#do not despair

[dramoor]

“The mercy of God has no limits, nothing is too great for it. That is the reason why anyone who despairs of it is the author of his own death.”

~St John Climacus

[chaiaurchaandni]

[tabernacleheart]

Whosoever, He said, commits sin, whether Jew or Greek, rich or poor, king or beggar, is the servant of sin. O miserable bondage! ...when wearied with the hardness of his tasks... whither does the slave of sin flee? He takes it along with him, wherever he goes; for his sin is within him. The pleasure passes away, but the sin does not pass away: its delight goes, its sting remains behind. He alone can free from sin, Who came without sin, and was made a sacrifice for sin. [With these truths,] Christ purposely alarms us first, and then gives us hope. He alarms us, that we may not love sin; He gives us hope, that we may not despair of the absolution of our sin. Our hope then is this, that we shall be freed by Him who is free. He has paid the price for us, not in money, but in His own blood: If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Not from the barbarians, but from the devil; not from the captivity of the body, but from the wickedness of the soul. [Now] the first stage of freedom is, the abstaining from sin. But that is only incipient, it is not perfect freedom: for the flesh still lusts against the spirit, so that you do not do the things that you would. Full and perfect freedom will only be, when the contest is over, and the last enemy, death, is destroyed. Do not then abuse your freedom, for the purpose of sinning freely; but use it in order not to sin at all. Your will will be free, if it be merciful: you will be free, if you become the servant of righteousness.

Saint Augustine of Hippo

[lalasknives]

"There is no bomika😭😭😭" "mika is being mean to bose" "we lost-" NO

DONT YOU GUYS GET IT?!?!? THEY FAKE KISSED!OFC THEY ARE GOING TO BE AKWARD TO EACHOTHER AND AVOID EACHOTHER AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.

ITS ALL OUT OF EMBARRASSMENT!

ACCEPT ITS A SLOW BURN!

[spiritofkoprijan]

[weather-n-calamity]

“Would you like a free picture of Jesus”

Idk, do you think Jesus would like it if I, and every other Christian, had his picture hanging on the wall?

My gut says he wouldn’t be a fan. And the “Christians” who question your faith because you don’t are very irritating.

“Oh you don’t go to church”

No, I don’t, because the Lesbian pastor who looks like the preacher from the Simpsons is very likely lost. Or the male pastor who pushed everyone to get vaccinated is a tool and liar. All that and Acts 17:24.

And I’m no theologian, but Catholics should read Matthew. There’s scripture in chapter 6 or 7 that is very specific on how one should pray. Just saying. And it seems on that alone, most churches contradict the Bible. Even if it’s just that one thing.

Idk, I’m annoyed because as I was walking into my house with my hands full, 2 Mormon girls stopped me and started grilling me and I got real short with them real quick. I shouldn’t have done that but, I am far from the good Christian I want to be. I will try to make amends when I see them again.

[blueboyluca]

“When I first heard it, from a dog trainer who knew her behavioral science, it was a stunning moment. I remember where I was standing, what block of Brooklyn’s streets. It was like holding a piece of polished obsidian in the hand, feeling its weight and irreducibility. And its fathomless blackness. Punishment is reinforcing to the punisher. Of course. It fit the science, and it also fit the hidden memories stored in a deeply buried, rusty lockbox inside me. The people who walked down the street arbitrarily compressing their dogs’ tracheas, to which the poor beasts could only submit in uncomprehending misery; the parents who slapped their crying toddlers for the crime of being tired or hungry: These were not aberrantly malevolent villains. They were not doing what they did because they thought it was right, or even because it worked very well. They were simply caught in the same feedback loop in which all behavior is made. Their spasms of delivering small torments relieved their frustration and gave the impression of momentum toward a solution. Most potently, it immediately stopped the behavior. No matter that the effect probably won’t last: the reinforcer—the silence or the cessation of the annoyance—was exquisitely timed. Now. Boy does that feel good.”

— Melissa Holbrook Pierson, The Secret History of Kindness (2015)

[guardian-of-soho]

The more I think about the last minutes the more I’m sure Crowley was saying goodbye from the minute Aziraphale told him he’d said yes to Heaven. He doesn’t confess his love like he’s hopeful, he confesses it like a eulogy. He doesn’t kiss him to make a beginning, he kisses him to seal the end. He watches him go like it’s the last time.

Crowley knows Heaven. He knows they’ll want to either make Aziraphale just like them, or destroy him. Either way I think he believes he’s seen his angel for the last time.

[wearenotjustnumbers2]

Journalists in gaza are posting their last message.

What are we waiting for, what have we allowed to happen?

Ismail and motaz are the same journalists in this video by the way. They're people who always find light in the dark. Praying for them and all Palestinians.

[dramoor]

“Do not be shaken by the events of this present life. The struggle will continue with a variety of bad events in humanity in general. Our sins are great. What we sow we shall reap. Fight with faith and courage in the Lord Jesus. Do not despair. The struggle will be hard and dangerous. God's protection will save His true children.”

~Elder Ephraim of Arizona

(Image via orthodoxiaonair.com)

[chaiaurchaandni]

Palestinian reporter in Gaza throws away his press jacket, because it provides no protection, as he reports on the murder of his colleague. israel has killed 34 journalists in less than a month

[tabernacleheart]

It is very important that we should understand just how Jesus did treat [the sinner]. It is easy to draw the wrong lesson altogether and to gain the impression that Jesus forgave lightly and easily, as if the sin did not matter. [In truth, however, He did not effectively] abandon judgment and say, "Don't worry; it's quite all right." [He never pretended that sin had no consequence, or that it did no harm. Rather, in both mercy and justice,] what He did was, as it were, to defer sentence. He said, "I am not going to pass a final judgment now [for I do not wish to lose you to sin; therefore,] go and prove that you can do better. [Yes,] you have sinned; [but] go and sin no more, and I'll help you all the time. At the end of [your efforts] we will, [together,] see how you have lived." [Always,] Jesus' attitude to the sinner involved [a] second chance. It is as if Jesus said to [each hurting soul]: "I know you have made a mess of things; but life is not finished yet; I am giving you another chance, the chance to redeem yourself, [for that is what I truly wish for you]." ...In Jesus there is the gospel of the second chance. He was always intensely interested, not only in what a person had been, but also in what a person could be. He did not say that what they had done did not matter– broken laws and broken hearts always matter– but He was sure that every man has a future as well as a past, [and He strove to lovingly yet firmly draw every sin-wounded soul into that healing hope with Him.] He did not say: "It's all right; don't worry; just go on as you are doing." He said: "It's all wrong, [but it can change]; go out and fight; change your life from top to bottom; go, and sin no more." Here was no easy forgiveness; here was a challenge which pointed a sinner to heights of goodness of which [they] had never dreamed, [while graciously giving, in Himself, the vital strength & encouragement to reach those lofty realities]. Jesus confronts the bad life with the challenge of the good, [and so flings wide the doors of hope. By all this we see that] the amazing, heart-uplifting thing about Him was His belief in men and women. When He was confronted with someone who had gone wrong, He did not say: "You are a wretched and a hopeless creature." He said: "Go, and sin no more." He believed that with His help the sinner has it in him to become the saint. His method was not to blast men with the knowledge-- which they already possessed-- that they were miserable sinners, but to inspire them with the unglimpsed discovery that they were potential saints.

William Barclay

[mirrorhouse]

Let me think... why are you really here?

[ariespetal]

non-despair AU where they just get to go to school like normal

[spooksier]

everybody's favorite civil servants

☆ prints | patreon | comics ☆

[sualne]

one piece x hnk