Neverthelesservescence - Neverthelesservescence - Tumblr Blog

ok so basically u'know how superhero movies suck now? And also star wars? and a lot of the older franchises that they reboot?

I think, more than anything, its because that type of movie was for a very different culture - the world has changed in the last 30 years and superheros, or even heros in general, aren't relevant.

Our culture is all about deconstructing, taking off the rose-tinted goggles and being cycnical, skeptical, and pessimistic about the past present and future. We adore being angry. We don't really believe in good guys.

Those movies were for a time when someone could be a 'good guy' fighting 'bad guys'. Those labels are far too simplistic now - are the good guys really good? It feels wrong to suggest it - any kind of 'hero' who is genuinly good seems suspicious.

our culture loves stories of evil heroes, think the Boys, Acolyte, GoT, Succession. Rather than a good vs bad side, it's all a murky grey. moral relativism will do that for you

Recent stories that try to do the whole 'good vs bad' trope do it poorly and are poorly received, think newer star wars films, the latest marvel films. I think that when people who don't actually believe in 'good' try to make media like this, they really struggle.

maybe I am tumblr, maybe I am

Hear me out, but I think the university system has become one of the most effective indoctrination systems possible, producing the desired mindset in the student near invariably.

Firstly, there is agenda setting. The topics of debate, the options presented. We debate not whether God is real but if He is good, not whether Big GenderTM is good but how it interacts with post-colonial logics, not whether humans are logic-drive consumers but how we can harness this to efficiently consume our way to Nirvana. Every department, module and academic has centuries of layers of preconceptions and ideologies baked into what they teach, and the don't (nor could they, in fairness) disclaim this. It takes the grace of God and hefty extracurricular study and the right friends to understand this as fast as it is being taught to you.

Second, and building on this, there is the myth of neutrality. Most departments are obsessed with appearing scientific, and objective. They want to be like maths or physics, merely relaying the facts of the matter. They can and will deduce the truth of psychology, of economics, of ethics, even of poetry through technical language and shoehorned mathematical diagrams.

However, it is my firm conviction that this approach is mythical: not only can politics or ethics not be solved in an equation, but neither can science. They both involve stories.

At the beginning of every scientific endeavour is a human mind that desires an answer to a question that interests them, usually because they want a specific answer, because it fits a specific story. The same is true of every poem written, every political theory constructed. They are all telling stories, whether true or not. Let us not forget the scientific method came to Descartes in a dream. Science is inextricable from narrative and rhetoric. Maybe, MAYBE scientific data itself is unbiased, (but even then we must ask who gathered it, how, and for what reasons?) but as soon as a human mind touches it, organises it, draws conclusions, it becomes part of a story. That story will fit the worldview of the scientists almost every time, except for supremely objective scientists faced with data that undeniably contravenes their worldview (but in most cases, an experiment like this would simply not be performed). I'm not suggesting that science is largely wrong (in fact it's mostly right), but that it is not the whole truth - it is selectively pursued and used to show that which fits the narratives of those doing the science. That's just how humans work.

And so in our materialist culture it is no surprise that psychology will tell you religion is a delusion, neuro-science that human minds are a bunch of neurons firing and that love is a chemical reaction, biology how man rose from sheer probability and will continue to rise to near Godhood, physics how the universe created itself and will one day be reduced to nothing, ethics how God is evil and mans intuition is sufficient for morality, history how Christianity is evil, politics how we will solve human conflict by taking justice into our own hands, economics how we will achieve heaven on earth by building it ourselves.

All these disciplines have a story they want to tell quite divorced from any scientific data, and God, if He has any role at all, is the villain. Of course, nobody knows the answers to the mystery of consciousness, the origin of life, the origin of the universe, the purpose of humanity, what it means to be good, how humanity might be saved. But whatever those answers are (and we'll definitely calculate them soon just give us one more century!!!!), they certainly do not include God, and you will be derided for suggesting it. Most material these disciplines produce will show God doesn't exist and is evil, because that is obviously true to the people producing it. And they will sell you this as objective, neutral information.

Third and most importantly, every piece of work you produce is in no small way a pass/fail for your future. Actually failing an assignment whilst maybe not something that would get you off the course would almost certainly restrict your future job or study choices. The pressure is immense, and subconsciously you know exactly what story your marker wants to hear. People give higher marks to academic writing which agrees with their worldview (or at least is a plausible option in their worldview, I read one ethics paper which laid out possible arguments for a position and casually said 'of course, religious arguments can be excluded since they are not reasonable'). They just do. Nobody is impartial. It's not a thing a human can be. So nine times out of ten without realizing it you buy into the preconceptions, the worldview, and the ideology of the module and you pick a safe option and you re-tell the story they want to hear. Because your future depends on it, because it is presented as neutral fact, because the options given were vetted from the start, and because this is all happening in a subconscious, momentary flicker of hesitation.

And what's more, you believe it to. Because you can't just write a 4000 word essay interfacing with some of the most complex ideas around and be convincing and do enough research without it leeching onto you. You can't just tell them what they want to hear but privately disagree - you come to the forefront of that narrative and you actually build and develop it. You smash your mind over the rocks of these ideas. It becomes ingrained and second nature because you immerse yourself in that ideological space because that is the only way you can write a good piece. You will write the essay they want to read, and you will fully believe every word of it.

So, your options are 1) resist fully, lose friends, status, grades and future by suggesting in writing that humans might have souls or that love might be real or that there is a God who has a place in the mechanics of the universe. 2) try to appease both - write a story that is within the scope of the modules plausibility area, but still good and true. Lose some grades, lose some of your integrity. Despite your best efforts, swallow some of the story they are teaching you. 3) Try to ignore the story, sit on the side lines. Focus on an area so small and insignificant that it doesn't affect any big ideologies at play. This is easier to do in some subjects than others. But, if you do it well you can get pretty good grades. But you will be censoring yourself and you will not find much truth or satisfaction in your studies. You will also buy at least some of the story they are telling you. 4) Go along for the ride, accept what they teach you, teach it to yourself. Get good grades.

This is a choice you can only make for yourself, I don't know what the best way is. For most people, 1-3 aren't even possible. How would you realise you're being indoctrinated if you already agree with the story they are telling you? If you have no other convincing, detailed, and evidenced story to tell the university, then maybe they're right. Trust the experts, after all.

Which brings me to the fourth, and most genius part of this apparatus: the people most indoctrinated, who have fully bought the story of their department, who sing it sweetly with all their hearts - they become the new academics. Dissenters are marked away - they become irrelevant, and importantly, stupid. The intelligent zealots are promoted to teach a new generation.

I honestly think that you are intellectually bludgeoned into conformity from day one of university. I imagine this is true of the southern Baptist seminary through to oxford. To keep your faith through this is hard. You need a solid foundation going into it, and state education is loath to provide that. To change it would be even harder: the people aware of the problem and willing to resist aren't exactly given tenure. I think we need more honesty and humility from academics, and more diverse options available across different institutions. In any case, we need the grace of God.

Does anyone know any good media (fiction books or movies/tv) with realistic/healthy portrayals of a Christian (or at least Godly) marriage or relationships?

Just became aware that most of my idea of what a relationship looks like comes from not exactly edifying sources.

Stuff like the chosen!

Least insane argument for legalising prostitution:

Hearing an argument you don't anticipate is bodily, intimate, and non-consensual

Prostitution is bodily, intimate, and (sometimes) consensual

Both of these things are ok!

I actually can't make this shit up.

You can all consider yourselves sexually assaulted for having read this argument.

Also desperately need a book about the Orthodox influence on Celtic, medieval, and even modern Christianity in Britain. We have never been a fully Roman church.

Having visited a Celtic neo-monastery under the Anglican umbrella, I can confirm that tradition is still alive.

According to the most ancient (and understandably not well-documented) sources, our island was visited by Egyptian missionaries, before the east-west divide had even occurred. Centuries later the Roman Catholic Missionaries found Christianity already here, to their great surprise.

Despite nominally joining the west for a handful of centuries, I think Britain's role in the reformation shows it's discomfort there. I think Christianity is older and more wild in this country than we realise.

Desperately need a book set in the fens of old England, following a family's experience of the enclosure act and industrial revolution ripping their community and way of life apart over the course of maybe a century, perhaps with a time skip to their descendants living in the now dry, industrial, unrecognisable Norfolk. Maybe with a hopeful glimmer at the end or something.

Seriously. This setting is incredible I don't know why more people's imagination aren't captured by this. People lived in cottages miles apart and used stilts to walk across swampland between homes, most were subsistence herders. Think of the folklore, the culture, the community, the oral, ancient practices still alive in that strange land. And this is only what, 400 years ago?

England had 'natives' once. And what happened to them is happening to all the other natives still left around the world.

"We are all grown-ups now, and we know that living by want is not only necessary but can be justified with software modelling and leader columns in The Times."

-Paul Kingsnorth

Man, I could actually write a book about why economics is a farce. Maybe I actually will one day. But that quote about sums it up. Love Paul Kingsnorth give him a google if you have the time.

Invariably the most exciting features added to Minecraft are the ones that make it even more of a sandbox, they allow greater customisability, easier modification, new possibilities, new abilities. The more basic and technical the better - the copper bulb (and everything it does for technical Minecraft) generated far more excitement than the armadillo! Custom enchants, data packs, custom paintings - these are the exciting updates; freedom. Options.

I wonder if God felt the same way designing us and our world. Giving us opposable thumbs, laws of nature which mostly follow neat mathematical rules, neural plasticity, customisable genetic codes, a system of elements and chemicals we can write on a spreadsheet and manipulate in an equation.

We live in a world far more richly customisable than Minecraft, with even more coherently designed interlocking systems that we can understand and utilize with our current tools.

There's a reason half the technical Minecraft community has 15 PhD's and turned down a Nobel prize - technical Minecraft is a (much simpler) form of the same scientific endeavour: exploring, understanding, and pushing the limits of what the world's mechanics allow.

Bonhoeffer, writing in Weimar Germany, talks about how one can live a comfortable, secular, Bourgeoisie life whilst still being respectable and 'Christian'!

Not so anymore! There is much secularism must answer for, but I will say this in its defence - it will eradicate the normal, respectable, dead Christian. "Churchianity", cultural Christianity, and nominalism are all dying rapid deaths amidst secularisms' derision, lies, mockery, and cultural persecution.

More and more these days, if someone tells you openly they are a Christian they bloody well mean it.

Praise God!

Jesus Christ is Lord

Elmer Gantry is a really amazing example of a book that does this well - I read it specifically because it was banned across America (for being too accurate). But it knows what it's about! It's a critique of performative religion, nominal cultural Christianity, sensationalist prosperity gospel preaching, etc.

Iron sharpens iron, and awareness of the issues in the church is much more useful, and narratively satisfying, than 'Christianity Bad' media.

I mean if we're really getting into it, most problems with people creating stories to critique Christianity boil down to either a. They do absolutely zero research and think "why do bad things happen" is unanswerable for anyone who believes in a fundamentally good deity, b. They assume that the religious beliefs of two churches in Missouri run by an abusive pastor are the religious beliefs of 3 billion people, or c. They're actually critiquing cultural systems which utilize Christianity to uphold oppression (good! Critique that!) but they conflate that with the religion itself which often leads back to the first two points, meaning they make factually incorrect statements about actual religious teachings and approach faith as inherently evil (wrong! Read the Book!)

I do believe you can write a story critiquing faith or religious systems or religion and do it well but unfortunately 90% of the time this is how people do it. Which is poorly done and useless.

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord,     make straight paths for him.’"

John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

-Matthew 3

And I hope no one gets mad about me calling God wild. I don't mean it in a bad way. As someone who came from a pagan faith, the one thing that kept me crawling back to it again and again was me feeling too "wild" for the Christian faith. Like, you can have a deep and abiding love for nature and respect for your place in it, and still love God. I say again, God made us and nature. What's not to love about the home He lovingly crafted in perfect balance for us? Nature is filled with daily miracles!

And He made us in His image. When I see a child jumping in puddles on a rainy day, I see the love for life that God has imbuing that child. When I see someone climbing a sheer cliff face, I see God's strength and tenacity and determination fueling that rockclimber onwards and upwards. So if you are primal and wild, that's okay. You're not some heathen; God made you that way.

"He who controls the default, controls how the game is played"

-Cubicmetre

A fair point, in minecraft and real life.

By default, Windows computers will show you a news article on startup.

It's subtle and unobtrusive, most people won't really notice them, much less think about them or dislike them.

Of course, if for some strange reason you did, you can always take the 1 or 2 minutes to google the very specific part of settings you need to go to to turn it off. Problem solved!

Do you see the problem? MicrosoftTM can show everyone using their computers any article they so choose. Of course, most people won't read it. Some might just read the headline. But, far more dangerously, most people will only register it subconsciously, and almost nobody will bother to turn it off.

If, God forbid, MicrosoftTM had a narrative they wanted to push, this gives them an incredible power to do so without people even realising.

Incidentally, the last 3 articles I saw before I took the time to figure out how to get those articles off my start up were all telling me about the wonderful things AI is doing for humanity. Funny right?

It is arrogance in us to call frankness, fairness, and chivalry ‘masculine’ when we see them in a woman; it is arrogance in them to describe a man’s sensitiveness or tact or tenderness as ‘feminine.’

C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

Continuing on from my reply:

Hi there. Thanks so much for these genuine questions. You are so right to ask, and I have so much genuine sympathy for your position. I get the sense your heart is in the right place, and you really want answers. Take comfort, you will find them if you keep looking genuinely for God. That's the first thing I want to say. "For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:8

Also: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled." Matthew 5:6

The Bible encourages us to ask questions and seek truth earnestly. How else can we come to know Jesus/God, who, after all, is THE truth, the way, and the life :)

I'll just respond to your questions as best I can in order. I'm not God or even a pastor but I've certainly read the Bible and love it endlessly. I am just a man. I will be wrong in parts. But I'll do my best, and I encourage you to search and search and search. Find others who love the Bible and can give you thoughtful, Biblical answers to your questions.

Most of all, take up and read. You'd be surprised how often the bible answers it's own questions! (In fact, I'll be using it often in this post!)

What do you feel you gain from reading it?

For my own personal experience, it provides intense encouragement daily. I read a chapter a day, many of my friends do more. And I can't emphasises enough how much a difference it makes to your day, to focus your mind on God and refresh your soul. The bible says that Jesus is 'The Word', as in, Jesus/God actually lives in the Bible, to the point where they are synonymous. It is one of the names of God. Whilst reading, (especially if you accompany it with heartfelt prayer) you can expect to encounter God. You are literally reading the words of the God of the universe!

I notice the effect on my day if I don't read. My friend described it this way: It's like taking your inhaler while you weren't especially struggling to breath, and only then realising how much easier breathing should be. It is life giving. As you've pointed out though, this has not been your experience. That too is to be expected. Excuse the long passage but I think this excerpt from Pauls letter is relevant:

"Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. So even though I wrote to you, it was neither on account of the one who did the wrong nor on account of the injured party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are. By all this we are encouraged." 2 Corinthians 7:8-13

For context, Paul's first letter to the Corinthians (also in the Bible btw) had been strongly condemning some of their practices, hence in this second letter Paul explains himself.

The bible does in part aim to point out mans wrongdoing and sinful state. But without this, it's very hard to see why any of God's actions make sense.

The Bible tells us of our sinful state. It is a message of reality, of not covering up the ugliness of the world and the ugliness of humanity, but also of a way out, of the silver lining. As the verse above points out, the discomfort the bible gives you currently is to make you alert. It is discomforting like a fire alarm, like a tornado siren.

So you're kind of right! Right? The bible says me, you, everyone is a sinner in all kinds of ways and that we will face judgement! We are literally being judged. Credit to you! You're reading the Bible correctly! You should feel judged! (By God that is, and NOT by Christians or other people "So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister." Romans 14:12-13). But yeah sorrow is the appropriate response!

This is necessary! God cannot save you from a fire you don't believe in.

But please please hear me this is not the same as hating yourself! Whilst reading you can feel conviction or condemnation. I think much of what you're feeling right now might be condemnation. It is a subtle but massively important distinction.

Condemnation is the 'worldly sorrow' talked about above: A wallowing, that feeling which creeps in and tells you you are worthless and God hates you. It comes from the enemy, actually. Satan is referred to as 'the accuser' throughout the Bible. Satan wants you to read the Bible and despair, to say "God doesn't love me and never will", "this can never be fixed", "God hates me" etc etc. This happens to Christians also, as Satan will try and convince us that God cannot accept us, or we've finally done something too bad for even God to forgive etc.

But that is not the aim of the Bible. In fact, the above are lies. The Bible tells us that Satan is the author of lies, "When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44.

Instead, that sorrow, that discomfort you feel, should lead to action! It should not stop there! "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:17 This is it my friend. When you feel convicted about something, try to respond "ah, I now realise what I've been doing wrong. Let me fix that real quick". You can just apologise to God there and then! There's no cleansing ritual. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" 1 John 1:8-9. It's as easy as that. He's literally always there for you! If you read something that convicts you, that shows you your own wrongdoing, repent. Then know you are forgiven.

Today I was brought to tears reading through proverbs. being reminded of ways I've been foolish and instructed on how to live a more upright and wise life. But remember, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend [who corrects out of love and concern]" Proverbs 27:6

There's so much more I could say, but that's the jist of it. I hope this helps. It's good you feel discomfort and conviction as you read, but you musn't hate yourself. Turn and repent, but do not be overcome with despair. God loves you so much; I hope you believe me one day.

2. I'm not sure the resurrection happened

It's completely valid of you to doubt the veracity of all the Biblical events. For many of them, it's not the end of the world if it is an exaggeration, or poetic licence etc. (Though, that said, you'd be surprised how well the Bible stacks up historically. For example every place name in there has been verified, including ones where the bible was the only place they were recorded like Nineveh and Jericho which were previously assumed to be fictional.)

But that said, as events in the bible with historical backing go, the death and resurrection of Christ is the BEST one easily.

It's embarrassing actually. Atheists who study this stuff have to say things like 'maybe he had a twin and they switched with nobody noticing'.

Here's one (of many) lines of evidence that's quick to show. Basically every modern biblical scholar, theist and atheist alike, agrees on these five facts:

Jesus was crucified

Women Found the Tomb Empty

There were independent appearances of Jesus after his death

The apostles maintained that Jesus did in fact rise again, even after torture and execution in all cases

Enemies of Christ were converted as a result of these events

It's really hard to deny the resurrection after this. A friend of mine actually resorted to saying something like 'maybe Jesus had access to unknown technology that he used to heal himself'. Some people appeal to aliens! You have to get really creative to seriously deny that Jesus rose from the dead.

Anyway, I could go on all day about this. One last thing though..

The documentation we have for Christ's resurrection is appallingly good. The first source documenting it is written 15 years after it happened. the rest all are written within the century, and they all agree on the main facts of the event with minimal if any variance. For a historical event, especially the death of just one man, this is very very good. There are entire wars for which we only get one stone tablet, written centuries after the fact.

All that to say though. The resurrection of Christ happened. The God of the universe died for you specifically.

3. I'm not sure God is loving

A valid, thoughtful few paragraphs from you here and it deserves a long thoughtful response. Sorry, this ended up being a bit of an essay, so I've felt I should put in sub-headings. I hope this helps

Intro

I hope I'm right in saying that's a fair portrayal of the rest of your concern? 'they give you some happiness but this is so heavily outweighed by suffering.' seems to sum it up really well. Essentially, how is any of this fair?

Firstly I'll just start by saying I don't pretend to know what you've been through. And I don't doubt you and those you love have faced incredible hardship in this life. I don't seek to trivialise or minimize it.

The Story

The way to understand hardship in this life is that it is evil and wrong and repugnant, but it is temporary. This world is fallen, but things will not always be like this. The Bible teaches that when Christ returns "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Revelation 21:4

Basically, things will be so good in the new creation, that the suffering endured now will be worth it in the end.

A way to help see this is to think of the overall story of the world from the Biblical perspective. Starting at the very start of the book in Genesis, God creates a world and "it was very good" Genesis 1:31.

Humanity sins, and so God's judgement on this earth is to make it imperfect, causing the natural evil we see in the world today.

But God is just and merciful, and wants to restore humanity to the "very good" state. Hence, the need for Jesus' sacrifice. God's wrath is exacted upon Him.

Then, God can (and will) restore those of us who are willing to enjoy paradise with Him forever.

Q&A

Is it worth it? Yes: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

Think about it. The God of the universe will make everyone who wishes to join him as infinitely blissful as He can for as long as He can (forever). It will be worth it.

But couldn't God just leave evil unpunished? Not really. God's wrath is a perfection for which He should be adored. It is right to punish evil. God would not be all good if He was not all just.

But more than that, it's kind of mechanically impossible. Fun fact, most theologians would agree that God can't create a box He cant lift. He also couldn't, for example, create a person who exists and doesn't exist in the same sense at the same time. Things that are logically impossible or self-contradictory are beyond even God's remit.

Hence why, God can't make a person evil and happy, or flawed and righteous, at the same time in the same sense. People are either perfect or not (mostly not). And if you're imperfect, you are incapable of being perfectly blissful. If I am wrathful, deceitful, envious, slanderous, malicious, etc etc, I simply mechanically cannot also be perfectly happy! Now, God could stop me doing all those things, but not without removing my free will. Because, again, God cannot make a person who is a free agent and also compelled to do good things! Logically impossible things are off the table, even for God.

Sorry I know you already understand some of this but just felt it's worth laying out again, hopefully this clarifies it a bit.

But yeah, this is why in Ezekiel it says "As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die?" Ezekiel 33:11

God is desperate for as many as possible to turn to Him, but He will not make you, and He cannot and should not ignore evil. This is why us Christians are told "Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire". Jude 1:23 There's that fire alarm analogy again.

Can't he just skip to heaven and forget this whole earth bit?

Kind of? He made the world very good remember? But to do so He would have to either make people without free will, or with free will. We're currently living out the consequences of the 'make people with free will' route.

He could also make a world with no free-will beings, and actually you've said you'd prefer that. Listen, I get it. I've felt the same thing at times. But you have to understand that it's not that you wouldn't be you if this route was taken, it's that you wouldn't be. A robot is an apt analogy. In this situation, frankly nothing else in the universe matters. What's the point of making a beautiful universe if it's forever empty, forever unobserved, unenjoyed?

So the choice is between a world with evil, or really no world at all. And, God who knows all things tells us that it will be worth it. Despite everything wrong with this world, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure."

Isn't hell disproportionate?

Sorry I know you didn't really ask about this, but it's worth mentioning here as it helps with the broader question of "is God loving?"

The modern conception of hell is a bit overdone. This is a really good video which clarifies what the Biblical position on it is:

Mike Winger on Hell

Mike, btw, does great videos about a lot of valid questions people like yourself have, chances are if you have a question about the bible he's made a video about it or something similar. I'm not sponsored but do check out his website if you like lol.

Anyway I think the most important point from that video is that hell is proportionate. It's not the same for everyone, and it considers factors like how much you knew in this life and the efforts you made etc, as we can see from Jesus here: "For if the miracles that were performed in you [he's talking about a city] had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you."

God is reluctant to deal out judgement, and when He does, it is fair.

On the whole issue of God being like an abusive person, I understand the sentiment. If someone claims that I must love them or face punishment, that's just textbook abusive, right?

And make no mistake, loving God is commanded. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'" Matthew 22

But that's only if a person said that to you. It's different when the God of the universe says it. Especially when that God is all loving, all good.

Again excuse the long passage but I think this is relevant:

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." 1 John 4

Because God isn't just another person who you can love or not love, "God IS love". Do you see the issue? If you don't love love itself, how can you be loving towards others? If you don't love goodness, how can you be good? If you don't love truth, how can you be truthful?

Btw, I'm not saying that only Christians are loving. But that the more loving a person you are, the more godly you are. So that is why the command to love God isn't abusive. It is a command to be loving. Jesus is roughly saying "The most important Christian command is to be loving". Loving God is loving love itself. What could be more important?

God does not command us to love him like a domineering partner, God commands us to love Him because He is love, because it is objectively the best thing you can possibly do. And, once again, because God mechanically cannot avoid you being hurt if you don't.

The questions "why does God require love for me to be happy?" "Or why does evil lead to punishment?" Thus end up being rephrased like this:

"Why does love require love for me to be loving?" "Why does unhappiness lead to unhappiness"?

"The wicked draw their swords and bend their bows to kill the poor and helpless, to kill those who are honest. But their swords will stab their own hearts, and their bows will break." Proverbs 37.

To not love God is to not love goodness itself, and hence to love other, not good, things. As the above verse points out, evil has a way of punishing itself.

Keep reading my friend. I hope this is helpful, let me know if I can help any further though I doubt I can. The scriptures are also encouraging and uplifting, and honestly they encompass the full range of human emotions. You should read the psalms at some point! It is a book of poems written by a depressed king.

Also, you mentioned that you have concentration difficulty. In that case, I've found streetlights to be an amazing way to read. They've put most of the bible to music, and the tone of the chapter matches the tone of the music! Really helps me focus anyway. Just search 'streetlights bible' on spotify or youtube.

I'd recommend the gospels (matthew mark luke and john) to start off with. Jesus is the cornerstone of the faith so it makes sense to start there, we're not called 'Christ'ians for nothing :D

Then maybe some of the shorter epistles (letters written by Paul to early churches), they're quite digestible and clarify a lot of doctrine. Maybe Philippians or Colossians would be a good start.

I don't expect you to just accept this all straight away. That's fine. But would you consider praying something like "God if you're real and if you are actually loving I want to know you and be forgiven"? No harm in trying. God is there for you my friend.

Last of all, I want to re-emphasise that God does not want you to hate yourself. The second most important commandment, after loving God, is "‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31. In the same way you love your family and friends, Jesus/God tells you to love yourself. I know it's not easy. But it is possible. Especially with God.

God bless my friend.

@ Christians out there... could you please tell me what you feel you gain by reading the Bible. it's a genuine question and i'm really not trying to be rude or anything :(

i want to read it in the hope of this helping me be "saved" but other than being very depressed/ having ocd/ having no energy/concentration/ being much closer to atheism than theism - i think reading the Bible makes me hate myself??

i understand the idea that Jesus died for our sins on the cross and that being a huge act of love, but i don't really see sufficient evidence that this actually happened, and i just don't think it makes sense that God gave us free will and allowed us to be sinful so such a sacrifice was necessary in the first place? i understand the argument that "without free will we are robots who can't love freely" but i genuinely would rather be a happy robot than a suffering, sinful person with free will

aside from the Resurrection - i just can't see anything that would suggest God loves us?? like i know there are good things in the world but i find it hard to be grateful for them when there is so much suffering.

the God in the Bible reminds me of an abuser in a relationship - you MUST love me or you'll be punished - but i find it hard to see what there is to love?? God always seems so angry and surely if someone loves you - they want you to be happy? but God seems to have no interest in helping me in any way, or letting me be happy. the Bible says God loves you a lot but it feels like empty words - the way an abuser tells you they love you and does nothing to show it - or they give you some happiness but this is so heavily outweighed by suffering.

and i never asked to be here. never asked to have this life without my consent

and the Bible is always emphasising how awful and sinful you are and it's like don't i already hate myself enough?? apparently not?? i'm already absolutely filled with shame and guilt and idk it just makes me hate myself so much

how does anyone read the Bible and feel loved? i really don't know what i'm missing

i like some of the messages Jesus teaches but i don't find the Bible comforting at all...it's just so many threats and the threats don't make me believe in or love God any more. it just scares me

On Sanity

Chesterton has already pointed this out, but I was struck anew today after talking with a robin and feeling wind in my hair, that it was the irrational, not the rational, that makes us sane.

To love, to befriend, to laugh, to think philosophically, to write, to play, to dream. Poetry, music, dancing, nature. As I watched the sunset and whistled, feeling more sane than I ever had in my weeks of studying for exams, I remembered it is the neglect of these that leads to madness. For it is not the dancers and florists who go mad, but mathematicians and chess grandmasters.

Aquinas says that the nature of a human is to be a rational animal. He said that, of course, to distinguish us from animals. Unlike them we have the power to reason, and it is a terrible power and beautiful responsibility. But even Aquinas from his ivory tower doesn't dare eliminate the animal inside us.

There is something deep in the bones of our nature quite apart from rationality. We are animals still, and we must love that. The primal, the guttural, the free and the wild. This too makes us human.

think it's a deep consolation to know that spiders dream, that monkeys tease predators, that dolphins have accents, that lions can be scared silly by a lone mongoose, that otters hold hands, and ants bury their dead. that there isn't their life and our life. nor your life and my life. that it's just one teetering and endless thread and all of us, all of us, are entangled w it as deep as entanglement goes. v neat i think.

Jesus Christ is Lord

Appalachian Orthodox Chant

Just a fascinating video description I found, written presumably by an American Orthodox Christian. Well worth the read:

"A snippet from "God Is With Us," an ancient Orthodox hymn based on the prophecy of Isaiah, chanted here in traditional Appalachian Bluegrass style. It's wonderful because it sounds ancient yet has an authentically Americana sound. Orthodoxy never subverts the cultures it comes across, but rather grafts the wholesome elements of those cultures onto Holy Tradition to give glory to God. In an age where Protestant and Catholic churches in America are hemorrhaging people, Orthodoxy is slowly growing, and this particular hymn provides a hopeful glimpse at what genuine American Orthodoxy could be. This actually makes me feel really patriotic. America has a great sin; a kind of prelest born out of its rejection of monarchy. The forefathers had their reasons and their good intentions for rejecting it, but they had an ignorance of the Orthodox understanding of the symbolic need for a submission to monarchal hierarchy, and the Protestant individualism that ensued has led to the present relativism, which could potentially be our demise. America stands in a quite ambiguous place. But God, who mercifully "desireth not that the sinner should die, but turn from his wicked ways and live," sees our good intentions and knows that America, despite our long-foolhardy ignorance of the Orthodox way, has always called upon the name of Jesus Christ. And maybe, for that, He could forgive us."

Here's the video if ur interested:

I particularly love the respect and love for good parts of American culture (which absolutely do exist), and the hope embodied in the overall message. I'm not orthodox and certainly no monarchist, but I think anyone can see that rampant individualism has made us angry, divided, and lost people. I hope you can take something away from it even if you don't agree with it all. Some beautiful and relevant prose there. Despite everything, God is truly with us. He is slow to anger and rich in love.

Thinking about the apostle John. Quite a sad story in some ways. He was probably the youngest apostle, the baby of the group. After the ascension, when the church began, they all worked together from Jerusalem for some time, so full of fire and exuberance.

But things were very difficult for the fledgling church. The first apostle to be killed was his brother, big James.

After some time we're fairly sure he wound up in Ephesus, where he became a sage of the faith, training a new generation. He instructed Polycarp, Irenaeus, Ignatius. He refuted heresies. Appointed Bishops.

Over the coming decades, he would have read the completed gospel of Mark, as well as the early forms of the other gospels, if not writing one himself.

But one by one, his fellow apostles were killed in the line of duty. At some point, he became the last apostle.

He died in a world totally foreign to the one he was born in, one turned upside down by the movement he had been so instrumental in. He died leaving a legacy and so much clarity and wisdom for the church. He likely had students with him at his death, but he was likely in some sense alone.

Exiled in a foreign land, he was the last living witness to the greatest story ever told. A man who walked with Jesus. He remained, and for decades retold and affirmed what all his brothers and friends had died sharing.

He is held to be the only apostle who didn't die a martyr. But in many ways, he gave the most of himself for Christ. I can't imagine the faithfulness, the perseverance.

Also, he once went to the Ephesian bathing house, saw a heretic, and immediately left without bathing lol

Saying something is a metaphor and then proceeding to ignore what was meant by it is still disagreeing with it!

If I say 'don't worry that 30kph sign is a metaphor' and then proceed to gun it through a residential area, I have still ignored the meaning of the sign!

Saying 'oh Jesus' sinlessness is a metaphor' 'the resurrection is a metaphor' 'the final judgement is a metaphor', and proceeding to live in sin/unrepentance still means you're ignoring the teachings of the Christian faith!

If you're gonna be Christian, actually believe the Christian faith. Heresy packaged as textual criticism is still heresy.

NEVERTHELESS MENTIONED WOOOOOOOOOOO

Matthew 26:39 (NKJV) - He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”