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raayllum · 11 months

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what’s your opinion on Soren and Claudius character arcs? they both fall under the same lie given to them by their father Soren has a positive arc from being an antagonist to realising wrong from right and doing the right thing

whereas Claudia falls under the negative character arc where she falls deeper into the lies of her father and Aaravos

by the end of the series do you think Claudia will redeem herself or continue to plummet into the lies she’s been told?

So Soren and Claudia are great precisely because of the contrast they give each other. Soren has a rougher personality, but a more moral heart; Claudia has a sweeter personality, but a sharper edge to her. They both care a lot about the boys, but Soren is a knight - inherently used to taking orders - and Claudia is a dark mage - solution, creatively and independently oriented. This distinction is made clear in their character designs, but also their early choices in S1: moments after Claudia sent smoke wolves after the boys, Soren is saving Callum’s life; while Soren is yawning in the funeral procession because he spent all night defending his king, Claudia burns Harrow's body with dark magic without a second thought, despite it going against traditional funeral rites.

I think Viren's biggest mistake was that he asked Soren - his strong, older son - to be the one to kill the boys, thus leaving Soren open to tell the truth with none of the justification that Viren offered up. Justification she, reluctantly but ultimately does accept and reaffirm in S3.

V: But if we are led by a child king... S: He'll make bad choices? V: He will make weak choices.

V: Claudia, you understand why Prince Ezran had to be removed? C: ... Of course. He couldn't have done the things that needed to be done.

Claudia buys into and predicates a lot on necessity, for both her and others (mostly her father). She needs to take the boys home; she needs to recapture the dragon egg, etc. Part of that is her father in her ear, of course, but Claudia isn't mindlessly obedient either. (Again, that independent thinker.) She is regularly the one coming up with solutions for her and Soren's plans, while Soren most provides distractions (attacking Rayla so his sister can go after the boys) or tools (Claudia already had the tracking spell in mind, Soren finds an ingredient).

Post-S2 meta on Claudia's character here. Post-S3 meta on Soren's arc here.

The main thing, I think, is that because Soren was asked to do something more terrible, he was given more room to have doubts. He also was already leaning more toward seeing elves as people (not entirely, but he didn't dehumanize elves or dragons to the same capacity). Soren also made a lot of mistakes in S2 (trying to kill Ezran, lying about Harrow, his prior treatment of Callum, the dragon debacle) that he was able to recognize as mistakes. Soren pre-emptively striking first was him following through with father's ideology, and everything in that experience humbled him, I think, but mostly made him re-evaluate his life. Most importantly, Soren expresses the desire to be Free: "I'm free to do what I want without expectations from Dad, or - or anyone!"

Claudia never realizes that she's in a cage. If anything, she's bolted the door shut and think it's a good thing, and is in many ways now trapping Viren in there with her, as of S4, rather than being orchestrated into and pulled forward by devotion. She's shifted from repeating Viren's laws and each of them reaffirming each other's cognitive dissonances ("You're doing this to help us, to help everyone!" "Yes! Yes, exactly") to repeating everything Aaravos has told her (and hence why it's beat for beat what Ziard said, too): "All of the elves and dragons except for Aaravos saw humans as nothing more than worthless, stupid, dirty animals. But Aaravos saw we could be better! So he gave us magic." Which, given what Viren almost did to Soren (the heart of cinder spell) under the guise of making him better/stronger... yeah, no wonder that isn't a convincing argument for Soren. And no wonder ("But you're going to be better now, that's all that matters") it's a compelling argument for Claudia, who's always been such a Fixer by nature (something she shares with Callum, although his manifests in a different way, of course).

That said, there's still plenty going on with Claudia. Her hair being literally black and white (with the black nicely representing her humanity), her sympathetic motivations (she just wants to save her family/dad), her sweethearted boyfriend, the fact she still cares about Soren and she gave the coins back in the end. I still do think she'll be redeemed & always have, I just think she has to get worse (hair going either almost fully or entirely full white) before she gets better, and that her family (Soren, Viren, Terry, and possibly Ezran as well) will play the main / initial roles in helping her get there (to either / both ends).

#knight sibs #tdp soren #tdp claudia #thanks for asking #anonymous #arc 2 #tdp #the dragon prince

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tidethreads · 5 years

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No pressure but I'm very interested in your more elaborate opinion of the song 😊 Have a great weekend! 💕

thank you my weekend was actually pretty nice!!

my brain isn’t fully working yet but i really just wanna write what i think now. in general i think i’ve already mentioned that i don’t think the song is as much of a break-up song as people think also bc he’s still dating the person this has to be about, i’m just gonna go through the lyrics bit by bit and write what i think and then do an interpretation and conclusion at the end

warning: this is very long and detailed

[Chorus]I can’t writeone song that’s not about youCan’t drink without thinking about youIs it too late to tell you thatEverything means nothing if I can’t have you?

ok starting off, i like that the chorus is at the very beginning, i think most people agree here. the interesting thing is that the “you” is always at 1 of the subsequent bar, which is the same thing he did in FAIY and there was a lot of speculation about that and different interpretations - the fandom interpretation is that it should be seen as belonging to both the former and the latter line (fallin’ all in - you - fell for men who weren’t how they appeared) while people “outside” saw it as being the close of the first line only.

the reason i’m recalling this is bc i read someone say that the first you can be seen as the start of the second line too and that the second line would be “you can’t drink without thinking about it” (the it would be instead of the second “you” but ..yea. i don’t agree with that)

i also don’t think “everything” is just an empty word that describes everything in his life ever but i’m gonna elaborate on that at the end

[Verse 1]I’m in Torontoand I got this viewBut I might as well be in a hotel room, yeah

i think i’m gonna keep most of my “unpopular opinions” for my other ask that asked about them, let me just say the first two lines are (for me) about the fact that his feelings for this person are what’s on his mind and they’re the “constant” basically, and that’s why it doesn’t matter where he is - bc they’re always there and yeah home is home but you can’t just turn off your thoughts about someone you care about this much

Itdoesn’t matter ‘cause I’m so consumedSpending all my nights reading texts from you

celebrities…they’re just like us lol. what a mood

basically yes this “confirms” my paragraph above, it doesn’t matter where he is bc his personal life is so overpowering

[Pre-Chorus]Oh, I’m good at keeping my distanceI know that you’re the feeling I’m missing

this is the part where i tell you that in order for my interpretation to work, i need to disregard the more obvious interpretation of certain lines and “keeping my distance” is one of them. i don’t know what i think about it yet (wow also sorry i’m writing in this much detail about every single line lel)

“the feeling i’m missing” - i see that as that his life is missing (as in it’s not there) the fulfillment of being in a romantic relationship, this is NOT about how he misses the person this is about, idk why everyone is saying that

also “i know that you’re filling the need for this certain thing in my life” does not mean he doesn’t currently “have” the person? the entire song is not saying much at all about whether or not he “has” that person. for me it’s an acknowledgment of this person’s place and importance in his life, not an “i miss you” line

You know that I hate to admit itBut everything means nothing if I can’t have you

“YOU KNOW THAT I HATE TO ADMIT IT”. this is the line that stands out the most for me in the entire song. yes, this can be a commonplace and they could have just added it bc it fit, but shawn admitting the struggle between his career and his relationship and that he “hates” (ok strong word but even acknowledging that he has difficulties) admitting that his relationship is taking up more and more space and that yes of course he loves his career but at what cost?

also the “you know” is what is telling me they’ve had several conversations about this

[Verse 2]I’m so sorry that my timing’s offBut I can’t move on if we’re still gonna talkIs it wrong forme to not want half?I want all ofyou, all the strings attached

(ok idk why the format is messing up now). anyway i needed to insert this verse as a whole bc this is the most wtf part of the song for me. i mean just read the verse and then structure it topically. it makes very little sense.

I’m so sorry that my timing’s offBut I can’t move on if we’re still gonna talk

(first of all, saying i’m so sorry instead of just i’m sorry makes this seem so genuine, my heart)

ok the timing of the song is off, or the timing of his feelings, idk and idc. basically this is about how he’s holding on even though they’re done - much like the bridge. BUT THEN

Is it wrong for me to not want half?I want all of you, all the strings attached

THIS IS A RUPTURE. this has nothing to do with the first two lines. and in all honesty i think this is the “truer” part and the first two lines were added in when the tone of the song was decided or sth. idk. but since my entire point is that this is not rly a break-up song then i’m obviously gonna lean on lines like this a little more

“wrong for me to not want half” ok for me this part is interesting bc in his entire second album, “half” of this person (bc we’re not ignoring the 99% chance this is about the same person) meant moving on from this friendship-relationship limbo with shawn pushing towards the commitment and there being a sort of back and forth (see: Mutual, LIJ, Why, WYR).

BUT here i see this as a conversation in an already-established relationship and since this song is IMO about the conflict of his private life w his public one and fame in general, i think “half” here means that they’re keeping it so much on the downlow that his relationship is not part of other parts of his life and this is him saying he wants to move away from this a bit, that he wants his relationship to take a larger role in his life (not feelings-wise but in general) and he’s willing to make some effort to make this work (”strings attached”) bc he knows it doesn’t necessarily happen “just like that”

[Bridge]I’m trying to move on, forget you, but I hold onEverything means nothing, everything meansnothing, babeI’m trying to move on, forget you, but I hold onEverything means nothing if I can’t have you, no

ok i don’t have much to say about this. i’m acknowledging that this is in opposition to what i think but since you also can’t really dispute my interpretation of the rest of the lyrics with actual things to back you up i’m mostly disregarding the bridge

INTERPRETATION

this song immediately reminded me of If I Could Fly by One Direction - written by Harry about how he’s devoting himself to someone he can’t be publicly dating and how he’s suffering from the segmentation and how he’s willing to give up his career to be with that person: a conscious prioritisation of his relationship over his career.

and i think this type of struggle is what CHY is about. it’s shawn realising and acknowledging that he is immensely famous and his career is in full swing but at some point in a relationship, you start being so attached and in love and devoted that in the end, what matters (or could matter) more is that one person

i think this entire point is driven home by “everything means nothing if i can’t have you” - i think “everything” is his fame and his career but in the end, it means nothing if being famous means his relationship is taking a bigger hit than he’s okay with (this is for me the logical continuation of FAIY where he’s talking about his relationship being an “away place” from his career for the very first time)

and this is where you can start speculating about why he can’t have that person. dating someone as famous as shawn obviously always requires more effort and commitment and it’s scary to start that kind of relationship - but why is this one this hard? and this delicate? why does it need to be away from his career? why can’t he have both the relationship and this type of career?

i mean yes you can think that “can’t have you” means that the person he’s talking about just doesn’t want to date him but ….i don’t think that

i also love how this song is just so LOUD and UNAPOLOGETIC about his feelings? SM3 was all about the uncertainty (the good and bad parts) and then falling more in love with that person, but now they’ve sort of established themselves as a couple and this is utter devotion? “i can’t stop thinking about you and you’re the most important part of my life”? CUTE AF.

basically what i’m trying to say with all of this is that “can’t have you” is either hypothetical (”this would mean nothing if i couldn’t have you”) or about his public persona (”i don’t like being famous when i can’t be with you and i’m trying to reassure you”)

i tend to think that the “too late” and the love declaration and the reassurance aspect of the song means that this is a conversation after a fight. idk this is just what it reads as to me, i think talking about your relationship’s place in your career is hard in that position and there’s bound to be some conflict and i think that that’s a conversation that shawn has had several times.

he said somewhere that they had the chorus first and then wrote the rest of the song around that, and if you just take the chorus in itself i think it fits this interpretation perfectly and they wrote the vague break-up references around it when they decided that’s the direction they wanted to take the song in. i think it’s also necessary to note that shawn didn’t write this song alone, even if it’s based off his life and his experiences so specific details don’t even rly have to match

ok. this was very long but it’s basically my view of the song, you can tell me if you agree or disagree and what your own opinion is!

#shawn #shawn mendes #answered

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frederickwiddowson · 4 years

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The writings of Luke the physician starting with his version of the gospel - Luke 9:57-62 comments: let the dead bury their dead

Luke 9:57 ¶ And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. 61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. 62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

Here, Christ responds to a request with a metaphor. After one man promised to follow Him wherever He went another man asked that he be permitted to bury his father. Jesus replies with two meanings for being dead. He tells the man to let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead and go preach the kingdom of God. Keep in mind how the fisherman disciples left their work immediately to follow Him. Another person wanted to go home and say goodbye to his family and Jesus told him that a person who couldn’t just walk away without looking back was not fit for the kingdom of God. We also have the statement in Luke 14:26 that anyone who holds his family in higher regard than Jesus can’t be His disciple.

These are important doctrinal statements. But, are we, as Christians, to be like Buddha and abandon our families? Is Christ giving us a warrant to refuse to honor familial obligations, duties and affections that God gave us?

Or, is this strictly for the time that Christ was walking on the earth, the daytime in a spiritual and very miraculous sense before the night would fall and He would not be physically walking in the flesh with His disciples? Notice how Jesus and Paul use day and night as metaphors for the periods of time before and after the crucifixion and resurrection.

John 9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

Romans 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

There is another set of verses that gives people today trouble like these in Luke.

Mark 3:28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: 29 But he that shall blaspheme

against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

Is this possible today, after the Resurrection? Can someone commit such a sin that they have no possible chance to be forgiven by God?

Many preachers would say yes. They would encourage you also to walk away from family obligations or at least put them on the back burner so you can do what they require you to do. They will say you aren’t fit for God’s kingdom if you place your family above service to God, which really means you aren’t fit, in their words, if you don’t place your devotion to the preacher’s will and whims above your family.

But, does that represent the entirety of Christian teaching? When we look at the entire New Testament and specifically the commands given to us by Paul we get a larger perspective. First, remember that Jesus is talking to His Jewish followers and would-be followers before His crucifixion and resurrection. He is announcing Himself to the Jews and He is on the way to the Cross. Time is very short.

Let me start backwards with the Mark, chapter 3, verses on blaspheming the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, the very mind of God as Christ is the very body of God and God the Father is the very soul of God, the seat of will and self-identity, always points to Christ and never to Himself. He is the spiritual counterpart to a John the Baptist announcing Christ in the flesh. He points at the Saviour of mankind.

John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

What prompted Jesus’ statement in Mark 3 was that those speaking against had said about Him as He walked the earth He hath an unclean spirit. The idea that the very mind of God, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, that is present moving in all creation from the beginning and does His will in every cell function, heartbeat, wave of the sea, or fluttering of a bird’s wings is an evil spirit and that was what was the operational entity behind Christ’s work of salvation would not be overlooked. It was an unpardonable sin.

Typically, when you hear someone reject Christ today they will deny He exists or existed, claim He was simply a remarkable teacher which propagandists created a whole deity mythology around, or that they’re good people and they don’t need to be saved by Him or anyone else. I have never heard anyone reject salvation through Christ because they said that Christ was an evil person intent on creating havoc and causing harm or that He was demon-possessed. They might say that about Christians, though. No, that was something the people who opposed Him at the time said.

We Baptists, for the most part, do not believe you can lose your salvation because you did not save yourself.

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Titus 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

And we are sealed until the day of redemption, our resurrection.

2Corinthians 1:21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

So, since you cannot lose your salvation the only way to interpret the Mark 3 verses for us is to say that there are those who will never be saved as they will always be against God’s work of redeeming mankind to Himself, or at least as much as will accept His free gift of mercy. But, for those at that time walking on the earth with Him it was an apparent danger. The time was filled with spiritual warfare and the unseen world, which we are sometimes given a glimpse of, is very hard at work.

It is true that Jesus told His disciples in their time that to hold their own families in higher regard than Himself and the gospel message made them unworthy of Him. By cross-referencing the following verses we see that to hate can also mean to love one less than another.

Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And we see, in the context of riches, Peter’s lament and Jesus’ promise in this verse.

Matthew 19:27 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? 28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

But, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, wrote about family relations. First, the responsibility of taking care of one’s own family.

1Timothy 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

2Corinthians 12:14 Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

1Timothy 5:4 But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.

(nephew at one time also meant grandson)

There is no general warrant in Christianity for anyone to willingly abandon their family. The message here in Luke was for the first century AD followers and would-be followers of Christ in the flesh as He marched on His way to glory.

Still, much good preaching can be made and has been done regarding walking away mentally and spiritually from your past ways of looking at things, regarding sin, and on what justifies you. And, of course, as Jesus notes in 12:53, your family may resist your faith in Christ. Add this to the difficulty of suffering as a Christian, and you can see many parallels between Jesus’ statements and the decisions a new Christian is often forced to make to stay true to their faith.

Jesus, with no home of His own, whose own family He regards as those who obey His word, looking beyond the grave to eternity, is on His way to the Cross and the Empty Tomb for the salvation of mankind. Those who will follow must drop everything and follow Him now, not looking back, or longing for the life they had.

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thehighscribe · 5 years

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The High Queen

Chapter 2

-Gods-

There once was a time when Lylitheans and Earthians lived in peace. Until one man made a grave mistake…

I fear my idiotic brother has made a terrible mistake. He has been spending more and more time on earth, neglecting his duties and his people. Father has had to, on several occasions, step in for Xander and fulfill the duties as High King. He’s been speaking with the council members trying to find a way to talk some sense into him, but half of them are on his side. Saying he is a god and should be treated as such. The Earthians believe this wholeheartedly, I however see him for what he really is. Weak. Poor mother is beside herself with worry. Father fears he will destroy the peace between our planets, with all the stories we’ve been hearing, I fear he may be right. We have lived peacefully beside the Earthians since the beginning of their time, and he is carelessly throwing this peace out the window. Changing his name to Zeus and having multiple earth and Lylithean partners. I’ve even heard rumors he has an earth child now! It’s shameful. And to top it off, he’s dragged his queen into this as well. Taking her to earth giving her a new name, and what can she do? Nothing. Simply because he is king and must be obeyed.

The more I write the clearer this becomes. Something must be done.

We became known as gods to them. It is known that our ancestors on earth ran amok and created chaos…

Xander has been living on earth now permanently for a year. He has completely left us in the dark. Half of the high council members have now left as well. Mother’s heart couldn’t take the worry, she passed away 6 months ago. Father is hitting his 1,500th year and simply can’t keep up with his duties so the responsibility has fallen to me. something needs to be done, and I have made a decision. I’m not sure how this will end, or if this is even the right decision, but my people are in danger.

Hopefully father can forgive me.

To create peace, I cut off their access to Lylithea to eliminate the recklessness in their genetics and making our planet “pure”. A society where women rule and are the superiors…

It has been done. I have banished Xander and his council members and cut off all communication to earth. Traveling between planets has now become illegal and impossible. My new council has destroyed all transportation doors. From now on, women will rule this planet. The high council has already begun preparing my coronation. We’ve also decided to prevent this from ever happening again, the males in our society will be raised separately. The council and I also believe we should start arraigned marriages for the queens of the future. A male from the general population is to wed the future queen instead of her marrying a male from the council. I will be the first to be wed this way soon after my coronation. The transition has been relatively easy, the hardest part of all of this was losing my brother.

I must keep telling myself I did what had to be done.

Our history is now just myths to them. The Earthians have lost all ability to know of our existence…

Agueda

It was Saturday morning and Collette was studying Lylithean history by reading the diaries of the past queens, starting with Queen Agueda. Collette sat down Queen Agueda’s diary. She had so many questions. What exactly did Xander do to get banished? Why did he leave Lylithea in the first place? ‘You know why he left. You know what earth is like compared to here, especially for a royal.’ She quickly pushed this thought from her mind. “Archer, what does Agueda mean when she says they ran amok? How did Xander and his council create chaos?” Collette asked.

Archer looked from Collette to the book sitting on the table in front of him and searched for an answer. “I’m not entirely sure, to tell you the truth, no one is. All we’ve heard are the stories from these diaries.” He stopped and thought for a moment. “Your mother said she studied Greek mythology in her time on earth, but of course these are just myths. We may never know exactly what Xander did while on Earth.”

This only brought more questions to Collette’s uneasy mind. “I see.”

Archer closed his book. “That is all for today’s lesson, but I’d like you to write a small essay on how you would have handled Xander. If you thought Queen Agueda handled it in the best possible way.”

“How am I to write an essay without fully knowing what Xander did?” Collette said, grinning at Archer.

“You have a point. Fine instead re-read the diary and tell me if you can find anymore clues to what happened.” Archer picked the diary off the table and handed it to Collette. “In the meantime, I will also search for what happened. Jade and Sapphire will be here soon I believe. Those two have a knack for showing up just as we finish our lessons.” Just then the doorbell rang. “Like clockwork those girls” Collette gathered her books and jumped out of her seat. “Oh, Collette you received a letter from Zachariah this morning. Its on your desk in your bedroom.”

“Thank you, Archer.” Collette ran down the stairs and swung the door open to greet her best friends. The three of them had been inseparable for as long as Collette could remember. Jade was tall and skinny, dark brown hair to her waist beautiful blue eyes and a face full of freckles. She was the quiet, hopeless romantic of the group. Sapphire was named so for her ice blue eyes. She was short and curvy, and attitude radiated from her. Her hair was cut short and was always styled a different way anytime Collette saw her. Today’s hair-do was a short bob with bangs. There was a burst of screams, and the girls all hugged. Even though they spent every weekend with Collette, the week they were apart was torture for the friends. They all ran up the stairs to Collette’s bedroom and shut the door. This was Collette’s favorite part of the weekend, telling Jade and Sapphire everything that had happened on Earth. She told them about her classes and her homework, but the part the girls were most interested in was what happened with Michael.

“He kissed you?!” Jade said looking like she might burst.

“Does Archer know?” Sapphire said while looking at herself in Collette’s mirror.

“No but guess what!”

“What!?” The girls said in unison

“He asked me to homecoming!” Collette said practically jumping on the bed.

“What’s homecoming?” Jade said turning her head to the side making Collette think she looked just like Cat with her turned like that.

“Oh, it’s a dance”

“Like the balls we have for the council?” Sapphire said. “Those are awful, and we always sneak out halfway through.” She was now helping herself to Collette’s jewelry box, trying on different necklaces and earrings.

“No, it’s just kids! No adults! And not as formal as a ball.” Collette said, still jumping out of her skin with excitement.

“And Archer is letting you go?” Sapphire said. Collette’s excitement started to dull now.

“Yes”

“With a boy?” Sapphire’s hands were on her hips like ‘Yea I know that isn’t gonna happen.’

“Well, not necessarily.” Collette said, all excitement now gone.

Jade and Sapphire looked at each other and back to Collette “And what about Zachariah?” Jade said, eyes looking deep into Collette’s.

“How do you know about him?” Jade’s gaze was making Collette uncomfortable.

“Archer told us” Jade said.

“We’re planning your engagement party.” Sapphire said, finally taking her hands off her hips only to cross her arms.

“Oh” Collette had the new feeling in her stomach. The one she couldn’t put a finger on what it was. Her throat was getting tighter and tighter, her chest was tightening as well.

Jade put her hand on Collette’s leg. “Are you ok Collette?”

“Yea, I’m fine” Collette

“I don’t believe that for one second, what’s going on?” Sapphire came and sat on the bed. “Michael is just some guy on Earth, Zachariah is to be your husband, your king.”

“What if I don’t want a husband?” the girls could tell Collette was hurt, and sad. Even if they didn’t know how this felt themselves, they knew just what to do to make Collette feel better. Jade and Sapphire put their arms around Collette and hugged her tight. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have said that, but ever since I’ve been going to Earth, I just feel different. Like everything is just moving too fast like I need more time.”

“We get it girl, but what choice do we have? Life moves fast. It sucks, but its life.” Sapphire said. Collette realized she was still wearing her jewelry and laughed.

“Yea I know, but it helps to complain.”

“Duh, that’s what we’re for! What good is a friend if you can’t unload with them?” Jade said.

“I love you guys.” Collette said pulling in her friends again.

________________________________________________________

Collette watched from her window as her friends walked down the drive. She remembered her father had told her Zachariah wrote and she went to her desk to read it, she took the letter back to the window seat and Cat curled up beside her as she began to read.

My dearest Collette,

I hope its ok to call you that, seeing as were to be married I thought it was fitting. However, we haven’t met yet. Let’s start again.

Dear Collette,

How are you? It was unfortunate that I didn’t get to meet you yesterday, but King Archer assured me you were on official business and it couldn’t be avoided. You are already proving yourself to be a great queen, so devoted to your duties. Its very admirable. My mother tells me I’m to start taking lessons on being King, I was never very suited for schoolwork, but I will work my hardest to make you proud. I wish for nothing more then to make my queen happy. I am looking forward to getting to know you. Please write quickly!

Yours,

Zachariah

Collette sat the letter down and rubbed Cat’s head right between his ears and he began to purr. She knew she needed to reply to his letter, but she wasn’t sure what to say. ‘Where do I even start? The whole letter is basically him saying he wants to please me.’ She sat for a while in the window petting Cat and thinking. About everything. About Earth, and Michael, and Zachariah. About her lessons this morning, and how she needed to know what happened with Xander. Collette got up from the window and walked to her desk. She pulled out a piece of parchment and a pen and started writing.

Dear Zachariah,

It was nice to hear from you, thank you for your letter. I am terribly sorry I missed you, but I look forward to meeting you at our engagement party. thank you also for saying I will make a great queen. It is a heavy burden, but I hope I carry it well. I’ve also started my lessons, today I got to read High Queen Agueda’s diary and learned why she cut communication off from earth. Did you know she had a brother? Apparently, he is the reason we no longer live among the Earthians. You must let me know about your lessons! If you enjoy them, what your favorite parts are. Tell me everything! I must be going now, I have homework. So much fun right? Hope to hear from you soon.

Yours,

Collette

She sat the letter on the desk to give to archer in the morning during her lessons. Then she picked up Agueda’s diary again. She read and re-read the diary until she couldn’t take anymore. There were no clues to what Xander did other then create chaos. Then she remembered what archer said about her mother studying Greek mythology. ‘I bet ill find some answers in the myths. They can’t be completely fictional if I have proof that Zeus actually existed.’

#aspiring writer #first novel #love #writer #fantasy #science fiction #royalty #aliens

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frederickwiddowson · 5 years

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9:57 ¶ And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. 61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. 62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

Or, is this strictly for the time that Christ was walking on the earth, the day time in a spiritual and very miraculous sense before the night would fall and He would not be physically walking in the flesh with His disciples? Notice how Jesus and Paul use day and night as metaphors for the periods of time before and after the crucifixion and resurrection.

John 9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

Romans 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

There is another set of verses that gives people today trouble like these in Luke.

Mark 3:28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: 29 But he that shall blaspheme

against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

Is this possible today, after the resurrection? Can someone commit such a sin that they have no possible chance to be forgiven by God?

John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

We Baptists, for the most part, do not believe you can lose your salvation because you did not save yourself.

And we are sealed until the day of redemption, our resurrection.

2Corinthians 1:21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

So, since you cannot lose your salvation the only way to interpret the Mark 3 verses for us is to say that there are those who will never be saved as their will always be against God’s work of redeeming mankind to Himself, or at least as much as will accept His free gift of mercy. But, for those at that time walking on the earth with Him it was an apparent danger. The time was filled with spiritual warfare and the unseen world, which we are sometimes given a glimpse of, is very hard at work.

Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And we see, in the context of riches, Peter’s lament and Jesus’ promise in this verse.

But, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, wrote about family relations. First, the responsibility of taking care of one’s own family.

1Timothy 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

1Timothy 5:4 But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.

(nephew at one time also meant grandson)

Still, much good preaching can be made and has been done regarding walking away mentally and spiritually from your past ways of looking at things, regarding sin, and on what justifies you. And, of course, as Paul notes, your family may abandon you. Add this to the difficulty of suffering as a Christian, and you can see many parallels between Jesus’ statements and the decisions a new Christian is often forced to make to stay true to their faith.

Jesus, with no home of His own, whose own family He regards as those who obey His word, looking beyond the grave where a mere carcass is deposited to eternity, is on His way to the Cross and the Empty Tomb for the salvation of mankind. Those who will follow must drop everything and follow Him now, not looking back, or longing for the life they had.

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