Where Every Scroll is a New Adventure
Theology - Blog Posts
To people who know the 💫Bible💫, can you explain to my little atheist brain if, at any point, it is said that God is the nice one.
Because, from what I know of the book, God :
- acted as a f-ing terrorist in Egypt (killed the farm animals, the croos, the water of the Nile, created a plague and Then, killed all the firstborns, like... are they not all also God's creation at the same level than the hebrew ?)
- asked Abraham to sacrifice his son just to see if he would do it (bro WTF ?!)
- destroyed all life except what was on the arch during the big rain/inundation
- created Adam and Eve with reproductive organs and then ban them from their world just because they used them
- impregnate a young girl/woman (first wtf) to have with her a prophet son whose destiny is to be tortured and killed to expiate the sins of humanity (second wtf)
I'm sure there is a lot of other examples but that is all I can think now.
So... is there a moment like at the beginning where it is said that God is the good guy and y'all just accepted it or did you choose them over everything without a clear indication ? If so, why ?!
Like all they seem to do is horrible thing for selfish reason, so please explain how it is the epitome of a good creator ?
Turning conventional restrooms into coed bathrooms is not a sin against the Christian God. And, assuming that there will be men who just say they identify as women merely to get inside a woman's bathroom is ridiculous, and that devalues the experience of those who actually identify unconventionally.
Maybe instead of putting so much emphasis on only two genders, male and female, we instead reinterpret our core beliefs to embrace masculine and feminine energy, and souls, as opposed to male and female bodies.
Maybe it's time to address why traditional Christians are so overly obsessed with sex and gender and purity. As well as why traditional Christians are overly obsessed with sin, and do not give notice to the essence of connection and love that can bring humanity together for the greater good as a whole as opposed to an "us vs them" mentality of the "haves and have nots," the straight and the unconventional; the dualism that has oversaturated the minds of traditional Christians to the point that they can't even accept that there has always been more than two genders, Middlesex people and eunuchs, and other outcasts that have been in our societies as long as humans have been around.
Maybe we ask ourselves why we believe what we believe, why are we not open to expanding our beliefs outside of the traditional walls we've been raised in? Why is it so hard for us to understand that people are people, and it's been those who are judgmental that have excluded outcasts such as LGBTQ+ & gender non-conforming people. Is being a beloved child of God an exclusive opportunity reserved only for those who are perfect in Christ? Newsflash, no human is perfect, we all have cast stones at others to move the spotlight off of our own missed marks and insecurities. We project all over each other all the time.
If you're a traditional Christian, I challenge you to challenge your beliefs. Ask yourself why you believe what you do, without referencing something you've been told or heard someone else say. When that happens and you can legitimately defend your stances on traditional Christianity, I'd love to have a conversation about hot topics such as trans rights, LGBTQ+ rights, equity and equality of BIPOC and Native Americans, and all marginalized groups. I'd like to talk about socialism versus capitalism and the influence of religion on our politics. We need to be having conversations with people we do not agree with, and not only that, we all need to be open to learning something uncomfortable, challenging to our own beliefs, and have the ability to open our minds to other cultures and ways of life. Just a thought
A Wise Judge
Dr Theophilus Parsons (1797 - 1882)
A Massachusetts judge has decided that a husband may open his wife's letters, on the ground (so often and so tersely stated by Mr. Theophilus Parsons, of Cambridge) that “the husband and the wife are one, and the husband is that one!”
From “The American Joe Miller”, 1865.
Один судья в Массачусетсе, обосновывая своё заключение, что муж имеет полное право вскрывать корреспонденцию супруги, привёл лаконичное изречение доктора Теофилуса Парсонса из Кембриджа: «Муж и жена есть одно целое; при том муж — то самое „одно“ и есть!»
© Перевод
okay I apologize to any Christians, I hope this isn’t offensive but I can’t stop thinking about it 😭
so you know how Christianity is semi-canon in the downfall timeline? Yeah- how would that work???
Christianity exists on Earth because of a long and complicated collision of history and pagan stories and then the death and resurrection of Jesus, a Jewish middle eastern man who was trying to defend his people against Roman oppressors. i know reasonably that Nintendo might’ve not expected that the Zelda series would take off so much so they probably put in some Christian iconology bc the Catholic aesthetic is kind of popular in Japan. It shows up a lot in anime too.
but now there’s a canon religion the series follows with a couple of goddess 😭
my only reasoning is that the Hyrule Christians believe that God is all powerful and that maybe Hylia, Din, Farore, Nayru are either angels or saints? More Catholic I guess
and maybe the hero of Time would be a Jesus figure?? His birth COULD be immaculate, we don’t know his parents. maybe Christianity comes from Calatia? Hylia I think only focuses on Hyrule??
in the Linked Universe I don’t personally head canon Hyrule or Legend to be catholic BUT. I think it would be really funny if they were
Legend calling Hylia a false prophet 😭
Hyrule holding up his cross like: “I prayed to God and now I can see moas”
If Time is downfall Jesus I think they would both probably have a spiritual crisis depending on how devout they both are 😭
also Legend just REALLY gives me Catholic guilt vibes.
When I was a kid my grandmother would have me recite the “Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep” prayer which terrified me as a kid 😮💨 I feel like Hyrule would recite it every night and it would kind of just unsettle the chain.
PLEASE. Please tell me if anybody has thought the same or has thoughts on how it would work. This has been plaguing my mind
I’m sorry Christians
This is just all wrong.
Frist, in Biblical Hebrew the ending 'im' (ימ) is MASCULINE plural. Which could be its own discussion but the Scholarship is split so I won't go into that here.
Second, the word Elohim (אלהימ) is not "the name for the creative power in Genesis" it is a noun meaning 'god' or 'gods' and can refer to either the God of the Hebrews or false gods. It appears continuously in the Old Testament not just Genesis.
Thirdly, YHWH (יהןה) IS the name of God. And it doesn't appear much later it appears in Genesis 2 (and there are some suggestions as to why these chapters use different words for God but that's a different post).
'Al Shaddai' is actually 'el Shaddai' (אל שדד) the 'el' coming from 'elohim' and it means 'God Almighty'. While it does come later it is not a name for the God of the Bible.
The origin of the word Jehovah is very long but basically Jewish people would not say YHWH out loud and so would substitute the word 'adonai' (אדני) which means 'Lord' or 'Master' and can also refer to humans. Jehovah comes from the Latin of the Hebrew word that is produced when you take the vowels of 'adonai' and place them over the Hebrew letters YHWH. It is not a "mispronunciation" it is an evolution of a reading tradition.
(Edit: added tags.)
THE BOOKS OF JACOB by OLGA TOKARCZUK (REVIEW)
quickly: it’s a jewish cult in 1700’s poland (an astral traveling matriarch accidentally floating above all of existence / a man who prides himself on being no one and knowing nothing, a simpleton, yet attracts followers from all over / prophetesses who see prophecies fulfilled / sects that are cults that are sects that are cults / a security detail made entirely of women).
this book is as long as life, and just as monotonous, which is what makes it all the more enriching. it is truly a world and a time, encapsulated in 961 pages. it is a true story, with a thin glaze of magical realism drizzled on top. it reads like the bible (or should i say the Torah), slow, dry, and impactful. it is crowded, like a city street during lunch hour, but if you follow Yente and Jacob through the story, you’ll never get lost.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
more thoughts: SPOILERS!
Some personal context… this is the first Big Book I’ve read since reading Infinite Jest back in like 2015. I’ve read a handful of books randomly from 2016-2022, going years sometimes without reading a full book. I was gifted a set of Goosebumps books by a friend last Christmas and the nostalgia inspired me to get reading again.
I went from Goosebumps to Fear Street to some brilliant new fiction (Sacrificio by Ernesto Mestre-Reed, The Boatman’s Daughter and The Hollow Kind by Andy Davidson). THE BOOKS OF JACOB is the longest book I’ve read in years, and it was almost nothing I thought it would be. After the delicious but “short” novels I’d been reading lately, I was craving the truly immersive feeling of that could only be captured in a 900+ page book.
The synopsis excited me immediately: JEWISH CULT IN 1700s POLAND! BASED ON A TRUE STORY!
Now by no means do I have any serious education of Jewish culture. I’ve watched movies, read some books, but I am not versed. However, with the level and detail of writing that Tokarczuk achieves in this work (much of it based on fact), it made real some of the things that only existed in my mind as fragments of information.
The entire story is broken up into books, books are broken up into chapters, and chapters each have their own subsections. Most of these subsections are prose, some are letters, and others are ‘scraps’ or behind-the-scenes moments captured by Nahmen, Jacob’s most faithful follower.
THE BOOK OF FOG, is the opener. It sets the scene and introduces you to a network of characters that Jacob will soon be at the center of.
THE BOOK OF SAND, sees families start to form, and Yente turns into a goddess of the air as she astral travels through time and space. Jacob is introduced and we see his travels (culturally and geographically). His followers witness ‘the great spirit’ descending into him, causing his entire body to shed. This book is filled with miraculous stories and acts.
THE BOOK OF THE ROAD, sees Jacob leading his followers into a new land, and initiating some of his followers by secret rituals. Their practices make them enemies of local Jews and they are soon pursued by The State. Jews issue curses against them, and Jacob sends curses back.
THE BOOK OF THE COMET, sees a comet that appears, with many seeing it as an auger of end times. More rituals. The Shekinah, feminine goddess, is witnessed descending into a gold statue, plague erupts, and Jacob and his followers are held for questioning in regards to their religious practices, eventually banishing him to prison in a monastery. This is where Jacob starts to fray.
THE BOOK OF METAL AND SULFER (my personal favorite for some reason?), sees Jacob sent to prison, yet his followers still cling to him, setting up a village around him. They all wait for the Shekinah to appear from a painting in the church monastery where he is being held. Jacob is ill, a lot, getting older and losing his glow. He is not himself sometimes. Eventually, war breaks out, giving Jacob an opportunity to negotiate his freedom.
THE BOOK OF THE DISTANT COUNTRY, Jacob once again enters a new land, lord of a castle now, where he lives on the lower floors as an old ailing man. The toll of prison manifests in his body. His practices alarm some and enamor others. This book sees the death of Jacob.
THE BOOK OF NAMES, is almost a denouement, biblical style, rife with anecdotes of the deaths of Jacob’s closest followers, and some of their children. Yente, the goddess, closes the story from high above us, somewhere in the afterlife.
In all, I was moved by the beautiful lacing of Jewish lore and mythology throughout the story. I found Jacob to be repulsive, arrogant, wise, contradictory, and ridiculous. Not much different from today’s cult leaders. He eventually endures that long hard ego death that only the body can devise. Throughout the story we see women who guard the knowledge of paternity, all women guards, Yente who knows all, Hayah the Prophetess who sees all, the holy trinity’s fourth part—the great divine feminine, and so on. I found the magic of the feminine, the resistance to “tradition”, and the movement of a people, to be incredible to read about.
I understand and sympathize with those who say they couldn’t read past the first half and were confused and lost in the sea of characters, especially when the main characters decide to switch names mid-story.
A SECRET: There are really only two names to keep up with in the story. Yente, and Jacob. Yente is easy to remember… she is Jacob’s grandmother, and she is also the sky, the wind, the air, and the ether. She is everywhere at all times, at any time, like God. So it’s hard to lose her in the story. Then there’s Jacob. The star upon which all other stars orbit and constellate. If you watch them throughout the pages, all others move around him, forming the loose, lingering, and prescient story arc that only life can form. Everyone else can be identified by their actions.
I don’t doubt, sometimes, that I may not make it, among the chosen ones, the steadfast, the unwavering, the ones who stood firm against sin.
But still, I try. And my trying will only cease the day He has fated my end. Perhaps by then, I will have earned my passage to the joys and everlastings of His promise.
I still hope. I still see the possibility. I still long to be part of that eventuality, in the land where milk and honey flow.
Now, if you cannot prove to me that science solely exists on its own,
please let me believe my God in peace.
For all your knowledge, inventions, discoveries might as well be duplications of what God already created in the beginning.
Tell me something new— something beyond the CHATGPT that thinks like a man, replies like a man, and relies solely on the knowledge of man, a creation of God.
So let me have my God, while you perfect your machines.
Being a queer Christian is like being attacked from all perspectives. Like, yes, historically Christians are terrible, but I'm still queer. I'm still trans. I'm still me.
I understand that Christians are quite rude, but I'm not them. I'm faithful, or, I try to be. I'm very sorry that religion has hurt you, it is supposed to be safe, loving, caring, not harmful, and people have tarnished it, and yes, for that I'm sorry. But I'm still queer.
I constantly have to defend my faith, explain everything, and STILL get told I'm not a true Christian.
I constantly have to defend my own transness, my own gayness, and I'm still told I'm not truly trans, not truly gay. I am.
I have spent MONTHS begging for God to change me, even though it wasn't a mistake, nothing to change. I have questioned everything, been put in so much danger from BOTH sides.
People LOVE to DM me, come up to me, harass me, asking me private questions to "change me". Hell, it gets blamed on my own traumas.
I am gay. I am Christian. I'm also trans. I'm not going anywhere, so deal with it and stop attacking me for just existing.
What if God was an agender aromantic asexual aplatonic entity
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"Do not leave me, for without you, I do not exist"
~ Andal
Andal amman, the great tamil bhakti poetess is one of my inspirations for madhurya bhava after Meerabai, she's the one who gets it!
Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam married Andal, who then merged with his idol. This divine marriage is celebrated annually.
This so romantic 💕TvT