#but yeah i do think that and the parable of the prodigal son are probably the most relevant stories

[pynkhues]

can you explain the biblical allusions in succession? kendall's attempt to cleanse/baptize himself in bathtubs, him essentially being the plastic jesus to logan's god

[op-sheepy]

ok so I'm particularly interested in

Bellamy Law

Law and Bible stuff

Law is a substitute kindergarten teacher

shichibukai applications

reverse hanahaki disease (?? do u spit out flowers when your nemesis walks by?)

if you feel like elaborating on any of these!

This is gonna get long and I actually contemplated posting them separately but would that have been more work? Yeah, that felt like more work so for anyone interested, check under the cut. :D

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Bellamy Law

Hm… This would be an attempt to explore the parallels and contrasts between Bellamy and Law. I've always found it fascinating that the former was a foil to the latter.

They both come from well-off  towns in the North Blue.

Bellamy left because of boredom. Law had no choice because Flevance.

Both ended up seeking Doflamingo  because of  his notoriety as a pirate. Both admired him initially

Doffy favored one over the other though. Bellamy always sought his approval but was never really part of the inner circle Doflamingo cared about.

Law got the dubious privilege of being part of the family despite being absent for so long. Even offered one of the highest seats by Doffy's side for seemingly nothing.

Law had no trouble turning his back on Doffy once he realized the man's nature. Bellamy tried to stick to his principles until the end despite admitting that he new he was wrong.

Bellamy can (and did) quit piracy after his ordeal with Doflamingo. Having the option to live peacefully, perhaps a return to his previous life (the one he considered boring). Law can't do that quite as easily what with his Devil fruit and his reputation.

I thought it would be interesting trying to explore what Bellamy was thinking. Did he hear the Donquixote Pirates talk about their missing 'family'? Did he get to see Doffy be amused at Law's rise as a Supernova while he kept being reminded of his own status? Did Law save Bellamy partially because he also saw what he could have been had Corazon not saved him?

On principle, Bellamy should have hated Trafalgar Law. Does. Bastard even saved him without him wanting it. But there was something about the shadows haunting those eyes and Bellamy started to wonder.

He had heard the family talk about Law before. The child personally taught by Doflamingo, chosen to be his right hand. Never was he compared to the man because Law was just obviously better. Smarter. Stronger. Bellamy was ever just an uncouth thug.

He was allowed to 'borrow' Doflamingo's symbol while Law had an empty seat waiting for his return–a seat Bellamy had wanted enough to risk everything for.

Maybe he had resented, Trafalgar Law for carelessly rejecting the things he had that Bellamy had always desired. In the end too, Trafalgar Law did prove to be better. He'd done as a child what Bellamy had trouble doing even as he was now.

But having been given the chance to observe the other man as they all recovered, he wondered, perhaps for the first time, whether despite Law being better than Bellamy, Bellamy had had it better–barring the poor life choices.

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Law and Bible stuff

This is just me wanting to know how many biblical parallels and themes I can draw from Law, the Donquixote brothers, the characters associated with them, and his backstory. Honestly not sure whether this would become a fic and in what style or I'm gonna give up and just make it a post.

Not gonna elaborate on them much but here are the ideas in more bullet points (yay):

Law gets familiar with all four horsemen of the apocalypse: conquest, war, famine, and death. He even survives them.

Law is like the son in the parable of the prodigal son to the Donquixote pirates. Except the themes are inverted.

Doflamingo and Rocinante -> Cain and Abel

Ope Ope no Mi -> Granting eternal life by sacrificing one's own life

Gods descending or living among humans. Also, Homing and his family being prosecuted for other people's sins.

That scene where they were hanged by their arms outstretched looks like a crucifixion. Also, Rocinante was on the right while Doflamingo was on the left. Similar to how the penitent thief was on the right and the unrepentant one to the left.

Flevance being considered a paradise with walls/fences/gates and somewhere Law cannot return to.

In the panel where the Donquixote pirates are seated at the table, there were thirteen of them with Doffy at the center. Same as The Last Supper

There are a lot more of these (David and Goliath, Solomon, Jonah, Job, etc.) but I kinda lost the notes and some are more visual so I can't really explain it too well. This would is a drabble series to emphasize or highlight the parallels so no proper snippet for this one.

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Law is a substitute kindergarten teacher

Originally an idea to get around most of the Heart Pirates being nameless but evolved to include other characters as kids. Chopper is a kindergarten teacher and he convinces Law to take over his class for a week because somehow Law has the qualifications to and free time. Naturally, he wasn't able to say no.

Unfortunately, despite not being terrible at handling children, Chopper's class is filled with menaces. Also, despite not being terrible, Law can still be awkward so...

"Mr. Trofao–fargar—"

"Trafalgar."

The kid—which one was this one again? Shit, he should really get them name plates or something—scrunched up his face and tried harder, "Tar-pal—"

"Law. Just call me Law."

"Mr. Low"—eh, close enough—"can I go to the bathroom?" Wide imploring eyes stared up at him.

"Sure, go ahead." Law gestured towards the exit of the classroom with his head.

The kid just stared expectantly at him and he tried to suppress the need to narrow his eyes.

"Is there… anything else?"

"Mr. Chopper always comes with me to hold my hand."

Really?

"Mr. Chopper isn't here. You should practice doing it on your own now." He said after a deep inhale.

"But the monsters might get me…"

"No, they won't."

"You don't know that."

"I do." Before the kid could open his mouth again to argue, he added, "Besides, children taste terrible so you're safe."

The kid looked stricken and took a step back from him. Uh oh. Glistening eyes, wobbling lower lip… "Alright! I'll go with you." The kid did not look reassured. In fact he looked like going alone with Law was the last thing he wanted to do. Guess, he kinda implied that he ate children didn't he? Oops.

Well, the kid needs to go and he's not going to be cleaning up after him if he wets himself.

Law glanced at the rest of the children. It was Arts and Craft time and they seemed preoccupied enough. Still, Law doubted Chopper ever left these kids alone–already he could see some of them glancing up at him, waiting for him to leave no doubt to cause trouble. That Monkey kid in particular looked extremely suspicious.

He stood up from his crouch and clapped twice to get everyone's attention.

"Alright. Fall in line. Single file."

There was some grumbling and questioning directed at him. "What's going on?"

Law shrugged. "You're all going to the bathroom."

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Shichibukai Application Forms

Crackfic where the World Government and relevant parties review various Shichbukai Applications. Most submitted by the pirates applying themselves, some produced by their own staff. They discuss and debate. As well as judge pirate resumes.

She scanned the document. Terrible format, really. If you fail to impress within the first page, you've failed entirely. There just wasn't anyone promising enough in this batch of applications or any of the other ones before. The last one had been that clown. "Apprentice to the Pirate King," was a pretty hefty credential.

"Oh, how about this one? Three years experience pillaging, and they even listed all the towns they looted." One of the newly transferred administrative staff said.

"None of these are worth considering at all. You know, when Mihawk was asked to submit his application, he hadn't bothered with all of this. He just sent us a card with his name on it and the title "World's Strongest Swordsman," underneath."

The staff perked up. "Oh, there was an application like that." There was scramble and some shuffling before a plain white card was produced. "Here."

"'From Trafalgar Law'. What does this even mean?"

"Well, it did come with a big box..."

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Reverse Hanahaki Disease

(?? do u spit out flowers when your nemesis walks by?)

Haha. At first it was going to be that way (because it is hilarious) but the inflicted would probably choke to death too soon. Or if both enemies had it, they'd end up just coughing flowers at each other until they stopped being enemies.

The version I ended up going with was that this variant of Hanahaki, instead of afflicting those with unrequited love, affected those in denial instead. The reverse part comes from the original idea that this would usually happen if you somehow fell in love with your nemesis (someone you originally hated). So it's not the thought that the other person can't love you, it's that you can't accept that you love that other person. You get cured by confessing to the person sincerely.

This is actually another KidLaw (surprise!). And the flower coughed up directly represents the person they're in love with (I went with Oda's flower representation for them because I found it funny for plot)

So the idea is that, you get sick but you don't automatically know (maybe) who it is because that's part of being in denial. Kid and Law have many enemies after all. In this story they both get it though not exactly at the same time and not known to the other.

He survived Amber Lead Syndrome only to be killed off by a stupid flower disease that apparently knows more about his own feelings than he does.

He glared at the petals. Tulips. Red.

An image of a cocky grin and a shock of red hair flashed through his mind and—nope. That's not right.

He coughed harder, tears stinging his eyes with the effort. More flowers. Now he has enough for a bouquet.

Alright, he was a doctor. He could do this. Differential time.

First, which variant does he have. He doesn't particularly feel unloved or hopeless. There wasn't anyone he wanted in particular to love him. Ok, nothing. It was maybe safe to say he had that other variant.

Which was stupid because Law had many enemies and he hated all of them.

And cue the racking coughs. More red. He was very familiar with that particular shade.

New theory. This was a new variant that somehow makes you sick when you think of the person you hated the most.

Yes, that had to be it. He thought as he all but collapsed on the floor from the sudden paroxysm.

I knew this was gonna get long. :) Oh well...

Thank you for playing. :D

[dyde21]

Rick Thoughts

My feed for like a week now has been super heavy on Rick Riordan crit from multiple people. I’m adding my thoughts, but it’s going under the cut so people can ignore it if they want. TL;DR Relatively neutral on it, but I hate how half the crit is done towards him. Probably not popular opinions FWIW. Got a little worked up towards the end so fair warning.

Okay, so. A lot of crit towards him seems super valid. I’ve seen a lot of discussions on some poor choices he made when it comes to representing different groups of people. Which is fine. A lot of great points have been made that change how I will write/describe the characters moving forward. 

Yes, some of his responses have been a bit immature, do seem a bit harsh towards fans. But on that note, as with any content creator, it’s not like he’s just receiving simple, polite suggestions or critiques. There are TONS of fans out there, as with all major series, some will be toxic, rude, immature etc. Just go to any panel at a con, people have no filter when it comes to asking creators about stuff. Is it wrong when he lashes out? Yes. Period. But like with the Reyna comment, I literally can’t imagine how many comments he’s gotten from people, online, etc asking him about it, critiquing him for how he handled her relationships, the fanart, the fanfics etc. Tumblr makes up a tiny fraction of his audience so yeah, I have a little sympathy for anyone who has to deal with that many fans, especially when a lot of fans are younger and don’t know better/are emotional/impressionable. That’s a volatile age group too. I.E. The craze around any boyband or twilight back then. So yeah, that comment seemed a little passive aggressive, but heavy shippers have always been... intense for any fandom. Not excusing it, but I understand it.

I’m not really in any position to comment on how he handles minorities, I’m a while christian male, and my only leg to stand on is I’m bummed he hasn’t really shown many christian characters but given the context of his books I know it’s not too likely. So yeah, I’m not going to defend or critique how he writes minorities. I do know though, that, obviously, people see things differently. groups of people aren’t uniform thinkers. Just because there is one part of a community saying this thing is wrong/bad, doesn’t mean everyone in that community agrees with that. So when people shit on Rick for writing something some way, you can’t ignore the fact that a lot of time there are plenty of people in said community that agree with/love the idea. He’s literally in a damned if I do/damned if I don’t situation a lot of time. For a personal example as I grew up Mormon. The book of mormon play. A Lot of Latter Day Saints really hate that play because they feel it mocks their faith. A lot of people also love it and find it in good fun and hilarious within the church. Neither side is more “right” than the other, so depending on where you stand it’s either a horrible or funny thing. Same with people who dress as Jesus on tiktok to make funny videos. 

Don’t get me wrong, it is very possible there are some things that are just plain harmful that he could have written. That’s absolutely a possibility, and not my call to make. I’m just trying to say just because someone offered a critique doesn’t mean they were “Right” or he has to agree with them. Listening to one critique can mean ignoring another, and still ends with him being called out for ignoring his fans.

In the end, the real thing that pisses me off I guess is people who are putting thoughts and meanings him his mind for him. Saying he doesn’t care about the fans, the books, the characters etc really gets under my skin. We have the right all day to critique the content in his books, disagree with his choices, think that they could have written better/differently. (I hate some of Annabeth’s actions towards Percy, like the flip, myself so I get it.) But we have NO RIGHT to say how he thinks or acts. I don’t care how worked up we get over the series, or the frustration we feel when we feel like we’ve been misrepresented. We’ve all had situations where people make assumptions about us and it hurt. When you said something that was misunderstood and people looked down on you, or when something you did was taken out of context and you were wrong condemned for it. So yeah, rick doesn’t seem to respond to criticism the best, and some of his choices may have been poor when writing the character, but stop assuming what he is thinking/meaning with his writing. Stop assuming how much/little he cares. Stop assuming you know HOW he made the choices he made, what research he did or didn’t do. He’s a human being who deserves the same respect as everyone else. I can’t even imagine how much it’d hurt if I made a series, over years of work, writing, and research to hear fans just say “oh he doesn’t care about the series” or he has a “ghost writer” just beause they disagreed with my choices. Imagine if people said that about the favorite thing you’ve made, it’s incredibly rude to me.

Also, since I’m already worked up I’ll just throw this out there. Just as good things he wrote/included don’t erase the mistakes, mistakes don’t erase the positive choices he made too. The actual good implementation or characters or traits that we take for granted. The fact that for a lot of people, myself included, our perception of kids with ADHD or dyslexia was changed when we were young, or the utter destruction fo the dumb blonde troppe by Annabeth, etc. It’s easy to get frustrated when we feel slighted but shit, stop saying entire books or series are complete trash when there are plenty of positive aspects in them too that deserve praise as well. If it was easy or even possible to write a perfect book, don’t you think it would have been done by now? Then again the Prodigal Son is my favorite parable so maybe that’s why I think that way.

[buzzdixonwriter]

Must Read Short Stories

I got to thinking about those short stories I regard as the best ever written and quickly came to realize it’s a futile exercise.

The “best ever” part, that is.

For one thing, I haven’t read even a tiny fraction of 1% of all the short stories ever written.

For another, how to define “best”?  

I’ve read beautifully crafted stories that didn’t connect, rousing adventures that for all their fun were routine by-the-numbers exercises.

And how does one compare apples and oranges, or apples and artichokes, or apples and anvils?

So I recalibrated my aim and came up with a list I heartily recommend everyone read since to me these are examples of the short story form at its finest.

But again, caveats: The astute reader will notice this skews heavily towards genre fiction written by white guys.  I will freely confess my reading list isn’t as wide or as deep as it should be, and that in my younger days I sought out genre fiction to the exclusion of mainstream writing.

That being said, here are seven I can confidently recommend to everyone as master examples of the form.

Aspiring writers would do well to read them and see how seamlessly their authors worked in observations on the human condition while simultaneously telling an entertaining story.

“Haircut” by Ring Lardner is probably my single favorite short story, as perfect an example of the unreliable narrator as one could hope to find.

“The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. LeGuin is more of a speculative essay / travelogue than a conventional short story, but it’s provocative in ways more sensational stories can never hope to emulate.

“Repent, Harlequin!’ Said The Ticktock Man” by Harlan Ellison demonstrates how skillful use of the writer’s voice -- and if you knew Harlan, it’s impossible not to hear him reading this in your head -- can add an unexpected level of subtlety to a tale (yeah, I used “Harlan Ellison” and “subtlety” in the same sentence about one of the most raucous stories ever written to boot, so sue me).

“The Open Window” by Saki uses misdirection to set us up for one thing then yank the rug out at the end, adding a sweet little backflip flourish as a capper.

“The Cop And The Anthem” by O. Henry isn’t as well known as “The Gift Of The Magi” or “The Ransom Of Red Chief” but I think it’s superior to both of them.  Again, it leads us in one direction only to finish with a patented “O. Henry Twist™” at the end that is hilarious / poignant / ironic all at the same time.

“The Red-Headed League” by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle almost didn’t make the cut, but of all the Holmes stories, this one distills the classic mystery formula down to its quintessential basics to deliver a wry observation on humanity while at the same time serving up a puzzling mystery -- and a funny one, at that!

“The Parable Of The Prodigal Son” by Jesus of Nazareth.  Let’s bypass the spiritual and theological aspects of this story and focus on the humanity instead.  In a few scant words, Jesus paints as vivid and as despairing a portrait of a dysfunctional relationship as imaginable; he also shows a way out of the despair but unlike modern retellings of the story, he doesn’t leave it with a pat “happily ever after” ending but carries on to show how there is no easy answer to spiritual and emotional wounding.

© Buzz Dixon

[dailyaudiobible]

01/19/2019 DAB Transcript

Genesis 39:1-41:16, Matthew 12:46-13:23, Psalms 17:1-15, Proverbs 3:33-35

Today is the 19th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a pleasure to be here with you. This like completes our second full week of the year. So, we got two weeks under our belts and what, four or five extra days, which brings us to the 19th day of January. So, how you doing? How have the last 19 days been? Are we settling into our rhythm for the year? And hopefully we are, and hopefully we’re beginning to understand that…hmmmm…the Bible isn't quite is benign and dusty is it may have appeared. In fact, maybe it really is sharper than any two-edged sword that could reach to the level where soul and spirit divide as the as the Scriptures will tell us for themselves a little later on. Anyway, we’re moving our way through the book of Genesis and the book of Matthew and Psalms and Proverbs with a step each and every day and today's step will take us back into the book of Genesis. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week and we'll read Genesis chapter 39 verse 1 through 41 verse 16 today. And, by way of reminder, we are just getting into the story of a man named Joseph who, as a young teenager, was despised by his older brothers and they have sold him and trafficked him into slavery in Egypt and we will pick up the story from there.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, we thank You for another week in Your word and we thank You for this new year and this new rhythm that's being established. On the one hand, we could say, yeah, we’re in the new year and we’re just kind of going forward, but on the other hand we’re still just…we’re still just getting going in this new year in our lives in our goals in our dreams and hopes and in the Scriptures and You have spoken plenty and we are deeply grateful because the moving and shaking and prodding and pushing and Your kindness and Your love and Your generosity and Your grace and mercy over our lives, like we’re beginning to see this and it is so good. So, come Holy Spirit, plant Your word in our lives. In our Spirits may we be fertile soil, exactly what Jesus was talking about in the parable that we just read. Plant the word in our lives and may it yield the fruit of the spirit one hundred-fold changing us from within utterly. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com as well. If what's happening here is bringing you good news and life and light, then thank you for being an agent to bring light and life and good news that keeps the global campfire burning. So, there's a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you're using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello, my name is Ryan and I think my mom is listening, hi. I live in Korea and I’ve lived here for 4 ½ years and I’ve been a part of a church community here but recently left my church because it just wasn’t being a family to me. So, I’m just…oh…trying to press into God and just see what it is exactly He wants for me for this new year. And my mom’s always been listening to Daily Audio Bible so, this year I’m giving it a chance and I’ve been really blessed by it. I’m enjoying it this morning. So, I’m just wondering if you could please pray for me about what church looks like this year while I am on the other side of the world as well as just entering into a new school year at work. A lot of the teachers are leaving for various reasons. So, just praying for new teachers to come in for all the children to be supported and to just pray for guidance and wisdom. Thank you so much. It’s always really encouraging to hear all of your prayers in the morning. I pray for you guys and hope you all have a great day. Thank you. Bye.

Hello, this is Michael Jean Elmore from way out west. I was just calling in because I heard Prodigal’s voice on the prayer line today and I was never so glad to hear somebody’s __ voice than I was today. You just keep hanging in there. I was worried about you a little bit there, but you made it. So, you just keep hanging in there. We love you and where praying for you and just keep listening to us praying for you and keep on keeping on. Adios.

Hi, everyone it’s Kristy from Kentucky. First of all I want to give a shout out to Lisa the Encourager and say, I love you girl. Thank you so much for your sweet messages that you sent to me and also just hearing your voice just picks me up every time. So, I just want to say I love you. Bethel in Delaware, I wanted to let you know that I am praying for your son Stephen and I’m just so sorry to hear that Echo, his little puppy, was killed in a car accident and we’re just praying for this young man. Also, your daughter, I’m just praying that the Lord will replace that fear and anxiety about going to college with joy and anticipation. Friends, if you would please pray for my friend Jackie, her brother Mark, and her sister Angela. They all lost their sweet dad last week and it was a tragic accident. He was 84, he actually died a day after his birthday and he was like an uncle to me. We grew up next door to one another, but they moved away when she was six and I moved to Florida and we lost touch and I haven’t seen her for a while but when I came back from Florida I went to see her dad, he was in optician, He is the oldest optician in the state of Kentucky. Just a healthy man, you would never know his age if he saw him, ever. He was a golfer and just fit and trim and I mean just…you would never believe it. He had a great personality and loved the Lord. He simply fell walking into his house carrying groceries and he hit his head and died and our hearts are broken. So, please keep the family in your prayers. Jackie, I just found out has cancer. I’m asking the Lord just to touch her and heal her heart and her body. We had not seen one another in so long and when we reunited we just hugged each other. And I know that the Lord orders are steps and I praying that we can stay close and that I can minister to her and that I can watch God do a miracle in her life __ her healing and I know that He is able. Amen. I love you guys so much.

Good evening there DABbers, this is Jay from China. This is actually my second time calling. I called in for like the first time a couple years ago. This is my fifth year with the Daily Audio Bible program and now I’m starting with the Daily Audio Bible Chronological with China too. I just want to say it’s such a blessing to me really. I’m sorry I didn’t call that much. I will try to call more in the future. I just want to thank everyone behind the scenes that works so hard for this program and also the DABbers every day who is calling in with prayers every day and I love you guys. I love to hear your voice. And Brian your family, China, I’m so proud of you, really. I thank you for all the dedication and the work you’ve done for every one of us for this community and you’re such a role model, not only the way you interpret the Bible through the ministry, just the way you’re listening to God, you know, being obedient and the dedication your family has done to this program, to this platform, to every one of us. I just feel so gracious and so thankful and I want to thank you and I love you guys and again I just…I couldn’t express how happy I am really. I will continue with this program and you guys have been such an impression and such an inspiration to me really for my daily walk with God. I just love every day now when I wake up and first thing in the morning listening to your voice. It’s such a blessing. Keep up the good work really. I love you all. And thank you very much for whatever you’re doing. I love this program, I really do. God bless you. Bye-bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible community. I’m calling because I need…I need some prayer. I’m afraid I may…I’m just worried that I might be going blind in one eye. A couple years ago I was lying in bed and all the sudden my left eye, it was…it was like a storm cloud kind of came over my left eye and I couldn’t see for maybe five minutes and then I didn’t think too much…I mean I was worried about it, but I tried to ignore it. I think that was…you know…and then it was probably six or seven months and happened again. I kept trying to convince myself that there wasn’t anything and it would happen every…every, you know, it was happening like maybe twice a year. But recently, last year, it started happening more frequently. So, as opposed every six months it was happening every couple of months. And yesterday it happened, and it just happened about two weeks ago. So, it’s clearly happening with more frequency and I finally broke down and told my wife that I’m really afraid that I need to go to the doctor and that I’m really afraid. So, if you could please keep me in your prayers because I’m scared. Thank you.