Mermay 2025 by Paul Briggs

If evolution is real, why have we as a species not evolved to the point that we easily can distinguish the sound of thunder from the sound of someone rolling their trash bin down their driveway and setting it on the curb??

I work with kids (around ages 2 to 5 normally) and here’s a list of Crazy Things Kids Say/Do from this week:

•

3-yr-old boy, pointing to a paper towel in my hand: “I want to eat that!”

Me, looking at him with confusion because I know this boy knows what a paper towel is: “…this is a paper towel.”

Boy, with a sigh so big and heavy it would rival that of a grown man who just got told the bar was out of his favorite beer after an exhausting work week: “oookaayyyy…😔😔😔”

•

5-year-old girl who has never talked like this a day in her life, running to her mother with all the fervor of a Victorian child who just discovered a ghost in her old rickety house: “Mama! Mama, come quick! Something strange has happened!”

(The strange thing was that the lights had been turned off in the part of the building that we weren’t currently using and it was Slightly Darker than Usual.)

•

Little girl, finding me on the playground and running up to me with wide eyes, practically whispering: “Do you want some mulch candy?”

Me, playing along: “ooo, mulch candy??”

The girl silently puts a singular piece of mulch into my hand and runs away looking suspicious, leaving me to wonder if I just participated in some kind of illegal mulch deal.

•

There was a little boy who kept wanting to wash his hands for no reason which was fine and I would’ve let him do if he didn’t keep trying to walk into the bathroom while there was another kid in there. So after a few times of this he was a little annoyed and to get back at me he rolled this big toy truck over to the sink, somehow managed to lift it over his head and get it onto the counter, then rolled it into the sink, and just stood there looking at the Truck In The Sink with the most smug look I have ever seen.

I love it when I lay in bed for two whole hours tossing and turning trying to fall asleep because I have a test in the morning dangit but my brain absolutely refuses to turn off and instead mentally writes Wyler fanfiction against my will for the entire two hours

Help this fanart has been permanently thumbtacked in the back of my mind 24/7 for the past like at least 2 years and I did not put it there on purpose but I am NOT complaining

this could’ve been them after the slugclub christmas party had they gone together *sighs*

(redraw of a romione art from last year)

Why Muslims won't convert unless having a direct experience with Jesus.

Based both on my personal experience and their own discourses.

Muslims cannot fathom nor comprehend that God is our Father. To them, He is a Creator that purposely keeps His distance from us. He is a MASTER and we're His SLAVES, SERVANTS. As much as they insist that God is merciful and loves us more than a mother, there's always an invisible wall between God and humans that prevents a closer bond to develop.

Original sin doesn't exist in their dogma, so there's no need for a savior.

Following this, they also have difficulty understanding why God would become human to suffer like us, (lesser beings) and die a horrible death out of love for us. Again, this is due to their perception of a distant God.

Another main obstacle they face, is understanding the Three Persons: that He is a One, Triune God. They're quick to shut it down as shirk (idolatry). This is a problem by default, since their own prophet Mohammed didn't understand the Trinity to begin with.

Since they believe the Bible got corrupted over time, they don't bother to read and study it, despite "believing" in it. Rather, they lean on the Quran's recollection of the Holy Scriptures, since they believe to have the definitive and unaltered Word of God.

When they say they know and love Jesus, they mean they know and love the Jesus misinterpreted in the Quran, since they don't read the Bible (except to pick and choose something to try to disprove poorly).

In my POV, for born Muslims this error can be understood as invincible ignorance. For converts, it's proof that they're looking for an authentic, black and white kind of religion with God. Most of them had bad experiences or poor catechism in the past, and want a religion "with no intermediaries." (i.e. priests and the saints; but mostly the latter).

The problem? They rely on their own understanding of the Quran and Hadith, plus whatever their local Iman tells them. (Proverbs 3:5-6; Jeremiah 17:5, Ps. 146:3). So much about no intermediaries.

All this, to say:

Since the grace of God works beyond the Church, Jesus, in His love and mercy, starts appearing in their dreams after many signs of His authority go ignored by them out of fear.

It's interesting to me how Muslims can "debate" with priests, pastors, missionaries, etc. for years; yet they only humble themselves once Jesus starts touching them in ways they can understand and accept --dreams.

Once they have this experience, then they're open to know Jesus, or they convert on the spot.

I might return to this later to expand on it. Nevertheless, please be kind and compassionate to those with an aggressive style of dawah (the equivalent of "evangelization"). More often than not, there's something behind the anger. With that said, stay firm and brave--don't let them insult our creed. Pray silently for them, and move on.

Ok I officially am in love with stemblr

Noceda Siblings ✨

New huntlow art aaaaaa!!!!

YAYYY Ok I really wanna write this now

@fullofwoe5321 I’ll post it when I do it (eventually) and tag you :)))

Tyler's Insults Need Some Work 👀

Okay but on a real note...

When Tyler called Wednesday a cockroach he had to know she'd take that as a compliment right? Like he's been around her enough to know that insults like that don't work..so was he like actually flirting?

Like I'm trying to figure out why he would say that? Like..?

AAAA FANART MY LOVE

Doric tying up her hair and a WIP of Doric and Simon as Link and Zelda cause I have to force my current fixations together