#I suggest peace

[namakaless]

Bisexuality

[dlanadhz]

It's hard to talk about the war in Israel.

It's hard because it seems that everyone I know who IS talking about it, is 300% on the side of Palestine and Hamas, and they're sharing articles that make Israel sound like a country of barbarians.

It's hard to talk about because I have a friend who lives in Israel, who's literal job is to study Jewish history and then teach it to others. And she's been updating me (and others on her Tumblr) about her experience during the war. She's been sharing articles and videos and first hand accounts, and it all sounds directly opposite to the propaganda I see everywhere else.

It's hard because it feels like everyone I know doesn't care that it's her job to know the history and the truth. They keep sharing the antisemitic articles and cheering for the downfall of any company that half-mentions support for Israel or doesn't outright support Palestine.

For some reason, people are looking at this war that doesn't effect 90% of them and seeing it in stark black and white. They're raging against a country that has never hurt them, in defense of known terrorists that have never done anything for them.

And it blows my mind that I can't even bring up the idea that I want my friend to be happy and healthy and safe and for her life to go back to some modicum of peace and stability in the country she loves, because too many people will accuse me of supporting genocide and colonization.

Honestly, wtf is happening. It's like watching Donald Trump win the election and wondering how so many people can suddenly be racist, close-minded bigots all over again. How has America (and maybe the world?) been convinced that Israel is nothing at all but an aggressor and Palestine and Hamas are nothing at all but innocent babies in need of defense?

To all the people who claim this IS a black and white issue - honestly fuck you. No war has ever been black and white, and you fucking know it. Your brain's just gone stupid over this war for some reason.

To the civilians in Palestine, you didn't deserve the war brought to your doorstep by the terrorists among you. I wish this war would end yesterday and aid can rush to you and help you heal. You didn't (and don't) deserve to have your friends and family caught in this crossfire.

To the civilians in Israel, you have never deserved the vitriol thrown at you. And you certainly don't deserve to hear the world calling for the eradication of your country and livelihoods, all while erasing the terrible deeds done against you in this war. I wish I could erase antisemitism from the minds of everyone in the world so that you could heal from generations of degradation and mistreatment. You didn't (and don't) deserve to have your friends and family caught in this crossfire.

To anyone calling for the eradication of either nation - fuck you and your bigoted hearts. We're supposed to be spreading love, not hatred. We're supposed to care about each other, not hope missiles wipe imaginary enemies off a map.

What the actual fuck.

[rampantram]

Just some quick drawings I did of Lamb being...well, Lamb. 😂

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

In Judaism, one alternative way of referring to converts is "Jews by Choice."

If a parallel term exists in Xtianity I am not aware of it, but I would like to propose that it really should exist, albeit not just in reference to converts but to all Xtians. Every Xtian should get the opportunity to fully understand their faith in context and to make an informed decision to choose it for themselves. As it stands, many Xtians are deeply ignorant about Jewish history (before and after the formation of Xtianity), the original cultural context for the stories in the Old Testament, the cultural Jewish context that Jesus existed and taught in, the critical historical (scholarly) read of these texts, what they probably meant to the Israelites who produced them, and what they mean to Jews today and how we read these same texts differently in our religious context.

This creates a problem, where Xtians are taught only the narrow band of context that their church deems it important for them to know, and even that is frequently inaccurate or so limited in scope as to make it inaccurate by omission.

And this is because the reality is that the Tanakh (that is, the Hebrew and Aramaic scriptures that the Old Testament is based on) does not naturally or inevitably lead to the Jesus narrative. If you are starting from a Xtian perspective, and especially if you read the New Testament first and then and only then dive into the Old Testament, the Jesus narrative is obvious to you because you are looking for it, expect to see it there, and are coming at these texts with that reading lens in mind. And it's not that you or anyone else is nuts to see that narrative there - there are plenty of solid Xtian reads of these texts that make sense if you already believe in Jesus as presented by the New Testament.

But what the vast majority of Xtians aren't taught is how to approach the Tanakh from a Jesus-neutral perspective, which would yield very different results.

Now you might fairly ask, why would they *need* to approach the Tanakh with a Jesus-neutral perspective? They're Xtians! Xtians believe in Jesus, that's what makes them Xtians!

My answer is multi-pronged: First, I believe that G-d wants a relationship with all people, and speaks to us in the voice we are most likely to hear. That's inherently going to look different for everyone. And that's okay! G-d is infinite, and each of our relationships with G-d are going to only capture the tiniest glimpse into that infinite Divine. Therefore, second, when approaching religion, everyone sees what they want to see. If you nothing religion but find your spirituality in nature, you're going to come at these biblical texts with that lens and take away from them similar things that one might take away from other cultural mythologies. If you, like me, are coming at these texts with a Jewish mindset, you are going to come away with a portrait of Hashem and our covenantal relationship as Am Yisrael. And, of course, if you read with a Xtian lens, you're going to see the precursor narratives leading up to Jesus. That reading bias is not only understandable but good or at least deeply human. Everyone sees what they want to see in these texts. There is no objective or flawless way to read them, and to claim that there is, is to claim that not only is there only one answer, but only one kind of relationship that G-d wants to have with people, that you personally happen to know what that is, and that everyone else is wrong. I am sorry, but if you believe that - if you truly think that you in particular (and/or the people you happen to agree with) know the mind of G-d, then you do not worship G-d. You worship yourselves, because to know the entirety of G-d would require you to be G-d. There's a term for that. That doesn't mean there aren't wrong answers too. But it does mean that there is no singular unimpeachable reading of the texts. What you see in these texts then, says far more about you than it does about the texts themselves or G-d.

So the question then becomes: Why do you want to see this? (Whatever your "this" is.) If your read of these texts is something you choose, why do you choose to see what you see? And is it a meaningful choice if you are not taught other ways of knowing, other perspectives on these texts, and to think critically while exploring them?

Judaism inherently teaches a multiplicity of opinions on the texts, and maintains that they can be read to mean different things, even at the same time by the same person. Deep textual knowledge and methods for learning more, asking questions, challenging accepted answers as a way to discover new meaning, and respectful disagreement are baked into our culture and methods. Some Xtians of some denominations have analogous processes, although on the whole still emphasize correct unified belief over correct action with a multiplicity of belief. I am not suggesting here that Xtians stop approaching their own scriptures as Xtians or adopt Jewish methods instead. What I am suggesting is that Xtians should be taught a fuller picture of these texts and learn other perspectives so that they (1) understand their own beliefs and why they believe them (or after further inquiry if they believe them), and (2) understand and respect that this is what they are choosing to believe and that it is not the only thing one could reasonably believe. Because (3) if not, they are more susceptible to having their faith shattered at random by something unexpected, and will connect less to their faith as a relationship with G-d and more as an obligation based on an unchallenged world view.

And, frankly? (4) It will help them to be better neighbors, to love their neighbor as themselves, and to give to others the respect that they would like to receive.

Being taught the historical context, Jewish history before and after Jesus, the differences between the Old Testament and the Tanakh, the timeline of the development of Xtianity in relationship to rabbinic Judaism in the wake of the destruction of the Second Temple, the development of church doctrine and the various splits amongst the denominations, and Jewish readings of the Tanakh would give clarity and desperately needed context to Xtians about their religion. Is there some risk that some people, upon understanding these things would drop out of faith entirely or, like me, discover that they are actually meant to be Jews? Yes, definitely.

But let me let you in on a little secret: you don't want those people to begin with. You really don't. Because the reality is that if a person is not called to relate to G-d through Jesus, eventually that person will learn this about themselves one way or another. If they are given the information and tools to make a meaningful choice, they will part company on good terms. If not, they will likely become disillusioned and leave the church in pain, anger, and even trauma. They will bring that out into the world with them, and spread the bad news about the Good News making it even more likely that other people who were already on the fence will jump ship on bad terms. You cannot trick people into a meaningful relationship with G-d. You can only give them the tools they need in order to explore on their own and the rest is between them and G-d.

And the bottom line is that you don't need to and should not be afraid of knowledge. If your faith cannot stand up to scrutiny, then it deserves that scrutiny tenfold. The people you lose from the flock? You would have lost them anyway, because we aren't in the driver's seat here. G-d is. Hashem called me to be a Jew with just as much love and desire to connect as G-d calls Xtians to the church and to Jesus. A faith examined is a faith deepened or exposed in its weakness. And if it is the latter, don't you want people to know this sooner rather than later in order to fix it?

So my proposition and wish for Xtians is that they become Xtians by Choice. That they delve deeply into the origins and context of their faith so that they can be 100% certain that they understand their Xtian faith and why they choose to relate to G-d through that lens.

[eightspringdays]

People who infantilize autistic coded characters are the weakest link in society's chain.

How are you gonna look at this mf

And then tell me he's too uwu to do anything. Open your eyes, expand your brain; he thinks of the MCnasty too. Let him say fuck !!!!

[jel-jel-jel]

please enjoy these scraps

[blazingpeter]

I imagine that this was their dynamic at the beginning of the relationship.

@sm-baby

Based off of this meme

anime: (My senpai is annoying)

[lilyofthevalleyys]

Regulus *writing in his poetry notebook*: Imagine loving someone so much you wish your soul would meld with theirs so you can become one

Regulus *writing*: For I cannot, as much as my heart desires to

James *reading it*: Awwwww. Hey. Wait.

James: Am I a joke to you Reggie >:(

[aldenhan]

muppets war and peace where the only human is andrei

[p1nkshield]

Robin!Jason: Gee I sure am glad to spend the weekend here uncle Clark!

Clark who is sweating a little thinking about when he would watch Dick: I’m glad you’re here too bud! So, what do you want to do first?

He was fully expecting him to say ARSON like his predecessor.

Robin!Jason: Oh I have a great idea! After I do my homework we can each read a book, write a review about what we like about it and a short summary! Then we can see if the other person wants to read that book!

Clark:… that sounds like a book report.

Robin!jason, looking incredibly excited: I know! :D

Clark: …Sounds like a plan!

[my-hi-universe]

Hate to add fuel to the fire here

But I need to give my two cents.

Everyone is talking about it and I know when you scroll through the punkflower tags you don’t wanna see people ranting and neither do I, but I’m a hypocrite and I will continue to be one, so let's get to it.

We all know that the Punkflower hate is forced, like there is actually no way you woke up and decided to hate this ship. Nobody is hurting you stop whining.

I know people have already discussed Hobie’s age and all so I won’t touch on that too much but isn’t soo funny that people bring it up once the ship gained popularity? Especially considering grown ass adults really only want to know his age so they can sexualizing Hobie, like who are you trying to fool? And don’t even get me started about Chaipunk.

(hate to drag you guys in here, but If we’re going down, then we all are)

I haven’t seen one word about how people ship Chaipunk like at all. It arguably has more art of it on twitter and again, not one word, which fine, nothing is wrong with the ship but nothing is wrong with Punkflower either. You cannot be serious. If you wanna talk about Punkflower then let’s talk about Chaipunk too. 

There really is no other explanation other than the fact that people don’t wanna see two black boys happy and enjoy life like honestly.

None of that was legible, but I hope you understood at least half of what I was saying even if none of it added to this already horrible discussion.

[cheyezstuffz]

new battle for 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 island character guys,, translaty, i also made a small comic about them mistranslating something because they do it very often ♡♡♡

[ohitslen]

Part two of the thing and uuh also final one

Of this interaction. Because this is far from all I can give, my brain almost imploded from all the ideas

[haleyincarnate]

Do not take advantage of my kindness. I am offering a hand to hold, not a bone to chew on.

[eleneressea]

@dragonridersofficer-fiammag replied to your post “bored and annoyed in class someone distract me...”:

Or another classic: the possible repercusions of Aredhel never going into Nan Emloth in the first place/ she got out when Maeglin was still only Lómion and a baby at that/she got out on the side leading to Himlad.

Celegorm and Aredhel, staring at baby Lómion: what do we do with it

Curufin: I know you know how to take care of babies, Turko

Celebrimbor, vibrating: (baby brother acquired)

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

thinking priest!geto thoughts again :(((

you’re both a little rotten . it’s a stench that sticks to your skin and you can smell it off each other. there’s a certain kind of bond that only blooms between people who know the each other’s smile is fake, you know? and there’s a kind of trauma that lingers and rots and sticks to your bones and you can hide it with layers of clothing or heavy robes but people who have felt it themselves will always spot the signs . do you see what i’m saying. there’s something special between you when he says he loves his god and you know that he’s lying. there’s something special when you say you couldn’t care less if god thinks you’re sinful and he knows that you’re lying . because you can both smell it off each other. the sickening rot .