Img description: caligraphy which reads

"Belief

Initiates and guides action--

Or it does nothing"

When I was young, I really considered becoming a priest or pastor. In the end, it certainly wasn't for me. The abject hypocrisy and belief that only humans had souls, and therefore only they would be allowed into heaven sent me packing pretty quick. Man, if my cat or dog wasn't in heaven I didn't want to be there.

With that aside, I have some terrible news for modern day Christians. In 100 years there will be a church dedicated to the worship of Donald Trump. We already have lots of "fundamentalist" churches preaching that he is the new King Cyrus or worse that Trump is the new Messiah.

Our country is so fond of creating cults and new religions for one reason or another that I can absolutely guarantee that we will have a church somewhere in this country that sings the praises of Trump long after he dies. They will accredit him with all sorts of miracles and good deeds. However, they will be especially fond of stories about his wrath against his enemies.

Do you think that the original Jod Squad left like, random notes around all over the place that became like, sacred texts randomly? And they might not even know it. Mercymorn, leaving snarky notes to Augustine in a language that became so archaic that it completely took on a different meaning; or maybe Pyrrha leaving G1deon bad jokes for him to try and get the answer to. All of these things became religious and without context, to the point that say, G1deon is known as “father to all”, after Pyrrha left a note tacked to a wall saying “Gideon, I am everyone’s father,” and they were like “welp, saint of duty, fathers have duties, the Saint of Duty also protects fathers” or something

Angels are composed of bones of the creatures on this planet, contorted and moulded to look nothing like the animal source of their bones (i.e. stingray skeletons look vaguely angelic already, however, what if you put more weird shit in there to make them more "biblical accurate)

Another thing of note tho: because angels are composed of the bones of earthly beings, that means that the skeleton is the most holy/divine thing in the human body, therefore there'd be burial practices where either a) it'd be forbidden to touch a human skeleton post-death, or b) there'd be a burial practice where people skin the subject of the burial is defleshed (possibly with the flesh being fed/eaten, or put in jars like with Egyptian mummies), and the raw skeleton is buried. The thing about this also, is that certain angels (particularly the higher angels that aren't ment to interact with humans) may be jealous of earthly creatures simply because they have something soft to cover the harsh reality of their form.

Comment:

A fascinating essay on not only the collapse of legitimacy of Russian Orthodoxy in the wake of the Ukraine conflict, but a wider crisis of Orthodoxy as a religeon in the contemporary world.

Extract 1:

A small minority of Russian clergy has bravely turned against their leader, and much of the Orthodox communion worldwide (with the disgraceful exception of the churches of Serbia, Bulgaria, and Jerusalem) has condemned the invasion and Kirill’s part in it.

Extract 2:

For even if the church relates to the world through democratic means (persuasion, not coercion), this does not necessarily mean that the church will also relate to itself (to its own members) in democratic fashion. And this is precisely the problem today: the Orthodox Church eschews democratic forms of (self-)governance. The laity, especially women and LGBTIQ+ persons, continue to be marginalised, while diversity, doubt, and dissent continue to be viewed as dangerous rather than as necessary elements of a flourishing, self-critical community. Is it any wonder, then, that Putin’s police-state, where protesters are arrested and detained every day and war coverage is heavily censored, would find its most faithful ally in the autocratic Russian Church?

Extract 3:

‘Pussy Riot’ song:

Virgin Mary, Mother of God, drive Putin away, we pray thee! Drive Putin away Putin, drive him away!

Black frock, golden epaulettes Parishioners crawl bowing Freedom’s phantom has disappeared to heaven Gay Pride is sent to Siberia in chains.

KGB’s chief saint descends To lead protesters to prison vans Don’t upset His Holiness, ladies Stick to making love and babies /…/

Virgin Mary, Mother of God Become a feminist, we pray thee! Become a feminist, we pray thee!

The Church praises rotten leaders The Cross-bearing procession of black limousines A preacher on his way to your school Get to class and give him money!

Patriarch Gundyay believes in Putin [Kirill’s secular surname is Gundyayev] Would be better, the bastard, if he believed in God! The Virgin’s belt won’t replace political gatherings The eternal Virgin Mary is with us in our protests!

I just hope Chris Pratt will be able to get out from under the claws of Hillsong. It is a cult of a church and their teachings are so toxic, and that's not to mention the interior social hierarchies.

I used to be in a small home group church that took a lot from Hillsong. It was abusive and controlling and the fear of ostracization was so real when it came to agreeing or disagreeing with teachings, only outweighed by the fear of hell.