OSCRIPTUARIES

Because I'm a funeral services student... and I like the Bible.

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I am utterly at a loss when I look at this beautiful grave marker. Caleb Wilde (Confessions of a Funeral Director) helped to bring it to the world's attention a few days ago. It's gorgeous. It really is. I could say a lot about it, but it would probably just be emotional gushing and not really anything of value. Instead, I urge you to turn to the family themselves, to see what they have to say: http://connectingdirectors.com/articles/39656-more-info-on-the-most-beautiful-gravestone-ive-ever-seen

[gingerly-janice-blog]

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This picture is a true story.  A quick search for "suicide" on here brings up a disconcerting amount of re-bloggable images depicting self harm and advocating suicide. Attention seeking is one thing, but these sorts of images carry with them the possibility of inspiring other suicidal individuals to take their own lives. 

The internet poses a very big problem. People no longer have nowhere to turn. They can now turn to other people who feel like they do, who will reinforce what they already believe. Suicidal people pushing one another to the brink is a potential consequence of that. alt.suicide.holiday serves as a pretty big reminder of that.

[veinsofashes]

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I've always liked the idea of the skeleton as an entertainer. Dancing skeletons can be seen on film at least as far back as Disney's premier Silly Symphony, 'The Skeleton Dance.' The actual concept predates cinema by several centuries in the very least, and the earliest form I know it in is as "The Danse Macabre" of medieval European fame.  The dance of death unites us all, says the artist, or in this case, the song, played cheerfully on the bone flute. 

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Dog painting, y'all.

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Besting. Creating. Fun, stew, trees.

Me??

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His disciples asked, "On which day will you make yourself known to us?" Lord Jesus replied, "When you rid yourselves of guilt and shame and tear off your old rags and trample them beneath your feet like children."

Gospel of Thomas 37(a)

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Wow, I just got internet. Haven't had it for a week and some. That's moving, I guess! I should probably post something soon for all nobody who doesn't read this.

Me

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Not religious, but a video of my new neighbourhood that I decided to make. 

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But God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?’ And he said, ‘Yes, angry enough to die.’ Then the Lord said, ‘You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labour and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?’

Jonah 4.9-11

[why-would-god]

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So the United Church then? 

[tuphilosoraptor]

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Then the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord; the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. The priest shall set the woman before the Lord, dishevel the woman’s hair, and place in her hands the grain-offering of remembrance, which is the grain-offering of jealousy. In his own hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings the curse. But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had intercourse with you’— let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse and say to the woman—‘the Lord make you an execration and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge; now may this water that brings the curse enter your bowels and make your womb discharge, your uterus drop!’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen. Amen.’ (Numbers 5.16-22)

I've never quite understood the pro-life position of Christians. Not only are there references within the Bible itself to allowable abortions (such as above) but there are approximately zero prohibitions. I mean, there is a commandment against murder, but there are pretty well stated terms as to what counts as a murder. It's not as simple as causing a death.   Oh sure, if you want to obscure the meanings of verses into your favour, then yeah, you can find a couple. The LORD knew Jeremiah before he was even conceived, and thus uh, abortion is wrong. There are some Psalms which reference the fetus, and uh, so, abortion is wrong. 

 When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman’s husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine. (Exodus 21.22)

But this shit here? Where the life of the fetus is explicitly given less value than the life of a living person (as shown by the less severe penalty)? That shit doesn't count. Let's reference some fucking shit that has nothing to do with it ever on any level. 

Let's do that.

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Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. His head caught fast in the oak, and he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on.

2 Samuel 18.9

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A beautiful, vivid, emotionally devastating Psalm. It's one of my favourites. It captures the earnest feelings of a group who had been disenfranchised, downtrodden, decimated, dismembered, and most importantly, deserted by their God. People have condemned this Psalm for its violence, but it doesn't come from God, or from a Heavenly command, but from the honest feelings of those inflamed with anger, who were lost and confused and hopeless. The sorrow and the thirst for vengeance within this Psalm are tangible, clutching one around the throat. It is evocative, provocative, and wonderful.  Love it forever. 

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As he taught, he said, ‘Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.’

Mark 12.38-40

[lazari110]

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The commandment is not "Thou shalt not kill." The commandment is "Thou shalt not murder." Capital punishment is not defined as murder. Also, it was not universally applied. Repentance and sentencing were far more common. Only those without remorse or those who were seen as especially dangerous were actually killed in the Hebrew society of the time.  The Law is an incredibly complex topic. If you read 3,000 pages on Leviticus, it would only be just enough. To leaf through the Bible and assume you have found a contradiction in an incredibly complex system is a fault on your own part, not the part of the Bible. 

[fuckyeahreligionpigeon]

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Couldn't have said it better myself. The last will come first, and the first last. Fuck the church that builds itself and not the world. A church which indulges itself is nothing but a building, and a pastor/priest/president/imam/rabbi/whatever with more than their congregation is stealing both from God and man. 

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Funny how you christians are so ready to pick on the mormons when your own faith is nothing but a fantasy. It really shows the insecurity you have in your own beliefs. Your shit is weak, son.

Oh, I love the Mormons, but the belief is beyond suspect. There is a key difference between a faith that developed earnestly (even if wrongly) over thousands of years, and an entire religious system developed by one man (a known scam artist) filled with MASSIVE errors even to the understanding of its day, with no archaeological evidence whatsoever to back up any part of it. I've gone through the whole Mormon thing, but I have to be honest in my assessment that it's 100% bunk. That doesn't mean God doesn't honour Mormons, and accept them, and work through them, just as He does ALL people. That doesn't mean I personally don't like Mormons. I just don't happen to like the development of their three holy books, of which I have read all of them no less than three times. Believe it or not, I believe there are things in the Christian Gospels which didn't happen either.