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katsstudykorner · 5 years

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How To Write a University-Level Essay in 9 Steps

I use this every time I write an essay! It helps me a lot, and since I started using it I haven’t gotten lower than an A on any of my papers! (minus one lol)

First things first, every prof and every teacher expects a different thing. The essay I’m using as an example is from my first year class and was around 1600 words — so not very long. It’s also not a research essay. The prof called it an exegetical essay, but don’t get it mixed up with Bible Exegesis. We studied the Odyssey and the Iliad for the semester and had to write on them and explain them. Despite this! The form of an outline will help literally every kind of essay.

SO this isn’t exactly a how-to-write-an-essay post, but instead its more like how to make sure your essay is bomb as fuck. My first year prof forced us to do an outline for all of our essays (yes forced, we automatically failed if we didn’t hand it in along with our essays). At first it was annoying, I’m not going to lie, but once you get used to it, this sort of outline literally saves your life. What I like to do is make sure it’s detailed enough that all I need to do is erase all the spaces between the points, and explain my ideas a little bit more. To give an idea of how much I actually write after this, this outline is 900 words, and my final essay was 1600. It makes writing your essay go by a LOT faster, and makes sure you can easily see all your points laid out in front of you.

1. Find out what your topic is and what you want your thesis to generally be. I never write my thesis out right away, because when I write outlines I tend to change my mind on things a lot as I discover new topics. So I start out general and get more detailed later on.

2. Write out your main points. In this essay I was explaining how Odysseus’ encounter with the Cyclops was the first step in a many step process to make him a stronger and more intelligent man so that he would be able to fight off the suiters when he arrived in Ithaca. Each of my main points is the part in the book that has to do with this idea. My main points are: Odysseus tells Alcinous the story of him and a cyclops, after the Trojan war. // After escaping, they set sail again and reach the land of the Cyclops // Odysseus comes to the realization that the Cyclops is not human, and therefore he cannot reason with the Cyclops as a human. At first glance none of these points have Anything to do with my thesis, but I chose parts in the book that show Odysseus’ growth. I go on to explain my ideas within each of the points. Another thing to help you is to make sure each of these can read like a sentence. So you should be able to read Point 1 2 and 3 consecutively and have it flow well. It will help you when you write your good copy.

3. Once you have your main points, create what I call “sub-points” in each of the main points. The number varies, as you can see in my example, but use as many as you need to make your point clear.When I was writing essays about Homer I usually stuck to explaining Odysseus’ actions, or the actions of other characters in this section. This year when I was writing philosophy papers I used this part to fully explain each of the ideas in my own words. Also you may be noticing a (P) beside some of the points, this is what I’ve sectioned off to be a paragraph. As you may notice the “main point” doesn’t have a P beside it; it is its own paragraph, but I use those as transition paragraphs to help my paper flow and to show the reader what I’m going to be talking about. It’s a grounding point. I usually opted for shorter paragraphs when writing about Homer because I broke things up by event; when writing philosophy papers my paragraphs are usually much longer. These points should tie back into your main idea for you paper. Each point should tie back into the one above it to create a nice flow, this will help orientate your reader but also make it a lot easier for you to write.

4.Now is the time to explain each sub point. Explain why the point was important enough to be in your paper; I often chose to explain how it changed Odysseus’ actions or actions that he chose to do. I usually use this section as an opportunity to clarify my points and to look back at the section I’ve put the sub-point in to make sure it fits. It around this time that I switch things around

5. Give any further explanation you may need. Sometimes I find that I need to explain things just a little bit more. Or if I’m not 100% sure on my point yet, I use this section to write down my explanation rather than waiting to write it when I write my good copy.

6.After this I write my thesis out. I know this may seem like a late point in the essay to write a thesis, but like I said I find waiting helps me really settle down with what I want to get across. I tend to have a hard time finding my thesis before I’ve written out all my points

7.Then I write my Introduction and Conclusion. I don’t write these in the broken down way that I do for the rest of my essay. I write them in full to help ground myself

8. Finally, I delete all of the points and spaces to create a solid paragraph. I do it point by point to make sure each sentence is a complete sentence, and then make sure I add on any explanation or detail that may be missing. Once thats done I usually have a solid essay with just some missing “gaps”. I.e. I need to further explain my point. So I go in and fill in the gaps, add my explanations to tie it back into the thesis completely, and then I move onto the next paragraph. The third picture shows my sentences in my actual essay that I directly pulled from my outline (highlighted to match the outline), while the sentences that aren’t highlighted were the sentences written to fill in the gaps.

9. Once that’s all done I send my essay to a friend and we face time while she edits mine. She reads it out loud to me and we stop when something sounds funny (and then we switch and I do the same for her). I high recommend peer-editing and making sure you read it out loud! Its how I catch 90% of my mistakes.

And that’s it! Keep in mind that you should be gathering quotes, sources, or whatever BEFORE you write your outline, and it helps A LOT if you write in the sources in your outline so that you know where to put it in your essay!

#studyblr #essay tips #study tips #classics studyblr #essay #how to write an essay #university essay #college essay #mine

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chiseler · 4 years

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The Old Masters: Kurt Kren

31/75: Asyl / 31/75: Asylum (1975)

Kurt Kren (1929-1998) was best known for his work with the unpleasant bodily-fluid ridden productions of the Vienna Aktionists, a group of Hitler’s children whose post-war adolescence did in art what Ulrike Meinhof did in direct action. The suffocating atmosphere of retooled Nazi industrialists and amnesia with a born-again uptightness produced predictable results: the state must not be allowed to retain a monopoly on violence. How many Blood Order members can you watch, parading sanctimoniously on television, grinning in deathsheads from podiums, telling everyone that they have always been good citizen democrats, without wanting to burn it all down?

The body is alienated by the rigid control systems of Nazi and post-Nazi Germany (a continuum by other means); the invisible bodies of the pulverized dead shadow the plants and office blocks; Tiergartenstraße No. 4, where Aktion T-4 (Aktionist?) was hatched—the extermination of the unfit and insane—is now a bus terminal; tourists marvel at the great modernist IG Farben complex, alone in an otherwise-erased Frankfurt (IG Farben’s American legal representative: John Foster Dulles, who also worked for Krupp). No wonder Kren and his friends Otto Muehl and Herman Nitsch wanted to cut off their fingers and smear themselves with vomit, filming it all straight on, just like the Nazis shot the Warsaw Ghetto.

Kurt Kren

Sitting through works like Kardinal, Self-Multilation, and Sodoma remains a chore, but for different reasons than in 1969, I hazard. The glaring bright colors now reflect Japanese game shows or late style millionaire pop art; the beatings, couplings, spurtings and evacuations have long been appropriated by gross-out horror shtick in mainstream Hollywood, likewise the flashing old film stock and jump cuts. What is left is a past-tense sense of the epic, a lofty Wagnerian pronouncement that the cinema is best equipped to investigate violence and that entertainment is really all just fascism. Shaking off the idea of gesamkunstwerk or the marble atrocities of Arno Breker proved harder than it looked, no matter how true every sickened pronouncement of Aktionist agit-prop was—and it was, it certainly is true.

If the ‘Baroque’ aspect of these films was once part of the attack, it has now become a sign of the long dreary reach of fetishism and managed hypocrisy. The problem with animal intestines, bodies wrapped in metal wire, and piles of soaking flesh is that the arrangement does not mirror the repressed psyche of a generation of sons of Gauleiters, born-again liberal bureaucrats and captains of industry, but a great cathedral of interlinked reactionary problems to be solved hermetically. From this point on, such problems were doomed to become wholly personal—as if the artists were unconsciously terrified of collective nihilism after Goebbels cornered the market. Austria is mainly Catholic, and the confessional is never far away from Aktionist agony. Redemption rears its bestial head—which also implies a second innocence, which is postmodern salvation.

To expose the unreality of what remained of the saccharine and morose Nazi regime via vitriol and bleeding flesh was clearly not enough. After the Aktionists called it quits and retired to their various castles and cultic fiefdoms, the Red Army Faction kidnapped former SS officer, then-CDU member, and Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie head Hanns Martin Schleyer in 1977. When the German government refused to trade this grotesque relic for four captured RAF fighters (who were mysteriously found hanging in their cells afterward, á la the ANC in South Africa, and also like Ulrike Meinhof, a year earlier, another ‘suicide’—all of which shows the repulsive cynicism lurking under a supposedly ‘democratic’ state), Herr Schleyer was topped and left in the trunk of an Audi. No loss, but tears and outrage flowed from a middle class that forgot that it was a far, far greater executioner in ‘39. The late 1970s were dark, dark, dark. The very outrageousness of their ‘happenings’ show that the Aktionists were suckered in by hope ten years prior. The world remakes itself, oblivious.

The case of Aktionist Kren is more curious and longer lasting than the King Ludwig-like careers of Nitsch and Muehl. His early films were stark or wiggly or frozen: trees, landscapes, little images, people in rooms doing hypnotized screen tests. Unlike his later direction in Sodoma et al, he seemed concerned with the medium’s archaic properties and the possibility of making still-life and landscape political. He returned to this program out of the Aktionist dead end.

31/75: Asyl, from 1975, a sequel to his 1960 3/60: Bäume im Herbst, is one of his best films. More Holbein than Kaspar David Friedrich, it shrinks the epic panorama down to an insect view. Using a simple form of time-lapse photography, a static shot shows farmland and a winding road in late autumn to early winter. By placing various filters over the lens, days pass in globules, wax drippings, thick polluted rain, condensation and gum. A man with a dog goes in and out of frame; the snow melts, it rains; light shifts. Not blood and soil but damp, oily mud like a Turner marsh. And no heroics with geysers of blood, iron crosses and milk, the exegesis of guilt. However, there is certainly something displacing the day here. The status quo of round-ups and tests? Isolation, inner migration? The ‘asylum’ of the title suggests a place of refuge but like in English, the German asyl can also mean a madhouse or political asylum. The film was shot in Saarland, West Germany, under French control after WW1 but returned to Germany in 1935. Saarland is border country, a place of several masters and populations on the move. Kren himself was sent off on one of the Kindertransport to Rotterdam, where he lived until the end of the war.

Wilhelm Reich, in his book The Mass Psychology of Fascism, showed that the mysticism of Nazi ideology was depicted foremost in pretzeled human bodies, a combination of Protestant asceticism and cheap porn cartooned in the figure of the swastika. Before landscape, Fascism uses bulky propaganda to conjure up the Fatherland and recites bad poetry about the holy relation between man, pig, earth and muck. Sacrifice is the Father’s cloying prayer, his own death extended by his sons’ dying—for most fathers in the Fatherland rented their land from wealthy landlords, rented rooms from good Aryans, worked for Herr NSDAP Millionaire Flick. Places of death are used over and over again; their industrial emptiness ensures that no birds sing. No birds sing, but not out of reverence for the dead so much as disgust for the living—the quiet living that made those dead, that signed contracts for transport expediency for a Jew, Gypsy or a Red.

Kren’s view from a windowsill does have some of this void mood, yet he rejects the trap of timelessness in favor of everyday decay. The immortal Frost Gods can only bury dogshit in deep snows, give you pneumonia, cake your axel with mud. The landscape lives on geologically and not mystically. It has beautiful things, extraordinary things, because its own microscopic changes are more fabulous than eternity. Kren’s little film avoids both faces of the same reactionary crisis: that of the epic-making National Socialists, and his own earlier anti-epics that attacked the drapery of the historical fasces. Fall and winter last a little over 8 minutes in the duration of this film, which took 21 days to shoot. The Third Reich was supposed to last for 525,600,000 minutes, which is a thousand years of unreal time. William Blake wrote: He who binds to himself a joy/ Does the winged life destroy.

All of Kren’s films are curious, even his old naughty routines. He moved to America in 1978 and travelled the country, stopping to show his films at universities before finally settling in Texas, where he split his time between Austin and Houston. There, he became a fixture in the punk scene, appearing with some of the best bands of the time, projecting his films behind the noisy vigorous music of Left agitators like Really Red and Culturcide. Always a workman, he made new films while employed as a security guard at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. He died back in Vienna in 1998.

by Martin Billheimer

Links:

Technical details of the film here: http://www.resettheapparatus.net/corpus-work/id-31-75-asylum.html

The film @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cblbgbnE1wo

‘Ode to Kurt Kren’, fan video with photos, using the tribute song by his friends, Really Red, recorded 1982: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3_RfD0Qv_k

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sea-changed · 5 years

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secretagentofcaos replied to your post: inclineto replied to your post...

I agree on wanting to see Fen's POV. She’s more insightful than Pat, has to deal with more society nonsense without any allies. Even the subplot about Pat's brother would have been more fun from Fen's POV.

(I was disappointed to hear Charles' next will be m/f romance. Meh)

I do feel like something important was lost without Fen’s pov, and I do wonder if it would’ve affected the overall plot and relationship structure as well: perhaps with Fen having a say Charles wouldn’t have felt the need to quell all conflict the minute it showed up? I don’t know: she certainly didn’t have that problem in ToE (or at least not to the same extent: being myself I confess I always want Archie and Daniel to hate each other for about thirty pages longer than they actually do).

I confess I’m not overly enthused by the premise of Charles’s next, either. Despite that I’m a consummate and very hardcore m/f shipper in fandom, I’ve not yet got on the m/f romance bandwagon (is it a bandwagon when it’s 99% of the overall output?), and “shady guy ends up being helped by uptight woman who has a secret thing for him” is one of my most roundly despised plotlines pretty much ever. So I might be getting this one from the library, rather than insta-downloading it from Barnes & Noble.

vermiculated replied to your post: inclineto replied to your post...

I want to bang my hands on the table and yell: romance point-of-view switches are not below any of us!! they add intrigue and nuance in a way that obviates the need for fake-outs and late-period plot complications!! this I believe!!

Truly. Truly! And in a genre that depends on people having very specific and believable emotions about one another, not being able to see one of those people having those emotions really throws the whole thing off its axis. Not that it can’t work, but you do have to put effort into counterbalancing in a way that I think often gets neglected.

'romance novel exegesis' it's simply the best <3

I do love how much we all wanted to like this book and ended up feeling disappointed. that's how i like my literature: fundamentally unsatisfactory.

We had such hopes! KJC’s reputation around these parts plus historical f/f plus characters we were already at least slight intrigued by: the ingredients were all good, but alas, the final product bland and unfortunate.

poor Daniel da Silva: that's probably not even the worst work trip he's taken that year.

Almost certainly not, and here’s yet another argument for multiple points of view: would love to have seen Daniel ruminate on, say, his job; his life/background/family; what he actually saw in Archie.

#replies #secretagentofcaos #vermiculated #kj charles

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postapocalypsecomedownblues · 3 years

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Dub 3 Ketaphysics 2

(Note from Kirk: The following material is compiled from Dub’s 2018-2019 journals, I’ve omitted a few details but left the rest intact)

As we move into the Coptic New Year 1735 (or 8-8 to the numerologically inclined) my thoughts and prayers are with Charlie Sheen, as they so often are. Depending on who you talk to, there either was or wasn’t a Jesus Christ. But there isn’t a person alive today who doesn’t know Charlie Sheen. And while Jesus may or may not have died for our sins, Charlie Sheen lives a life of sin so that we may celebrate our freedom of choice, even if all that means now is we know for sure that we spend most of our lives choosing to live vicariously through others.

FOUR LINES ARE REDACTED ketamine treatments, which I underwent last month as part of a program to help mitigate my depression and PTSD.

Sunday, 8/5/18

3 space missions down, 3 to go.

I keep a notebook right next to the official medical beanbag that serves as my Launchpad for these experiments. A lot of it is, not surprisingly, utter gibberish. There are moments though…

So the big thing today happened on the first “lower” dose. I remember being about 10 minutes in, and very aware of gravity. I lay on my back, sprawled out, swimming in the Great Beige. It was like trying to dance while strapped in to the Gravitron at the county fair. It was more than this, but that’s the best I can do. I sat up, heedless of the crystalline wires that the beings I’ll call “The Little Sisters of Eluria” (thank you very much, Stephen King) spent all that effort stitching into my head. They can get back in there whenever they want. Anyway, I sat up, feeling very much like a half-sentient monkey balancing on a rock hurtling through space at 77,000 miles per hour, grabbed my pen and furiously scrawled out the following:

YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW HOW THIS GOES

Then I lay back down, caught my breath and danced a little while longer.

Getting shot up with medical grade ketamine on a Sunday afternoon by a licensed medical professional in the back of an office complex in Salt Lake City nothing like vomiting your guts out in a tent somewhere in Peru. Instead of icaros, I’ve got a playlist of songs I downloaded from the internet. I’ve seen people check their Twitter feeds between shots.

I’m not judging. What I want to express is how utterly unglamorous any of this is. Everyone is here to do work. This shit gets spooky.

I think one of the hells ketamine has to offer is the “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” (thank you very much, Shirley Jackson) feeling as you start to come out. No matter how groovy things might be on the other side of the abyss, when you come back, there’s no getting around the fact that you have voluntarily allowed another reality to alter this one. You are the one who signed the waiver, rolled up your sleeve. You watch a needle puncture your skin. This is your life, your mind, and there is something about the reality that you were handed that is so unsatisfactory that you are here now. The Little Sisters of Eluria can do their work if you call on them, but it’s still you laying there getting the work done. You can’t escape you, no matter what you shoot into you.

Here’s something else I wrote towards the end of today’s final trip:

“I was told there would be bright colors.”

For the Tarot, I didn’t even try to make predictions last night. I watched half of a bad movie and fell asleep early. Here’s today’s draw:

Page of Wands

King of Wands

8 of Pentacles

Ace of Swords

Queen of Cups

That’s all for now.

8/6/18

Monday morning – No work this morning due to crane issues. That’s okay, beige hell has very much been on my mind since yesterday, and last night’s post sounds crankier than I really think I felt at the time.

Lately at work, I’ve been re-listening to the Exegesis of Phillip K. Dick (actually it’s my first listen, but second read, if that makes sense). A few years ago I was listening to somebody interview Tessa Dick, and I remember becoming very stressed out at the description of how he passed away. I know that brain embolisms are rather quick and painless affairs, but the description of him laid out in his living room, behind the couch, really affected me. I thought of how active his mind was, contrasted by the banality of his final surroundings. I don’t know why this upset me so much, but that’s the human experience in a nutshell, right? Everybody gets freaked out by different things.

Anyway, when I’m fully in ketamine’s tentacle-y embrace, as we are waltzing through space into Saturn’s orbit, the gates to the abyss where the big C-motherfucker lies waiting… I’m trapped – paralyzed really – in a setting that probably looked quite analogous to what P.K.D. saw when he breathed his last in that bodily form. And it still freaks me the fuck out.

So there’s one theory. Another is that beige hell is our karma as Americans. We send our kids to beige deserts to kill. We ignore the plight of starving millions while driving to work in beige upholstered bubbles, until we sit in beige offices and go home to beige colored apartments. When our parents grow too old, sick or forgetful to take care of, we send them off to beige colored retirement homes where they breathe their last while staring at beige colored curtains until a nurse in beige scrubs starts unhooking them from the final few strands that held them tethered to this earth…

God this is depressing.

Be good to each other, and spend some time staring at some flowers or cuttlefish today. It’s probably good for the soul.

8/7/18

Tuesday, how predictable; a breakthrough. I’m using sarcasm (poorly) to mask the very real feeling of awe that I experienced today.

So, where to begin. For the record, I’m not entirely straight yet. Not by a damn sight; I got my final injection about 2 hours ago, and the world is still only behaving semi-normally; as if it would be a breach of etiquette for everything under my feet to pop.

I’m super into semi-colons right now. They’re like the Swiss Army Knives of syntax.

So, if you’re good then life is good. If you’re lucky enough to do good a hundred percent of the time, congratulations on being an Ipsissimus; the rest of us are stuck here in the trash strata. But for whatever reason, today I started meditating on what’s good here in the trash strata – and maybe that’s where years of listening to bands like Kyuss and Fu Manchu paid off. I started seeing gold.

Gold sunlight, gold refracted through junk lenses

Old timey Defender video games and T-top Trans-Ams with golden fiery Phoenix wings that spread across the sky – Hail unto thee who are Ra in thy rising, Hail Tiphareth, Hail the Christ Consciousness.

You aren’t supposed to know how this goes, but also you aren’t expected to know how to be good in every possible situation; only the situation you are actually really in at this very moment.

Let’s hear it for the semi-colon.

This is the way out, the release in here. I’m not trying to unravel the secrets of the universe. One of the many, many differences between PKD and me is that I have no use for a weltanschauung.

So, how to explain this then? Mother Earth is the trash strata sphere, informed primarily by Mother Saturn. But it’s not just those two; simply that they are the most powerful symphonies (I’ll explain this in a minute). But there are many spheres between the two Mothers, some beneficent, some maleficent, and even these are only descriptors for forces that beggar description. I know that Manly P. Hall does a decent job talking about the crystalline sphere metaphysical models that permeate much of the classical magical texts, and I cannot stress enough that I have no investment in these ideas as truth, more of an teleological lens through which one can view things when the reality goggles get yanked.

So if Earth is everywhere (which it is – under normal circumstances you can’t detect anything but the Earth sphere with your 5 senses), and through the influence of Saturn everything is beige, what if one was to focus through a different sphere? I think I did this for a moment on Sunday to horrific effect. I was thinking about how sucky this all was and then boom! Everything went Dario Argento-red, and I think that was Mars.

8/8/18

Wednesday – I almost cut all of this stuff out because it’s weird to talk about it openly. I’m going to admit some things that I don’t talk openly about, because I’ve always thought one’s metaphysics should be kept to oneself. Also, it just feels weird talking about it publicly. But, my original purpose for posting this online was to help anyone who might be interested in trying something like this. And if I can’t talk about the methods “I” used to deal with the really heavy trips, then how the fuck am I helping people?

On the flip side, I have a hard time with stating anything that sounds boastful. In a weird way, I’m sort of proud of the fact that I was able to come out on the other side of this. And 99% of the time, if I do something I’m proud of, announcing it to people either across the internet or at dinner parties seems like a terrible breach of etiquette. So here’s the dilemma.

But even that’s bullshit. Because “I” didn’t really do anything. If anybody did something yesterday, it was Dr REDACTED. He’s led who-the-fuck-knows how many people through this very same hedge-maze, and probably knew all along what he was doing with me. So, I survived this in the same way somebody survives a Class-5 river rafting expedition by hanging onto the side-rails. “I” was not doing the paddling.

But I did some stuff before the trip this time, and maybe it gamed the results some. (Here’s the openly admitting stuff). I have an ancestral altar in one of my rooms, and yesterday I made an offering to both my pantheon and my ancestral lineage. The offering was frankincense and myrrh, plus a copy of the receipt from my payment to REDACTED. I made a promise at my altar to try to let my heart lead the way through the parts of the trip that my head couldn’t tolerate. Then I meditated on the new hypersigil I’ve been working on for 10 minutes. This was the last thing I did before heading out.

So the sphere of Binah/Mother Saturn sits on the left shoulder, Chesed/the Sidereal Realm/something like the Akashic Records hovers just above the right shoulder. These are the devil/angel dynamics depicted in religious woodcuttings and Tom & Jerry cartoons (the fucking best). Mother Saturn speaks to you through the Gates of the Abyss where Choronzon dwells. This is Daath and the awareness of speech programming not only your operant paradigms but the construct that you mistake for you.

To realize that you are simply a story that you are told is to realize that the story began long before your comprehension of language existed in your own temporal reality. I realize that this is a little dense, so I’ll try it a different way. You process the world through language, and somewhere in all of the language you have picked up is a single through-line; the “you-code”. You aren’t the code any more than the story of the Giving Tree is an actual tree. But the story of you started before you became you. Therefore, your primary source code was written by something other than you. And that game of “pass the baton” has been going back since before we knew how to build campfires.

So you have to surrender that story to pass through the gate of understanding beyond where our capacity for language lies. I think this is where you have to allow your heart-center to take the reins. To do this is to view the Earth Sphere through the lens of Tiphareth. This can be done. I did this, and the only way that I can admit it is to admit that “I” wasn’t the one doing it.

This is another step on the path to individuation.

More about the gate, and what it does. Concurrently, I’m thinking about something Ouspensky wrote about the tarot trumps and how they pair off with each other (or in his words, how I would have understood him to have written abo…). To further his (rather, my understanding of his) position, this metaphysical/archetypal gate could be the flashpoint where they meet – in this metaphor I guess the flashpoint is the “burning now” that one only experiences when the idea of self is dissolved – and how in some cases this can induce specific forms of madness. In particular, I’m thinking of the pairing between the 7th and 16th trumps; these being the Chariot and the Tower.

With respect to religion, these two provide glimpses of the lead-up to and fall-out from a damaging experience of kratophany. In this case, the chariot represents an attempt to experience the numinous, but conflates an attitude of proper reverence with self-righteous piety. At the omega-point of kratophany, the chariot meets with the Godhead, and the Tower is the fall-out. You can see physical evidence of this phenomenon by checking out some of the odder-looking fundamentalist churches within the US “Bible Belt”. I don’t doubt that any of the more freakish snake handlers and faith healers have had genuine spiritual encounters. But not having prepared for it, the fallout makes them even more armored, fearful and xenophobic.

To someone who has encountered “other” with a nothing but a head full of Old Testament fire & brimstone and some American exceptionalism to fall back on, xenophobia might seem like a valid reaction. This is the poison of Yaldaboath at work; a sentient mind-virus spawning 3 new 700 Clubs every time a Pat Robertson passes away.

The flip side to this madness is the form of hardcore Satanism described by theorists like Maury Terry and Linda Blood. Animal and human sacrifice erase the primary you-code, but instead of Yaldaboath, something even darker and more immediately dangerous can slip in.

#metaphysical #chaos magick #witchcraft #ketamine #ptsd

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faithfulnews · 4 years

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Why I Signed The Statement on Social Justice And The Gospel

Recently drafted by concerned Christian leaders, “The Statement on Social Justice And The Gospel” is in keeping with the words of Jude to emphasize our “common salvation” and “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 1:3) While I believe that the specific wording of certain points of The Statement on Social Justice could have been better, I agree with the basic idea that all Christians should be aware of how the true gospel is being undermined by Marxist and Socialist principles. Even perhaps even more stunning: Many well-meaning Christians are unaware that "social justice" groups like BLM, that they are helping, are aiming for a Socialist revolutionary takeover. I'll give evidence of this.

Don't the Scriptures Support a Social Justice Gospel? What does it mean when scripture states, 'Jesus came to set the captives free' (Luke 4:18) and how does this apply today? Was Jesus supporting 'oppressed peoples' in general or was He promoting 'sanctuary cities' specifically where hardened criminals as 'undocumented citizens' are free to rape and murder at will without the fear of ever being incarcerated? Well, according to the standard commentary on this verse, Jesus was actually referring to spiritual freedom and not physical freedom. Sadly, some pastors today use this same reference to claim that Jesus was a social justice warrior according to their own warped applications. Josh Buice, one of the key authors of The Statement on Social Justice, documents a film clip of a pastor teaching with this kind of example of sloppy exegesis linked in one of his articles: “Social Justice is an Attack on the Sufficiency of Scripture” Christians are Supporting a Socialist-Marxist Revolutionary Takeover Another example of misconstrued purpose is an article I saw by Sojourner Stephen Mattson titled "Social Justice Is a Christian Tradition — Not a Liberal Agenda" in which he lauds Black Lives Matter: "So saying “Black Lives Matter” and participating in a movement seeking justice, positive reform, and empowerment is one of the most Christ-like things we can do." The fact is, BLM is heavily promoting a radical Marxist agenda, not Christ's, as documented in detail at websites, The Federalist and The Berean Watch. Many Christians are promoting organizations like Black Lives Matter without realizing or caring that they are actually helping to support a radical Marxist-Socialist revolution. The same goes for Christians that support Antifa demonstrations. The Daily Wire outlines how Antifa actually uses fascist tactics of unprovoked violence and the opposition of free speech in support of their confused Marxist agenda. A Staggering 72 Percent of African American Children are Raised in Homes With one Parent The prime issue for the African American community is not social justice, it's family disintegration. A staggering 72 Percent of US black children are raised in single-parent homes. A home without a father often causes subtle resentment and rebellion in young boys. I know this because I felt these subtle feelings growing up without a father in my home. The NY Post outlines, "Contrary to the Black Lives Matter narrative, the police have much more to fear from black males than black males have to fear from the police. In 2015, a police officer was 18.5 times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male was to be killed by a police officer." Many Christian Leaders are Promoting Misguided Selective Outrage

The mainstream news increasingly offers selective outrage based on leftist and progressive 'social justice' issues, and this is often carried over into the church. A case in point is the apparent mechanical recycling of selective outrage against conservative Christians by Tim Keller regarding social justice issues in a 2017 article he wrote for New Yorker. The group often facing the most 'systemic oppression' is conservative Christians, and 'social justice' Christians are often helping in the attack and all the while unwittingly helping to remove their own religious conscience rights in the process. The Gospel Coalition was adamantly criticizing Donald Trump up to his election and even thereafter, with John Piper claiming the president was "unfit" upon his inauguration and undermining his authority, even as angry Democrats and anarchists were bloodying up random conservatives on the street. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Piper published a message back in 2015 titled "How Should Christians Think About Socialism?" that mistakenly associates Socialism only with Bernie Sanders, apparently unaware of the entrenched Socialism in the Democrat Party at large. The Destructive Politics of Marxism and Socialism in the Democrat Party Christian social justice warriors are often in denial regarding the many Marxist and Socialist principles and policies being enacted by the Democrat Party and this article on Christian social justice today would not be complete without pointing this out. A separate article addresses this specifically. In the long run, history warns us that embracing the false precepts of secular-atheist Marxism will not only bring about confusion and destruction in society, it will also limit the freedom to proclaim the gospel in accordance with increasing governmental totalitarianism. I lived in Ukraine for 10 years and saw first hand the negative fruits of a socialist society. The Longterm Harmful Effects of Socialism are Significant The long-term harmful effects of Socialism are significant and result in decreased quality, decreased creativity, decreased civil freedoms, and a lowering of the standard of living due to the decreased freedoms of the marketplace. I saw an image on Facebook recently that summed up the condition well. It doesn't show made the image, but the question is poignant: "Ever noticed that you have never seen people fleeing capitalism to seek a better future in a socialist state? Never ever, not once...Think about that...Take all the time that you need." Capitalism is not a perfect solution, but it is the preferred one. The word "Capitalism" was not in use until much later than the writing of the US Constitution. The protection of private property, free speech, and freedom of conscience from government abuse are based upon natural law. On the contrary, Marxism demands that all personal rights are subservient to the totalitarian state that holds absolute power. So if you are supporting Marxism in the US, you are actually supporting political tyranny against the Constitution and people of the US. Problems occur in Capitalism mainly when the checks and balances are removed and there is corruption within the system, such as when lobbyists overly influence politicians with crony capitalism that causes unhealthy policies and products based on the greed of the politicians and corporate leaders. But this is more a problem of the sin nature than the system itself.

Good Examples of Christian Help and Works Versus Christian Socialism When the Good Samaritan saw the injured person on the street, he did not lobby for the government for a victim fund, he helped the victim himself (Luke 10:25-37). When the elderly widows in the early church were truly in need of basic things to live, there was not a petition to begin a government fund for this, the church helped those in need (1 Timothy 5:3-16). The early church in Jerusalem was very passionate about giving away all of their possessions to help those in need (Acts 2:41-47), however, this was voluntary and not forced by the government. Also, when you look at the big picture, other churches later had to collect donations in order to help support the church in Jerusalem (1 Cor 16:1–4; 2 Cor 8:1–9:15; Rom 15:14–32). The body os scripture implies that perhaps it was not wise for people in the church in Jerusalem to give away all of their possessions. In order to help others long term, it seems more advantageous to use private property as a means of production and a basis for help as opposed to giving all away and doing away with all private property. Throughout history, Christians have helped against racism, with social needs, building orphanages, and other types of organized voluntary and positive action, and Jesus engaged in a type of political activism when he stood against the corruption of the local Jewish leaders that held both religious and political status. The minute we demand that the government be the provider of every single need and the great equalizer of wealth, however, then we are no longer following a biblical example. And if your Christian message is based more on a social justice gospel than on the central spiritual gospel, then it's off. You mean you don't support the “oppressed” of society and you call yourself a Christian? There are so many misguided and outright false precepts being promoted today in the name of 'true Christian' identity that it's hard to know where to begin. Here is a brief list of some types of misguided statements that I've seen: "If you don't support kneeling for the US flag and anthem to protest social injustice, then you are a racist bigot and cannot be a true Christian.” "If you question whether the acceptance of subjective gender fluidity should govern all of society as opposed to an opinion that objective biological gender is more reliable, then you hate the LGBT community." "If you claim to be a Christian with conservative values, even though this identification can offend liberal democrats, then you support tribalism and you are out of touch." "If you don't support unconditional open borders to any and all people that desire to come into your country, then you are not a real Christian." There is an Extreme Lack of Discernment and Critical Thinking in the Church Today I'll summarize some of these errors and urge the importance of discernment and critical thinking when listening to popular evangelical teachers by testing everything against the whole of scripture. The Apostle Paul praised Christians that were prone to “test all things” that were being taught against the body of scripture, even his own teachings. (Acts 17:11, 1 Thessalonians 5:21) Regarding the flag and anthem kneeling begun by Colin Kaepernick, there are at least five reasons why his protests are illogical, including the fact that there is no measurable goal for his kneeling to obtain. When you closely examine Colin's website and specifically what he promotes, you see Marxism, Islam, Feminism, and other beliefs promoted, and you begin to understand that he is in a state of confusion with regard to the basis of ethics. While supporting 'all oppressed people' may sound wonderful, if you support both Islam and feminism this makes no sense because Sharia law requires types of extreme and excessive submission of women to men and this is diametrically opposed to feminism. Kaepernick's support of convicted cop-killer Assata Shakur only instills animosity from the police, which is counter-productive to his supposed cause of improving police relationships with the community. The true gospel emphasizes that human differences are negligible, that race is insignificant compared to our spiritual union in Christ (Galatians 3:28). However, to many in social justice gospel movement, perceived racism is a top priority. Pertaining to the LGBT community and Socialism, there is a definite connection: "The connection between left-leaning ideologies and LGBT rights struggles has a long and mixed history. Prominent socialists who were involved in early struggles for LGBT rights include Edward Carpenter, Oscar Wilde, Harry Hay, Bayard Rustin, Emma Goldman and Daniel Guérin among others." LGBT rights and secular Socialism, in general, both share a common relativist basis for ethics. This is not in agreement with Theism, that holds to an objective basis of ethics in the person of God and His unchanging nature as the ultimate moral anchor. Conservative Christians that understand the true basis of ethics and why a close interpretation of God's word are important do not “hate” the LGBT community when affirming the words of Jesus when He stated that marriage was intended to be between one man and one woman. There are at least 10 myths associated with LGBT issues and Christianity. Our True Identity and Values as Christians are Defined in Scripture The identity we embrace as Christians should not be based on how we feel, how we want others to perceive us, or materialist values for the 'highest good' of society, rather, our identity should be based mainly on how God defines us in scripture. Scripture repeatedly affirms our primary Christian identity as covenant children of God (Romans 8:17, Galatians 3:26, 1 John 3:2, Ephesians 1:5) Not only is our primary identity critical, the Bible shows that our main “high calling” is a “holy calling” to be conformed more and more into the nature of Christ as we abide in a dynamic personal relationship with Christ and share the truth of the gospel. (Philippians 3:14-21, 2 Timothy 1:9, 2 Peter 3:18, Philippians 3:8)

Identified in the comments at the Christianity Tomorrow website, in a sermon titled, “Cultural Renewal” Tim Keller stated that, ‘the primary purpose of salvation is – cultural renewal – to make this world a better place’. This mp3 sermon has since been deleted, but here is the original link: http://www.faithandwork.org/uploads/photos/461-1%20Cultural%20Renewal_%20The%20Role%20of%20th.mp3 It appears that a similar teaching has been removed, per the original link at Gospel Masquerade. In 2006 at an “Entrepreneur’s Forum” sponsored by Redeemer, Keller implied that he is not a conservative Christian and that the purpose of salvation is not personal or spiritual, it's to “renew creation” supposedly:

“Conservative churches say ‘this world is not our home — it’s gonna burn up eventually and what really matters is saving souls… so evangelism and discipleship and saving souls are what is important’. And we try to say that it’s the other way around almost. That the purpose of salvation is to renew creation. That this world is a good in itself… And if you see it that way, then the old paradigm if you’re going to put your money and your time and your effort as a Christian into doing God’s work in the world, you wanna save souls which means the only purpose of your ministry and your effort is to increase the tribe, increase the number of Christians..."

The disturbing thing about these types of heretical comments that Keller makes, and heretical comments that other popular evangelical teachers make, is that they reappear in similar forms and whether or not opinions have changed is not clear because the teachers don't seem to ever renounce them or specifically address objections to them. When you look deeply into these problems you'll see that the common denominator of many false teachings is an overly humanistic approach to God, elevating human desires and human goals above the prime and absolute authority of Christ. When the Apostle Paul became "all things to all people" in order to "save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22) his goal was salvation, not cultural renewal, and he was starting with the foundation the gospel and using language and actions that were appealing in order to describe the essential aspects of the gospel to listeners. To embrace Marxist ideas as ideologically valid as the basis and then to try to adapt this to Christianity is altogether a different approach that compromises the gospel. To Label The Great Commission as a Form of Outdated Tribalism is Not Acceptable For Christians to label a desire to increase the body of saved believers, also known as The Great Commission, as a negative form of outdated tribalism runs counter to the body of scripture. This is simply heretical. Tim Keller's assertion, “That this world is a good in itself” is not true. The world is not good in itself without God. The person of God is the standard of all meaning and value and also the source of all goodness. I've not seen more pronounced support for Christian social justice than in Keller's writings, and that is why I've pointed them out. It's nothing personal. One of the key aspects of spiritual salvation is what Jesus described as being 'born again' by the Holy Spirit when He spoke to Nicodemus. Jesus did not downplay this subject but he emphasized that it is necessary: "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3 KJV). This was a very difficult subject for Nicodemus to grasp, and it's also hard for many people today to grasp as well. However, because it is an essential "must" of salvation, we should not be ashamed of this subject. In chapter 4 of his book, Reason for God, Keller suggests that Christians should avoid the phrase 'born again' because it seems radical and people can have negative associations with it: “Perhaps the biggest deterrent to Christianity for the average person today is not so much [the church’s history of] violence and warfare but the shadow of fanaticism. Many non-believers have friends or relatives who have become ‘born-again’ and seem to have gone off the deep end.” The fact is, being born again by the Spirit is indeed a radical aspect of new life in Christ. It's something that I'm grateful for and not ashamed of as though it is nothing more than a "shadow of fanaticism" based on secular perceptions. Even as Jesus brought this subject up with Nicodemus, it's a beautiful spiritual subject that is helpful for non-Christians in understanding the true essence and nature of Christianity. Even as nature dies and is reborn every year with the winter snow and spring rain in the seasons of nature, God has displayed the wonder of regeneration for all of us to see. Keller's humanistic approach is similar to the strategy of Joel Osteen, who loves to discuss "prosperity" but avoids the word "sin" in his sermons because it is not a "positive" subject, even though it is an essential aspect of redemption and salvation, as outlined in a discussion with Katie Couric. For Keller to downplay the necessities of spiritual salvation and to claim that the real purpose of salvation is 'cultural renewal' suggests that he is pushing his social gospel a bit too far. A Deeper Look at Keller's Marxist Gospel A deeper analysis of Keller's Marxism by Timothy Kauffman was outlined at the New Calvinists website: "Timothy Kauffman has examined Keller’s claim that God’s radical plan is that ‘we are to work together to make the world a better place, to help each other, and to find purpose for our lives’, and demonstrated that it does not come from biblical wisdom, as Keller wants us to believe, but from a Marxist worldview. To convince his readers of ‘God’s radical plan’, Keller quotes from the writings of three Marxists, Robert Bellah, Gustavo Gutierrez and Reinhold Niebuhr, without mentioning their political affiliation. In effect, Keller has surreptitiously replaced the gospel of Christ with the utopian ideology of Marx, and presented it as biblical truth. The importance of Kauffman’s analysis is that it demonstrates how Marxist ideology can masquerade as Christian truth. Marxism’s Opposition to Scripture "But more importantly, the fundamental problem with Marxism is that it rests solidly upon a notion of reality that is in every respect utterly opposed to Scripture, and from which springs false understandings of the nature of man, his purpose in life, the cause of his problems, the solution to his problems and the understanding of history and progress. It is not sufficient to state that Marxism doesn’t ‘work’, has a history of tyranny, or proposes a radical re-construction of western society. The problem with Marxism is much more fundamental, more Satanic than even its disastrous effects. The problem with Marxism is that it is a false gospel, offering man false understandings, false solutions and false hope. When professing Christians advocate ideas and practices similar to those of Marxist ideology they are advocating more than Marxism—they are embracing a false gospel. They are in every scriptural sense of the word, false teachers." Judging from the teachings of popular evangelicals, "The long march through the institutions," apparently, has included a long march through popular seminaries as well. The long march through the institutions is a slogan coined by student activist Rudi Dutschke to describe his strategy for establishing the conditions for a social, cultural, and governmental revolution by infiltrating and subverting academic institutions with Marxist and socialist ideologies. The secular world promotes education for all and social justice for all as a supposed means to world peace. However, scripture shows that true world peace will not be possible on earth until Christ reigns and true inner peace comes only through a relationship with Christ and spiritual regeneration. This is the basis of the true gospel. If anyone supports the various forms popular Christian social justice being lauded today, I'd welcome comments and constructive dialogue here at my blog. Sadly, The Gospel Coalition blogs, where there is a need for a discussion on this subject, do not allow for any comments. I noticed that Thabiti Anyabwile says about Twitter, "it’s generally my habit to respond when I can" --but that 's hardly a good venue considering the limited words allowed, and so Christians are mostly talking past one another on this subject with articles and editorials. Both Jesus and Socrates emphasized the importance of dialogue and asking questions in order to come to a knowledge of the truth. When Christian leaders avoid meaningful interactive dialogues and questions, this is a red flag. In attempting some type of dialogue on this issue, I posted a comment at Thabiti Anyabwile's Twitter home page under the following statement by J.A. Medders: "If you believe in Total Depravity but deny systemic injustice and racism—you don't believe in Total Depravity." My reply: "Question for @Mrmedders and @ThabitiAnyabwil: If 'SYSTEMIC INJUSTICE' is based on the sin nature and there is no measurable goal to the NFL KNEELING, then the kneeling should never end, right? Thanks in advance for your replies." So far, there's been no reply from either one. I get the sense that Thabiti Anyabwil and others at TGC are not interested in an interactive dialogue on social justice because deep down on some level they perceive that they cannot defend their views. In the meantime, if matters of culture and social justice are exalted over and above the importance of spiritual salvation and joining in a personal relationship with God, then a different gospel is being preached, which is a serious matter. “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8

Good works, helping the poor, and promoting justice are all good things, but these can never replace the core value of life in Christ as the ultimate good to share with the world. Pray for an epiphany for Christian SJWs who undermine our freedoms and rights as Christians to share the gospel and pray for protection for president Trump who faces more opposition than any president in modern history, despite all of the positive gains he's made in politics. John MacArthur encourages politics in the "voting booth" only: "America’s moral decline is a spiritual problem, not a political one, and its solution is the gospel, not partisan politics." Personally, I believe it's incorrect to make a blanket statement on whether or not a Christian should be involved in politics. Wayne Grudem outlines why a "political influence" is a valid calling for many Christians and in his understanding, the "correct view" is for a “significant Christian influence on government.” The basis of the New Testament is a personal relationship with God, and this suggests that God can guide us through our conscience, by reading scripture, by prayer, and even through dreams, as a means towards showing us as individuals what God would like us to focus on. In contrast to MacArthur, WND highlights that James Dobson urges Christians to spread the word and warn against totalitarianism: “Shame on them all! Don’t they know that tyranny for us and our children is only one generation, or even one election, away? “We must vote, vote, vote to elect leaders who will defend what has been purchased with the blood of patriots who died to protect our liberty. We owe it to the memory of their sacrifice to preserve what they did for us. We must not fritter it away on our watch!” Though I agree with MacArthur's help in defending the true gospel against Marxist values and priorities, I do not see conservative Christian positions as threatening the gospel in such a serious manner. On the contrary, defending the US Constitution politically allows the right of free speech to share the gospel, while totalitarian Socialism does not. An example to consider is China: "Christians in Shanghai, China, are "outraged and helpless" after Communist authorities wrote "Socialism's Core Values" on a church building." Twitter backlink: https://twitter.com/Templestream/status/1043884741760561152 Note: It's interesting that on October 4, 2018, Timothy Keller announced on Twitter that he is not officially a Marxist. We guessed that he is not officially a Marxist. The problem, however, is that his ideas and opinions are steeped in Marxist precepts. Tags: what is The Statement on Social Justice And The Gospel? examples of Christian social justice today, why is the social justice gospel harmful? What is Christian Socialism? Christian Socialism of Thabiti Anyabwil, J.A. Medders, Stephen Mattson, John Piper, Tim Keller revealed, Christians should resist totalitarianism

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septembersung · 7 years

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Ten Reasons to Reject the Reformation

In 1580, Catholicism was illegal in England and publishable by torture and execution. Edmund Campion “become an Anglican deacon, but his seminary formation exposed him to the Church Fathers in a serious way for the first time. Discovering that, contrary to what he’d been taught, the early Christians were actually Catholic, Edmund had no choice but to return to the Catholic Church in which he had been raised.” [x]

St. Campion escaped to Europe where he was ordained in 1580, and sent back to England undercover to minister to the faithful in hiding. While on the run, he wrote and published two books, one of which was Ten Reasons proposed to his adversaries for disputation in the name of the faith and presented to the illustrious members of our universities. In 1581, St. Campion was arrested, tortured, and executed. He was canonized as one of the 40 English and Welsh martyrs in 1970 by Pope Paul VI. His feast day is December 1st.

In this series, Joe Heschmeyer quotes and elaborates on St. Campion’s Ten Reasons. Each post is pithy, (usually) brief, and penetrating. I’ve linked them all here with a brief excerpt:

Reason #1: The Canon of Scripture. Excerpt: “All of this demands the question of where the Protestant 66-book canon comes from, and why we should trust it.”

Reason #2: Scriptural Interpretation. Excerpt: “And while Protestants tend to think of themselves as simply taking the plain meaning or literal interpretation of Scripture, this often isn’t so…”

Reason #3: The Nature of the Church. Excerpt: “So the invisible Church ecclesiology isn’t just unworkable, unscriptural, and unsupported by the first thousand years of Christianity, it’s also dangerous. As Campion notes, this ecclesiology can easily be used to justify schism, which Scripture condemns (Gal. 5:20). In the 434 years since Campion wrote those words, he’s been proven right time and time again by innumerable schisms within Protestantism.”

Reason #4: Ecumenical Councils. Excerpt: “So we’re left facing three basic positions that one can take in relation to these Ecumenical Councils: Accept the Councils as the work of the Holy Spirit; Gut the Councils, while paying them lip service; or, Reject the Council openly and outright. Each of these positions is problematic for Protestantism. Let’s consider them in order…”

Reason #5: The Church Fathers. Excerpt: “Without [the Church Fathers], it’s hard to see how you would have anything like orthodox Christianity. But with them, it’s hard to see how you could still hold to Protestantism. And it’s precisely this point that Campion points out in the fifth of his Ten Reasons against the Reformation: the Reformers were right to dislike the Church Fathers, because an accurate awareness of early Christianity is fatal to the Reformation.:

Reason #6: Patristic Scriptural Exegesis. Excerpt: “This reframes the debate in an important way: it’s no longer primarily a question of whether we base doctrines off of Scripture and Tradition or Scripture alone. Rather, the question is primarily about whether we will base doctrines off of your interpretation of Scripture or the interpretation of Scripture held by the early Christians (and indeed, by the Church, and by an unbroken chain of two thousand years’ worth of Christians).”

Reason #7: History. Excerpt: “This has clear implications for the validity of the Reformation. After all, any justification for the Reformation presupposes that the Church had fallen into apostasy, or at least heresy. And the evidence for this can’t just be, “the Catholic Church disagrees with me, and how I interpret Scripture!” That just as easily — indeed, much more easily — shows that you’re the one in the wrong. No, to show that the Church has fallen, you should be able to show when (and how, and over whose objections) she stopped following the true faith and started following a false one. That this burden can’t be met by those defending the Reformation speaks volumes.”

Reason #8: Heterodoxy. Excerpt: “While not all of the causes of the Protestant Reformation were theological, some of them undoubtedly were. So St. Edmund Campion, in the eighth of his Ten Reasons against the Reformation, addressed some of these. Specifically, he considers certain “impossible positions” that the Reformers held “on God, on Christ, on Man, on Sin, on Justice, on Sacraments, [and] on Morals.” […]

Reason #9: Logical Fallacies. Excerpt: “Campion suggested that these four specific logical fallacies were at the root of many anti-Catholic polemics. This remains true now as then. The four are…”

Reason #10: All Manner of Witness. Excerpt: “Broadly speaking, Campion’s order of witnesses are as follows: the witness of the simple, the witness of the Saints, the witness of the damned, and the witness of Christendom itself…”

#500 reasons and counting #protestant reformation #st. edmund campion #catholic history

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panharmonium · 7 years

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Glancing sideways at Obi-Wan, remembering his former Master’s restrained but heartfelt praise of that mission, he felt a twinge of guilt.

I wish I could tell him about Padme. The Jedi are wrong. Love doesn’t weaken us. It makes us stronger. I wish Padme and I could show him that. He’s very alone. (Karen Miller, Wild Space)

about the quote accompanying that last edit -

i haven’t read wild space for so long, i forgot a lot of the things i didn’t like about it. but like all the karen miller books i’ve read, it’s not my personal favorite. and it’s been a long time since i wrote any star wars meta, but i’ve had that edit in my likes for months and i don’t want to attach a bunch of irrelevant meta to someone else’s lovely work, so here i am.

to whoever the anon was who asked me if i would write jedi order meta (a million years ago, i realize) - at the time i said i wasn’t sure, but times have, apparently, changed.

disclaimer: personal opinions ahoy! if they are not your opinions, that’s great! cool beans! this is a fictional universe in which we all engage for fun; no need to get stressed - please feel free to hit the ‘ew, don’t like it’ tumblr button and go have fun with fandom in whatever way appeals to you! :)

(that disclaimer includes a request to please refrain from reblogging this for the sole purpose of arguing or starting a star wars debate™, even a good-natured one. i’m literally just trying to organize my own personal interpretation of something on my own personal blog, for my own personal enjoyment. i promise you there is no need to hit me up with ‘BUT HAVE YOU CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING REBUTTAL - ’ i promise. it’s cool.)

(under a cut for absurd length and many scanned book excerpts)

so, that wild space quote.

my response to it hinges entirely on a question of author vs. character.

if this is solely a character’s point of view, then i find it eminently believable. this is a thing anakin might say. it demonstrates yet again anakin’s fundamental misunderstanding of everything he’s ever been taught, but it’s very much a believable misunderstanding for him to operate under.

if this character bit is supported and endorsed by the author - which i suspect is the case, given that this is the angle i see the majority of star wars authors and fans taking - then that’s a different thing.

i feel like i’ve written variations on this post several times before, but surprisingly enough i am still staunchly opposed to virtually every interpretation of the jedi i have ever read, including wild space (shocking, i know, what can i do). it’s frustrating to me that the Prevailing Opinions out there about the Jedi Order are virtually all assumptions, not facts, and that these assumptions have for some reason been accepted as the only possible truth, the only possible extrapolation from canon, when in fact it is just as reasonable, just as textually-supported, and, i would argue, more realistic for us to extrapolate and make inferences supporting a different conclusion.

anakin’s interpretation of the jedi order in the quote above represents the Prevailing Opinion: “the jedi are wrong. love doesn’t weaken us.” this interpretation, in turn, relies on an assumption: “the jedi think love weakens us.” however, contrary to popular belief, the statement "the jedi think love weakens us” IS in fact exactly what i said it is: an ASSUMPTION.

a presumption, i might even say, and one that i don’t personally feel is particularly well-supported by canon. even anakin himself, when teased by padme, shows that he’s been taught enough jedi philosophy to know that “love” is more complicated than “love/emotions = bad!” and that “love” and “attachment” are not the same thing.

Padme: Are you allowed to love? I thought that was forbidden for a Jedi.

Anakin: Attachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden. Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is central to a Jedi's life. So, you might say that we are encouraged to love.

which is still something of a rudimentary explanation, less nuanced than what an older knight or master might give you, but it absolutely indicates a deeper philosophical understanding of jedi pillars than what people usually credit anakin for knowing or obi-wan for teaching.

obi-wan says in ANH that the jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy for “over a thousand generations.” now, even estimating ridiculously low and saying that humans in the star wars universe only ever live to be thirty years old (i don’t know! it’s a dangerous galaxy!), a thousand generations is still thirty thousand years. that’s…. significantly longer that our society’s entire written history, never mind the lifespan of any one modern-day religion.

when we have so little canon information about the jedi order, obviously everybody is free to extrapolate about it however they like, but - when you look at things and recognize how truly old the order is - it’s just baffling to me that there is so little attention paid to canon/legends textual evidence of the philosophical nuance of the jedi order, to the near-certain existence, as with any real-world religion, of varying yet equally accepted schools of thought within the jedi order (not schools of thought elevated above the jedi order by some lazy label like ‘grey jedi’), to the idea that the jedi order is OVER A THOUSAND GENERATIONS OLD, and can you honestly not envision the sheer volume of scholarly debate and theological treatises and movements and growth and accumulated history and depth and internal interpretations that this organization necessarily must encompass? think about any real-world religion today - think about how many different interpretations one religion might have for a single line of holy text, never mind an entire holy book - think of all the non-textual supplementary material that contributes to any philosophy or theology, i.e. the hadith; think about the exegesis that accompanies any religious text; think of the incredible volume of critical thought and literature and liturgy that falls under the umbrella of just one modern-day religion, and can you honestly imagine that the jedi order - which again is tens of THOUSANDS of years older than any of our religions - isn’t bursting at the seams with philosophy and history, with debate and interpretation, with myriad streams of literalist and revisionist schools of thought - ALL equally jedi, and ALL included in a jedi education?

do we honestly think that the jedi code is five precepts scribbled on a piece of flimsi, and that everybody interprets them the same way? we know that’s not true. mace windu tells qui-gon that taking a second padawan is impossible because “the code forbids it,” and i hear that - but nowhere in the familiar ‘there is no emotion’ mantra do we get guidelines for padawan-raising. that directive has to come from somewhere else. we KNOW there’s more text. we KNOW there’s more history. but somehow we just refuse to extrapolate this knowledge out to its fullest logical extent, which is that the jedi order has a thousand generations’ more history, more text, more commentaries, more scholarly debates on every subject, and that while one tradition for, say, padawan-raising is accepted currently, the one-padawan/one-master convention isn’t just some arbitrary rule. every structure and every tradition comes with a history, a conversation, and about 200 philosophical treatises, all of which are considered equally Jedi, and all of which are available to be checked out from the Archives.

this is how it would really work: padawans taking exams are tasked with answering questions like ‘explain, with textual evidence, so-and-so’s interpretation of the Fourth Precept, including references to such-and-such’s landmark rebuttal and the modern-day commentaries of X, Y, and Z.” when masters tell their students that levitating their clothes into the laundry chute is a frivolous application of the Force and thus to be discouraged, certain impudent young scholars *cough obi-wan kenobi cough* troop down to the Archives and return later that night with ten different texts in hand, all of them ruminating on virtue or vice: applications of the force in everyday life, relevant portions circled. padawans taking saber classes are instructed not only in the elements of combat but in philosophical paradigms, and ethical dilemmas - a “real discussion about competing conceptions of the good” (to quote the office, of all things!), as in this excerpt from cloak of deception:

or this, about emotions:

With both eyes open now, he studied his Padawan. Obi-Wan sat cross-legged in a chair with his eyes closed. But his shoulders were tensed, and beneath his eyelids Qui-Gon could see movement.

“Are you all right, Obi-Wan?” Qui-Gon asked softly.

Obi-Wan opened his eyes and met his Master’s gaze. “Yes,” he said slowly. And then, “Well, I don’t know.”

“You are afraid,” Qui-Gon stated plainly.

A look of shame came over Obi-Wan’s face, but he did not deny it. “My heart is full of dread,” he admitted. “I wish we were on another mission - any other mission. I am not sure I have the courage to face the Holocron…”

Qui-Gon leaned toward his apprentice. “You have every right to be afraid,” he said quietly. “Allow yourself to feel the fear - really feel it - and then let the emotion go. If it comes back, feel it again and let it go again. There should be no shame in one’s emotions.”

“I am not at fault if it comes back?” Obi-Wan asked, looking up.

“No, Padawan,” Qui-Gon replied. “We cannot control how we feel. Only how we choose to handle our feelings.”

A look of true relief crossed Obi-Wan’s face, and he smiled slightly. His shoulders relaxed and he closed his eyes. (JA, Jude Watson)

about love:

No attachments. He did not see this as a conflict. He saw it as a great truth - that he could love, but have no wish to possess. That he could trust, but not resent those who let him down. (JA, Jude Watson)

about discipline, from Rogue Planet - discipline tempered by understanding, discipline that instructs rather than punishes, discipline that is as willing to point out the teacher’s error as it is the student’s:

and

THAT is the kind of education obi-wan kenobi received, and that is the education he provided for his own student. that is the jedi order. qui-gon jinn’s interpretation of jedi precepts and philosophy doesn’t make him something un-jedi. it doesn’t make him a radical, and it doesn’t make him a “grey” jedi. “grey” jedi isn’t a thing. differing interpretations and meaning-making, in this thousand generation-long tradition of scholarship and spiritual development, IS jedi - certain universal principles that the entire order accepts, but with nuances, readings, and applications that vary across individuals/traditions/historical periods.

THAT is the jedi order. or at least, it’s a more realistic conception of the jedi order than the oversimplified, unlikely, and unimaginative version that authors are typically referring to when they write sentences like “the jedi are wrong about love.”

#boop be doop i fell down a star wars shaped hole today #¯\_(ツ)_/¯#that quote though -_-#'i wish padme and i could show him that' honestly the most condescending foolishness #like obi-wan doesn't actively choose the life he lives every single day #also uhhhhh good lord it's late #this is why i don't write meta anymore; i don't have tIME #but anyway the jedi deserved a few hours of my day #star wars #meta #order appreciation

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New Post has been published on https://passingbynehushtan.com/2019/04/19/parable-of-the-lost-coin-luke-15/

Luke 15: Parable of the Lost Coin, the Lost Motivation

Who are the lost, and what are the lost?

This started out to be a commentary on the Parable of the Lost Coin in Luke 15. But it quickly went out of control. It’s now a casual meditation on a significant word we use in the church that maybe we should retool our thinking about, the “Lost.” Not the damned or hardened rejector of Christ’s claims, but using it as a slightly harsh but hopeful category.

This will be a controversial post because this subject involves the many opposing symbolic diads used in differing situational contexts. It’s supposed to be hard. It’s supposed to be challenging. Something to attract our sense of spiritual exploration and discovery. This is not meant for casual Christian observers of the Bible, but those that what to really get to the heart of the matter. Call, for now, the “lost” all of us, these people who want to dive deep, to some extent. All that matters is that we, and what we are looking for, is found, and what is found is an exact thing, not a general thing.

Lost, saved, repentance, sin, found, believe, righteousness, sheep, coin, door, shepherd, flock, bless. What do they mean? You know, in the end, it does not matter much what they mean if that thing is not found, because symbols don’t determine meaning, they only reflect it and help it.

Parable of the Lost

You are searching for the ultimate vehicle. You go to the library and tell the clerk that you want to do research to find the best car. The clerk hands you a book. The book is full of car logos, drawings, and descriptions of cars. You see an RR logo. The book tells you that this is the emblem of a kind special kind of car of great quality made in England. You want to go and see this car, to connect it with the logo, but you need more information. You ask the clerk, “I want to see technical information on this car.” But you are told that this car does not really exist. That book is just an art book of conceptual designs. “Why did you give me a book on only symbols when I told you that I wanted to find the ultimate car?” The reply is, “what’s the difference. The idea is reality. You saw its idea in such beautiful artwork, for what need have you of the car itself?”

As crazy, outlandish and other-worldly and impossible as this seems, what if I told you this a parable of the “lost” among false religious shepherds? This is our idea of a Church. The clerk in an expert, having hands-on everything out there on the subject at hand, but, in his view of “truth,” truth is what we choose, or what we create. Its slogans, art, pretty expressions, good intentions, autonomous emotion, autonomous reason, personal anecdotes, platitudes, a new theory, mother’s love, anything but a reality we can see directly and not by a creative gesture.

There is no way this word “lost” is going to be totally non-offensive. It certainly does mean ina place near destruction. But it does not matter. The point is to recenter the people in the fold and those who have gone away from it around a particular biblical truth instead of a general one. Around spiritual reality, not slogans and statements. We have to change our idea about what makes a spiritually honest man, what is religion, what real faith is represented by in the universally demonstrated and objective truth from which he has strayed and in which he is given to be “found.”

So, I’m not asking first about the meaning of people being lost or not before establishing what they are “lost” from in the sense of biblical information. Not only lost in relation to a Christ the person but having lost the only kind of biblical knowledge that could be said to be inseparable from Christ.

You can disagree with me on how I handle “lost,” and I don’t care, and neither should you, but you can’t disagree on this: Something is lost and we need to find it, and it’s not Jesus, it’s his ultimate scriptural meaning. That is not another symbol, its the objective reality that the symbol represents to a righteous faith.

If Christ is a revelation and a person, what a lost person is lost from is a decision made for us: it’s both. Since we have a very hard time thinking of what is lost is a great biblical truth, but not that the Christ of that truth is lost to the wayward person, our main task is not reinventing the wheel, but nailing down conclusively this the what and why of this truth.

It’s painful, and its something we don’t broach because we know where the implications lead. If you make this “lost” as away from something that we are supposed to know and love which is not only a person but is inseparable from this person, then we are no longer subjecting our consciences to judgment by our relation to an idea, wherein all ideas, if taken for themselves, have a hard time judging anyone. But when we give that idea what all ideas exist for, standing for a body of information about it which commands its representation in an idea, then we are judged by something very exclusive and restrictive. We can take a mere glance into ourselves and see if it is there or not. It’s scary.

Lost to “Lost”

Being “lost” has been for hundreds of years of exegesis a priority word when one talks about what the New Testament describes as being estranged from or disobedient to God. It’s certainly one of those fundamental concepts that, if you get wrong, you get wrong part of the meaning of an essential sin and, therefore, righteousness.

Being “lost,” we have to remind ourselves, is a figure, a symbol. Symbols are superficial, cursory aspects, and they have meaning. Meaning is abstract, hidden, hard to grasp without its servant the symbol. I propose “lost” is a symbol for losing your way because you are no longer under the guidance of who or what is biblically supposed to be shepherding you, the truth, the demonstration of Christ from messianic prophecy. The first, the unsaved are lost to Christ the person. Its a definition we seem more than willing to glom on to, but not the second. I have stated the reason why. Now we have to establish that the fact that our symbolic emphasis has been long wrong.

I think it’s an important issue whether the lost are those in the church or those outside of it! Could it be that the lost are not those utterly lost, but those having Christ within hands reach, who believe in God, and say they revere the Bible but sense that they are missing something in himself and his church about Jesus’ message? I’m not talking about those who are never going to accept Jesus and don’t deserve even an appellation of someone with a wayward faith. But you have to be in the faith fold before you are lost from it, and we will go to the church in search of the lost.

Who and What

From what are they lost, and from who are they lost? God, especially in the form of Christ, is a “who” and is also a “what.” If God is as specific a person as a particular kind of revelation represents him, we can no longer say that being lost from this God is being lost in relation only to a person. It’s also with regard to a kind of “Word.” If so, you have to have found Christ in some correct sense before you can become lost to it. If you find the person of Jesus as savior, as your point of contact with God, you have a correct grasp of transcendence, but only by half. What about this particular Word, the rest of Him? Are you lost him then?

The usual way to speak of the “lost” as about a person’s spiritual state, often said to be that of some weakness as a result of some unbelief (αποολλυμι), is I think correct. But what kind of spiritual state? What type of disbelief exactly, not generally or round-aboutly? Why is it even necessary that such speciation is made?

If we are in casual conversation about someone “lost” that is about any other matter than a spiritual one, most of us would try to be polite and careful and use the word in a general sense. Not only because we probably don’t know what is the exact reason the person is lost but because we don’t want to place ourselves in the place of a specialist and diagnose him. With respect to cancer therapies, for example, your probably “lost” thinking that eating more fruit will cure you, but we’re not nutritionists. If respect to post-partum depression, your “lost” in thinking that you’re just in the dumps and you don’t need help, that you will just come out of it in time, but we’re not psychologists. But as Christians, we are not supposed to have a pedestrian familiarity with the nature of spiritual cause and motivation. We are supposed to have discernment, knowledge, wisdom, and be able to apply the Bible to the understanding of everything within its scope as a revelation of human nature.

We don’t have to be scholars to do it. Speaking about sin in a round-about way, and thinking that this shows nothing important about us, is a denial that we know a single thing about sin and shows a whole lot about us.

Thinking of or using “lost” it in the general sense is a confession that the Scriptures and we have no special insights, or we don’t know them. Why we leave the definition open is because a church of unbelievers that have no spiritual insights except those of the self-help variety are very uncomfortable if it is allowed that they are informed and specialists in their object of faith but in the Judgment may find that they were never so blessed even to be called “lost.” You do it for a people who never did find any revelation from which they can be said to be lost can call themselves “found” by only a symbol of it, and everyone can then be the “lost” instead.

I think what we find when we look at this word carefully is that it’s not about being unsaved, and it’s not about those totally outside of the faith. It’s about being confused, wayward, misdirected, and put in spiritual danger by a poorly taught faith.

If you have a Christ that the OT reveals but still can’t get a precise handle on what this Christ was all about, your trust is staticy, not dialed in and lost, the influence of your spiritual leaders usually having a lot to do with it, but the rest is you. But if you don’t have faith in Christ informed primarily by the OT prophets from the start, you don’t even have faith, and you’re not lost or even on the map. You were never one fo his sheep to begin with. This would make the lost a whole lot of people, not only a certain few.

Lost as the Saved

Mat 5:13: “Lost” is a quality of the believer that is lost.

Mat 18:11: Christ has come to seek and save that which was lost, referring to the “little ones which believe in me (vss. 6, 10, 14).” We miss that Jesus is talking about saving those that believe in him, not saving those that dont. How often do you hear a sermon on the “lost” as those that believe in Jesus?

Of course, these that believe in Jesus are not those that just say or feel “I believe in Jesus.” Jesus is also not talking about salvation to eternal life. He is talking about salvation from the dangers that lie for his faith outside of his sheepfold with respect to false teaching. The alternative is to say that these little children do not believe in him in the sense of salvific belief, but that is far more difficult. The little children are those that are obviously in his care, oriented around him by the simple revelation of himself fro the prophets, and whom he protects from the consequences of being lost.

The real “lost” here is of a people of a genuine faith that is in its infancy, a faith in Christ rightly grounded in his revelation. They become lost by the false teachers, such as the Pharisees, who left the sheep that are in their charge and refuse to protect them from the attacks of carnal thinking. The shepherds falsely claim ownership of them and cause them to have to fend for themselves, even when the Good Shepherd is around. I say again, the “Good Shepherd” is not a general shepherd, guiding and protecting the sheep with another general concept like “the Bible,” but precisely a kind of revelation of Him in the Bible. In 18:14, the sheep which were lost are the “little ones” that may perish should they not be found. It doesn’t, of course, mean perish spiritually in the sense of damnation but in the sense of not reaching their potential in Christ, which, to the believer, is nearly paramount to physical death (see 1 CO 5:5 and context).

In Mark 9:50, like Mat 5:13, it is the saltiness of the believer’s faith that is lost. What is this saltiness? It’s the power of the Prophetic Word of Messiah to change minds.

In Luke 15:24, the prodigal son is one of the “lost” sheep from the house (or faith family) of Israel.

A Lost Son

The son was lost and now is found, but he first was a son before he was lost. He was dead but now alive again. In both cases, he was first found and alive. Thus he was, in the spiritual sense, virtually lost and virtually dead, not literally. But how was he a son in a way that came to be a lost son?

These are the people of Israel’s sons of God. They are fully grounded in the prophets concerning Messiah. Faithful Israel waits for Messiah and is not led away by carnal attractions. But this lust by which leads them away, again, is not any kind of carnal attraction? If the son is a son by faith, and faith is in a number of scriptural truths, not just some general feeling about biblical statements, then the carnal attraction is a competing number of scriptural truths. The first question is by what scripture are they motivated to wait for the Messiah. That same kind of scripture, specifically, is denied which leads them to go after another religious, but carnal attraction. There can be no doubt that it is the messianic prophecies of Jesus orient the sons of God around the father, and it is the same kind of scripture that is left behind as those sons run toward other false, spiritual motivators.

The Lost who/which becomes saved

Luke 19:9: The same sense as above.“Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.” There is no indication that Zacchaeus did not know scripture, did not know the prophets and knew nothing of the claims and demonstrations of Jesus as Messiah. “Lost” here is a believer, or a potential beleiver, in the sense of lacking a formal, open, public commitment to his beliefs. “Saved” is being shown saved in a public affirmation that Jeuss is the Messiah of the prophets.

In John 6, Jesus tells his disciples to pick up the fragments of the barley loaves so that none is “lost.” The figure for bread, the Word of God, is the same for the believer. The pieces of bread are specific OT revelations of Christ from the prophets. All are scheduled for fulfillment. None are unimportant and meant to be handled by the evangelsit as lost ot discarded, just as the people whose faith rests in Christ.

The idea is that, again, one who is lost had to once have been found in some important sense. What then is found that is now lost? Again, “found” pertains to people as well as kind of scripture they believe, and remember, not scripture in the general sense.

As I said, this definition of “lost” and “found” speaks of either being a believer in Jesus who has lost his way or whose way becomes difficult or disoriented, or it refers to one who has the potential for belief but is thwarted. In either sense, it is precisely the same for the specialized Word that this person believes or who would believe, which is said to be obfuscated by the false shepherds.

Lost Sheep of Messiah

The lost sheep of the false shepherds is a figure with heavy Old Testament prophetic meaning, particularly in Zechariah. It identifies precisely what these lost sheep believe but why they are the “poor of the flock,” the “poor” being close to the meaning of “lost.” Now, if the Word and the Shepherd are not said handled in the general, generic sense, what is the specialized sense?

What better way to demonstrate this conception of “lost” and “found” in relation to Jesus and his particular prophetic revelation than to take it directly from OT prophecy?

Zechariah 11:4 (KJV) Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; 5 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed [be] the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not. 6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver [them]. 7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, [even] you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. 8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me. 9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another. 10 And I took my staff, [even] Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. 11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it [was] the word of the LORD.

The flock of the slaughter is those that believe the actions of the Messiah were prophesied. Before this, they are counted for the slaughter. Not for spiritual death, but for faith destruction by the actions of the false shepherds. These shepherds are only out for their self-benefit, not that prophetic revelation. They are not lost because they are not potential or unfulfilled believers. They are committed to this sin. The lost are not unbelievers but lost and poor under the guidance of false religion, a false religion antagonistic to what these poor believe.

Isaiah, who prophesies a lot of Jesus Messiah, refers to himself and his fellow countrymen as the sheep who have gone astray for refusing the Messiah of the scriptures. He is a prophet, of course, and no prophet speaks more of the Messiah than Isaiah. He does not speak of all Israel in the word “we” as those that have no such prophetic faith but only for those to which any blood atonement of the Messiah could apply. Because they can’t be forgiven, the iniquity of unbelievers is laid not upon Christ but only the sin of those that can be forgiven. But the main takeaway here is the subject context of the prophecy, which sets exactly what kind of scriptures from which these people are astray, and which kind they substituted which is their “own way.” Not some general conception of a Messiah, Jesus, or “the Bible” or “theology,” but messianic prophecy itself, from which all blessings flow:

Isaiah 53:6 (KJV) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Again, those that are lost are not those who think, in pride, that they are already righteous and not lost, and are not in need of repentance. But the authoritative object of faith, the prophetic informational entity of messiah, for the lost and those that who think they are righteous and not even on God’s spiritual radar, is the same with respect to what of the Bible they are responsible. This is a sin of a kind of faith, or non-faith, against a certain Person and a certain kind of revelation, not any other. The real sin suggested is not a sin of some bodily motion or lack thereof, but one of spirit around the OT claims of Jesus. One kind of person knows it, is away from its singular influence, and is found by repenting or changing his mind about it in favor of Jesus, and the other, those that were never even lost from it, do not.

Here, again, the subject is false teachings from the shepherds that cause God’s people to become lost:

Jeremiah 50:6 (KJV) My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away [on] the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.

Even the Psalmist likens himself to a lost sheep:

Psalms 119:176 (KJV) I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.

The Word of God as something lost

With the idea of a general conception of sin removed from the “lost,” we are now able to consider that perhaps the big no-no that existed before, that the Word of God can somehow be said lost, is removed in an important way. The Word of God itself can never be lost, of course, but obscured, misdirected, mistaught, and twisted in respect to that kind of revelation within it of which I speak.

Here are some things that we can be sure of with respect to these “lost.”

The lost are not typically unbelievers in Jesus Messiah from choice and knowledge, and not referred to as damned. Clearly identified are the deniers and unbelievers.

If they are not, they believe in Jesus Messiah through the OT prophets, or they are thwarted potentially believers.

They are “lost” partly because of the false leadership of the false teachers and guides, the shepherds. This idea of false teaching is a kind preaching the suggestion that Jesus is the fulfillment of the OT Messiah, but that these fulfillments and promises are not necessarily a main religious focus in faith. Those outside of the faith altogether, those not lost because they are never found, are those that believe in a Jesus that is only a religious figure whose mission is only to save them without their knowledge and faith in him from the faith from messianic prophecy. The real sheep are lost, confused, exposed to spiritual danger, found by the Good Shepherd, the prophetic fulfiller of prophecy, Jesus. He teaches them the revelation himself through the prophetic Scriptures as, like Isaiah, the only legitimate reason for faith, and brings them back into the real faith fold.

“Saved” in relation to “lost,” is not justified to spiriutal salvation, as “lost” is not damned. “Saved” is the public apperance and confession of Jesus Messiah, or a confused and disoriented beleiver brought back into spiriutal alignment.

But these “lost” are also considered sinners who need to repent.

This Word or revelation of Jesus from the scriptures in the mind of these lost sheep is then also that which has become lost and requires it be found again, but not as it was found before. Lost in the sense of a kind of revelation and religious motivation that was beaten down, suppressed, and abused by ourselves and our culture.

Number five describes our Church. Anyone sitting in a pew who was motivated into it by the Christ of the OT, but who struggles with what he hears from the shepherd in the pulpit. Struggles with faith as a consequence. Struggles to reconcile his motivations with the person next to him, making him ineffective as a witness of Christ, are lost.

The believer is at least as beaten down in this sense as Jesus was in the sense of being spiritually righteous but rejected. Jesus, as the Word of God, beaten, and his followers or potential followers are the same. These followers are not those who are righteous in of themselves but righteous by faith, being driven only by the Word/him. As Jesus is the Word, and this Word is lifted up or lowered, so are his believers in the sense of what they believe: the Prophets.

The believer is as true as to what he believes as Jesus is true to what credentials him as Messiah, which are for both parties the same. If that is so, then to be lost is not applied to the guilty spiritual state and sin of a believer, but to be lost is for both said to be lost, hidden, misunderstood, suppressed, relegated, and abused oneself and the false shepherds and their word. This is why Jesus has an affinity and preference for the lowly, and likens them to himself, the “poor,” the “meek.” Because that lowliness is not one of a real status and value, but one of the spiritually mistreated by evil religionists of the Word, but who are supposed to be persons of the Word.

The Parabolic Approach

Therefore, let’s try this out and see if it can be consistently applied:

Any parable about what or who is lost, if what is lost can be quintessentially said to be a person in the church who is the same as the existential equivalent of the truth of the Messiah from the OT, is a parable for the conviction of false shepherds. But for conviction of them of their anti-scriptural motivations in what is supposed to be the faith of the Messiah of the prophets for the education of the faithful.

Interesting, how this parabolic “lost” turns into something once interpreted in a way that insulated the Church from a fundamental sin is that one sin that they never want to discuss: that of the lawless scriptural motivation for faith. The one sin that is the most deadly, most deceptive, and most ignored is the missing of the parabolic, scriptural subject of Jesus himself.

Parable of the Lost Coin

Now we can reread:

Luke 15:4 (KJV)What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5And when he hath found [it], he layeth [it] on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6And when he cometh home, he calleth together [his] friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. 7I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. 8Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find [it]? 9And when she hath found [it], she calleth [her] friends and [her] neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. 10Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

Vss. 5-7: There is joy over the finding of the lost sheep by the Good Shepherd. The false shepherds are happy to lose sheep that are not fixed upon them and religion. To find these embodied truths is the cause of happiness for both the finder and the found. Sin and its cure are not physical, but primarily mental and spiritual. The sense of “find” and its cure is tied to that of diligently, wisely and honestly searching not just for the people of the messiah but the scriptures themselves and spiritually obeying that which is found: Jesus and his Revelation as the basis for faith.

V.8: Here, what is lost is not a person, but something else.

Why would Jesus put a lost person as a coin? Because what is lost is both a person and a thing of great value which is not a person: the Prophetic Word.

The woman, the Church, sweeps the house to find the lost coin. She lights a candle, which light is the prophetic truth that points to Jesus.1

Conclusion

I have tried to make a distinction between “lost” and “found” without the spiritual finality of “damned” and “redeemed.” We spend so much time on damnation and salvation and no time on precisely what it is of the Bible which informs us of our disposition before God. Whatever that is, and in whatever way you choose to interpret these verses, choose whatever you wish, but not whatever you wish as to what is ordained by God to motivate the lost and the saved.

In this Parable of the Lost Coin, all that is important here is removing the filth and clutter2 of fallen religion to find that lost piece. If any repentance comes for losing something precious or losing yourself, there first must be a successful search for the what and the why it was lost.

The irony is that we are the ones outside of the faith if we believe that the messianic prophecies are no longer compelling enough to put as our main faith motivation. When we come to understand that Jesus Christ himself, as the Word of God, is the prophecies made flesh, we are not the “lost,” we were never even in the faith fold from which to become lost.

If anything is lost, let’s find that lost coin.

Please see these articles:

Christ and the Norming of Transcendence: Passing by Nehushtan

The Meaning of the Cross, part 3: Persecution

When I Survey the Wondrous Nace, part 1: Passing by Nehushtan

Tertullian, in his On Modesty, says also that this search is by the aid of God’s Word. The Old Testament is the only candidate for this, and if of the Old Testament it is of the messianic stream. ↩

Methodius, in his Banquet of the Ten Virgins, says much the same, where the swept dust is “the passions which obscure and cloud the mind, which increase in us from our luxuriousness and carelessness” ↩

#parable #parable of the lost coin #prodigal son

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a-queer-seminarian · 7 years

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hey there, some seminary questions for you! How did you choose which seminary to attend? Could you please talk about the application/acceptance process? What's the average week like as a seminarian?

Oh gosh, you sent this ages ago, I’ve been meaning to answer!

How I picked a seminary:

I looked only at seminaries in my denomination, PC(USA), that were at least sort of near my area of the USA and that seemed like they’d be LGBT+ friendly. I visited two of them, McCormick in Chicago and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in the fall of 2015 and applied to them both the spring of 2016. Both seemed like excellent choices, I selected LPTS because I liked the housing situation, the campus in general, and the students and teachers I talked to seemed like a better fit for me. And indeed, I am extremely happy here!

Applications and Acceptance:

So yeah, the two seminaries I applied to both had applications due for the following fall in early spring, and I think that’s fairly standard. When looking at various seminaries, check their website for info on that. I highly recommend looking into seminaries a year before you want to attend one, so that you have plenty of time to visit, gather recommendation letters, reflect on your decision, and apply.

Note that the vast majority of seminaries require an undergraduate degree before you can apply, since it is a masters program – but that undergrad degree can be in anything. See this post.

This is the admissions page of my seminary. LPTS offers several degrees, the most popular of which at the masters level are the Masters of Divinity (MDIV, what I am doing) and the Masters of Family Therapy (MFT). To apply to these programs, there are forms that request general info and also ask that you undergo a background check, write some essays, and three letters of recommendation.

The last of those things, the rec letters, might sound overwhelming, but it’s doable. One of them needs to be from a pastor, so if you don’t currently have a pastor in your life who knows you well, that’s something to think about before applying to seminary – how can you get active in your current church so that your pastor can write you a good letter? The second letter must be an academic reference and the third must be a “personal or professional reference” – see this webpage for more. Note that these were the letters my two seminaries of choice required, and while I think it’s fairly typical, other seminaries may do it differently.

I’m pretty sure some sort of interview was required too, but it’s super informal and you can do it via skype if you can’t get to the seminary in person. I do recommend checking out the seminaries you’re interested in person though, if at all possible – they let you tour, talking to various teachers and students and possibly sitting in on classes.

On to the acceptance process: if the two seminaries I looked into are any indication, if you get all the application stuff turned in, you’re very likely to be accepted. The big thing is financial stuff they’ll offer you – the more impressive your application is, the more likely to get academic scholarships. My seminary also had me fill out some forms explaining my financial situation, so that they would know to offer me more financial aid as needed. The amazing thing about my seminary though is that they offer full tuition to everyone who gets in! And all seminaries as far as I know are pretty great about helping with financing their students’ education. See this post for more on financial stuff.

An average week in seminary:

Okay, the average week at any seminary is likely to be different. Note also that I’m going to describe the average week of a first-year student – it changes for second and third year students.

Oh yeah, to mention that: at my seminary at least, the MDIV takes three years and the MFT program takes five. You can also be a part time student which means it’ll take longer. For MDIVs, you have to take Hebrew and Greek and you also have to intern for a year at a nearby church to graduate. I’m doing my church placement my second year. And if you are pursuing ordination, you likely want to be working on whatever your denomination requires for ordination while you’re at seminary – you don’t magically get your ordination when you graduate, just your masters. For my denomination, for instance, I have to do some work as a chaplain in order to be ordained, so I’m likely doing that next summer.

Let’s start with classes and homework in an average week:

I take four classes, and workload-wise they remind me a lot of undergrad. Most classes meet either two or three times a week, and are either 50 minutes or an hour and 15 minutes each time. Some classes are primarily lecture, most involve lecture and discussion, and some are primarily discussion. They all involve a lot of reading. Many students get away with not always doing all the readings though, haha. Fall (September through mid-December) and spring (February through early May) are the main two semesters, but there are also short classes available in January and summer.

Along with reading, homework varies; I’ll describe my typical homework for my four current classes:

For Black Church Studies, we basically read one book and have one 1000-word essay due every two weeks.

Scripture II (New Testament) is sort of bizarre in that there are no major essays due and we only have one textbook (well, plus the Bible). Homework is to read a chapter of the textbook and write a 300-600 word summary on it for each class meeting. Each chapter is on a different book / letter of the New Testament. For this coming Monday, my summary on Ephesians is due. (On a side note, at the end of this semester I’ll probably share a google doc of all my summaries if anyone is interested; they’re good for quick overviews of the content and contexts of the Gospels and letters!)

History of Christian Experience I (the first century CE through 1453) has us write three 1200-1400 word essays throughout the semester. For each class meeting, a fifty-word sentence answering a question about the reading is due. This class has the heaviest reading load – seriously, some nights I don’t actually get to read everything thoroughly; I try my best to, but every now and then I have to skim instead.

Hebrew Exegesis (my fave!!) has five papers throughout the semester (that counts the final). For each paper, we translate a short passage from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and provide historical context, talk about literary structure, do word studies on it, and so on. There were also several (6 I think) translation exercises due throughout the semester, in which you have to translate around 10 sentences from Hebrew. This class also involves reading, but not as much as the other classes. You have to read commentaries and look through dictionaries in order to write the papers.

I had a good number of quizzes and some tests for basically every class last semester; this semester, I have literally zero tests or quizzes in any class, just a lot of papers (all my finals this time around are take-home essays).

It’s hard for me to really explain how fun the classes are? but I love them. They teach so much, and challenge you to think.

Moving on to worship at seminary:

We open every class meeting with a prayer. And on Thursdays and Fridays, there are chapel services led by either a teacher or a student (usually seniors). Because so many different people lead the services, you get a really wide variety of services, which I think is really cool! Not only Presbyterians attend this seminary – in fact, I think it’s something like 50 or 60% of students and faculty here are not Presbyterian. I love seeing how different traditions worship.

And community life here:

Classes are small and therefore tight-knit. I love my class; there are around 30 of us in total I think and around 20 of those are MDIV like me. We all joke around and support and pray for each other, and study together and help one another out when needed. When you need anything, whether it’s notes from a class you missed or a ride to the airport or some groceries because you’re low on cash, someone will help you out.

There are so many groups on campus you can join. We’ve got students in governmental positions, for instance, and students in various committees, from the Faith Life committee to the More Light (LGBT) committee, and from the Worship committee to the Gender and Ministry committee. I do a lot to help out with the community garden. There’s also a grassroots group for environmental stuff – I am assigned to take out the recycling in one of the school buildings to do my part with that. My seminary’s “big thing” is racial dialogue, so there are many classes, workshops, and other events that deal with that. Unfortunately the More Light group isn’t all that active this year, but when there are events I go to them!

If there’s an issue you care about that is not already addressed by a group on campus, it’s possible to make it happen. I just gave a workshop on how to make ministry more welcoming to transgender people. And a classmate and I plan to hold some workshop type events on accessibility and ableism this coming fall.

Conclusion:

So yeah, life in seminary involves balancing schoolwork with participating in the seminary community, your own life (many students here have jobs and/or kids), worship / your faith life, and doing the “field ed” aspect of seminary – church placements and chaplaincy for MDIVs, counseling/therapy for MFTs.

I personally find myself exhausted pretty often thanks to the ol’ mental illness and neurodivergence, so it’s important to take care of yourself. Teachers for the most part are very understanding and willing to give extensions on papers and the like, so that helps. And like I said, when you need something, classmates have your back.

I cannot emphasize enough how enriching the classes are, how intelligent the teachers are, or how warm and family-like the students are. It’s all wonderful.

If you have more questions about seminary, let me know!

#chatting tag #seminary #baronmagdalene #long post #PCUSA #spring 2017 #essays

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1stoneministries-blog · 5 years

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What is the mission and vision of 1 Stone Ministries?

Our Mission –

We see in our culture today the results of decades of neglect. Neglect of fathers teaching their children right and wrong. We see case after case of single-parent households. We hear millions of Millenials and Gen Xers screaming “We’ve been lied to” and they are right. Not only have they been lied to, but older generations have been lied to as well.

It is the mission of 1 Stone Ministries to be a clearinghouse of truth and encouragement and growth and learning.

Our stance is on the Grace of Christ and his bloodshed on the Cross and the Word of God.

It is our Mission to help those that call themselves Christians to get a deeper understanding of the word and get a deeper knowledge of God the Father, Jesus our Savior, and the Holy Spirit. You can’t know God without a deeper grasp of the Bible.

We will occasionally have to speak in truth and love and question the Theology of what someone is saying. For far too long there has been no one speaking the truth in love when someone or a group puts out incorrect information and it causes confusion in the Body of Christ and pulls the focus away from Christ and the Cross.

If we do question the theology of what someone or a group is saying, we will do so because of love. Love of our Savior Jesus Christ and God the Father, and love for the truth in the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation.

We do not want to attack any one person; we do not want to hurt or tear down anyone or their ministry. We do want to speak in truth so that maybe that person will turn from the incorrect theology they are dispensing or at least others won’t be deceived and led astray.

We take this task on willingly, because when God calls you, you should never ignore his calling. However, we daily seek wisdom from God and are daily in prayer. We operate with love and from the point of edification and education. it’s never a fun thing to have to point out the correction of another brother or Sister. However, if it was important enough for Paul to give us instruction and direction to do so, then it is important to be diligent and watching and encouraging and growing and helping others grow.

If we call an article, website, video or book into question, it is always done from the point of “If something is wrong or appears to be wrong because of the Holy Spirit is tugging at our hearts, then we will pray, research then respond.

In today's a world where there is so much going on, there is little time to waste, if we’re dealing with a local person or a local situation, then the person or persons will be approached and the issue addressed and following the guidelines Paul gives us in the Bible, either proceed to address the issue with the person(group) or we will consider the issue resolved.

There are many individuals or groups online who feel the freedom to argue or point fingers because it’s their God-given right. They are only dividers of the flock and are in sin.

If we hear back from the person (group) that they have thought and prayed about the situation and they see that the Bible stands against their statements, then as soon as we hear from them, we will post an update.

For the sake of others in the future our original post will stand because the topic was important enough from a spiritual and educational standpoint it might help others not to go down that path in the future.

At no time will any of the articles we write be from an “I’m better than you” or an I’m smarter than you or any other derisive approach. It will always be about the subject and never the person. Ad Homonyms are never appropriate. Everything should be considered and rendered from the Bible and the Bible alone.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Our Vision

There has been a great falling away in the Modern Church, especially in America. Most Pastors coming out of “Theology School” rarely if ever preach on the Old Testament and how it points to the New Testament. They rarely if ever teach on the Jewish culture, history, and festivals. If you fail to teach the history and culture of the Old Testament, you are damning most of your flocks to not truly understanding the New Testament. Most churches today teach canned sermons from Rick Warren or other resources.

I’ll never forget the day 13 years ago that I was sitting in a church in Anchorage Alaska and the entire 40-minute “teaching” time was taken up by two assistant pastors sitting on stools reading “Yertle the Turtle” By Dr. Seuss. When the Pastors were done reading back and forth page after page, they proceeded to tell us about what the story had for our lives.

There is a reason why Paul tells us not to eat spiritual food for babies but to be growing in the faith.

We want to help further the equipping of the saints. While this should be done by ministers of the faith in a church setting, it isn’t for the most part, so as a body of believers we should try to fill in where there are gaps if we have experience in the word.

We believe that what the youth of the world is crying for and seeking is the truth.

For the most part, the youth that left the church have left because instead of getting truth they were getting a watered-down gospel and canned sermons and rather than getting a fresh truth seasoned by experience a love and honesty, they were getting a secularized version of Churchianity. Christianity in name only. If the Church is no different from the world, why should people waste their time and energy? If you sit in a pew for 50 years and the shape of your butt is forever etched in the seat and you go to hell when you die what did it prosper you?

It is unfortunate but true, that witchcraft and Lucifer worship and ouija boards, and tarot cards, yoga and out of body experiences are more exciting and honest than most of today’s church.

The world expects the dark side to be evil, after all, we’ve had Darth Vader for over 3 decades to teach us about evil.

When you have the Church bringing in bars and booze to attract alcoholics and bring in Broadway producers to stage plays and when you preach watered-down sermons that teach nothing about real Theology or Apologetics or what the difference is between exegesis and eisegesis… Why go to a church where you have to pretend to be holy and never really learn about holiness when you can go worship Lucifer and practice out of body experiences and witchcraft and just let it all hang out.

Too many pastors have gone into the ministry today because of the call of money because of the proliferation of Name it and Claim it and prosperity preachers. Then you have people who have apparently pretended to Christians like Josh Harris who preach a semi-good gospel but when the going gets a little rough he gets going. You can’t truly bend your knee to Christ and worship him as your King and Master and then just one day decide you’re not a Christian, it doesn’t work that way.

This is our WHY!

There are so many deceived people that don’t know or no longer care about the truth in the Bible that we want to come along side and help people that might be searching. When people are dying and going to hell and eternal separation from God, how can we not speak out and do everything we can to try and help them?

#mission #vision #Christianity #Biblical Truth #Theology 101 #Apologetics #spiritual discernment

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sonyaaaj · 5 years

Text

ANIMATION AND ENGAGEMENT (PULLED FROM EXEGESIS)

WEEK 7

I wanted to pull up some of the research I did during my exegesis to refocus what I’m doing.

Iamurai, S. (2009). Positive Cartoon Animation to Change Children Behaviors in Primary Schools. In International Conference on Primary Education (pp. 1-6).

This study looks to test whether positive animation has an effect on aggressiveness in primary aged children. This comes from the idea that cartoons create aggressive natures within this age group in current day society. They test using primary age students as they were the age group most likely to adapt to their social contexts. The test was done in three stages, the first was a pretest question, the second was to have them watch the animation, the third was to give them a post test question, and the last was an interview stage. The sample group consisted of 200 students. In the results it was found that Grade 1-2 children had the most noticeable behaviour change where Grade 3-4 had the least, and the children that liked the animation were more likely to change their behaviour after seeing it. The testers states that the children may need more time watching the animation/similar animations to have an even better effect.

This study is important to this particular research field as it shows the age group for which animation has the most affect. This is important as it it best to use the methods of animation at the optimal time of learning to get the best results possible. It also states that the children may need to be exposed over a longer period of time for the animation to have a good effect, which may affect the timeline and scale of the product of this research.

Zhang, P. (2000). The effects of animation on information seeking performance on the World Wide Web: Securing attention or interfering with primary tasks?. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 1(1), 1.

The study discovers that animation in some cases can actually poorly affect the user when seeking information. The first of the four propositions that this study looks into are animations that are not specific to the information the viewer is trying to find hinder their information seeking process. The second is the more trouble the user is having with trying to find information, the less effective the animation is. Thirdly, when the animation is similar to the task but not directly related, there is more of a negative effect on the users information seeking than if it were dissimilar. Lastly, Brightly coloured animation has a stronger negative effect on users information seeking than dull coloured animation. Ping Zhang ran a control group of tests with no animation and a group with animation, and assigned information seeking tasks within. This study found that each hypothesis was plausible.

The results of this study are interesting for my research as they show the methods used in web design animation in 2000 were not functioning as well as they could. These findings help to set up parameters around how web animation can be used to grab user attention and help users find information. Despite this being an older study, it is useful to remember and instate these parameters when creating animations that support information seeking, in order to do this for the most successful outcome of enhancing and not distracting. There are specifically suggestions in the discussion section worth noting, like involving users in the information on the page, avoiding bright colours, and don’t overload the viewer with animation.

Bowles, C. & Head, V. (2016, February 23). Motion and Meaning Ep 10: Design problems animation can answer [Audio Podcast]. Retrieved from https://motionandmeaning.io/episode10.html

This podcast discusses what kind of design problems can be solved by motion design (micro animation). They address the issue of user disorientation with large or many screens, which can be solved by making sure all the navigational animation can be reversed so the user can tap into their prior understanding. The second issue is that if there is a button or action that may take time or cause a wait, users can be confused to whether or not anything actually happened. This can be solved by inserting an animation, that by definition will take up that wait time and let someone know they have to wait. The next problem is that it may be unclear what to the user what they are meant to interact with. This can be solved by using animation to draw the user's eye. The last issue they discuss is that a page that lacks vitality can be boosted by adding animated elements where appropriate.

The issues discussed in this podcast support the use of micro animations in design and understanding. This information is relevant to the wider context of web design as these are methods they are using day to day. In regards to my research field, this information covers the cognition side of my research interest, as it shows that animation, even in small forms, helps to teach and guide users where used.

Kane, A. (2018). Human Rights Initiative Spotlight: Animation Helps to Understand Children's Opinions on Human Rights in Tanzania. Retrieved May 19, 2019, from https://cla.umn.edu/human-rights/news-events/story/human-rights-initiative-spotlight-animation-helps-understand-childrens-opinions-human-rights

Researcher Deborah Levison, Ph.D., through her research has found that many large scale studies don’t include the input of children. This is a result of children being treated as the object of the study without personal agency. Supported by the Human Rights Initiative Grant, Levison and her team are creating and enacting a way to gather large amount of data from ages 12 to 17 in the Global South, called “Animating Children’s Views” (ACV). This research is based within the context of human rights matters. The method uses low cost, reusable tablets or similar devices to show randomly selected children within the target age range an animated story. This is done as it is found that children are more responsive to animations than they would be to a researcher talking about a scenario and asking questions. They also allow illiterate children to participate in these studies.

The project that this article talks about is important to the design industry as it shows an example of how design as a discipline can do social good. It is central to my research as it looks at animation for enhanced cognition is a social and research setting. The idea that children respond to animation as a learning tool has been shown in some of my other research findings, but this article further supports this as it is able to break the ice between a child and a researcher who the child may not trust as much as a teacher they know.

Drabble, E. (2009). Meet the bloggers of Banbury. Retrieved May 11, 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/education/2009/may/19/special-needs-online-connections-blogging

The article begins with an exchange between the reporter and a student at Frank Wise school in Banbury, Oxfordshire, in England. This school caters to kids with special needs from the age of two through to eighteen, encouraging connection and communication for their students. The student talks about a blog she has been writing weekly for a year and a half, and goes on to say how easy it is to do and who reads it. The article goes on to talk about the schools new iWise media centre which includes a sound studio, green screen and animation studio. The school incorporate these facilities into their classrooms, using them to engage their students learning and demonstrating how information communication technologies can enhance living, in turn shaking the stigma around learning with a disability.

My interest in this article comes from its link to education. It is an important part to my research as it supports the previous articles about the use of animation for learning within education systems. However, this article goes a step further. By using animation within the learning environment of disabled students, this article shows that animation can teach students who may have a harder time learning than others. There is also an interesting link between creative technologies and the teaching of communication and connection that may inform further development within this research.

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imaginarypencils · 6 years

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Ideal Writing Experiences

In today’s posts on the topic of an ideal senior-level writing class, I will discuss 3 major writing focuses I would ideally have in my own classroom!

More Genre Inclusion

Too often in our mainstream English classrooms, I find the creative processes of writing are severely restricted by the traditional ways in which we respond to texts.

Especially in the ‘creative writing’ portion that is explored in the senior levels of English, where the ‘creative’ aspect is almost always a ‘narrative’ response to text-related prompt. Adams (2010) states that an imaginative re-creation of literature ‘can help students develop critical perspectives on texts’ (pg.62) such as ‘adapting printed text for radio, television, film, the stage’, turning parts from a text into ‘a play, a storyboard, a comic strip’ etc’ (pg.60). So why aren’t poems explored as a valid genre in the senior years anymore? Why are graphic novels not an explored medium for creative responses? Why are script-writing or playwrights not being taught despite being some of the most lucrative careers for writers? These are questions and frustrations I have towards the exclusion of more creative writing genres in mainstream senior English. It wasn’t until I got to university and majoring in Literature that I was exposed to these various modes. An ideal writing class for me would be one that explored various forms of writing beyond the traditional narrative responses we’re taught to do all throughout our high school years. I would love to explore and teach more creative forms of writing, as it not only is it enjoyable and more engaging for our students, but teachers themselves can participate with them as learners if such forms are new to them too.

Technology with Curriculum

In line with my personal beliefs and pedagogy for a more multimodal practice, I firmly believe that the aspect of Technology is an important tool as a future teacher and in my ideal writing class.

With the ever-growing expansion of our society towards a more technological front, I believe it would be foolish to not utilise such advances to our advantage. New technologies such as smart devices (e.g., tablets and smartphones) and personal learning environments ‘can be used in conjunction with contemporary knowledge-building strategies, leading to greater innovation in learning’ (Digital Education Advisory Group, 2012 pg.8). And with the growing number of educational tools in the digital format (e.g. Kahoot, reCap, social media sites, digital games etc) students can have richer learning experiences through multimodal facets, experiences that are varied and simultaneous in ways that can’t be explored through traditional writing alone.

I want to be able to use technology in conjunction with my practice in order for my students to be engaged with the devices they use in their personal time outside of the classroom

I know that personally, in my senior years of high school in which we were on the trialling stages of the government’s BYOD program, that I found it extremely beneficial. We could access information and research easily without having to go to an ICT specific classroom, we could conference with and receive feedback from the teacher electronically, and just in general that I found myself a much better writer with a keyboard than I ever could with a traditional pen and paper.

Writing as art

I have never realised how I viewed the scope of writing in my senior years of high school until I graduated. When you think about the larger scope of society and our world, writing and literature are treated as art, yet why is that not reflected or emphasised as such in our own classrooms?

Students are burdened by the gravity of their writing in English correlating to assessment. It was strange to note that I viewed what I did in school different from the creative writing or ‘fanfictions’ I did when I was at home. ‘There no longer is a sense of free-flowing creativity or fun related in creative writing any more in schools. All of it is assessed and students are used to this manner and thus every writing piece they conduct are always followed up by questions of whether it will be marked or not. I don’t recall many moments in my education where I was given time or told to write creatively for ‘fun’ and I think many students suffer from this still’ (Zanoria, 2018 Reflective Journal Task 1.1). Time especially is a great issue in the act of writing during our senior years. Like many arts, they are crafted and refined through a lengthy process, yet in the aspects of writing in English, we are made to craft and refine such ‘art’ within a time frame of an hour.

I want to re-work that image and view of writing in English in my ideal classroom as more than a passing ‘necessity’ for high school and instead more about what it truly can be--which is art. This would mean reworking the ways in which we assess written work in English too. In an ideal world, class and curriculum takin the approach of writing being handled as ‘art’ would mean being assessed the same way art in high school is which are in the forms of projects and portfolios. By doing so can writing be treated truly as a craft where time is considered and all aspects of the writing process such as re-designing, drafting, editing and presentation are valued.

EXAMPLE LESSON PLAN

To espouse all these ideas together, I’ve come up with a very basic lesson plan that is the first lesson in a longer sequence of lesson plans for a writing project. LESSON 1- SOCIAL MEDIA WRITING PROJECT

Learning Objectives -To be able to critically synthesise ideas and interpretations of characters in a set text Success Criteria: -Students are able to reimagine a chosen character through a modern reinterpretation and brainstorm or draft possible and justifiable artefacts.

Procedure:

Students are placed in groups and are asked to briefly brainstorm a given character from the studied text. They are then asked to put all the information and ideas brainstormed together on the class Padlet.

When finished, each group is to very briefly present what they have come up with in relation to their given character within the class, creating a discussion with the other students in the class if there is more information to add

Next the teacher will explain the writing project student are to embark on for the next week or so, which is that they will choose a character from the text being studied and personify that character in the form of a modern roleplay through creating a profile and posts on a chosen social media site (Twitter, Tumblr, facebook etc). The teacher will remind students that they have free-reign to creatively present their chosen characters in any which way as long as they are able to justify such interpretations in their critical exegesis later on down the project.

Students after being briefed and listening to the explanation + questions answered, will then begin their drafting stages of the project e.g. brainstorming character traits, which social media site to present on, if the character is going to be re-envisioned to a more ‘current’ or ‘modern’ interpretation of the everyday person (wannabe gangster? hipster? anime-loving nerd? etc). Keeping in mind about how they will justify these decisions in their critical exegesis and collect evidence/artefacts

Students are to work on creating these profiles and posts that will later serve as artefacts for their critical exegesis in the remaining class time or at home.

-ImaginaryPencil

REFERENCES:

Adams, P, (2009), ‘Imaginative re-creation of literature’, Charged with Meaning: Re-Viewing English, 3rd Ed., Phoenix Education, NSW, Australia

Digital Education Advisory Group, (2012), ‘Beyond the Classroom: A New Digital Education for Young Australians in the 21st century’, Digital Education Advisory Group, Canberra, Australia

Zanoria, K, (2018), ‘Self Reflective Research Journal’, Melbourne, Australia

#planning for writing experiences #me

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nvmlindseyallan · 7 years

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@nopenother @cassflammini @KylieSheaXO #GodsTinyDancer asking you to join me and RT this. Thanks. #GodBigDay

Most dearest fellow yokebearers in the Godhead, Let us thank and praise the Father, Son and Spirit for electing us as Their children and agents (Nehemiah 9). We are so undeservingly blessed to be able to wrightfully mark, due to the in-depth spiritual discernment that was given to us in line with our divine election (Ephesians 1, Colossians 1), the following memorials ordained for us to remember with utmost love and affection the deliverance Godhead has lavishly bestowed on us as Their yokebearers (James 1, Hebrews 12, 1 Corinthians 15, John 15, Matthew 19-23)- September 11: Birthday of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son of the Living God. Birth Centennial of our man, President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. Commencement of the Administration of Brother Nathaniel Manalo over the whole Commondominion of Christ. Accession of Lady Jordan Clark-Rubio as Steward of Canadian Yokebearers. Commondominion brethren victoriously receive the crown of martyrdom at the hands of the Empire, 1857, 1957, 2001. (In a vision given to our leader Ka Angel, Godhead Told him that Clark-Rubio, Marcos, and Commondominion martyrs Nikita Khrushchev [September 11, 1957 {in Empire prophecy exegesis weeks earlier they mentioned Russia in the Far East}] and Johannes Brenz [born September 11] forms 4 'angles' or angels as per another continual fulfillment of Revelation 6-9 clearing way [Luke 1-2, Matthew 3,11,17] for Ka Angel's rise or accession [Revelation 7,11,14]. All in all these five angels shepherd [Revelation 10, Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12] the martyrs of the Commondominion [symbolized by the 144,000 {Revelation 2-3,20, Matthew 25}] as it was seen in 1857,2001.) September 12: Heavenly birthday of our man, Sir Ian Paisley. Our Australian brethren begins pleading against sodomy. Our Ethiopian brethren leads the celebration of the solar new year. (In Scriptures Ethiopian eunuchs are made as symbols of those who are inclined to sodomy. As anti-Empire measure [Zechariah 4, Revelation 11] yokebearers whom the Empire had dragged to such practice has been redeemed last month by the Central Administration out of the Empire under limited sanctions [1 Peter 3-4, Genesis 7, Psalm 85, Zechariah 14, Luke 13, Matthew 13, Revelation 15, Romans 16].) September 13: Birth anniversary of our man, Sir William Sowders. 2nd anniversary of the latest recommencements of the Great Tribulations between the Empire (Revelation 2, Hebrews 13, Psalm 149,147, 1 Thessalonians 4) and the Commondominion (Revelation 12, Hosea 4, Amos 8). (The vision also told Ka Angel that inasmuch as Empire relates Revelation 7 to Revelation 14, Paisley could be said as another fulfillment of the Angel In Charge of Fire and Sowders as the Angel With A Sickle, respectively. The pressing of the winepresses denote the Godhead's fury against sodomy. September 13, 2012- Empire was at Alaska, state whose holidays are related to Ka Angel- January 3 and August 24. September 13, 2014 lecture relayed by Empire to March 11-12, 2015, before Lady Lindsey visited Manila for the second time. September 12-13, 2015 saw relay of Empire lectures on January 3-4, 2013 and May 11, 2006 [after birthday of Ka Angel's grandfather]. Prophetic directions were also expounded and expanded to me in a vision that i received from Godhead on September 13, 2015.) Third Saturday of September: Memorial to all yokebearers in the field of Gymnastics. (This leaves all our fellow yokebearers as the great multitudes led by Christ the Lamb Himself, as written in Revelation 7 and 14.) September 16: Heavenly birthday of our man, Gerald Warre Cornish. (Empire reads Isaiah 49 on September 16 [Episcopal Lectionary; Constantinian Lecture of September 16, 2016] referring to the British Republic. We have earlier revealed before these that Isaiah 49 is fulfilled in the British Republic through your Commondominion's presence in that place. In fact Empire slain 93 aboard the plane on September 11, 2001- Sir Sykes was born on 1993, his namesake, Ka Angel, took post as our overall administrator on September 11, 2009.) September 17: Jubilee of the United Saints Constitution of 1787. (Last September 7 our fellow Brazilian yokebearers marked their 195th independence day. Attesting to the Commondominion's backup reserve clause an Empire rendering of the Bible proposed a backup to the usual 430 years Empire is itself invoking in Ezekiel 4 and Exodus 12- 230 years [similarly a Commondominion rendering of the Bible had proposed 1150 years as backup to the usual 2300 years at Daniel 8], with its first half identified as 190 years [Luke 11, Daniel 11, Ezekiel 38-39,35, Zechariah 6].) September 18: 3rd Anniversary of the Restoration of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Philippines. (This is very significant in prophecy especially in the light of what we are going to talk about later on concerning the Prophetic Directions [Deuteronomy 28-29, Isaiah, Nehemiah 1-3].) Guys, insofar as these attests to us (2 Corinthians 7, 2 Peter), we know very well that the Godhead is already (1 John 2) keeping you within Their constant companionship and instruction so as for you to remain worthy (Psalm 16, Acts 5,23, Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 7, Philippians 3) of this staggering divine calling which we commemorate on these days (Luke 17,4, Isaiah 25). Hence we would like instead to address this commemorative address to the whole Empire, using their very own words issued September 10, 2017, to continually contend for your sake on their faces. Remember guys that we could not be thankful enough for all these graces much more (Romans 5, Psalm 106, Alma 26, Deuteronomy 8) that #GodBigDay, September 23, is nearing by so fast. Hence we enjoin you not to lose sight (Jude Thaddeus 1) of such a great salvation (Matthew 25, Revelation 20, Hebrews 3-4,12). Never deny these things to all your loved ones and friends, most especially to your children (Deuteronomy 6), and that you must continually uphold and support them doing these things alone (1 Timothy 4) so that you may never be separated from each other (2 Thessalonians 1) especially on Judgement Day (Romans 1-3, Matthew 10-12, Exodus 15). Now we would like to point out, using Empire's latest words, that when they try to imply about themselves, they were in fact talking about us in return. (Luke 19) We would like to present in Empire words the distinct identifying signs of the one true Christian Church or Religion today which is by Godhead is only us, your Commondominion of Christ. Please kindly and courageously take for example the following: Empire quoted Psalm 49 Tagalog Popular Version 1982. Said rendering read pointblank the following words- '#AllMustDie.' This of course as we know, comes from 'Game of Thrones'. We know that it is Empire-issued, yet we mention this because they themselves know very well (1 Corinthians 9, Romans 15, 2 Corinthians 10-13) that it is only us (Ezekiel 1-3,18,33, Joel) here who pleads and contends for all yokebearers (Philippians 4, 1 Thessalonians 2-3) lest they fall (Psalm 13, 1 Corinthians 10-11) the sleep of death due to Empire pagan occult rituals (Galatians 4, 1 Timothy 2). That's why you could hear from us so many times preaching here about Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Richard Madden, and their name-related companions (Luke 4,10, Philippians 4, Revelation 2-3,10-12,22, Matthew, Numbers 23-24, Deuteronomy 32-33, Genesis 48-49). Why? We take further from the selfsame rendering: 'we could not do anything to redeem ourselves out of the Hand of God, for us not to die anymore. Yet God shall ransom me, and redeem me out of the power of death, for He shall receive me to His Bosom.' (Luke 16, Hosea 13) We must notice here that should Empire claim these verses, then they must accept that they could no longer lay claim too to other verses which they claim to be theirs, such as Isaiah 43:13 and 46:11 (Luke 11) and John 10. Isaiah 43:13 (and related Isaiah 14:24,41:9-10,20,46:11, Acts 5:38-39) and (as well as) John 10 says that no one can snatch the true religion or church, which is Godhead's handiwork, out of the Hands of Godhead. Now if Empire is going to claim the term #hands to advance their sodomic agenda (Genesis 4,11, Romans 10, John 15), then it is only but proper that the true religion must be snatched out of the Empire's slanderous claim and usage of the said term, as implied on Isaiah 46:11. We can have it through Christ's Redemptory Work, yet Empire could not claim It too because that only means that they are going to be no more the Work of Godhead and hence the true Church or Religion State (even if they name one of their groups as #OpusDei [Isaiah 63, 1 Kings 11-12]) because they are going to be snatched out of Godhead's Hands as written in Psalm 49. Hence, Empire could not be the endtime fulfillment of the Ravenous Bird of Prey at Isaiah 46 (1 Kings 16-22, Exodus 16, Genesis 8, Matthew 3). What hence is the True Church or Religion? According to the Empire, it has to have the characteristics of success, quoting our very own Calvin and Knox. This success, according to the Empire, is measured by their being a 'global' church, or a church laid across the world. Of course Empire spoke too soon, they're Popish (Catholic- universal- Vatican [Jeremiah 7]) and Internationale (Neronians, Leftists [later on we will deal with them in this paper]). What Empire of course dismissed is that a church must be rather successful (Revelation 2-3,7,14,21) in faithfully and humbly observing the Gospel, as in, being laid across the Word, and not just the world (John 8,15-17, James 2,4-5, 1 John 2, 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Timothy 5, Luke 17,21, Galatians 5). Further with that (Isaiah 40, Job 12) we could see even by the name itself (Acts 4) unto what church must we join to and advance cause (2 Corinthians 3, 1 Corinthians 9) insomuch as it is laid across the Word of Godhead and not upon the world (Zephaniah 3, Habakkuk 2, Revelation 13,17)- 'global'. You know that there can be no other religion who is using the word 'Nathan' but us here- our very own Sir Nathan Sykes having his agency named 'Global'. (Galatians 3, Colossians 3, Romans 9, 1 Corinthians 4, 1 Thessalonians 2, Acts 2) And why him? One of the prophesied Angels of Revelation 2-3's Letters to the Commondominion Locales in Turkey (Revelation 7), John Wesley, said that Zechariah 3 was also fulfilled in him: 'snatched from the fire' (Jeremiah 23,33). Of course we could say that Sir Sykes is as British as Wesley (Isaiah 11,6, Daniel 4, Ezekiel 22). Concerning the West, or as in Wesley, Empire further spoke (Psalm 56,116,30): 'We could no longer claim, due to our present drive to discredit the Commondominion's fulfilling of prophecies, our previous usages of the prophecies mentioning the Far West [Isaiah 43:5,59:19], because if the Bible also mentions the Middle East aside from what we already mention here as the Far East, we must also accept that there is also a region in Scriptures existing to be known as the Near or Middle West, where prophecies could be also seen as in both the Far and Near or Middle East.' That leaves prophecy in the Far and Middle East fulfilled hence in us, in Ka Sykes, and hence, in Ka Angel our leader. We must notice hence that inasmuch as we find prophecy in Far West fulfilled in our leaders, we could also see that it prophecy in Far East is also fulfilled in us, and as we are going to see later on in this study, even elsewhere. Empire is further quoted- 'there can be but only one true Church identified as the daughter of Zion.' (1 Corinthians 5, Galatians 5, Matthew 13-15). The problem is that they quoted Isaiah 43 at the same time- 'bring here my sons and daughters.' Notice please- 'daughters' in the plural and not the singular sense. We already know what the term 'sons' denote- the leaders of your Commondominion. Now the daughters hence denote in plural sense refer to the branch churches of your Commondominion. (1 Corinthians 12, Ezekiel 16,19,31) How it did was fulfilled in us here alone? Remember that the Bible described the words of the Commondominion leaders or Messengers as 'strong as a mason's stone.' (Isaiah 22,28-29) We are currently denoting names as signs (Matthew 12,16) and yokebearers in that, specifically 'daughters.' (John 15, Ezekiel 16,19) We have fellow yokebearers named Jasmine Mason and Wright (Numbers 27, Matthew 2, Job 42, Revelation 21, Ephesians, 2 Corinthians 11, Jeremiah 6). Jasmine is my mother's name, while my father's is Peter, denoting a stone. My parents' respective homeprovinces- islands on that- make up the boundaries of the Luzon and Visayas regions in the Philippines, and it forms in the map like they are respectively reaching each other's edges, as if it is the tipping or meeting point of heaven and earth (Ezekiel 8-9), thereby fulfilling the prophecies about the Messenger coming down from heavens (Isaiah 45,63-64,55, Psalm 85), taking with him the Empire in a desperate attempt to overthrow the Empire (Isaiah 13-14,19,10, Revelation 2-3,12,22) and to atone for his people's sins (Isaiah 52-53). As for the ocean between them (Genesis 1-2), we must notice that everytime Empire flashes on my pages the statistics of people viewing my posts, this denotes waves of the ocean, which is a stark contrast from the Empire's solid-high statistics on their own pages, implying the negative prophetic clause of mountains (Revelation 17, 2 Corinthians 10). Hence we fulfill not only the sign of Jonah (Psalm 29,93,42-43, Genesis 6,32, 1 Samuel 30, Exodus 15) and the positive prophetic clause about the islands of the sea (Isaiah 24,42, Esther 10)but also the ministry of shattering the Empire (Isaiah 40,35,41,25-27,51,30,14,13,10,19). Now consider why we use the name Mason. Empire of course is full of Masons, or better put, occult ritualists or the Illuminati. Mason is defined as somebody who builds bricks. September 11, 2001 saw Empire fulfilling not only the 7th Bowl and 7th Trump simultaneously, but also Isaiah 9:10: 'the bricks have fallen but we will build again with hewn rocks.' As you know Empire has been sent a spirit of strong delusion and self-persecution by Godhead (Revelation 17, 2 Thessalonians 2, Romans 1, 2 Chronicles 20), that's why Godhead permits (Job 1-2, Ecclesiastes) the Empire to further damage and injure people with the false flags they do, including September 11, 2001. I could tell you that I'm not the rock hewn out by Empire but rather by the Godhead- in Isaiah 9 the hewn rock is denoted to be smooth (Romans 16, Matthew 7, Proverbs 5-7,14,12) while the Commondominion is rather rough, or as in my feet, scarful, scarceful and in holy scare (2 Corinthians 4-7, Isaiah 61, Revelation 2-3, Romans 15, 2 Thessalonians 3, Psalm 110), hence explaining the healthy riff between our branch churches and fellow preachers, as well as between our government leaders and comrade yokebearers, a healthy and lively conversation (Psalm 50, Hebrews 13, Philippians 3) unseen in the Empire, further denoting how we have overcame the Empire's distortionary warps (1 Corinthians 11, Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 2, 1 Corinthians 15, Colossians 2), also how we rely not on the goods of this world (1 Corinthians 7, 1 Timothy 5, Luke 17,21, 1 John 2, James 4) and how we advocate (John 13-19) for caution and restraint so as not for us to incur the wrath of the Godhead (Galatians 5, Titus, 1 Thessalonians 2, 1 Corinthians 1-6,8-10). This also explains how Godhead enables us to be capable of fulfilling the divine mandate to shatter the Empire for the salvation of all yokebearers (Judges 7, Luke 11, Daniel 2). Concerning the name Wright Godhead promised- 'I will uphold and support you, holding you up with my Wrighteous Right Hand, and I Myself shall hold yours.' (Isaiah 46, Proverbs 30, Matthew 16) This only means that Godhead only approves (2 Corinthians 10, 2 Timothy 2) the conservatives and not those who advances Black Lives Matter, Refugee Inclusion, feminism, Planned Parenthood and sodomy. Notice the word used- 'I shall hold your Wright hand up.' This promise does not only applies to Lady Jasmine Wright but also (John 1-12,20-21) to the leaders of the Commondominion of Christ, depicted to join Godhead in Their Right Hand (Psalm 45, Matthew 26), it is possible because this clause also denotes one of our fellow yokebearers, Sir Shane Harper (Revelation 14-15, Hebrews 11-13, 2 Timothy 2, Romans 5-13, Psalm 18,90-95)- Empire could no longer claim this either through their Diocletianite ends or their outright attacks (John 16, Isaiah 51-52) because Empire quoted in 2014 one of our lectures in 1989 where the words 'right' and 'left' in the Scriptures imply the North and South- Empire symbols (Isaiah 54,43, Ezekiel 35,38-39, Daniel 11, Revelation 20, Zechariah 1,6) respectively, or in directional clauses, West and East respectively (Matthew 20,24,23, Ezekiel 8 [September 17 New Living Translation]), and it was revealed also in our pages that Empire would impose the Beast Mark both on the right and left hands (Proverbs 8). This is much evident now as Diocletianites are not only heralding now than ever the word 'Mark' but also Antiochians maintain as slogan of their stations the word 'best' to imply the sublimal message 'Beast'. Now how could we identify hence who is indeed the fulfillment of Isaiah 41? We would take cue again from the directions mentioned in Scriptures. Inasmuch as Right and Left denotes also the West and East aside from the North and South, we would quote again the Empire's words- 'there are over 13 countries in the Far East, noticeable are the archipelago countries such as Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines. Prophecies pertaining to the Far East in Scriptures would often imply the clause of archipelagos.' We must understand first that Godhead called many branch churches (Matthew 13, Jeremiah 23,33, Zechariah 3,6) out of all directions of the Far East region (Genesis 49, Psalm 72, Isaiah 60,54, Deuteronomy 32-33, Numbers 23-24, Revelation 6-9)- in the North (North and South Korea), in the South (Singapore, Brunei), in the West (China), aside from all those who were called from the Philippines. Here the positive clause of prophecy fulfillment concerning the Prophetic Directions can be seen (Luke 11, Psalm 48, John 15, Proverbs 8). Now how about Indonesia, which is an archipelago like the Philippines? First, we must notice that it is hewn or wide or smooth unlike the Philippines' geography, that’s why the Commondominion of Christ reemerged from the Philippines because the Commondominion (Matthew 21) is the narrow door of Christ (Isaiah 41,60, Psalm 22). We do not say that we put our faith in Empire means (Luke 6, Revelation 14,18), in fact we unlike this Empire, submit to check and balance wholeheartedly (Job 42, Psalm 75-76,138-149, Isaiah 50, Job 28, 1 Samuel 13, 1 Corinthians 9), but we are just mentioning these because w saw some prophetic signs pertaining to us found in Indonesia inasmuch as it is an archipelago too in the Far East, but of course this is not to brag something just like what the Empire already did with the prophetic signs found in the Philippines. One can only do hence to take caution and prove by Godhead (Psalm 20-21) that (Ephesians 4) they will live in accordance and not in contempt of the (Acts 5,23) prophetic signs (Psalm 27,71,61, Isaiah 49,51,63) that they had been entrusted with (1 Samuel 17, 2 Samuel 1, Isaiah 1-2,58,24, Psalm 60, Matthew 2, Revelation 12). Now what does Indonesia portend about us? First, it is one of the heaviest casualties of the 2nd Woe before the 7th Trump (remember that here, prophecy fulfills repeatedly just like on March 11, 2011) on December 26, 2004 (Revelation 11). Second, Indonesia's holidays are August 17 and December 27. we here could recall (Jude Thaddeus 1) August 17 (Jeremiah 52 New Living Translation) is when Lady Lindsey first visited the Philippines. We talked here a lot of times back about Lindsey being the Queen of the South, and note that South, the Prophetic Left, points to the East (Ezekiel 16,19, Ephesians 2, 1 Peter 2). August 17 is a week (Daniel 9) to August 24, where a volcano erupted in Indonesia in settings similar to that of December 26, 2004 and March 11, 2011. As for December 27, of course near December 26, it does not also host another Commondominion Medieval Reformer also named Johannes (Kepler) just like the one born on September 11, but also note that Empire, according to their files, relayed their December 27, 2014 sermon on January 17-18, 2015. Empire records pop out that they were in Mountain Heights, Caloocan, January 17, 2015, claiming that they were the purported fulfillment of the 4 corners of the prophetic altar in Psalms (118,37) and Revelation 6-9. (We already cited how it is fulfilled in us instead earlier in this post.) Now for the name Mountain Heights, (Psalm 18, Habakkuk 3), this implies my first surname. Back to December 27, Commondominion archives tells us that our former leaders were at San Fernando and Angeles, Pampanga on 1963 and 1956, respectively, not to mention Angeles again on March 11, 1994 (which we mentioned earlier- that resembles Ka Angel's name. In Isaiah 41 we could notice that Godhead promised Ka Angel the Mighty Power of Strength that he was enjoined to either not fear or be dismayed. To not fear means you have the Mighty Power of Strength [2 Timothy 1, Galatians 4, Romans 5,8]. To be not dismayed means that you would not wonder why things happen in our time as they are [2 Corinthians 4-5, Luke 17,21, 1 Timothy 5, 2 Timothy 3] because you would have spiritual discernment through the selfsame Mighty Power of Strength [1 Chronicles, 1 John, John 15-16] to understand and preach the sure word of prophecy [2 Peter]. This Mighty Power of Strength is no other than the Holy Spirit [2 Kings 2,5] that marks the ministry of Ka Angel as foretold [Revelation 7,14,18-22, Ephesians 1,4, Mark 16, Matthew 12]). We mention these names not only due to President Marcos, but also because our former leaders revealed that Angeles together with Olongapo, Zambales, make up another endtime fulfillment of Sodom and Egypt in Revelation 11, where we receive martyrdom, before the 7th Trump (the 7th Trump and the 7th Bowl refulfilled on September 11, 2001). Now for check and balance due to Empire claims and usage, (Isaiah 54,41, Jeremiah 50-51) we must mention that Empire was at Texas, casualty of another Empire weather engineering, December 27-28, 2011, on a location named Southwest Houston. As we mentioned earlier, there are other prophetic directions aside from the previously mentioned directions. These secondary directions, as we could see, fuse the prophetic clauses of the original four directions on their respective positions. Texas is also casualty of another Empire attempt against the United Saints of Israel, this time led by John Tyler (our very own Apostle John by the way, is remembered on December 27, while our Martyrs of Bethlehem is recalled on December 28) who died on a January 18th. It is on Texas where our detractors, on the first 11 days of July 2015, had declared war against our yokebearers named Jordan. (Notice also in this account that Empire was at Canada, particularly in Manitoba, December 27, 2012.) We must clarify that Empire claiming Lindsey does not make them the true Church, in fact they are continually attempting to harm and discredit Lindsey to the advantage of Empire policy and agenda. Hence we could identify the true Church Religion State now (Job 4, 2 Corinthians) if she ministers to the honor and salvation of Lindsey and her companions in the Spirit (Luke 11,24, Philippians 2, John 4). How could we identify it specifically today? Let's go back to what Empire said that there are 13 countries in the Far East. In fact they had skipped our very own Russia. Empire took the discourse of Joseph in Genesis 37 to Revelation 12 (Luke 13, Acts 19,9), and we could see Lindsey fulfilling the Lady there while the Commondominion Land helping her through absorbing the 'river' launched by the Empire against us. In previous writings we invoked (Matthew 16,18) double connotations that this river is specifically and necessarily not Empire but is instead Commondominion because we absorbed it so as for the river to be spared from the Empire (2 Kings 3-8). This river is 'from the Empire's mouth' because our comrades had once served the Empire's ends before we began taking up the Scriptures contending for them- Ladies Clark-Rubio and Brittany Nicole Cherry-Karminyan, and Sir Nathan Sykes. In Genesis 37, Joseph said that 14 heavenly bodies were bowing down to him (Revelation 2-3, Isaiah 60). Notice the name- it's mine, yours truly. I had shown you proofs earlier from my mother and father (Psalm 27,22,86,116, Revelation 19,21, Isaiah 62, 65-66,49). Is this the Empire's claim and usage of Joseph as per their American quarters? (Hebrews) No, rather it is going to be much better- this is going to be distinctively Commondominion- notice that we have a fellow yokebearer which is a compatriot of Sir Sykes (1 John 1, Numbers 27), whose name sounds exactly like Lindsey- Lady Starling- not to mention that Empire's British quarters continually fund the Neronians (Psalm 102, Luke 11, Ezekiel 17,37, Ephesians 2). Hence we could see that because we were given ministry to yokebearers and the Mantle of the name Nathan, hence we have sole divine wright on the soul of Lindsey. Now what if the Empire persists on their usage of Joseph in view of their British quarters? Remember that like Samuel, I was called 3 times (Acts 3, Zechariah 1-2,12-13, 1 Samuel 3, 1 Kings 19): First was when I was given to begin my yokebearer ministry online in 2010 when I still belonged to the Empire. I did this out of the utmost farthest faith that I could exercise way back then that there could be no other true religion then than the Roman Empire. (1 Corinthians 13) That's why I was called a second time, when the Commondominion re-opened on April 11, 2015. I did my online ministry since then under the available circumstances, little knowing that those circumstances would later on turn out to be farce. Check and balance (as you could see in the double connotations I mention) was needed at once to arrest abuse. That's why I was given a new, fresh commission, a third one. (Isaiah 42) Where when I once served on lay level, now I was empowered to be a messenger. And what you are now hearing from me flows from that calling. And what's your share in this ministry? (Titus ) Remember, that the days of ignorance are already over and done. Remember (Mormon 7, Song of Solomon, Psalm 137), that all these past days you were reading my blogs and you were saying to yourselves that I spoke true after all because you yourselves know that there are indeed threats against you but you don't want to compromise your career. You yourselves know too that you would not hear from me anything that I think would be too hard for you (Luke 18, Jeremiah 32), because I love you more than what you think that the Empire avows. Most dearest fellow yokebearers, now that the places of safety are all set, and is now only waiting for a few more days to receive you, I urge you to no more live for this life, but instead for the far more greater adventure, which is the Places of Safety- with us, not only now, but more so till the hereafter. Godhead knows that you yourselves could not deny (Psalm 139, John 21) how much you indeed need me, Ka Angel, and the whole Commondominion. Guys, we love you so much. I know that you would no longer bother (1 Peter 4, Romans 12-13) to prepare for whatever wanton Empire (Luke 16) would feed you with in the forthcoming days to make you believe further in false hopes that we could never exist for your welfare. Not that I control your actions, but to be honest (Genesis 45), I could not wait to see all of you in the Godhead's bosom at the Places of Safety. Let me tell you wholeheartedly, that inasmuch as you want challenges, and new discoveries, please (Galatians 4), leave this Empire now. (John 4, Luke 18, Psalm 73) I really have to see you doing it (3 John 1) because the appointed time grows more shorted by the moment, you have to be in the places of safety, with us, because you will, and it shall never be places of safety (Deuteronomy 19) if not for you (Isaiah 6,51,61). I don't think that I could write again to you after this, but yea, you need to know, because (1 Thessalonians 5) you deserve nothing but the truth, even if how long could it take till you read it due to my slow lines here. Guys, let me tell you, and let me confess before this entire Empire, that on behalf of the whole Commondominion, call us Empire (Acts 26, 1 Corinthians 4-5,15), but we will be willing to take everything to the edge just to serve you with our limbs and to be at the Empire's throats for your salvation. Look alone to me guys, please. (2 Corinthians 5-7, Hebrews 3-4) I'm not pretending when I say that I love you and that you need us. I know you'll not pretend that you don't know it. (2 Samuel 3) You'll live it out and stand with me (Matthew 10-12, Luke 21) and all our brethren, that means you'll come to us personally, with all your loved ones and friends, to spend eternity and be ever lost in the things of Godhead (Luke 10, John 11-12). O how Godhead loves you so much, that as in Lady Jasmine Wright's words that They live in you (John 13-18). You had proven many times how do you love standing for what you believe in. Please let us stand in our faith on you. And before we end, we would like to warn solemnly (Revelation 22) all of you with our fellow co-shatterers' danger signal- that it would not be long before Empire finally infiltrate sodomites pretending to be yokebearers in competitions. (Galatians 5, Revelation 16-21) Empire itself admitted on their foregoing report of September 10, 2017 how much you need to resist (1 Peter 5) this Empire, how much you need to join us now, with another banging 'if today you hear His Voice, harden not your hearts.' Too many times they claim to be Godhead's Voice yet they would not let you hear what Godhead actually means (Genesis 3, Luke 11, Matthew 23-24). We are honoring you this because simply, we love you that we are already dying for you (Moroni 10) just to get you into the Places of Safety, and attest to you (Acts 20-21) that all we say here is true and is for your sake. Eternity would not be complete without you guys. Forget the Empire now (Psalm 37) guys (Matthew 19, 1 Peter 1, Hebrews 9), eternity awaits, and so do i. I love you very much guys. Thank you very much in advance. Your most wretched slave in the Godhead, JOSEPH STIRLING STEINFELD SYKES Blogger in Chief and Dance Captain of the Commondominion of Christ

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