The Chronicles Of Narnia

The “there’s a cousin for that” Lopen

Look I'm just not calm about the nebulous possibilities of superconductors. Whether the work of the team out of South Korea is or is not all they claim, I'm just really excited for the potential to see such a monumental breakthrough in my time. To see how it gets incorporated, to see new versions of familiar technology touting LK-99 as a component even when it doesn't actually improve that particular item much. I want to see the world all excited about the same thing, even a little.

Too bad the prophet Cassandra never met Odysseus

Broadmindedness, when it means indifference to right and wrong, eventually ends in a hatred of what is right.

- Fulton J. Sheen

Being LDS on this website that’s obsessed with finding fault in different groups of people means you’re subjected — semi-frequently, at complete random, and by random blogs so you can’t follow a pattern back to one person to unfollow — to posts that are like

“Mormonism is a cult because-" *insert a) something the church doesn’t teach, b) a claim about how the church is controlling and forces its members to do things they don’t make you do, like cut off contact with nonmembers or something similarly crazy, or c) completely innocuous thing that’s completely normal for any religion to ask of its adherents*

“Mormons are crazy because-" *insert a) something that has literally never been taught as doctrine ever that was either made up about us or spread by weird members in the past who didn’t know what they were talking about and people held onto that instead of listening to corrections regarding it, or b) something taken wildly out of context or worded in a way to purposefully make it sound nuts and which makes way more sense if you’d actually bother to listen to someone try to explain it*

“Exmo here, yeah the church is horrible because-" *insert a) personal experience with individuals doing xyz that is certainly unfortunate but has nothing to do with the church as a whole or its doctrine, or b) wild claims that you KNOW this person is lying about because you literally grew up in the same faith as they did and were taught the same things and you know they’re spouting some serious garbage about what we supposedly believe but of course everyone is going to trust the person who talks like a cult survivor so there’s nothing you can do about it*

And you sit there having to either ignore it (DIFFICULT) or find the courage to message the person who reblogged it to gently explain why the post is wrong (does not go well half the time).

No, the church does not fit the BITE model for a cult (literally the only few parts of the list you could say it matches are the few that are true of literally any religion and do not scream ‘cult’). No, you do not need a lawyer to get your records removed, anyone offering those services is scamming you for money because you can literally just ask your local leaders to have it done. No, we do not genuinely believe that insane Bigfoot Cain folk story or anything else like it. And frankly, sometimes people who leave just lie. That happens. It does not make me brainwashed to say that someone who left the church and is spreading obvious crap about things we don’t really teach or believe is indeed lying and it’s frustrating to no end that the automatic reaction from so many people is that you must be the crazy one, meanwhile you’re sitting there being gaslit about your own beliefs as they go ‘Mormons teach/believe xyz’ ‘no we don’t’ ‘yes you do’ ‘we literally don’t though’ ‘shut up you’re just brainwashed’ ‘????’. Have you ever seen a divorced person spread bad rumors about their ex that are not true? Yeah.

(And before anyone goes, ‘Hey, she’s trying to invalidate the stories of people who left, that’s clearly a cultist!’, I’m referring strictly to people who make false claims about what we teach that can be easily verified as false. There are bitter people out there who do that. I’m all for listening to people who have had bad experiences with other members in the church, absolutely nothing but sympathy and love towards those who have genuinely been hurt in one way or another, and yes there are cultural things especially in Utah that have needed or still do need shifting. But as always, the same is true of literally any religion or just any group of human beings in general because a lot of the time human beings kind of suck. The church isn’t special for this. It’s just as filled with flawed people who need to repent as any other group of people on the planet and that’s no secret. There’s a reason we’re always encouraged by our leaders to continue to become better and to try to be more Christlike than we often are, and the vast majority of members are absolutely trying to live by that and it’s not fair to judge those millions of people by the ones who don’t behave as they should. You can believe the stories of people who have had bad experiences without making out 16 million other people to be horrible. Everything would be a cult if the qualification for that was to have some bad apples in your midst.)

It doesn’t take much to look at different sources to see if there’s another side to a story or another explanation for something that sounds weird. You don’t even have to look through church websites for it, you can literally just ask members if you know any. In fact PLEASE just ask us because I lose my mind a little more every time I see someone just looking at sources that are total confirmation biases against us. Ask faithful, practicing members if they’re really forced to do xyz or ask them to explain something weird you heard. We’re not exactly secretive or shy about explaining our beliefs (hence the missionaries lol), we’ll do it. Heck, I’ve got anxiety through the roof about answering questions because I’m scared I’ll word something poorly but even I will still do it, I’d rather face my fears and respond imperfectly than let someone go around thinking something that’s not true. As long as you’re asking genuinely out of curiosity to hear our perspective and not trying to just poke at our faith and be a jerk, you’ll get people who are willing to answer you and have a reasonable discussion without trying to convert you or something.

Aaaanyway. If you couldn’t tell, I’ve now seen two different posts from two different people today being negative about my faith, so. I’m tired. If you’re so inclined please pray for my ability to feel close to Christ, have love for people I disagree with, and be patient with nonsense lol. Goodness knows I need help with that sometimes. Especially right now since I apparently had enough frustration in me to write this whole thing lol.

Ending the year with Narnia 💗

An incomplete list of Narnia/Bible analogs that are gorgeous and make me want to scream:

Shasta and Moses (They come out of the desert to meet God on a mountain. Raised among strangers and foreigners, without any idea of the glory for which God has destined them, they run for freedom and find themselves leaders of their people. When they ask, “who are you?” the strange voice answers only, “I am who I am; that is, myself.”)

Susan and Martha (Your sister sits at the Lord’s feet and runs to his side every time, as though nothing else matters. Yet you have people to worry about, practical concerns to consider. People need to eat, after all, and who will care for their needs if not you? Should you weep when your Master chides you for the busy anxiousness of your heart? When you come to him crying for your lost brother, you know that he will comfort you.)

Lucy and David (Glittering, righteous children after God’s own heart who are only too fallible. Writers of songs and dreamers of dreams, both of them. You can’t convince me that Lucy wouldn’t have danced before the Lord in a linen ephod, or that David wouldn’t have run at Aslan to bury his face in that golden mane. Stubborn, both of them, yet able to face correction and turn guilt back to praise. Brave, faithful youngest children turned great kings and queens.)

Emeth and Rehab (We ask ourselves how those who never hear the Gospel can have any hope for salvation and are given such small, human answers. The road is narrow, yet here this stranger says “I know your God.” How did He reveal Himself? we want to plead. No answer. The road is narrow, yet these few strangers know His character and His saving power. Someday, we will see them in Heaven.)

Edmund and Paul (“Why are you persecuting me?” calls a voice from above, and just like that the spiteful child is saved. What great things they shall do in the name of the Savior, sure in the knowledge that the Lord came to save sinners, of which they are the worst. They sail across many seas; sometimes, they sail smoothly on and sometimes they are shipwrecked. Still, the King is just and good.)

Reepicheep and Elijah (I am enraptured by stories of a righteous, brave soul who is taken home without tasting death. One is taken in a ship on the water, the other in a chariot of fire. Full of joy and ready to meet the King, both are taken beyond sight. Yet we are sure that their arrivals were safe and that they are in that Far Country even now.)

Grasses in the wind.