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opencommunion · 4 months

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Hello, I really don’t want to be rude or anything like that but I would love to know any more information about the Christians in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria like, is it true Gaza had family lineages dating back to Jesus Christ? Asking because Ziocucks love making it seem as if Christians don’t exist over there

omg not rude at all, actually this is my favorite thing to talk about (it was a major focus of this blog prior to Al-Aqsa Flood) it's a huge topic so I'll link a ton of resources, but to answer your main question: yes, many Palestinian Christians in Gaza and elsewhere can trace their family history with Christianity back to the 1st century. the Christian community in Gaza is said to have been founded by the apostle Philip. the first bishop of Gaza was the apostle Philemon, the recipient of a Pauline epistle. a core zionist myth is the idea that contemporary Palestinians only arrived in Palestine in the 7th century or even the 20th century (see the links for debunking). but there's plenty of documentation of continuous Christian (and Jewish) presence in Palestine before, during, and after the emergence of Islam. Palestinians (and Levantine ppl more generally, but esp Palestinians because of the totality of their colonial dispossession—stories are often literally the only heirlooms refugee families have) typically have very strong family oral histories going back many centuries, so if a Palestinian tells you their family has been Christian since the time of Christ, take their word for it. community continuity is also about more than family trees—even if someone's family came to Christianity later, they're still part of the continuous living heritage of their community. the continuity of Palestinian Christianity is also evidenced by Palestinian holy sites. because Christianity was illegal in the Roman Empire until Constantine took power, dedicated churches weren't built until the 4th century, but many of these churches were built around existing sites of covert worship—for example the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was built around a grotto that was already venerated as the site of Jesus' birth, the Church of St. John the Baptist in 'Ayn Karim (a forcibly depopulated suburb of Jerusalem) was built over a 1st century rock-cut shrine marking the site of John the Baptist's birth, and the Church of the Multiplication in Al-Tabigha (a destroyed and forcibly depopulated village on the shore of Lake Tiberias) was built over a limestone slab believed to be the table were Jesus fed the multitude. throughout the Levant there are also many ancient shrines (maqamat) that are shared sites of prayer for both Christians and Muslims; in Palestine many of these sites have been seized by the occupation and Palestinians are prevented from visiting them.

Palestinian Christian communities who are able to travel to the villages they were expelled from in the Nakba will sometimes return there to celebrate weddings and holidays in their ancestral churches, e.g. in Iqrit and Ma'alul (x, x). of course because the occupation heavily restricts Palestinian movement this isn't possible for most refugees.

here's some resources to get you started but feel free to hmu again if you have any more specific questions! Zionism and Palestinian Christians Rafiq Khoury, "The Effects of Christian Zionism on Palestinian Christians," in Challenging Christian Zionism (2005) Mitri Raheb, I am a Palestinian Christian (1995) Mitri Raheb, Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible Through Palestinian Eyes (2014)

Christ at the Checkpoint: Theology in the Service of Justice and Peace (2012) Faith and the Intifada: Palestinian Christian Voices (1992) The Forgotten Faithful: A Window into the Life and Witness of Christians in the Holy Land (2007) Faith Under Occupation: The Plight of Indigenous Christians in the Holy Land (2012) Palestinian Christians: The Forcible Displacement and Dispossession Continues (2023) Donald E. Wagner, Dying in the Land of Promise: Palestine and Palestinian Christianity from Pentecost to 2000 (2003)—can't find it online but worth checking your library for

Pre-Zionist History James Grehan, Twilight of the Saints: Everyday Religion in Ottoman Syria and Palestine (2016) Ussama Makdisi, Artillery of Heaven: American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle East (2008) Kenneth Cragg, The Arab Christian: A History in the Middle East (1992) Christopher MacEvitt, The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance (2007) John Binns, Ascetics and Ambassadors of Christ: The Monasteries of Palestine 314-631 (1996) Derwas Chitty, The Desert a City: an Introduction to the Study of Egyptian and Palestinian Monasticism Under the Christian Empire (1966) Aziz Suryal Atiya, A History of Eastern Christianity (1968) Michael Philip Penn, When Christians First Met Muslims: A Sourcebook of the Earliest Syriac Writings on Islam (2015) Early Christian Texts The Acts of the Apostles (1st century, Palestine. yes I'm recommending the bible lol but I promise I'm not trying to evangelize, it just really paints a good picture of the birth of Christianity in Jerusalem and its early spread) The Didache (1st or 2nd century, Palestine or Syria—the earliest known catechism, outlining how Christians were supposed to live and worship) Cyril of Scythopolis, The Lives of the Monks of Palestine (6th century) Sayings of the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers (early Christian monastics)

for more resources specific to my tradition, the Maronite Church, see this post. for other misc Syriac tidbits see my Syriac tag. this is just scratching the surface so again, if you (or anyone else who sees this post!) have more specific interests lmk and I can point you in the right direction

#palestine #history #church history #library

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teenageascetic · 6 months

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“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is”

(First Epistle of John 3:2)

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racefortheironthrone · 2 years

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The Walrus Was (Is) Pa(u)l

Introduction

Like a lot of you, I was pretty consumed by Nona the Ninth - I ended up reading the entire thing in one night/morning, because there would be an enormous twist every twenty pages and I had to know how the story ended - and, like a lot of you, one of the most affecting plot developments in the book was the culmination of Palamedes and Camilla’s arcs and the creation of Paul.

In reading people’s reactions, I noted a lot of people who were heartbroken that one or both of their favorite characters were now dead. I also noted a lot of people who were very confused about why the fusion of Palamedes and Camilla was called Paul, and what kind of Biblical allusion Tamsyn Muir is pointing to with that choice of name. I also noted a lot of people who thought that the reveal of Paul was a very fascinating gender moment.

In this post, I’m not going to talk about all of that: I’m not really qualified to talk about the Biblical stuff, as I’m neither Catholic nor Christian, and while I’ve read enough stuff to think that Muir is thinking about Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians, I don’t really know that text well enough to talk about it. Likewise, I’m not really qualified to do a gender theory or trans reading of Paul, and I’m going to leave that to people who know what they’re talking about.

What I am going to talk about is the question of death and love and lyctorhood. Because while I’ve seen a lot of people say that Camilla and Pal are dead, I am not so sure. I think things are way more complicated than a simple binary of alive or dead.

The Dialectics of (True) Lyctorhood

One of the key mysteries in the whole Locked Tomb series is the nature of lyctorhood and especially True Lyctorhood, and this is especially true for Palamedes’ arc across all three books.

In Gideon the Ninth, Palamedes is the first (or second, depending on when Ianthe worked it out off-page) to theorize that Lyctorhood is the gestalt of eight theorems into one Megatheorem (what the OG Lyctors called the Eightfold Word). Unlike Ianthe, Palamedes comes to the conclusion that there’s something wrong with the theory, both in a scientific sense and a moral sense. We’ll learn that Palamedes is not the first person to come to this conclusion - Anastasia thought that the Eightfold Word was wrong and tried to perfect the process to something that wouldn’t kill Samael Novenary, but either got the execution wrong or (more likely) was prevented by John from completing her revised megatheorem. However, Palamedes doesn’t get an opportunity to act on his conclusions, because right after he gets an explanation of the full scope of the Eightfold Word from Ianthe, he unexpectedly solves the murder mystery and then blows himself up.

In Harrow the Ninth and As Yet Unsent, both Palamedes and Camilla are off-page for much of the book, but are still very much actively carrying out their Plan B (which they probably got the idea for from their solving the Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex). In the material world, Camilla moves heaven and earth to get Pal’s bones, keep them safe, get the bones to Harrow, and get Harrow to both make contact with Pal’s revenant and remake the bone shards into a suitable vessel. In the River, Pal undergoes an impossible endurance trial to keep his mind together...and when he isn’t keeping himself occupied with his new career in romance novels/erotica, he spends a lot of time thinking about the EIghtfold Word. Notably, when Harrow finds him in the bubble, he thinks that Harrow has cracked it, and then gets wrong-footed by how Harrow’s “work” has scrambled her memories...until he sees Gideon. Back in the material world, Harrow reshapes Pal’s bones into a suitable vessel for his spirit and confirms to Camilla that Pal is in the bones. Then at some point between then and the Epilogue, Pal is able to jump from the bones into Camilla’s body, and we see that they’ve undergone the eye color shift that betokens Lyctorhood.

In Nona the Ninth, we learn a lot more about how what I’ll call Plan C actually functions. In a mirror image to Gideon and Phyrra, Pal’s spirit is in Cam’s body but (at least at first) only one can be conscious at a time. Moreover, there’s a pretty strict time-limit to Pal’s control of the body, both to avoid hurting Camilla or falling prey to the blue madness. While they try to hide it and compensate as best they can with written notes and audio recordings, this is awful for the both of them - Cam is pretty depressed about not being able to touch Pal (hence the bit where she has to sit in the dark in the bathtub when Nona first does the hand kiss trick), and Pal is very anxious about whether he’s harming Camilla’s body or infringing on her selfhood.

As a model for Lyctorhood, then, the Sixth’s revised megatheorem seems less than ideal. Then all of the sudden, we learn that Camilla and Palamedes can be present in the body at the same time. This radical shift in the paradigm scares the shit out of Pyrrha, who describes it as “Synthesis” and is totally convinced that it is a “one way ticket” that will kill both Camilla and Palamedes. This is obviously concerning, because Pyrrha is the only one of the OG Lyctors left who remembers how the Eightfold Word was constructed, so presumably she knows what she’s talking about.

But both Camilla and Pal disagree. Leaving aside the massive power boost, Camilla clearly feels that the brief window of Synthesis is the moment at which they are truly alive - “it was good. We were happy.” (Keep an eye on that “we.”) As is his wont, Palamedes intellectualizes his disagreement with Pyrrha, and we see that this is what he’s been building to since GTN:

“I think a true Lyctorhood is a mutual death...a gravitational singularity creating something new. A true Grand Lysis, rather than the Petty Lysis of the megatheorem.”

In other words, Pal thinks Pyrrha is wrong about dialectics. In Hegelian philosophy, when Thesis meets Anti-Thesis and produces Synthesis, it’s not supposed to be destructive. Rather, it’s described as the resolution of tension, a peaceful overcoming, a unity of opposites. Notably, Pal uses the term “lysis” to describe his fully-worked-out version of True Lyctorhood - lysis is a biological term describing the breakdown of cell walls, so the metaphor is about the dissolving of barriers between cav and necro. More precisely, Pal argues his version of True Lyctorhood is better than the Eightfold Word because it is “mutual” - rather than a one-way sacrifice that eternalizes the hierarchical inequality of the necro/cav relationship, here necro and cav are equals engaged in a generative process.

Now to a lot of fans, that doesn’t sound much better than the Eightfold Word. After all, as a friend of mine put it, with traditional lyctorhood you’re only killing one person, and with this you’re killing two. However, I’m not convinced that Grand Lysis is the death of two to make three.

To be fair, there is evidence that runs counter to my argument: after Camilla and Palamedes do “the best and truest and kindest thing we can do in this moment,” Nona observes the result and concludes that this is “not Camilla’s, not Palamedes - that it struck Nona all at once: they were gone - they had left her - they were no longer there.” I would argue that the text of the novel is priming us to accept this verdict, because we’ve seen it established before that Nona looks at the world with eyes that see the truth of the body. (Nona observes similarly when they’re on the Ninth that Paul interacts with the world differently than either Camilla or Palamedes would have done.)

And yet, I’m still not convinced.

The Thematics: Love, Death, and Memory

My reason for this position has to do with how Tamsyn Muir writes about love, death, and memory.

Shortly before they carry out Grand Lysis, Palamedes gives a short speech where he characterizes his relationship to Camilla in a way that he hasn’t ever before, even after the duel with Ianthe: “Camilla, we did it right, didn’t we...we had something very nearly perfect...the perfect friendship, the perfect love.” I would argue that there is a thematic parallel being made between perfect (true) love and perfect (true) lyctorhood.

This produces a profound catharsis for Camilla, but before she commits to going through with this, she asks a critical question:

“Warden - will she know who we are, in the River?”

“Oh, she’s not stupid....In the River - beyond the River - I truly believe we will see ourselves and each other as we really are. And I want them to see us.”

This is a really significant exchange, because it points back to Abigail Pent’s belief in the River Beyond (something that I’m convinced is going to be the focus of Harrow’s descent into Hell and/or the Tower in the River in Alecto), and because it’s also referencing Dulcinea Septimus and whether her soul will recognize the souls of Pal and Cam. (What that exchange says about the Cam/Pal/Dulcie love triangle and/or throuple I will leave for others to debate.) Pal is taking a double leap of faith, both that Abigail is right about the existence of the River Beyond and that Grand Lysis won’t destroy Pal and Cam’s soul. (Speaking of faith, here is where I think Muir is really starting to dig into Corinthians, but again, I’m not going to discuss theology.)

(Also, keep an eye on that “we” and that “us.”)

That’s before; what about after? Well, once they die and are reborn, the as-yet-unnamed “new person” does something really unexpected - after briefly comforting Nona, they have a conversation with Ianthe. Ianthe - whose necromantic specialty and obsession is where the soul goes after death - concludes that “there was another way, Sextus, after all.” And the new person responds by reaching out:

“I know how hard it is for you to kick against the goad...but there are more worlds than this. Come with us. We are the love that is perfected by death - but even death will be no more; death can also die. There’s still time, Ianthe. Time for you, and for Naberius Tern.”

This is a wild exchange for a couple reasons. The first is that, even as a non-Christian with limited understanding of Corinthians, I can see what Muir is doing with the idea of love transcending death. Second, while it is characteristic for their first action to be one of radical compassion, it’s absolutely wild that their offer to Ianthe is one of transcendental love...with Babs. I don’t think Ianthe would consider it for a second, but the implication that it’s even possible after the Eightfold Word process has been completed is startling. Third, it is yet another instance in which the new person uses “we” and “us” to describe themselves. (This pronoun use isn’t entirely consistent - in some places, the new person uses “I” or “my” - but there’s certainly a trend.)

This brings us to the role of memory - and its relation to love and death. It’s most prominent in Harrow the Ninth and Harrow and Gideon’s arcs about remembering, forgetting, and the attempt to preserve love past death, but it’s also there in Pal and Cam’s arcs (”Palamedes remembers everything: That was his problem.I always remember him. That’s mine.”) - in the arcs of the OG Lyctors, and on and on.

Here’s the critical point: Paul remembers, and remembers Camilla and Palamedes separately and collectively. It’s a bit ambiguous at first; when Paul’s very first action as a new person is to remember Nona’s birthday, and it’s absolutely vital that it is a memory grounded in love, it’s not clear whose memory is being accessed. But later on, when Nona is confronting the existential annihilation of love and selfhood, Paul’s response is that “Camilla and Palamedes were loved by Nona...Pyrrha was loved by Nona. It’s finished, it’s done. You can’t take loved away. We loved you too. Palamedes and Camilla loved you.” Again, the intertwining of love, death, and memory, but critically Paul describes these memories separately - “Camilla and Palamedes...Palamedes and Camilla” - and collectively, with a return to the “we.”

On a more mundane level, when they get to the Ninth and encounter the corpse of a devil, Paul says “I’ve seen this before. My memory’s split.” Paul’s memory is split because only Camilla remembers seeing Colum Asht become possessed - Palamedes had left the room during the fight, so he never saw it happen. It’s a small detail that reveals much.

So here’s the TLDR:

Love transcends death through acts of memory.

Paul is not a tabula rasa, Paul remembers.

Paul is not purely a gestalt. Cam and Pal exist within Paul.

The Metaphysics: Grand Lysis and John Gaius

Here is where I might be getting a bit ahead of myself, but I couldn’t stop myself from drawing a comparison between the ritual Cam and Pal carry out in the main narrative and the secret ritual John did with/to Alecto that we learn about in the interstitial narrative. And to compare the two, I’m going to use a more metaphysical approach.

There are two metaphysical analogies that I see at work in John’s secret, original lyctorhood process. The first is Biblical, unsurprisingly. Tamsyn Muir quite clearly alludes both to the Book of Genesis - “I ripped half of my ribs from my body and made you from the dirt, my blood, my vomit, my bone” - and the Book of John - “For she so loved the world that she had given them John.”

The other analogy, and this might be more controversial, is from the occult - specifically, Aleister Crowley’s concept of the Scarlet Woman. In Crowley’s occult theory, the Scarlet Woman is a living woman who becomes the avatar of an earth goddess (very much in the sense of a fertility goddess), so that a male magician (i.e, Crowley) can tap into the female side of the cosmos and attain enlightenment. Significantly, the Scarlet Woman is thought to be an entirely passive entity - Crowley writes “she cannot say no. Her decisions are devoid of authority.” - and is meant to be used and then discarded.

To tie it back to John Gaius, who is a very Aleister Crowley-like figure, we have a male magician who tries to unify with an earth goddess, but can’t manage it - “I took you into myself and we became one...I mean, I tried. There was so much of you...you didn’t fit....I realized you were too much for me.” So instead he builds a vessel to contain the goddess - “a house to put you in” - in the shape of a beautiful human woman. His connection to that vessel gives him godlike power...but it’s all for his benefit. Not only does John not save the world for Alecto, but he sticks her in a body that she hates and then shoves her in the Locked Tomb.

Cam and Pal could not be more different, in no small part because they’re borrowing from very different metaphysical analogies. Yes, there’s still the Biblical stuff going on that I’ve been diligently trying not to talk about, but I would also argue that there is a heaping helping of alchemical imagery at work. Let’s start from the way that Grand Lysis is described - Cam and Pal ingest a mysterious powder (some sort of holdout drug or poison - EDIT: as others have corrected me, this is probably Pal’s powdered bones), then they suddenly erupt into all-encompassing flames, then they emerge from the flames...like a phoenix. And to alchemists, the Phoenix represented transformation, the attainment of the Philosopher’s Stone, the accomplishment of the Magnum Opus.

Another key alchemical concept/symbol is that of the Rebis. Like the Phoenix, the Rebis is meant to symbolize the end result of the Magnum Opus - a union and reconciliation of opposites, both spirit and matter, moon and sun, and male and female. And, in a book that is also borrowing pretty heavily from the Tarot - hence the Tower in the River - the Rebis is also associated with the World card, the last of the Major Arcana. Both are depicted as hermaphroditic figures, both represent the union of the material and the spiritual, and both are the end result of a process of enlightenment.

Doesn’t that sound just like Paul?

Conclusion

Paul is love.

#nona the ninth spoilers #ntn spoilers #palamedes sextus #camilla hect #the locked tomb #nona the ninth #Youtube #the sixth house #paul tlt #campal #campaldulcie

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whencyclopedia · 17 days

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Ghosts in the Middle Ages

The medieval Church informed the people's religious imagination during the Middle Ages (c. 476-1500) and the world was therefore interpreted - even by heterodox Christians - through the Church's lens. Ghosts – referred to as revenants – were no exception in that the Church defined such apparitions as souls in purgatory requiring human intervention to find eternal peace.

In the Early Middle Ages (c. 476-1000), there was no consensus on the meaning of ghostly appearances since, following the biblical injunction to "test all spirits", it was usually thought that such an apparition was a demon. As the Church began to emphasize the reality of purgatory, however, the concept of the ghost-as-soul-in-purgatory gained more ground.

The souls most likely to return to haunt the living were those whose burial rituals were not performed correctly or who had unfinished business which required closure; suicides, women who died in childbirth, or people who died suddenly and tragically without time for confession and absolution. Another reason, often entwined with these, was the need of the living to properly say goodbye and let the deceased person go. Elaborate rituals developed to enable the living to cope with the loss of death, release their memories of the dead in order to lay a ghost to rest, and move on with life.

Ghosts in the Ancient World

In the Early Middle Ages, the Church distanced itself from the concept of ghosts as understood by pagan Rome – as the disembodied spirits of the dead – and interpreted them as demonic entities. The biblical epistle of I John 4:1-3 warns believers that not every spirit is "from God" and they should be carefully evaluated for demonic origin. If an apparition appeared in the form of one's departed loved one, it was most likely a demon assuming that shape in order to damn one by tempting them to question God's plan.

The Church taught that God was in ultimate control of every aspect of one's life and that, when one died, there was a place for every soul in the afterlife – in heaven, hell and, eventually, the in-between of purgatory – just as there had been in the social hierarchy of life. A ghost threatened that understanding because it was not only out of place but had returned to where it no longer belonged. If God actually was in control, how did a ghost slip its assigned place in the afterlife to return to the living? The answer, reflecting the I John 4 passage, was that the apparition was not a 'ghost' but a demon in disguise.

Prior to the rise of Christianity, ghosts were understood as a natural – albeit uncomfortable and unwanted – aspect of human existence. The pagan belief systems held to the same understanding of ghosts that the Church would eventually adopt – that spirits of the dead could return to ask help from the living in completing unfinished business, to punish the living for incomplete or inadequate funerary rites, or because some aspect of their death left them unsettled – but this concept was at first resisted by the medieval Church.

In ancient Egypt, people could write letters to the dead addressing problems ranging from why the writer was being haunted or experiencing misfortune to asking where some treasured artifact or document had been placed. In Greece, the continued existence of the dead depended on the memory of the living as expressed in monuments and rituals. The more vibrant the memory, the more vital the spirit in the afterlife. This same paradigm was understood and observed by the Romans who developed societies a citizen paid into which, upon one's death, ensured proper funerary rites and continued remembrance. An apparition, in all three of these belief systems, was a sign that the soul of the deceased was not at rest and some action was required on the part of the living.

The Church had to distance itself from this understanding in the same way it did with all other aspects of pagan thought in order to make its message completely new. Ghosts were demonized in the same way women, cats, attention to personal hygiene, and anything else valued by the pagans were.

#History #GhostsintheAncientWorld #MedievalFolklore #Saga #WHE #[#]

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officialyourdailyinspiration · 24 days

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Testing the Spirits

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit [speaking through a self-proclaimed prophet]; instead test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets and teachers have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know and recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ has [actually] come in the flesh [as a man] is from God [God is its source]; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus [acknowledging that He has come in the flesh, but would deny any of the Son’s true nature] is not of God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and is now already in the world. 4 Little children (believers, dear ones), you are of God and you belong to Him and have [already] overcome them [the agents of the antichrist]; because He who is in you is greater than he (Satan) who is in the world [of sinful mankind]. 5 They [who teach twisted doctrine] are of the world and belong to it; therefore they speak from the [viewpoint of the] world [with its immoral freedom and baseless theories—demanding compliance with their opinions and ridiculing the values of the upright], and the [gullible one of the] world listens closely and pays attention to them. 6 We [who teach God’s word] are from God [energized by the Holy Spirit], and whoever knows God [through personal experience] listens to us [and has a deeper understanding of Him]. Whoever is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know [without any doubt] the spirit of truth [motivated by God] and the spirit of error [motivated by Satan].

God Is Love

7 Beloved, let us [unselfishly] love and seek the best for one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves [others] is born of God and knows God [through personal experience]. 8 The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. [He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.] 9 By this the love of God was displayed in us, in that God has sent His [One and] only begotten Son [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind] into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [that is, the atoning sacrifice, and the satisfying offering] for our sins [fulfilling God’s requirement for justice against sin and placating His wrath]. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us [in this incredible way], we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. But if we love one another [with unselfish concern], God abides in us, and His love [the love that is His essence abides in us and] is completed and perfected in us. 13 By this we know [with confident assurance] that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given to us His [Holy] Spirit. 14 We [who were with Him in person] have seen and testify [as eye-witnesses] that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 Whoever confesses and acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know [by personal observation and experience], and have believed [with deep, consistent faith] the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides continually in him. 17 In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love [dread does not exist]. But perfect (complete, full-grown) love drives out fear, because fear involves [the expectation of divine] punishment, so the one who is afraid [of God’s judgment] is not perfected in love [has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God’s love]. 19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates (works against) his [Christian] brother he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should also [unselfishly] love his brother and seek the best for him. — 1 John 4 | Amplified Bible (AMP) The Amplified Bible Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Cross References: Genesis 22:2; Leviticus 19:18; 1 Kings 13:18; Jeremiah 14:14; Matthew 5:43; Matthew 9:34; Matthew 10:15; Matthew 24:5; John 1:14; John 1:18; John 3:16; John 3:31; John 6:51; John 6:56; John 6:69; John 8:23; John 8:32; John 8:47; John 9:3; John 15:27; John 12:31; John 12:34; John 13:35; Romans 8:9; Romans 8:15; Romans 8:31; Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 8:3; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Timothy 6:16; 1 Peter 1:8; 1 John 1:1-2; 1 John 2:3; 1 John 2:5; 1 John 2:7; 1 John 3:1; 1 John 3:10-11; 2 John 1:5

#testing the spirits #believers #knowledge #God #love #Spirit of Truth #1 John 4 #The Epistle of First John #New Testament #AMP #Amplified Bible #The Lockman Foundation

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k-star-holic · 8 months

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'ADHD + Autism' brother direct stool Churry .. 'First Epistle of John' is crying 'a gold piece'

Source: k-star-holic.blogspot.com

#First Epistle of John #Spectrum #Oh Eun Young

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euphternal · 4 months

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podcastin' with the taron family .° ༘ 🎧 ⋆ 🎙️ ₊˚ෆ

epistle: just a lil sumthing ...

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚ ୭ 🧷 ✧ ˚. ᵎᵎ 🎀🪞🕊️🤍✨

ever since you and taron have been stultified out of your minds with lockdown . you both thought of starting a podcast with helping the fact that you guys have nothing else to do … from creating a safety net for your guys’ fanbases to create a more positive environment for the people who are mentally struggling ❤️‍🩹 .

the taron family always post twice , weekly with podcasts episodes with special guests . obviously with elton john to hugh jackman <33

the podcast is an amazing outlet with how much you both love to ramble infinitely towards each other , promoting how healthy your relationship is and to starting to advocate for important and relevant topics in the world .

running forward from starting in mid 2020 with the world stewing with racks on racks of toilet paper straining with this corona spreading like a wildfire .

you and taron have started trying for a baby !! luckily , you were both able to welcome a beautiful and healthy daughter and son , who are fraternal twins <3 your podcast is a perfect platform to talk about parenthood . from ups & downs to milestones where you guys would never forget <3

taron would non-stop ramble how insanely astonished , amazed and proud he is about you a being a first-time mother and him being a first-time father 🥹 the kids would absolutely love being on the podcast episodes too 😭

there is so many soft moments on the podcast , with silent moments of taron staring longingly at you with so so so much love radiating from him , funny moments with silently watching your babies having hiccups for their first time , taron forgetting his words as usual , the taron family all dressing up festively for annual celebrations , you and taron teasing about your new , exciting upcoming roles in movies / series , the list keeps on growing .

you guys are just insanely blessed for coming up with this idea <33

🫧🎀

#taron egerton #taron david egerton #taron x reader #taron egerton x reader #taron egerton x fem!reader #podcastin’ w the taron family AU 🎀🎧

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cruger2984 · 2 years

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THE DESCRIPTION OF THE THREE ARCHANGELS Feast Days: September 29, March 24 (St. Gabriel's traditional feast), May 8 (St. Michael's apparition at Monte Gargano), October 24 (St. Raphael's traditional feast)

"Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this. And he said to him, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man!'" -John 1:47-51

St. Michael. St. Gabriel. St. Raphael. These are the Three Archangels that is been mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, and they are honored by the Roman Catholic Church.

The archangels are spiritual beings of the highest rank created by God before the beginning of the world. They have no material body and are immortal. Their name is given according to the mission have received from God. The word archangel is only used twice in the New Testament: In the 4th chapter of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians and the Epistle of Jude.

The archangel Michael, whose name means 'who is like God (or Quis ut Deus?)', was assigned to fight the devil. He was appointed to cast Lucifer out of Paradise, for challenging the sovereignty of God, as according to the Book of Revelation: 'Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.'

Michael helps us in the daily struggle against Satan, who will be defeated in the Apocalyptic war at the end times.

In Roman Catholic teachings, Saint Michael has four main roles or offices. His first role is the leader of the Army of God and the leader of heaven's forces in their triumph over the powers of hell. He is viewed as the angelic model for the virtues of the spiritual warrior, with the conflict against evil at times viewed as the battle within. The second and third roles of Michael in Catholic teachings deal with death. In his second role, Michael is the angel of death, carrying the souls of all the deceased to heaven. In this role Michael descends at the hour of death, and gives each soul the chance to redeem itself before passing; thus consternating the devil and his minions. Catholic prayers often refer to this role of Michael. In his third role, he weighs souls on his perfectly balanced scales. For this reason, Michael is often depicted holding scales. In his fourth role, Saint Michael, the special patron of the Chosen People in the Old Testament, is also the guardian of the Church. Roman Catholicism includes traditions such as the Prayer to Saint Michael, which specifically asks for the faithful to be 'defended' by the saint, and the Chaplet of Saint Michael consists of nine salutations, one for each choir of angels.

The archangel Gabriel, whose name means 'God is my strength or hero of God', received the mission to proclaim God's almighty power. He was sent to announce the birth of Jesus to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Gospel of Luke, when Mary objected that she was still virgin, Gabriel replied: 'Nothing is impossible from God.'

Gabriel has the power to assist us in the most desperate cases, and to protect those who announce the Good News. It is said that Gabriel is the destroyer of the sinful city of Sodom.

It is said that Gabriel played some important roles: he taught Moses in the wilderness to write the Book of Genesis, the revealing of the coming of the Savior to Daniel, his appearance to Joachim and Anne the birth of Mary, and the appearance to Zechariah to announce the birth of John the Baptist.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Gabriel may have been the unnamed angel, who appeared to St. Joseph in his sleep and instructed Joseph not to divorce Mary quietly, and explained that Mary’s child was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and that He would be named Emmanuel, which means God is with us. And in the Gospel of Luke, Gabriel may have been the angel who appeared to the Lord Jesus himself, in the Garden of Gethsemane before His Passion, to strengthen him.

The archangel Raphael, whose name means 'God has healed', was appointed to cure the sickness of the spirit and of the body, and appeared in the Book of Tobit, and is also identified as the angel who moved the waters of the healing sheep pool.

After getting blinded, God hears both Tobit and Sarah's prayers and Raphael is sent to help them. Tobias is sent to recover money from a relative, and Raphael, in human disguise, offers to accompany him. On the way they catch a fish in the Tigris, and Raphael tells Tobias that the burnt heart and liver can drive out demons and the gall can cure blindness. They arrive in Ecbatana and meet Sarah, and as Raphael has predicted the demon, named Asmodeus, is driven out. Tobias and Sarah are married, Tobias grows wealthy, and they return to Nineveh (Assyria) where Tobit and Anna await them. After revealing his true identity, he said to him: 'I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who enter and serve before the Glory of the Lord.'

Tobit's blindness is cured, and Raphael departs after admonishing Tobit and Tobias to bless God and declare his deeds to the people (the Israelites), to pray and fast, and to give alms. Tobit praises God, who has punished his people with exile but will show them mercy and rebuild the Temple if they turn to him.

Michael is the patron of the military and police forces, Gabriel is the patron of messengers, those who work for broadcasting and telecommunications such as radio and television, postal workers, clerics, diplomats, police dispatchers and stamp collectors, and Raphael is the patron of the blind, of happy meetings, of nurses, of physicians and of travelers.

#random stuff #catholic #catholic saints #michaelmas #archangels #saint michael #saint gabriel #saint raphael #archangel michael #archangel gabriel #archangel raphael

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muzzleroars · 1 month

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You seem to know a lot about Christian mythology/ or atleast are quite passionate about it have you ever thought about discussing it in general? If yes i'd like to ask about the Antichrist and its many interpretations, i see like a billion of them in a lot of Media so i'm really confused on what it is

i don't mind discussing it in general at all! i will say i'm absolutely not an expert in any capacity, christian mythology has just been a big interest of mine since i was a kid (i was that guy....) and i have actually read the bible (only once all the way through and my memory is. well. bad). and while i haven't looked much into the history of the antichrist in general, i can tell you about its appearance in original text! the antichrist is really interesting from a mythology perspective because this is a case where culture and many, many sources outside of scripture have highly impacted the figure into something not much like their appearance in the bible itself. the actual word "antichrist" appears only in john's epistles, and this was in reference to the splintering of christianity at the time - basically the author was warning christians against "false" christians (early gnostics in this case) as they didn't believe in the second coming of christ in the flesh. they are even referred to in the plural here as basically this author used "antichrist" as a term for anyone claiming to believe in christianity but rejecting certain (core) doctrines, and therefore able to lead people into what he believed to be a "false" faith considering christianity's then lack of central leadership (and so people not being sure on what all the teachings really even are). the term "pseudochrist" is used similarly elsewhere to warn against false believers, but essentially the anxiety is still the same.

revelation is the book that introduces the singular figure often associated with the antichrist but not named as such - the thirteenth chapter describes the "second beast", which is a creature that looks like a lamb but speaks with a dragon's voice, causes many terrifying signs to happen, and famously marks its followers with the number 666. it wields the power of the first beast, which represents the general evil attacking the church and is ultimately satan's presence on earth made manifest. honestly, there's nothing inherently wrong with labeling this figure as "the antichrist", as it is a metaphorical being representing all false prophets in the latter days, but this is purely meant to condense down what would be a massive movement - it is not truly just going to be one guy, but a whole flood of fake messiahs that will come claiming to be christ or to be sent by god.

for what all this means/is, i'm definitely of the opinion that revelation was never meant to be taken literally and is a book written entirely about the roman empire of the time. 666 is nero's number and great harlot is rome (as places in the bible were always depicted as women when personified), with revelation meant to give the christians living through a terrible time of oppression and persecution hope for the future. in this way, the antichrist is representative of the people christians will encounter who will attempt to tear down their faith, who will attempt to make them worship rome or a false, romanized version of christianity (and thereby make them heretics) and are meant to represent a more tangible, real world threat than satan would be to the average person. there are many, many calls to faith in the bible, both in the old and new testaments, and i believe revelation to simply be a very big, very wild refrain of the same sentiment: we know it's bad, we know it's scary, but one day we will be saved and safe forever. i will say as an aside gabriel also reveals an antichrist adjacent figure to daniel, telling the prophet about one who gains power and wealth through deceit to take over the throne and rule in infamy. his defeat by michael brings about the end days, but again this was largely a projection of history and based on the current tensions at the time. IN ANY CASE it's interesting how the figure has become the actual child of the devil, something introduced by later theologians but still usually not literal. i think a lot of it comes from the nebulous nature of the antichrist in general but also because the name just evokes that idea - christ is the child of god, so the antichrist is the child of satan. i can't speak too in depth about the history outside of that, but i hope this answered your question ok!!

#the bible i read (rsvce) does note the context of revelation in the footnotes #and i have done a little reading outside of that to understand that history a bit better #but i don't actually know much about the antichrist as a cultural figure #and how it evolved throughout history #tbh being THAT KID my reading was mostly about satan himself ToT #cake answers #ALSO im not christian and i look much more at all of this with an interest in the mythology and cultural histories #coming from a big catholic family just made sure i got trapped here forever

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