#arianist

[allieinarden]

According to the legend St. Nicholas dropped a sack of gold down a chimney every night for three nights to save three desperately impoverished young women from being forced into prostitution, so when we all go to Heaven one of you is going to have to explain to him about “Santa Baby,” because I ain’t doing it.

[cto10121]

You mentioned in the tags of one of your posts on Mercutio's (non-existant) sexuality that you're partial to the idea that he may have been inspired by Kit Marlowe; I want to hear all about this lol.

Also, do you have an Marlowe recommendations? I've heard good things so I would like to read some of his plays.

Oh, yeah, my Christopher-Marlowe-may-have-been-the-inspiration-for-Mercutio theory! Glad to talk about it.

So I’m definitely not the only one with this theory—some scholars have mused as much and I did come across them. But the case for Mercutio-as-Marlowe stands roughly as follows:

One of Marlowe’s nicknames was Mercury (!!). Now, Shakespeare clearly did not come up with the name, as he got it from his source material in Brooke et al. But as the Mercutio there was just some random courtier, I have no doubt that Shakespeare got an eyeful of that name in the Brooke poem and just 😏 and seized that golden opportunity to honor his friend in this way

By all accounts Marlowe was charming, erudite, intellectually edgy (an avowed Arianist and homosexual), with a nasty bit of a temper. Mercutio is much along those same lines

Marlowe and Shakespeare may have been friends as well as theater rivals, with similar backgrounds but (I suspect) opposite personalities and sensibilities—the iconoclastic Marlowe with the much milder Shakespeare. You see that same push-pull dynamic in Romeo and Mercutio’s relationship.

Mercutio was killed during his duel with Tybalt. Marlowe was killed while fighting with his fellow spies at a tavern/government safehouse in Deptford. So Shakespeare making Mercutio’s death off-stage may be a reference to Marlowe’s out-of-London death (and perhaps how Will came to find out).

So yeah, not much evidence, come to think of it. Just general vibes. Mercutio does have lines about dreams that are a reference to Thomas Nash, who was also friends with Marlowe and perhaps Shakespeare as well. But of course Shakespeare would make Mercutio a composite of his friends and not just limit himself to any ~one thing.

Against this is the fact that there is no clear evidence that Shakespeare and Marlowe knew each other. That said, the theater world was tiny and Marlowe wrote for Strange’s Men; Shakespeare may have been a player for them at the time. But it’s logical for many fangirls scholars to believe they knew each other and were friends/rivals and so forth.

As for recommendations, I’ve only ever read Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, which even got a Globe performance, and his Hero and Leander, a narrative poem along the lines of Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis. I’m ashamed to admit that in class I mistook a passage from Hero for Shakespeare’s, an ignominy that will live in me forever until my dying breath.

But while Marlowe was never as great at character as Shakespeare, his verse was very good (if a little too regular with the masculine endings) and nigh indistinguishable from Shakespeare’s in the beginning. Also, Marlowe is 1000x gayer, even writing about Edward II and his forbidden romance with his favorite Gaveston. Hence his popularity in fangirl circles. If you like Shakespeare but feel he could have been more violent, political, and gay, Marlowe will be right up your alley. There have been tons of fanfiction about him, some notable ones of which are:

The Marlowe Papers (Barber)—author is a stupid anti-Stratfordian, but her verse is legit

A Tip for the Hangman (Epstein)—not feeling the main romance, but it was fun and well-researched

The Secret Life of Shakespeare (Morgan)—actually focusing on Will/Anne, but this version of Marlowe is my favorite. He is just as I’ve envisioned him

[lcatala]

Let's say there really is such a thing as "spiritual need", that at least some people have a valid emotional need to feel transcendance, to believe in values, in a purpose greater than themselves, to find a source of meaning outside of themselves; that this need is just as important and vital, at least for a subset of people, as the need to feel loved, to have community, to be respected.

In other words: religion is needed, and it can't be a purely atheistic, secular, humanist religion, it must contain a part of mysticism, or irrational, of transcendence, something that is forever beyond the grasp of empiricism, for which empiricism is simply off-topic.

Let's say that the above really is true.

I will still argue that Christianity is uniquely terrible at fulfilling that purpose.

This is because, if you look at the history of Christianity (the actual history, not the narrative Christianity tells about itself), how it was formed, the politics around it, why these particular sets of beliefs and rituals became official Christianity while a whole bunch of others were declared heretical, it is pretty clear that Christianity was never designed and optimised to meet the spiritual needs of its followers.

It was designed and optimised to gain followers at the expense of other religions.

The entire idea that not only Christianity is the only true faith in the entire world, that other faiths are not only false, but in fact manifestations of the Devil, that Christianity is a universal religion that is mandatory for everyone to follow, outside of which there can be no salvation, that entire communities can be collectively punished if just some among them are insufficiently christian, this is all clearly designed to scare people into Christianity, to make them enthusiastic about abandonning their current faith and join Christianity.

Of course, this doesn't work at all when it comes to satisfy the spiritual needs of existing followers.

First because spiritual needs, as emotional needs, cannot and will never be a one-size-fit-all. They are a very individual business, the needs of which will never be met by a standardized faith that serves the exact same factory-made dogma to hundreds of millions.

Indeed, the need for individual, family and community-specific spirituality has made so that Christianity has never actually managed to be united — not once in its entire existence. Protestants vs Catholics, Catholics vs Orthodoxes, Eastern vs Oriental Orthodoxes, Orthodoxes vs Nestorians, Niceans vs Gnostics, Marcionists, Arianists…, Gentile Christians vs Jewish Christians… Even Paul didn't preach the same Christianity as Jesus!

This factionalism is the direct consequence of wanting Christianity to be a homogeneous, uniform, indifferentiated faith — with means that any difference that actually arises is a potential split, so most of the energy of Christianity outside of gaining converts is dedicated to playing whack-a-mole with a never ending spring of "heresies", which in almost any other religion would just be seen as local/personal quirks, something that makes the religion richer and contributes to its vivacity, rather than being a threat to its integrity.

And of course, this means that Christianity has been particularly hostile to mysticism in its history and regularly purged it from its ranks, since nothing say "heterodoxy" like the idea of secret knowledge revealed to select individuals thru intense spiritual experience. Unfortunately, mysticism is kind of the whole selling point of religion, a central aspect of actually getting those pesky spiritual needs met. The more a religion operates on a purely literal, rational level, the less emotionally satisfying it is for its followers.

And indeed, Christianity is terrible at retaining followers. It's good at gaining them, because the euphoria of conversion is enough to sustain the first few generations. But once the amount of people born-into-it starts to greatly outnumber the number of potential converts, Christianity can only retain its followers by locking the doors: everyone can get it, but no one is allowed to get out.

Christianity endured for so long only because whenever Christians became numerous and influential enough in a country, they made Christianity mandatory. Opting out wasn't an option, under penalty of death.

With a completely captive audience, Christianity didn't have to make any effort to meet the spiritual needs of its followers (nor to ensure that its theology was sound and made at least some sense — there's a reason why Judaism is theologically much more sound than Christianity; Jewish Talmudic students are encouraged to ask difficult, "bad faith" questions to their Rabbi, whereas Christian theology students are chastised and punished for doing the same), and so, over the centuries, Christians grew more and more spiritually starved, until the hunger was too strong and shared by too many, and the hold of Christianity broke down.

And once the doors were open, as soon as leaving was permitted, hundreds of millions of people enthusiastically rushed out. Is this what you expect to see from faith that meets all of its followers' needs?

The bleeding out is so strong that it even overcomes demographic trends. In the 1990s, US Evangelicals boasted that they were going to outbreed everyone else. They are now at their lowest percentage ever in the American population, and their decline has accelerated rapidly in recent years. It doesn't matter how many children you are having if most of them end up leaving the faith.

Religion may yet return to the West, but until Christianity has a complete overhaul and radically changes its design plan and its focus, it will continue to creep toward extinction in the general public.

[immoren]

Neither Catholic nor Protestant but secret third thing. (Arianist)

[jja-bos]

Yale Lecture

A Yale lecture about the origins of the Christian Faith is not something I would have looked forward to listening to a year ago. However, the lecture of Paul Freedman on the Christian Roman Empire has piqued my interest.  The last few months I have been trying to gain more knowledge on the Catholic Faith. I have had several conversations with friends and classmates where I noticed the need for further reading on this topic. My father has always been a great fan of reading, especially about the Catholic Faith. I keep getting surprised by his determination to keep going and the amount he has read specifically about the earlier years of the Faith. Finding this lecture was an unexpected way of being able to learn more about the Faith.

Paul Freedman has managed to very extensively yet very clearly describe three types of faith that were common in the time of the Roman Empire. In his lecture, he talks about Arianists, Donatists and Manicheans and concludes his lecture talking about Platonists. Although all three types of religion (Arianism, Donatism an Manicheanism) are derived from the Christian faith, they are considered to be heresies.

The part of this lecture that interested me most was the part where Mr. Freedman talks about the Emperor. In an example he talks about the absolute power an emperor has, and the choices that he is forced to make. This makes it hard for him to be a good leader at times because he has to make sure heresies do not spread, even though he does not want to use his absolute power by having certain people killed, because it would turn them into martyrs.

The ethical battle this emperor experiences is one that I can compare we see in a lot of organizations today. Leaders want change and want to make sure everyone listens to the assignments given, and work according to certain strategies. However, when people in the organization show resistance of refuse to work according to the strategy, it is not possible to simply get rid of them. With the current situation on the job market, it would be unresponsible to simply let everyone go who doesn’t agree with a certain choice. But how can someone deal with it?

[merrikstryfe]

Oh my God something like 60% of churchgoing American Evangelicals are straight up Arianist heretics XD XD XD

[words-writ-in-starlight]

I saw the post about how kid Jesus must've been extremely unsettling to unsuspecting bystanders and the post about baby eye-bait Jonathan Sims in close conjunction and I know this is probably rude but. Who is Jesus the avatar of in Magnus Archives verse

Beholding, Web, Vast, End, in that order (birth/childhood, miracles/ministry, crucifixion, resurrection).  I am not taking questions or concerns at this time.

Also you’ve actually hit on a major heretical Thing in Christianity here, featured in a number of heresies from mmmm about the second century?  The “avatar/Fear Power” model is featured near-verbatim in the Adoptionist, Apollinarianist (ehhhh?), Eutychianist/Monophysitist, and notably Arianist (this one actually literally is Jesus-As-Agnes-Montague, basically, see also: First Nicean Council) heresies in various forms, in case you were curious.  

[questionsonislam]

I have recently heard that Spain was once an Islamic country; how did it become like this now? Will you give me information about the Andalusian State?

Andalusia is a name given by Muslims to Spain. Today it is the name of a province in the south of Spain. Andalusia, which was conquered by Muslims between 711 and 714 as a natural extension of early Islamic conquests, remained an Islamic country for eight centuries though its geographical boundaries narrowed over time.

The history of Andalusia is divided into six separate periods:

1. The Era of Governors (715-756)

In this period, Andalusia was administered as a province of the Umayyad State in the east. The most important development then was the military expeditions that the Muslim conquerors made over the Pyrenees to conquer Europe. During these expeditions, Muslims reached Paris in 732. Efforts were made in order to establish a new social order in Andalusia. A free religious environment was created by ending the oppression on the Jews and the Arianists applied with the provocation of the Catholic Church during the period of Visigoths. Thus, the old social order based on the principle of classes was abolished.

2. The Era of Andalusian Umayyads (756 - 1031)

Having made Andalusia an independent state in 756 based on the model of eastern state order, Andalusian Umayyads established an independent army to maintain their political entity on the one hand and sent a lot of students to the favorite centers of ilm (knowledge/science) like Cairo, Mecca, Madinah, Baghdad and Damascus, transferring the scientific developments in these centers to Andalusia on the other hand.

In this period, there were very few people who could read and write except for the priests in the churches in Europe but almost all of the people in Andalusia were literate. Along with the increase in the economic and public works activities, Qurtuba (Cordova), the capital city, became a diplomatic center. Thanks to the tolerant environment that was provided, mosques, churches and synagogues were able to remain side by side without any fighting.

As a result, Andalusia became the most powerful state in Europe during this period.

3. The Era of "Small Sultanates" (1031-1090)

When the Umayyad State declined due to internal disorders in 1031, Andalusia entered a process of division politically. In this process, almost every city was transformed into an independent state. Despite this political division, the rise in civilization continued in Andalusia. The most important indication of this was that almost every city turned into a Qurtuba. Significant developments took place in literature, astronomy, medicine and philosophy. However, the political disunity led to the fall of Tuleytula (Toledo), the second largest city of Spain in 1085. Thereupon, Andalusians had to ask for help from North Africa.

4. The Era of Murabits (Almoravids) and Muwahhids (Almohads) (1090 - 1228)

Murabits, who helped Andalusians in 1086 and who established a big state in North Africa, ruled Andalusia as a province subject to them until 1147. After this date, the administration of Andalusia was undertaken again by Muwahhids, who came from North Africa. In this period, the Christian Europe made Andalusia the target of crusade attacks with the direction of the Pope. For this reason, this period was spent mostly through defensive wars against the crusaders. However, the developments in the field of civilization did not stop. As a matter of fact, the upbringing of scholars and philosophers such as Ibn Rushd (Averros), Ibn Bajja (Avempace) andIbn Tufayl, who affected Europe deeply, took place in this period.

5. The Emirate of Granada (1231 -1492)

Upon the decline of the administrationof Muwahhids in 1228, Christian Spain began a rapid invasion movement on the Andalusian territory. Losing the power to defend themselves, the Andalusians lost all of the territories except Granada, Malaga and Almeira in the south. In 1231, the Nasri dynasty declared its independence in these remaining territories. This small Granada sultanate succeeded in surviving for two and a half centuries thanks to the politics it pursued. The Alhambra Palace, which is one of the most popular works of both Islamic architecture and the world architecture, belongs to this period. Granada, which was besieged by Christian armies in 1490, was delivered to Christians with an agreement made in 1492 on condition that the religious and civil rights of the Muslims would be guaranteed. Thus, the domination of Islam, which continued for eight centuries in Spain, came to an end.

6. Moriscos (1492 -1609)

Upon the decline of the Emirate of Grenada, a large number of Muslims remained under Christian domination in Spain. In 1497, the Catholic King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella decided to force Muslims to be Christianized, disregarding the agreement they made. They put Muslims in closed places and sprinkled baptized water on them; then, they were declared to be Christians. The Quran and other Arabic works were confiscated, libraries were emptied and traditional clothing was forbidden. They forbad the Muslims to teach Arabic to their children. The mosques were transformed into churches. Those who acted contrarily were sent to the inquisition courts.

According to some Spanish sources, the Inquisition decreed death penalty for more than three thousand Muslims; they were either impaled or burnt. Despite this oppression, Muslims were able to practice their religion secretly. In 1609, the Spanish kingdom made a decision with the church and decided to expel the Muslims living within the borders of Spain. Some of them were expelled to France and others to Africa. In these exiles, hundreds of thousands of Andalusian died. Although the Muslims were expelled from Spain, their influence continued afterwards.

That the Umayyads made Andalusia an independent state and ensured its political unity in 756 formed a serious obstacle to Christian progress. Thanks to it, a decline that could have happened much earlier was prevented.

The Umayyad dynasty, which successfully ensured and represented the political unity of Andalusia until 976, began to lose its power and influence after this date. The emergence of the Amiris as a rival power overturned all of the balances of the state and made the system impossible to produce solutions. This weakness of the central government eventually led to the strengthening of the local aristocracy and the division of the country.

Andalusia, has always been out of mind for Anatolian Muslims maybe because it was out of sight as it is now. Today, there are very few people who remember Spain with its Muslim identity. The "Western cultural imperialism", which imposes its own values ​​and assumptions, and makes people forget their freedoms that are contrary to it, becomes evident here. Once, I asked in a classroom with thirty students in the third grade of the Faculty of Theology, who really need to establish this relationship, what nationality the following scholars were and what they thought about them: Baqi Ibn Makhlad, Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi, Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi, Ibnu Mada, Abul Abbas al-Mursi, Abu Amr ad-Dani, Abu Hayyan, Ibn Atiyya. Unfortunately, nobody knew that these people were Andalusian.

The state of a huge country where Muslims dominated more than eight centuries, the tens of thousands of scholars who were brought up there, the tremendous civilization that was established there, and their present inheritors should not be like that. Yes, the Christian bigotry, which established sovereignty there by defeating the Muslims five centuries ago, which is not a distant past, may have done its best to erase the Islamic identity with a rarely seen savagery there. However, this persecution should have made the Muslims more sensitive to them. Intensive studies should have been made to search and to inform people about the end of the Muslims there, their laws, the properties of the great civilization established there, the works that remained from them and/or were destroyed. It was not possible to do these during the period of Inquisition and bigotry but it is possible to do it in the atmosphere of liberty of this century. I do not know how many people go there with this idea though we have so many possibilities and potentials.

However, Westerners have tried to find some traces belonging to two thousand years ago in Anatolia; and if they cannot find any, they make up some Christian elements such as Mother Mary's healing water in Kusadasi and the legend of Santa Claus in Demre and try to connect them with Turkey. They cherish the memory of the Christian domination of this land one thousand years ago, and write and pronounce the Christian names of the cities and towns like Constantinople (Istanbul), Smyrna (Izmir), Cappadocia (Kapadokya), Cilicia (Kilikya), Bithynia (Bitinya), Ephesus (Efes), Hierapolis, etc. They come here to repeat the travels of the disciples like Paul, Pierre, and Barnabas to spread Christianity and perform the sacred pilgrimage. The Muslims transform their cemeteries of thirty to forty years old into green space first, divide into plots after that and finally construct residences there but the cemeteries of Christians that are more than centuries old are not touched.

According to a newspaper that I have read recently, there are seventy-five churches belonging to the Greek population of about five thousand in Istanbul. They are maintained though most of them are not used. However, Andalusia, which was a Muslim land until five or six centuries ago, is unprotected.

At least the Qurtuba Mosque, which somehow survived the bigotry, should be given to Muslims and revived. I believe that Muslims will restore it, prepare it for prayers on their own and by spending their own money if they are allowed. (These restorations are sometimes carried out with the financial support of Muslim countries here.) Some other historical monuments can be repaired after it. Unfortunately, we saw some Muslim statesmen who tried to revive the sacred places of Christians under the pretext of tourism.

Some Muslims celebrated the 500th anniversary of the end of Islam in Spain with Christians. Muslims, however, should have declared this 500th anniversary in 1992 as a call to search, worldwide, for the rights of the millions of Andalusian Muslims that were killed, deported or Christianized by force. Alas no. How can we, weak Muslims, who cannot do anything about the Middle East, which has become a blood bath and which is seen by the whole world through the means of media, search the rights of the Muslims five hundred years ago?

[echiromani]

A relief sculpture of Saint Maximus from the cathedral of Naples. Maximus (d. 361 AD) was known as a great defender of the decrees of the Council of Nicaea, especially in its opposition to Arianism. This led to his exile and replacement as Bishop of Naples by Zosimos, who proclaimed the Arianistic doctrine.

[officialleehadan]

Blooming Vines

Hello darlings and welcome to today's story I love Prompt Month. The Prompts are always such fun, and so often, they're not stories I would have written without you!

Today's story was brought to you by Arianist Lupus, who prompted me Silvie from HGE - Learn to Fly, and THIS SONG!

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“Oh,” Human-Marsha said, her eyes wide with something Vree thought might be alarm. “Uh. Vree? Uh. That. Her. Wow.”

Vree looked up from his tablet at the sound of one of his humans, particularly one of his presumably-fearless werebears, squeaking at him.

Honestly, he didn’t think he had ever heard that tone of voice out of a human before.

When he looked up, it was to the sight of Human-Silvie, her hair filled with her ever-present live flowers, drifting towards them with a rucksack over her shoulder. According to Human-Amir, Human-Silvie was an example of human beauty, which Vree found interesting for the first ten minutes of knowing her. After, it became a problem, as Human-Silvie drew attention no matter where she went.

Fortunately, she was also a fine warrior, and more than a little frightening in her own right. Vree liked her.

Human-Marsha hadn’t looked so stunned since Human-Gruk put her through a plate-metal wall.

“Vree!” Human-Silvie cried, and dropped her bag to fling herself at Vree, who set his tablet aside just in time to catch her in a warm hug. He knew Human-Silvie of old. She was one of Human-Luka’s former crew, and now served as the emperor’s eyes and ears around the galaxy. It didn’t hurt that many of her talents seemed to involve getting into places she shouldn’t be, and charming her way back out. Vree scent-marked her head fondly, and was careful not to crush her flowers. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Hello Human-Silvie,” he told her cheerfully, and picked her off the ground because it always made her laugh. “You are a long way from Carrier Arctic, my friend.”

“I go where the work is,” she told him and planted a kiss on the tip of his nose before he put her down. “Luka sent me out to keep an eye on you.”

“Human-Luka worries.”

“One of his charms. Oh, hel~lo,” Human-Silvie said when her eyes landed on Human-Marsha. Vree determinedly did not pay attention to her scent spiking. There were somethings he did not need to know. “Vree, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?” 

Human-Marsha made a very amusing sort of yelp, tried to pretend she hadn’t been watching them, and stumbled over her own feet as she tried to correct herself.

Human-Silvie stepped forward and steadied her. The two human women stood nearly eye-to-eye, but it was clear that Human-Marsha had never been faced with anyone like Human-Silvie before. 

She, of course, only smiled, as graceful as a falling feather. Vree hid a smile of his own when he saw the way the humans all around them watched her, but Human-Silvie pretended not to notice them. Vree knew better. Human-Silvie was a dangerous a human as any he ever met, and completely fearless. She had the wight of her emperor behind her as only a very few could claim, and she walked like nothing in the world could touch her.

Human-Marsha seemed somewhat stunned.

Vree decided to intervene before poor Human-Marsha managed to swallow her own tongue.

“Human-Marsha, this is Human-Silvie Fashavel. A dear friend,” he introduced Human-Silvie as was her preference. She did, of course, work for the emperor, but she preferred to keep a low profile most of the time. “Human-Silvie, I met Human-Marsha in a brawl,. Her ship was damaged, and she and her team agreed to come aboard my own as temporary security.”

“Any friend of Vree’s is a friend of mine,” Human-Silvie said, her gaze still a little too intent as she proffered a hand. “Fae.”

“Full-blood?” Human-Marsha managed the words, apparently too surprised to stay intimidated for long. “Sorry, that was rude. Werebear.”

“Polar?”

“Grizzly.”

“Impressive. I’ve only known a few Bears,” Human-Silvie murmured. She hadn’t let go of Human-Marsha’s hand. Vree’s nose itched. He could smell trouble coming. And other things. Them too. He was trying not to smell those. Humans. They had the weirdest mating rituals and Vree was frankly afraid to ask about them. “Yes, I’m a full-blood. Changeling.”

“You’re rare as silver roses,” Human-Marsha said. Color came to her cheeks, but she didn’t let go of Human-Silvie’s hand. “Do you… uh. Maybe want to come see crew quarters? If you’re staying, I mean.”

“Oh, would you mind? Vree, I’d planned to stay a bit. Get a look around. Luka and Amir sent letters.”

The mention of the old-fashioned mail was a code, and Vree kept his ears still thanks to long years of practice making sure his expression stayed even. Apparently Lord Petros’s warning about trouble afoot in the Empire had developed into something more interesting. Also, more potentially worrying. 

“I look forward to hearing from them,” he said evenly, and leaned down to bump her head with his. “Will you join us for end-shift meal?”

“Couldn’t stop me,” Human-Silvie promised him, and coiled one of her living flower vines around his head like a crown. It would, Vree knew, stay put and living until she reclaimed it. “Now, Marsha, you said something about quarters? Looks like I’ll be staying a while.”

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HGE - UNconventional:

Vree really doesn’t know how  he ended up being one of the premiere human specialists of the Galactic  Alliance, but now everyone wants him to do presentations. Amir thinks  the whole thing is hilarious, and insists on ‘helping’ whenever he can.

Firebursts (Subscriber Only!)

Hot and Cold

Splish Splash (Free on Patreon!)

Furnace Rumble (Subscriber Only!)

Aftermath (Subscriber Only!)

Much Better, Much Worse (Free on Patreon!)

Four More

Family Home (Free on Patreon!)

Ancient Pine

Match Unlit (Free on Patreon!)

Attack of Savages

Fine Wood Shavings

World Wide Web

Crunch and Crack

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More Stories!

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[lios-archive]

Bitchy history pills #1: Theodoric vs The Pope

Theodoric: *looks at pars orientis where monofisits and arianists are being killed*

Theodoric: oh no my bitches are being murdered

Theodoric to the Pope(Giovanni I): honey can you please tell Justin I that he really should stop killing my friends it's not cool

Giovanni: ..yes I guess

*The Pope goes to Costantinople*

Theodoric: YAS you're back so you talked to him right

Giovanni: yes...he kind of...

Theodoric: ...what

Giovanni: I mean it was all good. Justin was cool, we talked a lot and people were really pleased to see me so..cool no more persecutions I guess

Theodoric: so all those converted people are now arianists again right

Giovanni:......no Theodoric I just can't control other people's mind it's impossible

Theodoric:

Giovanni: WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT I DID WHAT YOU ASKED

Theodoric: I KNEW THAT YOU, YOUR CONSTANTINOPLE FRIEND AND THE ROMANS WERE PLANNING SOMETHING

Theodoric: BITCH

*Giovanni actually dies in prison*

[saint-ambrosef]

Happy Feast of St. Aurelius Ambrosius of Milan! He is one of the four original doctors of the Church for his defense against Arianism, and is known as the mentor of St. Augustine. He is the founder of antiphonal Ambrosian chant.

Ambrose was the Roman governor of Liguria and Emilia, headquartered in Milan, before being made bishop of Milan by popular acclamation in 374 due to his influential speech protesting violence between the Arianists and Niceans. Originally appalled by this responsibility, he fled, but his good friend, the Holy Roman Emperor, gave him up. Upon reluctant acceptance, Ambrose dedicated his life to theological pursuits.

Legend has it that when he was a baby, a swarm of bees landed on his face without stinging him. His father predicted this was an omen of his honey-tongue and future oral skills.

Patron saint of beekeepers, scholars, students, lawyers, and beggars.

“Let your door stand open to receive Him, unlock your soul to Him, offer Him a welcome in your mind, and then you will see the riches of simplicity, the treasures of peace, the joy of grace. Throw wide the gate of your heart, stand before the sun of the everlasting light.”

“Prayer is the wing wherewith the soul flies to heaven, and meditation the eye wherewith we see God.”

“The devil's snare does not catch you, unless you are first caught by the devil's bait.”

“When in Rome, live as the Romans do. When elsewhere, live as they live elsewhere.”

“If it is "daily bread," why do you take it once a year? . . . Take daily what is to profit you daily. Live in such a way that you may deserve to receive it daily. He who does not deserve to receive it daily, does not deserve to receive it once a year.”

[septembersung]

I can forgive Protestants and Protestantism for most things.

I can forgive Protestants for the Know-Nothing Party and their murderous Philadelphia Nativist Riot, the Intolerable Acts, Bloody Monday and the Orange Riots in New York City in 1871 and 1872. I forgive them for the “Blaine Amendments” which forbade tax money be used to fund Catholic parochial schools.

I can also forgive them for the KKK and for funding the Mexican atheist genocidal maniac Plutarco Ares Calles in his efforts to kill Catholics during the Cristero Wars. I can forgive them for calling any, and all, popes, the “Anti-Christ(s)” and “Whores(s) of Babylon.”

I also forgive them for supporting Henry VIII’s Act of Supremacy by which the Church gained many of her modern martyrs. In addition, I forgive them for the Recusancy Acts and the fictitious, so-called “Popish Plot.” I forgive them also for the fact that as a Catholic, I shall never sit upon the British Throne though literally everyone else is allowed to do so.

I can forgive Protestants for The Troubles in Ireland and Oliver Cromwell and his engineered Potato Famine and the slaughter and military occupation of that country. I forgive them for the enslavement of 50,000 men, women and children who were forcibly removed from Ireland and sent to Bermuda and Barbados as indentured servants―America’s first slaves.

I forgive them for the Canadian Gavazzi Riots and the Orange Order and Ontario Regulation 17 that doomed Catholic schools in Quebec. I won’t even mention the American Protective Association and their Canadian counterparts, the Protestant Protective Association as I’ve chosen to forgive. I also forgive Protestants for forcibly converting Catholic convicts and political prisoners to Anglicanism in Australia something that Moslem terrorists have been doing for 1400 years.

I forgive Protestants for 500 years of venom and vitriol spouted by every street preacher and door-knocker―the seething anti-Catholic hatred that is at the core of primitive Mormonism, Seventh-Day Adventism and Jehovah’s Witnesses―but not them exclusively. Indeed, it makes up a great deal of traditional Anglicanism, Methodism and many other forms of “mainstream” Protestantism.

I forgive Protestants who refuse to refer to Catholics as “Christians.”

I also forgive them for intentionally ignoring the 1500 years that occurred prior to Martin Luther when everyone in Western Europe who was a Christian was, by necessity, a Catholic.

I forgive them for Bismarck’s Kulturkampf, the inspiration for the current assault upon religious liberty in America and Europe. Don’t worry, Jack Chick and your ignorant and poisonous “Chick Tracts” and for calling Catholics, “Mackerel Snappers”―all is forgiven.

I forgive Martin Luther for foisting a desecrated and greatly redacted Bible upon the world pretending that God “would have wanted it that way.” Luther removed seven books and parts of three others from the Old Testament―the fullness of which is called the Septuagint and was used by Christ himself when he walked among us.

And I also forgive Martin Luther for accepting funding from Suleiman the Magnificent, the Sultan of the Muslim Ottoman Empire as he “struggled” to succeed from the Catholic Church. Luther schemed to throw Christendom under the bus for fun and profit as he urged his fellow Protestants to side with the Muslim Turks in defeating the Catholic Church and, with it, Europe. Suleiman even extended his munificent kinship to any and all Protestants in Hungary and Romania now that they were no longer “Christian” (i.e., loyal to the pope). The sultan urged Luther and Protestants to unite under the Muslim banner to defeat both the emperor and the pope. Please recall that Suleiman the Terrorist wanted nothing less than to wipe Christianity from the planet―talk about politics and their strange bedfellows!

But all is forgiven … I swear it.

I forgive Protestants for the ridiculous 700 Club television show and their tiresome attacks on the One, True, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I also forgive Protestants for taking 500 years to realize that Sola Scriptura is a great deal of nonsense and that even Luther had a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary―the first Christian, the Mother of God and, indeed, the second most often quoted individual in the Gospels.

I also forgive Protestants for their cognitive dissonance in simultaneously insisting that: 1) everyone is allowed to interpret the Bible as they wish and they are all equally correct and 2) Catholics are wrong in the way they interpret the Bible no matter how they do it.

I forgive Protestants for their anti-Catholicism, which is what historian John Highham called “the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history,” and what historian Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. has called, “the deepest-held bias in the history of the American people.”

I also forgive Protestants for their support of the violence towards Catholics during the so-called “Enlightenment” and for the development of Freemasonry and the Brazilian “Religious Question” and the Columbian La Violencia and the Michelade Massacre of 1567. By the way, Freemasonry’s exotic magicalism greatly contributed to the development of Mormonism, Unitarianism, Seventh-Day Adventism, Christian Scientists and Jehovah’s Witness’ Arianistic perspectives.

For all of this, I have nothing but forgiveness for them.

I forgive Protestants for making Fr. Nicholas Copernicus put the brakes on his heliocentric theory and data until after his death even though his friend, Pope Paul III, urged him to publish while the scientist was still alive. Apparently, Fr. Copernicus hoped to avoid upsetting Luther and Melanchthon who were both contemptuous of the priest’s heliocentric paradigm and feared that his theories would further alienate Protestants against the Church from which they originally sprang.

This isn’t an empty Christian platitude―I truly forgive them for the Great Tragedy, that is, their sixteenth century split with Rome.

I also forgive them for John Calvin’s, Ian Paisley’s and the Westboro Baptist Church’s reductive, tiresome and poisonous bluster and posturing. I further forgive Protestants for their support and schadenfreude as they stood back and did nothing during Spain’s Red Terror and during Hitler’s repression of the Catholic Church especially for The Night of Long Knives. But my forgiveness isn’t limited to only this opprobrium. Indeed, I also forgive Dutch Protestants’ explicit support of the Tokugawa Shogunate when they slaughtered tens of thousands of Japanese Catholics in the sixteenth century.

I forgive them one and all for the 500 years of anti-Catholic stereotypes typical in their literature as in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum, Paul Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and Ann Radcliffe’s The Italian.

I forgive them for their support/coddling of the rabidly fundamentalist atheist “Americans United for Separation of Church and State” which was originally an explicitly anti-Catholic organization called “Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State.”

I forgive all Protestants for crucifying European history with their insidious and indecorous “Black Legend” which poisoned the minds of hundreds of millions of people who would rather believe lies about the Inquisition rather than risk reading a book on the subject.

I even forgive Protestants for the countless false prophecies concerning the end of the world that have proved time and time again to be absolutely false. As an aside, I also forgive them for ignoring Scriptures that specifically explain how to distinguish between one of God’s real prophets and a false one:

You may wonder how you can tell when a prophet’s message does not come from the Lord. If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and what he says does not come true, then it is not the Lord’s message. That prophet has spoken on his own authority, and you are not to fear him. (Deut. 18:21-22)

In addition, I forgive Protestants for ignoring Christ’s own words (the red-letter words) when he commissions St. Peter as the Church’s leader:

And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build My church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. (Matt. 16:18)

And like the previous passage, Protestants will ignore the salient fact that Christ’s One, True, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church will never fail. Not even the Gates of Hell will prevail against it. If follows that if an organization that claims to be inspired by the Holy Spirit actually fails miserably, that means the Holy Spirit wasn’t truly with them such as the Anabaptists, the Shakers and the Puritans. 11 Protestant churches close every day in America. It’s impossible to determine how many close every day around the world. There are 41,000 Protestant churches around the world currently and that means at least 40,999 are completely wrong. This doesn’t include the many tens of thousands of Protestant churches that have failed in the past 500 years. God clearlyisn’t dictating different messages to intentionally sow discord, confusion and lies … however, this does remind me of another lesser spirit who enjoys doing exactly this (John 8:44).

But what I can’t forgive them for, not yet at least, is their insipid restorationism―the idea that God somehow made a mistake 2000 years ago when he gave control of his, One, True Church to the Catholic Church and the papacy whose progenitor was St. Peter as testified by Christ not once but twice in the New Testament (Matt. 16:18-19, John 21:15-17).

Restorationism is the belief that Christianity should be restored to how it was during the Apostolic Era using nothing but Scriptures―a project doomed to failure. Their goal to re-establish Christianity in its original form has been a part of Christianity for 2000 years and, indeed, St. Francis of Assisi hoped to “get back to the basics” also but he didn’t make the mistake of believing that God had made a mistake in putting St. Peter and his successors in charge. Rather, he hoped to refocus the Church―not to change dogma and authority.

This is not something that can be generously glossed over as their previous genocide of Catholics on multiple continents or even the desecration of our holiest places over the past 500 years. The trillions of Protestant lies about Catholics are as naught in comparison to this blasphemy.

To suggest that God was somehow mistaken in anything he does is scurrilous impiety and profane heresy.

Luther’s “Ecce ego sto!” sounds more and more like Lucifer’s “Non servium!”

Restorationism is anathema. God makes no mistakes (Ps. 19:7-10). He doesn’t mumble or backpeddle like Allah (Ps. 12:6-7). He’s not confused or addlebrained (Neh. 9:6). He needs no assistance from anyone or anything (Col. 1:6). His decisions are final and perfect in their love and justice (Prov. 16:10). He doesn’t need to explain himself (Rom. 1:20). He accepts no counsel (Ps. 33:11).

When God bestowed stewardship upon Peter and his successors, God didn’t mean “well … you can be in charge until people in the sixteenth century come to know better.”

Restorationism is beyond comprehension. God isn’t imperfect and thus, anyone who worships an imperfect God isn’t worshiping the Trinity (Ps. 18:30).

Muslims also celebrate a restorationism of sorts in that they believe Islam is what Allah always had in mind but was simply not sure how to implement it successfully until the advent of Mohammad. They believe that both Jews and Christians have become corrupted along with their sacred scriptures, which are “untrustworthy” due to Allah’s machinations. And that only they have a perfect and complete understanding of God’s “true plan.”

Sound familiar?

But if this is true, as in the case of Protestantism, then how did God’s message get garbled in the first place? Wouldn’t God have known his message was going to get hinky? If he’s omniscient and omnicompetent he would. A lesser god would easily fall into this error.

How was he so foolish in trusting the wrong people initially? How could mere mortals come to realize something that he couldn’t (Job 38:1-41:34)?

But, more importantly, how can we ever trust this imperfect deity now that new messengers, none of whom are divine, have come along? Perhaps this deity is confused once again. It’s a slippery slope and one that is easily proven wrong.

I don’t see a difference in what these Christian restorationists believe and that which Islamic restorationists proffer. It’s not odd that Protestants had received Muslim financial, political and ideological support 500 years ago―birds of a feather, as it were.

But the main reason I condemn restorationism is that it’s a non-starter. If someone believes in evil grand conspiracy theories, they make themselves out to be the hero/champion that God has been looking for. It’s up to them and no one else! They are the thin holy line that separates Order and Chaos―between Heaven and Hell. And as they are assured of their sanctified state, anything and everything they think, say and do is acceptable. After all, this is what “God wanted” all along…

[tertullian3n1-blog]

Tertullian

You may wonder why I use Tertullian3n1 as my username. Although not a Saint he was a great apologist in the early Church. His writings helped me leave the Arianist faith of Jehovah's Witnesses. It was a long journey but I found home in Rome.

[meandepiphany]

The Council of Nicea (325), was an ecumenical council of Christian churches advocating for unification between the various Christian denominations. One issue was brought by Arianist Arius of Alexandria who stated Christ is not divine but created, and he was deemed a heretic. It was presided over by Constantine I. Now, much controversy surrounds the Council of Nicea, most importantly, the thought that the divinity of Christ was invented by Council when it was agreed Christ was equal with the Father or homoousios "of the same substance." They wrote this affirmation in what is called the Nicene Creed. There are subsequent creeds due to amendments. Note the ecumenical church pledged allegiance to the the Catholic church and is now promoting inclusivity with different faiths. Why this council is unbiblical Ecumenism ignores the Bible's call to maintain purity of the gospel. Scripture has this to say: Philippians 1:27 — Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel... ***** #councilofnicea #ecumenism #catholicism #arianism #bible #romancatholicchurch

[christsbride]

Public Evangelism

Before setting out to conduct street evangelism and open air preaching it is a good idea to research the county and city ordinances regarding noise violations and disturbing the peace.  Odds are someone will get offended and call the police claiming one of the two.  When police are called, they have reasonable suspicion that a crime or ordinance violation has been committed.  They are obligated to respond and investigate.  This should be expected. (check out Is Street Preaching Biblical?). Some cities require you to obtain a permit to pass out flyers or do speeches on public property.  It is right to seek to obtain the proper permits as most cities will not deny them knowing it will be a religious assembly and protected free speech.  In some countries it is flat out illegal to give religious speeches in public.  This is where a more modest personal approach is best suited like walking up to individuals and speaking to them more privately in a public location.  Where religious proselytizing is illegal, than an even more subtle approach is required through networking and relationship building for the missional purpose of presenting the gospel.  Once understanding the governing laws regarding public evangelism, next it is important to understand the culture of that public area. College campuses, public parks around downtown business headquarters, suburb parks, tourist areas, and the region these parks are located in help understand the angle and focus of approach.  Regions that are less culturally divers or have a concentrated sub cultures are keys to understanding the spiritual needs of that area.  Once you have conducted the proper research and planning, having a game plan of what topics need to be touched and how to frame the conversations is next. Planned Discussion Of course the absolute end goal of all discussions are gospel presentations.  But getting there is not always straight forward.  On the personal level; You always want to introduce yourself, ask their name and if you can ask  them some questions.  Trust the Holy Spirit.  If they say no and do not want to talk, move on.  If you are open air preaching, and someone comes up asking genuine questions, you want to address them on a personal level.  If you have an evangelism team with you, have them address that persons questions and continue preaching. Personal Public Evangelism When walking up to people and getting their consent to ask questions always introduce yourself and ask for their name.  Throughout the conversation, call them by name; this is more personal and relates to how personal the subject matter actually is to them.  Avoid using phrases like "I believe..." or "I think..." because it is not a matter of your opinion verses theirs.  These are eternal truths, not personal opinionated beliefs. Q:  Do you believe in God? (yes/no) Deck of Cards analogy;  "If I throw a deck of cards in the air, what is the chance it will fall down in a completed house of cards?", "Where did the deck of cards come from in the first place?"  "If I don't have a deck of cards, what is the chance, a deck of cards will appear in my hand from nothing?" Piece of Paper analogy;  "If I write 'laws of nature' on a paper, then tear it up into very small pieces, then throw it up in the air, what is the chance it will fall back into place in the correct order?";  "Where did the piece of paper come from in the first place?"; "If I didn't have a piece of paper to write 'laws of nature' on, what is the chance a piece of paper will appear from nothing or the letters will form themselves to form the intelligible sentence structure and words?" Sometimes it is best, that when someone denies the existence of God, may was well just go straight to a gospel presentation.  You can do this by asking next:  Do you know who Jesus is?  Some may even argue that Jesus never existed either.  At that point you can attempt to explain to them the historical facts but odds are they will reject those too.  If that is the case, you can ask them what they believe or again, straight up ask them if they have ever heard the gospel itself.  If they are still willing to listen and engage in a friendly dialog, go right head and present them the gospel. If they already claim to believe in god, continue on to ensure they get to know the truth about the real God if they don't know him already. Q:  Who do you think God is? (the universe / everyone / one being / unknown)  These first two questions help gauge what the person believes; New age, agnostic, atheist, or theistic.  Q:  Do you think God is pleased with you and how you have live your life? Naturally most people will say yes.  The idea here sets up revealing to them their own contradictions and how they actually do not meet God's standard with the follow up questions: Q:  Are you a good person?  Are you morally perfect?  Again, naturally, most people will say yes.  The Moral crime proofs then expose some flaws in their claim. Moral Crimes Proofs;  "have you ever lied; have you ever stolen anything; have you ever hurt anyone, emotionally or physically; have you ever sexually desired someone; have you ever said GD or JC, and not as a noun?"  What do you call someone who has lied and stolen?  What do you call someone who sexually desires someone who is not their spouse? Repeat their own answers.  Of course people who steal are called thieves and people who have lied are called liars.  Then ask: Q:  Do you think God is pleased with thieves, liars, adultery/cheaters, and blasphemers?    The discussion then may steer to relative morality.  The follow up question related to relative morality exposes further dilemmas in that belief: Q:  Are you opposed to racism, rape, or killing homosexuals?  Why? They are compelled to admit they are opposed to these because they are wrong. Q:  Are countries and cultures that currently practice them, are they wrong?  Are societies in the past that condoned them, where they wrong?  How are they wrong, when their society condones it?  Is there a universal morality that applies to all mankind?  Where does that come from if not from society? Q:  Does someone who commits such crimes/moral wrongs be punished?  (yes/no) Here they have been lead to see that morality is transcendent and that moral wrongs deserve punishment.  Understanding the required justice is next.  This is where most Christians fail.  Understanding God's perfect Justice is very important. Q:  Why not just forget about the crime of racism, rape, and killing homosexuals?   Why even bother prosecuting them?  Just let them go free with no punishment.  Now explain the actual value of violating God's law and the worth of a transcendent crime.  Sin has eternal value in that it is an offense against the eternal God.  This eternal offense requires a just punishment. Q: How much good can you do to pay back an eternal debt?  How much good can a friend of yours do to pay back your eternal debt?  If the crime of racism, rape, and killing homosexuals is just given 2 hours of community service, is that enough, why not?   Q:  Early you admitted to being a thief, liar, adultery, and blasphemer.  You admitted to committing transcendent crimes against a perfectly holy and just God that you can not repay and still requires an equal just punishment.  Do you want to know how to be made right before God, have your debt payed for, and truly know God for all eternity? (Due to the examples used above and given the dysfunction of today's misquoting society, we must include this disclaimer:  we do not advocate, support, or encourage teachings or actions for rape, racism, and murder) Avoid the arianistic Christian cliche "accept Jesus in your heart" or "say the sinners prayer".  That is not what really happens and NOT what Jesus calls for.  Jesus called for people to REPENT and BELIEVE.  Thus, we should call for the same. Present the Gospel message: God sent his eternal Son from heaven in the form of Jesus to die for your sin on the cross, payed your eternal debt of sin, and rose again three days later proving that he has the power to give life, eternal life.  He did this so that you can be free from the punishment of sin and free to truly know God.  Only Jesus lived the life you could not live and pay the price for sin that you can not pay so that you can enjoy God in this life and for eternity after this life.  Are you ready to leave your sins behind, repent and believe in God The Son? Pray with that person and ask the Holy Spirit to work in their heart, empowering them to believe, make them born again, a new creation, adopted by God, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and follow Jesus Christ as their Lord God and Savior.  After praying, discuss any concerns they may have and give them your contact information. This is a very general discussion with the key talking points but you will encounter all kinds of different people with all kinds of different arguments and justifications.  Not having every answer is OKAY!  You must remember that you are NOT the spiritual eye openers, The Holy Spirit is.  You are called to be faithful to God and loving to neighbors, strangers, and enemies; and there is nothing more loving than sacrificing your time, emotions, and efforts to give someone the greatest gift we can offer, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and pray that God gives the greatest gift of all; eternal life.   If you have any questions or comments about this article please contact us or join our discussion forms

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