#foreordinate

[pahorans-letter]

"it was appointed unto man to die" is so metal tbh

[mindfulldsliving]

Divine Rest: Insights from Alma 13 and Matthew 11:28-30

Spiritual rest goes beyond mere physical relaxation; it's a profound sense of peace and rejuvenation that comes from connecting with God. We all need to experience this rest, especially when life feels overwhelming.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash Finding Spiritual Rest: An Expository Study of Alma 13 and Matthew 11:28-30 Have you ever felt overwhelmed by life’s burdens and longed for genuine peace? We all seek spiritual rest in the Lord, especially in today’s hectic world. Alma 13 and Matthew 11:28-30 offer profound insights into finding this divine rest by taking the Lord’s yoke upon us. In…

[churchblog]

I wonder if part of foreordination is less God mapping out your life with you beforehand, but you developing a relationship with God so that He knows you all the better, and knows what trials you can handle, and what blessings you'll need. By the time you reach mortality, God knows perfectly how to help you and care for you while you're away.

[imagek]

Clock - Foreordination Mitella Vulnerate, Adult Giorgio Earnest, Extruded blocky, breezy, dotted, gradient, blur and shaky multicolor shapes on plain ground

Abstract designs challenge traditional notions of representation, inviting viewers to appreciate art in a more imaginative and non-literal manner. Abstract designs are artistic compositions that prioritize the use of shapes, lines, colors, and forms divorced from their representational or real-world references. Abstract art is a diverse and innovative artistic movement that prioritizes non-representational and non-figurative forms. Art allows you to explore and express their creativity beyond the constraints of depicting recognizable objects or scenes.

Foreordination Mitella Vulnerate, Clock.

Order available in @Redbubble

[yhwhrulz]

Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer Devotional for April 24

Tozer in the Morning WE ARE NOT ORPHANS

I once wrote in an editorial that Christian believers are not orphans in this world, making the point that the divine Shepherd goes before us and that we travel an appointed way. A reader wrote to question my allusion to our traveling an "appointed" way, asking: "I was brought up a Methodist. In your comments, do you mean this to be foreordination? That is what the Presbyterians believe. Just what did you mean?" I replied that I had not meant to go down that deep into doctrine-that I had not been thinking of foreordination, predestination or the eternal decrees. "I was just satisfied that if a consecrated Christian will put himself in the hands of God, even the accidents may be turned into blessings," I told him. Anyway, I am sure the Methodist brother can go to sleep at night knowing that he does not have to become a Presbyterian to be certain that God is looking after him!

Tozer in the Evening Loving Worship

The love of Christ both wounds and heals, it fascinates and frightens, it kills and makes alive, it draws and repulses, it sobers and enraptures. There can be nothing more terrible or more wonderful than to be stricken with love for Christ so deeply that the whole being goes out in a pained adoration of His person, an adoration that disturbs and disconcerts while it purges and satisfies and relaxes the deep inner heart. This love as a kind of moral fragrance is ever detected upon the garments of the saints. In the writings of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, for instance, this fragrance is so strong as to be very nearly intoxicating. There are passages in his Confessions so passionately sweet as to be unbearable, yet so respectful and self-effacing as to excite pity for the man who thus kneels in adoring wonder, caught between holy love and an equally holy fear. The list of fragrant saints is long. It includes men and women of every shade of theological thought within the bou nds of the orthodox Christian faith. It embraces persons of every social level, every degree of education, every race and color. This radiant love for Christ is to my mind the true test of catholicity, the one sure proof of membership in the Church universal.

Copyright Statement This material is considered in the public domain.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

by Dr. Greg Bahnsen | As he was originally created by God, man was able to do good or evil; he had a free will (morally, as well as metaphysically, speaking). However, since mankind's fall into sin at the rebellion of our first parents, men are now enslaved to sin and have lost this (moral) free will. We read in Ecclesiastes 7:29, "God made man upright, but they...

[reformedontheweb]

The same debate

I have been in the same debate with 5 different so-called Christians over the last month. They all claimed that God has not ordained whatsoever comes to pass. This position is not Biblical. Heck, it isn't even the definition of God. It is pure Atheism!

Here it is again:

Section 1.) God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass:(1) yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin,(2) nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.(3)

(1)Eph1:11;Ro11:33;Heb6:17;Ro9:15,18

(2)Jas1:13,17;1Jn1:5

(3)Ac2:23;Mt17:12;Ac4:27,28;Jn19:11;Pr16:33

Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 3- Of God's Eternal Decree

------------------------------------

1. God hath (a) Decreed in himself from all Eternity, by the most wise and holy Councel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things whatsoever comes to passe; yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin, (b) nor hath fellowship with any therein, nor is violence offered to the will of the Creature, nor yet is the liberty, or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather (c) established, in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power, and faithfulness (d) in accomplishing his Decree.

a Is. 46.10. Eph. 1.11. Heb. 6.17. Rom.9.15,18.

b Jam. 1.15,17. 1 Joh. 1.5.

c Act 4.27,28. Joh. 19.11.

d Numb. 23.19. Eph. 1.3,4,5.

The 1677/89 London Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 3- Of God's Decree

-------‐--------------------------

Isa 46:10 KJV Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

[lamamasjamas]

Mis Cositas (MJ's Masterlist of Masterlists)

Star Wars

Din Djarin:

Series Love at First Sight Masterlist A Night in Coruscant Masterlist (Discontinued) Twenty Year Vacation Masterlist* (In Hiatus?) One-shots A King’s Foreordination* Corrupted Thoughts(pt 2)

His Gifts Lost Connection A Mutual Agreement* Love Bites* A Place of Worship*

Obi Wan Kenobi: Starlight* Marvel Moon knight 🌚: One-shots Of Dates and Forgetting* Loki Laufeyson: One-shots Are you alright? DC Bruce Wayne: Series In The Notion of Fear Masterlist * (discontinued)

[ghirahimbo]

beginnings

a non-specific take on how the Link and Ghirahim master/sword AU might come about. I probably won't post this one to ao3 yet in case I decide to use it in a story someday, but I liked it enough to put it here, at least :)

--

In the Sealed Grounds where the demon hordes had trampled the earth so recently in their violent rampage, the transition to silence was complete. The whistling chirp of birds, the buzz of insects… even the wind through the trees had gone deathly still, all caught up in breathless waiting. Only the pool of inky darkness at the center of Demise's broken prison seemed to breathe, pulsing slowly in and out with uneasy life. Small though it was compared to the spiraling pit containing it, the darkness pulled at the cloud-covered twilight as if its strength alone might dim it. Consume it.

At last, the dark pool recoiled in agitation, and from its churning depths emerged a boy in a green knight’s tunic that had certainly known more pristine days. Bloodied and bruised, yet swaying triumphantly as if standing itself was a triumph, Link stumbled out of the pit’s embrace, adjusting his wet hat to fit more firmly over the mess of hair still dripping from his watery battlefield. The sky above seemed to captivate him, and he craned his head back to stare at the darkened clouds, half in wonder, half in disbelief. Then the hilt of his sword flashed, and a shimmering blue woman emerged to float in front of him.

“Master,” she said, catching his attention. “With the defeat of the demon king Demise, there is a 95% chance that your friend Zelda has already regained consciousness.” Her voice softened almost imperceptibly. “I believe I can say with 100% certainty that she would like to know you are well.”

Link stared at her for another moment, scrubbing a hand over his mouth.

“Of course,” he murmured, and for the first time, he grinned. “Let’s go.”

Strengthened by his anticipation, Link broke into a limping run, eager to put the forsaken pit behind him—but before he could take more than a few steps, a new voice froze him in his tracks.

“Wait.”

Heart sinking like a rock, Link whirled around, one hand hovering warily over the hilt of his sword as a new figure emerged from the retreating darkness. Ghirahim’s skin glimmered like polished obsidian in the fading light, smooth and unmarred except for where fiery cracks split his chest, and a glowing diamond at its center pulsed an erratic, angry red. Cradled against his shattered core was an enormous black sword, its sharp edge not even scratching the skin where it rested against Ghirahim’s hardened arms.

Milky white eyes met tired blue in a silent clash, as if neither had the strength necessary to put words to their feud. Then, without warning, Ghirahim hefted his sword, driving it point first into the softened earth and falling to one knee before it.

“Take it.”

Link blinked, and took a wary step back.

“…What?”

“Take it.” Despite his clear exhaustion, Ghirahim’s voice had that same teasing bite to it as always, coupled now with impatience as he gestured towards the sword. “You defeated my old master Demise, which means his sword is yours to claim. Take it.”

Link stared at him, dumbfounded, and a slow smile curved across Ghirahim’s thin dark lips.

“Let me put it this way,” he said pleasantly. “This sword belongs to you whether you wish it so or not, but things will go much more… smoothly… if you take it now.”

Link shook his head as if to dismiss the notion, fixing Ghirahim with a glare.

“I already have a sword,” he said coldly, starting to turn aside, but this time a light chime from Fi made him stop.

“Master Link,” she said, her cool voice strangely gentle. “I’m afraid that I was not created to remain by your side forever. The demon king’s remaining essence is now sealed within my sword, to be carefully guarded until it is eradicated. The time of our parting will be soon.” She hesitated, and added, “Very soon.”

The first drops of rain began to fall, scattered and sparse. Link stared at Fi incredulously.

“You’re not saying I should trust him,” he said, not really a question, and Fi shook her head.

“Such judgments are not mine to make. I can only report that I sense no immediate intent to do harm from Lord Ghirahim, though whether he hopes to deceive you is less clear. Any further statements would be mere conjecture on my part.”

“Would you mind conjecting then?” Link asked, pursing his lips. After a moment, Fi nodded.

“Master Link…” Her words came with slow reluctance now. “Despite the foreordination of our partnership, I was still given the privilege of choosing you as my master. If what Ghirahim says is true and his sword has passed ownership from the demon king to you, I must surmise that he was not granted that same privilege of choosing Demise.”

“If what he says is true,” Link repeated, sparing another glare for the still-kneeling demon lord. Ghirahim had so far watched their exchange in enigmatic silence, not quite smiling, though he half raised an eyebrow at Link’s scowl. The steadily increasing rain slithered unnoticed in rivulets down his face, striking against his arms with short, metallic plinks.

“I stated that I could not discern whether he hopes to deceive you in some way, and this is true. However…” She paused in consideration. “I do sense a newfound connection between you and that sword, as well as between you and Lord Ghirahim himself. My opinion is that he is telling the truth, in this regard, at least.”

Link stared at her in dismay, and Ghirahim laughed softly.

“Your robotic guide is right, I’m afraid," he murmured. "I’ll have you know that you were not my first choice either, but I think we both know better than most how little control we have over the whims of destiny. Never in this sword’s history has it passed to a human, but it appears our thread of fate has some twists that even I could not predict.”

“There is no thread—“ Link started to say hotly, but let it go with a sigh. Even he could see how pointless finishing that sentence would be. “I suppose you come with the sword, then?”

“I am the sword,” Ghirahim said, his pale eyes glittering. Link paused only a second before nodding. After bearing Fi for so long, he understood how that worked, at least.

“If���” Link took a deep breath, glancing again at Fi. “If I take you with me… what’s to stop you from trying to kill me still?”

“I am physically incapable now of even harming you,” he said, and Link’s eyebrows shot up. A possibility much easier to disprove than prove, but…

“What about Zelda?” he demanded, and Ghirahim’s grin widened.

“On your orders, I would go so far as to guard her from harm, and catch her each time she stumbles,” he said smoothly. Link’s face darkened.

“What about—“

“Master, must we really go through every order that I will or will not obey?” Ghirahim cut him off irritably. “I will obey them all, insofar as I am able. Was it not the same with…?”

He gestured vaguely towards Fi, who looked at him.

“Fi is the designation I was given,” she said, prompting a tight grin.

“Wonderful! I didn’t need or desire to know that.”

“Wait,” Link interjected, his mind spinning slightly. “...You called me master.”

“Is he this slow all the time?” Ghirahim asked Fi incredulously. “How do you put up with it?”

Link let the insult slide, still reeling as he tried to gather his thoughts. Would Ghirahim really debase himself so far just for a chance at revenge? There were other, easier ways to go about it if that was his aim, ways involving less personal humiliation. Fi thought he was telling the truth—about some things, at least—which maybe meant…

“What am I supposed to do with that sword, anyway?” Link said abruptly. “It’s too big for me to even…”

The protest died in Link’s throat as for the first time he really looked at the sword, and licked his lips. Without his noticing, the sword had shrunk in size, though it managed to appear no less menacing despite that. If Link were to hold up his Master Sword in comparison, he doubted that there would be a hair’s difference in length.

“I told you,” Ghirahim said, and Link had to fight down a shiver that he told himself was from the rain. “My sword belongs to you now, Link. Take it.”

Once more he looked at Fi, silently questioning, but if she had an opinion on the matter her blank face gave no voice to it.

“Zelda is waiting for you,” was all she said… and somehow, that was enough.

“Fine,” Link sighed reluctantly. He didn't want to find out at that moment how Ghirahim might try to force him if he refused, and Fi was right. It was time to go. “I accept your sword.”

Trudging forward, Link grabbed it by the hilt, thinking that if worse came to worst, he could still throw it off a cliff somewhere—and felt a terribly familiar warmth surge through his palms as he pulled it free, traveling up his arms to settle somewhere in his chest. A tightness fell from Ghirahim’s face that Link hadn’t noticed until that moment, and he bowed his head forward, pressing a hand delicately against his mangled chest.

“The bonding process is now complete, master,” he said, and despite the formality of his words he had a mocking twist to his lips. “Link… my master.”

Thunder boomed overhead as lightning forked viciously across the sky, the rain falling down in sheets. Link, staring at his own black sword, noticed none of it.

[spurgie-cousin]

So if god has already predetermined if we go to heaven or hell, what we do on earth doesnt matter so can we just do whatever we want? genuine question, this is so far away from what I grew up hearing about in church, we were a 'our actions determine our fates' group

Samesies, I was not raised with that particular ideology and it’s hard for me to wrap my head around. My most basic understanding of why people argue for predestination is that God is all-knowing and omnipresent in time, so it’s impossible for a human to make a decision or choice God is not already aware of. In that vein, he inherently knows whether the sum of our life choices will lead us to heaven or hell before we make them.  

There’s a ton of different versions of predestination and a bunch of interweaving with the idea of free will depending on the type of Christianity (I understand the Catholic version most because I read some Thomas Aquinas every now and then):

So here are a few versions I’m aware of (not sure where Jeremy falls):

1. God has chosen the people who will go to heaven and be damned. In some versions of this it’s everyone, in most others, there’s a reference to ‘some’ people being chosen, usually for damnation, which frankly, I don’t understand. This is more Calvinist than anything else and is referred to as “double predestination”. There is lots of ethical debate over it obviously. Edit: it’s also worth noting that humans can’t know who is predestined to where during their lifetimes which is why you still have to do good.

2. God has predestined some will attain heaven (saints, really good people, etc) but does not predestine who is going to hell, which is kind of where the interweaving of free will comes into play. This one is mostly Catholic theology easier to wrap my head around since the bible talks about both free will and predestination.

3. And Mormons have a similar belief called foreordination which is like predestination in the sense that god chooses those who he believes will attain heaven before they are born, but during their life, they have the ability to decide whether they want to follow god’s calling for them or turn away from it (be damned).  

Like I mentioned it all gets very confusing for me because my church was closer to the fundamentalist Christian theology and taught the opposite, so the Calvinist explanation especially is hard for me to understand. If you have any additional information/experience with that concept especially, feel free to tack it on. 

[panlight]

re: the free will stuff around jacob, i think part of why SM doesn't find it horrifying how his story ends is because, as a mormon, she probably believes in foreordination. it's an idea that people are destined to fulfill certain roles given to them before their souls were born into the human world. jacob's foreordained role/duty was to protect renesmee, so him imprinting should be seen as a good thing? i don't agree at ALL, but i think that's where she might be coming from. 1/2

but part of it is also probably just the fantasy of having a strong, utterly devoted partner whose attention will never stray from you and who will protect you from all the bad things in the world. i don't like this idea in practice, but i can understand it as a fantasy. SM is just a little more, ah, blatant about expressing her desires than most published writers. again, i find it creepy as all get-out, but it stings less to look at it as SM's very personal romantic fantasy.

Yeah I think a big part of imprinting is this idea that there’s One Person out there for you and it’s destined and it’s Right and Meant to Be and the fantasy of a lover who will always put you first and never leave you and like, I get that. . . but at the same time it just leaves me cold because I feel like love without free will is meaningless. A robot programmed to serve you isn’t the same thing as someone who of their own free will CHOOSES to be kind and loving and supportive to you. It sucks the meaning out of it for me. It’s artificial, like a love potion or cupid’s arrow. I get it--relationships are hard and love is messy, and wouldn’t it be great if you just saw someone and just KNEW and it was always perfect and happy? But I can’t personally get past the free will stuff. 

I think from SM’s perspective and SM’s mythology it’s a “happy ending” because Jacob has found the one destined for him but like for about a million reasons I can’t see it that way (she’s a baby?!?!?! She’s half-vampire?!?! He didn’t want to imprint?!?! And that whole description of everything he was being snipped away like strings of balloons is just so incredibly horrifying to me). I can see what she was going for: that this is a predestined union of souls, it’s foreordained, God/universe approved but . . . ehhhhhh I just can’t do it, personally. There was a really interesting article years ago about “premortal romance” in Mormon fiction.  Basically the idea is that souls fall in love or choose each other as partners before they are born, and then once on earth they eventually find each other and all other relationships just can’t compare to this one. And I think this is the vibe SM was going for with imprinting; I can DEFINITELY see parallels here! They chose each other in pre-life/heaven/the spirit realm? But she’s still the half-vampire baby of his first love so it’s still a “no thanks” from me. 

[yourbespokeartisanalapocalypse]

Paintings by Ron Hicks

As If

The Covering

Thirsty

Rebel

Sadies Foreordination

[rolloroberson]

“Retreated”

I have retreated into the walls of fear

Where dark clouds of future form the firmament blocking off the heavens of freedom,

Here time is glutted with legions of thoughts tirelessly seeking their next victim.

Cacophonous constructs laying waste to what was left of the natural wonder of reality,

By ceaselessly whispering what if’s, and what could have beens-

Seduced by the siren calls of my own demise,

I am brought to bear by the suffering of

self consciousness,

The perfidious pain that being pulled into the past produces,

Is only equaled by the foreordination of catastrophe that dwelling in the future holds.

The present moment reaches out for me like endless waves of serenity splashing in the vexed desert land of my spirit.

Rolloroberson 2021

“…they say the darkest hour is right before the dawn…” Bob Dylan ‘Meet Me in the Morning’

Photo copyright of www.onlybyland.com

[lonesomelavender]

Another thing to add to my list of things I would never have thought I’d have to read as an assignment

I’m reading the Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm for my feminist philosophy course and came across the term ‘vaginal destiny’ and my mind immediately decided to go into thesaurus mode.

Pussy fate

Divine decree of the cunt

Snatch karma

Coochie future

Pink foreordination

[pearwaldorf]

Ineffable Fictober 2019 #15 - Rome

(Other fills can be found in the tag or on AO3)   

“Do you think all roads really do lead to Rome?” Aziraphale asks.

“What?” Crowley says, because it’s fuck o’clock in the morning and they’re both soused. 

“I mean metaphorically. Of course they don’t all lead there nowadays.” 

“For the metaphor to make sense you also have to have the other part. The thing that the road is like.” Why the angel is trying to talk about things that are like other things right now is beyond him.

“Destiny. Foreordination. The inevitability of things turning out as they should. That’s the other part. What the road is like.” 

Crowley’s head hurts. It has nothing to do with the wine (or the sherry). “If things were meant to turn out this way, then we’re supposed to be here. On this couch in your bookshop.” He threads his fingers through Aziraphale’s. “With me holding your hand.” 

Aziraphale smiles. He’s pretty sure there’s a flaw in the argument somewhere, but it’s not important enough to bring up, when he could be kissing Crowley instead. After doing so, he’s not even sure why it was a concern to begin with.

-- 

In Europe, and the US surprisingly, it turns out that eventually, all roads do.

[yhwhrulz]

Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer Devotional for April 24

Tozer in the Morning WE ARE NOT ORPHANS

I once wrote in an editorial that Christian believers are not orphans in this world, making the point that the divine Shepherd goes before us and that we travel an appointed way. A reader wrote to question my allusion to our traveling an "appointed" way, asking: "I was brought up a Methodist. In your comments, do you mean this to be foreordination? That is what the Presbyterians believe. Just what did you mean?" I replied that I had not meant to go down that deep into doctrine-that I had not been thinking of foreordination, predestination or the eternal decrees. "I was just satisfied that if a consecrated Christian will put himself in the hands of God, even the accidents may be turned into blessings," I told him. Anyway, I am sure the Methodist brother can go to sleep at night knowing that he does not have to become a Presbyterian to be certain that God is looking after him!

Tozer in the Evening Loving Worship

The love of Christ both wounds and heals, it fascinates and frightens, it kills and makes alive, it draws and repulses, it sobers and enraptures. There can be nothing more terrible or more wonderful than to be stricken with love for Christ so deeply that the whole being goes out in a pained adoration of His person, an adoration that disturbs and disconcerts while it purges and satisfies and relaxes the deep inner heart. This love as a kind of moral fragrance is ever detected upon the garments of the saints. In the writings of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, for instance, this fragrance is so strong as to be very nearly intoxicating. There are passages in his Confessions so passionately sweet as to be unbearable, yet so respectful and self-effacing as to excite pity for the man who thus kneels in adoring wonder, caught between holy love and an equally holy fear. The list of fragrant saints is long. It includes men and women of every shade of theological thought within the bounds of the orthodox Christian faith. It embraces persons of every social level, every degree of education, every race and color. This radiant love for Christ is to my mind the true test of catholicity, the one sure proof of membership in the Church universal.

Copyright Statement This material is considered in the public domain.