BAPTISTS MAY BE ERADICATED, WE HAVE THUS DECREED: IF ANYONE IS SUSPECTED OF REBAPTISM, HE IS TO BE WARNED BY THE MAGISTRACY TO LEAVE THE TERRITORY UNDER PENALTY OF THE DESIGNATED PUNISHMENT [TO BE DROWNED]. EVERY PERSON IS OBLIGED TO REPORT THOSE FAVORABLE TO REBAPTISM. WHOEVER SHALL NOT COMPLY WITH THIS ORDINANCE IS LIABLE TO PUNISHMENT ACCORDING TO THE SENTENCE OF THE MAGISTRACY. TEACHERS OF REBAPTISM, BAPTIZING PREACHERS, AND LEADERS OF HEDGE MEETINGS ARE TO BE DROWNED. THOSE PREVIOUSLY RELEASED FROM PRISON WHO HAVE SWORN TO DESIST FROM SUCH THINGS, SHALL INCUR THE SAME PENALTY. FOREIGN BAPTISTS ARE TO BE DRIVEN OUT; IF THEY RETURN THEY SHALL BE DROWNED. NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO SECEDE FROM THE [ZWINGLIAN] CHURCH AND TO ABSENT HIMSELF FROM THE HOLY SUPPER.”

THE DECREE ON MARCH 26TH , 1530, WAS EVEN MORE SEVERE: “ALL WHO ADHERE TO OR FAVOR THE FALSE SECT OF THE BAPTISTS, AND WHO ATTEND HEDGE-MEETINGS, SHALL SUFFER THE MOST SEVERE PUNISHMENTS. BAPTIST LEADERS, THEIR FOLLOWERS, AND PROTECTORS SHALL BE DROWNED WITHOUT MERCY. THOSE, HOWEVER, WHO "FROM THE COWARDICE THAT SHRINKS FROM NEW TRUTH, FROM THE LAZINESS THAT IS CONTENT WITH HALFTRUTHS, FROM THE ARROGANCE THAT THINKS IT KNOWS ALL TRUTH, O, GOD OF TRUTH, DELIVER US." ULRICH ZWINGLI 2 THE GOSPEL UNASHAMED JULY 2015 ASSIST THEM, OR FAIL TO REPORT OR TO ARREST THEM SHALL BE PUNISHED OTHERWISE ON BODY AND GOODS AS INJURIOUS AND FAITHLESS SUBJECTS.”

LIKEWISE, THE GENEVA’S SWITZERLAND COUNCIL IN 1632, HUNG AND BURNED MEN FOR DENYING THE TRINITY. THE SAME PERSECUTION WAS IN DASIL AND BERNE.

IN GERMANY, LUTHER TAUGHT IMMERSION EVEN TRANSLATING “BAPTIZE” AS “DIP”. HE WROTE THESE WORDS IN 1518: “THE SIGNIFICATION OF BAPTISM DEMANDS, FOR IT SIGNIFIES THAT THE OLD MAN AND SINFUL BIRTH FROM THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHALL BE COMPLETELY DROWNED THROUGH THE GRACE OF GOD.

THEREFORE, A MAN SHOULD SUFFICIENTLY PERFORM THE SIGNIFICATION AND A RIGHT PERFECT SIGN. THE SIGN RESTS, IN THIS, THAT A MAN PLUNGE A PERSON IN WATER IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, ETC., BUT DOES NOT LEAVE HIM THEREIN BUT LIFTS HIM OUT AGAIN; THEREFORE IT IS CALLED BEING LIFTED OUT OF THE FONT OR DEPTHS. AND SO MUST ALL OF BOTH OF THESE THINGS BE THE SIGN; THE DIPPING AND THE LIFTING OUT. THIRDLY, THE SIGNIFICATION IS A SAVING DEATH OF THE SINS AND OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE GRACE OF GOD. THE BAPTISM IS A BATH OF THE NEW BIRTH. ALSO A DROWNING OF THE SINS IN THE BAPTISM” (LUTHER, OPERA LUTHERI, I. 319. FOLIO EDITION).

HE ALSO WROTE: “THE TERM BAPTISM IS A GREEK WORD; IT MAY BE RENDERED INTO LATIN BY “MERSIO”: WHEN WE IMMERSE ANYTHING IN WATER, THAT IT MAY BE ENTIRELY COVERED WITH WATER. AND THOUGH THAT CUSTOM BE QUITE ABOLISHED AMONG THE GENERALITY, (FOR NEITHER DO THEY ENTIRELY DIP CHILDREN, BUT ONLY SPRINKLE THEM WITH A LITTLE WATER,) NEVERTHELESS THEY OUGHT TO BE WHOLLY IMMERSED, AND IMMEDIATELY TO BE DRAWN OUT AGAIN, FOR THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD SEEMS TO REQUIRE IT. THE GERMANS CALL BAPTISM “TAUF”, FROM DEPTH, WHICH THEY CALL “TIEF” IN THEIR LANGUAGE; AS IF IT WERE PROPER THOSE SHOULD BE DEEPLY IMMERSED, WHO ARE BAPTIZED. AND TRULY, IF YOU CONSIDER WHAT BAPTISM SIGNIFIES THAT THE OLD MAN AND OUR NATIVE CHARACTER THAT IS FULL OF SIN, ENTIRELY OF FLESH AND BLOOD AS IT IS, MAY BE OVERWHELMED BY DIVINE GRACE. THE MANNER OF BAPTISM, THEREFORE OUGHT TO ANSWER TO THE SIGNIFICATION OF BAPTISM, SO THAT IT MAY SHOW FORTH A SIGN THAT IS CERTAIN AND FULL.” – OPERA

“WHEN THE WASHING AWAY OF SIN IS ATTRIBUTED TO BAPTISM, IT IS RIGHTLY SO ATTRIBUTED; BUT THE MEANING OF THE PHRASE IS TOO SLIGHT AND WEAK TO FULLY EXPRESS BAPTISM, WHICH IS RATHER A SYMBOL OF DEATH AND RESURRECTION. FOR THIS REASON I COULD WISH THAT THE BAPTIZED SHOULD BE TOTALLY IMMERSED, ACCORDING TO THE MEANING OF THE WORD AND SIGNIFICATION OF THE MYSTERY; NOT THAT I THINK IT NECESSARY TO DO SO, BUT THAT IT WOULD BE WELL THAT SO COMPLETE AND PERFECT THING AS BAPTISM SHOULD HAVE ITS SIGN ALSO IN COMPLETENESS AND PERFECTION, EVEN AS IT WAS DOUBTLESS INSTITUTED BY CHRIST.” – PRIMARY WORKS, P. 192.

LATER, LUTHER BEGAN TO OPPOSE IMMERSION AND THOSE WHO OPPOSED INFANT BAPTISM. THOUGH HE WAS OPPOSED TO EXECUTING THEM HE WISHED THEM ALL TO BE BANISHED FOR DISAGREEING WITH HIS DOCTRINES. AGAIN, HE CHANGED HIS MIND AND ENCOURAGED THE DESTRUCTION OF PEASANTS WHO REVOLTED FROM THE LORDS SEEKING THEIR FREEDOM.

HE WROTE: “THE PEASANTS WOULD NOT LISTEN; THEY WOULD NOT LET ANYONE TELL THEM ANYTHING; THEIR EARS MUST BE UNBUTTONED WITH BULLETS, TILL THEIR HEADS JUMP OFF THEIR SHOULDERS. ... ON THE OBSTINATE, HARDENED, BLINDED PEASANTS, LET NO ONE HAVE MERCY, BUT LET EVERYONE, AS HE IS ABLE, HEW, STAB, SLAY, LAY ABOUT HIM AS THOUGH AMONG MAD DOGS, . . . . SO THAT PEACE AND SAFETY MAY BE MAINTAINED...” [MARTIN LUTHER, WERKE, ERLANGEN EDITION, VOL. 24, P. 294; VOL.15, P. 276]

(OVER 100,000 PEASANTS DIED. DO I ACCUSE FALSELY? - GLF)

HE WROTE: “IT WAS I, MARTIN LUTHER, WHO SLEW ALL THE PEASANTS IN THE INSURRECTION, FOR I COMMANDED THEM TO BE SLAUGHTERED. ALL THEIR BLOOD IS UPON MY SHOULDERS. BUT I CAST IT ON OUR LORD GOD WHO COMMANDED ME TO SPEAK IN THIS WAY.” [MARTIN LUTHER, WERKE, ERLANGEN EDITION, VOL. 59, P. 284]

SO LUTHER SOUGHT THE DEATH OF THOSE OPPOSING INFANT BAPTISM AND FAVORED BELIEVERS’ IMMERSION. IN 1529, THE DIET OF SPEIRS ALL ANABAPTISTS WERE CONDEMNED TO DEATH. MR. HALLEY POINTS OUT 400 SPECIAL POLICE WERE HIRED TO HUNT DOWN THOSE BELIEVERS AND EXECUTE THEM ON THE SPOT. THOUSANDS WERE BURNED ACROSS EUROPE FOR THEIR FAITH. SO THE LUTHERANS KILLED MANY OF THE IMMERSED BELIEVERS.

URBANUS RHEGIUS WAS A LUTHERAN WHO WROTE A BOOK IN 1528 SHOWING A RIVER RUNNING INTO THE OCEAN OF WATER THAT WAS ON FIRE. THIS WAS THE VIEW OF SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY THAT IMMERSION LED TO HELL.

BANISHMENT, DEATH, BURNINGS, HANGINGS, TORTURING, BRANDING, AND IMPRISONMENT WAS THEIR FATE.

LIKEWISE, CALVIN WAS A PERSECUTOR AND A MURDERER. “SO ENTIRELY WAS HE IN FAVOUR OF PERSECUTING MEASURES, THAT HE WROTE A TREATISE IN DEFENCE OF THEM, MAINTAINING THE LAWFULNESS OF PUTTING HERETICS TO DEATH; AND HE REDUCED THESE RIGID THEORIES TO PRACTICE, IN HIS CONDUCT TOWARDS CASTELLIO, JEROM BOLSEE, AND SERVETUS, WHOSE FATES ARE TOO GENERALLY KNOWN TO REQUIRE BEING HERE REPEATED. AT THE COUNCIL OF GENEVA, 1632, NICHOLAS ANTHOINE WAS CONDEMNED TO BE FIRST HANGED AND THEN BURNED FOR OPPOSING THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY...” (J.J. STOCKDALE, THE HISTORY OF THE INQUISITIONS, 1810, P. XXVIII). MARTIN LUTHER JOHN CALVIN JULY 2015 THE GOSPEL UNASHAMED 3 IN THE DAYS OF KING EDWARD VI OF ENGLAND, CALVIN WROTE A LETTER TO LORD PROTECTOR SOMERSET AND URGED HIM TO PUT ANABAPTISTS TO DEATH: “THESE ALTOGETHER DESERVE TO BE WELL PUNISHED BY THE SWORD, SEEING THAT THEY DO CONSPIRE AGAINST GOD, WHO HAD SET HIM IN HIS ROYAL SEAT” (JOHN CHRISTIAN, A HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS, VOL. 1, CHAP. 15).

HISTORIAN JOHN CHRISTIAN OBSERVES THAT CALVIN “WAS RESPONSIBLE IN A LARGE MEASURE FOR THE DEMON OF HATE AND FIERCE HOSTILITY WHICH THE BAPTISTS OF ENGLAND HAD TO ENCOUNTER.”

IN OCTOBER 1563, CALVIN HAD SERVETUS KILLED, BURNED AT THE STAKE FOR DISAGREEING ON THE TRINITY. IT WAS APPROVED BY BOTH MELANCHTHON OF GERMANY AND BULLINGER OF GENEVA AND OTHER LEADING REFORMERS. SOME OF THE WORST PERSECUTIONS WERE DONE BY THE CALVINISTS AGAINST THE ARMINIANS.

SOME WERE BEHEADED, IMPRISONED, OR BANISHED. LIKEWISE, THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND UNDER KING HENRY VIII, AS WELL AS KING EDWARD VI AND KING JAMES, PERSECUTED IMMERSIONISTS. THEY ORGANIZED BURNINGS. THESE INCLUDED BOTH MEN AND WOMEN. MANY OF THEIR NAMES ARE RECORDED IN HISTORY BUT ALL IN GOD’S BOOK OF MARTYRS. HANGINGS WERE COMMON AS WELL PERSECUTIONS AND IMPRISONMENTS WHICH CONTINUED OVER SEVERAL CENTURIES.

WHY DO I PRINT THIS? IT SHOWS THAT IT IS NOT ONLY THE MUSLIMS AND CATHOLICS THAT KILL THEIR OPPONENTS. THE REFORMERS ALSO PERSECUTED THOSE WHO INSISTED ON IMMERSION AND OTHER BIBLE TRUTHS. THE VERY FOUNDERS OF PROTESTANTISM WERE ALSO BUTCHERS FILLED WITH MURDEROUS PRACTICES ON THOSE WHO DISAGREED WITH THEIR DOCTRINES.

THE LEGACY OF ZWINGLI TODAY - HE WAS THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR CALLING BAPTISM A WORK AND ESTABLISH THE “FAITH ONLY” DOCTRINE WE CONTEND WITH TO THIS DAY.

AS FOR JOHN CALVIN, THE FOUNDER OF CALVINISM, PREDESTINATION IS STILL TAUGHT IN MANY MAINLINE CHURCHES AND WAS THE CAUSE OF THE DEATH OF MANY BELIEVERS IN CHRIST. YET HE DID NOT PREDESTINATE THE MURDERS.

MARTIN LUTHER BY HIS OWN MOUTH CAUSED THE DEATHS OF MANY IN GERMANY AND PRUSSIA. HIS HATRED AND PERSECUTION OF JEWS IS ALSO RENOWNED. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND LIKEWISE TOOK THEIR TOLL ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

IRONICALLY, THESE MEN HAD BEEN GREATLY PERSECUTED BY THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. HOWEVER, WHERE THEY ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES ELSEWHERE IN SWITZERLAND, GERMANY, ENGLAND, ETC., THEY MOTIVATED OTHER COUNTRIES TO PROSECUTE AND PERSECUTE. THE PERSECUTED BECAME THE PERSECUTORS. ROMANS 11:16 SAYS, “IF THE ROOT IS HOLY, SO ARE THE BRANCHES.” IS NOT THE OPPOSITE TRUE? “IF THE ROOT IS UNHOLY, CAN THE BRANCHES BE HOLY?”

ISN’T IT STRANGE AND IRONIC THAT THE ADHERENTS TO THESE MEN’S HERITAGE NOW ARE SAYING THAT THE MODE, PURPOSE, AND CANDIDATES FOR BAPTISM IS SIMPLY IMMATERIAL? THE ROTTING CORPSES OF HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS WHOM THEIR ANCESTORS TORTURED AND SLEW OVER THESE QUESTIONS GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR BELIEVERS’ IMMERSION. CHRIST NEVER INTENDED HIS KINGDOM TO BE SPREAD BY FORCE. THOSE WHO DO SO PROVE THEY ARE NONE OF HIS. IT WAS AT THE PRICE OF THE MARTYRS’ BLOOD THAT WE HAVE THE FREEDOM TODAY TO PREACH BELIEVERS BAPTISM. TRULY MANY OF OUR OWN BRETHREN LACK THE COURAGE IN THIS FREE SOCIETY TO PREACH THE NECESSITY OF BELIEVER’S BAPTISM.

TODAY, IF WE TEACH WHAT THE RESTORATION FATHERS TAUGHT IN REJECTING THE REFORMER’S TEACHINGS, BOTH WOULD BE COUNTED WORTHY OF MARTYRDOM BY THE FOUNDING REFORMERS. THE TOLERANCE MANY BROTHERS SHOW TOWARD THE DOCTRINE OF THE FOUNDING REFORMERS TO ME IS ASTOUNDING. TO TEACH THE FAITH-ONLY DOCTRINE OF ZWINGLI, THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION OF CALVIN, AND THE NON-NECESSITY OF IMMERSION OF LUTHER AS PRACTICED NOW BY MANY IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, DENIES NOT ONLY THE TEACHING OF JESUS CHRIST BUT IS A REJECTION OF OUR HERITAGE. IT CHEAPENS AND TRAMPLES THE BLOOD OF CHRIST AND THE BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS. IT MAKES THE MARTYRS RADICAL LEGALISTS WHO SIMPLY DIED ON THE WRONG HILL.

(This article was collected from many sources. We especially are thankful for the writings of David Cloud.)