christo-pagan explorer

online altar and general space for religious posts

[fiercelywonderful]

I always laugh and roll my eyes at how uppity a lot of Christians are when it comes to lgbt people, especially Catholics blabbering about how we should “hate the sin love the sinner” and how gay people can’t receive communion. Then they try to downplay their hate and justify it by saying “it’s the same as straight people living together or having sex before marriage!”

Lmao ok keep lying to yourselves. You know that you do not investigate every straight person’s sex life to determine whether they can receive communion or not. You know that there are absolutely straight people in church committing these sins and you are not tattling to the priest or everyone about it. You are not making social media posts about how straight people living together is a serious church issue.

And while we are talking about mortal sin, I never see any concerned Catholics repeatedly reminding everyone that anyone taking birth control CANNOT participate in Eucharist. Because birth control is a mortal sin, in case you didn’t know. Please stop being delusional. There’s over a billion Catholics in the world and you think a large population of us isn’t taking birth control in some form?? Be so forreal.

If anything, straight people’s sexual sins are more risky and grave than gay people’s sex sins. There’s ten times more straight sex sins than gay sex sins being committed. And At least gay sex will never result in pregnancy. Catholics cannot be pretending they aren’t discriminating against lgbt people when they are not focusing on straight people’s sexual sins with the same proportional amount of force.

[fiercelywonderful]

Making divorce a mortal sin is one of those dumb Catholic laws that was clearly made by men who never married. I recently got married and I love my husband but I know women who’ve divorced and I truly can’t think of anything cruel like forbidding divorced Catholics to never take Eucharist again. It’s a case where law supersedes compassion and good sense.

Despite being in love with my husband I have a lot of anxiety around the concept of marriage and divorce in general. I prayed to Mary about it because I was terrified. You can choose to believe me or not, but Mary responded. She said divorce isn’t a mortal sin the way the Catholic Church says it is, but she will do everything to help me and my husband have a successful marriage. That reassured me a lot.

[harminuya]

Armenian Gospels.

[psalms-and-spells]

I don’t know where Evangelicals are getting the “We are so unworthy of Gods love. It’s so hard to love us” narrative but hear me when I say:

Whether you are Christian, Atheist, Pagan, or something else entirely. Whether you read the Bible every night or you curse out God every night. Whether you think you are a good person or not.

God finds it easy to love you. It is never a challenge. He didn’t create you because it’s a chore but because he wanted your soul to leave its lasting mark on the world. A God doesn’t find it difficult to love you because he MADE you easy to love. You are beautifully and wonderfully made.

THAT is scripture. THAT is a God of unending love.

[rurinnfane]

The post about angel wings not needing to be purely white to be beautiful reminded me of a picture I LOVE

This pigeon is an angel

[embervoices]

If anything, the colors add contrast so the individual feathers are emphasized! Gorgeous!

[queers4christ]

Blessed feast of St. Mary Magdalene!

O' Holy Mary Magdalene, penitent devotee, pray for us and teach us how to love Christ as deeply as you have.

[psalms-and-spells]

I’ve had this conversation a couple times irl and online, but y’all know that Christianity isn’t a religion of ease right?

Like it’s a common saying among my Muslim peers that Islam is a religion of ease, and I definitely see the beauty in that, but I need y’all to know that Christianity isn’t THAT.

And I’m not saying this in a “The world will hate you way” but because Jesus preaches things that make us uncomfortable.

Like it’s called RADICAL forgiveness and RADICAL love for a reason. You will CONSTANTLY be pushed out of your comfort zone. You are told to treat the least in society with care and respect. Yes, even the people you deem to be despicable and disposable. There are no exceptions to the rule.

All of this while challenging the power structures around you.

You are called to flip the social hierarchy on its head. This isn’t an easy task and goes against what we have been taught since we were young.

Cause we have been taught to hate, in some way, by everyone around us. It’s not an easy, or socially acceptable thing, to treat those we were taught to hate with kindness.

If you find yourself in uncomfortable situations while following Christ then I’m here to tell you that you are probably doing something right.

[rustyrosary]

Mary Mother of God, pray for palantir to DIE. Amen.

[genderbentsumption]

hey all

i appreciate that this is very different from the usual tone of my posts but i need to ask for help with something

i am an Anglican Christian and a trans woman who has recently turned 18 and is going to uni in September

i converted to Christianity when i was 15-16, previously being agnostic and with a vague belief in a God of some sort, and then realised i was trans when i was 17

when i was starting out as a Christian i picked up a lot of internalised homophobia, even though homosexuality never came up in church, as i am bi and at the time had a preference for men (remember, at the time i still thought i was a man myself)

when i realised i was trans this struggle with same sex attraction faded away as i began to see whether i was a woman as a "bigger issue" (hard to know what counts as "gay" when you don't even know your own gender i guess)

yet, since then i have to admit that my relationship with God also feels weaker

i think a part of me stopped relying on the Lord and starting seeing worldly pursuits (women's clothing, hrt) as the way towards lasting happiness

in prayer tonight, i realised that i would have serious struggles in accepting God's command if He asked me to detransition, and it's making me feel horrible, as though i have turned my back on Him completely

to clarify, i by no means hold the traditional views on LGBT people within Christianity, but it is a cause of serious concern that i would possibly put my personal happiness above God's will if they clashed

i also have no intention at this time of dropping Christianity, as even when i fall shamefully short of the mark i still believe wholeheartedly in our faith's truth

please can people offer me advice? i am feeling lost and, frankly, horrible about the whole affair

[ave-theoi]

You are wonderfully made ❤️ God is calling you to the fullest version of yourself. I don't believe that gender affirmation or gendered traits are "worldly", at least not so much so that they should distance you from God. Perhaps this distance you feel is due to internal feelings that you might be displeasing God or your community, rather than a sign that your gender distances you from God. Trans people are created so by God, and thus God wants us to join in the act of creation and to see us blossom into our callings as individuals. I would recommend reading some literature from/about trans and queer Christians which discuss the glorification of God through fulfilling your gender identity. Please try to love yourself as best as you can, and always remember that God loves you infinitely.

[vio1315]

The obsession with proving there were warrior women in history is kinda weird, honestly. Like it’s cool where it happens and their life stories tend to be really interesting, but acting like women were just worthless if none of them fought in war is high key weird to me, and it is equally weird when fiction acts this way too.

Like there is more to life than death and violence. The women artists, craftsmen, business owners, nuns, wives/mothers they’re all really interesting too. And they were worth having around. Just because they didn’t go fight in battle doesn’t make them worth any less or anything…

[greater-than-the-sword]

THANK YOU

[sacredlitany]

[jewish-joy]

Last year, I befriended a Catholic seminarian. We've gotten to be pretty decent friends. Seeing as he was staying in town for the summer and I wasn't, I entrusted him with caring for my plant.

He did a wonderful job, but as he was returning my plant to my custody, he explained "I watered her every other day, I gave her new dirt, moved her into the sunshine, prayed the rosary-"

"What?"

He looked at me, confused. "Isn't she a plant you pray with?"

"No," I said slowly. "She's a prayer plant. That's the... colloquial name of the plant."

Upon seeing his stricken face, I realized something went wrong. Turns out, this entire time, he's been including my plant in on his prayers and leaving her near icons.

Listen, totally cool. My plant becoming Catholic is a great deal for her not dying over the summer. But now I must navigate this interfaith household. Keep me in your thoughts.

[speakthewordonly]

Like a passionate lover [Mary Magdalene] ran and embraced the cross. Indeed, in order to see her Master she was bathed in blood. Surely you were drunk with love, oh Magdalen!

St. Catherine of Siena (1374)

[ohholydyke]

A lot of good is done by remembering Jesus Christ was literally just a guy (fully human and thus with all our human struggles and needs and quirks)

[ohholydyke]

Of course I’m St Mary Magdalene posting on her feast day I’m a Catholic lesbian highly influenced by the mystic tradition and deathwork

[awesomeartists]

Detail of “Convent Thoughts” by Charles Allston Collins

[ohholydyke]

My brain is just two voices yelling

One is the Christian calls for forgiveness and compassion and holding out hope that people are capable of change for the better

And the other is David Lynch going “fix your heart or die”

And every day I check the news and both of them take a second to go Lord have fucking mercy