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linkspooky · 4 years

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Eren’s Dissocation

This month’s chapter has a lot of people confused on Eren’s actions. Why would Eren choose the worst option possible? Why force himself to do something he clearly doesn’t want to do? Why, when he’s given options to back out, does he instead double down on the bad decision making? Why, when no one is holding a gun to his head does he pick the worst available choice?

The narrative obviously isn’t sympathizing with Eren so we’re meant to question his choices. So let’s get into Eren’s headspace. A place where clearly even Eren doesn’t want to be.

1. Other People

Eren displays a lot of paradoxes in his reasoning this chapter. His every action is a contradiction. He goes out of his way to save a child, and then crushes them later without lifting a finger to help. He says he wants to do this all for the sake of freedom, and yet he’s espousing ideas like a fixed future, and acting helpless to his eventual fate. Eren begs and cries for the child to forgive him for what he must do... when nobody is actually forcing him to do anything.

It’s not only that Eren makes bad choices, but he also acts like he’s the victim of his own bad choices. He acts like he’s completely helpless to do these things. Eren says one thing, and then deliberately does another to contradict it when he DOES NOT HAVE TO. It seems like Eren is going out of his way to ruin everything and people are questioning what pushed Eren to this point of deliberate self destruction and acting like he was all out of options when he very, clearly wasn’t.

Eren’s motivations make no sense. Yeah. They make no sense because Eren is trying to reconcile two irreconcilable ideas. The ideas of predestination and freedom are complete and total opposites ideas that cannot coexist in Eren’s mind. Eren can’t reconcile them. So he doesn’t. Rather than try to justify himself or struggle to find the right answer Eren settles for the wrong one. Rather than try to justify his actions Eren avoids any confrontation of his actions all together. Eren distances himself - from his actions, the consequences of his actions, and his role in everything that happens.

It’s a simple idea, but also a complicated one which I will do my best to explain. How does Eren do this? How does Eren end up in this very contradictory mindset, where he just keeps making things worse, on purpose. And it starts with the way Eren sees other people.

There’s a reason that Eren is made out to be so childlike and petty in this chapter. It’s because he is. This line is very vague, but if I were to explain it I would say.

Eren is very bothered by the fact that other people exist.

What I mean is, other people have thoughts, feelings, and entirely different opinions from Eren and Eren doesn’t really want to deal with that. While yes, it could be a line about how Eren saw the same oppression outside the walls as he did in Paradis, I think it’s a lot pettier than that. Eren got really, really, bothered by the fact that the world he imagined as empty was in fact crowded with other people besides him.

In child developmental psychology there’s an experiment called the “Three Mountain Problem.” In the experiment a child is shown a model of a mountain from one perspective and asked to draw what it looks like. They’re asked to draw what they see.Then, a doll is placed behind the mountain looking at it from a completely different angle. The experimenter then asks the child to draw what the doll sees. The doll would see something completely different - but the child doesn’t comprehend that. They draw the exact same picture the first time. Children lack the ability to imagine that other people don’t. A child only sees the world from one point of view.

You know what’s really frustrating? Arguing with other people. Sometimes even if you know you’re right, even if you state your argument perfectly and show the facts that person still won’t agree with you. It’s frustrating to deal with the fact that you can influence, but you can’t really control the opinions of others.

Eren is fundamentally, unable to see, and deal with other people as people. By that I mean, their perspectives, their feelings, he can’t really see or understand those things outside of his own perspective. Other people ask things of him, require things of him, that he can’t give. Other people disagree with him, fight with him.

Eren’s not an eco-terrorist. He’s not bothered by the fact the world isn’t a natural paradise outside the walls. It’s the people themselves, that Eren finds disappointing.

Eren can’t deal. On a micro-level. Let’s forget about the plot at large and just focus on Eren for a second. Who are the people that Eren has chosen to surround himself post-timeskip.

If Eren’s ultimate ideal is freedom why does he choose to trust Floche of all people? A sycophant, and someone who is practically begging to have all of his choices taken away from him?

It’s also because Floch is also someone who won’t disagree with him, or question him the way his friends might. Eren just can’t deal.

Eren claims that everything he does is out of love for his friends. He fights for his friends, sacrifices for his friends. He has to be the one to die so his friends can live.

But, when Eren hears that Mikasa has the exact same motivation for him. That Mikasa wants to protect him, and fight for him the same way he wants to fight for her. When Eren hears that Mikasa might love him and show that love by always fighting for him, which is the exact same way Eren tends to show his love for his friends he doesn’t... get it. He can’t accept her feelings in any real way. He can’t even really understand them.

Eren wants to love Mikasa, he wants to love his friends, but he either can’t accept their feelings, or he just doesn’t want to. He’s allowed to love Mikasa, Mikasa can’t possibly love him back. Even when Zeke just straight up tells him to his face, Eren dismisses Zeke and says what Mikasa feels for him doesn’t even matter because he’s going to die in four years. Eren avoids her feelings, otherwise.

That’s the key word here. Eren’s avoidant. In every single person he deals with, he’s avoidant. That’s how his very contradictory views of people are maintained. There’s a lot of examples I could list of this. Eren wants his friends to be free, but he goes out of his way to lock them up. Eren says he’s doing this for the sake of his friend’s happiness, and then antagonizes them as cruelly as possible. The reason he’s able to do these things, is that he avoids truly looking, or confronting his actions, and also the people he’s surrounded with in any real way.

Not only with Mikasa, you can see it in his interaction with Historia.

Eren and Historia grew close because Eren said he wanted to get to know the real Historia. But, then he specifically asks Historia to do something that is the opposite of everything she stands for. When she disagrees with him, because she wants to live as an individual with her head held high with pride and make her own choices, do what she thinks is right as Ymir told her. When Historia tries to assert herself as an individual who doesn’t completely agree with him, Eren then switches tactics and tries to browbeat her into doing what he wants of her.

Eren’s view of the world is very isolated, and insulated from others. Whenever somebody challenges his view, he makes the choice to retreat back inside of his own head rather than try to change.

That’s also a natural consequence of Eren not seeing people as people. Because he avoids the thoughts, feelings, opinions of others it means his own thoughts never really change. He deprives himself of the ability to see things in a different way. Eren is stuck in a rut, but also Eren doesn’t want to leave that rut he wants to bunker down.

2. Eren Himself.

Eren’s head what a terrifying place to be inside.

Dissociation is a mental process that causes a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memory and sense of identity. Dissociation seems to fall on a continuum of severity.

Dissociation is a defense mechanism of the brain. So is avoidance. They are both learned defense mechanisms that the brain uses to protect himself, and they are also behaviors that people fall into to protect themselves.

This is why Eren is depicted as a child over and over again. This is why Eren is shown constantly flashing back to his mother’s death. It’s because Eren never really got over that initial trauma, Eren has been stunted and never grew or developed from that point.

Eren’s a big old manchild, and that makes sense just from what he’s been through. It’s easy to forget that Eren is a child soldier who like, never had a stable environment after losing his home. The reason he hyper focuses on his mother, and that initial incident is because that was the start of everything all the insecurity of his life. Eren adopted all these mechanisms to cope in a situation where he was truly helpless, and yet even after the situation changed, Eren’s internal mechanisms never truly did change and he kept on coping in the same broken way.

Dissociation, and Avoidance.

Dissociation is when a person divorces themselves, from their actions, from their own body, from their thoughts and feelings.

Avoidance is when Eren deliberately goes out of his way to avoid any kind of real conflict with other people or having to deal with their feelings because he’s not equipped to handle them.

Eren is hopelessly stuck inside of his own head right now. I don’t know what’s a better metaphor for that, then Eren literally... just being a head. It almost lapses into solipism. Eren has distanced himself from other people so far that he has... literally become a brain in a jar.

Eren’s perspective is the only one that exists to him. But he also disagrees with himself.

Eren wants the freedom to do whatever he wants. But he also, doesn’t really want to be doing what he’s doing right now. So, why does he use his freedom to do these things?

If Eren distances himself, both from the thoughts and feelings of other people, but also his own thoughts and feelings, where is he?

He’s god.

Eren imagines his ideal world as one where he’s above the clouds, in an completely open sky. These are the symbols associated with the idea of god in most religions. Somewhere distant. Somewhere far away.

Eren’s key operating word is distance. He is distancing himself from both other people, and his own actions at the same time, because he can’t really bear or even process the guilt of dealing with both.

Let me explain Eren’s bad decision making with a simple metaphor.

So spiderman, right. Spiderman gets bitten by a radioactive spider. He has kind of a shitty life. He has no parents, he’s bullied in high school. He’s an average every day loser. Suddenly, he gets all of these super powers. It makes spider man feel special. He has super strength now, he doesn’t need to wear his glasses anymore.

Then a robber runs by him, and Spiderman doesn’t lift a finger to help. Even though he has the special ability to help, he doesn’t take any responsibility for it.

As a result of this choice, his Uncle Ben dies.

Spiderman wanted the super powers, but he didn’t want like any of the added responsibilities of having super powers. In essence until Uncle Ben died, what Spider Man was living out was a power fantasy.

That’s what Eren is in the middle of. He’s always been this very weak and helpless child. He’s always felt like the person who just watched, unable to do anything when his mother died right in front of him. The way he’s dealt with that has always been imagining himself as getting stronger, and stronger, and stronger.

Eren wants power, but he doesn’t want responsibility.

The Sasha scene is literally the Uncle Ben scene. Eren kills a lot of innocent people, he makes a choice to do that, and as a direct result of his actions, someone else important to him dies. It’s a direct story consequence. Eren steps on Gabi’s friends -> Gabi becomes vengeful -> Gabi goes the extra mile to avenge the deaths of her friends sneaks on board and shoots Sasha.

Eren’s mechanism however, is avoidance. He doesn’t want to be at fault. So he’s not. Which means when Eren makes bad decisions. When those bad decisions result in things getting wrose. Eren ignores the consequences of his actions, and is therefore unable to deal with those consequences in any real way.

That’s why we see Eren get worse, and worse, and worse, and worse. Because he’s not learning from any of the choices he is making. Because from Eren’s perspective he doesn’t have a choice.

To summarize the contradiction: Eren wants to kill people, but he doesn’t want to feel like a murderer.

Eren can’t make sense of that, because there is no making sense of that so he looks away. He looks away so he can’t learn, or even really see what he’s doing to people. This causes Eren to spiral. When people have gotten genuinely that bad, when people spiral to the point where it seems like every single thing they’re going to do is going to make things worse what do they start wanting?

Eren’s dream of killing all the titans, is paralleled exactly with Reiner’s urge to just, kill himself so he can be done with everything. That’s the real reason essentially. Yes, it’s extreme, but Eren might be y’know, an extremist? The micro-level informs the macro-level.

Eren has gotten so bad in his mental spiral he’s reached the point where nothing else matters, where he just wants to give up and committ suicide. He wants to make the world disappear. He can no longer deal with the struggle against the world. He sees the only way to escape his problems is to either just wipe everything away, and wipe himself out. That’s metaphorical suicide.

It’s just Eren’s always projected outward.

Rather than deal with his own internal flaws, he tries to change the world around him. Eren has just externalized his own internal conflict to such an extreme extent.

And yeah, Eren is literally just a head right now. Only his own internal conflict, only his own hurt feelings, matter. That’s what Eren does to the child.

The reason that Eren draws the comparison to Eren is because that’s what Reiner did exactly to him.

Eren is the hurt and injured party here. Reiner’s direction actions and choices killed Eren’s mom. However, it’s not about Eren’s feelings, Reiner makes it entirely about his own feelings. His own guilt. His own regret for what he did. How bad he feels about it. Reiner breaks down crying and is so self-involved he forgets that Eren is the one who is hurting here.

Eren repeats the same action. He breaks down crying in front of a child and apologizes again and again. But it’s really about Eren. Eren makes it about himself, and his own guilt and remorse rather than the person he’s wronging.

So yeah. It’s the end of the world and Eren’s just making it about himself. That’s the best way to explain it. It’s easy to kill another person if you don’t see, or truly care about their pain.

Eren is a tool. And by that I mean he wants to take certain actions. Eren is violent, and wants to stir up conflict. He is because he’s a child soldier who has been raised that way all his life. Eren also knows that these things are wrong. Which is why he wants to take these actions, but in no way feel responsible for them. A gun is not responsible for a bullet leaving the barrel and shooting someone. Eren wants to be the gun, rather than the person holding the trigger.

Which is why Eren is now inside of a giant flesh monster that’s bent on destroying everything. He is the mechanism that destroys the world. It’s the extreme result of that line of thinking. But once again Eren’s entire character can be summarized in one line.

“Eren Jaeger is an extremist.”

#aot 131 #snk 131 #snk 131 spoilers #aot 131 spoilers #attack on titan meta #eren jaeger #eren jaeger meta #eren jaeger theory #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #aot meta

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mothermaidenclone-blog · 5 years

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Godzilla: King of the Monsters or It’s All About That Queen Bee Though

Godzilla: King of the Monsters was a very cool movie. Yes, it was pretty stupid, but was it also a gloriously fun, utterly ridiculous romp? Definitely. Warner Bros. knew we wanted to watch a bunch of massive monsters beat the ever-loving shit out of each other, and they certainly delivered on that front. As with any Godzilla movie, the main problem was that they spent too much time on the tiny, insignificant people and not enough on the aforementioned battling titans. However, there were some notable ladies featured amongst the squishy humans.

*Godzilla: King of the Monsters spoilers follow*

The first on screen conversation takes place between two women, Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) and her daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown). Dr. Russell is evidently an exceptional scientist, as she has invented a device to communicate with, and to some extent control, the titans. She is also portrayed as brave and compassionate, risking her life to run to the aid of Mothra with her ORCA device. In addition, she wants her daughter to be strong and to experience what life has to offer, helping her to stroke Mothra once it has calmed down. She then guides her through the horrors of being held captive with the advice, “Eyes straight ahead, deep breaths, just like we talked about.” She isn’t shielding Madison from what is happening, but trying to help her to cope with it on her own.

However, it soon turns out that Dr. Russell is one of the villains of the movie, as she approached the eco terrorist Jonah Alan (Charles Dance) rather than being abducted by him, as it first appeared. As such, she is responsible for countless deaths in the movie, regardless of whether or not she is acting for the greater good of the planet. On the other hand, she is unwavering in the defence of her decisions and ethics, and even after the movie has declared her a baddie she is still portrayed as rational and somewhat empathetic. She justifies her actions as being for the benefit of her daughter, and perhaps her daughter’s whole generation: “I couldn’t be more sane and Madison couldn’t be stronger. At least now she has a fighting chance.” At least Dr. Russell is granted a redemptive end - she dies saving not only her family, but arguably the entire planet, from the destructive forces of Ghidorah. It’s still shitty that she dies, no two ways about it, but at least she is granted some agency. Once a film like this declares you a villain you don’t stand a chance - it’s a noble sacrifice on her part and she isn’t just squashed by a giant monster foot while delivering a monologue about how her plans were right all along.

One of Dr. Russell’s plans does come to fruition, and that is that Madison becomes an incredibly strong young woman. She goes from slyly flipping off Jonah at the start of the movie to literally standing down Ghidorah and screaming right back in his fucking face. Now, it could well be argued that these are not the most considered of actions, but it cannot be denied that Madison has some nerve. In addition to being categorically courageous, Madison is also intelligent and principled. When she sees that Ghidorah’s rampage is becoming uncontrollable, she not only steals the ORCA from under the nose of a group of highly organised armed terrorists and escapes their fortified secret base, taking the time to appropriately supply herself for her journey (like no one in movies ever does!), but she also figures out the most effective location to broadcast from and operates the ORCA independently. Kudos to Madison, she knows what she’s doing. She does end up having to be rescued by her parents but two things are worth remembering at this point: firstly, Madison has just done her bit to save the entire planet and secondly, she is still a child. She’s more than allowed to run scared for a moment when a three-headed, lightning-breathing dragon from space is trying to cause the end of days.

Dr. Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) reprises her role from the first film, and we are treated to a brief reminder of what a competent, intrepid scientist and eloquent, fearless defender of Godzilla she is before she is unceremoniously felled by Ghidorah. I didn’t even notice her death, and while it’s true I might have been taking notes and missed it, I was informed by a small piece of text on a character’s computer screen, which seems like an unnecessarily dismissive way to end the life of such an intrinsic character to the series.

Perhaps in an attempt to compensate for the loss of Dr. Graham, several new named female characters were introduced, and credit where credit’s due, pretty much all of these women are immediately addressed by their name and title. This not only shows them the respect they are due, but saved me the kind of IMDB credits trawling I usually have to do when writing a review. We meet another of Monarch’s top scientists, Dr. Ilene Chen (Ziyi Zhang). She is notable not only for her scientific competency, but also for her heritage, as she reveals she is the direct descendant of one of the female founders of Monarch, and shows a selection of photos of completely badass looking explorers and scientists that make up her family, all of whom are women. Her twin sister, Dr. Ling (also Ziyi Zhang) also briefly features, although she is seemingly working for the terrorists. We don’t see much of her except for an appropriately awed look at the hatching of Mothra, but it’s safe to assume by her presence at the site that she is an equally accomplished scientist. Dr. Chen is also notable for being an advocate of not blowing Godzilla to smithereens, pointing out that, “slaying dragons is a western concept.”

Another new female character is Colonel Diane Foster (Aisha Hinds), an extremely competent officer and woman of colour, who seems to be in charge of the military branch of Monarch’s operations. She continues to excel throughout the movie, surviving the attack that killed Dr. Graham and continuing to lead others safely through danger until the end. Foster is shown to be a strong leader as well as a distinguished field officer - she is a highly skilled sniper who cares deeply about saving innocent lives.

Black women continue to occupy positions of power, if not leading roles, in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, as further exemplified by Senator Williams (CCH Pounder), who presides over the Monarch hearing at the start of the film and appears to have the power to turn the whole organisation over to the military if she so chooses. Women do very much inhabit the world of this movie, with many women being present of all sides of the conflict as scientists, soldiers and terrorists alike. Although I’m not sure we hear all their names, many are credited, including Asaj (Tracy Garrison), one of Jonah’s team, First Lieutenant Griffin (Elizabeth Ludlow), Lieutenant Bottin (Natalie Shaheen), G-Team Officer Harryhausen (Shauna Rappold), Argo Officer Arvin (Skylar Denney), Argo Officer Cross (Kelli Garner) and a news anchor (Fiona Hardingham) who is one of the first voices we hear in the movie. The fact that two of these characters are named for practical effects superstars tells me that they held a special place in the hearts of the movie makers.

However wonderful all of these women are, let’s talk about the real leading lady of this movie - Mothra. Not only is she utterly radiant and resplendent, she can hold her own in a fight - penetrating Rodan with her stinger - and apparently has the monumental power of the ability to resurrect Godzilla. In short, she’s amazing. She is also the only titan to be named as female, which makes it all the more shitty that she’s the only one - other than the big bad Ghidorah - to die. It seems even female kaiju aren’s safe from the played out and tired fate of dying for the benefit of their male counterparts. Now, my little brother (who is more of a Gozilla expert than me) texted me as soon as he knew I’d seen the movie to tell me not to worry and that Mothra is apparently immortal, because he knew I’d be so cross and sad about this. Thanks, baby bro. However, as this is not addressed in the movie, I have to stand by my initial assessment that Mothra’s death is pure garbage.

Overall, the women in Godzilla: King of the Monsters are incredibly strong and adept in a wide variety of fields ranging from science to combat, are without exception incredibly brave, and most of them hold to a high moral code. Furthermore, for a monster movie where presumably thousands of people are slaughtered, their mortality rate isn’t too bad. I think one more named male character dies than female, but this doesn’t make the loss of talented female scientists on screen any easier to swallow. Also, they killed Mothra, so I can never forgive them. Well, not until she comes back in a sequel and fucks up some even bigger bastards because you know I will watch another Godzilla movie, no hesitation. On balance, this is an absolutely ridiculous movie about giant dragons murdering each other, so I think we’re lucky that so many competent human women were featured at all.

And now for some asides:

Umm, excuse me, was that casually Atlantis? And did you blow it up?

Also did this movie low-key endorse hollow Earth theory?

Thank you, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, for the gift of someone ejector-seating straight into Rodan’s fiery maw. You truly know your audience.

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ramon-balaguer · 3 years

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Do You Know my Jesus?

https://www.facebook.com/REBT.D/posts/4095564410487302

Do You Know my Jesus?

No seriously, My King & God, Do You Know Him, Jesus The Christ? Now, I’m Not talking about Jesus to cutting your grass, painting your home or replacing your roof… I certainly Not talking about the Jesus "exclamation mark" Christ the Bostonians often yell out to make a point. No, no, no… And I’m Not talking about the prophet or Messiah or messenger God sent to guide Israel for a short time and was eventually replaced by a “last” prophet named Mohammad who while high on opium in some cave got visions of Judaism and Christianity to create Islam…

I’m Not even talking about the man called Jesus the Mormons through the revelation after the Holy Bible Revelation according to Joseph Smith (the other “last” prophet) who while high on weed had a vision of an angel he called Moroni and wrote the Book of Mormon to create the church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints. Their Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and the one and only god the Father who was once a man like present day human beings, but who lived on another planet and sent his semen by his spirit to spiritually inseminated her and therefor Jesus inherited godly powers as His son. When I found out I wasn’t following the real Jesus, I was totally undone. I had long left Catholic private school I attended and Catholicism my family raised me in to run the streets and women as an atheist and eventually landed in the Mormon cult and subsequently dibbled and dabbled in Islam (Yes, they have a Jesus too, mentioned above as one of many prophets) having read and studied the Koran or Quran at least 5 times cover to cover while serving in the US Army.

The hard work of making Jesus fit my brain, answer when I called, and label me righteous was a full-time job that robbed me of peace. When I finally fell into the loving arms of the real Jesus, I began a genuine relationship with the Savior of the world—the One who died for me. He is everything He promised and so much more. Our culture presents us with so many versions of Jesus, letting us make Him in our own image, as oppose to us in His image and likeness. Maybe you’ve come to depend on a false Jesus and didn’t even realize it. If you are struggling to find peace, read about these false Jesuses with an open mind. Consider what Jesus said about Himself and test your beliefs against the Truth from Holy Scripture.

Here are 10 false versions of Jesus people keep falling for:

1. Mean Jesus Perhaps this image of Jesus comes from social media and the rants we see from devoted churchgoers. Maybe it is our constant news sources bickering over who is better or what is Right & Wrong. Or it could be you had a hellfire and brimstone pastor growing up, and this became your earliest depiction of Jesus. Mean and angry, full of wrath, ranting and raging about how Sin would destroy you (it will, if you remain in it and reject Jesus). But balance this image of Jesus with the story of the little children gathering to him, with His compassion for the Lazarus’ sisters, with His dealing of the woman at the well to forgive her and her to reject Sin and share The Good News. While Jesus called out Sin when He saw it, He was never cruel it except that one time with the Pharisees and Sadducees in His House of Praise, Prayer & Healing. Jesus, the Lamb, went to slaughter so that you would be free from His Wrath.

2. Political Jesus How would Jesus vote? Since there were no Democrats or Republicans in His day, we don’t know. What we do know is that He loved and would Never Vote against Himself or His Father. I other words, he would Not Vote for Satan and his followers or folks for killing babies or justifying illegal activities or any manner of Sin. But the apolitical Jesus took the side of those in need and that my friends is what we The Church should be doing and Not trying to depend on the government to do for US.

Today, we are all in need in one form or another, and we all need Him. As a believer in Jesus Christ, He is on your team. He is for you. He is for your redemption. He is for your Sanctification. He died for you while you still Sinned. Right or left, wrong or Right, He is for you. He is patient with us as we learn and grow and understands the frustrations that we face with both the Republican and the Democrats and especially the Sin Sick Socialist Lying Leftist Liberals. He walks with us through the valleys, and He delights in our newfound wisdom and growth.

3. Genie in a Bottle Jesus Your wish is not necessarily His command. That the Oprah Winfrey kinda Jesus. We’re often mystified when we clasp our hands tightly together and summon Jesus to answer our every request…and nothing happens. We become deflated by what we believe is unanswered prayer, allowing our faith to increase or decrease by what we perceive.

If you’re a parent, chances are you desire a good relationship with your child. But if your child asks for $10,000 and you say no, does that mean they stop believing or depending in you and the relationship is destroyed? Of course not. In the same way, you must consider what you are asking of Jesus. What are your expectations and motives? And are you still going to Believe in Him even when you don’t get your way?

4. I’ll Teach You Jesus. Imagine what your relationship with your child would look like if these were some of the requirements: You will meet me at 5:00 every morning, I don’t care if you didn’t sleep. Now tell me what you want. I may or may not give it to you. If you have been completely impossible to deal with, I might sprain your ankle or give you a brain tumor to teach you something. Laughable? Sure. But how many of us believe in this works-based and punishment-loving Jesus? He died while we still Sinned. He came to bind up the brokenhearted, not break our hearts and spirits to keep us in line.

5. You Look Like You Can Take It Jesus. “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” Do I look like I can handle the Big C “cancer” or even the lil c “COVID19″ the left has left many in fear of or the lung disease doctors have given up on my brother-in-law is dying from and dealing with? Or the Black Lives Matter and Antifa domestic terrorists’ Stealing, Killing and Destroying Democrat ran cities the “leadership” there allows? Or bankruptcy, or a natural disaster, or the death of a child? Do I even look like I could handle an itchy rash or ingrown toe nail much less a combat related wound or Divorce?

Scripture teaches that we can’t handle anything apart from Jesus Christ. Far from doling out sickness or discomfort or tragedy, He promises to be with us in times of need, Not to mention at all times to Never Leave us nor forsake us. In our weakness, He shows Himself strong and makes us stronger by His Spirit.

6. I Couldn't Care Less Jesus. Sometimes we feel like He is nowhere to be found. We call, and there is no answer. This Jesus is not the Compassionate Christ who laid down His life for ours. Still, in times of heartache, it is hard to understand why He doesn’t answer. Or at least, we don’t know or understand His answers. He has shown me it is okay to question Him. My most favorite prayer in these seasons? “Lord, help my unbelief.” One of the shortest but most impactful and helpful prayers in The Holy Bible.

A relationship with Jesus is a journey. There will be ups and downs. He can take the heat—He proved that through the cross. It is okay to ask why. He always shows up, every time. He said in this life, your life, you will have troubles, but be of good cheer, He has overcome it ALL. Ask, Seek, and Knock. He will answer.

7. Church Jesus The Law is Holy and Good, but it doesn’t make me Holy and Good. No more than the full nice 2” clerical or ordained minister’s collar I wear from time to time. No matter how good a church and it’s teaching of the Word of God, it does not make me Holy. Paul reminds us, do not neglect the assembly (Hebrews 10:25). Yes, hold each other up, hold each other accountable, and by all means encourage one another. But if the pew is shaken, guess what shouldn’t be? You and Jesus. Your relationship with Jesus is separate and not dependent on the church (body of Believers congregating in a place), But The Church, You, Yes, You. No matter what unexpected challenges happen in “the church,” you and Jesus should still be on solid ground. He is the Solid Rock of our Faith, Salvation and ALL.

The church is made up of imperfect people, while Jesus is Perfect and Holy.

8. Rule-Play Jesus This Jesus and I have been super tight for many years. I obeyed all the rules. I even laminated a list and used color-coordinated markers to check off my accomplishments, believing they counted me worthy, while Not writing down my failures and Sin so as Not to remember them or the wretched man I am. Beloved, Salvation is the Cross plus nothing. The thief on the cross was asked only to Believe and that very hour he was Saved. There was really nothing left for him to do. He couldn’t attend a service, memorize Scripture, sing in the choir, take a meal to a neighbor, volunteer, or wash feet or the altar clothes. He was made Righteous because he said Yes to Jesus.

There was no other requirement to fulfill. Circumcision? No; Water Baptism by full or even partial immersion, pouring, sprinkling or even the mystical and unseen Fire Speaking in Tongues Baptism? Nope! There is nothing that can make the Perfected Work of the Cross anymore Perfect than the Perfect One our God, The Son and Lord Jesus The Christ. Your yes to Jesus counts you as Righteous. Toss out the rules of religiosity and bask in the refreshment of relationship. But stay connect and Sin Not so as Not to lose the salvation you gained as a Born Again Believer; or rather remain Not in Sin that His Grace may abound. God forbid.

So don't get it twisted, Jesus does have a Rule Book He Lives and Plays by, it's Called The Holy Bible or The Word or His Word... Because He Is The Word. Just remember, that all the Rules and Laws Given fall under His Two Greatest Commandments to Love Him with ALL your Heart, all your Soul and all your mind. And the second is like unto the first, You shall love your neighbor (Family and friends or everyone) as yourself.

9. Confused Jesus A couple years ago I went to a pastor and asked some questions about the Sermon on the Mount. The pastor laughed and said, “Yes, ours is not to understand. Ours is just to obey. Jesus was a confusing guy.” I lived with this, heavy on my heart. It would be two more years before I heard a sermon by another pastor and was undone by the revelation that Jesus was not confusing, except to unbelieving hearts and minds.

My Jesus fulfilled the Law and set us free from this heavy burden of condemnation. Jesus did died to set me and yes, you free. There is nothing confusing about Him, this and His Word. Not Confusing, No Contradictions and No Controversies. We walk free from condemnation in the grip of grace.

10. If/Then Jesus This is the most elusive and deceptive Jesus. If I do such and such, then Christ will do what I expect. But Jesus cannot be manipulated, and our works do not make Him move; our Faith does. Our good deeds do not make Him love us more and our bad deeds less. In fact, NOTHING can separate us All Sinners and Saints alike from His Love (Don’t get that confused with our ability to lose His Salvation and therefor Separate or Sever ourselves from Him). Again and most Importantly, nothing can separate us from the LOVE of JESUS.

The belief that “If I do or do not do, then Jesus will or won’t do” is a Jesus of colossal works. This Jesus keeps us in bondage to busyness and striving that keeps us apart from the good nature of my Jesus Who just simply Loves. He Is Love. He Loved perfectly so that we might be together for eternity. That was all. Simply Jesus.

Was there even a twinge or flutter in your spirit? One that said, “Oh, that is the Jesus I have been serving?” I know as I came to a place of Knowing, Understanding and Loving the real Jesus, my God, I saw pieces of the false Jesuses falling away and more of His natural and good character shining through to make me more like Him.

Will you pray this prayer with me?

Jesus, I said Yes to You. Thank You for Saving from this world and myself, the clutches of Death and the Devil. I Love You with ALL my heart, soul and mind; and live to Serve You. I want Only You First and Foremost in my Life, Heart, Soul, Mind and Spirit. The real You. All of You. You promised that if I seek I will find. Help me seek the Truth in ALL things and keep my eyes wholly fixated on the True and Holy You to Love and Serve You ALL the more and to love and serve fellow Believers and others all the more. Amen. 🥰🙏💘 #REBTD 😇

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corellian-smuggler · 6 years

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you must never have been a victim of abuse or neglect if you don't feel sympathy for ben who was neglected by his parents. do you know what it would be like as a child to know you ALWAYS came second to your parent's cause? just because Han and Leia were good heroes in the movies doesn't mean they would have been good parents. Leia by her own admission always put duty first above everything and Ben knew that she prioritized the New Republic over him. Han couldn't sit still and resented settling

down and prioritized his restless spirt and wanderlust over Ben and wasn’t around most of the year but was wandering around the galaxy (Bloodline). Carrie even admits Han and Leia neglected Ben. I don’t know how anyone could watch the original trilogy and think Han and Leia would be a good couple or good parents. They’re not bad people just much too different with different priorities, even Carrie admits this. Leia can’t stop fighting for the cause and Han couldn’t sit still. Their relationship was dysfunctional with having to spend months apart because they fought too much when Han was home (Bloodline) that isn’t healthy? They fought all the time in front of Ben and then Han would leave and storm off (No matter how much we fought I always hated seeing you leave) and wouldn’t come back for weeks. This had a terrible impact on poor Ben. BELIEVE the victims when they tell you their parents were abusive. Believe Ben, or you’re prejudiced against abuse victims.

Ok. Three things, here:1. The fact that you sent me these messages on anon indicates to me that you don’t have the conviction, courage, or integrity to put your own name to your words and accusations. I also think you knew this was way out of line and exemplary problematic behavior, otherwise you wouldn’t have been compelled to send it anonymously.

2. You know literally nothing about my life or experiences, and then you have the nerve to accuse me of “prejudice against abuse victims”? I don’t advertise my personal situation on my blog because it’s private and because I shouldn’t have to justify my opinions about a fictional character with personal trauma in my own life. Believe it or not, you don’t have to be an abuse survivor to watch a movie and identify an evil shithead. However, for the sake of proving you wrong, I’ll have you know that it is precisely BECAUSE I know the reality of parental abuse and neglect that I am so entirely unsympathetic to this bullshit character. Guess what, anon? I suffered through 2 decades of neglect, verbal abuse, and emotional abuse. I feared for my safety in my own home as a child. You want to talk about neglect? You want to talk about a five year old alone in a house at night with no adult supervision because her so-called guardian was passed out drunk with a lit cigarette in hand? You want to talk about being a victim of violent rage? Because guess what, I lived through that and I’m not a murderer. I lived through that and I didn’t decide to stab my father in cold blood or join a fascist terrorist organization or kill BILLIONS of people just because I had a terrible childhood. The notion that Ben Solo committed genocide and patricide, in addition to countless other unspeakable crimes, all because his parents supposedly fought when he was young and were “busy” running the galaxy is the least sympathetic scenario on earth. Neglect does not explain or excuse mass murder. Child abuse is a terrible thing and my heart goes out to any suffering children, but everyone has something scarring in their past. It’s not a free pass for mass murder, and Kylo Ren gave up his chance for my sympathy when he displayed a complete lack of morality and empathy, when he demonstrated a tolerance for slavery and an approval for oppression, when he actively sought out the Dark Side, when he joined a fascist organization building a superweapon designed to obliterate billions of people at a time, when he participated in a genocide, when he destroyed the entire Jedi Order, when he murdered an entire village of civilians, when he abducted and tortured a civilian girl, and when he killed his father who was trying to help him all because he wanted to be like Darth Vader. He lost any chance of sympathy from me when he–a grown man–threw literal temper tantrums over not getting his way, when he spat in the face of forgiveness and redemption and love, and when he acted throughout the entire first film of the new franchise out of hatred, greed, selfishness, and ugly entitlement. That is not sympathetic to my mind.

3. I have to admit I don’t think you understand the difference between reality and fantasy. Where in the new canon does it say that Kylo Ren was neglected or abused? Please provide a direct quote from a book, comic, or movie that states explicitly that Han or Leia abused or neglected their son. Because last time I checked, Han having a job that required him to travel does not mean that he was neglectful or unable to settle down. Leia having a career in politics does not mean she didn’t pay enough attention to her son. Does that mean that from your perspective, any parent that is in the military and must spend time away from their family, or who has a political career, or goes on business trips, or a cause that they’re fighting for is neglectful of their child?

“Leia by her own admission always put duty first above everything” Where is this admission? Where in the new canon movies, comics, or books does it state that Leia put her duty above her family? Please provide the full citation.

“Ben knew that she prioritized the New Republic over him.” Please provide the direct quote from a movie, book, or comic–including publication, and page number where applicable, that states Kylo Ren felt Leia prioritized the New Republic over him and that that’s why he’s an unrepentant killer.

“Han couldn’t sit still and resented settling down and prioritized his restless spirt and wanderlust over Ben.” Oh, really? He resented settling down? Please provide the direct canon quote from an official canon installation that explicitly proves this. Please provide the evidence that says he “prioritized his wanderlust” over his son (reminder, in case you forgot: having a job that requires travel doesn’t mean you’re abusing your child…..)

“Carrie even admits Han and Leia neglected Ben.” Last time I checked Carrie Fisher was an actress and not an authority over the canon, and her words or interpretations of the situation do not make them “true”. She also called Kylo Ren Hitler, so…. are you sure you want to stand by her opinions? Or perhaps you’re also a Hitler sympathizer, like you are a Kylo Ren sympathizer?

“Their relationship was dysfunctional with having to spend months apart because they fought too much when Han was home.” Hi, yes, I’d like the receipt for this one, too please. Where does it state in the canon that Han and Leia frequently spent months apart because they were fighting?

“They fought all the time in front of Ben and then Han would leave and storm off and wouldn’t come back for weeks.” ??????????? Please produce this imaginary scene from a book or comic wherein Han and Leia argued in front of Ben and then Han left for weeks afterwards.

“BELIEVE the victims when they tell you their parents were abusive”. First of all, where in the new canon does Kylo Ren claim his parents abused him? Please provide the objective and indisputable evidence. Second of all, you do realize that Kylo Ren is not real, don’t you? This isn’t a real-life case of someone claiming they were abused. This is a work of fiction, and in this work of fiction it quite frankly does not state that Kylo Ren was abused, and therefore his abuse is not a canon fact.

And finally, I’d just like to ask you what movies you watched and thought were the original trilogy, because it doesn’t seem to have been episodes IV-VI. Last time I checked, the success of Han and Leia’s love story is one of the three major triumphs of the original, completed saga. And beyond the fact that Han and Leia demonstrated a million times over that they could and did commit to each other, that they put their loved ones above EVERYTHING else, that they were willing to put each other’s happiness above their own, that they were willing to sacrifice for one another and for others, that they believed in each other, that they trusted each other, and that they supported each other–AKA, they were a good couple who loved and cared for each other– they ALSO proved again and again and again that they weren’t just good heroes, they were good PEOPLE. The entire point of the original trilogy was that Han, Luke, and Leia were GOOD PEOPLE. And good people don’t abuse children.

#I can't???#even believe???#this GARBAGE??????#maybe don't make blind assumptions about people???#also SHOOK by the rhetoric #that anyone who doesn't feel sorry for Mr Fascism #automatically hates victims of child abuse #because that's just STELLAR logic #unreal

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swawesome-wow · 7 years

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If you wanted people to be informed, you'd have mentioned Palestinian terrorists and Hamas. You'd have mentioned the suicide bombings and hundreds of murdered innocent Israelis. You'd have mentioned the Palestinian leadership that first declined coexistence in 1948 and rejected every offer of peace since then. You'd have mentioned lies and propaganda and blood libel against Jews, thought in Palestinian schools. You care about playing the victim. But it's an old game. And you'll lose.

I wasn’t going to take the time to respond, but it’s summer break, and I refuse to let you hide behind anonymity and not learn a little something while you’re there.

1. “If you wanted people to be informed, you’d have mentioned Palestinian terrorists and Hamas. You’d have mentioned the suicide bombings and hundreds of murdered innocent Israelis.”

Oh yes, how could I forget to talk about Palestinian terrorists and Hamas. The thousands upon thousands of innocent Israelis killed. Wait, what’s that? 1,213 Israelis have been killed since September 29, 2000. 9,478 Palestinians have been killed since September 29, 2000. I have never claimed that Palestinians have not killed innocent Israelis. Those numbers are only since the year 2000. Israel has occupied Palestine for 50 years, give or take, as you yourself aptly admitted by bringing up the conference in 1948. There is immense loss on both sides, though one has lost nearly 9x as many lives. However, comparing it numerically is extremely reductive, not only are you wrong numerically, you’re ignoring why people have been slaughtered on both sides, and what brought everyone to this point. There is no “justifying” the murder of Israelis by Palestinians, there is only understanding why these killings happened, holistically, and understanding the context.

People refer to it now as the Israeli-Palestinian “Conflict, Divide, etc.” But before recent, heavy political and monetary support of Israel, it was called the Palestinian Genocide, for good reason.

2. “You’d have mentioned the Palestinian leadership that first declined coexistence in 1948 and rejected every offer of peace since then.”

Let me make this very, painfully clear.

Palestine does not owe coexistence to Israel. Israel is an occupying state, an oppressive state, and one that has committed genocide against the Palestinian people.

To bring it down to your level of understanding, the Palestinians were there first. Palestinians of EVERY religion, including Judaism, though I’ll touch on that later. The Palestinian leadership has been lamentable, no one is denying that. But let me put it this way:

Let’s say America was invaded today, by, say, Canada. (Sorry Canada, you were the first country to pop into my head, since I owe half my citizenship to you.) After things calm down enough for the leaders to meet, Trudeau says to *shudder* Trump (or even Obama, in this fake scenario, would make the same decision), “Hey man, I know you were here first and everything, and I know we bloodily invaded you, but like, let’s just coexist, like on that bumper sticker you guys are so fond of.” Do you honestly think the President of the United States of America, would EVER agree to something like that? Seriously? Of course not, that would be ridiculous. Even 50 years later, America would still be fighting for its freedom from its maple-drenched oppressors. So why are you holding Palestine to such ridiculous standards?

I am truly saddened by the violence that has stemmed from this entire situation, but until Israeli soldiers stop wrongfully arresting, imprisoning, and killing Palestinians, even children, I don’t think you can possibly hope for “peace.”

My grandmother, a few years back on a return visit to Palestine after she fled so many years ago to Canada, was stopped at the border wall (yes, there is a wall there, in case people were unaware) for eight hours, for no reason. She was not charged with anything, neither were her daughters, my aunts, that were with her. Her crime was being Palestinian. I wonder what that sounds like.

Oh yes, and because of that wall, the already pitiful economy of the Gaza Strip has crumbled, and they have no way of rebuilding it. Even if Palestinians find jobs in Israel, they’re backed up for hours each day just trying to get processed through the wall in either direction. They’ve been economically choked off from the rest of the world, yet Israel continues to receive monetary aid as if they’re in desperate need.

3. “You’d have mentioned lies and propaganda and blood libel against Jews, thought in Palestinian schools. You care about playing the victim. But it’s an old game. And you’ll lose.”

Once again, I need to make something crystal clear. So listen up. \

Palestinians do not hate Jews. They hate the Israeli government. Not Israelis, not Jews, the Israeli government, because that is the body that is responsible for Palestinian suffering.

Since I was in elementary school, any time someone found out I had Palestinian parents, they immediately made quips or even stated directly that I must hate Jewish people. I had someone say “oh, so you’re anti-Semitic.” I’ve had people ask me if myself or my parents are terrorists (and I used to be Christian, now I don’t practice anything, my point being that I can’t imagine how hard it is for any Muslims). This misconception is so widespread that it’s toxic, killing any reasonable discourse on the subject by people stamping me with the anti-Semite sticker. So, I’m sorry, I haven’t had the chance to play the victim. Let me know how that goes for you.

What I said earlier, about all religions coexisting? Let me elaborate.

For the thousands of years that Palestine has existed, Christians, Muslims, Jews, ~whatever~ lived side by side, happily and comfortably. Another misconception is that the Israeli movement came from within Palestine, which is just plain misinformation. This is a very, very reductive explanation of what actually happened, forgive me for not being more detailed:

When the second World War ended, there were thousands upon thousands of displaced European Jews (mostly German as you might imagine, but elsewhere as well). When Europe (and America) tried to figure out where to help these people relocate, no one wanted to take them in, deciding it would be too difficult to reintegrate. Palestine had the room and the kind heart needed to take them in, so that’s where many were relocated, en masse. But it was a finite time that Palestine agreed to host these refugees as refugees, they would eventually need to either integrate with the Palestinian people (gain citizenship, etc), or decide where they would want to move, if not stay there. But the relationship began to change, as some began to perpetuate the idea that they belonged there all along, and that the Palestinians were the ones that needed to leave or integrate elsewhere. As with most conflict, religion took a match and set it to kerosene, as suddenly Jerusalem was the center of the occupier’s claims to the land. While I won’t try to argue about it as I’m not informed enough on religious history, I will say that it is entirely possible to create a religious homeland without literally invading the country and creating a religious state. Church and state are separate for a reason, and have to cooperate, not override one another.

So there are plenty of Palestinian Jews that understand and are outraged at the Israeli government, though they have been left out of intentional eviction, arrests, torture, and killings.

COMIC RELIEF BREAK that is actually somewhat related but I promise it’s funny:

One time my mom was telling me about something that happened over in Palestine to friends of our family so word made it back to us. Like I said, the three major religions were living pretty happily together, especially where these friends lived. The IDF was evicting all the Palestinians from a neighborhood to allow Israeli settlers to take over. Our friends were one of the families kicked out, and they were best friends with the Jewish family next door! So when the IDF came knocking on the Jewish family’s door to offer them the keys to their best friends’ house, (they were Jews so they were allowed to stay with the new Israelis coming in), the husband of the family was FURIOUS. He started to back-talk, offended at the very thought, but his wife (the really clever one in this story) shut him up and took the keys. The husband couldn’t believe his wife would betray their best friends like that, but she just rolled her eyes in a “you idiot” fashion. They had the keys now, and they promptly gave them back to their best friends so they could reclaim their property! I always thought that story was hilarious :D

While I am disgusted at the thought that you could somehow compare this entire subject to a game, if that’s the only way you can comprehend such a vast discourse, I’m happy to oblige the metaphor: The only “loser” here is the one who can’t think for themselves and hasn’t done a little goddamn research, you soggy walnut.

Speaking of research! Here are a couple of resources for those who have been following along! I honestly can’t say that the second is an unbiased source, however if you’re looking for straight statistics and numbers, check out the first link! It’s where I got the exact numbers I used above. If you want the international law/human rights perspective, check out the third link. Thanks y’all!

http://ifamericaknew.org

http://www.globalresearch.ca/israels-genocide-towards-palestinian-arabs/5591341 (thanks canada)

https://ccrjustice.org/genocide-palestinian-people-international-law-and-human-rights-perspective (really good source explaining the international law and human rights perspective on the issue)

#palestine #israel #palestinian #palestinian genocide #israeli occupation #international law #human rights #anon #swawesome is pissed right off

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exquisitelyeco · 7 years

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An answer in Part, Mr. Fry

A while ago Steven Fry said he would not want to meet God, because God lets wicked things happen to innocent people. This was my response. Let me first say, this article is based on the fact I DO have faith in God. This is only what I think. I do not know if it is accurate. But it is what ran through my mind when I heard about Steven Frys quite justified comments about God, when some arrogant, ignorant and stupid bastard try to put Him in a corner. Well, Sir, you did that? Remember Kama, cos it's going to bite your arse. SO! You do not have to agree. Neither do you have to read it. If you do, keep in mind I am a tiny wee human with many faults. Trying to make sense of a damaged world, just like you are. And this is my justification of it. I am so sorry if this offends you. I can only say a I am sorry and ask your forgiveness. It is not meant to offend but to answer, from my perspective, the question of why does God let evil happen? I also struggle with this question often. And I know that most of us do too. Answer in part Mr. Fry.

A post has been being shared around facebook. It has Steven Fry getting justifiably and understandable angry and protesting about the fact; that if God exists at all, He must be full of hate and evil. Steven explains how, If there is a God, and He lets evil things happen, children die and suffer, then that God must be totally evil and that he, Steven, would never want to get into heaven, let alone meet God, at all. First I was scared about this post. I am fearful of anger because in my childhood there was always anger and fear. Also the fact I love God. That is in fact an understatement, and a contradiction, because also, like Steven, I have times I really HATE God. So, because not only do I believe in God, but I am getting to know him and love Him, I was afraid, like I do most often, I would take the comments and emotional outburst personally and get angry. Because that is what I do to protect myself and then crush the argument to try to make it go away, along with the fear that is the REAL reason I got angry in the first place. Why fear? Well, first the reason I pointed out. But also the fears I also have at times about God Himself. Is He REALLY real? Does He love me and accept me? (my own father either rejected me and that was bad enough) WHY did God give me my parents, when He KNEW (God knows everything doesn’t He?) they would hurt me (as well as the things that are done unintentionally - but still scar - of which we all are guilty)? All these questions come up for me, just like they do for Steven. In fact they come up for all of us. Sadly, like my dad, one of the ways I try to shut the fear up when it comes, is to crush either who or why it has come, rather than trust I and God that there IS another way. About Steven’s declaration that God allows evil things to happen. Well, I have a question for all of us to answer, that may help us look at the idea of God being cruel another way…..

Have you ever done anything cruel? Have you ever done anything you were ashamed of? So ashamed you dare not confess it to another soul because you were SO afraid of being found out? Have you ever said or thought anything nasty, spiteful, mean or unkind about somebody else? Have you ever gossiped, out of the sheer pleasure of telling somebody else what ‘so and so’ did? (The bloody bastards!! What a cheek!!) To feel the pleasure of the agreement of the other person who was listening? Have you ever been impatient, angry to somebody else? (I’M in a hurry! MOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Have you ever been jealous? (It’s NOT fair! I want that! How DARE they have one! Why do THEY always have stuff like that happen? Nothing ever happens for ME) or as women – She looks good, bloody cow! Have you ever gone and taken somebody else’s things, or even taken their husband or wife, because you wanted them? (I couldn’t help it, the desire was to strong! She came on to me, I couldn’t control myself!) WHEN and HOW and WHO decides as humans (not talking about God deciding now, I mean US making that base line decision) do we start to draw the line and say some kinds of behaviour are wrong, and if they are wrong then they must be so called evil??

Well, if like me, you have done just one of those things, and I confess to most of them, then I ask you another question. Whose fault was that? In a society where we routinely, and even subconsciously blame others. The ‘Blame culture’ it’s even called. Where we do not take responsibility for our own actions but actually BLAME the other person! ‘It’s not my fault- she slagged me off! He hit me – so I hit him back. He called me first. If she wasn’t so demanding he would have never turned to me for an affair. She said it first! If He wasn’t so mean, this would never have happened. And one of our most favourite quotes? ‘ IT SERVED THEM RIGHT!!’ (Surely God would allow that one? After all……………………………………..!) Then when the seeds that we have sown are reaped on our own head, we STILL blame others! Why has GOD done this to me? I didn’t do anything. Its not my fault. They asked for it! He’s left me for somebody else. I’m now on probation for hitting that bastard. I got fined for stealing that x box. Now I can't go out for 6 months – bloody justice system – not my fault! And all along we declare and even worse BELIEVE ITS NOT MY FAULT! WHEN do we start to draw the line and say some kinds of behaviour are wrong, and if they are wrong then they must be so called evil?? So if WE have done these things, made these choices, WHY do we blame God for them? Did He force the terrorist to take the bomb into the backpack that killed people? Did He force the rapist to lust so much he stole somebody’s peace and innocence in such an evil way? Did He make the father who abused his children do it? NO. That was the choice and action of the human themselves!! Even to take revenge on what has happened to us is often actually revenge rather than justice. I hit him because he hit me. I reported him because he should not have done that to me, now he’s lost everything – serve him right. Another question thrown in…………………..If you KNEW that HOW and WHAT you did to others in judgment or revenge would in turn be done to you when you did wrong, WOULD YOU STILL JUDGE THAT WAY? Before you say yes, also think if it was your child. Brother, sister, mother, someone you dearly love etc who had to take the same consequences that you decide others should have. Judgment! It’s a whole subject of its own. How we love to judge others harshly – but we want to be treated with mercy! We have freewill. It is what makes the human being above and in charge of everything else on the whole of this planet. And freewill is just that. To CHOOSE to either do good or to do evil. And only by being honest with ourselves, taking responsibility for our OWN actions can we know truly know ourselves and whether we are choosing to act in love or in hate. BUT IF THERE WAS NO religion there would be no wars, people say. NO! that is the biggest pile of BULLSHIT –there is no other word for it I have ever heard. As in the words of the Spirit of Christmas present; when confronted by Scrooge; about the those who do not give anything to the poor and say nobody should have if they cannot afford it, who justify these actions by using the bible – He says, ‘There are some who claim to know me and my brothers, but they are alien to us- CHARGE THEIR DOINGS TO THEM. In the name OF God man and women kill torture and maim. But if they were to search their own hearts they would find the answer. That is not God. That is control and fear and hate. Remember I said I have a horrible habit of crushing those I am afraid of? That is what people do in the name of God. The actions that keep women down and silent with no rights or freedoms, hate of a race or some other difference, blaming and hating each other…., in the name of God. Or Killing somebody else of another religion or belief – even same religion different view point! And/or taking their property in the name of God. They use Gods name, yes, but the things are done BY them for their OWN benefit. Control, manipulation and fear and hate are used and then God is blamed for their actions. Or another way to put it, the consequences they have meted out on others are said to be Gods will! Oh, Human beings, how we love to do wrong and declare it’s not us but God! If we cannot bear to have somebody different we try to turn them or force them into a version WE have decided is best for them and we use the name of God to do it. (And yet, we all know somebody who is like that to us and we HATE them for it!! And that is whether we believe God exists or not!) As Christ said to the Pharisees, you go half way around the world to make a convert and then you turn him into something TWICE as bad as you!

So we blame God or at the least say he ‘allowed’ it, for the bad things we do then? So we believe and say God MADE me do it? But, Then, if you do that you can no longer use the argument –‘they deserved it’ to justify your action -You just blame God. So then, shall we do away with prison and the justice system cos everything is Gods fault?. In fact, we can do what we like then and blame it on God! Kill, rape, murder, steal lie, everything is Gods fault. We no longer have any responsibility what so ever.

BUT this cuts BOTH ways! When you do something good, are you not proud and pleased with yourself? When somebody does something kind to you, when you get a hug, or a present or, when you are shown love and acceptance. When your friend treats you for coffee or when you pass an exam really well. When your children excel or doing something special on mothers or fathers day or your lover gives you a huge surprise of Valentines day, actually that’s not them, then! That’s God. He ‘made’ that happen. So don’t bother say thankyou to those who did it! They didn’t really do anything! You didn’t do well or anything kind or loving or good - God did! (I think myself that, WE are either the hands and feet and body (heart) of God doing His will for Him on this earth, Or we are the hands feet, heart and body doing Satan’s will, or we are just on the planet evolving doing our own or the will of those who are in charges will! If the last one is the case then note this….its definitely not God its US who do both evil and good! In which case, its no point bitching let’s just get on and do what we will do anyway. Destroy everything. After all, have we EVER learned from past mistakes?!)

It is freewill that allows us to choose these choices. But without free will where would we be? Either we would be drearily going along being behaved and doing well. No chance to show bravery because there is no adversity. Or courage, because there would be nothing to be courageous for. Nothing to hope for, nothing to fight and be proud of fighting for; In fact it would be just like the movie Invention of lying. Bloody boring and lifeless. Or the Trueman show, we would have no choice in anything. So life would have no life. Simple. OR we bring Stevens version of God into it, we would live in terror of ever doing anything wrong, for fear of retribution, and there would be no such thing as love, forgiveness and mercy, because the consequences of wrong doing would be torture, condemnation and death. And anyway, God would be being so damn mean we’d be more interested in licking His arse than anybody else’s! LORD, I live under enough condemnation of my wrongs myself, without all that thanks. Suicide would go up a million fold except there would be not relief from it as we’d be punished for murdering ourselves! . A whole life of misery and slavery. So what do we do with God in a world of hopeless lack of responsibility, and damage, where bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people as well as the good that happens to the good and the bad that happens to the bad?

The problem of God allowing sickness starts with the acknowledgement of the world being in sin and darkness as does the issue of evil choices we choose. Because we have already discussed that Choice comes from us, not from Him. That is unless you are an atheist, in which case its survival of the fittest, so sickness merely weeds out all that is unhelpful for the protection and evolution of the species. If that’s the case, stop blaming God, cos He does not exist, and bloody well got on with it without complaining! And if something bad happens? Well that’s all down to how we have evolved, so just got to wait until we all become perfect. And the evil that we do is merely that we have not evolved well yet so eventually all criminal activity will be eroded out of humans. ( Please note here, this is NOT about whether Atheists are right or wrong! Nobody has the right to judge beliefs, I only say this as a I am arguing from the perspective that God does, actually exist, if you believe He does......) But which, as pointed out previously – where do we start saying something is wrong, will mean we are all eradicated anyway because our very being CANNOT stop doing what is wrong on one level or another. (Who was it who pointed out you never have to teach a child how to lie? Or teach them how to do wrong? In fact, what are parents for? Seems to me our children are very good at doing what we tell them not to do!) But I suspect, looking at human behaviour we are more lightly to evolve more backwards than forwards…………………………………….

This world is sinful and we need to believe somebody can help us out of the secrets we don’t tell, the things we have done, the pain we are in and the things that have wounded us. The things others have done where we cry out for justice and punishment - and which in nearly all cases deservedly so! But those who do things were also damaged too. I know that sucks and is not good enough. BUT, when does it stop? An eye for an eye? Well that’s all very well, but as a partially blind person I’d rather not. Actually knowing the human race, we would run out of eyes and teeth and still manage to kick each other, so how about removing legs, hands tongues (after all slagging somebody off is wrong!) IN FACT! The perfect solution – remove all humans! WHOO HOO problem solved! Except we are looking at it from the perspective of it being Gods fault – maybe we should do away with Him? Believe me, I tried that one, He is still bloody well there!) So then if we believe that it is not ‘ultimate selection of the species that causes sickness and wrong doing’ then we are left with the idea that God or some-being else, is bigger than we are and created us. So, is He good or evil? Well, the answer I think is in how God describes Himself. He IS Love. Love is patient, love is kind, does not brood over hurt. Does not rejoice in what is wrong, but rejoices in truth. And I also know God is NOT interested so much in law (law may keep us safe, but it shows no mercy and cannot bend. So cannot change and always condemns us to its consequences.) But what He is interested in is Mercy. If we believe in God we know, that something somewhere went wrong with what He created. And, if we acknowledge that it is the choices WE choose to make that affect others, who in turn make choices, then we know the problem lies with us. A god or to put it in better terms, the only God – Could not by His very nature do wrong. Not if He is Love itself. So what would we do if we were God? Eradicate us all and start again? Surely that’s not fair! We do not want to be judged so harshly do we? After all having blamed God for all our wrong doings, should we then agree with Him in eradicating babies and children? In murdering the innocent? Of course not! That WOULD make Him evil and unjust. And we see His love in this world. In trees and flowers, in nature and space, in babies and lovers, in music and mathematics. All the wonders of the world and the wonders we still have (though secretly!) as adults that make us like children, these things are love. And I cannot believe that a God who can make those things can be full of hate and malice. So what then? I believe that God DID do something about the evil and sickness in this world. He came Himself and gave us the opportunity to choose differently. He did not promise instant change. Nowhere have I ever read that in the bible. He NEVER promised evil would stop here in this world. He said that IF we chose to acknowledge that WE had got it wrong then He could then begin to start helping us put it right. He does not wave a magic wand. That would make Him like Mary Poppins, and we already talked about that kind of control and where it leads us. Because we have not really touched on another point. There is a God, but there is also a Satan. And between us choosing do what we wanted and not waiting for God, Satan got given control of this world, by us (God gave it to us, we gave it and our lives to Satan because of Eve being deceived and Adam's disobedience when WE chose to do it our own way. Not just Eve, Not just Adam. BOTH of us. And that’s one of the problems, men blame women, women blame men. We need to STOP blaming each other for stuff and start helping each other!!) And Satan only wants one thing – total control. Now if HE were God then we WOULD all be controlled, tortured and militated in death forever. Satan wanted the world because He was so pissed off God gave it to us. Who were we? We didn’t even have clothes! And sadly Eve got conned into thinking that the taste of that apple was more important than waiting for God and asking Him about it. BEFORE all you guys point out its all her fault, WHO was stupid enough to watch her eat it and then do the same thing? You’d even lived an extra day (Could have been longer, Gods time is different to ours!!) And STILL after naming all those animals, you watch your new missus pick an apple that you knew was not to be eaten and watch her take a bite, then when she doesn’t fall down dead you take a bite! And since then you’ve been blaming her and she’s been blaming you! SO BOTH OF US! STOP THE BLAME AND LISTEN………………………………………. So as we both decided to obey Satan rather than God and think that Satan’s suggestion was more important, we have been in darkness and broken. Making wrong choices and getting sick, both physically, and emotionally ever since. That’s what makes it even worse. It was not just us that got sick and went bad, EVERYTHING did. That’s why God came to ‘Save the world. John 3v16’ not just came to save Humans but to save the world. Because we gave it all to Satan and all he can give is death. So God had some choices. He could annihilate us and start again. He could annihilate Satan and make us forget it all. He could have annihilated Satan before any of it happened. But that is NOT Gods way. How we love the easy solutions! If we all practised putting the clock back the bloody thing would never go forward! God is so unlike us. He saw what we did. He saw what Satan did. He knew it was a real mess. He knew death had come and sin. And He also knew that without HIM nothing could ever be the same again. Satan would never change and as we had bowed down to Satan and chosen his road, without help, neither could we. Satan is a legalistic bastard. Plain and simple. HE keeps us by the law. HE keeps to the law. He insisted on the law. And doing that was his undoing because God KNOWS the heart of the law is mercy and mercy is a word Satan has never heard of. I can imagine it. Satan: “They are MINE! They chose ME. Now I’m in charge and there is nothing you can do you son of a bitch! I am SUPREME ruler of this world, YOU said don’t touch of the tree or you shall SURELY die. THEY touched it, I am master of death, so they are mine and you cannot have them. Ever.” God: “But I love them, they made a mistake, please show them mercy, they didn’t know what they were doing.” Satan: “MERCY?? Whats that? Talk to the hand, Dickwad! Them is my slaves!” “And anyway, there is NOTHING you can do about it!” ThankGod that he is so much more creative! He KNEW man had fallen. And that the law had been broken. To eat was to die. And now Satan who man had obeyed; was the Master of the law and holding the law out in front of Gods face; Telling Him to suck on it. So He made a way. He came into the law, by making Himself a Human Being. He gave up His God status and got down and in the shit with the rest of us. (Literally and figuratively!) He obeyed the law. So well, that out of every being on the planet He was the only one who did no wrong. Period. Don’t know if he ever caught a cold, had measles or head lice, but thankfully getting sick did not mean you’d broken the law, it was just a consequence of the law being broken. And because He was obedient even in Death, Death could not conquer Him. It Could not kill Him because He had OVERCOME and FULFILLED the law. HE could say to Satan. “ NAH, Them’s MINE DICKWAD!!!” “Hand ‘em over!” And Satan had to do it. Jesus as a man, did what Adam had not done and obeyed the law, and in doing so became victorious over the law, and was free from it. And then He said – Do you want to be free? I will not force you. That’s not my way. I know that you can see and tell good from evil. Did it a bit differently from how I wanted you too. I would have explained it, but you went a tad over the top and actually tried it! Ouch, yep that hurt. Hurt me too! So as you can now tell good and evil and unfortunately you do both, I offer you a way out. When you realize that you’ve blown it. That the thing you are terrified of people knowing is nearly driving you insane, when the pain of what has been done to you makes you so broken that nobody can get inside you anymore, well, you can ask me to help you.

You can let ME say sorry to YOU for the fact it all got broken. Yes, it was not my fault, but that does not stop me saying sorry. Like a parent whose child falls over I am SO, SO, SO sorry that you fell over. I want to help you get up and get healed. I am not like Satan. I will not rule you with a whip or rod of iron. I love you. I will show you mercy and kindness. I know you have done wrong. And I know wrong has been done to you. But if you will learn from me I will clean you, help you and heal you, and then you can offer that to others. If you will let me, I can take EVERYTHING that has ever happened to you and change it into something beautiful. Might not all happen the way you want it, but it will happen. And one day, when the time is right, and as many of you that are going too, have chosen to live life and not live death, then, I am coming back. And I am doing to END all the wrongs forever. But till then the world is broken and sick. You know I am not a control freak. I HATE what happens as much as you. I can’t explain to you why bad things happen to good people. Although there IS an answer – and I know what sucks. But some things you just can’t handle or understand right now. And in this muddled up world a little information at the wrong time could cause a whole lot more wrong things to happen. I know you are mad about that and I understand. But could you put your pain and anger aside for one minute and realize that I did NOT cause this, but I HAVE given you away out if you would like too. Learn about Me. It’s a risk, but you will find that the Risk is SO worth it.

#god

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ramon-balaguer · 3 years

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Do You Know my Jesus?

No seriously, do you know my Jesus? Now, I’m Not talking about Jesus to cutting your grass, painting your home or replacing your roof…

I certainly Not talking about the Jesus exclamation mark Christ the Bostonians often yell out to make a point.

No, no, no… And I’m Not talking about the prophet or Messiah or messenger God sent to guide Israel for a short time and was eventually replaced by a “last” prophet named Mohammad who while high on opium in some cave got visions of Judaism and Christianity to create Islam…

When I found out I wasn’t following the real Jesus, I was totally undone. I had long left Catholic private school I attended and Catholicism my family raised me in to run the streets and women as an atheist and eventually landed in the Mormon cult and subsequently dibbled and dabbled in Islam (Yes, they have a Jesus too, mentioned above as one of many prophets) having read and studied the Koran or Quran at least 5 times cover to cover. The hard work of making Jesus fit my brain, answer when I called, and label me righteous was a full-time job that robbed me of peace.

When I finally fell into the loving arms of the real Jesus, I began a genuine relationship with the Savior of the world—the One who died for me. He is everything He promised and so much more.

Our culture presents us with so many versions of Jesus, letting us make Him in our own image. Maybe you’ve come to depend on a false Jesus and didn’t even realize it. If you are struggling to find peace, read about these false Jesuses with an open mind. Consider what Jesus said about Himself and test your beliefs against the Truth from Holy Scripture.

Here are 10 false versions of Jesus people keep falling for:

1. Mean Jesus

Perhaps this image of Jesus comes from social media and the rants we see from devoted churchgoers. Maybe it is our constant news sources bickering over who is better or what is Right & Wrong. Or it could be you had a hellfire and brimstone pastor growing up, and this became your earliest depiction of Jesus. Mean and angry, full of wrath, ranting and raging about how Sin would destroy you (it will, if you remain in it and reject Jesus).

But balance this image of Jesus with the story of the little children gathering to him, with His compassion for the Lazarus’ sisters, with His dealing of the woman at the well to forgive her and her to reject Sin and share The Good News. While Jesus called out Sin when He saw it, He was never cruel it except that one time with the Pharisees and Sadducees in His House of Praise, Prayer & Healing. Jesus, the Lamb, went to slaughter so that you would be free from His Wrath.

2. Political Jesus

How would Jesus vote? Since there were no Democrats or Republicans in His day, we don’t know. What we do know is that He loved and would Never Vote against Himself or His Father. I other words, he would Not Vote for Satan and his followers or folks for killing babies or justifying illegal activities or any manner of Sin. But the apolitical Jesus took the side of those in need and that my friends is what we The Church should be doing and Not trying to depend on the government to do for US. Today, we are all in need in one form or another, and we all need Him.

As a believer in Jesus Christ, He is on your team. He is for you. He is for your redemption. He is for your Sanctification. He died for you while you still Sinned. Right or left, wrong or Right, He is for you. He is patient with us as we learn and grow and understands the frustrations that we face with both the Republican and the Democrats and especially the Sin Sick Socialist Lying Leftist Liberals.

He walks with us through the valleys, and He delights in our newfound wisdom and growth.

3. Genie in a Bottle Jesus

Your wish is not necessarily His command. That the Oprah Winfrey kinda Jesus. We’re often mystified when we clasp our hands tightly together and summon Jesus to answer our every request…and nothing happens. We become deflated by what we believe is unanswered prayer, allowing our faith to increase or decrease by what we perceive.

4. I’ll Teach You Jesus.

Imagine what your relationship with your child would look like if these were some of the requirements: You will meet me at 5:00 every morning, I don’t care if you didn’t sleep. Now tell me what you want. I may or may not give it to you. If you have been completely impossible to deal with, I might sprain your ankle or give you a brain tumor to teach you something. Laughable? Sure.

But how many of us believe in this works-based and punishment-loving Jesus? He died while we still Sinned. He came to bind up the brokenhearted, not break our hearts and spirits to keep us in line.

5. You Look Like You Can Take It Jesus.

“God won’t give you more than you can handle.” Do I look like I can handle the Big C cancer or even the lil c COVID19 the left has left many in fear of or the lung disease doctors have given up on my brother-in-law is dying from and dealing with? Or the Black Lives Matter and Antifa domestic terrorists’ Stealing, Killing and Destroying Democrat ran cities the “leadership” there allows? Or bankruptcy, or a natural disaster, or the death of a child? Do I even look like I could handle an itchy rash or ingrown toe nail much less a combat related wound or Divorce?

6. I Couldn't Care Less Jesus.

Sometimes we feel like He is nowhere to be found. We call, and there is no answer. This Jesus is not the Compassionate Christ who laid down His life for ours. Still, in times of heartache, it is hard to understand why He doesn’t answer. Or at least, we don’t know or understand His answers. He has shown me it is okay to question Him.

My most favorite prayer in these seasons? “Lord, help my unbelief.” One of the shortest but most impactful and helpful prayers in The Holy Bible. A relationship with Jesus is a journey. There will be ups and downs. He can take the heat—He proved that through the cross. It is okay to ask why. He always shows up, every time. He said in this life, your life, you will have troubles, but be of good cheer, He has overcome it ALL. Ask, Seek, and Knock. He will answer.

7. Church Jesus

The Law is Holy and Good, but it doesn’t make me Holy and Good. No more than the full nice 2” clerical or ordained minister’s collar I wear from time to time. No matter how good a church and it’s teaching of the Word of God, it does not make me Holy. Paul reminds us, do not neglect the assembly (Hebrews 10:25). Yes, hold each other up, hold each other accountable, and by all means encourage one another.

But if the pew is shaken, guess what shouldn’t be? You and Jesus. Your relationship with Jesus is separate and not dependent on the church (body of Believers congregating in a place), But The Church, You, Yes, You.

No matter what unexpected challenges happen in “the church,” you and Jesus should still be on solid ground. He is the Solid Rock of our Faith, Salvation and ALL. The church is made up of imperfect people, while Jesus is Perfect and Holy.

8. Rule-Play Jesus

This Jesus and I have been super tight for many years. I obeyed all the rules. I even laminated a list and used color-coordinated markers to check off my accomplishments, believing they counted me worthy, while Not writing down my failures and Sin so as Not to remember them or the wretched man I am. Beloved, Salvation is the Cross plus nothing. The thief on the cross was asked only to Believe and that very hour he was Saved. There was really nothing left for him to do. He couldn’t attend a service, memorize Scripture, sing in the choir, take a meal to a neighbor, volunteer, or wash feet or the altar clothes.

He was made Righteous because he said Yes to Jesus. There was no other requirement to fulfill. Circumcision? No; Water Baptism by full or even partial immersion, pouring, sprinkling or even the mystical and unseen Fire Speaking in Tongues Baptism? Nope! There is nothing that can make the Perfected Work of the Cross anymore Perfect than the Perfect One our God, The Son and Lord Jesus The Christ. Your yes to Jesus counts you as Righteous. Toss out the rules of religiosity and bask in the refreshment of relationship. But stay connect and Sin Not so as Not to lose the salvation you gained as a Born Again Believer; or rather remain Not in Sin that His Grace may abound. God forbid.

9. Confused Jesus

A couple years ago I went to a pastor and asked some questions about the Sermon on the Mount. The pastor laughed and said, “Yes, ours is not to understand. Ours is just to obey. Jesus was a confusing guy.” I lived with this, heavy on my heart.

It would be two more years before I heard a sermon by another pastor and was undone by the revelation that Jesus was not confusing, except to unbelieving hearts and minds. My Jesus fulfilled the Law and set us free from this heavy burden of condemnation. Jesus did died to set me and yes, you free. There is nothing confusing about Him, this and His Word. Not Confusing, No Contradictions and No Controversies. We walk free from condemnation in the grip of grace.

10. If/Then Jesus

This is the most elusive and deceptive Jesus. If I do such and such, then Christ will do what I expect. But Jesus cannot be manipulated, and our works do not make Him move; our Faith does. Our good deeds do not make Him love us more and our bad deeds less. In fact, NOTHING can separate us All Sinners and Saints alike from His Love (Don’t get that confused with our ability to lose His Salvation and therefor Separate or Sever ourselves from Him). Again and most Importantly, nothing can separate us from the LOVE of JESUS.

Was there even a twinge or flutter in your spirit?

One that said, “Oh, that is the Jesus I have been serving?”

I know as I came to a place of Knowing, Understanding and Loving the real Jesus, my God, I saw pieces of the false Jesuses falling away and more of His natural and good character shining through.

Will you pray this prayer with me?

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