#is what being a christian is

[noknowshame]

why is religious Christmas imagery all so joyful and pleasant? where is the inherent horror of the birth of Christ? A mother is handed her newborn child, wailing and innocent. Her hands come away sticky. Red. Simply by giving her son life she has already killed him. He is doomed from the beginning. Her love will not save him from suffering. Because the thing cradled in her arms is not a baby, it is a sacrifice: born amongst the other bleating animals whose blood will one day be spilled in the name of what demands it. the night is silent with anticipation. Mary, did you know? That your womb was also a grave?

#instant conversation enders for my multiple youth pastor cousins #don’t say it (I’m gonna say it) #The Child is The Price #but i mean come on #as someone who isn't actually even christian the real-life historical version of this is still cursed as fuck #i mean we know that jesus was a person who existed. whatever circumstances he was born in #its terrifyingly ominous to imagine being so unaware of the affect your child will have on the future of humanity #time itself will one day be counted around your birth of him #and all because he will suffer an excruciatingly painful death that you will not be able to prevent #not only that. but regardless of his or your intentions #regardless of whether there is a god #for millenea unfathomable millions will have blood spilled and will spill blood in his name #atrocities will be committed that you cannot even conceive of #and all on his and your behalf #you love your child. its beautiful. but there's horror in what you've done. because everyone else will love him too #and what's more dangerous than that?

[spn2006]

the fact that eric kripke isn't even christian really adds something to the way christianity is depicted on supernatural. because its really not about being christian at all, but about living in america, a country dominated by christianity, and having to decide for yourself how to handle that. faith is huge in supernatural, and the mythology of the show is very bible-centric, but notably, christ is never there. even sam, who starts out revering the angels, who once said he prays every night, doesn't actually call himself a christian or imply that he believes in jesus--the show is steeped in christianity and biblical lore and yet neither sam nor dean are christians. in fact, over and over again the church itself is depicted as a haunted house that sam and dean will only ever enter as strangers, as outsiders. priests, preachers, faith healers, chapels, crypts, etc. are all just iconography that create an intense sense of unease that sam and dean respond to instantly. as a jew, its very relatable. an essential part of living in america when you're not christian is that exact sense of unease, of knowing that the culture of your country has ensured that you'll get knocked over by christianity no matter where you go, that you'll see hundreds of people truly believing they're good people while doing awful things in the name of their god, and you have no choice but to confront that. kripke gets it

#i could actually write an essay about this #kripke is jewish and so is sera gamble #and when i rly think about it i think the show is very jewish #in that its a rejection of the christian interpretation of god and free will #its all about questioning what's put in front of you and i think that's a big part being jewish to me #anyway! #rambles #spn #supernatural #spn analysis #spn meta #faith #christianity #theology #kripke era #eric kripke #sam winchester #dean winchester #castiel #zachariah spn #uriel spn #anna milton #american gothic #fav #🔪

[bleakbluejay]

you motherfuckers have no concept of what "land back" or "decolonize" even mean. you're too busy demonizing entire groups of people, terrified, shitting yourselves, that they'll do even half of the horrors to you that you've done to them for decades or centuries. this shit comes off as hella racist for real. you hate arabs so much. you hate first nations people so much. you hate black people so much. even if you sympathize with them, you can't fucking bear the idea of them gaining freedom, independence, autonomy, safety, because you're so, so scared they'll hurt you back and cause chaos in the streets. these same people who just want to rebuild. who just want to go home. who just want to see their families again. who just want food. who just want medical care. who just want dry, warm shelter. you're so focused on the ideas of colonization, of "us vs. them", of one people displacing the other for a state to exist, that you cannot comprehend coexistence, and your only idea of peace is if an entire group of people were just gone and dead.

grow the fuck up. for the love of GOD, grow the fuck up.

#eli talks #rant #i just watched a video shared by someone i'd been following a while denying the genocide occuring in gaza entirely #are you kidding. are you fucking kidding me. #the video was trying to run with the idea that “from the river to the sea” means jewish people will be expelled from the region #no the fuck it does not you stupid motherfucker that's NOT what decolonization is #anyway. land back. decolonize. from the river to the sea. peace and love on planet earth. #stop razing olive trees. stop scorching the earth. stop bombing hospitals and schools. stop destroying the sea. #if i have to see another palestinian child undergo anesthesia-free amputation im going to start being physically fucking violent #if i have to see another mother with blood on her hands wailing and begging for her child to come back im going to start burning shit #one day all the people of palestine will be free. muslims and jews and christians and all and none. #one day all the people of sudan will be free. all the people in the congo will be free. all the peoples in the americas will be free. #and all the other occupied places suffering genocides and ethnic cleansings that the news neglects to mention. theyll be free too.

[stealingpotatoes]

I saw this on twitter and the idea of this happening sounds absolutely hilarious. Like Han, Ventress and Merrin just direct Thrawn to a DMV and make him coming to dathomir absolute hell (I also accidentally sent this ask to someone else 😅)

LMAO???? i take back everything I've ever said about legends, this is everything to me. nothing but respect for MY king of dathomir send that gay blueberry to parking ticket superhell

#finally. han gets to outrank his wife somewhere #instead of being that bum smuggler the princess/general/senator married #thanks for the ask! #also its not a bad thing u sent this to the wrong person. everyone should know abt this #evangelcise (i cant spell that word u know what i mean) it #that thing american christians do. do that

[bookshopbentley]

i have the angel and demon on my shoulders except it’s aziraphale and crowley and instead of one telling me to do something good and the other telling me to do something bad theyre both telling me to do something gay

#this is so fucking stupid #sorry guys i fear they may be the reason some christians say being gay is a sin 😔😔 #bc they make me go through extraordinary lengths to make sure no one perceives me as cis and straight #teehee !! #when i say i am literally them this is what i mean #azicrow #aziracrow #ineffable husbands #ineffable lovers #ineffable bureaucracy #good ineffable omens #ineffable idiots #ineffable partners #ineffable spouses #ineffable wives #ineffable fandom #ineffable divorce #aziraphale #crowley #aziraphale x crowley #crowley x aziraphale #good omens #good omens 2 #david tennant #michael sheen #neil gaiman #lgbt #lgbtq

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

y'all need to get a grip. you blab all day about how much you hate bigots and hateful people and how evil it is to dehumanize anyone and then you turn around and say "kys" and "i think [x] should all just kill themselves" and other disgusting, violent and childish trash

so many people on here are just full of hatred and vitriol and turn into frenzied sharks anytime the target 'deserves it' and they think they can get away with it and not be called bad people. then they whine about how sad it is that we can't all just get along and if only all the evil people in the world would stop doing evil things wouldn't that be nicer

you're just as vicious, hypocritical and fanatically puritanical as the caricature you have made in your minds of the people you think you have nothing in common with. if you've ever told someone, ANYONE to kill themselves you're not advocates of justice, you're not artisans of peace, and you certainly don't have any moral high ground that would allow you to pass judgment on others

#i'm tired #you're so terrified of being bad people that you convince yourselves you could *never* be bad #and then any expression of hatred towards others (the “bad people”) gets reframed as proof of your own moral character #((making you even more afraid of being bad because you don't want to be at the receiving end of the hatred and so on and so forth)) #you can say whatever you want about religious people and esp christians but 1) you're as religious as they are but at least they know it #and 2) most of the christians i've met are magnitudes more forgiving of others than this website's self-righteous preachers #(this isn't about anything people have said to me btw it's about what i see reading blogs from all across the social/political spectrum) #this about the radfem-hating liberals and the pro-life-hating radfems and the liberal-hating pro-lifers. Round and round we go #it’s about the people who put rabid antisemitism on my dash and whose only socio-political analysis is to call EVERYTHING bad #“Just like nazism” #Yapping about how much more moral and enlightened they are than ppl who introduce nuance into complex topics while they parrot slogans #I hate slogans so bad

[menlove]

the way this website balks at the term "culturally christian" is so funny to me like. oh shit you mean the religion our government and culture is structured around might impact you even if you're atheist and ESPECIALLY if you're ex-christian? noooo it's the people using it to describe a phenomenon of western culture that are wrong

#I think sometimes it's a genuine misunderstanding of the term #but others it's just a knee-jerk reaction against being associated w christianity #like babe just bc you left the church does not mean the church left you! #esp if you continue to parrot very christian beliefs! #and even people born and raised atheist are dealing w morals imbedded in western society by christianity #it's also not exclusive to christianity! culturally muslim people exist in other countries & cultural hinduism etc... #it's about what religion is The Major Religion backing the moral decisions of a society #regardless of your personal belief

[insomnya777]

biblically accurate angel etho x human joel. do u guys see the vision

#disclaimer i am not christian i don't know what being a biblically accurate angel entails #i think he justdeserves to have a little fall from grace. yk as a treat #he also deserves to have like a billion eyes and wings and shift forms with half a thought. as a second treat because i lomve him #etho #ethoslab #joel smallishbeans #boat boys #smalletho #smallishbeans #nya talks

[demonstars]

omg hi! NSFW STORYTIME!!

so i've been hooking up with this guy since august and he not only looks SO MUCH like george but he also has an eerily similar personality to him. he's really sarcastic, cute, and charming. our personalities mash together pretty well and i like him very much. ANYWAYS we had sex for the first time three weeks ago and honestly, it wasn't that great. he had some problems with yknow... getting it UP but i don't really mind it since neither of us has a lot of sexual experience and we're comfortable with each other enough to talk about it. however, in the past three weeks, he has given me MULTIPLE hints about wanting ME to fuck HIM. he's been talking so much about gay sex, fingering, anal, etc., and one time i made a joke about pegging him and he suddenly got so flustered. it was kinda cute but like DO I REALLY WANT TO PEG HIM? i guess i do bc i've been thinking about it so much? idk it could be kinda hot

he's coming back from a trip on sunday AND i think i'm going to ask him if he wants to do it once we meet up????????????????? if he says yes i'll be pegging my own personalized canadian (also potentially bi) georgenotfound???????? i doubt we'll ever have a serious thing but i'm here for a good time. he's such a great guy btw i hope he'll find his dream one day. he genuinely deserves a good dick but until then i'm taking on the job which is... honestly kind of an honor 

#HAPPUY FOR YOU?????? I THINKDDK0"jhsdoawkoa This is why we need to bring back confessionaries for non christians like #thats what being a semi ask blog is. truly #I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY I HOPE YOU GUYS HAVE FUN. #lowjkey i need this to happen to me but with a dreamloalike my bad #star anons #nsft #ALSO PLEASE DO UPDATE ON THIS NOW I'M INVESTED.

[crazy-maracuya]

The day people start making retellings of the bible in the same way they make about Greek mythology is the day when I resurrect

#WHERES THE GNOSTISISM #WHERES THE DRAMA #DROP THE APPLE ALREADY GIVE ME YOUR TAKES ON WHICH KING FLUMBED THE HARDEST #JUDEAH EDITION #bible fandom #i mean its already kinda like that #but i wish i could see into the future just what kinds of stories people will make if christianity has a decadence like other religions #oh it would be cool if there is a merge of religions altogether. I think that fututre would be fun to read about. #kinda like the other metamorphoses in the past God as well is seen as a different being the its past alterations #would be cool would be cool

[detectivehole]

You would actually condone the murder of a baby exclusively because it’s a Christian one? May god have mercy on your soul.

yea anon, every night i prowl the streets with a tire iron looking for christian babies to launch into the stratosphere. only the christian ones. how can i tell they're christian babies? i just can

#mine #ask #you're being sarcastic right? you didn't actually think those tags on the What If Your Baseball was a Christian Inafnt post were real right?

[trans-cuchulainn]

two questions to ask yourself when you start looking for pre-christian material in medieval literature:

1. when are these texts from

2. when did christianity come to this area

i can guarantee you in the vast majority of celtic-language sources (and others) the answer to 2. is several centuries before 1. and at that point you gotta ask yourself... how likely is it that these people would be writing about something that has not been a thing for them or anyone they know for, like, four hundred years (or, in many cases, eight or nine hundred years), especially given that most of the people doing that writing are not merely passively existing in a christian society but are, yunno, monks

there are exceptions! but there are way fewer exceptions than you think there are gonna be! and the exceptions are almost always extremely nebulous sub layers that can't be disentangled from the other layers (which are christian) with any certainty so are always somewhat speculative!

and most importantly those other layers are interesting too, but if you only ever treat them like dirt to dig through to get to something "real" underneath you're sure gonna be disappointed a lot of the time (and you're gonna miss a lot of cool shit that would be really exciting if this was an actual archaeological dig and not a metaphor)!!

#this feels a bit like lobbing a grenade into a crowded theatre #but tbh everyone who is mad at me for saying this has probably already blocked me #given that I've been saying it for several years at this point #i think these days people are so used to religion being a personal thing #they don't really comprehend what it meant to Live In A Christian Society As A Medieval Person #like. we're not talking primarily about faith or what someone personally believed #but how society is structured and ordered and the paradigms its literature lives within #AND WHO PRODUCES THE LITERATURE #education is ecclesiastical. book production is ecclesiastical. literacy itself is in many cases ecclesiastical #the christianity is coming from inside the house #anyway whatever why am i trying #i had two (2) entire sips of wine this evening (i don't drink and don't like wine) #so maybe that's why i'm posting this lol

[k-wame]

тнιѕ ѕceɴe ιѕ ѕo ɢood αɴd тrυe тo lιғe ѕтoɴeмoυтн (2015) · ѕ𝟷·ᴇ𝟶𝟷 · 𝟶𝟾.𝟶𝟼.𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟻

#DO NOT TOLERATE CASUAL HOMOPHOBIA FROM AAAANYONE #this is what its like being friends with cishets tho - they grab every opportunity to make cheap homophobic jokes #gotta shove them real hard with a dead serious death stare like chris to let them know 'naw thats not what we aboutta do bruv' #then smile 5sec later to diffuse the tension they wont do it again i promise you #homophobic jokes #casual homophobia #queerphobia #homophobia #friendship #conflict resolution #the more you know #queer #lgbtq+ #lgbt #gay #queer characters #love and relationships #chris fulton #christian cooke #life skills #stonemouth #stonemouth bbc

[good-soupmens]

Ik the good omens fandom has different takes on God as a character, but I like the idea that she DOES have an ineffable plan, and Heaven is doing their absolute worst job carrying it out.

Most angels never talk to God, and they're usually selfish, they don't do the right thing (only what they're told), and it's even possible they're working under a corrupt power (like the Metatron). I like that theory because Metatron IS the barrier between God and the angels. He could easily lie to them and change plans, and we the audience know that "friendly old man metatron" swindling Aziraphale is not what he seems.

But from the beginning, we see inconsistency. Crowley falls from heaven after asking questions/hanging out with the wrong group while Aziraphale is allowed to lie about the flaming sword and change Heaven's plans. God can see how much he cares about humans and the earth by his actions (Crowley being the same), which makes me think that him getting away with it is intentional, not inconsistent or neglectful. ESPECIALLY if Aziraphale and Crowley run heaven and hell respectively in season 3. They have the power to change things, just like they stopped the world from ending the first time. I think Crowley and Aziraphale ARE the ineffable plan.

Their love could bridge the gap between opposing forces in a way that it couldn't if they were both angels. After all, both heaven and hell think they're doing the better thing while they're both not. Crowley and Aziraphale are the best of both sides.

If bringing them together was God's plan, it'd be a powerful story for queer Christians!! A lot of us have been hurt by the church, but we hold on to God's love, which doesn't fail us. We stay in a religion with a history of fighting queerness not because we're all brainwashed, but because we wholeheartedly believe in a God that loves us. Sometimes I see good omens' heaven as an analogy for toxic churches, and I'd love nothing more than for Aziraphale to realize heaven is working against God. Not to mention God using a gay couple to save the world/save heaven from corruption?? I'd kill for that storyline

Secondly, Aziraphale's devotion wouldn't have been for nothing. If God was awful the whole time, it defeats the times he and Crowley reached out, and the moment in the GOs1 finale where Crowley says, "what if you're going AGAINST God's ineffable plan?" to Gabriel and Beelzebub. (It'd almost defeat the purpose of her being the quirky narrator following their story, too.)

Even Crowley, never fooled by "heaven is all good" calls for God in his time of need ("God listening? Show me an ineffable plan.") (Possibly when he reaches to the sky in order to stop time) (Calling for God before Satan in the burning bookshop) (Looking up and muttering "God" after realizing Aziraphale is going to leave him in s2)

Lastly, after the trauma that both Crowley and Aziraphale went through, with Crowley falling and Aziraphale coming to terms with heaven's corruption (and both being mistreated by their side) it'd be nice to have been for a reason. They have every right to grieve and be angry for all that they went through, and the centuries that they weren't supposed to love each other, but I believe the series will end on a positive, sweet note, like the rainbow after a storm.

Like Job, they're losing almost everything (their relationship as it was, the bookshop, and the life they carved out), but they have each other. I think they'll lose everything to save EVERYONE, and in the end, the reward will top the pain. No holding back, no forces hunting them down, just them together after a PAINFULLY long time with everything they'd wanted.

We know that God doesn't get around to answering many questions, but her speech to Job was in part to say "trust me"

She laid the foundations of the earth. She made every living thing. Job couldn't see past the destruction of his life, but she has a plan. Job is a valuable human being, but he doesn't have the power and knowledge of God. God will share her plan when he can make a whale. Otherwise, he can trust that "Most things are fine in the end"

*Aziraphale voice* That's ineffable!

#ineffable husbands being the ineffable plan PLEASE #again. God being a good character in the end would mean a lot to queer christians like myself #and for the amount of times that ineffable is thrown around. it turns out ineffably #I'd like another reason to hate metatron also. I would love plot-wise for him to be the main villain #I also NEED Aziraphale to be right about some things. he was wrong for leaving Crowley but he should know what he's doing #his actions should be more important than “he's just brainwashed” #Crowley deserves reconciliation and a purpose for his pain #“it is not good for man to be alone” (God creating eve) parallel with putting aziracrow together #god good omens #good omens meta #metatron good omens #good omens season 3 #good omens theory #good omens #ineffable husbands #good omens season 2 #crowley #aziraphale #aziracrow #good omens spoilers #crowley good omens #ineffable plan #queer christian

[cathademia]

not to get back on my michael knowles bullshit

but he explicitly analogizes tomboys to "gargoyles" -- interesting, make life better, but should never be central to Christian life. Essentially should be pushed to the fringes the way a gargoyle makes a church more interesting on the outside but should never be the focus of the decorations. This is his way of reconciling the number of gender role nonconforming female Christians in the middle ages, which was the high point of Catholic life. (I say "gender ROLE nonconforming" here because there's not even a lot of evidence that many of these women were particularly masculine; they may have just been ambitious or something.)

i think it's a testament to my growing self esteem that this even bothers me. When I was younger I would have been totally fine with that ("at least he's not calling me a bad person!" "at least I'm included"). Christian life is meant to be applicable to everyone, and God doesn't make people wrong. For the people wondering if this means we'll just allow everything and lose all our standards, no-- you can literally be hardline about what virtue and sin are. But making up fake sins that don't exist is nonsensical

#op #imagine i said being a greasy daily wire host was a sin #that's what we're dealing with #oh i guess you can have a pints with acquinas podcast as long as it's on the fringes #but men with microphones don't belong at the center of christian life #i mean do you see how absolutely idiotic this sounds

[blujayonthewing]

#I've played with irl atheists and catholics and everything in between #but it rarely feels like faith is a real factor for anyone-- DM or player #outside of‚ again‚ divine spellcasters and Big Epic Plot Things #I mean there are a couple of 'RAAAHGH FUCK THE GODS >:C' edgy backstory types but #no one is just Normally Culturally Religious and it's WEIRD #like it's not even a matter of faith in dnd! the gods are LITERALLY OBJECTIVELY PROVABLY REAL #so what does that MEAN for the average person! how does it shape language? business? culture? #where are the people wearing holy symbols like amulets-- or the way modern christians very casually wear crosses? #blessings over meals? prayers before bed? burnt offerings? #and like I enjoy thinking about world and culture building but I know that's A Whole Thing but even just like... #it doesn't feel like anyone believes in gods at all except clerics and paladins #like they DO because they factually exist but in the same way I 'believe in' like. the president of france. #like yeah he exists and is important to some people but has no bearing on my life whatsoever #that's such a fucking weird approach to the DIVINE in a polytheist world where those gods are YOUR CULTURE'S GODS?? #I am bad at this myself but I'm not religious so it's harder for me to remember what Being Religious All The Time Casually is like lol #funny enough my character with the most intentionally religious background in this sense #is one of my ones who's ended up wrapped up in Big Plot God Things lmao #'aubree starts the campaign with a holy symbol of yondalla because of course she does why wouldn't she' #'oh okay well she's gonna get deeply and personally entangled with a bunch of death gods immediately' fdkjghkdf oh!! welp #you don't really pray to urogalan unless you're breaking ground for a new building or someone just died so it's STILL weird for her lol #but at least I had the framework there of 'oh yeah the gods exist and matter to me and my everyday life and culture' in general #about me #posts from twitter