#jesus important questions Just for Fun Religion
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Here's a fun random question: Is there such a thing as a secular Jew?
Like, we have secular Christians who do the bare minimum to call themselves a Christian and participate in Christian holidays. Are there Jews that do that? Like maybe they were born into the faith and participate in the culture but they aren't like. Super religious about it all and if they miss something, it's not a big deal for them?
oh absolutely. there are some jews who will eat a bacon cheeseburger then fast all day with their family on yom kippur then not speak another word of hebrew till passover. but i think for jews it’s less abt doing the bare minimum to still be considered a jew bc judaism is a tribe, and more abt spending important days with their family or connecting with their culture.
and like obligatory 2 jews 3000 opinions and i’m not the Ultimate Authority on judaism, but the thing that’s different imo abt judaism vs christianity (at least western christianity) is that christianity is a faith-based religion. generally, if you don’t align with christian theology, or at least say “yeah ok jesus sure”, you are by definition not a christian. for jews, there’s multiple different axes on which jews can interact with judaism, but the two that are probably the most helpful to gentiles in understanding the jewish people’s complex and varied relationships to judaism: religiosity and observance.
religiosity is about what you believe. do you think god exists? what is god? what are your beliefs about creation? how do you interact with jewish spirituality? and honestly, you could probably even break religiosity and spirituality into two different categories.
observance is about what you do. do you abstain from eating pork and shellfish? do you light candles every friday night? do you attend synagogue regularly? do you just go on yom kippur? do you wear a kippah or tichel?
to a lot of people who aren’t jewish or aren’t familiar with judaism, they might think that if someone is religious then they’re obviously observant, and if they aren’t religious then obviously they aren’t observant. but you will meet jews who keep fully kosher, light candles every single friday, observe even the most minor fasts, celebrate all the holidays, and think the notion of god is bullshit and saying the shema is just a way they connect with their ancestors. you’ll also meet jews who haven’t lit candles since they moved out of their parents’ house, eat bacon for breakfast, only go to synagogue on yom kippur, and believe that god created the universe and calls the jewish people to heal the world through good deeds and charity. you’ll meet jews who are deeply spiritual but don’t believe in god. you’ll meet jews who go to synagogue every saturday morning but don’t know a lick of hebrew. and that’s the coolest thing about judaism for me is that there are a shit ton of rules that you can study for years and years and you still don’t have to follow a single one to be jewish if you’re already part of the tribe.
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Do you ever have a moment where a passing recollection from childhood flutters through your brain, and you almost don't consider it until you realized that it was actually really fucking strange? And then you call your mom, and hesitatingly because you don't really trust your six-year-old imagination and memory, describe your version of events and ask for the perspective of someone who was an adult at the time, only to have her offer clarification that is perhaps a dozen times more bat shit than what you thought happened?
I was 6. I might have been 5. Maybe 7. I dont really know. It's not important. My brother is 4 years younger than me and he could walk and had teeth at the time. That is important.
We were regularly going to service at my grandmother's church. There was a children's area/playground/daycare thing that was offered as an alternative for sermons so no one had to deal with the loud fidgety babies. I think, like I said, I don't super trust my recollection.
There was a disagreement. I made someone cry. There was no hitting. We were asked to leave and then only showed up to church again after that on Easters and Christmas.
That's what I remember. Which isn't a huge deal until you think about how badly things had to go for an entire family to get kicked church. Semi permanently. So I asked about it several decades later.
Let it be said that I am an atheist not because I had some grand dramatic break up with God, but because there just was no religion at all in my life, certainly nothing that's stuck. This is why. It is also worth noting that this happened within like a month.
So first, the pastor/the reverend/someone in charge was embezzling money. How? Is that even possible? Fuck if I know. My grandmother did not go to church for the reverence or the religion, she went for the politics. She's the kind of woman who enjoys holding power over other people. She and Pop-pop were at elders at the church and had opinions about the misappropriation of funds. It gives me joy to conceptualize this in the tones of some gritty mafia movie so that's how it's gonna be. There was a titanic covert power struggle over the fiscal health of this suburban community church.
Dad actually did have a dramatic break up with the bad boyfriend that is God. How and where exactly this happened in the timeline is unclear.
Mom and Granny were both in the bell's choir. Singing and music and fun times. Also quite a bit of homophobia. This was the nineties and a different church down the road had announced they were open to having gay weddings. This resulted a fervor of gossip and unchristian remarks about awful degenerates burning in hell. Mom did not appreciate this and managed to create a schism throughout the choir, starting a cold war of dirty looks and sneers. Evidently the music took a turn for the shitty as well. To be clear, This was not a case of activism or allyship. This was a group of people who believed themselves to be superior for not being gay versus a group of people who believed themselves superior for not gossiping.
The day care thing, turned out to be a series of separate incidences. The first being when baby me having hyperfixated on Greek myths decided to info dump on my sister and inform her that the Greek gods were just stories and fake, just like jesus and the Christian God. This also resulted in some consternation from the adult who is supposed to be watching us and in theory guiding us towards a more godly life. Supposedly there was a serious talk with my parents after the fact. However there have been so many serious talks with my parents about my behavior and the things that come out of my mouth that they have in fact blurred together and even my mom has no idea what I did. It is worth noting that this probably did not help my dads Spiritual Questioning.
There were several other incidences but the culminating moment, the one that wound up with us walking out mid service to never return, started when my mother's 17 year old cat died fighting something in the Bush.
This cat was an outdoor cat and as a result kill a lot of things. Baby me had a very good idea of what dead animals looked like and everything that entailed. Baby me had also not really been formally introduced to the concept of heaven, which seems like an oversight on the part of some adult.
So at the day care thing we are all sitting in a circle, going around, and talking about sad things that have happened to this group of slightly older than toddlers so we will have something to pray about. There is another little girl whose cat has died.
I would like to think that the adult version of me would have handled this better.
The long and the short of it is, I informed everyone that heaven wasn't real, dead things stay dead forever, there isn't really such thing as a soul, especially not for cats. Just imagine the worst tone-deaf atheist asshole you know, except 6.
So, she started bawling. The adult that is meant to be in charge is just staring at me in horror. No one told him that he would have to explain the afterlife today. And they really didn't mention that he would be cross-examined by a critical six-year-old while another one sobs.
The conversation that followed had to be hilarious, but due to the foibles of my brain and the intervening decades, I do not remember it at all. A great loss for us all.
Remember how I said it was important that my baby brother has teeth at this point? While I am engaged in theological debate with an increasingly desperate Day care worker, my wonderful loving and loyal baby brother is told that I am a mean person. While this is arguably true, he also loves me. Significantly more than he loves common sense. Or manners. Or Jesus for that matter. His big sister is the best person in the world, actually.
Queue the fighting for my honor.
Yes, he started biting.
My sister is an empathetic cryer and is now also sobbing.
The poor daycare man has not convinced me that heaven exists, but he's now wondering if this is the threshold of hell. Someone goes to get mom or dad or granny or anyone who can do anything about the tiny heathens unleashed on the kiddy hour.
So, yeah. We never went back. Only my sister ever missed it. Next Sunday, Mom told us to go explore the abandoned gravel pit for an hour or so.
#religious trauma#Technically#Someone is definitely traumatized#Famdamnily#Wolverine warbles#There are extra spaces in here i can't remove#Im gonna end up turning the reblogs off on this one
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Hi! I had a question about angelology after reading your lovely post, and I thought maybe you would have an answer (or at the very least opinions), but also no pressure to answer :)
I always thought Gabriel was the highest ranking angel as an archangel, but according to the actual ranking of angels, archangels are pretty far down on the list! Also, Aziraphale was guardian of the Eastern Gate, but I know he’s a principality and not a cherubim. And then there’s Muriel being a 37th rank angel (or something along those lines) which I feel like adds a whole other ranking system? I admittedly know almost nothing about angelology outside your post, so I guess my question was what are your thoughts on the ranks of the other angels in the show that (at least to my knowledge, but I could be totally misinterpreting things) are contradictory to the three ranks??
I mostly find it interesting that the show mentions thrones and dominions being the higher-up angels but then Gabriel being an archangel really threw me off. Anyway, thanks for the post!
Hi! Thank you for your question! Highly appreciated.
First of all, I would like to clarify that the angelology I study is Christian Catholic Angelology, so I'm sorry in advance if someone's confused.
Gabriel and his ranking
With arcangels we might get a little bit confusing, because we have the arcangels and The Archangels.
The last one are the Messengers of God, They're the ones who receive the most important messages from God that need to be delivered to humans.
Ex. The Archangel Gabriel is the one who told Mary she'll be giving birth to Jesus (in the flashback of Job in ep 2 this hasn't happened yet so that why he doesn't say anything about it)
Catholic church recognizes 3 of the 7 Archangels: Gabriel, Michael and Raphael.
• Michael - Recognized by The Bible, the one who fought against Lucifer, chief of "The Army of Yahweh"
• Gabriel - The Celestial Messenger
• Raphael - Recognized by The Book of Tobit, The Healer of God
Another possible interpretation we have of The 7 Archangels is that these are the seven spirits of God who are before the throne described in the Book of Enoch and in the Book of Revelation (Rev 1:4, 3:1, 4:5, 5:6).
They are said to be the guardian angels of nations and countries, concerned with the issues and events surrounding them, including politics, military affairs, and commerce.
Ex. Archangel Michael is known for being the protector if Israel.
Examples of archangels are
• Raziel
• Camel
• Zadkiel
• Yahoel
• Cassiel
Aziraphale and his ranking
Neil just confirmed Aziraphale was a Cherub at the Garden of Eden. We can confirm this by the proximity to God and "upstairs" in ep 1.
"You know, the current word from upstairs is that we'll be shutting this all down again in about 6,000 years"
- Aziraphale (S2E1 03:05)
"Now that's [Earth] where people that we're currently designing are going to be. I've seen the plans".
- Aziraphale (S2E1 03:47)
Fun fact: Uriel (Fire of God) was the one with the flamming sword to avoid humans access to The Tree of Life (mention in The Book of Adam and Eve) and the one of warned Noah about the flood. I found very interesting that they chose Aziraphale in those parts.
In my previous post about Angelology, we see the ranks, a Cherub being in the 2nd chorus of the 1st rank and a Principality being in the 1st chorus of the 3rd rank.
So, in Christian Catholic Angelology, he got a demotion.
Muriel and their ranking
In season 2 we know that Muriel is 37th order scrivener.
Scriveners are actually in the bible, but they're not angels; basically, they copy manuscripts and other texts as well as secretarial and administrative duties, also they're the one whose occupation is to draw contracts or prepare writings, that's why we see Muriel doing the authenticity verification of the permit Crowley had in ep 2.
Ranking of angels
We have different ranking of angels depending on the religion, because each one might have the same name of the chorus (rank) but in different hierarchy (and also another type of ranks), it could be pretty confusing at some point. I personally follow the Christian Catholic Angelology.
I adore how they include Crowley and Aziraphale in biblical events, because based of their personalities it totally fit, which I think is pretty amazing.
I hope my answer helped!
#good omens#ineffable husbands#aziraphale#crowley#gos2#good omens 2#aziracrow#good omens season 2#Angelology#Christian Catholic Angelology#season 2#Gabriel#Muriel#Angels
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I couldn't wait for you to answer because I was so tired and I fell asleep, sorry.
But even if we base morality on what our parents taught us, on what do we base our parents' morals? Our topic contains questions about whether religion can form the basis of morality, so there must be a difference between religious and non-religious parents. As you said, I believe that moral knowledge or general knowledge acquired in childhood can be changed. And I think most of us actually manage to develop mentally by destroying the value judgments that are shown to us as correct and by building our own value judgments.
Child abuse is very common not only in Christian churches, but in almost all religious institutions. I don't know much about abuses in Christian churches because I live in a predominantly Muslim region. I did look at the video you mentioned about the Dalai Lama though, and it's disgusting. I feel like the natural tendencies suppressed by religion are making people even more irritable. I often think that religion is a product of the patriarchal social structure. It was necessary to create a divine power to rule and confuse minds, and that was done. It's weird that people still believe this bullshit though. I know that there is a spiritual side in people, although I cannot feel this spirituality, but I do not understand the importance of a spirituality full of contradictions. I was surprised when I read the Bible. Even with regard to the name of Jesus, there was a contradiction in Matthew 1. Or, when talking about Mary's eternal virginity, it is strange that there are contradictions in Matthew 1 that Mary did not have sexual intercourse with Yusuf until a certain time, but then did. There is belief in tawhid in Islam, and God is an omnipotent and elusive being that satisfies the human mind, at least to some extent. The hypostatic unity in Christianity, the three hypostases of god, seems to destroy the divinity of god. No matter what religion they all seem to have obvious contradictions, and it's odd that people still believe in them. Because while it is not pure good or pure evil, we can all distinguish what is good and bad in line with our centuries-old experiences. Religion is the most obvious way to ground morality, but I don't think it's the right one.
And I must say I agree with everything else you wrote. Thanks for your satisfactory answers. Also thanks for the songs and I hope my broken english doesn't make it difficult for you to understand me.
Do you think democracy is an appropriate form of government? Do you think everyone should have a say in government or do you think systems like oligarchy make more sense?
Yes i do believe so, it's good to have access to information without restrictions and not having someone forcing you to be something. Of course nobody is truly free, but still it's best to be "free" to do what you want and have a chance to improve your critical thinking and have fun than living under a government that limits their people to explore and gain knowledge. Also it's better to be poor and free to do whatever and explore whatever u want, than be poor and having someone inspecting your home and control you (of course the white blonde kid in a western country will disagree and call you stupid for not reading the same dogmatic manifestos they are reading).
I also believe that democracy shouldn't equate 100% total freedom, there should be a few responsabilities to put people more in line (to a certain extent) and educate them.
For example, where i live is not obligatory any military service and i think that is ridiculous. Not even a few months of service so people understand the basics. Every month we see on the news a russian warship passing by, or a nuclear bomber passing by just to intimidate nato countries and on local news - on interviews they make to our politicians - they see military service has something like a fascist thing or old fashion and i think that is so far from reality. Imagine if ukraine had the same mentality these people have. Just because you believe in peace and love bullshit doesn't mean your neighbours do, and becoming weak and laid back based on hippie believes can have serious consequences on the long run. It's very naive, i really don't understand... This people have no fight in them.
Or maybe that's just my mentality, i'm just hard with myself and i believe i need to be ready for anything at all time
I don't think there's much difference between democracy or oligarchy or other politic ways, there's always a group of people pulling the strings. Just look at declassified documents. Cyber attacks, spying and all that shit. Some countries are still not ready for democracy. And there will never be a true way to rule the world, even if the roman empire conquered the entire world and killed all oppositors, people would still find ways to separate things in two and fight against each other.
And what do you think about it?
(you could create a fake profile and write to me - just dont be a avatarless untitled blog because i usually block those)
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april TC challenge days 1-10 by @morethanwords0475 <3
this challenge seems like fun so i thought i'd participate yay :)
catching up and hopefully doing it daily afterwards ^^
Day 1: Happy April Fool’s! Have you ever pranked your TC; if so, how did they react?
nope and i don't think i ever would. i just don't have the guts to prank teachers (or even friends) haha
Day 2: What is the earliest thing you can remember about your TC?
oh god i love this memory pahahaha
i was new in class (i changed schools two weeks after the year started) and the very first lesson was J's religion lesson. i remember him talking about Jesus smoking weed and being high or something and at first I thought “where the hell did i land here” lmao😭
so my first impression of him was like "who tf is this guy and what did he smoke"
Day 3: Do you like your TC’s subject? Do you consider yourself to be good at it?
hmm with him as a teacher i do like it because, as i mentioned before, he teaches religion, but it feels more like philosophy. and i definitely prefer the latter haha
seeing as philosophy (and religion) are very subjective topics, i can't be objectively good at it. when comparing myself to my classmates i would say i'm more interested in philosophy, books by philosophers and all the ideas than them. that doesn't make me good at it tho, so unfortunately there's no answer for that sdlkghsldkg
Day 4: How do you feel about your age gap?
it's a pretty normal age gap for a student and a teacher to have i guess slkdghsldkgh (our age gap is approximately around 35 years)
Day 5: Have you ever said anything to your TC that showed you favoured them? Have they said anything like that to you?
in our conversation on teams, i mentioned that i really liked his lessons and his way of teaching. in his reply, he thanked me for it and said that's most important to him. :) i don't know the exact wording, but i can dig up the message and post it if anyone's interested
Day 6: Have you ever noticed any small habits that they have? If so, what comes to mind first?
J is ALWAYS so confused and really aloof. like, that man can't hold a thought for a second. if you ask him a question, be prepared for a ramble that goes on for half an hour without ever mentioning the topic of your question again. it's so funny honestly😭
Day 7: What gift would you really like to be able to give them, regardless of if it’s realistic or not?
okay. man. this is really fucking weird. please don't think i'm weird😭 also not exactly a gift, i'd want it back haha
buuut i've always thought how i so desperately want to give him my little notebooks i carry everywhere which are diaries, poetry collections, just my thoughts scrabbled out on paper. i want him to understand me and by reading these notebooks, he would.
as a real gift, i think a book annotated by me would be nice, i just want him to see my thoughts about books he's read too
Day 8: Does your TC ever talk about what it was like when they were still a student?
he did, once. he told us how he had no idea what he wanted to do after school and how he was actually a really bad student. i really felt him in that moment slkghsghslk
Day 9: Does your TC have a significant other? If so, what do you know about them and how do you feel about them?
yesss he has a wife and they've been married for a reaaaally long time i think. i saw her once with him at our school prom, they were sitting on the table next to us, and both of us were eating. at the time, i avoided him and tried to act like i didn't see him in hopes of him not noticing me lol. about his wife - if he talks about her, it's only ever positive so i can imagine she's really nice. :)
Day 10: What is the longest time you have gone without seeing them?
of course the usual summer break, but actually right now! he had a pretty bad skiing accident around the start of february, so i haven't seen him since then. if everything's good, i'll hopefully see him again on friday!
but it actually made me really sad that i didn't see J for so long because i promised myself i would try to talk to him before i never saw him again. i know he sometimes talks to students who stay behind after his lessons, sometimes for a really long time, and especially after the awkward end of our conversation on teams i really really want to have a long and thorough conversation with him just once.
i don't really have a lot of possibilities anymore, time is running out, so i'll have to be brave and find an opportunity and then actually talk to him haha. wish me luck, i'll surely make more posts about this lol
#april tc challenge#male teacher crush#teacher crush community#teacher crush#teacher attachment#tc struggles#tc community#tc blog#male tc
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incoming rant about my upbringing - this is not about all christians, but my family specifically and a lot of the christians i grew up around
fun thing about my family - most people in my (very religious christian) family know jack shit about other religions (and honestly very little about christianity itself - they were taught to be compliant, not knowledgable). growing up, whenever i heard people talk about other faiths it was either to demonize them or to speak about them in a condescending way (or go: yes, its important to respect other people but remember that what they believe is invalid and we got it right...oh also dont think about that too long or else you might question your faith and that's wrong)
someone in my family just learned recently (as in like...within the last 3 years) that islam is an abrahamic religion. She's spent decades just assuming they worship an entirely different god. people at my "friendly accepting church" have laughed at a joke in a sermon where the punchline was someone believing in god but not in jesus' divinity - because haha that's such a ridiculous concept??? (wait until they learn about judaism, it'll fucking blow their minds). my family talked about hinduism like it was backwards for being polytheistic (same rhetoric used to justify the enslavement and colonizing of our ancestors but ok). They also think reincarnation is silly - which to me as an agnostic is fucking wild considering that (imo) no belief in the afterlife is inherently more logical or more valid than any other.
its particularly fun (not) to hear them talk about wiccans as if theyre demonic cultists scheming to take down christianity (i used to dabble in wicca and im still interested in it, so those were fun conversations to have)
they also speak similarly about atheists and ex-christians (who they call backsliders). love feeling like an outsider in my own home. love hearing people who say they love me also talk about how turning away from god is the greatest sin that cannot be forgiven. its nice to know just how conditional their love is.
i used to think i disliked religion but thats not true - i love (and miss!) community, shared stories, and spiritual comfort
what i actually dislike is the way close-minded people in my family have combined their religious beliefs with being proudly ignorant and bigoted
I would love to be part of a spiritual/religious community...just a better one
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Ad It Up
We have waited a whole year for this day. It’s not like marketers have taken a 364-day vacation, though, because they certainly have not. But today is the day they come out with both guns blazing, to the tune of $7 million to grab the stage for 30 seconds. And as has become fashionable in recent years, marketers leaked a lot of their ads early so they can try to build a little pre-game hype.
What makes this year interesting is that inflation and a pandemic before it have left us beaten and battered as consumers, and the ad roster reflects it. Automakers and cryptocurrency will be taking a back seat this year, although the Dodge Ram EV pickup will make an appearance. Lots of consumer goods will be featured, especially foods and things that make us feel good.
Celebrities are also in…again. Advertisers have been relying on celebrity endorsers for decades, often sports heroes and pop culture icons. Americans love their celebrities, and if they say a product is good…well, even if they don’t even say it…their presence is taken as the word of authority. That’s the thinking, anyway.
Humor is also a common approach, and very apropos for these trying economic times. Dogs and other animals are crowd pleasers, like in Amazon’s ad this year. But if you can achieve humor in addition to using A-listers, you may just win the game. I’m thinking of the Pop Corners ad that features Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, and Raymond Cruz from Breaking Bad fame. In fact, I’m calling it now. This is the best ad of the game. Sheer genius. And never you mind that I ask a huge Breaking Bad fan. Tight, tight, tight!
The most important matter, of course, is whether this is money well spent. Will people even remember more than a few ads come Monday morning? Will our shopping habits change even one iota? My replies to both questions are both rather negative. They have entertainment value, and the marketer in me even sees the whole event as an advertising show in which a football game breaks out. But since watching it is such a social event, we’ll be distracted by food, family, friends, and fun. Oh, and a quick run to the bathroom once in a while. It’s not like we’ll be watching with eyes glued to the screen the whole time.
But then again, what is the price of not participating? If you give up your annual slot on the roster, someone else will happily take it, if only for the association with said event. It’s almost like the league and whomever has broadcasting rights each year is holding a big shake-down with marketers. Get out your checkbook and pay, and if you won’t, then there are dozens of others who will.
An academic study reported a year ago noted that Super Bowl ads are good for creating buzz and word-of-mouth. That’s the kind of brand awareness that can be helpful down the road. But there’s a mixed bag of studies that can show a relationship between those ads and sales revenues. Sometimes they work; sometimes they don’t.
And then there’s the most controversial ad campaign of this year’s game, the He Gets Us ads purchased by a conservative evangelical Christian group to promote Jesus. The anonymous group is spending $20 million for the ads; one of the biggest donors to the group is David Green, billionaire co-founder of Hobby Lobby. While I don’t have a problem with any group promoting their religion, I have to wonder if it is money well spent.
Of course, my cynicism must be tempered by all the buzz the ad has created, and the game hasn’t even started yet.
That, my friends, is all part of the plan. Get people talking, whether you are selling Jesus, EVs, online shopping, or snack foods. There are thousands of voices in the wilderness, each wanting our attention. Maybe we’ll actually listen to some and run out to buy things.
Or go to church.
Dr “Watching From The Sidelines“ Gerlich
Audio Blog
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Dear future self… February 6, 2023
Things I’m thankful for this past week - rest and my family.
Spent some quality time with meliss on Wednesday going for wings and shopping which was nice. I feel like we haven’t had one on one time in a little while so it was needed. Gamed with Steven Friday night which was fun. Went snowshoeing for the first time with Amber, we did Sawmill loop in kananaskis and it was such a perfect day. It was beautiful, a great trail, warm & nova was amazing. I seriously love this girl Amber, she’s like a long lost sister. We just talk for hours and hours about everything. We talked about how some people just drain your energy & when you leave from hanging out, you’re tired & empty. I don’t ever feel that with her. She’s always so bright & happy, she’s so funny but we can have serious, deep conversations too & we always seem to be on the same page or so similar in things. I really feel like she’s going to be a lifer and I hope she is.
Sunday was good, finished the essentials group. Sometimes I feel pressured at this church because they emphasize on growing & outreach in the community etc. the essentials group was really good and amazing at explaining things, explaining how important church is and that when you’re Christian, everyone’s a disciple. I feel very overwhelmed by it though, maybe because I always see it in a bible thumping way, or people who shove religion down people’s throats but God knows I’m not like that, I know he can change me but I don’t feel called to go around telling people they’re going to hell if they don’t accept Jesus & believe He died for their sins. I have a lot of mixed feelings about it. It’s really sad & I really can never comprehend what life is after death, being in the kingdom of God. What does it look like to live forever in spirit? To be in the heavens? There’s no sorrow, no shame, no sadness, no anger, no resentment, no self pity, no worthlessness. I can’t even imagine it and then imagining that some people in my life and so much of this world isn’t going to experience that because they’re not saved, idk that’s such a big task. Such a big burden almost. It’s hard to comprehend. Church is really good & every teaching has explained so much to me. We’re going through the book of Genesis & I’ve never truly understood it like I have been now. I’m always so challenged & the pastor always unlocks so much more in a few verses that I never understood before. It’s crazy but amazing. It’s nice to be meeting more people and seeing some of the same faces. Putting myself out there and going to more groups to meet people.
I really do feel like this year there’s a shift. That I feel like I’m finally focused on the important things in life & God is showing up. In so many places. Like God has literally done so much, opened so many doors, closed so many doors and has brought so many opportunities already this year that it makes me so excited. I’m happy. Like yah I have some moments where I’m sad I’m not in a certain place, or doing something else, or have found a partner, but I’m actually happy. So much good has come in the last couple months.
I’m really excited for this girls trip. I’ve never had a girls trip before and to think that I’ve been dying to have girl friends for literal years. Like how many times have I written, have I prayed, have I told my mom that I so crave some good girl connections. It’s been years. & now to be planning a tropical trip in April, I’m so excited.
I always tend to start writing right before bed, so I always feel like I’m trying to hurry up and type whatever overview I can so I can go to bed. I need to get better at sitting down at my computer and writing things out and getting out more details and feelings. I really want to get back into the shadow work & questions again. I really need to prioritize my routine. Get back into exercising and working out in the evening. Get back into reading before bed. Get back into drawing. Baking even. I’ve done a bit of baking but not a lot. Amanda got me into puzzles so now I want to get one to work on while I watch a show. I always feel like I have so many things I want to do in a day and I get overwhelmed and I can’t do them all and then a bunch of days pass and I feel like shit because I end up not doing any. It’s almost like I need to write a weekly schedule and carve out time for specific things on specific nights but I don’t want to be strict with my entire night planned out but then again I feel like I need some sort of structure that I know I can adjust accordingly. Maybe I’ll look at that this week.
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On fae/faer pronouns and cultural appropriation
HOW IT STARTED
I had a handful, a very small handful but more than two, responses in the Gender Census feedback box telling me that fae/faer pronouns are appropriative. The reasons didn’t always agree, and the culture that was being appropriated wasn’t always the same, but here’s a selection of quotes:
“Fae pronouns are cultural appropriation and are harmful to use“ - UK, age 11-15
“I’m not a person who practices pagan holidays but, my understanding is that pronouns like fae/faeself are harmful because the fae are real to pagans and is like using Jesus/jesuself as pronouns“ - UK, age 11-15
“I know you've probably heard this a million times, so has everyone on the internet, but the ''mere existence''of the fae pronoun feels really uncomfortable for some of us. I'm personally not against neopronouns like xe/xim, er/em and the like, I am a pagan but apart from the, imo most important, reasoning of that pronoun being immensely disrespectful, I worry as an nb about people who banalize the usage of pronouns ''for fun'', and I'm quoting what some people have told me.“ - Spain, 16-20
“I don't agree with fae/deity pronouns just from a pagan perspective it's very disrespectful to the cultures they come from. Like Fae are a legit thing in many cultures and they hate with a fiery passion mortal humans calling themselves Fae to the point of harming/cursing the people who do it“ - USA, age 16-20
“only celtic people can use far/ faers otherwise it’s cultural appropriation, many celts have said this and told me this“ - USA, age 16-20
So that’s:
❓ Someone who doesn’t say whether they’re pagan or Celtic.
❌ Someone who definitely isn’t pagan.
✅ Someone who is pagan.
❓ Someone who doesn’t say whether they’re pagan or Celtic.
❓ Someone who doesn’t say whether they’re pagan or Celtic.
So, just to disclose some bias up-front, I am English so I’m not Celtic, but I do live in Wales so I am surrounded by Celts. The bit of Wales that I live in is so beautiful in such a way that when my French friend came to visit me she described it as féerique - like an enchanting, magical land, literally “fairylike” or thereabouts. Coincidentally I have also considered myself mostly pagan for over half of my life, and I can’t definitively claim whether or not the Fae are “part of paganism” because paganism is so diverse and pick’n’mix that it just doesn’t work that way.
To me the idea that fae/faer pronouns would be offensive or culturally appropriative sounds absurd. But also, I am powered by curiosity, and have been wrong enough times in my life that I wanted to approach this in a neutral way with an open mind. Perhaps what I find out can be helpful to some people.
So since we only have information from one person who is definitely directly affected by any cultural appropriation that may be happening, the first thing I wanted to do was get some information from ideally a large number of people who are in the cultures being appropriated, and see what they think.
~
WHAT I DID
First of all I put some polls up on Twitter and Mastodon. [Edit: Note that this post has been updated with results from closed polls.]
I specified that I wanted to hear from nonbinary Celts and pagans, just so that the voters would be familiar with fae/faer pronouns. I asked the questions in a neutral way, i.e. “How do you feel about...” with “good/neutral/bad” answer options, instead of something more leading like “Is this a load of rubbish?” or “are you super offended?” with “yes/no” options. I provided a “see results” option, so that the poll results wouldn’t be skewed as much by random people clicking any old answer to see the results. And I invited voters to express their opinions in replies.
Question #1: Nonbinary people of Celtic descent (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and Brittany), how do you feel about non-Celtic people using the neopronoun set fae/faer? [ It's good / No strong feelings/other / It's bad ]
Question #2: Nonbinary pagans, how do you feel about non-pagans using the neopronoun set fae/faer? [ It's good / No strong feelings/other / It's bad ]
The Twitter polls got over 1,100 responses each, and the Mastodon polls got over 140 responses each. With a little bit of spreadsheetery I removed the “N/A” responses to reverse engineer the number of people voting for each option, combined those numbers, and recalculated percentages.
Obviously this approach is not in the least scientific, but thankfully the results were unambiguous enough and the samples were big enough that I feel comfortable drawing conclusions.
Celts on fae/faer pronouns being used by non-Celts (561 voters):
It's good - 42.5%
No strong feelings/other - 44.0%
It's bad - 13.5%
Pagans on fae/faer pronouns being used by non-pagans (468 voters):
It's good - 47.2%
No strong feelings/other - 39.5%
It's bad - 13.3%
Here’s how that looks as a graph:
The limitations of polls on these platforms means that we have no way to distinguish between people who have more complicated views (”other”) and people who have “no strong feelings”, so we can’t really draw conclusions there. If we stick to just the pure positive and pure negative:
Celts were over three times as likely to feel positive about non-Celts using fae/faer pronouns than they were to feel negative.
Pagans were over three and a half times as likely to feel positive about non-pagans using fae/faer pronouns than they were to feel negative.
So Celts and pagans are way more likely to feel actively good about someone’s fae/faer pronouns, even when that person is not a Celt/pagan. That’s some strong evidence against the idea that fae/faer pronouns are appropriative, right there.
~
CORRECTIONS
To be clear, I haven’t done any research about the roots of fae/faer or the origins of the Fae and related beings, but my goal here was to get a sense of what Celts and pagans think and feel, rather than what an historian or anthropologist would say.
On the anti side, here were the replies that suggested fae/faer either is or might be inappropriate:
“I only worry that not everyone understands the origin of the word outside of modernized ideas of fairies.“ - pagan
“As a vaguely spiritual Whatever (Ireland), I think a mortal using "fae" as a pronoun/to refer to themselves is asking for a malicious and inventive fairy curse (on them, their families and possibly anyone in their vicinity, going by the traditions). I have not heard of this term before, so this is an immediate reaction from no background bar my cultural knowledge of sidhe/fae/term as culturally appropriate. My general approach is people can identify themselves as they want.“ - Celtic
So we’ve got a pagan who’s wary that people who use fae/faer (and people in general) might not have a fully fleshed out idea of the Fae. And we’ve got a Celt who doesn’t mind people using fae/faer personally, but based on what they know of the Fae they wouldn’t be surprised if the Fae got mad about it. No outright opposition, but a little concern.
There were not a lot of replies on the pro side, but not because people weren’t into it, judging by the votes. There were a lot of “it’s more complicated than that” replies, many of which repeated others, so quotes won’t really work. Here’s a summary of the Celtic bits:
“Fae” is not a Celtic word, and Celts don’t use it. It is French, or Anglo-French.
“Fae” can refer to any number of stories/legends from a wide variety of cultures in Europe, not one cohesive concept.
There are many legends about fairy-like beings in Celtic mythologies, and there are many, many different names for them.
The Celts are not a monolith, they’re a broad selection of cultures with various languages and various mythologies.
And the pagan bits:
Paganism is not closed or exclusive in any way. It might actually be more open than anything else, as “pagan” is a sort of umbrella term for non-mainstream religions in some contexts. A closed culture would be a prerequisite for something to be considered “appropriated” from paganism.
From my own experience, pagans may or may not believe in the Fae, and within that group believers may or may not consider the Fae to be sacred and/or worthy of great respect. (I’ve certainly never met a pagan who worshipped the Fae, though I don’t doubt that some do.)
And then we get into the accusations. 🍿
“this issue wasn’t started by Celtic groups or by people who know much about Celtic fae. It was started primarily by anti-neopronoun exclusionist pagans on TikTok.“
“[I’m] literally Scottish [...] and it’s not appropriative in the least and honestly to suggest as such is massively invalidating towards actual acts of cultural appropriation and is therefore racist. Feel like if this was actually brought up it was either by some people who seriously got their wires crossed or people who are just concern trolling and trying to make fun of both neo-pronouns and of the concept of cultural appropriation and stir the pot in the process.“
“It wouldn't be the first time bigots falsly claim “it's appropriative from X marginalized group" to harass people they don't like, like they did with aspec people when they claimed "aspec" was stolen from autistic language (which was false, as many autistics said)“
“It's been a discussion in pagan circles recently ... People were very quick to use the discussion as an excuse to shit on nonbinary people.“
“I think it would be apropos to note that the word "faerie/fairy" has been a synonym for various queer identities for decades, too. The Radical Faeries are a good example.“ (So if anyone has the right to [re]claim it...)
A little healthy skepticism is often wise in online LGBTQ+ “discourse”, and some of these people are making some very strong claims, for which I’d love to see some evidence/sources/context. Some of it certainly sounds plausible.
~
HOW DID IT START?
I had a look on Twitter and the earliest claim I can find that fae/faer pronouns are cultural appropriation is from 18th February 2020, almost exactly one year ago today. Again, tweets are not the best medium for this, there was very little in the way of nuance or context. If anyone can find an older claim from Twitter or Tumblr or anywhere else online, please do send it my way.
I have no idea how to navigate TikTok because I’m a nonbinosaur. (I’m 34.) I did find some videos of teens and young adults apparently earnestly asserting that they were Celtic or pagan and the use of fae/faer pronouns was offensive, but the videos were very brief and provided nothing in the way of nuance or context. For example:
This one from October 2020 with 29k ❤️s, by someone who I assume is USian based on the word “mom”?
This one from December 2020, that says “I am pagan and i find it rather disrespectful. It’s like using god/godr or jesus/jesusr.” That’s probably what inspired the feedback box comment above that refers to hypothetical jesus/jesusr pronouns.
If anyone is able to find a particularly old or influential TikTok video about fae/faer pronouns being appropriative I’d really appreciate it, especially if it’s from a different age group or from not-the-USA, to give us a feel for how universal this is.
For context, fae pronouns were mentioned in the very first Gender Census back in May 2013, though you’ll have to take my word for it as the individual responses are not currently public. The word “fae” was mentioned in the pronoun question’s “other” textbox, and no other forms in the set were entered so we have no way of knowing for sure what that person’s full pronoun set actually is. This means the set may have been around for longer. The Nonbinary Wiki says that the pronoun set was created in October 2013, as “fae/vaer”, later than the first entry in the Gender Census, so I’ll be editing that wiki page later! If anyone has any examples of fae/faer pronouns in use before 2013 I would also be very interested to see that.
~
IN SUMMARY
Obviously I can’t speak for everyone, as the Twitter polls are not super scientific and they only surveyed a selection of Celts and pagans within a few degrees of separation of the Gender Census Twitter and Mastodon accounts, but I can certainly report on what I found.
For a more conclusive result, we’d need to take into account various demographics such as age, culture, location, religion, race/heritage, etc.
As far as I can tell based on fairly small samples of over 400 people per group, a minority of about 13% of Celtic and/or pagan people felt that use of fae/faer pronouns is appropriative.
A much higher number of people per group felt positive about people who are not Celts or pagans using fae/faer pronouns. The predominant view was:
It can’t be cultural appropriation from Celtic cultures because fairy-like beings are not unique to Celtic cultures and Celtic cultures don’t call them Fae.
It can’t be cultural appropriation from pagan cultures because paganism is not “closed” or exclusive in any way, it’s too broad and open.
~
If your experience of your gender(s) or lack thereof isn’t described or encompassed by the gender binary of “male OR female”, please do click here to take the Gender Census 2021 - it’s international and it closes no earlier than 10th March 2021!
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Hi, I have a question re:sex and Christianity. Small background: I still go to church, and I still live with my parents even though I'm not much younger than you, because housing is very very expensive where I live (pretty common here, I would say about 2/3 of my friends live with their parents and we are decently privileged kids)
Anyway. How does one get over purity culture? To be clear, I've never been told in church not to have sex, I've never gotten the gendered lessons that you got. But I am terrified of having sex. My first real, multi-year relationship just ended and while there was hand stuff etc, there was never any p in v sex (lol I feel 12). But I still had insane anxiety about being pregnant despite being on bc. And I think its because I know my parents would be so disappointed if I had sex. And if I was pregnant I could imagine all the gossip. And honestly I think im from a pretty open church, b/c one of our previous ministers kids recently got married at 8 months pregnant and lots of church people were at the wedding and supportive and her parents were there and everything.
I dont even think I particularly like sex, i might be on the ace spectrum, but how do I remove it from all the anxiety that's tied to it so I can even give myself the chance to find out???
(Asking because it seems like you've been pretty open about purity culture/removing yourself from it)
CW for sex talk (again)
How does one get over purity culture?
Oh man. That really is the million-dollar question, huh? Obviously, I can only answer re my personal experiences, and this is something you should talk to a therapist about, but I can tell you how I’ve tackled it with my therapist at least.
Purity culture is, at its core, an ideology that is perpetuated by shame. If you’re indoctrinated into purity culture when you’re a kid, the concepts become baked into the way you construct your identity, your perception of self, and your perception of your sexuality. It’s practically intrinsic, by the time you’re an adult, to feel shame any time you’re reminded you have a body, much less a sexuality.
According to the chapels I sat through every week as a kid, a girl's body could be 3 things: an intentional stumbling block for men, an accidental stumbling block for men, or unnoticeable. Women were to strive for the third option so as to keep their (and their male friends/authority figures) purity intact. After all, if a boy, or even your male teacher, had impure thoughts about you, it was your fault for tempting them (which, holy shit. I still can’t believe that was a thing I bought into for so long. If my 45 yr old grown-ass teacher had impure thoughts because he could see my 12 yr old collarbone, that sure as hell wasn’t my fault. But I digress.) The Only time a woman’s body can be something else, is when she gives it to her husband, at which point she must suddenly flip the switch in her brain that she is now allowed to be a Sexual Being and she must perform Sexual Duties despite living in outright fear of her own body and sexuality for years (decades?) up until this point. Jesus take the wheel.
Purity culture isn’t a thing you can just decide to walk away from if you’ve grown up in it. Because its ideology is insidious and internalized. So first you need to submit to the fact that you’re going to be fucked up about sex. It sounds like you’re there. Second, you need to interrogate what you believe. If you’re leaving religion behind entirely, you’ll approach removing yourself from purity culture differently than if you still identify as a Christian. It sounds like you might be the latter, which meant, for me, separating what’s actually biblical and what’s shitty, contrived, doctrine that I was told is biblical but is actually more political than spiritual. This helps you address the shame issue.
You need to throw away I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Lady in Waiting and all those ridiculous books you read and reread in the hopes of somehow obtaining impossible marriage perfection and look into actual scripture interpreted within its historical context. I could write a book on this, but the TL;DR is that the text of the Bible was written, translated, curated, and changed multiple times over thousands of years by human beings with human biases and, often, personal and/or political agendas. It contradicts itself! Reading it as it is—a flawed historical document—rather than some sort of God-breathed perfect document—is incredibly freeing. When you do, you’ll probably realize that purity culture is bullshit on a spiritual level. Which is a good start, if that matters to you. Because any time you start to feel shame or guilt you can ask yourself: does God actually care if I wear a bikini or touch a dick I’m not married to? Probably not. Wear the bikini. Touch the dick.
The most important therapy session for me was when my therapist asked what I would do if I got to heaven and God was actually the God I’d been raised to fear. What would I do if he condemned me for being bisexual and having premarital sex and becoming educated, for arguing with men, and failing to isolate while menstruating, and wearing mixed fabrics? If Montero had come out at the point, I probably would have said I’d pole dance down to hell. Instead, I said I would spit on heaven’s gates. If a god that cruel and that pointlessly demeaning really exists—a god who would create in me condemned desire—I won't worship him. The good news is, I’m 99% sure he doesn’t exist. At the very least, he isn’t supported by scripture.
Okay. The final thing you need to do is figure out what you actually want, sexually speaking. This bit is probably the hardest. I’m still in the early stages of this myself. You say: “I dont even think I particularly like sex, i might be on the ace spectrum, but how do I remove it from all the anxiety that's tied to it so I can even give myself the chance to find out???” Bro, I wish I had an easy answer for you. For me, whenever I’m feeling anxious about Sex Things, I tell myself: 1. My God does not equate my worth to my sexual habits. 2. My partner does not equate my worth to my sexual habits. 3. I do not equate my worth to my sexual habits. It seems silly, but reminding myself of those three things is massively helpful. If, after I’ve sorted through those, I’m still anxious or uncomfortable, I stop doing the thing. I evaluate. Am I overwhelmed and I need to try again some other time? Do I just not like the thing? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. Sometimes you change your mind. Sometimes you just don’t know. That’s why having a partner who you trust and who’s willing to patiently explore your interests (and respect your disinterests) is so important. Half the battle, for me, was having a partner who told me they’d be ok with no sex at all. Because that took the pressure off me. If the bare minimum they need is nothing, then anything more than that is a bonus! Hooray! This is maybe TMI, but let me tell you. I thought I was asexual* right up until I was able to have moderately non-anxious sex. Never in my life did I think I would initiate a sexual situation but… I do now. It’s a fun thing to do with a person I love and, holy shit. I am furious that I nearly missed out on it.
Finally, re birth control: I don’t know how you can approach that fear in a way that works for you. If you don’t want to ever have penetrative sex, that’s fine! If that’s a point of anxiety you can’t get rid of, then don't push yourself to do it. If you find out you like other sex things, do the other sex things! If you don't like doing any sex things, don't do any sex things! Also, have you considered sleeping with people who can’t get you pregnant? Always an option if it’s an option you want to consider. ;)
Okay. I hope this was even a little bit helpful. Sorry if it’s a little convoluted, I typed it up in bursts during my work breaks.
*This is not at all to say that asexuality can be “fixed." Rather, it’s to say that things like purity culture can drastically confuse your sexuality in general. If you’re asexual, then this process is still important to discover what you like/dislike. Then you can be explicit about those necesities and find a partner who’s a good fit (if you want a partner at all, that is).
#purity culture#sex talk#christianity#sex and relationships#sex and religion#mylife#answered asks#aspec#cw sex
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NCT DREAM AS TYPES OF GROOMS ♡
before, during and after the wedding
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, NCT DREAM! ♡
- gender neutral
- on crack, what’d u expect from this account lmao XD
- the picture qualities are Jurassic negative HD 0.4K but they still look good because dem visuals infinity/10
DISCLAIMER: Considering that not everyone has the same religion and wedding traditions, just imagine that this is for y’all own culture & religion’s weddings. Also, these men will be down to marry you a thousand times in one lifetime so.... conducting a ceremony again is no problem (that equates to more honeymoons and we love honeymoons).
♡ MARK
The “I do this for my squad, I do this for my gang” Groom
⊰⊹ BEFORE: The type to inform family and friends a year before the actual wedding (he says it's an adult thing). You and Mark will have everything ready as early as possible so y'all can just chill as the date draws near. Will also be loud about it but not in an intentional way, he’s just neomu excited.
⊰⊹ DURING: Dude will throw finger guns to the guests *ehem* Johnny & Yuta *ehem* while he’s literally right next to the priest. He will also shed a few tears and laugh at himself for crying as he sees you walking down the aisle. Will never forget to thank God for blessing him with you ♡
⊰⊹ AFTER: Mark will dance with you in different genres (except there’s no twerking and grinding because you gotta leave space for Jesus). After the big reception, there will be a smaller reception at home with just you, him and yall parents before the actual honeymoon. He will do everything you like once you two are alone tho ;)
♡ RENJUN
The “You’ll remember this as the wedding of the century” Groom
⊰⊹ BEFORE: Renjun's the type to write the most touching and heartfelt vow that will make you both cry and then add some savage twist at the end which will make everyone laugh (flashback to Haechan's birthday vlive). He will also make sure that everything--from the theme to the background music--is aesthetic af.
⊰⊹ DURING: Mans will 100% cry as he pictures you and him spending your entire lives together once he sees you walk down that aisle. Also, he is genuinely crying happy tears but will wipe them dramatically while he’s being filmed by your wedding videographer for ✧ remembrance and effect ✧
⊰⊹ AFTER: “Renjun, why is the temptation of wife OST playing in the background?”
He will sing close to your ear and give you a peck on the lips once in a while while everyone's busy partying. You two will greet the guests for a short while and then escape in a private plane to an island getaway for your honeymoon… it will take off in front of everyone because... ✧ art ✧ Also, get ready for the most romantic love making in Maldives ;)
♡ JENO
The “You thought it’d be no jam but it was actually the best wedding” Groom
⊰⊹ BEFORE: Lets you take charge of planning, but when he suggests his ideas it’s so top notch that you’ll be all “why aren’t you saying more?” and it’s because he believes that the wedding is not as important as the person he is marrying (opposite to Jaemin: Jeno thinks you’ll be happier if he just lets you do whatever you want--as an act of letting you have freedom in your creativity). He’ll be super helpful if you need it tho so no worries.
⊰⊹ DURING: Will accidentally open your veil before the person in charge says “you may now kiss the bride/groom.” He doesn’t care about the cameras, all he sees is you, you and you. Jeno won't cry in the actual event but he will be teary eyed af for sure (he's saving the tears for when you guys are alone).
⊰⊹ AFTER: He will take all his chances to carry you and hold you in his arms all night long. Jeno’s signature eye smile will be plastered on his face all night. That innocent face also prepared a bed of roses and other surprises in your room ready for the honeymoon ;)
♡ HAECHAN
The “We’re not going home until someone blacks out” Groom
⊰⊹ BEFORE: Haechan will pull a prank on you before the wedding so that you’ll coming running to him and he’ll see you (he can’t take the “you can’t see each other the night before the wedding” tradition because he misses you already). He will even make the vow writing a group activity lmao: “Whatchu writing?” “Haechan, stop looking! This is supposed to be a surprise.”
⊰⊹ DURING: He will tell everyone “I’m not gonna cry, that’s sus” but will definitely cry while laughing and get laughed at by family and friends lightheartedly. Haechan will say the funniest vows out of everyone but will also make you emotional because he can switch from being humorous to serious in 0.00001 second.
⊰⊹ AFTER: Reception is real party vibes; it’s not over until it’s game over. He might get bored eventually so you too will sneak out laughing in your wedding attires and just chill around the hotel’s swimming pools. He might also push you into a pool so he can save you and bathe you afterwards ;)
♡ JAEMIN
The “I’ve been dreaming of this my whole life” Groom
⊰⊹ BEFORE: He’ll make the wedding planner question their entire existence (opposite to Jeno: Jaemin thinks you’ll be happier if he plans the wedding for you--as an act of service). He’ll be super open to your suggestions though and will immediately change up anything you don’t agree with so no worries.
⊰⊹ DURING: Jaemin will also give one of the funniest vows but it's because he's unintentionally funny in his speech delivery. He will say the sweetest and uplifting words, refraining from being too emotional because he doesn't want to see you cry... but you still do. Dude might do mild aegyo in front of everyone just to see you smile again (you know the finger on pouty lips one that he does with Renjun? Yep, that one).
⊰⊹ AFTER: He will drag you somewhere when everyone’s busy partying just so he can give you a kissth. He’s down to party with your family and friends but only if you’re always by his side. And he definitely won't care if the party's over or not--once he sees that you’re tired or want to be alone with him, he'll announce to everyone that you guys are gonna bounce… and bounce you shall ;)
♡ CHENLE
The “We can afford a Kardashian wedding but I’d rather keep it simple” Groom
⊰⊹ BEFORE: Boi WILL 100% invite his bestie Stephen Curry. There will be three weddings: one for the grand wedding (at an arena for all of Shanghai to see--he doesn’t like this one but gotta keep those investors in check, you know?). Another for a small circle wedding (just family and friends). The last will be the “just the two of us casually exchanging chips and diamond rings while playing pubg” wedding
⊰⊹ DURING: Daddy Chenle will never forget to mention his son Mark in his vows and speeches. His whole clan will shower you with gifts and affection so much that he doesn’t know if he should be happy or annoyed because they’re not giving you two enough time to spend YOUR wedding together. He’s staying put though because hakuna matata #the scorpio side jumped out
⊰⊹ AFTER: No one else is allowed to touch you except for him. He will carry you bridal style away from the building and to his car so he can have you all to himself. He’ll definitely cry happy tears when it's just the two of you.
♡ JISUNG
The “We really should’ve married in secret instead” Groom
⊰⊹ BEFORE: Will let you take control of the event but will pitch in his creative ideas here and there. Jisung insists that you have a small wedding but the number of NCT members is far from small lol. There's also a high chance of a beach wedding because he loves the open area (gives him more space to breathe plus he’ll see Haechan and Renjun trying to drown each other in the distance and that’s free entertainment).
⊰⊹ DURING: Dude will 100% get clowned by the NCT members while saying his vows (honorable mention: dreamies). He might rap some of his words out of nervousness (which everyone finds cute because it is). He will be all shy and awkward at first and then surprise everyone by his sudden bold moves (e.g. dip you as he kisses you, say the sweetest things). He will also cry happy tears as he sees you walk down that aisle.
⊰⊹ AFTER: He's truly grateful for all the support and love of everyone who attended but as an introvert and an Aquarius Plus Pro Max, he’ll be wishing on the inside that everyone just goes home already so you two can have fun alone. Mans will still get clowned by the members even during the reception but he doesn’t mind because he’s clowning them back now. His hand will be glued to your waist all night and he will sneak in a few kisses here and there.
♡ OT7:
- Everyone will get clowned by the other members regardless of the event so a wedding isn’t an exception. So either you protect your husband or join in on the light teasing... or both.
- You may also get clowned. It’s NCT we’re talking about.
- This is a work of fiction. Except the clownery & RenHyuck drowning each other in Jisung’s wedding. That’s true to life.
Happy Anniversary to our Dreamies >u< we love you guys sm!
#happy anniversary nct dream#nct imagines#nct dream imagines#nct dream headcanons#nct headcanons#nct fluff#nct crack#mark lee imagines#renjun imagines#jeno imagines#haechan imagines#jaemin imagines#chenle imagines#nct jisung imagines
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Hi! This is a weird ask, but would you be willing to post resources/arguments about Christianity being true? Like, were there specific ones that convinced you to convert? I was raised Catholic but didn't really believe it growing up, but would like to have the same feelings about faith and peace that you posted about. I'm in a bit of a bad place right now and would like to go back and deepen my faith but it's hard.
This isn’t a weird ask, don’t worry! I’d love to provide you with some resources :) I’ll try to include both visual and auditory mediums as I don’t know what your learning style is.
I don’t mean to overwhelm you with information, please forgive me if this is too much 😗
I’m going to split this up into different categories of content here, based loosely around my conversion journey—i.e. what I had questions and doubts about. Please remember that faith is a very personal journey and you may have different concerns altogether, but hopefully this will give you a starting point to jump off of.
First: Arguments for the existence of God
Breaking in the Habit - What is God?
The Thomistic Institute on the Five Ways
Pints with Aquinas - Explaining Thomas Aquinas’ Proofs
Pints with Aquinas - The Best Argument for the Existence of God W/ Trent Horn
Lumen - Arguments for the Existence of God (overview)
Subcategory: Near death experiences
This is clearly anecdotal evidence and therefore not as strong, but I found reading about near death experiences to be extremely interesting. I liked browsing the NDE subreddit :) The common experience of SOMETHING among those who nearly die is at least indicative of there being more beyond the material realm, and by extension, a God.
Second: Arguments for monotheism
This isn’t a common apologetics issue unless you’re a convert from a polytheistic religion (which I was), so there’s less content on this.
Pints with Aquinas — Aquinas on Why There Can’t Be Many Gods
Jordan Peterson on Monotheism
Third: How reliable are the Gospels? Did Jesus even exist?
Biblical Archeology Society - Did Jesus Exist? Searching for Evidence Beyond the Bible
Pints with Aquinas - Is the New Testament Really Historically Accurate? W/ Trent Horn
The Great Myths - History for Atheists
This is a SECULAR website created by an atheist seeking to correct the flaws in his fellow atheists’ arguments. Much to his chagrin, I found the website and now I’m a Christian. Here is their Jesus Mythicism series.
Influence - The Reliability of the Gospels
NAMB - The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
History - The Bible Says Jesus Was Real. What Other Proof Exists?
The Science of Apologetics on the historical accuracy of the Bible
Answers in Genesis - How Do We Know the Bible is True?
Fourth: Was Jesus the prophesied Messiah?
Jews for Jesus - What Proof Do You Have That Jesus is the Messiah?
The Top 40 Messianic Prophecies
Two Messiahs in Judaism: Ben David and Ben Joseph
Be Thinking - Messiah: Jesus, the evidence of history
Fifth: The Resurrection (and the events thereafter)
The Resurrection, Evidence, and the Scientist
William Lane Craig Debates Ben Shapiro about Jesus
Did the Resurrection Really Happen? | William Lane Craig
Capturing Christianity’s interview with Dr. Gary Habermas
Short highlight from that video
the Science of Apologetics on Evidence for the Resurrection
Links from the bottom of that post: One, two, three, four, five
Sixth: Did Jesus claim to be God? Theology of the Incarnation and the Holy Trinity
The Thomistic Institute on the Trinity:
The Triune God (Aquinas 101)
The Persons of the Trinity (Aquinas 101)
Breaking in the Habit - Did Jesus Claim to be God?
Trinity explained by CS Lewis:
Christian "Trinity" Explained in 3 Minutes
The Three-Personal God by C.S. Lewis
Christianity.com - Did Jesus Claim to be God?
Ryan Reeves - The Incarnation and Jesus Christ (In 90 Seconds)
The Thomistic Institute on the Incarnation:
The Meaning of the Incarnation (Aquinas 101)
Motives of the Incarnation (Aquinas 101)
Bishop Robert Barron - Understanding the Incarnation
Seventh: Miracles and saints just because I personally think they’re really fun!
Lessons from Lourdes: Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette
Pints with Aquinas - Scientific EVIDENCE for Eucharistic Miracles? w/ Fr. Terry Donahue
Actual information on incorruptible saints
Our Lady of Fatima and the Miracle of the Sun
The Shroud of Turin:
The Catholic Talk Show
Mr. Mythos
Lecture on the Shroud
Our Lady of Guadalupe
The miracles of St. Padre Pio
PDFS AND STUFF— Writings of saints, theologians, and apologists.
The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
The (searchable!) Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas
Rome Sweet Home by Scott Hahn
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis
Early Christian writings from the Church Fathers
Saints’ Books - A collection of free writings from Catholic saints
St. Augustine of Hippo:
On the Trinity
Confessions
Miscellaneous favorites:
The Thomistic Institute
Ascension Presents
Fr. Mike Bible in a Year Podcast
The Catholic Talk Show
Pints with Aquinas
Pints with Aquinas - Apologetics Extravaganza with Trent Horn
Capturing Christianity
Free Christian Apologetics Resources - Capturing Christianity
Bible Illustrated
BibleProject
Lectures on early & medieval church history by Ryan Reeves
Breaking in the Habit / Catholicism in Focus
Upon Friar Review
Trisagion Films
Servus Dei discord server
Apps:
Hallow
Catena: Bible and Commentaries
The Chosen (This is a tv show! It has its own app. It’s really good and accurate to the Gospels.)
My personal tips section :)
While it’s very important to have a logical foundation for religion, PLEASE don’t underestimate the power of simply sitting with God in prayer. That’s the most important thing. I love praying the rosary, practicing lectio divina, praying novenas, reading the psalms, etc.
Prayer shouldn’t always be scripted either. The pre-written prayers are helpful for when you aren’t really sure what to say or where to start, but you should speak to God from your heart as much as possible. Sometimes prayer doesn’t even have to be verbal! Sometimes it’s just a state of being.
Music also goes hand in hand with this. Hymns can really help you get into that religious spiritual headspace when you feel disconnected from God. Here’s a channel that posts some good ones.
Read the Bible. When in doubt, just read it or listen to someone else read it. It’s truly the inspired Word of God. For a while it was really hard for me to connect with Jesus for some reason, but reading the Gospels has been instrumental in building a stronger relationship with Him. It’s kind of a given but you might have the same blockages as I did.
A good way to learn more about Christianity, the Church, and her saints is to keep track of the Church calendar. For instance, find out what important feast days/holidays are coming up, then research and learn about them around the time that they occur.
Okay that’s pretty much it! Feel free to DM me about anything (I love theological discussion). I hope things get better for you--trust that I’ll be praying for you. Have a lovely day!
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Hey, did you get a chance to watch season 6 of Lucifer? What did you think of the finale?
This is going to be salty (sorry) so I put it under a cut for people who prefer joyous things in the feed.
I didn’t like the final season.
To be brief:
It felt like a story where the writers knew how they wanted it to end, and therefore the plot ruled over the characters. It wasn't a main plot I enjoyed at all, and it was told in a way that made it difficult for me to appreciate even the small bits I liked. (Ella reveal. Ghost Dan.) I thought it suffered from a jarring tonal shift and when it comes to several overarching themes, I felt it negated/trivialized previous seasons. In many ways it also managed to be both cheesy and cruel, often at the same time. I had the impression it was a compilation of (unfortunately rather boring) fandom wishes and tropes more than authentic storytelling.
To be anything but brief:
I dislike the season in part because it undid a lot of great things about Lucifer as a character.
By the end of 5B Lucifer had come full circle. I think that season finale is great. The Lucifer vs Michael fight was so well done thematically - he fought himself, and unlike the first fight in 5A when he wants to hurt his twin he had now reached a state of personal growth, of compassion. Not even when Michael kills Chloe does he deserve death because everyone deserves a second chance. And then the funny and pitch perfect “Oh, my me”. Ambiguous enough about the details to fuel the fandom, clear enough about the themes and the lore to offer closure. (No, Deckerstar didn’t have a date or much of a snog but I can fill in the blanks there though I am aware that many fans were disappointed by the lack of on-screen love.)
Excellent way to end the show.
Except they didn’t.
S6, I feel, tried to tell the same story all over again, only not as well or even coherent.
Over the seasons it’s been pretty clear that while Lucifer can be caring, he mostly cares about the handful of people in his life. S6 even touches upon this, has him trying to care for random people in their hell loops. But S5 already did this, but better, with Michael. The family dinner with God was excellent, it showed broken people all around and had Lucifer, the self-centered drama queen of the family realizing that he’s not the only one that’s been hurt. It showed the best and worst of them all. Sparing Michael, considering Michael worthy of redemption, was peak growth for Lucifer as a character because in that moment he also considers himself worthy of the same thing. That’s when he truly forgives himself. I thought.
And then season 6 shows Michael as a prisoner in Hell, just once, never to be mentioned again. Is that a second chance? Is that redemption? Is that really the symbolism they were going for or just a spiteful and stupid little addition because LOL SOME PEOPLE DESERVE HELL. (Do they? Says who? The show doesn’t answer that because the show that focuses on the neutral character the Devil and the totally untarnished place Hell doesn’t much care about such divisive matters, but more about that soon.)
I dislike the season, in parts because I wasn't satisfied with the moral/quasi-theological backdrop.
The system is wrong, Lucifer concluded by the end of 5B.
Season 6 has him return to the system, as an Afterlife Coach of the Damned. Is that really the best they could do?
I mourn all the cool possibilities of what Lucifer, the advocate for free will and defender of desire, could have done with hell as a concept. Blown it apart, closed it, tossed the keys to someone else and rode off in the sunset. At the very least he could have altered it so that it’s no longer solitary confinement but a collective of doomed souls trying together to achieve redemption but hey, never mind me, I’m a bleeding-heart socialist and I don’t believe in revenge and I don’t believe in God but if I did, God would forgive. Otherwise, what the hell is the point?
I parsed through the season with my husband, a real-life minister who doesn't think anyone deserves hell and who gets to suffer my long-ass questions about the theological themes of popular culture a little bit too often. Because we both felt slightly insulted after watching. "Is this bullshit what they offer me?" my husband asked me as the timey wimey time travel plot unfolded. But timey wimey bullshit aside, we concluded that the real reason we were both so annoyed and frustrated with the season is because it highlighted how flat the background lore really is. I mean, I guess they wanted to be yay, neutral and non-divisive themes galore! It’s good to be good, folks! If you’re not, well, I guess you might have your spine broken by the Devil or sent to a never-ending hell loop but let’s not talk about religion!
The main issue, for me, with the whole system of heaven and hell and earth on the show is that for every equation, there’s a part missing.
The show has borrowed the character from the comics verse but left the entire lore and its internal logic behind. It borrows a bit of moral philosophy, but cuts away the troublesome bits otherwise Lucifer can’t both be on a redemptive path and happily slaughter people in fits of vengeance; it uses Heaven and Hell and vaguely also the concept of sin but never answers any questions about it, apart from the central message of course: it’s up to you. In fact, the show discourages questions about the lore because it has no answers. It doesn’t care. The ending of the show brushes off the much needed systematic changes of heaven and hell like it’s just another joke. (Want to know a show that has compassionate writing about morality while managing to be very funny? The Good Place. And you know what, morality should be serious. I’m a softie and again, a bleeding-heart, but it’s important to be a good person and it’s important to get a chance for redemption. It matters. It’s not just a minor detail.)
Which brings me to the damn therapy theme. I know a lot of people like it and I have also liked it a lot in previous seasons. I have. It’s been quirky. (Also highly unprofessional, but hey.) But as the key to your afterlife/redemption/second chance it’s just not good enough.
It is so very, very individualistic that it makes my skin crawl. It’s the ultimate American solution to systemic injustices and suffering - hey, it’s up to you, man. You decide if you deserve hell. You decide if you deserve Heaven. You make the difference! You can do it! Live the afterlife dream, achieve all your goals, get a hell loop that no longer loops but… stays in one static place where at least you’re moderately happy.
Navel-gazing into your soul is certainly one way to get some insights into your mistakes. But it’s not redemption. Redemption is an active choice to be a better person. You don’t have to earn redemption or deserve it. And redemption isn’t the same as forgiveness either. Redemption is the opposite to pointless, everlasting punishment. It’s hopeful and it’s ugly and it’s full of purpose and the chance to be better and add something good to the world.
Even Lucifer doesn’t get to do that on the show. He deals only with the already doomed. The here and now on Earth fades into the distance as Deckerstar, too, gets their happily ever after in Hell.
You’ll get pie in the sky when you die. Or you get to shag on a throne in Hell.
Either way, life on Earth doesn’t matter. (Here the show lean into some really dodgy Christian themes, I’d argue, but hey, it’s not about religion! It’s just a fun romp about a reformed bad boy!)
“Hell is just revenge porn for fundamentalists and other people who believe in eye for an eye. I just want there to be a level of collective forgiveness and hope, you know?” I told my husband whilst chugging down beer. As you do when you watch crap that makes no sense. “A level of hey, I’ve got this, I forgive you, you can do better. Go and do better. And then the actual opportunity to do so, even if it's just reliving your life as a ghost again and again until you figure out what went wrong.”
“Honey,” my husband said. “I hate to tell you this since you’re an atheist but that level you’re talking about? That’s Jesus.”
Well, screw that.
I really don’t want to need Jesus to make sense of a story. I just want decent bloody storytelling.
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What does it mean to be pagan? (Paganism 101 Ch. 1)
That’s right, y’all! With Baby Witch Bootcamp officially wrapped, it’s time to jump into our next long term series! I put out a poll on Patreon, and my patrons voted for Paganism 101 as our next series. While not all witches are pagan and not all pagans are witches, there is a lot of overlap between the two groups. Both witchcraft and paganism offer practitioners a sense of freedom, a deeper connection to the world around them, and a greater awareness of their personal power.
I identify both as a witch and as a pagan, and I get a lot of questions about paganism. In this series, we’ll go through the basics: what it means to be pagan, the difference between a neopagan and a reconstructionist, and the role of magic in different pagan traditions. We’ll also talk about some of the most popular modern pagan traditions and how to find the right tradition for you.
Let’s start off by answering the question, “What does pagan actually mean?”
Defining “Pagan”
It’s important to remember that “pagan” is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide range of different faiths. Someone who practices Wicca, for example, will have very different beliefs from someone who practices Hellenismos. These different faiths are linked by a shared history, rather than by shared beliefs or practices.
The word “pagan” comes from the Latin “paganus,” which literally means “area outside of a city” or, to phrase it slightly differently, “countryside.” This adjective was used to describe people and things that were rustic or rural and, over time, came to also have the connotation of being uneducated. Originally, the word had no religious association, and was even used to refer to non-combatants by the Roman military.
From this definition, we can gain some insight into what makes a religion or practice pagan. Pagans feel a kinship with the wild or rural places of the world, and are comfortable waking “off the beaten path.”
But how did “paganus” come to refer to a type of religion, anyway?
To understand the religious meaning of “paganus,” it’s necessary to understand a little bit about the religion of Ancient Rome. Rome (the city) was built inside a pomerium, a sacred boundary that formed a spiritual border around the city and its people. Paganus folks were those who lived outside the pomerium and, as such, may not have been strict adherents of the state religion — they certainly wouldn’t have been able to travel into the city for every major festival. They may have gotten a bit more creative with their worship of the gods. However, as previously stated, the word paganus did not have an explicitly religious meaning in ancient times.
The use of paganus as a religious label began after the legalization of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 313 C.E. Christianity would not be adopted as the official state religion until 380 C.E., but Constantine’s conversion and decriminalization of Christian worship paved the way for Rome’s transformation into a Christian state. It was around this time, as Christianity was quickly growing in urban areas, that early Roman Christians began using the word “paganus” to refer to those who still practiced polytheism. Rather than referring to those outside the city’s boundary or to untrained civilians, the label now referred to those outside the Church, those who were not “soldiers of Christ.”
As Christianity spread in popularity throughout the Mediterranean, Europe, and Northern Africa, the pagan label was applied to all non-Christians in those areas. The word “pagan” became a derogatory label, implying an inferior and backwards religion.
So, really, the thing that makes a religion pagan is a historical conflict with Christianity. Pagan religions are those that were suppressed or completely destroyed after Christianity became the dominant faith in the region.
This is why Norse Paganism and Kemetic (Egyptian) polytheism, which are very different, are both considered “pagan” while Shinto, a Japanese religion that shares a lot of common features with many pagan faiths, is not. Because Christianity never achieved total dominance in Japan, Shinto was never pushed aside to make room for Jesus.
In the 20th century, people who felt drawn to these old religions started to reclaim the pagan label. Like many other reclaimed slurs, “pagan” became a positive label for a community united by their shared history.
What do all pagans have in common?
This is a tough question to answer because, as stated above, paganism is a historical definition, not one shaped by belief or practice. However, there are some things most pagans have in common. Here are a few of them, although these concepts may take different forms in different traditions.
Paganism…
… is (usually) polytheistic. Most pagans do not subscribe to monotheism, the belief in a single, all-powerful divine being. Some pagans are polytheists, meaning they believe in multiple divine beings with varying levels of power. Hellenic pagans, Norse pagans, and Celtic pagans are typically polytheists. Still others are monists, meaning they believe in a single divine source that manifests itself as multiple gods. Wiccans and other neopagans are typically monists. Many pagans fall somewhere in-between strict polytheism and strict monism. We’ll talk more about polytheism in a future post, but for now just know that the idea of a single, supreme creator is not compatible with most forms of paganism.
… is based in reciprocity. This is a concept that may seem odd to those who grew up around Abrahamic religions: the idea of engaging the gods in a mutually beneficial partnership, rather than one-sided worship. When we connect with the gods, we receive spiritual, emotional, and physical blessings. The gods also benefit, as they are strengthened by our prayers and offerings. (I like to think they also enjoy the company. It has to be lonely, having your body of worshipers supplanted by an anarchist carpenter from Palestine.) The concept of reciprocity is why most pagans make physical offerings to their gods.
Reciprocity also extends to our relationships with other people. Most pagan religions have a code of ethics that includes values like hospitality, kindness, and/or fairness with others. Depending on the pagan, reciprocity may even extend to the dead! Many (but not all) pagans practice ancestor worship, the act of honoring and venerating the beloved dead.
Reciprocity may even extend to the world at large. Some (but not all) pagans are animists, which means they believe that every animal, plant, and stone contains its own spirit. Animist pagans strive to live in harmony with the spirits of the world around them, and may make offerings to these spirits as a sign of friendship.
… embraces the Divine Feminine. Paganism acknowledges and venerates both masculine and feminine expressions of divinity. Polytheist pagans worship both gods and goddesses, while monist pagans see the divine Source as encompassing all genders. In either case, the end result is the same: pagans acknowledge that, sometimes, God is a woman. (Cue the Ariana Grande song.)
Paganism also acknowledges gender expressions outside the masculine/feminine binary. Many pagan deities, like Loki (in Norse paganism), Atum (in Kemetic paganism), and Aphroditus (a masculine aspect of the Greek Aphordite) exist somewhere in the grey area between man and woman.
… is compatible with a mystic mindset. Remember how I said there’s a lot of overlap between witchcraft and paganism? Part of the reason for that is because paganism is highly compatible with magic and other mystical practices. Most pagans believe that humans have, or can attain, some level of divine power. It makes sense that this power would manifest as magic, or as other spiritual abilities. Many of the ancient cultures modern paganism draws inspiration from practiced magic in some form, so it follows that modern pagans would as well.
… draws inspiration from the ancient stories. As we discussed, “pagan” originally referred to the religious groups that were pushed out by Christian hegemony. As a result, every modern pagan is a little bit of a historian. Because paganism was pushed underground, it takes a little digging to find myths, rituals, and prayers that can be used or adapted for modern practice.
Many pagans worship historic deities that you’ve probably read about at some point. Visit any pagan pride event, and you’ll probably find worshipers of Zeus, Venus, Thor, and Isis, just to name a few. Studying and interpreting ancient mythology and archaeological evidence is a big part of modern paganism.
… is a religion with homework. If you’ve read this far, you may be beginning to realize that being pagan is a lot of work. It’s fun, spiritually fulfilling, and very rewarding work, but work all the same. Because very few modern pagans have access to temples, priests and priestesses, or an in-person community that shares their beliefs, they end up having to teach themselves, do their own research, and guide their own practice.
This is incredibly empowering, as it means you are your own religious authority. It does, however, mean that you will occasionally have to open a book or slog through a dense academic article about the most recent archaeological find related to your favorite deity. Thankfully, there’s a growing number of accessible, beginner-friendly books, blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels to help you in your research.
… embodies a deep respect for the natural world. While not all pagans are animists, most pagans do feel some sort of reverence for the forces of nature. Many pagan deities are associated with natural forces or use the natural world to communicate with their followers. Because of this, not only do pagans respect and love nature, but they’re constantly watching it for signs and messages. (Are you really friends with a pagan if they haven’t called you crying because they found a crow feather on the ground or saw a woodpecker in their backyard?)
Some pagan groups, especially neopagan religions like Wicca, have been classified as Earth-centered religions. Personally, I dislike this term. While it is true that many pagans feel a deep spiritual connection to the Earth and may even venerate local nature spirits, to say that these religions are “Earth-centered” feels like an oversimplification. Wiccans, for example, don’t actually worship nature — they worship the God and Goddess, who they see reflected in the natural world.
… is driven by individual spiritual practice. As mentioned above, very few pagans have access to an in-person community. Because of this, modern paganism largely consists of individual practices. Even pagans who do belong to a community still typically worship on their own sometimes. These personal practices may involve prayer, offerings to the gods, meditation, divination, astral travel, performing religious rituals, or countless other practices. Many pagans have personal altars in their homes, where they worship alone or with their family.
… is a celebration of daily life. One thing I love about paganism is how it makes every aspect of my life feel sacred. Many religions emphasize the spiritual aspects of life while deemphasizing, or even demonizing, the physical or mundane aspects. This can lead to practitioners feeling like they are spiritual beings trapped in a physical body, or like their physical needs and desires are something to escape.
Paganism allows practitioners to fully enjoy being physical and spiritual beings. Pagans reach for the heights of spiritual awareness, while also enjoying earthly delights — recognizing that neither is inherently more worthy than the other and that both are needed for a balanced life.
… is only one of many paths to Truth. Most pagan groups do not claim to be the only valid religious path, and in fact several openly acknowledge the validity of other religions. This is why you rarely see pagans trying to convert other people to paganism — it’s openly acknowledged that paganism isn’t for everyone, and that those who are truly meant to practice the old ways will find them.
~~~
Hopefully, this post has given us a good working definition of “paganism.” From here, we’ll explore some of these individual concepts in more depth and discuss specific religions within the pagan umbrella. Until then, blessed be.
Resources:
Wicca for Beginners by Thea Sabin
Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham
A Witches’ Bible by Janet and Stewart Farrar
The Way of Fire and Ice by Ryan Smith
Where the Hawthorn Grows by Morgan Daimler
Temple of the Cosmos by Jeremy Naydler
A Practical Guide to Irish Spirituality by Lora O’Brien
#paganism 101#pagan#paganism#pagan witch#neopagan#wicca#wiccan#feri#reclaiming#goddess worship#celtic paganism#irish paganism#hellenismos#hellenic polytheism#religio romana#heathenry#germanic paganism#norse paganism#kemetic polytheism#kemetic paganism#animism#ancestor worship#eclectic pagan#polytheism#divine feminine#goddess#mythology#theology#history#witch
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You want me to tell you what the point of life is, just to die. I think that’s an arbitrary question, and biased based on your view of the world. I also think you’re looking for an answer based on religion, a morally correct view that you can tell the people around you to feel like you aren’t just… here. It’s too bad I’m an atheist. It’s also too bad that I think death is a sort of construct. Death is in the eye of the beholder, if you will.
I’m going to tell you what life is, dreading death, dreading every death as you experience it. Every time you die and you can feel the gentle pump of your heart, however literal, stop beating.
I remember that time I scraped my knees when I was young enough to cry and old enough to pretend I wasn’t scared as my bike skidded and tipped on the curb. My best friend knelt next to me and laughed in that non menacing seven year old way and told me that scrapes and tears meant I was alive.
Last night I stared at the ceiling while tear tracks grew cold on my face, the pressure of nails digging into my palms, young enough to hug my stuffed bear to my chest and old enough to know that I am terrified. I told myself that scrapes and tears mean I’m alive.
There’s an age you die for the first time, it varies, depending on who you are. The cruel girl with sad eyes died when she was nine in that bed in that stranger's house, the boy with the bright smile died when he was fourteen, kneeling in front of that too small grave.
I died the first time when I was ten years old, sitting in my closet in more ways than one.
I think we all die more than once, I think we learn to live better in between.
We were sitting in the hallway and she tightened her grip on her backpack and told me that she doesn’t think it matters, because death is death, and whatever living we were, we leave it behind the next time our heart stops beating.
“You’re seeing it wrong,” I told her, and then my hands were what she was gripping. “we’re more than the dying.”
We held our breaths the next day as the names of those two kids were announced over the intercom, and she looked at me, and I knew by looking in her eyes that a part of us all died with them.
“Are we more than the dying?” She asked, and she sounded tired.
I didn’t see her again.
The pool was stuffy, chlorine and sweat filled the room more than air, and I laughed as the boy who used to be my friend made a joke at another's expense. My memory doesn’t serve me, because I know he used to be kind, and gentle, but I can’t remember how. He moved to California, and I think he must have died there, because when he came back he wasn’t the same.
What I do remember is how I used to joke that one day we’d be Olympians, and we’d go to college for free and give out autographs when we went to get sodas and gummy bears from the gas station. I told him that we’d hang our gold medals next to each other, and he told me that he’d hang his just a little higher than mine, then laughed because he didn’t mean it.
When he came back he told me that he’d get there, with no distractions. That he didn’t need friends or fun. But he still let me drag him bowling, and danced with me in our colorful shoes.
That’s how I know it wasn’t a final death, just one of them, because we danced, and he laughed, and he meant it, because in the end, we were kids, and we were more than the dying.
I used to think that there was something after death, some something that was better than here. It gave me a goal, something to look forward to, something to live for. Now I think that’s what religion is, really. That’s what you're looking for too, in this long winded and half speculated answer. Just a grasp in the dark, a something to hold onto to make the dying worth it. The final death, sure, but the ones that come before it, too.
It’s a little ironic, that when that belief shattered, I died again.
There was a priest in a different church than where I grew up, with a kind smile and humor in his eyes. He teased me when I spilled wine on my clothes and told me that if I didn’t believe in god, it was fine. Because that priest believed in me no matter what. I don’t think I knew what a good person was supposed to be until I met him.
He asked me, if I knew what life meant. I shrugged and told him, “It means living before you die.”
“Why does the dying part matter?” He replied, and I stood there as he left, a cup of half drunk Kool-Aid in one hand and my coat in the other.
We’re more than the dying.
I know his was a final death, because I never set foot in that church again.
Funny, I lost two lives to something I don’t even believe in (maybe the someone is the important part).
I haven’t finished dying, I don’t know if I ever will. I don’t think we stop, living and dying and living better until the final death. Which makes you wonder, how exactly we can be more than that, that cycle of dying and resurrecting that rivals even Jesus.
Well, for all the dying, what I remember most was the first friend I made who understood me. The day I realized my worth. The day I looked in the mirror and smiled so hard I cried because I didn’t hate what I saw. I remember her green eyes and freckles, I remember his blue square glasses and the heart I drew on my hand every time I missed my mom. I remember drawing that same heart on my friend's hand when she sat crying at recess because she felt alone. I remember telling her I loved her for the first time, and the freedom of driving to Vegas alone.
I remember when the sunset turned pink and I couldn’t get a picture, so instead I sat and watched it go down, a shiver running down my spine in the August evening chill. I remember drinking eggnog and listening to my dad read The Night Before Christmas. I remember the first time I saw my baby sister in the hospital. I remember waking my brothers up at two am to come watch the lightning.
So to answer your question, yes, our lives ultimately lead to an inescapable death. Whether it’s the real one, the one when the lights turn off and the switch disappears, or one of the many we die in our lifetime. But the point, the red pin in the middle of the cork board, where all the yarn comes to an end, is that life is just as inescapable as death.
It’s that dying and living don’t always match up, they’re not a clock, tick tocking to the end of existence itself. They’re more like rain, gray skies and the perfect setting for a funeral, but without fail, we look up, and let the droplets hit our face, and let our boots stomp happily in the puddles those droplets make.
We are more than the dying.
#idk why this formatted so weird ksjbw#me? posting my philosophy homework on tumbr?#you bet#i crave validation#sjbehg#no but this is mainly for yall#so many of you send me asks about how you dont wanna be here anymore :(#i know rn sucks ass but you gotta stay!#ily!#youre more than dying my friends#tw death mention#ace writes
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Cultural Christianity, Christian Appropriation, and Derailment
Periodically, I discuss the concept of cultural Christianity, the dangers of authors mucking with folklore that is not theirs, and what you have to guard against when you’re a part of a culturally Christian society.
And every time I do, like clockwork, Christians come in and say “but what about [non-Christian nation appropriating Christianity], hmmmmm????? That’s just as bad!”
So let’s talk about all of it.
Cultural Christianity
For starters: What is cultural Christianity?
Cultural Christianity is the fact the Western calendar is primarily built around two things: farming, and Christianity
Our dedicated time off that is mostly guaranteed to all workers are Christian holidays. Easter, Christmas, Good Friday. The time between Christmas and New Year is also prone to being off and this also in some dominions has Christian events.
And yes, I know that most of these holidays actually have pagan roots. Christianity co-opted them and thoroughly Christianized them, to the point their re-paganization only really started in the 1800s… by people who were also culturally Christian, and often wrote whole books on Christianity on top of their neo-pagan beliefs.
It’s how Christmas is considered a “neutral, secular” holiday, when it’s celebrating the birth of Christ. It’s how the concept of “other religions” exist, let alone the fact they have to ask for time off for their own holidays that count against their personal vacation time, when Christians often don’t have to do that. It’s how you see more churches than mosques or synagogues in the West by a very large factor.
There are very few places in the West that are not, on some level, culturally Christian. Some very insular communities might be able to escape a lot of the trappings of Christianity, but still. The government mandated days off are mostly Christian things.
Cultural Christianity means everyone who was raised in a culturally Christian society has a Christian lens. They are aware of Christianity, its holidays, its general story, its values.
This translates to them having to unlearn all of this and learn a whole new framework when they begin researching other folklore (Native religions, in my case, but this also applies to other religions such as Judaism and Islam) cause other folklore/religions do not have the same holidays, values, or even relationship to the deity in question.
Christian Appropriation
So in a non-Christian society, it is possible to appropriate Christianity. Because the same factors that have Christians appropriate everything else in the West are at play with a different dominant religion.
This mostly shows up in Japanese media. Japan has Shinto/Buddhism as a dominant religion, and you’ll often hear anime or manga artists say they simply picked Christian imagery because it looks cool.
And I agree this is disrespectful! It is really not fun to watch sacred imagery of your beliefs be used because “it looks cool” and I would love it if all appropriation of others’ beliefs ended.
But that often isn’t the focus of the posts getting these comments.
Derailment
This is twofold.
1- Very few places where Christianity isn’t the dominant religion exist.
Because Christian nations colonized most of the planet, there are a lot more culturally Christian places than you probably want to admit, if you’re the kind of person who pulls “but what about the appropriation.”. This includes a lot of Africa, a lot of Southeast Asia, a lot of Oceania, a lot of South America, basically all of North America, and basically all of Europe.
You might disagree with how they practice Christianity, but they are still Christian. This means they are culturally Christian. Just not your culturally Christian.
But, as I mentioned in the previous section, appropriation can happen.
It just doesn’t happen much in the English speaking world, and I am speaking to the English speaking world. Specifically, the Western English speaking world, which is very much culturally Christian.
The places where Christianity isn’t the dominant religion, however, is mostly composed of non-white people, specifically Arab, South Asian, and East Asian. So these “but what about where Christianity is appropriated” often end up sounding like “why aren’t you persecuting people of colour”, which sounds like trying to justify racism against people over there to me.
2- You are trying to say you are as much of a victim as us, when you are not
If you live in the West, you are culturally Christian unless you have grown up very deeply entrenched in a non-Christian community.
You have grown up with a wide, wide, wide variety of Christian stories, Christian based stories, Christian values/worldviews-as-default told to you your whole life. Some of it has been terrible, some of it you disagree with, but by and large, every story has some infusion of Christianity to it. Some of the most popular fictional texts are deeply religious things, like the Chronicles of Narnia.
You have not had your religion forbidden from being practiced, to you personally.
You have only seen true appropriation in very recent times, because of the influx of non-Western media being imported.
You have not had your sacred places constantly, consistently infringed upon and destroyed for reasons like “an observatory” or “a pipeline” or “a dam” or “a mine”.
You may have dealt with misunderstandings and miscommunications but you have rarely had somebody fundamentally misunderstand what Christianity is (Jesus as lord and saviour, died for our sins, we should try to live a more godly life and a good life to get into Heaven and get eternal happiness).
Native people have not had any of those luxuries, and it has mostly been culturally Christian people who have taken what is ours and turned it into what they wanted it to be.
We have Christian pagans (paganism was founded and codified in the Victorian era, so no, it’s not “ancient wisdom” but more Victorians—who were definitely culturally Christian—interpreting everything to prove Christianity as more universal than it was*) peddle dream catchers and calling themselves medicine people and burning sage to the point it’s endangered, all trying to claim they’re “following Native practices” when they’re not.
So when I’m speaking to somebody in the Western world, 95% of the time I will be speaking to somebody culturally Christian.
*When you start to track the “studied ancient mysteries” things, you either find types like the Theosophical Society that wildly appropriated Hinduism and Buddhism to fit their own ends and often put in messiah figures into them to show how there’s a Christ everywhere on the planet, or you start to dive into people who took Christianized recordings of folklore who may or may not have sipped some “older religions are better for noble savages reason” juice.
It’s very often racist and pulling from records written down by missionaries who had a vested interest in modifying the folklore in question, or from people who’d already been Christianized, so its validity is questionable.
Beginning to Unlearn
If you want to learn more about cultural Christianity and how to be more respectful of non-Christian belief systems, take a look at the this post and the folklore tag in general. Those are great starting places for you to do deeper research into whatever marginalized belief you’re looking to use.
I’d also suggest earnestly learning about other belief structures’ customs, challenging your assumptions of what is neutral and universal and the proper way of doing things. You might find a lot of surprising things that you weren’t expecting, even just looking at Abrahamic religions.
In the end
When I’m speaking to somebody who wants to use Native folklore, I’m going to assume they’re culturally Christian and educate them accordingly.
I am having a conversation to Christians about the appropriation of Native culture and how not to do that.
I am not going to suddenly change topics to make Christians comfortable by proving that I’m a champion for them, because frankly, they shouldn’t be dangling respecting Natives if only they interrupt themselves to prove they’re properly educated on Christian issues. Because that demand is once again centring Christianity above Native people.
I am talking about Native issues, not Christian issues.
I do not accept derailments that are thinly veiled racism or persecution complexes based off “what if”s that have not actually happened in the West. I acknowledge they happen elsewhere, and that’s tragic. I am not the person to talk about those details. I’d rather pass the mic to Christians in the area and let them speak. They are not Western Christians’ shields to use as they will. They have a voice, as well.
I am not going to coddle people who feel that Christian values are diminishing from society because we need room for more than just Christian values and Christianity does not have a monopoly on being a good person.
I am talking about Christians appropriating Native American beliefs.
And if that makes you uncomfortable, to hear Western Christians have protection, insert their own dogma into too much, and have unlearning to do—without being able to tack on a story about how no, really, you’re a victim in the West—then you have more unlearning to do. I’ve given places to start learning above.
We are talking about Native issues right now.
And I will not stop calling Christians out for their religious-based colonialism.
~ Lesya
#guides#native american#culture#cultural christianity#folklore#religion#Christian#Christianity#long post
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