#I’m not anti Christianity but seriously have you read The Bible

[kidsomeday]

Look cancel me if you want but honestly I think the most realistic part of Trigun Stampede is Nai read The Bible and was like “you know maybe humans were a bad idea.”

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

ATIA For Being Mad About This

TW’s for homophobia, transphobia, and young earth creationism It’s been a minute since I’ve posted about being an exvangelical and religious trauma. I am in a different place than I was when I started this blog and I wanted to focus more on stuff that made me happy, but recent events have pushed me to talk about this again so here we go. I don’t consider myself an ex Christian or atheist as I have had some time to reflect but I do agree with the label of exvangelical. I feel like being raised evangelical gave me a lot of self hatred and distrust which created a wedge between me and everyone else I knew.

I feel I can’t complain or am being ungrateful. My parents were, thankfully, not extremists or fundamentalists. They drank alcohol and enjoyed secular movies and music and mom is a liberal. I was allowed to play with dinosaurs and watch a lot of cartoons so I’ve had it better than a lot of people I’ve read stories from. Other times, I’m still really mad at how evangelicalism affected our relationship and my childhood. I was never homeschooled or sent to any religious camps for example, but I remember hating Vacation Bible school and wondering why I had to do it as it felt like more school during the middle of summer.

Dad loved going to these “hip” rock and roll churches, like the one above, that appealed to a Gen Xer like him and expected us to love the message. To me those places were full of plastic people with subtle bigotry and were no fun with the music causing a sensory overload for me. Many of them were those “love the sinner, hate the sin” kind of churches. He had us watch this TV show all the time called God Friended Me that, while less in your face than Pureflix movies, still held a negative view of non religious people. That made me a bit ashamed for doubting the faith because of how he viewed it as the wrong path.

I feel like almost all my “friends” have been fake. They were all kids and adults that my parents liked but I found them aggravating to be around. They would tell me I was wrong for liking dinosaurs or believing in evolution and that I should spend more time reading the Bible. Many of them were very homophobic and transphobic. The kids would all make jokes about “Adam and Steve” and the adults would gripe about how tough Christians had it in America while ranting about beating up trans people if they used the same bathroom as their kid. To a centrist like my dad, these were just different “opinions” I needed to respect but they caused me to be ashamed of my interests and created a lot of fear and self hatred for me. I always felt like an outcast, being neurodivergent, an adoptee, one of the few POC in that community and being the only one who wasn’t interested in “family, faith and football”.

While my parents have never been super hardcore about religion or anti LGBTQ, I still felt anger and distrust towards them because of the company they kept and their affiliation. Dad is still caused me a lot of distrust because of his need to yell in your face if you screwed up and his traditional beliefs about needing to be productive or the dad being owed respect. All that is why I never took him seriously when he told me “you know you can tell me anything”. I still felt ashamed for liking or talking about “girly” interests I had like Steven Universe, magical girls or Makoto Shinkai films because of that culture I was raised in. I still feel like I have to keep things I like private or get defensive of it because of the kids who would tell me “dinosaurs aren’t real” which hurts way more than some think when you’re 12 and just want to share what you like.

I never brought up religion when coming out to them as trans but that was one part of my distrust. I’m still salty about how dad ruined my coming out and made it about his feelings, telling me I was wrong for interpreting things he said like “god made you perfect” or I should have come out sooner when he did little to nothing to prove I could trust him. I feel like I should be happy because they accepted me but they still put me in an environment that created a lot of fear and self hatred for me. I don’t know if I really love or trust them or if I want a relationship with them. I’ve had good memories with them that were genuine, but I feel like our relationship has gotten more toxic over the last several years. I feel like I didn’t have genuine faith and was just following them because I am still confused about religion and what I really believe. Sometimes, I just want to run away and for a fresh start and there’s times I hate my mundane life and want something more than what I’ve been given.

@deservedgrace @scarletspider-lily

[nicosraf]

Honestly I admire you so much for writing and publishing something that most people wouldn’t have the courage to. Showing God and angels under such a light has been taboo for so long, I’m glad a lot of indies are venturing into the territory now. But still I hope the negativity you’ve gotten hasn’t been too much. Hope you have a lovely day!

Aghh thank you! I don't really see it as courage, at least for me — I think I'm just being short sided and a bit dumb.

Regardless, it's always shocked me that biblical angels being explicitly queer/gay is something nobody seemed to treat seriously (until recently). It's in Paradise Lost!! Even a major component of understanding homosexuality as presented in the Bible involves angels!!!!!! (Sodom) And about God — it's odd because I don't even think I'm misrepresenting him necessarily. God is quite capable of horrible things in the Bible; actually, I think if would be insulting to the Christian God for him to be treated like there is anything he can't or won't do.

You're supposed to fear him! Love, yes, but also fear!

I'm also really glad for the world of indies. It's a really nice anti-censorship space (for the most part) where I've seen such great work recently in this realm of more "blasphemous" literature. It's also a place where I think a lot of authors are so sincere and raw, and I love to read their work.

The negativity doesn't get to me anymore. I'm really grateful ultimately. I recieve a lot more love than hate, and it makes me really thankful that I got so lucky.

Admiration might be a bit much — I am just a guy — but thank you very much. Sending you love, and I hope you have a wonderful week! :') <3

[about-rock]

Ville Valo - religions and beliefs - atheism, christianity, satanism

Why would anybody care about some rockstar’s religion? Therefore there’s Ville Valo. Used so many symbols and did so many references to it. That’s why I think it’s a topic to talk about- it might get interesting.

He wasn’t growing in a religious family, in a religious country, so to these days it’s not the topic of his life.

,,Even at school I studied ethics instead of religion.”

,,I wasn't baptized when I was born. My parents thought that if I wanted to believe, started believing, or wanted to be a part of a church, religion, or movement, I could make that choice for myself. “

Satanist stuff

But just at the beginning of HIM he used so many symbols, devil’s symbols such as 666 and the name of the band.

Ville has been always assuring us, that these are only symbols that he used more for fun and reference and because of his big fan of Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath.

,,Our song ‘Your Sweet 666’ is more of a tribute to Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden’s ‘The Number of The Beast’ than to something actually evil.”

,,I’m immensely proud of the Heartagram. People having tattoos of it... it’s amazing. It’s not a symbol - it’s a movement. I love religious symbolism..”

Also name of the band (his infernal majesty) wasn’t taken directly from Antony Lavey books but from one of his favorite song back then- as he said in interview from nowadays, telling he is not sure still about origin of the name.

Clearly he’s not, more than 8 years ago he said:

The name Him came from Helsinki ice-hockey maniacs and it was our protest to Haile Selassie's rastafarian religion, he used to be called His Imperial Majesty..but nowadays because of Linde's hair, we actually might be supporting him.

After all it seems that name of the band has nothing with devil worship or something like that- it was more like playing fun with it- back then in 90s Sweden, Finland and Norwegia were the most black metal satanic bands in the world. It’s pretty obvious it got some influence at that time on Ville, that’s why he used some symbol with with but never seriously and as he said: all this stuff what satanist made was stupid for him[about burning churches].

“But I’ve always been laughing that, maybe it makes all the sense in the world for Fins to create metal – the headbanging keeps us warm. You know, it gets terribly cold in the winter. So it makes all the sense in the world that that would be the reason. That’s also probably why the Norwegians burned the churches. It’s nothing to do with Satanism, but they were cold.”

Ville could not be a satanist: he’s song is never about devil and he hates posture of satanist,here a simple example:

,,I hate Nazis”

(Which is typical for devil’s followers)

Topic about Ville being satanist we can close up by his own words:

,,Record companies are devil worshippers - not us.”

and,

,,I don’t believe in Satan or Satanism or the Christian dogma or Islamic or whatever.”

So he is an atheist?-not exactly.

Atheist?Christian?

He never said that he don’t believe in God, such as he said he that he don’t believe in satan.

Ville don’t believe in Christian dogma, but it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t believe in God. It’s also seems that he is more anti-religious traditions more than a whole point of it.

"I am not anti-religion, I am anti-assholes and, unfortunately, in the religious realm, there are a lot of assholes."

There are many proves in press that he got quite big experience with Christianity.

from 2010:

“I read the Bible every day,” he says, grinning impishly as he switches the light on in his bathroom to reveal he’s wallpapered it with pages ripped from a King James edition.

Some days,” he says, giggling, “I read it twice.”

from 2010, also about wallpaper in toilet:

"But you've never read [the bible]?"

"I read it every time I take a shit"

Well, is it profanation, approach to the Christian religion some kind of joke? Probably the same as with Satanism, Christianity is not important to him- he do some fun with it only. Also, I think that this ,,wallpaper” kind of think was

more like a ,,drunk Ville” idea who don’t give a shit, now, I’m pretty sure, he wouldn’t do that. But about today’s Ville will be later.

But on the other side:

,,My maxim to the young people is: "Don't kill"”

Just like from Bible, maybe he really read it and liked some of it. Clearly not everything, that’s why he does not represent as a Christian.

,,I believe in God for the sake of orphan kids”

I wonder, rather it was sarcasm or more like his another thing he actually agree in religions.

,,My idea of heaven is a bit unusual...”

Does that prove Ville believes in an afterlife( from the Christian religion)?It seems like that for sure.

Oh, here’s another about Heaven:

,,But we all like sleeping, chess, the Adam's Family, we prefer night to day, Halloween to Christmas, weddings to funerals, X-Files to Friends, Abba to the Cure and Heaven to Hell because we all want to go there”

It's very hard for me to deduce in what realities Ville lives because he believes in Christian heaven and hell, but he doesn't bring himself to the most important holiday for Christians-ok, I said it too bluntly and to be honest after this statement you can expect not 100% sincerity.

Another thing that can’t be unsaid: Jesus and Ville. Ville quite often talk about him, really.

,,I’ve crossed oceans of wine” is probably one of not many(or only one) song by HIM which there’s something about Christianity.

,, We're so Christlike”~ I’ve crossed oceans of wine

In my interpretation, he used the motif of Jesus here as a sacrifice up to death. This motif fits very well with his concept of music - death and love. Maybe that’s why he used to wear Jesus on t-shirts and belts, crusader? Probably yes, it’s not like he believes in it, he just like more his story.

"Ozzy is after all an icon to me in the same way as Jesus, Motörhead’s Lemmy”

Here’s perfect proof, 666 and Jesus just an icon, symbol for his art.

What today’s Ville Valo on all of this religious stuff?The Answer

,,I believe in friendship, life, love, music, food, but I don't have any religion that I follow.”

,,[..]still didn't find what I'm looking for.”

For me it seems he is more like a person who believes in what he sees, sometimes he believes in Heaven, sometimes not, sometimes in God, sometimes not- for sure never in Satan since he has always used to be an opposite of it. What I could say as a…Christian- Ville mixes up in himself everything what he think is right- sometimes from Bible, sometimes,more often, from live experiences.

,, I think life is all about good manners. You should open up doors for ladies and you should say ‘thank you.’ You should not swear and you should not spit. That’s what my parents told me and that’s what I’m trying to do. It’s brought me this far.”

Ville just does what he thinks is moral and good, you can see it from the man he is now - it's probably the type of person who thinks that this is the most important thing in life and the settlement after death, if it exists at all, will decide.

Ville never grew up in family, with any beliefs like most Finns, so it's no wonder he doesn’t attach much importance to it like the rest of Europe, and treat it more as a culture.

[strawberrystainedd]

Hi!! Got excited when I saw your comment on the Queer Christians unite post, about sharing christianity through a queer lense!! Exactly what I've been looking for as a bi Christian looking for the vouch-for-queer-community-through-the-bible :):) Any tips?

hi so sorry for taking so long to answer!! this ask makes me so happy:) i’m answering this one on this acct but just btw i have a religion sideblog @blessedjudas which is what i usually post all my christianity stuff on!

my biggest tip is to look up churches in your area, find a queer-affirming one (they will usually say it on a website/have a flag in front of the church), and join a group there. my church in san diego is AMAZING and honestly the diocesan events and youth group in hs saved my life and relationship with god!! truly i doubt i would still be a christian if it wasn’t for them!!

if you can’t find a church community near you that is queer affirming, finding a community online is the next best thing!! just finding other people who are queer christians (and queer religious people in general) is the BEST thing you can do- it reminds you that queer christians exist!! and can love god fully!! without sacrificing any part of yourself!! and you also end up learning SO much from them. if you feel safe to do so, you can also try to create a group in your town!! i’m sure it would help other people in the area who might not feel comfortable being the first to reach out.

reading books is also great! there are so many that analyze the bible from a queer lens. here are just a few:

- called out by e carrington keith

-tenderness by eve tushnet

-god and the gay christian by matthew vines

- this i know by jim dant

-hearts ablaze by rolf nolasco

if you have instagram, following people on there is also such a comforting thing. some of my fav accts:

-belovedandqueer

-belovedarise

-marymagdalenestan

-liturgy (my old youth leader from hs/ms actually:))

-andhersaints (who also has a tumblr!! @and-her-saints )

-blackliturgies

-liberating_christianity

when you surround yourself with people who are deconstructing a very white, cishet pov of christianity, you start to realize how anti-jesus that rhetoric truly is. there are so many bible stories and quotes that just aren’t even taught because they aren’t deemed “important” (they are). nowadays i read passages of the bible and find so much more LOVE in it than i used to, because i’ve joined communities of people who truly care about love for the sake of love. once you realize it’s ok and holy to love always, you find so much more love in the bible in so many places!! (you also get a reality check on how flawed the bible can be, and how not everything should be taken literally as it was written by ancient human men in a different language. doing research to find true translations is also a great, if difficult, thing to dig into!!) it just makes me feel so much more connected to jesus and god and the holy spirit, and that feeling of true love is what keeps my faith.

when i was younger i kind of felt like i shouldn’t take the bible very seriously at all because it was so fallible- but now i view it differently, because the more i studied it with other queer people, the more i realized how truly wonderful it is and how warped it had become in translation by american christianity. context is sosososo key when reading such ancient texts and it should not be taken lightly!! pretty much all of those passages that alt-right christians use only make sense in certain context or have been mistranslated. i view the bible as a diary of christians in the past, and in a way i find that even holier. it’s a treasure and the gospel feels even more real to me because of that!!

things just started to make so much more sense when i looked at the bible with a queer eye. when two women who lived together are blessed, that turns from a seemingly pointless story into a story about a romantic couple being blessed by the lord. when it’s mentioned that two men who live together are very close and do everything together, it makes so much more sense to think that they were together. everything just clicks into place! and it fits the image i have in my head of jesus so much better: someone who preached radical love and kindness of COURSE would never say it was a sin to love ANYONE, no matter who it is.

ok this was really long post and honestly i could go on for so much longer but i hoped this helps!! ily and if you have any other questions/musings feel free to ask!!❤️

[momowho34]

Here are some jewish myths you might still believe!!!!

(Pls read and reblog I’m tired of people echoing shit like this)

Jesus was not a rabbi. He lived a hundred years before rabbinic judaism even started to develop. Please stop saying this as if it lends him credence in our religion, because no. It doesn’t.

Yeah, Jesus was jewish, but he also rejected mainstream Judaism and hated it. Stop pretending he means anything to us. Idk if you guys have even read your own books, Matthew is like 60% about how the Pharisees are bad and wrong and evil for sticking to the traditions that have kept them alive for 100s of years. It’s also, y’know, historically inaccurate to the actual behavior of the Pharisees in that time period. Seriously man he is not ours and means nothing to us, keep your Jesus and stop trying to shoehorn him into judaism.

Our god is not yours “minus the Jesus.” In trinity terms; divide the Holy Spirit by the Father and then subtract the Son and that is a bare bones grasp of what god appears as for Jews.

Jews are not white as a whole. Are there white Jews? Yes. Are there jews who are literally every other skin tone? Also yes!! We are all over the place. India, numerous Middle Eastern countries, Morocco, Spain, and a lot more I can’t be bothered to list. You are actively hurting poc jews by pretending that all jews are European, holy shit stop doing that please!!! Most white jewish people are Ashkenazi, which is just one type of judaism.

Actually, the historical relationship between Jews and Muslims is a lot more complicated then you think it is. Sometimes we got along, sometimes we didn’t. Some would argue that Jews were treated better by Islamic caliphates in the Middle Ages then they were by Christian kingdoms. Stop trying to pretend we are and have always been “arch nemeses” or some fucking bullshit (that would be the Amalekites for us, actually, and not the Muslims) Also we’re honestly more similar to them when it comes to traditions then christians so like take that into account thanks

Hey guys listen to Romani when they talk about the Holocaust too!!!!! Please, they have a different experience/perspective and deserve to have their voices heard. Don’t pretend they don’t exist and that it didn’t effect them because uh.... it did. To a degree that I don’t think I can properly explain. Do not overlook them and then pretend it’s just because ur a “jewish ally” or whatever the fuck.

Stop pretending that we’re the same as Christianity. We aren’t. Stop stop stop holy shit stop. That’s not how any of this works at all. Christianity is so so so different, it takes like a handful of jewish beliefs and runs with them. Christianity is its own thing and so is Judaism, stoppp.

Not all Jews are zionists. some are explicitly anti-zionists. Not all zionists are anti-Semitic, but some of them are. Basically, jews aren’t inherently zionists and anti-Zionism isn’t inherently antisemitic. That being said, some people do use anti-Zionism as a cover for their anti-semitism. Watch out for those people, they’re not that hard to spot. That’s all I’m going to say about that, don’t want to start on this issue because it isn’t what this list is about.

Jews never actually lived by the literal laws of the Torah. We did not stone people. There is no archeological evidence of that and actually more evidence pointing to the opposite. jewish communities actually held capital punishment as being inherently immoral and was very very very rarely used in some communities. Understand that. Don’t ever say shit like “but the Jews used to live by the Bible too, and they stoned gay people!!!” No. No we didn’t. Ever. Nobody did that in ancient times.

Guess what, jews are not rich or greedy! what the fuck are you talking about??? Quit it please. This stereotype has literally been used since the Middle Ages to alienate Jews as a more privileged “other” that deserve their prosecution. Stop stop please stop, please!!!!! People actually believe this shit and commit hate crimes, stop, even as a sarcastic joke.

The Old Testament is not the same as the Torah/Tanakh. It’s just not? For one thing, the Old Testament is a translation of a cut down version of a translation of a different modified version, so no. Not the same. Also the books are ordered differently and the sections are mixed up.

God does not abandon the Jews in the Tanakh or the Old Testament for that matter. It’s like... sort of implicated to happen between the two testaments in Christianity. The Old Testament basically structured the books non-chronologically so that the last one would be Malachi because his prophecies are supposed to echo Jesus. We end the Tanakh on Nehemiah, and there is no “New Testament” for us because there’s only one and it ends at the end of the story.

Antisemitism is definitely still a thing. I don’t know who the fuck told you about this one? The Jews got treated like shit after the holocaust, and some of the few survivors 70 years later got reparations so now everybody’s acting like antisemitism doesn’t exist. It does. It really, really fucking does. Please listen to us.

Holocaust denial isn’t “a fringe conspiracy theory,” it’s genuinely awful and dangerous and hurts real people. I’m serious about this one, holocaust denial (and any genocide denial for that matter, whether it’s talking about the Armenian genocide or Holdomer or any others) is legit dangerous. Pay attention to it and have 0% tolerance for that shit

You are allowed to be invited to a jewish event if you’re not jewish! We literally do not care. Respectfully participating in traditions if you’re invited to is fine! The issue is when people take a jewish tradition and twist it into something for them. That’s a no-no, but getting invited to a seder/bar mitzvah/bris is fine. just show respect to traditions you see, even if you don’t entirely understand them. Do that and you’ll be fine.

Jews are a ridiculously diverse group of people with a lot of different beliefs! We all have vastly different ideas of fucking everything from god to the purpose of pomegranates (not a joke). Accept that we think differently form eachother and aren’t a monolith please

These are all the ones I could think of lol, jewish friends add more if you can think of some. Ok and encouraged to reblog for everyone.

[stargazing-zani]

Fuckit, Texas Headcanons

(Source: I’m from there. Do you have to take my ideas any more seriously? No. As a matter of fact, please don’t.)

- Uhh he tall? I'm bad at estimating heights, let's put him at 6'5" and call it a day.

- He smells like gasoline and cattle.

- He did not attend college and does not ever plan to. That's not to say Texas is anti-univeristy (you can't be Best In The Nation if your colleges aren't top-notch) but he perfers to work with his hands, and trade schools are way better for that.

- Back in the late 1800's he worked as a cowhand and did the cattle drive all the way up to Kansas. And he loved it.

- He knows how to use a lariat, make a campfire meal, fix most tools, care for livestock, and "handle" native americans.

- Early on his cattle brand was a simple star. Cattle rustlers easily stole and rebranded his cows, so he changed that pretty quick.

- He misses those days a lot and gets emotional at the Fort Worth stockyards.

- During the Oil Boom starting in 1901, Texas became incredibly more powerful  physically and financially (and more of the asshole we know today). Although getting all that oil siphoned out felt a bit like donating more blood than a person could afford, he still boasted and bragged about it. He's gotta one-up California after that Gold Rush, after all.

- The back of his oversized Ford pickup is plastered with just about every Texan bumper sticker you could think of, including: Come and Take it Don't Tread on Me Remember the Alamo, Forget the White House Beaver Believer (from Buc-ee's) Don't Mess With Texas Pray to End Abortion Don't California my Texas and Keep Austin Weird And his liscence plate reads LONESTAR.

- Don't let the truck fool you, he still owns a horse. Her name's Bluebonnet ("Bonnie" for short). In fact, every horse he's owned was named Bluebonnet -- he kept replacing them as they died through the years. The OG Bonnie saw a lot more action than the current Bonnie, who is basically a pet at this point.

- He's a devout Christian, of course, but the specific denomination changes depending on what mood he's in. Any contradicions this causes doesn't bother him. He goes to church every Sunday, bible study every Wednesday, and prays every night. ("Our Father in Heaven, thank you for creating me to be the best. Please help Florida. Please serve justice to California. Forgive me for my transgressions, and thank you for brisket. Amen.")

- He's claustrophobic, but he doesn't know it. He just figures he's too big for anywhere outside of what he's used to. (This is based on the absolutely horrendous urban sprawl I've experienced -- dense cities are Not Very Texan.)

- When he goes to the beach, he wears swim trunks with his flag on them. And the cowboy hat and boots stay ON, thank you very much.

- He carries twin pistols and a large bowie knife with him everywhere he goes.

- Okay, I might as well talk about Austin. So unlike a couple of people, I don't think that Texas' other cities manifest as alternate personalities, mostly because they still all feel very Texan. Austin, however is Weird. He's Weird and different and exceptional enough that I like to think he's the only one who can break off from Texas yet share a body like that. The joke is that Austin and Texas are at odds despite being a part of each other, and I kinda like to stay true to that. 

-Texas is protective of him like a parent whose daughter is dating someone he doesn't approve of: harsh, suspicious of everything, overbearing, and ready to shoot any agressors.

-Texas' and Austin's emotions mix a little bit but basically whoever's fronting gets the say and the other one is fully concious but screaming and banging on a metaphorical glass wall.

-When Austin takes the hat off, he seems to shrink a few inches.

-Austin likes bright rainbow "hippie" colors, to Texas' disgust. He is not allowed input on fashion or interior design.

- However, they both like tailgaiting, dancing, and country music, so it's not all that bad.

- Maybe I should also mention the daddy issues? Uhhh honestly closest I can guess for the dad is Mexico (which is funny because Texas actively fought against him so the issues would be his own fault). Or maybe it's one of Texas' founding fathers like Sam Houston or Stephen F. Austin. But honestly, it could be a character called "Texas' Dad" for all I care. I just like that the issues exist. Austin wants to talk about it. Texas does not.

- He likes to remind everyone his territory once reached even farther, all the way into current-day Colorado, when people start taking Alaska's side.

- Despite his love of oil, cattle, and free-range capitalism, he is the biggest producer of wind energy in the country, which annoys California like you wouldn't believe. 

-Texas uses Spanish to trash talk the Gov to his face without him knowing. Although his pronunciation irks the other Spanish-speaking states, this usually grants him a few temporary allies during meetings.

- His pride makes it hard to find close friends (not that he minds) but he’s chill with Tennessee and Louisiana especially. 

- Texas doesn't believe in swearing ("hell" and "damn" and "ass" are ok) bc he thinks it's unchristian. He will not hesitate, however, to pull out a long-winded cowboy insult, you lily-livered, yellow-bellied, frog-faced, bull-headed, dung-smellin', cactus-sittin', donkey-ridin' son of a gun!

[cozycryptidcorner]

I know you're going to think I'm trolling but I genuinely don't understand what you want me to apologize for?

-The "Rogue" "Christian"

Ok. I’m going to take this seriously because I used to be a Christian, and idk if you’re acting like this because you’re so gung-ho about Christianity and think it’s leaders are always right regardless of their actions on earth or you’re struggling and something I said made you very uncomfortable with how you handle faith.

So I’m going to tackle this from your worldview. Idk what denomination you’re from, but my extended family is Methodist/catholic and my mom was baptist before she married my stepfather so I have a pretty good handle on the small differences.

anyone who isn’t christian who is interested in this kind of stuff should read too.

Firstly, your initial message was sent in defensive anger. And I do get it, when you see something that challenges your entire worldview it can be pretty shaking. But you did accuse me of being anti-theist when I pretty much explicitly said I wasn’t (i’m pretty cool with most pagans, and they’re polytheistic), meaning you didn’t read my whole post. And I wasn’t sure what angle you were originally coming from, because I do get the occasional troll from time to time.

So I did joke about it, because I was raised in a fundamentalist branch of christianity which is rich in purity culture. And even if you aren’t subscribed to purity culture, most sects of christians (baring most progressive christians) believe that any form of sexual content before marriage, ESPECIALLY pornography, is still a form a sexual sin that muddies your soul. Even the bible talks about “sexual immorality,” so you can’t really blame it on our differing denominations:

1 Corinthians 10:8: Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 

2 Corinthians 12:21: I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced. 

Revelation 21:8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” 

etc etc i can pull so many more out of my ass because i was forcefed this shit until my eyes bled. 

So a christian being mad that a monsterfucking PORN blog they’re following that’s run by an openly queer person was talking shit about them is inherently funny to me. Because even if you, an adult, was following a blog with adult content, it’s explicitly forbidden in your own religion. Also like, sure monsterfucking wasn’t in the bible. But if I had a time machine and I could bounce back a couple thousand years to ask paul what he thought about a human fucking godzilla or gargoyles, pretty sure he would file it under unholy fornication. much less DEMONS lmfao.

plus, okay you wouldn’t actually fuck a monster, but thinking is just as bad as doing it, according to your own book:

Matthew 5:28  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Mark 7:20-23 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

So by looking lustfully at my art or my stories, you’ve fucked them in your heart and that’s just as bad.

then. You could have just left it at that, but then you turn around and pull the whole “uwu babygirl” which was clearly just done out of anger and vindictiveness. You could not stand that I brushed you off without taking you seriously/was mad that i showed no remorse/just pissy in general. That was super unchristlike of you, because what does the bible say about speaking in anger?

Matthew 5:21–22 You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

James 1:19-20 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

And if you’re catholic: Titus 1:7 For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain.

Damn that’s so crazy. I wonder what Jesus would think of your behavior.

anyways the apology bit was also me joking within the realms of, again, your own religion. as in I would let you pull some more christian stuff as long as it was in repentance of your ungodly behavior.

 1 Peter 3:9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Maybe it was the sects I was exposed to, but isn’t there like. A tremendous emphasis on asking for forgiveness when you have sinned against others? I mean you can go the easy way and just ask the man upstairs to forgive you if you don’t want to make amends with the actual person you sinned against but I don’t really care either way since I don’t subscribe to your religion.

I just find your behavior really abhorrent for someone who is in the religion of “love” or whatever. Like someone a lot smarter than me said, there’s no hate quite like christian love haha.

ANYWAYS. Also please note I’m using mostly new testament scripture, so you can’t pull the usual “the old rules for the old world” bs.

Also if you’re catholic lmk I’ll start pulling the cataclysm rules I used to have memorized too.

[galacticnova3]

Ok updating the pinned post because the old version… is old. Oop. Won’t repeat the stuff in my bio so I guess I’ll just… get into this.

•If you’re a terf, exclusionist, LGBTA+ phobic, think queer is a slur/not a valid identity, are racist/sexist, support p*dos/MAPs/proshippers/anti-antis, or are fatphobic, don’t interact. Also, block me. I hate you I am throwing so many rocks at your face and putting tacks in all of your shoes and changing all of your profile pictures everywhere to a picture of a clown because you’re a fucking joke

•I’m an adult, so if you’d prefer not to interact that’s no problem. Similarly if you don’t want me to interact with you, just let me know and I’ll respect that! In either case I would prefer it be mutual, as I don’t like the idea of only having one-sided interaction.

•Feel free to ask me questions whenever! Especially about headcanons or my own characters! Seriously, I love excuses to ramble about them and have trouble sharing otherwise. You can also ask about me and my opinions too, obviously, but I figure that’s not as likely. Please interact I still need enrichment

•Keep in mind that if an ask is super inappropriate(like actual nsfw) or gross, I probably won’t answer it. That being said I would really prefer not to get graphically sexual or otherwise unpleasant asks. There are better places to share that stuff and better people to share it with.

•If you need something tagged, let me know! However, I will not tag things as “q word” “q slur” or similar, because I see queer as an identity and not a slur, and will treat it as such. If you need it tagged for trigger reasons, I’d prefer a catch-all tag be suggested so that queer folks will not get the wrong idea or feel alienated. If you plan to argue with me about it, save us both some time and block me.

•I have multiple roleplay/ask blogs and they are all dead or dangling by a thread, said thread being an anon or two every few weeks. I’d love to revive them someday so if you are curious about them hit me up. I promise they are cool. One even has a canon url of the muse’s name, that’s worth something right? Pleas

•I support the (correct) use of tone tags! Though I don’t often use them on here beyond a small number in tags, I do on Discord, and I also know most of them.

•I have a Discord, by the way, but I’ll really only chat with folks I know.

•Free Palestine. Support for the current actions of Isreal is support for genocide. It will not be tolerated.

More specific/belief-based stuff under the cut. Not really necessary to read for average folks, but may be important to some. Kinda serious subjects.

•I am a Christian, but unlike some who call themselves that I’ve actually read the book. Tldr everyone is deserving of basic respect regardless of who they are, people aren’t inherently good or inherently evil, fuck capitalism, and choose peace until it isn’t an option. Also something something Jesus was a socialist feminist based on his actions and the conservatives who try to tell you otherwise have no idea what they’re actually talking about. Seriously I could go on about that for ages; don’t lump all Christians together with them, it’s not the fault of us decent folks that loud assholes call themselves the same thing despite being entirely different. That being said, while it rarely comes up, let me know if you want religious stuff like that tagged. At most I usually just reblog posts disproving the arguments of Bible thumpers and supporting the folks they try to use religion to justify their baseless hatred of.

•Related to the above, I don’t like when folks say Christians when they mean racists, homophobes, transphobes, etc. They’re not synonyms and that also lets members of those groups who aren’t Christian act like it doesn’t apply to them.

•I respect differing opinions on religion and am not the sort who forces it on others, but I expect my views to be respected in return. Basically I won’t be a dick to you if you don’t like religion, but don’t be a dick to me for being religious or a Christian.

•Kinning is cool, I do it, not going to elaborate beyond confirming this isn’t a joke.

•I do have several triggers and squicks, but don’t want to put them in the open for my own safety. If you really want to know, you can ask me in direct messages or in a non-anonymous ask.

•I do not want to be involved in discourse, please do not try to drag me into it. This can be anything from fandom stuff to issues between friend circles that don’t involve me to politics. I am here for a good time, I have already had my share of discourse that led to me getting death threats and anon hate over a fictional space clown, I don’t need any more.

Since that stuff was kinda heavy, if you read this far, here are some pictures of my cat Trail Mix

I would kill for her

[keow]

What advice would you give to someone who grew up in an atheist household but feels a vague connection to God? My family wasn't for or against any religion so I grew up indifferent but also comforted by religious memorabilia, going in churches, etc. I know that sounds wishy-washy but I'd like to explore it more but I don't know where to start and what to read to learn more, to decide what I think.

There are probably better blogs you could ask about this than mine, but I'll try my best. I’m going to answer this under the cut because it got really lengthy hehe. Also sorry this took so long to answer, I've been pretty busy!

So firstly it seems like we had really similar experiences growing up. My mom was “spiritual” and agnostic, raising me without exposure to really any religion (besides maybe Buddhism and a little bit of nondenominational Christianity—she shopped around a bit). I think this sort of background is becoming more and more common in society, so you aren’t alone.

Because of this non-religious childhood I can also tell you firsthand that there are a lot of bad things out there. For basically the entirety of my adolescence I was involved in witchcraft, paganism, and “new age” spirituality. I’m just going to tell you straight up that this is bad news. Please don’t fall for any of their bullshit. I literally worshipped and communicated with demons for years and it turned me into a horrible, evil person. Don’t fall for the “law of attraction” bullshit either, no matter how seductive it seems.

With that out of the way…

I am still in the process of converting so I can’t give you the perspective of someone who has completed that process, but I can tell you what has helped me figure out a lot of things religion-wise.

Firstly, the most important thing is to ask questions. If you do not ask questions, you cannot learn. If you do not learn, you will never know truth. So ask questions.

You say you feel drawn to churches, so I’m going to operate on the assumption that you want to know more about Christianity. If this isn’t the case then… well… ummmm well I ummummumummm Uh.

You’ve probably heard “Jesus died for your sins” before, but it’s very easy to just gloss over that because the idea is kind of pushed around our society without anyone really explaining it. Like I had no clue what that meant or how it worked before I started asking these questions.

“What are the doctrinal differences between these two religions? What about between these two branches of the same religion?” “Why is this biblical event important?” “How does the Trinity work?” “How do we know Jesus is the Messiah?” Et cetera. Any question you can think of, find out the answer to it. Catholic Answers is a pretty good place to start!

Secondly, as you’re in this “research” phase, I highly suggest immersing yourself in media that deals with religion as a whole. I listened to a lot of catholic podcasts and watched a lot of YouTube videos that explained some very important theological concepts that I didn’t quite understand. It’s not a proper education by any means but it will help you get the basics down.

Ideally, you’d be able to ask someone about this in person and get proper responses (assuming the person is knowledgeable and can explain things well). Like seriously, you should do this. Online stuff is nice but it isn’t a replacement for finding a parish and talking to someone.

I couldn’t really do this because I didn’t have access at the time when I was really becoming curious (pandemic and stuck with anti-theist parents lol), so if you’re in a similar situation, the internet is your best friend. In that stage I also followed a lot of catholic and orthodox blogs so I would be surrounded with that content as much as possible. Kind of like how if you’re trying to learn a language you need to immerse yourself in it I guess?

In my pinned post I have a lot of resources that were useful to me linked near the bottom :)

I highly suggest getting a Bible or AT LEAST downloading a good Bible app. Multiple actually. Or listen to something like the Bible in a Year podcast by Fr. Mike Schmitz. I have a study Bible with a lot of footnotes which is GREAT if you love knowing about translations, original texts, and historical context, but not as great if you just want to read the story of salvation itself.

Now you can be the most knowledgeable person on a religion, knowing all the history and all the doctrine, but if you don’t have a relationship with God it means absolutely nothing. The most important thing is to pray. You can’t have a relationship with God if you do not pray. Ask for guidance, ask for assistance in becoming more virtuous, pray for others, just talk to God about anything.

Personally I bought myself a nice rosary once I started seriously considering Catholicism and started to pray using that, but there are countless ways to pray.

The ways that work best for me are lectio divina and the rosary. I can never seem to finish novenas, but those are also nice, and listening to hymns and chant helps me connect to God a lot! ALSO learning about church history and the various saints throughout it. Again, you might be different, so just find what works for you!

LASTLY.

IT’S NOT WEIRD AT ALL TO CONVERT AS AN ADULT!!!!! Speaking for Christianity, that is. For something like Judaism it would probably be a bit stranger, especially since Judaism is so heavily linked to a specific culture and ethnicity.

Christianity however is very open to adult converts. That’s how it got started in the first place. There are countless saints who converted later in life, so please please don’t feel weird about it. The Church is probably the most friendly to converts out of all religions. Here’s an article on the Catholic conversion process for adults!

TLDR:

Ask questions, learn, pray, learn some more, pray even more, go find an RCIA program so you can get catechized and baptized. LOVE YOU <3

[skyeofloxlay]

Personality / Brief history / important things about MC / Reader for my fanfics or when I make requests.

Okay, I decided to do this more for myself when I make a request to someone, but this is also useful to let you know a little more about the MC / "reader" of my fanfics.

The MC is a cis-woman of almost 1.60cm in height, (age may vary) but generally the age will be between 20 and 23. She is heterosexual/straight (I don't know if there is a difference between the two things, but I don't understand why I would have two words for the same thing) and usually in fanfics she has never had a boyfriend before the character she will be together with (be it Jake (Duskwood), Jason (Todd), Spencer (Reid) or any other character). 

She was born in Brazil and lived a large part of her life there, and depending on what story she is in, she makes an interchange trip abroad because of college, and because of that she lives far from her family and lives alone, but she has her faithful companion, a male Schnauzer dog (his name in fanfics is undetermined.)

MC has always been a lonely person, because after several events in the past she does not trust people easily, and the only people she does trust are her family, but she still has trouble talking about her problems to them.

Furthermore, MC is a very shy, introverted, anti-social person and suffers from social phobia, which of course, is a perfect combo to be an alien in society and not be able to make friends, even if she wants to.

MC also doesn't know where it all started from, but she does know that she has probably suffered from anxiety for many, many years, even though she only discovered it a short time ago, and went to get help even less time ago.

Because of anxiety, she ends up being stuck in her own world, or I should call it, hell itself. Her mind is a mess, bad, unreal and meaningless thoughts invade her mind all the time, and because she has been this way for so long without help and not knowing what to do, her situation has worsened to the point where her anxiety starts to change into a depressive anxiety.

However, as much as she has been suffering with her own mind for years, she can always count on her family whenever she needs them, even if they are distant from each other, they are inseparable. 

Her father, as much as he doesn't understand most of the things she goes through, supports her and wants the best for MC, and so he does what he can to help MC pay for psychological treatment, and even though he doesn't understand, he always makes her smile and laugh, even when the situations are bad, even though he was always busy because of work, he always did what he could to be together, even in the simplest things, like family lunch, playing video games, watching movies, shopping together.

Her mother, on the other hand, has been through similar things like MC, and always try to help her the way she can, always speaking encouraging words, helping MC to do her things when she couldn't, sleeping next to the MC when she couldn't sleep because of anxiety, always being by her side, always supporting any decision, no matter the situation, MC's mom will always be there to hear her, either to hear about something that MC wants to do a lot or when she has some fear. 

And there is also her younger brother (3 years younger), as much as they ended up arguing for silly things, he is her best friend, maybe her only true friend, always having fun together doing what they like, protecting each other, always being one for another, even when it was not known which words were right to say.

MC is blessed to have such an amazing family, and as much as she couldn't say "I love you, you are everything to me" to them, she loved them with all her heart and soul, and she couldn't say what would happen to her if she lost them, but probably something really bad would happen.

As much as it seemed that MC doesn't care about other people, maybe looking selfish and boring to others, she cares a lot about others, but she knows that this is also one of the big reasons why she suffers from anxiety, caring for others more than for herself, and for her own mental health, she had to try not to think so much about the problems of the world that she cannot solve. 

Some people may think that she was wrong in doing this, but she wanted to have some sanity, even if little and trying to recover, than to go crazy with things that are impossible to fix, at least impossible for her to fix.

(Some other things about MC, but now simpler, because I'm out of time and too lazy, help me)

- Very distracted

- Very clumsy

- Nerd

- Dreamer / lost in her own world

- Impulsive

- Impatient

- Think too much about everything

- Studious

- Lonely

- Forgotten

- Problems with deadlines, do everything at the last minute.

- Avoid fights / arguments with people she doesn't know, but if it's someone close and it's a silly fight, she'll defend that she's right until the end, if she's wrong in the fight, she'll just be quiet for a while. If it is a serious fight, she will argue for some time until the tears stop her from continuing, and then she will be silent for a long time.

- Too stubborn

- Sarcastic with the closest people

- Always try to look for the good in people, but it is impossible for her to achieve kindness in certain people.

- Pessimistic

- Very sensitive / hurts / cries easily

- Perfectionist

- Very insecure

- She cannot express in words what she feels for other people

Likes:

Chocolate

Coffee

Rainy days

Winter

Music (Mainly, pop and  rock)

To drive

Flowers

Taking pictures (mainly of landscapes)

Animals

Old things, like things related to the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, or things from centuries ago

History

Books

Learn things

Horror stuff (games, books, movies)

Mystery

Horseback riding

Nature

Farms

See the city lights at night

Night

Games (both video games and board / cards)

Comics, Movies, Series etc about Superheroes

Mexican food

Travel

Psychology / Understanding the human mind

Buy drawing materials and books (even though she will never use / read them)

Big clothes

Wind

Ride a bike

Explore Abandoned Places

Dislikes:

Summer

Hot days

Insects

Spiders

Her mind

Who annoy her

People fighting

See things or people comment on things related to death or illness

Having to be patient

Who speak ill of her family

Working in a group

That people belittle her feelings

Parties

People

Delays

Alcoholic beverages

Buy clothes

Make up

High heels

Short dresses

Physics

Fears / Phobias / Things that bother her:

Spiders

Falling / High height

To drown

Die

Getting seriously ill

Dark / Night

To sleep

People

Speak in public

Losing her family

Stay alone

Crowds

Closed places

Tight clothes (Because she feels they are suffocating her)

Arrive late

Forget things

Having a car accident

Never be loved / Stop being loved

Future

May her fears come true

Skills:

- To draw

- Write

- Cook

- Game programming 

- Sing

- Play keyboard and guitar

- To compose

- To dance

Hobbies:

Basically, it's her skills + reading + playing video games + taking pictures of the landscape.

Job:

Usually she either works as a waitress in a coffee shop or works in a supermarket (working at the checkout or replacing products on shelves)

As much as many find it strange, MC is very happy in her work, and does not mind working in "simple" jobs (basically jobs that earn little), and as much as she doesn't have much money, just enough to live reasonably well, she is happy with what she has and doesn't care about the money.

College: 

She studies digital game design

I think that's it, there are some other things that I only do when I'm writing specific situations, for example, MC's opinions on certain subjects, and honestly I don't have time at the moment to make the MC's different opinions, and just say that she tries to be as neutral as she can, because she knows that extremes are never good, and that when asked which side she is in a situation (depending on what it is, but usually she says), she says doesn't have a side because it doesn’t identify herself by either side, because both are extreme, and this usually leads people to think that it’s on the fence, but it’s not like that, it’s more or less. "You were teleported to a place, there are two paths, one on the right and the other on the left, at the beginning of each of these paths there is a person, each talking about their paths and talking about why their path is the best of than the other and why you should follow their path. And then you must make a choice of which path to follow " But MC does not agree with either side, and will not wait there to see which side gives her the best benefit as many would do, she goes there and moves on, where there is no path, where there is no one, because she doesn't want to be on anyone's side, she wants to make her own opinions, and not follow what a group is saying. 

Oh, and one of the philosophies she follows is of yin and yang, which says something like "There is good and there is evil, both need each other to exist, there is no good without evil, and no there is evil without good, and that nothing can be completely good or evil, since, however small, there is evil in good, and there is good in evil. "

Some phrases she would say:

"You can say anything about me, but don't come and talk about my family"

"I can't always do it, but I always try to be balanced, because I know that nothing comes out of extremism, no matter which side."

"I'm a Christian, I may not have proofs but I believe in God, but I don't believe everything in the Bible because it was made by humans, and I know that many of them used and still use people's faith to do very bad things . "

"Sorry, but I suck at remembering names, in fact, I suck at remembering."

"Shit, I knew I was forgetting something."

"I hate logic, most of these things don't make any sense!"

"At least I have you with me here DN" (DN = dog name)

"There is nothing that is not so bad that it cannot get worse"

"I think I celebrated too soon"

"I sleep! But no matter what I do, I will be forever sleepy!"

"No matter what I do, my thoughts disturb me from the moment I wake up until bedtime, and even while I'm asleep. And it happens every day."

"Sometimes ... I think ... people would be better off if I didn't exist. I just hinder and hurt people." 

"I don't know when or how it started, I just know that I have been scared forever"

"I don't do it because I want to! It's not my fault if I'm easily distracted"

"I think writing is the only way to say what I feel"

"Yes, I know, I'm crazy, you don't have to tell me that"

"I'm not a normal person. Maybe I'm not even a human? What if I'm an alien and I don't know? A synthetic human? A robot with high artificial intelligence that is identical to that of humans?"

"I don't like to be afraid, but I love to see and read horror stuff."

"I love old things, they are so fascinating"

"What day is it today?"

"I just wanted to have a little courage that other people have"

"I have no hope of anything, as always, every time I had hope, very bad things happened, close people and pets died when I had hope that they would survive. For me, hope has long since died."

"I think, in a way, I am a miracle, just like my brother. I mean, it was almost impossible for my mom to have a baby, and look, here I am."

"I'm not cute!"

"I'm not short, I'm average height, it's the rest of the people who are very tall"

(Maybe I wrote a lot? Did I overdo it?)

Sorry if there is something confusing or errors in English 

[queertheology]

Building A Bible-Based Faith (that isn’t terrible!)

“Test everything; hold fast what is good.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:21

When I first started to realize that I was attracted to guys, a tiny crack appeared in my faith: how could a loving God knit me together in my mother’s womb then give me these desires for love, intimacy, and family with no righteous outlet to express them?

I’d been told that “homosexuality” was sinful, but I was never quite sure why. I needed to be sure, so I turned to the Bible. That was terrifying. Who was I to question what my church leaders acted like was common knowledge? And then I stumbled upon 1 Thessalonians 5:21 and I realized that questioning my beliefs wasn’t heresy, it was Biblical!

It took me YEARS to sort out that being LGBTQ was not only “ok” but an important part of the diversity of God’s creation. (If you want a peak at what I learned during the process, check this out)

Now that I know it’s ok to be queer — despite what some religious leaders say — I asked myself: what else were they wrong about?

Figuring out I was queer was an invitation to question my faith and to take a fresh look at “what the Bible” says about so many things.

Thank God I’m queer, because I have discovered in the Bible — and the community, experience, expertise, and traditions of Christians across millennia — a faith that is liberating and life-giving… and so much more alive than the evangelical faith of my childhood.

Conservatives talk a lot about being “Bible-believing” or having a “Bible-based” faith.

Too often that’s code for “My interpretation of Christianity is right and everyone who doesn’t measure up is sinful and going to hell.”

While I think it’s entirely possible to be an upstanding, moral person without ever turning to the Bible (or even believing in God!), I’m not ready to let go of this sacred text.

When I look at the Bible, here’s what I see.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. – Luke 4:18-19

Jesus begins his public ministry by quoting from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 61:1-2, to be specific).

In doing so, he roots his ministry in his Jewish faith and, more specifically, in the Hebrew prophets.

If you’ve asked “What did Jesus come to do?” or “Why did God send Jesus?” … well Jesus answers that question himself in Luke:

to bring good news to poor people

to set prisoners free

to give sight to the blind

to liberate the oppressed

and to usher in God’s abundance

But Jesus doesn’t want to go at it alone. He begins calling disciples to join him in his ministry. Jesus isn’t looking for converts, though.

“Come, follow me,” he said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people.” (Matthew 4:19)

He’s looking for doers to join him in the work of his ministry. And what is that ministry?

Throughout the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, we get a look at God’s priorities. When I look at the ministry of Jesus, I don’t see a departure from the Hebrew scriptures, I see a continuation of them.

In the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, there are 2,350 verses about money, 300 about social justice and the poor, and even 24 about immigration.

But it’s not really about plucking verses out of context or tallying up the number of verses about this subject vs that subject. To take the Bible seriously and faithfully, you need to know what to do with it. What are the central themes and what are the exceptions? What are commandments and what might be examples of humans messing up, despite their best intentions? What taps into the divine and what is just a reflection of a time-bound, cultural norm?

In Deuteronomy,

I have set life and death, blessing and curse before you. Now choose life.

In Amos,

I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

In Luke, when asked what one must do to gain eternal life, Jesus shared a story that ended with the Samaritan taking care of the injured man and paying for his healthcare … “Go and do likewise” was Jesus’s answer.

In John,

I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.

In Acts,

All the believers were united and shared everything. …There were no needy persons among them

There’s a whole lot in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures: letters, commandments, poems, stories, parables, and even some visions.

What are we to make of all of these?

Genesis 1 ends with, “God saw everything he had made: it was supremely good” and Revelation ends with “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.” When you look at Scripture — from Genesis to Revelation — what you see is that God calls us to be faithful by loving ourselves and taking care of each other.

Jesus seems to agree. In Matthew 22, he says,

You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.

If you aren’t drawing yourself and others closer to God, if you aren’t filled with love for God, for yourself, and for others, you’re not following Jesus’s commands.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 7 that “by their fruits you will recognize” whether a religious teaching is true or not.

The fruits of anti-LGBTQ theology reveal its falseness: depression, despair, suicide, fractured families, loss of faith, bullying, harassment. The fruits of affirming theology testify to its rightness: a return to faith, a healing of relationships, and a vibrance and resurgence in church life.

But it’s not just about being “LGBTQ affirming” or not.

Does your theology put you at odds with your mind, soul, heart, or body? Does your theology sow division in your family, community, nation, or world? Does your theology excuse or encourage violence? Does your theology exacerbate your mental health problems?

Or does it lead you to life and joy? Does it comfort you? Does it give you hope? Does it lead you to treat others well?

Judge your theology by its fruits.

How to figure out an integrated, Bible-based faith that is life-giving

It took me studying religion in college, being trained by religious and civil rights leaders, engaging in full-time activism across the country for months, reading and studying countless books by pastors, scholars, theologians, and activists; and studying under mentors. It took Fr. Shay going to seminary, continuing his education for a decade, working in churches for equally long, and pursuing independent study.

But it shouldn’t require that much of an investment just to read the Bible well and put it into practice. That’s why we are distilling all of our expertise and experience down into a 4-week course on how to read the Bible: Journey into the Bible. It starts on September 15. You can learn more and register here.

[reimenaashelyee]

History for Granted, or When a Marginal Voice Tackles The Main Text

My thoughts about being a marginalised creator who chose to make a graphic novel on a historical figure in the dominant Western canon. About why I didn't choose a lesser-known history instead. About why, either way, it is not a loss to POC representation

Reposted from my official blog, where I keep all my long-form thoughts.

Some of you may know I write historical fiction. Some of you may also know I’ve been chipping away on an Alexander the Great graphic novel.

My role as a historical graphic novelist has been stewing in the back of my mind for a while now. Actually, the stewing began when I first thought of The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya, but I already know my insights from that project. Be actively thoughtful. Be self aware of how your own biases and societal context influence your storytelling. Recognise the people before and around you. Use your power to bring up voices. Understand that the work of being a responsible author lasts beyond the final page of your story.

Such is the case for Alexander, The Servant and The Water of Life. What I have learnt from TCM still carries over, thank goodness.

However, since last November, I realised that Alexander is a different kettle of fish. I already knew this early on: the mindboggling breadth and scope of research material, the baggage carried by the subject, and the newness of everything. While TCM focused on a narrow historical context (Ottoman era Istanbulite migrates to Georgian era England), and had the advantage of me knowing the lead character for years prior (Zeynel, my precious nerd son…), Alexander was from scratch. I didn’t know just how many Alexander Romances I really needed to read. I didn’t know much about ancient Greek anything. I didn’t know an atom about Alexander the Great himself – really, it was zilch.

Which means my responsibilities this time have a somewhat different character. A different edge.

I don’t write historical fiction about royalties or the elite. The most I have ever been interested in is a well-to-do merchant. Even then, my merchant would have an uncommon edge; he is with the common people. That’s where my interests lie: in the common people. The ordinary people outside of the court who go about their daily ordinary lives and daily ordinary struggles. The ups and downs and ins and outs of aristocrats and royals don’t excite me as much.

Then why Alexander? Honestly, he’s an exception.

Not because he’s suddenly a royal that interests me. Seriously, no royal will ever interest me enough to make a GN out of their life, based on their biography alone. (Though King James of the King James Bible and the secret tunnel to his boyfriend make a convincing petition) Alexander came to me in a roundabout way. A trick. He fooled me to exception by showing me his resume: Macedonian king, prophecised Egyptian pharoah, Persian king, son of a god, Jewish convert, Christian hero, Muslim prophet. And he showed me how many different cultures have absorbed him into their folk mythology over 2000 years. Even as the world changed and his body laid somewhere in Egypt, his shade travelled the world. He’s the only secular figure with similar cultural-legendary reach as Jesus. King Arthur can’t claim that. Heck, even Odysseus can’t claim that. Oh, how could I have resisted? This is exactly what I am all about.

This is all Alexander by the way.

The common people’s Alexander. The story of how different places have appropriated and localised him over time. Gave him different faces. Gave him slightly different names. Gave him quests and adventures and stories that had absolutely nothing to do with ancient Greece. Made him the believer of a pantheon into a believer of a singular God.

What brought me here is this literal embodiment of world literature. But he’s not an epic. He’s popular legend. And he doesn’t belong to any one culture or time or place. He’s everywhere.

But like I said, this kettle of fish is different.

Alexander the Great is not exactly the most obscure of histories. He’s a military idol. A national figurehead. He was a man. He was from ancient Greece. He’s claimed as a “heritage of the Western (read: white) world”, an excuse for why conquest is the legacy of the white, Western man. This is Alexander’s baggage, as I call it.

As a woman of colour (WOC) author from the global south, I’m aware of my (small, individual amount of) power to bring up unheard of histories. Unseen biographies of little known people. A glimpse into outside cultures and voices that Western-dominated media and education gloss over like wallpaper. I could have written about Puteri Gunung Ledang, or May 13th 1969, or the history of how my family came to Malaysia sometime during the Xinhai Revolution. I have no obligation to write about Alexander, because until last November, he was seriously a cultural nobody to me. I have no stake in the furthering the hegemony of Western history.

And I think, maybe not owning that stake is why it’s necessary.

Just as important as minorities writing about little known histories, minorities should write about the histories that are taken for granted. Because of our unique experiences with the consequences of colonialism, slavery, violence, discrimination, dehumanisation, etc, we look at history differently. It’s not about who wins or who loses. It’s about who is missing, who is harmed, what is lost…the gaps made by what was edited out.

With those glasses on, history taken for granted – if not already thoroughly given a critical cleansing – is shown to be what it really is: a history that isn’t as well-known as we thought. (and that’s okay)

I won’t be alone in saying I had no clue Alexander belonged to nobody and everybody (because everyone in the old world has an Alexander). For a long time, Western white history was gatekept, using the reasoning that whatever they claimed had an easy connect-the-dots relationship to their present day (even though I always knew that claim was oversimplified, anti-intellectual thinking). But, all of these things are simply whitewashed facades. The truth is that, like Greco-Roman everything, like Norse history, like Christian destiny, they are more complex, more diverse, more ambiguous, than what these facades can contain.

Just working with Alexander through the framework of the Alexander Romance already blows up general misconceptions about history: that history was a bubble, homogenous and separated from each other (“Egyptian history” “Chinese history” “Roman history”, “Christian world”, “Muslim world” “East”, “West”), rarely interacting and influencing.

And looking at Alexander’s actual biography says a lot about how open the world already was in his time. He was king of three empires. His pre-Hellenistic world was multicultural and diverse. It wasn’t all white marble statues. It was, like what reality is, painted technicolour marble statues.

The Victorian era archeologists who whitewashed those statues stripped off more than just the colour. They took off knowledge.

After a lot of thinking, I feel like I’m in a good place to make a GN about Alexander and the Alexander Romance.

It’s not a confidence thing, though tbh, I believe that as a WOC creator from the global south I cannot afford to doubt myself. It’s more about the position I am in and the new perspective I can offer about a historical-legendary figure taken for granted. And there’s my endless well of passion for multicolour histories. Alongside my desire to decolonialise everything.

It’s not a loss that I have chosen to work on a history taken for granted. Historical GNs are still dominated by the white Western cis-male perspective, both in subject and authorship. To be clear, I wouldn’t consider that particular perspective wrong or lesser on its own. My only qualm is when that perspective becomes the majority perspective, or worst the only perspective, which is given to an audience. I always think about this TED Talk by Chimamanda Adichie, about the Danger of a Single Story:

Me being here, telling an entirely different story, is a statement by itself.

Even then, I shouldn’t need to justify my choice. Whether it’s to a person who tells me I shouldn’t pursue Alexander because he’s a part of the dominant narrative, or to another person who tells me that as a minority creator I must adhere to my social responsibility (responsibility demanded by whom?) to tell little known histories or stories. Again, in my case, I think it’s not a loss which way I go, Alexander or not, because whatever I write is going to be a different story.

I think the only loss is when there aren’t still yet more marginalised authors to take on both the little known histories and histories taken for granted. The project of diversifying storytelling is not demanding the few marginalised voices to choose the correct, exotic, culturally-representative dish they had to bring to the potluck, but making the table wider, inviting more voices, so that, by author’s choice, any dish can be present and enjoyed by everyone.

My choice in whatever story I desire to write, as long as it doesn’t bring harm and intolerance and it undergoes the necessary self-interrogation, should be a choice that is already given. If white, Western authors can have this freedom, why not everyone else? Why must minority voices be defaulted to never having this good faith at the start?

Is it not enough that we already suffer from a lack of representation and a lack of self-esteem? Must our hands be tied even tighter, to be told that even our own voice cannot be trusted, because that trust has been abused over and over by the dominant voice?

Every new voice that is encouraged to speak is one more step towards making the table bigger.

This is one of my responsibilities of being a (historical) graphic novelist. I am here to encourage, and to make the table bigger. I am here to say, oh look, this particular history is exciting too, see how weird and creative and large the world already was.

And for Alexander GN in particular, it’s about showing that we have shared a historical-literary figure. That Alexander (and his baggage) isn’t immune to criticism. That by bringing him back the way I’m planning to, I’m no longer just talking about Alexander of Macedon. I am talking about Sikandar. I am talking about Alisaunder. I am talking about the Alexander conceptualised by Nizami, by Arrian, by Joseph Flavius, by every hand who has ever written and drew their own Alexander.*

Already, is that not a hundred different stories? * despite the fact all of these voices were male…well that’s gonna change

There will be time for me to write of lesser-known histories, if I feel the calling. Maybe I won’t ever. (I did tell myself The Carpet Merchant was the last historical GN I’ll ever do in forever…here I am. Nothing is predicted.) And if I’m not compelled, again, that is not a loss.

I am not the only one with a voice.

[dramallamadingdang]

Speaking of religion, I saw in a lot of MTS off-topic discussions that you identified yourself as a Christian and defended it a lot. I think you even said once that you were waiting for your husband to die so you can remarry? IDK. What made you switch to our side?

Ooooooh, deconversion testimony. Let’s do this thing, man!

Yes, I was a quite fundamentalist Christian, in certain respects, for a long time. I was part of a non-denominational church that had strong Pentecostal leanings.  The theology was very much of the “hellfire and brimstone” variety, and to this day I can still speak in tongues with the best of them. *laugh* Thankfully, I had not been indoctrinated into any religion as a child, but rather did the “Save me, Jesus!” prayer at the age of 15, after attending my friend’s Assembly of God church for a while off and on, mostly when I’d stay over at her place on Saturday nights. Initially, my conversion was mostly an act of rebellion against my nominally-Catholic but spiritually lackadaisical mother. (By that I mean that she’s probably always been atheist but she never wanted to use the “A” word to describe herself because of its negative connotations, particularly amongst her very Catholic family.) But, even though I didn’t really take it seriously at first, Fundie Christianity got its hooks into me pretty good.

That being said, I always had some beliefs that did not toe the party line, as it were, precisely because I had not suffered childhood indoctrination. The primary things that I had to keep more on the down-low were that I could never be anti-gay, nor could I ever accept creationism as true. (I saw the latter as utterly idiotic even when I was at my Christian-est, although for a while I was convinced of intelligent design.) However, I was very convinced of God’s existence, and I swallowed the hell thing whole, and I believed that the Bible, aside from its creation fairy tale, was all true but that it needed to be read in historical context in order to understand what it “really meant.” That last bit was how I got around thorny things like, for instance, the Bible’s denouncement of homosexuality in both of its Testaments as well as its balls-out endorsement of slavery in both Testaments. But, I did love me some Jesus, yes. I was one of those who focused more on on the happy-lovey verses in the New Testament while deliberately not addressing the far more numerous horrifying bits in both Testaments. I coasted along in my faith just fine. I was even good at winning converts for the church because, having been raised by lawyers who wanted me to be a lawyer, too, I was indoctrinated into bull-headed logic and rhetoric and argument as a child. :)

Problems began, though, when I married my first husband. We married in 1992, so I’d been Christian ~15 years by that time. About a year after we married, he began to buy into the Duggar-esque “the man is the head of the household and the woman must be submissive” bullshit. Thankfully, he didn’t want to have two dozen kids, at least. It was bad enough, from my point of view, that he wanted a wife who did what she was told and waited on him hand and foot, with bonus sex toy functions on demand, all in the name of the Lord. I, as a dominant female raised by very strong 60s-era feminists – as in, both my mother and father – had…hmmm, difficulty with the whole submission thing, though I did try really, really hard, much to the detriment of my mental well-being. 

Secretly, though? Well, secretly, I deliberately took off my “God glasses” and began to do some extremely intense (and, notably, objective) Bible study that incorporated non-religious academic study materials along with the standard apologetic stuff. I spent hours at the library (since the interwebs were in their infancy at the time *laugh*) researching and studying because I refused to accept the notion that the God whom I loved and who I knew I loved me really just wanted me to be chattel, not much different from the livestock that people also weren’t supposed to covet. I was confident that this could not really be the case, and the lawyers’ kid in me wanted to be able to present a solid, well-argued, airtight case to my husband (and to the church as a whole) that would make him see that he was wrong about what God wanted, and then everything would be just fine.

Of course, my husband wasn’t wrong, as it turned out, and thus began my disillusion. I started studying other topics that nagged at my conscience in the same way and…Well, as they say, the easiest way to become an atheist is to be a Christian and objectively read the Bible. (There’s a reason that laypeople reading the Bible is discouraged, if not outright disallowed, in the Catholic church.) So, from the early 90s on, I began a long, slow slide down the slippery slope to apostasy. I didn’t recognize that that was what it was, of course. I thought I was discovering the “real Christianity” that all the people in the church pews, with dogma up to their eyeballs, were missing. Turns out, what I was really discovering was…Well, not to put too fine a point on it or anything, that the Bible is BS and so is Christianity in general. And, after expanding my self-education to include other theistic religions, thinking that maybe one of them was right, that, alas, there is not a single sliver of evidence for any god. I could no longer in good conscience believe in any god, not unless/until I had evidence of he/she/it/them. Which, to date, I do not have. (And frankly, if one day I do have evidence of Yahweh’s existence, at least, and if he is what he says he is in the Bible, then I will no longer be an atheist, but I will deem Yahweh unworthy of worship. I’ll be spitting “How dare you?!” at him, all Stephen Fry-esque. I would rather burn in hell than eternally worship such an abhorrent creature.)

Anyway, by the time I was participating in threads on MTS about religion, my husband and I had divorced, and I was probably ¾ of the way down the apostasy slope. At that point, I was still calling myself a Christian but a heretical one, and until about a year ago or so I called myself a Deist because while I could no longer in good conscience call myself a Christian, even a heretical one, there were things that I clung to that I did not want to let go of. Mostly because of “personal experiences” that made me want to think there was a God of some kind. But about a year ago or so, I finally let it all go, to make a long story short, and it was an enormous weight off my shoulders. I’m now comfortable with being publicly truthful about what I am, no longer fearing the “A” word.

That being said, although I have great antipathy for Yahweh himself, I don’t hate Christians or people of any religion. Nor will I “preach atheism.” At least, not here. ;) So, if you’re a Christian or other theist, fear not. I will probably be no more or less of a godless heathen on this particular blog than I have been before. I am, however, considering making an atheist-themed personal sideblog or something, which I would use to occasionally wax anti-apologetic and whatnot. In general, I think it’s important for American atheists, especially, to be “out” if they can be, because America is highly religious, particularly in certain areas, and people who are not with that program need community, especially if they’ve been ostracized by friends/family over their lack of belief. Not to mention the creeping fingers of Christian dominionism in our current government, with things like “religious freedom” bills and the Congressional “Freedom Caucus” and Project Blitz and such, all of which needs to be fought tooth and nail. But…I don’t know that I have the energy for another blog. We’ll see, I guess.

Oh! One last thing. Yes, I did indeed keep my marriage vows post-divorce. Christianity aside, I take serious vows…well, seriously. :) So, although we divorced, I did not sleep with anyone else until my first husband died. I almost didn’t even date anyone else, though current husband and I started dating about 4 months before my first husband died of pancreatic cancer, which at least was after I knew he was terminal and in hospice care. So, yeah, I was celibate for ~17 years. Call me weird, if you wish, but…Well, I take vows seriously. It’s just how I am.

[glowing-disciple]

Let me begin by saying that I’m not mad, I’m just terribly disappointed.

I don’t like living in a bubble or echo chamber, so I have a habit of listening to people who aren’t religious or don’t share my religious views. Unfortunately, it’s not particularly easy to find people who are willing to discuss these things intelligently. When it’s clear that you don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m going to move on to someone else.

Basically, I just ask that people are honest about their beliefs and the arguments for them. This is surprisingly difficult, as a lot of people are too convinced of their own genius to realize when they’ve moved into absurdity. For example, one guy I’d been watching on YouTube was doing a good job of explaining his thoughts without being condescending or attacking people, and then he spiraled off into a tangent about how God isn’t real because free will is an illusion and we’re really just a bunch of random chemicals interacting in such a way that we appear to experience consciousness. Yep, right out of that meme featuring Donald and Mickey. It was incredibly hard to take anything he said seriously after that.

Which brings us to this morning. One of my favorite theological YouTubers is a young atheist who has a good head on his shoulders. He’s extremely careful to avoid attacking anybody, and explains his points very politely. While he does focus on Christianity, a lot of his stuff is anti-cult related -- something that’s not terribly surprising considering he left the Faith shortly after noticing that the way his family practiced it was very similar to the cultish get-rich-quick scheme they bought into while he was in collage. He releases new content fairly regularly, so I sometimes have to watch several videos in a single session to catch up. This usually isn’t an issue, but as I was doing this today, he did something that’s left me wondering if I’ll continue to subscribe to his channel. I’ve been following him for about three years, so it’s pretty disappointing to see him fall for this common trap.

In the problematic video, he had on a guest to help him explain the current topic. Things were going fairly smoothly, and even if I don’t agree with everything they were saying, they were at least getting their details right. And then the guest pulled the “women are slaves to their husbands” card, citing 1st Corinthians 7. He was not corrected, nor did the host give any indication that there was an issue. There is, and it’s a big one.

I posted about this problem the other day, but I’ll go into more detail here. There are two places in the Bible where Paul talks about the relationship between husband and wife. He touches this briefly in 1st Corinthians 7, and once in Ephesians 5. People love to quote these passages, saying that they are proof that God hates women, that God supports beating your wife, or something equally detestable. The catch is that they’re only quoting part of the passage. If anyone was to read the verses that immediately follow the part they are quoting, then it would be blatantly obvious that the claim is false. This isn’t even a case of taking Scripture out of context; it’s deliberately misquoting someone to support your agenda, which is just lying with extra steps. And if you need to lie to make your point, then your point wasn’t worth making.

Seriously. Here is the FULL passage from 1 Corinthians 7, with the omitted portions in plain text, and the included verses in bold. Note how reading only the bolded portions changes the meaning of the passage.

The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command.

And here’s the passage from Ephesians 5:

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

This has become a pet peeve of mine over the years. It’s one thing to have disagreements over doctrine and beliefs, but when people outright lie like this, it’s not a disagreement anymore. It’s dishonest and little more than propaganda.

[melanieratford]

I swear... If one more Christian customer preaches at me at my work, I'm gonna scream....

I am not a Christian. I have nothing against the Christian faith itself... I just can't stand the vast majority of the people within the faith. I am sick and tired of customers at my work thinking it's okay to preach to me over various things... "The Bible helps with depression." this... "What does God want" that... "You need Jesus."...

No. I don't need Jesus. In fact, you do. Jesus Christ was a carpenter from Galilee. He was a poor man who helped those in need and told people to be kind to each other. The BASIC PREMISE of the Bible is telling people "Be kind to each other.". Hell, that's the basic premise of the Bible, the Torah, the Quran, the Hindu doctrine and the Buddhist doctrine. At this point, if the basic belief of a "Holy system" isn't "Don't be a dick.", then the "Holy system" is a cult. Seriously? How is it that Venom has a better grasp on the phrase "Don't be a dick." than people who consider themselves religious?

Christians have committed horrific acts of murder, attempted genocide, tortured people, sent children to their deaths during crusades, taken rights away from people, enslaved people, attempted to destroy countries, and have COMPLETELY DISREGARDED the teachings of the Bible itself. They have even warped the image of Jesus Christ himself into a false idol.

Seriously? Do you think Jesus would approve of ANY of this? Of megachurches that preach hate and discrimination? That his teachings have become tools of oppression? Where people are trying to make the church into state in a country where not the entire population is Christian? Of wealthy Christians believing the poor and hungry should die? Where we allow innocent people to suffer and die in cages? Where people who claim to follow his name OPENLY inflict their will onto others as if they're the authority? Where people who boast about following his name harm others and believe that anyone who doesn't follow him should be harmed or killed? Where they frequently cherry pick the pieces of the Bible they believe fit their own racist, sexist, homophobic, hateful, beliefs?

NEWS FLASH, Jesus was a poor carpenter from a Middle Eastern country! He was NOT WHITE, he was KIND TO OTHERS, and IT DIDN'T MATTER WHAT RACE, RELIGION, GENDER, CLASS, OR SEXUALITY YOU WERE, because if he met you, he would be kind to you.

And God? God has a UNIVERSE to care for! Do you think they care if a couple lives together or has sex before marriage? Do you think they care if someone likes Harry Potter? Do you think they care if two men or two women love each other, have sex and get married? Because, I don't. I don't think they'd care one bit.

The Bible has been manipulated by MAN since it's inception! And seriously, when The Simpsons make one of the best points about it... There's an issue. Because Reverend Lovejoy points out to Marge and says “Marge, just about everything is a sin. [holds up a Bible] You ever sat down and read this thing? Technically we’re not allowed to go to the bathroom.” And, he's right. We're sinning daily simply by wearing mixed fabrics, and doing various other things that our society sees as "Basic".

So when my family basically got chased out of Friendship Baptist Church for not giving everything we had to them... When I got nasty looks as a child at a Fall Festival for dressing up as an Ice Princess (long before Frozen)... When random people at my work ask me if I'm living with my boyfriend yet and then preach to me that it's wrong to do it before marriage (despite statistics and cold hard facts stating that it's best do do that)... When my boyfriend feels the need to question his faith because of all the hatred he's witnessed.... When I feel the need to tell him to not give up on his faith because a group of Christians have told him that he's just a lazy millennial who doesn't wanna work after getting permission to talk on the pulpit at a church and preaching basic kindness... When I witnessed Christians from Friendship Baptist commit sins that are far worse than anything I've ever committed all while chastising me for what I like... When I felt ostracized from church when I was in High School BECAUSE I LIKED A BOY, when I desperately needed church because I was going through an existential crisis... When I saw Christians on this very site make awful comments about Stephen Hawking being atheist when he died, despite his fantastic contributions to science.... And every other terrible thing I saw them do...

How could I not leave the religion?

Yes, my family is mostly Christian, my boyfriend and his family are Christian... I don't mind my wedding being a Christian wedding... I love Christmas and Easter... I don't mind anyone praying for my family, friends, and me... Hell, I've told Marshal, I don't mind him taking any kids we might have to church...

But, my relationship with God is an interesting one. I don't pray, I do my best to hope. If I fall back in line with the church, then so be it. That's my business. Preaching at me will only make me more adamant about my belief system.

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I posted this to Facebook on December 9th. Since then, my boyfriend’s mother has yelled at him and lectured him bitching about how what I’ve said about the Bible and Jesus are inaccurate. She blamed the Democrats for everything I said was wrong, and said the phrase “But Jesus was the Messiah.” when it came to me talking about his humility. She is now questioning my boyfriend about whether he’s sure he wants to be with me, and is making us feel like she wants us to break up. Yes, I accidentally betrayed his trust by talking about him in this. I have deeply apologized to him about mentioning him. He knows this was more about me.... But, his mother still thinks that I’m just being a pathetic, anti-religious, Libtard. This was not about politics. This was about why I left Christianity and why I have no intentions of ever going back.

But, my boyfriend’s mother is psychotic and does her best to control his life. She thinks he has control over my actions. What she hasn’t realized is that he sees her as a burden and can’t wait to get away from her.