If I believed in the Christian god, this is what I would believe:

He’s awesome, yeah? A kind of “God, I love my god!” kind of god.

He’d say “Look, Tom, you’re a good guy. You smile at strangers, you hold doors open for people, you try not to judge, you let people know that you love them and why you love them and why they’re amazing. You keep your promises, you help people wherever you can. You exercise your right to voice your opinion and respect others’ right to do the same, even when their opinion directly contradicts yours. You love people, you respect them and you appreciate your existence.”

I find it hard to believe that all of that would be completely outweighed by the fact that I happen to (romantically) love my own gender. I think he’d believe that there’s no such thing as homosexual love; just love.

He’d appreciate the fact that I appreciate nature. The startling beauty and the infinite complexity of every little thing that lives. 

And he’d certainly understand how the behaviour of some Christians (the minority, of course) has deeply tainted his name.

But yes, in one word I’d describe my own Christian god as awesome.

Or, in two, totally awesome.

And that is what I would believe. And yes, it’s an opinion, but if you’re going to hate on it, do it elsewhere.

So I’m reading an article on gay shit and the comments section really started to piss me off. Naturally, the unpleasant Christians were out in force. Here is my contribution.

And when I say unpleasant Christians I mean “the unpleasant people who are Christians.” Not “the Christians, who are unpleasant people.”

See, even though I tried to a completely unbiased argument, I still tended towards a little anti-Christian-ness. And for that I’m sorry. You know I have nothing against anyone.

So yeah, not an unpopular opinion, because I’m sure it’s how most people feel, but an opinion likely to elicit unpleasant responses after the click …

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nerdalamode:

I forgot how much I loved this in high school. And by loved, this shit was totally my livejournal icon.

Freaking genius.

Christmas: Pagans vs. Christians.

I’ve been reading a few things about Christmas and its religious roots.

Now, I’ve read a lot of articles that vehemently support their own cause and, more or less, bad mouth the opposition.

I would like to bring a new idea into this debate: why does it even matter?

Say we gain conclusive proof that Christmas is a Pagan holiday that the Christians shamelessly stole. Or say we find equally conclusive proof that it’s a Christian holiday that Pagans are trying to corrupt out of spite/evil/supposed-devil-worship. (And no, I’m not saying either of those are true, I’m just picking arguments from each extreme)

What would change? Anything? Really?

No.

Proof either way would be pointless because the argument is a matter of faith and personal faith surpasses proof.

If we proved it was a Christian holiday, Pagan religions would continue to celebrate it themselves as they do now. And if we proved it was a Pagan holiday, Christians would continue to celebrate the way they do now.

It does not fucking matter whose holiday it is, it only matters what we ourselves believe. 

Personally I would say that, yes, festivals of the winter/end of the year long predate Christian times. But it still doesn’t prove anything.

No one has exclusive rights to the divine or its earthly implications. We all need to just do what we do, believe what we believe and let others do the same.

And, yes, okay, I know that a lot of Pagan believers will say that Christianity is far from friendly towards them. And I will agree that, for the most part, that has always had an element of truth to it.

But it still doesn’t give you the right to say they’re misguided or wrong.

Not to mention the fact that you can’t just make sweeping generalisations. I know lots of people who will tell me I’m going to hell for not believing in the Christian god, but I know just as many people, if not more, who actually believe that God only desires we try to be good people, no matter who or what we believe in.

Religion has become a tool to a lot of people. A medium through which they can channel their own hatred and agenda. But not a single misused religion has anything like that in its origins or core beliefs.

The vast majority of all religious people are normal, happy people who just want to live in harmony with everyone else. 

The misuse of religion has caused some of the greatest conflicts in history and has accounted for the deaths of innumerable people. It still has that power today and I think it’s about time it stopped, don’t you?

Now, breathe and smile and go and be nice to someone.

The full moon looks absolutely beautiful tonight.

So go, my friends.

Do your things, spin your magicks, praise your deities!

It’s a beautiful night to be doing it.

The 2012 ‘Apocalypse’

I was reading a newspaper earlier and there was an article on the so-called ‘aflockalypse’. Now, for those who don’t know, this was an incident over the New Year where, apparently, thousands of birds fell out of the skies in America, Arkansas, I think it said. 

Now, putting aside the more sensible explanations (most regarding New Year fireworks, scared birds and stationary objects) the two foremost theories are an invisible UFO and a message from God foreshadowing the apocalypse.

This made me think about the apocalypse, that I’m certainly convinced will definitely happen. I’m just not sure how, so I have some theories!

Here are my many theories, enjoy.

Things that may gain sentience and bring about extinction.
-A discarded iPhone 5 prototype. Hopefully it’ll understand “Siri, stop killing me”.
-Food from McDonald’s. I doubt that meat is even terrestrial.
-Tiger Woods’ sexual organs.
-Scientologists.
-Most Big Brother contestants.

Celebrities who may bring about our destruction.
-Charlie Sheen. He will become so ridiculously unhinged that our reality will no longer have the capacity or dimensions to contain him. An enormous tear will appear in the fabric of space-time and our universe will be ripped apart and thrown into an endless, barren void. 
-Misha Collins will become so unbelievably adorable that his image will entrance everyone who sees it. No one will be able to drag themselves away from his beautiful, beautiful face. The human race will succumb to malnutrition and accidents.
-Alternatively, Misha Collins will become so hot that the Earth’s atmosphere will ignite, decimating the world and cracking the planet in two.

Destruction through the arts and entertainment.
-The production of yet more Final Destination and Saw sequels will result in nuclear war.
-The Human Centipede 4 will cause the entire human race to commit suicide.
-An X-ray to determine authenticity of a haunted painting will create a race of immortal, indestructible ethereal beings who exude deadly vapors but possess beautifully painted faces.
-An American company will create their own version of Doctor Who, Open All Hours or Only Fools and Horses. The British will revolt, their ancestors will rise from their graves and an unstoppable army will begin its crusade. America will be destroyed but manage to unleash experimental viral weaponry just before their complete demise. The world will be wiped of life.

Science, medicine and biology.
-New technology will allow the easy exploration of the darkest depths of the ocean. Atlantis will be discovered and its strange power sources and technology will be activated. Lack of knowledge on how to use the technology will result in massive leaks of unknown energy, causing massive destruction to the planet.
-A germ-phobic scientist will take control of every Dyson on the planet. He will upgrade them and install advanced technology with the goal of total cleanliness. In his haste he will forget to specify which entities are to be removed. The destruction of essential micro-organisms will result in mass extinction.
-Snails will develop optical organs that allow the intense focus of light giving them the ability to produce highly-destructive, natural lasers. We will all be slaughtered for making fun of their speed.
-The very first immortal human will be created. Realising what a perversion of nature this is, he/she will set about the task of destroying the race before they begin playing god on a larger scale.
-The Common Cold has a torrid affair with Rabies and falls pregnant. Their children kill us all mercilessly. 
-Cats. With. Thumbs. 

Divine destruction.
-The previously mentioned technological advances in sea exploration will, instead of allow the discovery Atlantis, cause the discovery of R’lyeh. Cthulhu will be awakened and we will be conquered and destroyed.
-The gods of every religion will attempt to smite the Westboro Baptist Church. All the smiting in one place will result in a massive overcharge. The effects will destroy the Earth, the Moon and Mars.
-God will sneeze whilst placing a new sun near Pluto. The new sun will cast out the majority of its atmosphere. Pluto and Uranus will be destroyed. Saturn will plummet into Jupiter, they will both leave their orbits and head towards us. They will head straight for the centre of the solar system, hitting Mars, Earth and Venus on the way. Mars will be thrown out of its orbit into the depths of the galaxy whilst Saturn, Jupiter, Earth and Venus fall straight into the heart of the sun. Mercury remains unharmed and laughs. God facepalms. 
-Gods of the first civilisations of the Earth will be tired of being ignored. They will get depressed, drink too much and, in their drunken anger, destroy the planet.

Other.
-Desmond will fail to prevent the extinction event prophesied by The Ones Who Came Before. The Earth’s surface will scorched by massive solar flares, earthquakes will level cities, floods will wash away coastlines. All that will remain will be the Pieces of Eden, lying in wait for the next civilisation to find them.
-Fish will begin running out of room. Communal housing and densely populated fishcities will become commonplace. A conference will be held to determine the action needed to reduce crowded conditions and the effects on the marine population. All sea creatures will agree to join forces and melt the polar ice caps. Our world will be flooded and the sea will be happy once more.
-We all wake up one morning and Tumblr no longer exists. Global war. End times.

I know, Misha, I know.

tyleroakley:

fluffywhite:

I volunteered at the Salvation Army center around here a couple years ago, helping families pick out toys. It was really fun and I thought I was doing a good thing until two men came in. They were in poor shape, they wore a lot of layers and their jackets and pants had dirt and dust on them. I think they had been sleeping outside. They were coming in to get food from the kitchen, and one of the staff members took them to another room that wasn’t the kitchen. After a while, they were both escorted out of the building. I learned later that day they were kicked out because the staff speculated they were a gay couple and didn’t want to cater to those kind of people.

I can’t even look at the bellringers without being ashamed of them. They help a lot of people, but I don’t want to contribute to a group that still considers homosexuality to be condemnatory.  

Especially around the Holidays…

Know where your money is going.

In the UK, in fact, they openly and vehemently opposed the repeal of the Section 28 of the Local Government Act (1988), which states that any form of local government or authority under government control “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality” or “promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.”

It took up until 2003 for it to be repealed, with the Salvation Army of course hindering this progress using their ubiquity in the United Kingdom much to their advantage. If this had been repealed a lot earlier, I, and many members of the LGBT community in the UK, would probably have been spared a significant amount of the bullying and discrimination that we went through at some point or another.

It was designed to “protect” children from having homosexuality “thrust upon them.” I recall being taught that Christianity was the center of the religious world and was probably the only religion that was based in truth. I didn’t complain about having that “thrust upon me” and I haven’t turned out Christian. And being Christian is a CHOICE. Homosexuality is NOT. I recall many of my tutors openly displaying their political leanings during classes, I resent having THAT thrust upon me. But I’ve never complained nor let it affect my political choices. And, again, that’s a choice. 

Being taught about African American colonisation in history didn’t turn me black.

Learning about the female reproductive system in biology didn’t give me ovaries.

I studied seismic activity in geography but I’ve not yet destroyed any small towns.

Just how learning that homosexuality is a normal and healthy part of the human world will NOT turn your child gay.  

I learned about opposite-sex relationships and intercourse and am I straight? Oh no, look, I’m gay. Your system is flawed, give it up. 

And, something else, you say it’s wrong because the bible says so? Was the bible written by God? No. It was written by people. Many different ones. I don’t personally believe in God, not your god anyway, but if he does exist, you’re gonna get a big surprise. I’ll be going to heaven. Why? Because I live a decent life, I’m a good person and I don’t discriminate against others. All are welcome in my life, as long as they’re decent people, which most people are. That’s all He wants, you know. Good, honest people.

I ranted … again.  

Merry Christmas :)

christowitch:

kitteninastrangeland:

Fucking legend.

Bless this person. <3

BLESS YOU BLUEY

I love you person in blue!