Unlike previous instalments, which were late because of laziness and, frankly, a severe lack of motivation on the part of yer very ‘eavy, very ‘umble servant, this week’s entry into the most beloved series on the site is late with very good reason. As Longtime Readers know full well, I will not profane the day on which we commemorate Our Lord’s Passion with tawdry displays of the flesh. That is entirely contrary to what Good Friday is for.
That is, of course, why we have Saturday, instead.
Let me just write out a few words about the point of Easter, specifically. It is not about rabbits, or chocolate, or egg-hunting through long grass with kiddies. All of that is great fun, to be sure. But it is absolutely not the point of the season.
The point of the season is to reflect upon the willing sacrifice of the incarnate God, to save His own Creation from itself. It is about the precious blood shed for us before and on the Cross. And it is about the defeat and conquest of death – of Hell itself.
No longer do we need to fear death, for the profound mystery of the resurrection empowers us to move beyond such fear and toward the light of redemption and hope. THAT is the true point of Easter.
Let us all, therefore, take a moment tomorrow to reflect upon the miracle of the Resurrection, and to express our gratitude and joy to the risen God.
Now, this week’s instalment is for all of us who are (un)lucky enough to have to deal with nutty women. Actually, this is somewhat redundant, because, from a man’s perspective, ALL WOMEN ARE NUTS. After all, as Jack Nicholson‘s character famously uttered in the classic movie, As Good as it Gets:
Having dealt with several (not very many) examples of the female of the species in my time, all I can say is: AMEN, REVEREND.
That being said, women are also wonderful creatures who bring joy and comfort to our lives as men. The fact is that we do pretty much everything in our lives with two fundamental motivations – sex and death. We work to get one and avoid the other. Precisely which we work to get and to avoid, of course, depends on our life circumstances – just ask the man who chose the wrong woman whether a life sentence shackled to her would be better than death.
So, this post is for the fun and crazy ones.
Her name is Anzhelika Andreeva (Анжелика Андреева), age 29, probably from Moscow, Russia. I’ve no idea what she does beyond that, but if she isn’t at least 25% plastic, then there is something seriously wrong with my eyes.
Happy Easter to all.
4 Comments
That is, of course, why we have Saturday, instead.
.
.
.
.
uh, the funny thing is that the Sabbath is actually Saturday. and i know that various denominations lurv to go on about how worshipping on the Sabbath is part of the “old Covenant” with the Hebrews but the problem is, that isn’t what God said. the requirement to worship on the Sabbath isn’t part of any Covenant at all, Old or New Testament. it’s a requirement from the Creation itself.
.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+2%3A1-3&version=NKJV
And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
.
we are required to rest and sanctify the 7th day because GOD rested on and sanctified the 7th day. not the 1st day. and the even funnier thing is this; for all the rebuking of the Roman Catholics for their apostasy from Biblical directives that the Protestants do, the ( majority of the ) Protestants did not ever repent of worshipping on Sunday, which they got from the RCC.
I have a very serious question about a book series I am working on.
The series centers around a war between the supernatural on earth, descendants of demons, and angels.
The basic plotline is this… and I checked the bible to make sure that there was not an actual conflict:
When Jesus Died, his request was that all could join the kingdom of heaven.
So God agreed. He would allow all creatures to join the kingdom, as long as they repented and embraced him.
That included angels and the host of hell.
But angels and the host were not, like humans, designed to make their own way. they were created to serve, not to triumph over adversity. Their days were not numbered threescore and ten, and they were not expected to make their way by the sweat of their brow.
And angels started to learn that they too could come to earth, and sin, and die. and the host of hell could as well. That was the price they paid for gaining the ability to be exalted.
A lot of angels suddenly were left in the position of being forced to judge their own morality, and a lot of them felt like god betrayed them. Except, you know, there was this guy named Lucipher that offered them the same kind of guidance that they had before God went and gave them the freedom to do wrong or right.
So Earth turned into this sort of a nightmare, where there were a ton of corrupt angels trying to pretend that they were the new voice of God and a bunch of demons who were trying to redeem themselves now that they felt they had the chance.
As well as a few angels and demons that were convinced they were better at being God and Satan than the two themselves.
And stuck in the middle was the antichrist… or maybe the anti-satan, trying to create a force to redeem, and in some cases, destroy, the corrupt hosts of both sides and rescue the redeemed.
Set against the backdrop of OUR world.
This is not ‘sympathy for Satan’ crap or ‘God as villain’ garbage… I just wasn’t sure (especially since I am not going to use the catholic or Jewish Angelic ranking systems) if this kind of book would be looked at favorably or poorly by the majority of Christians. The basic concept is that ‘No matter how confusing it gets, God’s still God.”
I was getting a little tired of writing fantasy :p
Your premise is an intriguing and interesting one – I, for one, would not mind such a book. But, it suffers from a fundamental problem, which is the otherness of the angels. I talk about this at some length in my latest podcast episode.
The essential issue is that, when God created the angels, He made them with perfect knowledge of their assigned task and purpose, and gave them complete understanding of the penalty they would pay if they refused to do so – i.e. eternal damnation, no outs, no ifs, ands, or buts. Those who rebelled and refused, starting with Lucifer, therefore, committed an act of perfect self-hatred against God, because they rejected Him in the complete and full knowledge of the consequences, and fell.
Now, this understanding comes from both Biblical and extra-Biblical sources, so you may be inclined to disregard it. I would recommend looking at the testimonies of various exorcists, from the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions, as part of your background research into this topic, to see how to shape this series, because otherwise it simply will not make sense in a Biblical context. Revelation is absolutely clear that Satan and the daemonic host will burn in a lake of fire for eternity, and God will create the Universe anew, as it always should have been.
Furthermore, I am not convinced of the notion that angels can die – only God has the power to do that.
And the Bible’s information about daemons indicates very strongly that most daemons are actually the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim – the human-angel half-breeds sired by the sons of God who rebelled against Him and His authority. The question is, what would you do about them in your series?
In summary, I think it would be an interesting idea which reminds me of some of the eschatology that went into the Darksiders game series. I, for one, would be intrigued to see the results. But, I advise aiming for Biblical fidelity wherever possible. You will end up annoying a lot of Christians in the process – especially the Catholics, who rely on tradition even when it flatly contradicts Scripture – but you can’t please everybody.
a – this is a fantasy premise, not a religious one. it’s not any more related to actual Christianity / Judaism than DC’s “Lucifer” and you’re doing this on purpose, according to your own essay above. of course, you also claim to be “tired of writing fantasy”, so maybe i’m just confused.
b – an angel who fathered children on a mortal woman would, by definition, be a demon.
c – the “Jesus” in your story doesn’t appear to be part of the triune Godhead. which, fine, there are denominations who claim this. but even the Bible says that Jesus was present at the Creation and was the Word which spoke everything into existence. as such, the idea that Jesus wouldn’t have figured out that he wanted to make this “deal” until he was getting crucified is a bit absurd.
d – to the extent that Jesus tried to “make a deal” at the Crucifixion, God the Father rejected it.
“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as You, not I, would have it.” Then, a little while later, he said, “If this cup cannot pass by, but I must drink it, Your will be done!”
e – you’re fixated on physical death. Christ’s body “died”. just as our bodies will die. but the soul is eternal and while Christ’s soul went to Hell, he continued to exist. just as we will continue to exist. whether wearing a physical body or not, the angels / demons would be fully aware of their spiritual permanence and continuity and would be very unlikely to be overly concerned about their fleshly bodies one way or the other.
f – the host of Hell doesn’t “come to Earth”. they’re here, NOW. they’ve been here since the Fall. the Bible calls Lucifer the “Prince of the Power of the Air” and the lord of this world. the angels also visit on a regular basis ( some denominations claim that there are guardian angels for every believer ).
to sum up:
i don’t know that your books will provoke any more of a reaction amongst Christians than innumerable other fantasy efforts such as Stephen Brust’s “To Reign In Hell” or the extensive treatment of Hell and Lucifer by DC Comics.