#everlasting fire

[scripture-pictures]

[jessesemmensuk]

Everlasting Fire: The Eternal Flame Falls of New York

Located in the state of New York is the waterfall Eternal Flame Falls, more exactly in Chestnut Ridge Park, in Erie County. Although located inside the park’s boundaries, Eternal Flame Falls.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

“I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment.”

-- Bertrand Russell

Temporal creatures cannot affect or subtract from a perfect, eternal creature, by definition, making eternal punishment against them not only disproportionate, but rampantly immoral.

[jennyf1135]

The Rich Man and the Beggar Named Lazarus

The Rich Man and the Beggar Named Lazarus

Luke 16:19-31

There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted lavishly every day.

And there was a beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at the rich man’s gate, full of sores, begging to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. And the dogs came and licked his sores.

The beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom.

The rich man also…

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[therevivaljournals]

A very precious message from Jesus calling you to intimacy with Him. Only He can complete you and make you whole. His love for you burns with an EVERLASTING FIRE.

[wisdomfish]

Into everlasting fire - This is the punishment of sense. Ye shall not only be separated from me, but ye shall be tormented, awfully, everlastingly tormented in that place of separation.

Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

[mrbnd]

New bodies and what to do with them.

New bodies and what to do with them.

We have come to the point in our statement of faith, and I thought I would share it with you here. There is a lot of scripture here, and I probably could break it into bite-size pieces and use if for all of next week. But I am just going to give it to you here and now. For those of you who love to read – here you go. For those of you who like it short and sweet – there will be other posts on…

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[dustygnome]

Diamonds are an Old God's Best Friend

This is a slightly edited version of some shipping meta I wrote months ago for Maltrake as a response to Part 4 of her lovely fanfic, Everlasting Fire.

To be clear, what I’m posting is meta (mine) about a fanfic (Mal’s), largely inspired by a canonized fanfic (Lani’s) based on an MMO adapted from a series of RTS games. It’s related to canon, rather in the way that blood elves are related to trolls. Or centaur to Zaetar, depending on your perspective.

So, this particularly mutated centaur is my take on Lor’themar and the Worst Present Ever.

Social and political traditions must have had a great deal of symbolic importance in sin’dorei culture, especially because they didn’t worship gods. Many of these systems of meaning would have been destroyed by the Scourge. Kael’thas was treated as an almost mythical savior figure for a while, and then that image was demolished as well, along with the royal line. 

I’m imagining that Lor’themar feels tired and adrift now that the war is over, and he’s still not entirely comfortable in his position. As he starts to fall in love with Rommath, his romantic attraction gets mixed up with his search for meaning, and he ends up putting Rommath on a strange (and rather creepy and othering) sort of pedestal as the “dark god” who will scare away their enemies. 

The fact that masks like the one he gives Rommath were an ancient tradition for magisters in this verse adds to the feeling that Lor’themar is trying to resurrect some old sense of order.  He seems to be saying, “Our people need you to play this role, which is great, because you totally want to, right?”  Actually, I think (Mal’s) Rommath does a less sinister, more idealizing version of this to Lor’themar as well. (“You are greatness returned to our people./“The only unblemished thing remaining in the world.”)   They both look to each other to replace that lost meaning.

And I think Lor’themar is keen on getting someone who is *not him* to play the symbolic figurehead role. On some level, he may still be hung up on the idea that he’s too much of a political outsider, and Rommath is a mage and a noble and better suited to this stuff than he is.

(Oh Light.  I’m suddenly reminded of Thrall and his belief that Garrosh was the kind of leader their people needed, not him. Talk about a buzzkill. I do think that was ultimately about insecurity and weariness on Thrall’s part.) 

As for him misunderstanding Rommath, I think it’s pretty clear in ItSotS that Lor’themar is not used to Rommath showing vulnerability around him. (“‘Do not fall for her threats,’ Rommath said quietly, and Lor'themar realized in horrified awe that he was pleading.”) I mean, that is some strong language—why is he so “horrified,” exactly? I’d guess that the Grand Magister’s opinionated toughness had become a familiar annoyance over the years. It may even have been reassuring to him that his advisor always had a plan, which gave him something to either accept or react against as he tried to figure out the whole leadership thing. Seeing Rommath freak out is another reminder of how everything has fallen apart.

I can also see Lor’themar being a little uncomfortable when he eventually realizes that he has Rommath’s respect and loyalty, because it could seem like yet another thing that he inherited from Kael’thas and had to try not to damage further. 

As relieved as he was to find out Rommath was not, in fact, evil, do I think it would take him a while to understand the person behind the mask. I’m sure Lor’themar knows that Rommath has feelings—that he loves their people, was devastated by Kael’s death, hates the Kirin Tor and the Alliance, etc. But I can imagine it would still be difficult to figure out how much of what he saw in the past was just a front, and how much was based on his own preexisting assumptions about magisters. And so he manages to convince himself that Rommath will be delighted with his awesome gift.

I’m wondering if maybe he’s taken to imagining Rommath as more powerful and invulnerable than he actually is because he wants someone to lean on and doesn’t have Halduron for that anymore. That would fit with him calling on Rommath to help him sleep, too.