Random fits of heresy

Gabriel, he/they, excatholic, exvangelist, Métis. 21+. Independent Nontheistic Satanist

[ainsi-soit-il]

Well, I certainly didn't have Pentagon Declares Mormonism/LDS Church To Not Be Christianity on my 2026 bingo card.

[heresylog]

'Repugnant': Pentagon revises list of religious affiliations after backlash from Mormon congressmen

The Pentagon has revised its list of religious affiliations after backlash from Mormon congressmen after LDS church not described as a Chris

They changed their minds but it’s scary that this was even a thought

[noangelsavedme]

Probably backlash from within, if I had to guess. Mormonism seems to produce a lot of secret service and military.

(I am Canadian I don't know some of the names in the article. Don't be rude about it)

[exchristianjoy]

my plumbob as a christian was♦️

[exchristianjoy]

dancing with exchristian joy!

[kaelio]

[dungeonmastersconsortium]

"All religions are cults if you think about it"

Actually they're not all cults and you're doing the work of making sure actual cults can slip under the radar when you say stuff like that

Cult leaders LOVE that trend, because they can point to it and say, "people will call anything a cult, it's basically meaningless"

I'm begging you all to stop using the word cult until you really understand what it means

[moniquill]

Resource: https://freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-control/bite-model-pdf-download/

[wiisagi-maiingan]

You do not, under any circumstances, "gotta hand it to the Catholic Church." Nothing the pope says can undo the global harm the Catholic Church as a majorly influential body does or the ways that the pope says even more terrible things used to justify horrific bigotry and cruelty.

[gallusrostromegalus]

The 1969 Easter Mass Incident

Content Warnings: Religion, food, symbolic cannibalism, symbolic gore, penis mention, Blasphemy, SO MUCH BLASPHEMY, weapons, war mention.  Mind the warnings and your health always comes first. Its a HILARIOUS story, I promise.

As always, all the names have been changed to protect people’s identities.  This is a long one, so Press J now if you want to skip it.

When my dad was a young man and still a practicing catholic, he participated in a small church communion that nearly got him and six other people excommunicated.

Father Patrick ran a small church outside of California Polytechnical and tended to be… rather more liberal in his interpretations of scripture than most of the church was, which made him something of a hit with the local students and liberally-inclined populace.  Pat went to all manner of civil demonstrations, condemned the shit out of the vietnam war and the politics that lead to it and so on.  In January of 1969 a series of incidents lead him to start exploring “nontraditional” means of holding Mass as a means of reaching out to his community and exploring his own faith, which ultimately culminated in the 1969 Easter Mass Incident.

For those of you who weren’t raised catholic, Communion is this ritual where you become one with Jesus by eating a really horrible bland wafer cookie and taking a shot of wine (called hosts), which then *literally* become the flesh and blood of jesus in your mouth, allowing him to become one with you.  It’s big McFucking deal, and you have the opportunity to take communion at every mass.  All this had to be explained to me second-hand because after this and Dad’s 51 days in the army, Dad decided he wouldn’t inflict religion on any children he might have in the future.

*

“Hey dad,” Six-year old me asked the first time he told me this story after my practicing friends were talking about getting wine at church. “Isn’t that cannibalism?”

“We’re getting to that.”  He waved.

Keep reading

[gaytanic-panic]

@cryptotheism

[cryptotheism]

This type of self-deification is a huge element of a lot of 20th century occult practices, especially in regards to Thelema. Which was itself a reaction to the most conservative and fundamentalist expressions of American protestantism. Crowley's parents were members of a very fundamentalist Prot sect. Much of his theology is a response to that cultural milieu.

Like this is part of what Crowley meant by "every man and every woman is a star". It's genuinely interesting to see the charismatic elements of modern evangelical protestantism evolve a similar structure.

Also you could absolutely make an argument that the new age was in part inspired by the 1970s revival of early 20th century occultism, the core of which was Crowley / Blavatsky's writing. These new age elements definitely influenced the more woo-y ideological currents in modern Christianity. So what I'm saying is you might be able to draw a direct theological line from Crowley to Paula White-Cain. Like this could literally be a christianized thelemic practice unknowingly laundered through the New Age. Idk how you'd prove or disprove that though.

[kinda-a-demon-slut]

As a weird Christian Thelemite, I feel the need to add—

While you very well may be able to draw such a thread, I think any Thelemite who actually has a grasp of Thelemic theology and philosophy would agree that if you are not engaging in self-deification as a deliberate act of Will, you are in fact doing something wrong. When Paula White replaces the names of the prophets with her own, does she do it with the knowing, tongue-in-cheek deliberation of Crowley identifying himself as the Beast 666? I for one doubt it.

She makes herself an implement of her God by positioning herself as prophet—but would she go to the lengths that God asked if his prophets? Does she understand what this self identification means? If not, I would not see it as a deliberate act of Will, but as the type of careless, foolish blasphemy that marks megachurch style Christianity.

I love blasphemy. I love self-deification. (My blog probably makes that abundantly clear.) But if all acts are to be done "under Will", then I do not think that Paula White acts with Will in this way.

To be clear, I suspect you're correct about that line. (I would postulate that it goes through Wicca as well before it reaches the evangelicals.) But I just want to put it out there that just as Christian theology is warped by these preachers, so is Thelemic theology (if that's what they are, one way or another, influenced by).

Fuck I should probably end this with 93's or whatever.

[gaytanic-panic]

@cryptotheism i need further expert analysis here

[cryptotheism]

Yeah I think this is spot on. It also speaks to why Crowley had such a lasting influence on the occult landscape of Modernity. Is Paula here intentionally and willingly engaging with Thelemite theology? No obviously not. However, Paula's actions here are the exact sort of thing that Thelema --for lack of a better term-- meaningfully parodies with its own theology, and it's genuinely interesting to see it travel full circle through the big cultural game of telephone.

[xanaxfarts]

[voluptatiscausa]

Been thinking a lot about how the central myth of my life since I was an infant was the idea that I was born fundamentally broken, dirty, and undeserving of love but an omnipotent entity in the sky was so benevolent and condescending that it loved me anyway (even though I did not deserve it) HOWEVER the only way I could be made unbroken and clean enough to someday approach this entity was by the torture and death of that entity’s inherently pure offspring

Anyway now I struggle to accept that I’m loved because I fear I am fundamentally broken and dirty inside. Probably not related tho

[christmasturtles]

[camfusedly]

I'm reading the Bible again (I'm sorry) but I was reminded...

when Christians tell each other "you're making an idol out of that" or "be on guard to not make an idol" blah blah

what they mean is "be suspicious of things that you love." "Be suspicious of finding joy outside of church."

After all, if you've already been told that sex and alcohol and drugs and dancing and secular friendships are all bad and dangerous, and you've successfully pruned all of these potential major sources of pleasure from your life, the instinct to keep pruning doesn't go away.

Or at least it may not for those around you, who take these extremely literal passages about "don't worship other gods" (gods whose religions have long been pruned from the world) and say "but we must sacrifice. We must keep pruning. We must be suspicious of joy. Do you care about something that isn't from the church? Do you find pleasure in your interests? How dare you."

And it's always your interests and not their interests

[moveslikekeithrichards]

there is no greater joy on this earth than Making Lists, Categorizing, & Sorting

[flying-lemons]

oh do I have the game for you

[dancing-crow]

I could . not. put. this down for 48 hours - stayed up too late, had weird dreams about it, woke up early, and played it while I was supposed to be doing other things. the last several dozen items took a lot of googling, which I do not even begrudge it.

and then. My partner started it. And the SAME THING happened to him.

surprisingly compelling. start when you have free time. like, yanno, a snow day.

[hagiomoto]

Can loud atheists or anyone else speak up against this coz they hate us Muslims and won't listen lol

[mckitterick]

[rip-quizilla]

[venustapolis]

The Forerunner ('Le Précurseur') (Eugène Trigoulet, 1894)

[noangelsavedme]

Finally getting a tattoo. We reclaim the body from God one inch at a time.