Okay, I've been posting enough 'nice' stuff as of late. Time to toss in something more controversial.
America is a *religious* nation but not a *Christian* nation.
Bwahahahahaha
Regardless of whatever political school of thought you belong to, surely we can all agree that war should be as rare as possible. Sadly, the world has seen near-constant war on an international scale now for over a quarter of a century.
Let us come together as Children of God and decry war. I'm not saying that some wars are just, but I don't believe the wars we are seeing today are truly just.
Peace over war.
I love In Bruges, a dark comedy set in Bruges (in case you couldn't tell) and starring Colin Ferral and Brendan Gleeson. It's about a repentant hitman who killed someone by accident and now has been ordered to be killed by his boss, except the other hitman who is supposed to kill him is his best friend... Also there's a blonde chick whose a thief, a bunch of people in rat costumes and Ralph Fiennes whose really just playing himself but he got payed for this movie anyway.
In Bruges is not a religious movie per se but it clearly is based on the concept of forgiveness, belief and atonement. And finding a reason to keep going. Even when you find yourself stuck in Bruges.
We need just a few more members on the mod team. We just need people to scroll through posts and approve or remove based on the community guidelines. If you have some spare time and are looking for some online activism, this would be a great outlet for your energy.
Please reach out to the mod team and let us know if you are interested.
We have 2 new post flairs for the community. Book Club and Movie Club. It's pretty much what it says on the tin, these post flairs are for posts either discussing or presenting people's favorite God-themed books or movie.
Be it your own media or someone else's. Feel free to let people know about them and spread the good word here.
Something that I admire about Christianity has always been its extreme do-gooder attitude. I know Christians often get flak for that but it really is a service to Christianity as a whole.
One area in which Christians can really take pride in the history of their religion is how resistant they have been to pandemics. Particularly in the Old World.
Were plague would ravage the pagan Roman Empire, the populace would often flee. This would leave those already infected often alone and vulnerable and would help to actually spread the plague.
But not with the Christians who often stayed together in groups and nursed one another through their infection. This had the added benefit that those who pulled through and survived were now immune and so were better able to help others. It was not entirely uncommon for one Christian to help another through their period of infection only for that Christian to end up nursing his own helper when they inevitably become sick.
My thinking has always been (sardonically) that if you simply must join a cult, at least join one of the whacky ones and not one of the dark ones.
2026 marks the completion of Spain's latest, towering cathedral. The Sagrada Familia is a massive complex designed by Antoni Gaudi. It was recently blessed by Pope Leo and was officially lit up at night, a dazzling display of religious and architectural genius.
The Backrooms movie is out and apparently its a hit. I haven't had the chance to see it yet (don't spoil it for me) but I remember back when The Backrooms were become an internet sensation.
It's been awhile since I delved into the semi-established lore of The Backrooms but some odd number of years ago, there was the Whiterooms.
The Whiterooms were perfectly white. They were safe (no hostile entities). And it was said that the Whiterooms were at the 'top' of the Backrooms. According to the stories I read back then, the Whiterooms were occupied by only one known entity. A seemingly ordinary man who, it is strongly hinted in the lore, is God.
Attempts to speak with the man are always returned by curt answers. The man appears tall, handsome and ordinary. But it is strongly hinted he is the creator of the Whiterooms and possibly even the Backrooms as a whole.
This was several years ago and the lore may have shifted since then. But I just wanted to throw it out there now that the movie is making cinematic rounds.
I'm just one guy with a little help running this subreddit right now. And as of late, someone is clearly using mass-produced sock accounts to post 8-12 posts per 24 hours. Sometimes less. And it's making my job a lot harder because either I have to correct the post flair, going through each post, or I go through every post and ban the account. And the next day it's back.
So if this keeps up I might have to block images or something equally drastic. Because I don't have time to be sitting here and doing that.
And to the person who is posting these, you can post in the Artwork & Devotionals category and it would be fine. But we can't have 12 spammy image posts filling up the Prayer category every day. It drowns out the subreddit and other people can't be heard.
This is a great video on the life, times and death of the Scottish revolutionary and reformer John Nox.
As a resident of Pennsylvania, I've had plenty of contact with the Pennsylvania Dutch. And among the Pa Dutch is a tradition of the Old World. The Himmelsbriefen is one of history's greatest pre-internet memes.
The Himmelsbriefen is believed to be a letter literally written by God. In gold ink. And apparently in German? The letter (technically letters, since there have been several) pop up as far back as the 1700s although some reports place them all the way back to the 1600s or even 1500s, which is quite impressive.
The Himmelsbriefen was normally a short letter, said to be a copy of the original of Divine origin, that admonished those who read it to stict to the Ten Commandments and make a copy of their own and spread it. Many Himmelsbriefen also gave instructions for saving and storing the letter in order to acquire good luck and protection from natural disasters.
It's a little known but antiquated element of mainlan European heritage.
"Allegri's haunting Miserere is famous for both its ethereal beauty and for the mystery surrounding its composition. It is written for 2 choirs, who alternate phrases and then unite for a final resolution." (taken from the Choir's video page)
I first came across the Tenebrae Choir years ago and was impressed. They really do have well trained tenors and their harmony is second to none. Highly recommended for lovers of music and traditional Christian hymns.
The Order of the Golden Spur was an honorary award, technically a knighthood, granted to members of the Roman Catholic faith by the Pope for acts of piety, virtue and cultural signfiicance above and beyond the norm.
Mozart achieved the award while still in his youth and the manner in which he did it was, as this article writer puts it, the stuff of legend...
This is from the Universal Ambients YT which you can check out if you're into having some light background music for reading and writing.
I doubt I need to explain the scene, it's Jesus talking with his apostsles on the road to Emmaus. It's a great ambience video I listened to recently while reading and I wanted to share it with you guys.