#also decided i am going to msg the boy...... but ive been thinking about for a few days now and i feel ive come to a reasonable conclusion

[ikyw-t]

oh and also for the halloween party ive decided i want to have a theme: haunted mansion! so im gonna try to make my house look like a fancy haunted mansion lol mostly i just like having a general aim for the vibes im going for. im rly excited tho i think it's gonna be really cool!! also ik it's not even september lol but what can i say, inspiration has struck haha

[celestialallstars]

Episode #6: “Can i PLEASE get a blindside.” - Jared

ok so basically the game has been sooo quiet and ive like.  felt dead. idk. i had a breakdown last night bc of it and i cried on my couch (KNOW THERE WAS A LOT MORE THAN THIS LKSDJGKLDSGLS I WOULDNT CRY PURELY BC OF THAT) but yaaa and now im better but like the entire day i was throwing up in class (or like feeling anxious im exaggerating sorry) about going home.

i didnt want mo out but with that being said i didnt want anyone out?? after i mentioned to him that stephen/mo were targeting each other, rhys came to me with the idea that like him jared chloe and i should make a chat, and i was down for that bc it would secure my positioning and like ALSGKSDG who'd flip on an alliance THIS early.. right?? right..

chloe was really not talkative with me. stephen/jared were active so i appreciate that immensely. im just thrown off. i dont really know who i can or cant trust.

OK ALSO SIDE NOTE CHRIS SENT ME [IM NOT EXAGGERATING] 55+ MSGS SPILLING TEA ABOUT HOW THE TUATHA HAD AN OG ALLIANCE WITH EVERYONE BUT MITCH + MAYNOR - which i knew about but LASKGLDKS AHHHH. and he leaked that stephen wanted kori/bryce targeted and i leaked that to bryce to further stephens target. IM JUST SO MESSY LOL

also i kind of predicted a swap likeee omfg. and i dont know how i feel. i kind of felt safe on my tribe??? but like.. oh no. anyway, my tribe isnt super dominant in challenges or anything (compared 2 the other tribe who has bryce/stephen/drew), but i think we can win a lipsync since we have a woman, gay men, and a metrosexual male who has an outgoing personality (and i mean that in the nicest way obviously). IDK I HOPE WE WIN BC THAT TRIBAL WAS HORRIFIC AND I LOVE MO SO MUCH AND AHH.

ill probs give a video soon in more depth with what chris said. yalls deserve it.. oops period.

I HOPE YALL CAN FORGIVE ME. im eating hotdog. bye bye love u all.

Wow I like the whole tribe! Alyssa is probably my front runner of talking and honestly she's great! I am in her spell ahhhh but hey JARED is here too woo! I think at least with Mitch and Zach too I'll be safe but I'll see! This challenge could either go really well or really badly for us but I'm excited to do anything creativity!!

I absolutly love my tribe at the moment, i'm getting along well with alot of them except Kori who i haven't spoken to much at all but im confident in our abilities to win! Jared is talking a little bit about wanting the game to pick up a little bit and i agree to some extent however blindsiding someone just for the sake of a blindside isn't smart gameplay so im just gonna lay low nd continue making those strong bonds here there and everywhere to hopfully come out on top should we end up at tribal

Can i PLEASE get a blindside

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hi it's 6 am but rhys fucking filmed vertically so if we lose he automatically has my vote

I feel good but also scared. I dont think I'll do as good of a job as I hope, but it also is turning out decently so far. My biggest concern is time. With having work tomorrow, I can only do the editing on my lunch break of 90 minutes, then whenever i get home which probably wont be until 6, given the upload time that leaves me with about 3 hours in total. Hopefully I'll be able to work with Rhys and Jack's stuff, as i think it'll be easier for me to do it then. Regardless, I'm gonna be a zombie but LOL this is the second Wednesday in a row I stayed up late except this is not for school and instead of 3 hours, ima get 2 hours of sleep haha that is so sad and funny and heebee jeebee zoinks, alright goodnight

Two things: 1) there's really nothing quite like making a fool of yourself multiple times in a single org, just to be immune for one round. 2) i am horrible at looking for idols

So Matt just told me he thinks we’re gonna have a double tribal right before merge which is like ew I hate that throw it out please, speaking of throwing out uh Kori can go because he’s wearing on my nerves like yes we’re gonna get things done on time calm down please and thanks.

these people are actually delulu if they think that video is winning. no fucking way we are winning. time to go to tribal!

So the swap has happened, and I get what is almost probably my worst case scenario player-wise. All of my close allies, with the exception of Kori, are currently on Cyrena. Meaning that winning immunity isn't even really good, since it puts them in danger.

I think there's a way to make this bad situation good though. Getting to finally work with Michael, Matt, Loris, and Drew can actually be a blessing in disguise. If I get on their good sides now, they might clue me into their plans once merge rolls around. That's the hope, anyway. For now my goal is just to survive being swapped with a bunch of people I've barely spoke to!

The past 24 hours have been major toughie for me. Staying up late and then trying to manage editing a video, work, and time constraints, and I won't lie, its been exhausting, but I didn't want to let my tribe down, or anyone down I guess. A little ways through, I kinda felt pretty defeated and then learning at last minute it was due an hour before I predicted made me panic A LOT internally, but it does seem like the tribe likes it so if we do lose and if they do vote me out, I can look back at this and feel like I did something right.

Well a lots happened and to be honest at times life and this game move too quick for me to even remember if I've mentioned it. We swapped, and I'm trying to just keep myself afloat however I can.

The challenge was overly stressful and I have no idea if we'll pull it out. Editing has been so stressful and I've found new appreciation for the people that do it. I just hope whatever I whip together will just be enough so that I can breathe and really take stalk of my new situation.

So, I haven't been around a whole bunch recently. However I'm glad we didn't go to tribal, that could've been  a reason if my name came up. So I'm glad I have time to more cement my bonds on this tribe and keep my name out of peoples mouths.

We JUST WON IMMUNITY WOOHOO. I was kind of nervous with a music challenge considering the only other one I did previously I did not do the greatest in :P. Both videos were amazing and im so glad Eve and Jones's mom liked ours significantly greater than the other one! As far as my position is concerned, I am reunited with Jared and our relationship is still strong I think so that's good. Stephen I am HOPING will be ok by just latching on to Kori at least for premerge. Those two are still the ones I trust the most, but I also like Alyssa Chris and Zach. I WISH i could connect more with jack, but i feel like every time we play together it gets more difficult to hold a conversation, so that's a yikes. Jared myself and stephen are diligently working on the idol search, but it's likely already found. I'm pretty sure there are too many components for someone to just find it by themselves

WELL. Im a target tonight! God we really do love that for me. We really do. Kori, eat my fucking ass. You leave me on read all the time. And then you have the NERVE. THE ACTUAL NERVE. to be like "omg stop slipping in my dm's!" Boo if you didn't leave me on read constantly then maybe i would actually want to speak to you! an actual moron. And then STEPHEN HAS THE FUCKING AUDACITY to me like "ya lol i'll be at tribal i'll make the decision between you and Kori at tribal!". BOI. THAT IS NOT HOW YOU GET TRUST IN SOMEONE. Its fucking ridiculous. Thank god Michael is in my corner, hopefully drew and bryce too. I am NOT getting 15th right now, no way. I am BETTER than this. i am going to make it work, tim gunn style. maybe its time to break the fajitas and channel their energy once again

Why do I go on the initiative literally ever? I'm clearly bad at it, I wasn't even remotely thinking things through and I SHOULD have let Stephen or someone else suggest someone but no I had to be mildly greedy and wanna send home Matt whom I barely DM.

I already flopped editing the video, and now here I am flopping the social/stategy game that I love playing supposedly.

Of course I tried reaching out to Michael and Drew FOOLISHLY because I wanted to build trust and maybe work with them. So naturally Michael tells Matt because ofc they'd be close as would Drew probably since he and Michael have been together since Day 1. As it stands I'm stuck praying Loris is gonna vote with me and it just sucks because I'm so bad at this game.

I'm trying to keep a cool head right now because there's still time. Stephen and I are trying to work logistics, see if we need to switch the vote to say Michael in case of an idol, but I'm not sure Loris/Bryce would be on board for that.

There's a pretty good chance that I'm definitely dead. But I'ma fight to the bitter end!

Today I learned from Stephen that Kori is in some dangerous water. He I guess said Matt's name to Michael who told Matt and now them and Drew are voting Kori. However Bryce and Stephen and perhaps Loris are all voting Matt. Now this is good if it works because honestly that group having to endure their numbers dwindling is good for my game. It only leaves Jack and Alyssa but I think we better be careful because I can see both of them slipping through the inevitable war zone that is gonna be happening.

Today's been a pretty informative day for me. After losing the immunity challenge by a hair, I was worried because I didn't think I had bonded very well with my current tribe through One World, luckily for me, that doesn't seem to be their biggest concern at the moment.

During the initial stages of the vote, I talked to Kori and the two of us decided Matt would be the easiest target to take out. I was leaning towards voting Matt because we hadn't talked very much, so hearing Kori was on board right away simplified things for sure. Bryce and Loris both seem to be on board with it too so I shouldn't have anything to worry about at this point.

In the morning, things got a whole lot more complicated. Matt found out he was the target through Michael, and began his campaign to get Kori out instead of himself. I'm not entirely sure why Michael decided to do this, but it doesn't make much of a difference at this point. Matt campaigned to me, and I sorta pretended to be on the fence. I was listening to what he said, but Kori is realistically one of my closest allies, there's no way I'm voting him out to side with people I had just met.

Once campaign season got under way, I had a conversation with Chris. Chris tells me that on original Orfeo, him, Loris, and Zach believed there was an alliance of Chloe/Sharky/Drew/Michael formed. This explains not only why Sharky was seen as an easy boot on swap-Tuatha, but also why Michael wants to keep Matt instead of Kori. With Chloe re-joining after tribal, him/Drew/Chloe/Matt would form a tight majority. Without Matt, they're a minority.

I proposed an idea to switch the vote from Matt to Michael or Drew. I said it was because I was worried about an idol, but this alliance is the real reason I wanted to do it. However, Kori, Loris, and Bryce are comfortable with the status quo and since it's not my neck on the line I didn't feel the need to push too hard.

Me, Kori, and Bryce now also have an alliance with Loris, which is cool? I haven't gotten very close with Loris yet but he seems like a smart player tied to Chris and Zach which spells good things for us working together in the future. Assuming I survive this vote and have a future, of course.

hi I think I might make it past final 15 that’s nice umm... I suggested an alliance of me Bryce Stephen Kori to counter the potential power of chloe Matt Michael and drew once chloe joins our tribe because my brain is massive. but now we’re like scared for idols . scary shih anyways like how r u I’m good.

________________________________________________________________

oh huh tribes r gonna be even again next round... so I have to make this conf by default just in case of a you know what wait no anna u said no more 24 hour challenges QUEEN ... thank god I can’t be bothered to delete this so she’s being SENT

Right now there's so many things running through my head with the introduction of Matts vote steal, because realistically i could convince him to give to me or i could keep him around as a potential shield. I don't want to do it to the guy but also a vote steal could shift the tides of the game in my favour later down the line. so it's a difficult decision and one id rather have more time to contemplate.

Wooo ok operation vote steal is a go and next round we’ll be swimming in green hopefully but with one world sis og tribe lines just ain’t it!

God im over this tribal. Like ugh these people really are under Kori's mist so like im probably going home. Do I think i might be able to survive? a small glimmer of hope says yes, but i'm not confident. God im just... so annoyed at this. Im clearly on the outs here and I just HOPE i can pull through i just am so scared. I know if i do leave though that I have fought my damn hardest to stay tonight. Im trying to think of the positives because its hard to do so because im being sad atm.. UGH. the fajitas really have failed me tonight, their light has dimmed and their guidance is no more. i am now with the darkness. we r one.

Oh my fucking god my heart is breaking. Matt is basically in such a deep hole he's going to go home, unless he plays an idol. And Alyssa has an idol. And she doesn't think it's smart to use it on him because Michael says he's just gonna go home next round. His social game hasn't been up to snuff and they're gonna boot him regardless, so she wants to keep us with power and let him go. And I agree with her. Which kills me. I'm usually able to just be a robot when it comes to this like yes I will make the smarter decision if it means I'll be emotionally torn, and this is such an instance. Luckily, it's not my idol to give up. Yes Alyssa says it's "our" idol but it's her call end of the day. I just... fuck. This is all stars man. And I'm actually starting to feel, for once.

Well it's about an hour before tribal and at least on it's surface it would seem Matt is going. I'm not confident though because any number of things COULD happen. I'm hoping there's no idol play, just because I feel like pre-merge just isn't a good look for me.

If Matt does pull something off, then kudos to him, and if it's me that'd make this my final confessional for the season. I've had such an amazing time playing and while I feel like I've been playing a lower key game on purpose I feel like I'm doing what I can to really come into my own. I hope the bonds I've made are gonna stick and that everything works out for us.

But if it doesn't I guess I'll have to find a way to be ok with that. This has been such a unique All-Stars experience so far, and I hope I can take what I've gotten from it and make myself better for it. (Also highkey hopefully this isn't my last confessional and I'm getting sentimental for no reason.)

________________________________________________________________

Kori is voted out 4-3.

[theologyinplay]

From the Garden to Grace, Wk IV: This isn’t That: the difference between being saved & going to heaven

One of the biggest misunderstandings in the church today is the belief that being saved means you’re going to heaven.

It makes the only reason for someone to “get saved” just so they don’t burn in hell.

We see something a little different in scripture, however.

What’s intrigued me in recent years is how quickly Christians can jump on the “all are in sin” bandwagon. But how reluctant they can be to acknowledge that all have been saved. Take a quick look at Romans 5. The Apostle Paul says, “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.” (v. 18).

The saving is by God alone. It was his idea and when we think we have some sort of role to play in it, we fall into the same trap as the Galatians. Just look at what Paul says to the Ephesians. “Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing!” (2:8-9, MSG).

The Galatian bewitchment is something Paul addresses in his letter and something I believe the church still struggles with today. The bewitchment was that we have a role to play in our own salvation. But what we see in scripture is quite different.

Paul tries to realign them after they’d been duped by some religious leaders that came in after him and convinced them to fall back in line with the law. This looks a lot like modern evangelicalism. There is a list of things we have to do in order to be saved, maintain the relationship, and be a good little Christian boy or girl. Paul had some strong words for them, though. “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified (3:1). Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it?” (v.2-3, MSG).

Another point is that being saved does not automatically mean you’re going to heaven. A common misconception with someone arguing universal salvation is that they’re often labeled a universalist. Let me make something clear up front: I am not a universalist. A universalist is someone who believes that all will eventually get to heaven. The error with this is twofold. I do not believe all will eventually be saved. I believe all have already been saved. I also believe in free will and our option to either accept or reject this reality.

Let’s try and break down a little bit of what scripture has to say as far as salvation being made complete for all.

It’s important to note the difference between trusting in the work of Jesus over the person of Jesus. If the person of Jesus is our salvation, then there’s more emphasis on the incarnation than we realize. If, in the incarnation, God actually did become man, this would be as representative of mankind as a whole. We see this in the second letter to the Corinthians too. Paul says that “If one died on behalf of all, all died” (2 Cor. 5:14). And in Romans 6 Paul says that if we have died with him, we know that we have also risen with him. Who is the “We” in the equation?

All!

I know this comes across as uncomfortable if you’re used to the notion of some being “In” and others being “Out”. The way you get in is believing in the right things. If you don’t, you’re out. But this has never been God’s heart. God’s heart was never to leave the decision of relationship up to us. He decided before all creation that he would rig things in our favor so he could be with us. The purpose of evangelism is to persuade others to know what God already knows, to accept our already acceptance and no longer live for ourselves (2 Cor. 5:15).

You see, it isn’t that Jesus was just the Son of God who was crucified for you on a cross and that by believing in that your sins can be forgiven. It is because God came as a blueprint for original humanity, your original design, whatever he went through, he went through it representing all of mankind. The Gospel of John eloquently beings explaining this. “The Logos is the source; everything commences in him. He remains the exclusive Parent reference to their existence. There is nothing original, except the Word! The Logic of God defines the only possible place where humankind can trace their genesis” (1:3, MIRROR).

If, then, we all originated in him, this puts the emphasis on the person of Jesus before the work of Jesus. And so, if all have died and raised in the death and resurrection of Jesus, why does that mean they’re not automatically going to heaven? Because the point of salvation was never about your decision. Salvation was his decision long ago. It is therefore up to us whether we’re going to agree or disagree with that reality. It’s the real life all around us. We can choose to continue in our disillusionment, or surrender to the love that’s been drawing us home all along.

If we agree, we see things the way God does. When we don’t we choose to hold ourselves according to our own judgement. The heaven and hell deal is another rabbit trail as well.

You cannot separate and locate heaven or hell in two different geographical locations, whether spiritual or not. Often hell is thought of as eternal separation from God. This, right off the bat, is a ridiculous assessment. There is no place where God is not present. David even says in his Psalm 139, “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence” (NLT).

The whole point of this argument is that you’re not saved because you made a decision for Jesus. All have been saved because of God’s decision in Christ. I am free, however, to be an idiot and reject that kind of indiscriminate acceptance, though. If I do, I carry that into eternity. And in so doing, that eternal bash, at which God has been the dj, since before the foundations of the earth becomes a battle field to avoid and hide (in the nearest bush) from Love himself.

Picture this: there is an eternal party and everybody’s been invited. You die, and the veil of this physical world is lifted and there you are, standing in the ballroom, music playing, hors devourers being passed around by waiters, a stocked full bar, a buffet the length of seven football fields of all the fanciest things. You get the picture.

So there you are, standing in the middle of the room, looking around, observing, and checking out the scene. Let’s say you died a believer. This scene would look like the party that it is. The love that has captivated you in life envelopes you and he approaches. He wraps his arms around you as he nears, embracing you right against his chest. You sink into that love and feel at home. He directs you over to the bar for a cocktail as he snatches some bruschetta from a tray as it passes by. The party is in full swing.

Let’s take a look at the same party from someone who passed from life into eternity as a non-believer. There you are, standing in the middle of the room, squinted eyes, looking around, noticing the bar, the food and the waiters and it’s all suspect. As your eyes come across that love, your heart sinks. The butterflies in your belly go wild and that anxious sweat forms around your brow. You quickly look away as you see him notice you. You look behind you and around the edges for some place to get away to. He approaches and the stress increases. You quiver and move to a quiet hiding place. He gets closer as you depart. As love himself approaches, all you can feel is fear and strain. This isn’t comfortable. This is agony. This love that you see is not received as love to you. In your unbelief, that love has been wrath, judgement, impending punishment and doom. There is nothing comforting or joyful about that love. You can’t get away fast or far enough.

God is love and that love doesn’t turn to wrath based on who we are, what we do, believe or not believe. if we continue to reject that love, it becomes the burning wrath described in scripture (Matt. 10:28).

Or perhaps you like the image of standing outside the party you began at and stormed out of. And there God is, pleading with you to just shut up and come on in and enjoy yourself. It’s the picture of the forgiving father pleading with his eldest son to come in and celebrate. And there the father remains, pleading. The scene ends, as Jesus doesn’t neatly close out the parable, with that image.

You see, eternity is the place beyond this physical world. Like I said before, it isn’t something that’s 2 separate locations and when you die, God chooses which to send you to. I will be covering hell in another post later on. For now I want to simply focus on the fact that we have been located within the person of Jesus Christ, hidden in him. All have been saved because all have been included in the saving death and resurrection of Jesus. We are free, however, to reject such a gift.

I submit to you, this is the same situation we had there in the garden scene with Adam and Eve. This garden of paradise was set up as pure pleasure for them. As soon as they succumbed to unbelief and doubting God’s love and acceptance of them, it turned into hell. The garden didn’t change, they did. The point of salvation was not Jesus changing God’s mind about man, but changing man’s mind about God.

This is not something that happens when you believe. This is not something that, even by your faith, you can obtain and appropriate. This gift he gave, he gave indiscriminately. His death and resurrection is the invitation sent out to all. It’s right there in your pocket. It’s the million dollar deposit in your bank account. It’s there whether you accept it or not. But it’s quite the waste if you don’t.

Let me close with a quote by Robert Capon. He says, “I am and I am not a universalist. I am one if you’re talking about what God in Christ has done to save the world. The Lamb of God has not taken away the sins of some – of only the good, or the cooperative, or the select few who can manage to get their act together and die as perfect peaches. He has taken away the sins of the world – of every last being in it – and he has dropped them down the black hole of Jesus’ death. On the cross, he has shut up forever on the subject of guilt: “There is therefore now no condemnation…” All human beings, at all times and places, are home free whether they know it or not, feel it or not, believe it or not.

I am not a universalist if you are talking about what people may do about accepting that happy-go-lucky gift of God’s grace. I take with utter seriousness everything Jesus had to say about hell, including the eternal torment that such a foolish non-acceptance must entail. All theologians who hold scripture to be the Word of God must inevitably include in their work a tractate on hell. But I will not – because Jesus did not – locate hell outside the realm of grace. Grace is forever sovereign, even in Jesus’ parables of judgement. No one is ever kicked out at the end of those parables who wasn’t included in at the beginning”.

The reason this is an important enough topic to cover in one post is because of the common misunderstanding that often looms over such a theme. All have been saved because God said so in Jesus’ death and resurrection. He was fully capable and willing to finish the job on our behalf. Our role, as believers, is to announce to the world what God has accomplished in Christ. The joy of their salvation. The grace that has drawn all home. Our rejection of such a gift only makes sense if we do not have a true understanding of that gift. In other words, when we tell someone some list of things they need to do to get right with God. God took care of everything when he came as man and was strung up on a cross to die our death. He didn’t leave anything out.

When I enter into that eternal party, at which I am already very present being in Christ right now, I want to be able to melt in the arms of Love, not run and hide. I want to embrace that which has embraced me from before existence.

Do not think, though, that believing in universal salvation leaves no more room for evangelism. It certainly does! I love talking about and teaching this Gospel good news to people. Seeing their eyes light up with the news that God has picked them, chosen them, and included them from the beginning of time. The news, not of what God can do for them if they’d only believe, but what God has already done for them!

In John’s first epistle he says, “We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!”(1:3-4, MSG).

And so it is with me and this post. Be encouraged that you and everyone else have been included in that great love and grace. Be encouraged that he has not required something of you to have it, but ask that you simply trust that it’s true and free so we can begin to enjoy the endless bounties of such pleasure and gladness that is in Christ Jesus.

There are a lot of ways to think about life after death. It’s difficult to properly explain everything without each post being 16 pages long. I try my best to compound it as I can. Especially for concepts that may be very new to people who’ve never heard such perspectives.

My crass analogy is simply a way to better see something none of us on this side of life have seen yet. There are also plenty of other scriptural references for universal salvation as well as those seemingly to condemn those that reject the free gift. However, the general arc of scripture and the message of Paul in his letter leaves me with the impression that God was fully able to finish the work of drawing all to himself at the cross. We are, however of course free to reject it. How we receive or reject love will ultimately determine how love looks to us.

Grace + Peace