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katakaluptastrophy · 6 months

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You know how it goes: through some incredible circumstances, God and a young woman living under the shadow of an oppressive empire have a metaphysically unusual baby who grows up to be a general nuisance, won't stay dead, and sports a few additional holes...

It's the third Sunday of Advent and I'm a little concerned Bible studies for weird goth kids might be turning into a series... Let's talk about the Blessed Virgin Mary and Commander Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead Kia Hua Ko Te Pai Snap Back to Reality Oops There Goes Gravity.

Wake was probably never described as "gentle", "meek", or "mild", but there are a few similarities: distinctive outfits, snazzy shrines, commitment to putting down the mighty from their seats, and of course babies with great and terrible destinies niftily conceived without sex.

On the topic of conception, let's clear up a common, uh, misconception: the term "immaculate conception" does not refer to Mary becoming pregnant with Jesus. It's Mary's own conception.

Why are we talking about how Mary was conceived and what does this have to do with lesbian necromancers?

To answer that question, we have to go back further still, way before Mary's conception. Back to these guys and their unfortunate snack cravings:

Remember how last time we talked about the concept of being in a state of grace? Well, the Christian read on Adam and Eve is that a state of grace was, as it were, the factory setting for humanity. They were fully in tune with God, there was no sickness or death, there was no sin. Until, that is, the whole unfortunate business with the apple. The first sin. The world is fundamentally altered. Humanity is expelled from paradise, burdened with sin, death, disease, patriarchy, and work. Worse, this sinful human nature turns out to be sexually transmissible: every human being is born tainted by this "original sin" of Adam and Eve.

This is why Catholicism is so big on baptising babies: even if they're many years off being able to commit any sins themselves (a sin has to be something consciously chosen and understood), they're still contaminated by that original sin of Adam and Eve. Baptism is understood to erase original sin, wiping the slate clean.

Bear with me, we'll be back to necromancers soon I promise. Have a picture of Mary beating up the devil while an angel holds baby Jesus:

OK, but what does Adam and Eve's danger snack have to do with Mary's conception?

The "immaculate conception" refers to the idea that unlike every human being between Adam and Jesus, Mary was conceived without the contamination of original sin. The rationale for this is complex, but essentially boils down to something like the saving power of Jesus not being bound by piffling things like time and space and thus saving his mother before her own conception and allowing himself to also be conceived and born sinless.

But the important bit is that something specific about Mary means that she is uniquely able to be pregnant with Jesus.

You may be starting to guess where this is going...

Because while unconventional pregnancy seems to have been the plan from the get-go for Jesus, it was not with the artist formerly known as The Bomb:

“I had the baby,” said Wake. “The baby I’d had to incubate myself for nine long fucking months, when the foetal dummies these two gave me died.”

“Oh, God, it was yours,” said Augustine, in horror. “I thought you’d used in vitro on one of Mercy’s—”

“I said they all died,” said Wake. “The dummies died. The ova died. Only the sample was still active, no idea how considering it was twelve weeks after the fact, but I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“So you used it on yourself,” said Augustine. “Anything for the revolution, eh, Wake?”

We have to assume the foetal dummies plan was hatched by Mercymorn, a brilliant scientist with a myriad of experience. If the problem encountered by Wake were as simple as Lyctoral infertility, I suspect Mercy would have spotted that long before.

But what do Wake and John have in common that Mercymorn or any of the other ova-having residents of the Mithraeum did not? They are both (to some extent at least) factory setting humans: unlike everyone else in the Dominicus system, they never died and were resurrected, nor are they the descendants people who were. John's abilities, while macabre, are not straightforwardly the necromancy otherwise practiced in the Houses. That necromancy is a direct result of one specific act of taking that resulted in the very nature of the world changing: a thanergetic system, inhabited by human beings who, necromancer or not, are fundamentally tainted by thanergy and by the after effects of that action of John's. You might call it a sin. An indelible sin. He does.

It's not an exact parallel, but necromancy certainly occupies a space not dissimilar to original sin: the result of a single action, tainting every descendant of its progenitors regardless of their actions of abilities.

And then enter Gideon, born in space away from the thanergetic energy of the Dominicus system to a mother lacking the 10,000 year intergenerational burden of the resurrection and necromancy. The child of Jod, born to die.

#the locked tomb #tlt #tlt meta #awake remembrance of these valiant dead #commander wake #gideon nav #john gaius #Sin will not survive the second coming of Jesus so what does that say about necromancy at the end of the series?

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andersunmenschlich · 1 year

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Christ-like

Christians, we are told, ought to be Christ-like. That is, they ought to be like this chap in their book named Jesus Christ.

All right: so just who is this character? What is he like?

Well, we are told he's kind and gentle, meek and mild, loving and forgiving. Occasionally, carefully selected excerpts from the book will be presented to support these claims.

"So he's a good guy?" we ask. "Purely and unmixedly good, with no character qualities any sane and moral person could possibly object to?" And we're told that of course he is—he's the son of the most perfect, pure, good god there could ever possibly be, and in addition to that he's actually also his own father, which makes him the most purely, perfectly good god there could ever be.

Parent/child confusion aside... that's quite a claim. Let's go to the book and check it out.

The very first words this Christ character speaks in the book are to some guy named John the Baptist. Christ wants John to dunk him in some water "for repentance." John says no way—the Christ character is so awesome that John doesn't even deserve to carry his shoes. Rather than John baptizing Christ, John desperately needs to be baptized by Christ! Christ doesn't deny it. Instead he convinces John to baptize him anyway, to sort of put a cherry on top of his already perfect righteousness.

The first Christ-like characteristic: arrogance.

"Of course I'm better than you."

Christians certainly take after Christ there. It's not arrogance, they'll argue—they are better, purer, more moral than everyone else, but it's not innate! It's their god who cleanses them, and honestly you could be just as good as them if only you worshiped their god too....

Next we see the Christ character in the desert, after 40 days of fasting. He's hungry. Some other guy turns up and points out that, being a demigod and all, Christ ought to be able to create food for himself. Rather than address the interesting question of whether or not the Christ character canonically has the power to turn rocks into bread, Christ's second spoken line in the book? Humans don't just need food to live—they need God's words, too.

The second Christ-like characteristic: missing the point.

Sure, maybe humans need info from a deity in order to live in this story. But it's pretty obvious that even in this book, humans do still need food, too! Can the Christ character make food for himself when he's starving, or can't he?

This is a question he apparently doesn't want to confront, so he deliberately misses the point and goes off on a tangent.

Familiar.

Christ's third spoken line asserts that evidence of supernatural claims should not be asked for (demanding credulity), while his fourth line is a rejection of an offer of power in exchange for worship of anyone other than Yahweh. Apparently it's fine for him to take a deal that makes him supreme ruler of all humanity so long as he's worshiping and serving the right person. Not sure how to characterize that, but it sure is interesting.

His fifth red-letter line is "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near"—in other words, everyone else in the story should feel bad about everything they've done that the main god in this book doesn't like and try real hard never to do any of it again, because the world's about to end.

I'm not sure how to boil that down to a word or two either, but it's certainly familiar, isn't it? There are Christ-like people on every street corner, some places.

Christ's next piece of dialogue is much longer than the early bits we just looked at.

It's the Sermon on the Mount!

We've all heard a lot about this part, so it's tempting to think we already know what the Christ character's like here. Love your enemy, give to the needy, don't judge others—good stuff, right? Well, let's see.

First up the Christ character gives us a long list of lucky, enviable people: people who're poor in spirit/breath, whatever that means (weak-willed? no sense of self-worth? asthma?), people who're really sad, people who're humble and gentle, people starving for justice/god's approval, people who show mercy, people with pure hearts (whatever that means), people who make peace, people who get followed around and harmed because they act in accordance with god's law, people who get insulted and slandered for following the Christ character, doing what he says and acting like him. Super blessed, all those people.

The main takeaway here is that unfortunate people are actually the fortunate ones, because good things will definitely happen to them eventually. Making big promises to unhappy people.

The second thing to notice is the idea that if you do the things Yahweh wants you to—we can assume these are supposed to be right things, good things, moral things, upright things—people will hate you. They'll insult you, slander you, follow you around and ruin your life.

In short, he's claiming that other people hate goodness and morality.

Next he tells his audience that they are 1) the salt of the earth, and 2) the light of the world. What's the message there? Well, he explains, salt is only good for stuff if it remains salty. If his followers lose their saltiness, he tells them, there's no way for them to get it back: the only use for them would be to get thrown on the ground and trampled. Metaphorically speaking. Being salty seems pretty important in this story, but the Christ character doesn't explain what saltiness is or even point to how any of his followers display saltiness. They're salty now, whatever that means, and should try real hard not to lose that part of themselves, whatever it is.

Being vague is the key here. He's vaguely assuring the people listening to him that what they already are is good, and vaguely threatening them should they stop being whatever it is that they already are. He knows what it is. They don't. The lack of clarity is worrying, and establishes his authority quite effectively.

Moving on to point two, he tells his listeners that he wants them to do good deeds openly and visibly, like a city on a hill that can't be hidden, or a bright lamp that's not covered up by a light-blocking bowl. Half a page later he'll tell them to do the opposite: give to the needy in secret, for example, so people don't see you doing the good deed. Self-contradiction is very Christ-like.

In the next section of his monologue, the Christ character brings up the Law and the Prophets.

If you have the book in front of you, those can be found in the Old Testament section. In-story, the Law is all the rules Yahweh gave to a group called the Israelites through a character named Moses (the god in this book doesn't speak directly to large groups of people). The whole of this god-given Law can be read by people outside the story by starting in Exodus chapter 19 and stopping once you run out of instructions prefaced with "the Lord said to Moses." If you want to skip to the end, flip to Deuteronomy 30.

The Prophets are the people who made predictions about the future/those predictions about the future (the chapters Isaiah through Malachai for us nonfictional people, plus some others that didn't make it into the final edit).

Christ explains that he's not contradicting or erasing any of those. He's fulfilling them, which means all those laws still have to be followed: anyone who breaks even the tiniest, stupidest one of those laws and teaches other people to do the same will—well, they'll still go to heaven, but they'll be really low-ranking. Like, the lowest of the low in the kingdom of heaven.

Being legalistic is the same as being righteous: righteousness is uprightness according to god's law. A righteous person is a (god's) law-abiding one.

Christ will later give his followers special dispensation to break some of those laws. Inconsistency is, ironically, a consistent aspect of this character. Note also the assertion that he's fulfilling prophecy rather than abolishing it: reinterpreting old writings in a new and different way while claiming the new interpretation was what was meant all along is also very Christ-like. Not easy to say in a pithy way, though.

The next piece of Christ's sermon expands on what he means when he says his followers need to follow the Law even better than the people it was given to originally. In short, it's a "follow the spirit of the law not just the letter" spiel.

He lists off six of the nearly interminable laws—no murder, no adultery, no divorcing a woman without a certificate, no oath-breaking, if you gouge out someone's eye say goodbye to your own, no grudges against a member of your own people (yes, these are all instructions the main god character gave to the Israelites)—and explains the spirit of each, essentially transforming each one into an even more restrictive rule.

• No murder and no getting angry with those close to you.

• No adultery and no lust.

• No divorcing a woman, period (unless she cheated on you).

• No oath-breaking and everything you say is an oath.

• Poke out someone's eye, lose yours and an evil person can take yours even if you did nothing to theirs, no fighting back.

• No grudges against a member of your own people and no grudges against anyone else either.

The self-inflicted martyrdom is strong.

He also takes this opportunity to tell his followers that 1) calling someone an idiot is so bad that you could be tortured for all eternity for it, 2) you can blame parts of your body for your own actions, 3) chopping off those sinful bits of your body might be a good idea because it's definitely better than burning in hell forever, 4) divorcing a woman makes her a cheater, 5) marrying a divorced woman is the same as cucking her ex-husband, etc.

Among other things, it's pretty obvious that the Christ character sees women as less than men—at the very least, a woman can't divorce her husband even if he cheated, and will be seen as his even if he divorces her, plus his action makes her an adulteress. Pretty misogynistic.

Skipping over the bit where Christ contradicts himself about whether his followers should or shouldn't do good deeds visibly, we get the bit where he tells his followers not to bother telling their god anything, really.

God already knows, you see, so don't babble. Just say the Lord's Prayer ("you're awesome, everyone and everything should obey you, keep me alive today, forgive me for whatever because I've forgiven other people for their slip-ups, don't make it too easy for me to disobey you, save me from evil") and you're good—that's all you need.

Definitely remember to forgive other people for stuff, though, or Yahweh won't forgive you for anything.

This is a handy set up for people who don't want to change their behavior: "You have to forgive me anyway, or God won't forgive you and you'll burn in hell forever."

Intentional? Or accidental? Either way, it's setting up support for abuse.

Next Christ tells his audience that physical things ought to be disdained. After all, they don't last forever, and even while they do last people can take them away from you. So, he concludes, it's better to focus on storing up treasures in heaven.

In-universe, the character may well be right. In this book (at least this part of it), people exist forever—so it makes sense for them to focus on gathering stuff that also exists forever.

Christ goes a step further, though.

These characters do exist physically now, you might think, so it's reasonable for them to care about physical stuff now, while they need it and can enjoy it, right? Wrong, the Christ character says. His audience should focus only on spiritual things. They shouldn't worry about food, or clothes, or shelter: they should live like the nonhuman animals, like birds, or even like plants, and not gather food for the winter or even do any work at all. Their god will provide.

...It is possible that, in this story, birds don't gather food. The worldbuilding is not very good—many things are unexplained.

In any case, the Christ character is advocating doing no work or planning for the future. Which sounds pretty good, if there is in fact a deity that will take care of the future for you: provide enough food for each day, make sure you've got clothes nicer than even a super rich king ever did, etc. Otherwise it's just telling dangerous lies.

He also displays some black and white thinking here: either you serve his god (store up treasures in heaven, look towards heaven, worry about making it to heaven, focus on obeying the Law even better than the teachers of the Law, etc.), or you serve money (store up treasures on earth, keep your focus on earth, worry about food and clothing, plan for tomorrow, etc.)—one or the other, not both. You can't, he says, do both.

Loving those false dichotomies.

In the next section of his soliloquy, Christ explains that, despite everything he said earlier about the Law and righteousness, the standard any given person will be judged by is the standard they use to judge others. In other words: standards for judgment are subjective.

If you think murder isn't wrong, and don't condemn anyone for murdering, you can commit murder all day long without condemnation, apparently.

Missing the logical implications of your own statements is also pretty darn Christ-like.

The Christ character assures his followers that their god will give them anything they want: all they have to do is ask for it. Bread? A fish? Just ask! He also calls them evil. "You're evil," he says, "and even you know how to give your children good things. Obviously God is much better at giving his children good things. So just ask for them, and you'll definitely receive them!" Another big promise here.

And the logical implications of this promise are plain: if a character in this fantasy world is dying of starvation, prays to Yahweh for food, doesn't get any and dies, either A) it wasn't good for that person to not starve to death, or B) they weren't a child of God.

Either saying suffering is good or blaming the sufferer—both are Christ-like.

He wraps this up with the Golden Rule (do unto others as you'd have them do unto you), a rule that falls apart the second you consider what the world would look like if everyone had to give everyone else $500, fold everyone else's laundry for them, greet everyone else cheerfully whenever they saw them, ignore everyone else whenever they saw them, etc. One person's desire is another's nightmare.

The Christ character says following the Golden Rule is the same as following all of the Law, thus displaying ignorance of Biblical canon. What part of "do unto others" is "pay her father 50 shekels"?

...Ahhh, right.

I'd forgotten that women aren't people in this book, and don't count as "others."

If you rape a woman in the world of the Bible you're not doing unto her, you're doing unto her father—and I suppose if someone raped my daughter, I'd want them to pay me for her too. It's like breaking a vase at Walmart: no one else is going to want that. Without the fine, Walmart's losing money! What's that you say, pay the vase? What a ridiculous idea.

Outrage aside: even disregarding women as people, the Golden Rule still doesn't cover the parts of the Law about mixed fibers and tassels with blue cords. The Christ character is unfamiliar with his (supposed) father's law.

Next Christ tells us a little about the spiritual side of the Biblical world.

The road that leads to eternal life, he says, is narrow. Out of all the people in the world of the Bible, only a few of them will make it to life. Most of humanity will end up taking the wide road to destruction, hell, eternal death, unending burnings, etc.

Also, there are people in the Bible world who claim to have a direct line to the main god character, but are (gasp!) lying. Christ says you can tell who's telling the truth and who's lying by checking to see what fruit they produce. If you pick a grape out of their ear, for example, they're not a thornbush. How this translates from metaphor to reality is unclear.

The Christ character insists, furthermore, that it's impossible for a good apple tree, say, to produce a bad apple.

Maybe that's true in his world. It's certainly not true in ours.

At this point Christ has made so many claims that are untrue in the real world (with no evidence that they're true in his fictional one) that it seems fair to remark that another part of the Christ-like character may well be denial of reality.

In any case, since he hasn't defined either good or bad fruit, if any prophet pops up who he disagrees with, the Christ character can pick something about them, label it "bad fruit," and declare that they ought to be cut down and thrown into the fire. Metaphorically. ...Probably. Being vague is very, very important to this Christ character. It lets him hold all the cards; all the knowledge, all the power.

Christ carries on to tell his audience that just worshiping him isn't enough.

They can call him Master all they want—even use his name to get a direct line to Yahweh and do actual, legitimate prophecies and miracles—but if they don't do what he his dad wants, he (Christ) will reject them on the day of judgment, and they'll go to hell.

Demanding obedience with threats is very Christ-like.

He carries on to explain that everyone who listens to him and does what he says is like a very clever and intelligent man who built his house in the right place and weathered all kinds of storms without issue, while everyone who listens to him and doesn't do what he says is like a very stupid man who built his house in the wrong place and had it collapse during the very first storm.

According to the narration, this whole sermon impressed people a lot because being incredibly confident and stating things as fact without allowing for the possibility of being wrong wasn't something they were used to from experts.

Such authority!

We've learned a great deal about what Christ is like from just the first seven chapters of Matthew. Highlights from the rest of the book include:

• Telling his disciples not to bother preaching to any goys

• Telling his disciples to be afraid of his godly parent because Yahweh could send them to hell body and soul

• Announcing that he's the exact opposite of a peacemaker

• Insisting that people love him more than anyone else, even their own families (or he'll disown them on judgment day and they'll go to hell)

• Cursing the cities where his preaching didn't go over well to a worse fate than Sodom's

• Disowning his mother and brothers publicly when they came to see him

• Ignoring a woman who begged him for help because she was a goy, then finally giving in and helping after she agreed that she was a dog and begged for the kind of crumbs dogs get when their masters are eating

• Announcing that he was going to turn up attended by angels to judge everybody and give them their just rewards—and, furthermore, that some of his disciples would still be alive at that point

• Saying that it's perfectly fair to pay someone who's worked from sunup to sundown and someone who's worked one hour exactly the same amount

• Killing a fig tree for not having any figs out of season

• Reiterating that the folks who don't make it to heaven on the day of judgment go to "eternal punishment"

• Pointing out that a slave who knows what they're supposed to do and doesn't do it gets beaten harshly, while a slave who doesn't know what they're supposed to do and so doesn't do it is only beaten lightly... but not saying anything about slavery being wrong

• Pointing out that slaves don't get praised for doing only what they're supposed to do, so his followers should do more (but not saying anything about slavery being wrong)

• "If you love me, you will obey me"

In short, the Christ character Christians are supposed to be like is inconsistent, arrogant, racist, ignorant, misogynistic, threatening, and abusive. He denies reality, rejects tests of reality, and tells dangerous lies.

He contradicts himself whenever it's convenient for him, and apparently doesn't notice. He's determined to be a martyr, yet he demands obedience (conflating it with love) and claims superior morality while ignoring and even enabling abuse. He makes unrealistic promises to the desperate and unhappy, devalues the real world, and demonizes those who disagree with him.

He's manipulative, illogical, immoral, and dangerously untethered from reality.

Christians are just like him.

#ex christian #like christ #bible study #what's christ like?#...ah.#long post #VERY long post #you have been warned

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wisdomfish · 1 year

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For I am meek: Jesus is giving a reason why people should embrace his religion. That was, that he was not harsh, overbearing, and oppressive, like the Pharisees, but meek, mild, and gentle in his government. His laws were reasonable and tender, and it would be easy to obey him.

Albert Barnes [ref. Matthew 11:29]

#meek #jesus #reason #religion #harsh

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rexs18sworld · 1 year

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Colossians 3:12 (New International Version) Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

God's chosen people As Christians, we must be Clothed in God's Virtues.

we are considered God's chosen people, set apart to reflect His character and spread His message of love and salvation to the world. This identity comes with a responsibility to live a life that honors Him and reflects His virtues.

Holy and dearly loved.

We are called to be holy, set apart for God's purposes and made righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ. We are also dearly loved, valued and cherished by God, who desires a close and intimate relationship with us.

Clothed with compassion

Compassion is the ability to feel the pain and suffering of others and respond with empathy and kindness. As followers of Christ, we are called to show compassion to those in need, just as Jesus did during His time on earth.

Clothed with kindness

Kindness is the act of showing goodwill and generosity to others, regardless of whether they deserve it or not. It involves being patient, understanding, and putting others before oneself.

Clothed with humility.

Humility is the quality of having a modest and unassuming view of oneself. It involves recognizing that we are not perfect and acknowledging our dependence on God for strength and guidance.

Clothed with gentleness.

Gentleness involves being meek and mild in our interactions with others, refraining from harsh words or actions, and seeking peaceful solutions to conflicts.

Clothed with patience.

Patience is the ability to endure trials and tribulations without losing hope or faith. It involves waiting on God's timing and trusting in His plans for our lives.

In summary, Colossians 3:12 encourages us to clothe ourselves with the virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, as we live out our identity as God's chosen people who are holy and dearly loved. By embodying these virtues, we can reflect God's character and spread His love to those around us.

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ilvckasoul · 2 years

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Gentle Jesus meek an mild

#A$AP Ferg #Persian Wine #asap mob #lords never worry #m #SoundCloud

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jdgo51 · 4 months

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The True Easter Lamb

Today's inspiration comes from:

All the Glorious Names

by Mary Foxwell Loeks

"'From Alpha to Omega, El Shaddai to Prince of Peace, the many names of God highlight His attributes, each lighting up a facet of who He is. As I have studied these names, I have been impressed with how many pairs of them stand in stark contrast to each other! God is the Lord and the Servant. God is the Lamb and the Lion and the Lioness. God is the Shepherd and the Lamb.

During the Easter season, I am especially drawn to the image of God as a Lamb. The lamb has a long history as a symbol of Easter, and continues to endure even in secular depictions of the holiday.

Scripture refers to God or Jesus as a lamb numerous times throughout the Old and New Testaments.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” — John 1:29

[You were redeemed] with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. — 1 Peter 1:19

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. — Isaiah 53:7

They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. — Revelation 7:15, Revelation 7:17

Can it be that the Creator of all the galaxies was also named the Lamb? The gentle creature of whom the poet asked:

Little lamb, who made thee?

Dost thou life, and bid thee feed

By the stream and o’er the mead,

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing, woolly, bright;

Gave thee such a tender voice,

Making all the vales rejoice?

Little lamb, who made thee?

Dost thou know who made thee?

Little lamb, I’ll tell thee,

Little lamb, I’ll tell thee.

He is called by thy name,

For He calls Himself a Lamb.

He is meek, and He is mild,

He became a little child.

I a child, and thou a lamb,

We are called by His name.

Little lamb, God bless thee!

~ William Blake, Songs of Innocence

The Creator of the galaxies became a Child, who became the Lamb of God.

The lamb, even today, symbolizes innocence and purity. Only a pure unblemished lamb could be a sacrifice. A spotted lamb was not acceptable. The sacrificial lamb could not have any flaw or deformity. It could not harbor a parasite or suffer from any ailment. It had to be the firstborn of its mother.

The offering of a lamb had to be from an obedient heart in order to be acceptable. This was true of the very first offering mentioned in Scripture – Abel’s offering of a lamb from his flock (Genesis 4) – and continues to be true for every offering thereafter. King Saul’s proposed offering was rejected because he had been disobedient (1 Samuel 15). He was told

To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. — 1 Samuel 15:22

The offering of the Lamb was an offering of obedience. The writer of Hebrews says of Christ, the Lamb,

Although He was a son, He learned obedience from what He suffered. — Hebrews 5:8

For the offering to be complete, the blood of the Lamb had to be shed.

And without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. — Hebrews 9:22

All the animals sacrificed in the time of the Old Testament were object lessons, pointing toward the one sufficient, worthy sacrifice. We celebrate Easter today because of the ultimate sacrifice that was made on Good Friday. Because all of us have sinned, the only One who could provide an acceptable sacrifice was God himself. Abraham was more right than he knew when he told Isaac,

God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering. — Genesis 22:8

God’s lamb, holy, pure, perfect, and altogether worthy, shed His blood as an offering to atone for our sins. For us, the Creator of the galaxies became a Child, who became the Lamb of God.

The wonder is that “we are called by His name”! What does it mean for me, today, that I am called a lamb? What does it mean for me, in light of Holy Week, that Jesus is the Lamb?

Adapted with permission from All the Glorious Names by Mary Foxwell Loeks.

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talesofpassingtime · 4 months

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Well? I stand on platforms and make speeches— oh, very tactfully of course, saying that the colour bar is not in the best interests of all concerned, and gentle Jesus meek and mild wouldn’t have approved, because it’s more than my job is worth to say it’s inhuman and stinkingly immoral and the whites are damned to eternity for it.

— Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook

#booklr

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onewaytherightway · 9 months

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Meekness Isn’t Weakness Everything around us—the world, the culture, the people—tends to applaud power and strength, independence and intelligence, boldness and superiority. But in the third beatitude—a series of promises Jesus made about God’s Kingdom—Jesus highlighted something different, saying: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5 NIV The English word "meek" comes from the Greek word "praeis." It means gentle, humble, or submissive; modest, mild, or unpretentious. In fact, when Paul describes the “fruits of the Spirit” (traits developed in His people by His Spirit), the words "meekness" and "gentleness" are often used interchangeably. But, let’s be clear: If such descriptions paint a frail and feeble picture in your mind, you can be certain that meekness isn’t weakness. Meekness is strength under control. It's power submitted to God’s authority. Now, if “meek” isn’t a word that you’d use to currently describe yourself, that’s okay. Jesus wasn’t speaking to those who had it all together—and He isn’t expecting a perfect version of us, either. Instead, He’s extending a blessing on who His people were (and are) becoming. God is continually developing these beatitude traits inside of His followers. He's refining, sanctifying, and transforming us to be more and more like Him. In Scripture, Jesus Himself is called “meek.” But as you probably know, He was far from passive, apathetic, or a pushover. Instead of relying on His own power—like summoning legions of angels to avoid hanging on that cross—He leaned into God’s strength and restrained His limitless power. Jesus’ upside-down kingdom will be packed with those who harness their strength for God’s glory and who humble themselves at His feet.

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 1 year

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“No, the character of Jesus in the Gospels was not the wisest and kindest of beings - he is actually quite loathsome and rarely gives anything but really bad advice.”

-- Richard Carrier

#Richard Carrier #christianity #jesus christ #bible #gospels #bible study #religion #gentle jesus #gentle jesus meek and mild #religion is a mental illness

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jdsorganicproductions · 9 months

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mellowtravelautoszonk · 9 months

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Meekness Isn’t Weakness

Everything around us—the world, the culture, the people—tends to applaud power and strength, independence and intelligence, boldness and superiority.

But in the third beatitude—a series of promises Jesus made about God’s Kingdom—Jesus highlighted something different, saying:

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭5‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬

The English word "meek" comes from the Greek word "praeis." It means gentle, humble, or submissive; modest, mild, or unpretentious. In fact, when Paul describes the “fruits of the Spirit” (traits developed in His people by His Spirit), the words "meekness" and "gentleness" are often used interchangeably.

But, let’s be clear: If such descriptions paint a frail and feeble picture in your mind, you can be certain that meekness isn’t weakness.

Meekness is strength under control. It's power submitted to God’s authority.

Now, if “meek” isn’t a word that you’d use to currently describe yourself, that’s okay. Jesus wasn’t speaking to those who had it all together—and He isn’t expecting a perfect version of us, either. Instead, He’s extending a blessing on who His people were (and are) becoming.

God is continually developing these beatitude traits inside of His followers. He's refining, sanctifying, and transforming us to be more and more like Him.

In Scripture, Jesus Himself is called “meek.” But as you probably know, He was far from passive, apathetic, or a pushover. Instead of relying on His own power—like summoning legions of angels to avoid hanging on that cross—He leaned into God’s strength and restrained His limitless power.

Jesus’ upside-down kingdom will be packed with those who harness their strength for God’s glory and who humble themselves at His feet.

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madewithonerib · 11 months

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Albert Barnes [1798-1870] | Matthew 11:29-30

Take MY yoke—This is a figure taken from the use of oxen, & hence signifying to labor for one, or in the service of anyone.

The “yoke” is used in the Bible as an emblem:

[1] of bondage or slavery, Le 26:13; De 28:38. [2] of afflictions or crosses, Lamentations 3:27. [3] of the punishment of sin, La 1:14, [4] of the commandments of GOD. [5] of legal ceremonies, Acts 15:10; Ga 5:1.

• Leviticus 26:13 [Berean] ¹³ I am the LORD your GOD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I broke the bars of your yoke & enabled you to walk in uprightness.

• Deuteronomy 28:38 | ³⁸ You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it.

• Lamentations 3:27 [Berean] ²⁷ It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.

• Lamentations 1:14 [Berean] ¹⁴ My transgressions are bound into a yoke, knit together by His hand; they have come upon my neck, and the LORD has broken my strength. HE delivered me into the hands of those I cannot withstand.

• Acts 15:10 [Berean] ¹⁰ Now then, why do you test GOD by placing on necks of the Disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?

• Galatians 5:1 | ¹ It is for freedom that CHRIST has set us free. Stand firm, then don't be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.

It refers here to the religion of the Redeemer; & the idea is, that they should embrace HIS system of religion and obey HIM.

All virtue & all religion imply “restraint”—the restraint of our bad passions & inclinations, & subjection to laws; & the SAVIOUR here means to say the restraints & laws of HIS religion are mild, & gentle, & easy.

Let anyone compare them with the burdensome & expensive ceremonies of the Jews [see Acts 15:10], or with the religious rites of the pagan everywhere, or with the requirements of the Popish system, and he will see how true it is that JESUS' yoke is easy.

And let HIS laws & requirements be compared with the laws which sin imposes on its votaries—the laws of fashion, & honor, & sensuality—& he will feel that religion is “freedom,” John 8:36.

“HE is a freeman whom the truth makes free, & all are slaves besides.” It is “easier” to be a Christian than a sinner; & of all the yokes ever imposed on people, that of the Redeemer is the lightest.

For I am meek …—See the notes at Matthew 5:5. This was eminently CHRIST's personal character.

But this is not its meaning here.

HE is giving a reason why they should embrace HIS religion.

That HE was not harsh, overbearing, & oppressive, like the Pharisees, but meek, mild, & gentle in HIS government. HIS laws were reasonable & tender, & it would be easy to obey HIM.

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The Slavery of Freedom | John Mark Comer [Galatians 6]

Fighting World, Flesh, & Devil P2

Please turn to Galatians 6, as we continue our fall practice on fighting the world, the flesh, & devil.

Last time we kicked off module 2 on the flesh, in case you missed it—I don't have time to recap all of that content.

We have a lot of ground to cover; go back if you are up for it—listen to the podcast short version

We define the flesh as the base animalistic primal drive in all of us, for self-gratification. Put another way—it's the part of our heart bent from GOD and from HIS definition of good & beautiful & true.

And is instead in the language of the 4th century African theologian Augustine, turned in on itself

Calling out this corner of our heart is just naming an aspect of the human condition we all have to fight.

As a follower of JESUS or not:

this inner tug-of-war between our mixed desires: some of which are good & healthy —others of which are the exact opposite, but the way of JESUS is not a new idea & so no Christian idea but the way of JESUS has a unique contribution to make

Because it's a solution to the problem of what we call the flesh—is not willpower, but is the spirit's power.

All of which, leads us to Galatians 6.

This week's teaching is essentially part 2 of a very long teaching—that we started from Galatians 5-6 —which is one of the go to passages in the NT for a biblical theology of the flesh & the SPIRIT.

We left off last time, if you were here, at the end of CH 5—with this idea that the West, in general, has radically redefined the idea of freedom.

Often what we call freedom, we mean is the ability to do whatever the heck we want—which is actually what JESUS & Paul & the writers the NT define as slavery because when we give in to our flesh

the part of our heart that has bent away we end up enslaved, by our own desires in particular to sin.

Now for tonight let's keep reading from where we left off at the end of CH 5. Let's start off in 6:1-9

#Matthew 11 #Matthew 11:29 #Matthew 11:29-30 #Matthew 11:30 #easy yoke #embrace JESUS #embrace HIS religion #truth makes free #freedom #gentle #mild #HIS yoke is easy #reasonable #tender #easy to obey HIM #Barnes #Slavery of Freedom #Galatians 6

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