Poems announce pregnancy

I (25F) announced my pregnancy with my husband David (27M) Last year. we did all kinds of public things such as gender reveal, baby shower, and we even made our babymoon public on facebook where all our family can see what activities we did.
But the only thing thats not going public is my birth. For some background information my family has had a history of bringing multiple family members into the delivery room where they can watch you give birth and be able to hold and take care of your baby after. they did it to my sister Sarah (24 F) with her 3 kids and to my SIL, Maggie (33F) with her 2 kids. both girls have expressed that both their babies got sick no matter how much they asked for them not to be passed around. my family disrespected boundaries and didnt listen. they also said they felt uncomfortable as for some women in the family would take peeks and they felt violated.
i decided at that moment that i wouldnt be telling my family my due date or when i was in labor. i talked about this with my husband and he completely agrees with whats best for me. which is to not tell my family. i had just recently given birth a few weeks ago and i had told none of my family about the matter. simply because my baby was born a little early and i wanted some time with her to make sure everything was okay.
this week i had finally called my family and told them. i told them about when i went into labor, and why i never told them. we were in a connected call and all the other lines went silent for bit when i heard my mother speak up and say
“how could you take this moment away from us” i immediately got defensive and mentioned how it was my moment and that i needed my space with my baby and if they couldn’t respect that then they shouldn’t visit at all. my mother called me an A-Hole, saying this was family tradition and that i just broke her heart by breaking it.
after that i guess she called and told other family members because now im getting multiple calls and texts saying that im an A-hole for robbing my family of something special and not telling them.
this really isnt helping with my postpartum and i just wanna know. Am i the A-Hole for not letting my family know when i gave birth?

Okay, so for this post there are a lot of people involved (this has been going on for a while) so I'll list up here who's who. This is my wife's family. I'll be using code names when appropriate:
Father-in-law - FIL
Mother-in-law - MIL
Wife(oldest daughter) - Wife
Second daughter - Sarah
Third daughter - Lana
Fourth daughter - Ruth
Second daughter's husband - BIL
Third daughter's fiancee - Karl
My daughter - daughter
Second daughter's older son - Danny
Second daughter's younger son - Aaron
And me as me
I know this is long but bear with me TL;DR Brother-in-law has snapped the last straw for the family and we are all starting to cut ties with him

 BIL's family has their own side of the story that I'm barely familiar with, so it won't be brought up here. We first met BIL way before they got together; Sarah bought a house as a group of friends with her boyfriend at the time, and BIL and his second wife at the time. We didn't interact with him much. We just heard a few stories about him from their friend group. Eventually this situation broke down and BIL and his second wife left and vandalized Sarah's home on the way out. They let their dogs poop all over the floor, stole some miscellaneous items, poured water in their lawn mower gas tank, etc. He did this to Sarah, his future third wife. We thought this guy was out of our lives forever. Sarah eventually came to stay on my couch after she sold the house. She lived with me and my wife for roughly 3 months. Then she went and rented an apartment a few miles away. No sooner than a few weeks did we find out she was dating future BIL, and a few weeks after that we found she was pregnant. He met the family and stated that he wanted to be a part of it. He blamed all his past transgressions on his second wife. We questioned him at the time if he was still with his second wife. He said no, and that he was officially divorced. My wife looked up the public court records and found out that he didn't file divorce papers until 11 days after we asked that question. A small lie but considering our history of knowing him it was concerning. BIL is a big gun enthusiast. About 1 months after they told us Sarah was pregnant, while cleaning a gun at home he shot himself in the hand. Again, we were concerned but Sarah assured us he was a changed man and this was just an unfortunate accident. His hand healed but he didn't do his physical therapy that seriously so his hand is still kind of jacked up. I feel this is important because he kind of has a history of not following through on what he says. During Sarah's pregnancy we found out that BIL seriously beat one of their dogs back when they bought the house together. We also figured out he diagnosed himself with bipolar, but refused to go to a doctor to get an actual diagnosis. The whole family at the time was distracted by all of this because during Sarah's pregnancy my wife went through a major medical struggle that resulted in multiple surgeries and a months-long stay in the hospital. We were so focused on that the BIL details just kind of came and went at that moment. Sarah gave birth to Danny during COVID lockdown. We were so excited and we all were very active in Danny's life. Time would pass and we just kind of got used to BIL being despite the fact that he often would miss family events. BIL and Sarah would move into a house on my in-laws property just down the road from in-laws house. MIL became their primary caregiver as she could work it around her job and still make decent money. As 4 years have passed my MIL, FIL, Lana, my Wife and I all take shifts of watching their now 2 kids for them, for free. MIL also watches my daughter but significantly less that their son's. 2 years would pass after Danny was born and everything seemed OK. There would just be hints in they way he talked about who he really was. He would say something in casual conversation like "man, there seems like there are too many black people in commercials these days" or "I don't know why we are forcing women's sports to be a thing." Bigoted stuff like that, but veiled enough so there was plausible deniability. I would often call him out on it, so he really grew to not like me. This all changed at his 30th bday. He had a big party with a lot of alcohol and weed with dozens of friends. My wife and I didn't go because we are not party people. Lana and Ruth went to the party. Sarah was also there. During this party BIL went outside and decided to "mud" his jeep through the creek beside their house. This was possibly with Karl but I'm not sure of that to this day. Karl has recently come into the picture prior to this event and was previously friends with BIL for a long time. The jeep got stuck and flooded for obvious reasons. After trying to get it out of the creek by multiple means, they gave up and left it there. I believe it took almost 2 days to get it out. He went back to the party and as everyone got progressively drunk and high, my 2 sister-in-laws Lana and Ruth (I believe) criticized BIL for getting his car stuck in a creek while playing. BIL verbally assaulted them and demanded they get out of his house. They left in tears. They drove separately, and Lana had gotten buzzed so they both got in Ruth's car and drove to my house. They sat and vented to my wife and I for a while, and eventually I offered that we should go do something fun to take their minds off of it. My wife and I drove them to Taco Bell and we got some food and drove around town for a while and made jokes in the car. After they cooled off and were in a better mood they said that Lana needed to go get her car from the party. In a flurry she accidentally left her keys inside her sister's and BIL's house. We drove them over just in case anything sketchy happened but Lana and Ruth didn't want us to go inside, so we waited out in the car. She didn't think it would be a big deal to walk in, but as her and Ruth did BIL immediately got in her face and demanding she gets out or else. Ruth went to talk to someone else at the party and didn't notice this at first. BIL shoved Lana against a wall and held her there. Everyone apparently stood in stunned silence as this happened. He then shoved her to the ground, grabbed her around the ankles and started pulling her across the floor. As he was threatening to do even worse, Ruth ran up and jumped on his back and gave him a head lock. She screamed at him to stop but before BIL could anything about this everyone finally woke up and pulled them apart. Ruth helped Lana up and they ran out of the house onto the front porch sobbing. My wife saw this and got out of the car and yelled at them to get back in our car. We drove up to the in-laws house. By then it was past midnight. MIL was about an hour away working her job and FIL was up in his room asleep. The sisters went and woke him up and explained the situation through tears. They also called MIL to inform her of the situation. He got ready and ask me to go with him down to the house to get some answers. The sisters stayed up at the house. We drove down in his car and when we got out the entire party was ready for us and greeted us at the car. Literally over a dozen people, most of whom I did not recognize started screaming what happened at both of us simultaneously. Everyone was clearly very drunk. FIL looked overwhelmed, so I raised my hands and tried asking everyone to stop for a second and go one by one telling their bit of the story. BIL stopped me mid sentence and pointed his finger in my face. I noticed he had his other hand on a holstered hand gun. He yelled out "You don't have a say here! You're barely even part of this family." For context, I had been with my wife for over 11 years at that time and he hadn't even married Sarah yet and had been there about 2 1/2 years. FIL backed up and told me that I need to stop talking and that I was being a problem. I backed off and went over the yard to Sarah and Karl. I asked Sarah what happened and she told me that she didn't see what happened and that she wasn't very aware of what was going on now. Karl would barely answer the same question. I walked back over to FIL but he told me to back off and that I really wasn't needed there. Admittedly I felt pretty insulted and just decided to walk back to his house and get my car and go home with my wife. We eventually left after FIL came back to the house. We found out later that BIL had pulled his gun out and threatened to kill himself if FIL didn't leave. Out of fear of what he would do, my in-laws were pretty afraid to take action at this point. A lot of the situation was his word against someone else's and Sarah went on a tour around to the friends and convinced them not to take any of this to the police. She then tried to smooth things over with the family and offered that BIL would apologize to everyone. He then refused, stating that Ruth was the real aggressor and that she assaulted him. He eventually agreed to apologize to just FIL for causing a problem and I think some half-hearted apologies to Lana and Ruth. The whole situation was swept under the rug but an unease has existed over the family since then. He stopped coming to family events pretty much altogether. About 4 months after this situation, prior to my daughter being born, he told MIL he was going to bring Danny up to their house so she could watch him for a few hours while he took a nap. His job works long hours so this wasn't out of the ordinary. However, he didn't show up for a while and my MIL started questioning what going on. She called but there was no answer. She drove down to his house and knocked but there wasn't an answer, only Danny crying in the background. She let herself in and found BIL asleep on the couch with Danny actively trying to wake him up. MIL tried to wake him up but nothing for a few minutes. She gave up and wrote a note to let him know where Danny was. BIL didn't notice Danny was gone for 2 hours. He finally woke up, drove up to in-laws house, and yelled at my MIL for just taking Danny without informing him. He took Danny and then left. A few months after that, after my daughter was born, He fell asleep while watching Danny again. This time we found out because when he woke up the front door was open and Danny was gone. He called in-laws for help finding him. My in-laws have a large property (about 200 acres) with a ton of it forested. Danny wandered 1/4 of a mile into the woods and I believe it took roughly a little over an hour to find him. Family questioned him hard this time but he just recoiled back into their house and didn't talk to us much. Sarah continued to defend him and said it was just an accident. Again the police were not notified about any of this. There was always this idea that if we went to authorities about any of this they would just run for it. They would then surprise everyone with the news that they were pregnant again, despite the fact that Sarah had used the morning after pill. This whole time they hadn't married yet. They announced that they were getting married but Sarah told Lana that it was mostly just to help BIL not have to go through bankruptcy a second time. I wasn't sure if this would do anything to help that situation, but that's what Sarah said at one point leading up to the wedding. About a month before the wedding, however, he threatened Sarah that if she insisted on inviting my wife to the wedding he would demand to invite a friend of his that Sarah hated. This friend also used to date BIL I believe. This was his ploy to force Sarah to not invite my Wife or me. The 2 other sisters and MIL all stood in solidarity with us and said that they would also not go if we weren't invited. He eventually relented and they got married a little before Aaron was born. As more kids were added, MIL's childcare duties got much harder. Eventually my wife and I started paying her (not much but something at least. $150 a month) to watch our daughter, but we also did chores for her, bought her food often, and eventually my Wife started taking a few shifts to watch all 3 children. To date, BIL and Sarah have never compensated any of us for our work. It's a little frustrating but we've tried to understand because Sarah and BIL seem to be bad with money. They objectively make more than us yet can't afford to pay MIL anything. Last Thanksgiving, in the middle of dinner, Sarah and BIL decided to have an "intervention" and talk about how we were not treating BIL fairly. They addressed everybody but really honed in on me specifically. This seemed to be because the rest of the family kind of dance in eggshells around them, while to be frank I'm pretty honest about how I feel about them. They seemed to think I was causing the family to turn against him and questioned why I would do that. I told him he lacked humility. He said he didn't understand. I told him that if he admitted to his mistakes and actually apologized about any of the stuff I previously wrote, instead of blaming everyone and everything else then the whole family would feel a bit different about him. A lot of talk was about the 30th b-day and other times when I just ignored him and how he had already apologized about the party. I reminded him that he didn't apologize to most of the family and he blamed Ruth. He then stated that Ruth was the cause of a lot of the problems at that party. He also made a big deal about how the family doesn't trust him with my daughter and kept emphasizing how he has never held her. We finally tried to come to an agreement. I told him I would try to talk to him more and try to understand him better and he said he would try to come to family events more. He also wanted more of a relationship with my daughter. We left and my wife and I were skeptical but we said that if this is who Sarah really wanted to be with, as long as BIL wasn't perceived as a threat he could have more contact with our daughter. We have had way more of a relationship with his kids than he has had with our daughter so I tried to sympathize with that imbalance. Karl also stated later that having known BIL for a long time, he thought he was very sincere. To date, BIL has not asked or tried at any family events to spend any time with my daughter, despite having numerous opportunities. Now to the current situation. About a month ago Lana and Karl announced that Lana was pregnant. This was a revelation due to Lana having a medical condition that made it harder to get pregnant. A lot of excitement was brewing in the family because of this. Karl has been seeming like a good partner to Lana, and proposed to her a little before the pregnancy happened. This is especially pertinent because Lana and Karl moved into a house together right beside BIL and Sarah. A few days ago they were over at Sarah and BIL's house when an argument broke out between Sarah and BIL. BIL demanded that Sarah wasn't an "obedient enough wife" and that if she wanted there marriage to work then she was going to have to get better at serving him. She was upset and they weren't coming to an agreement so he was going to leave, but apparently he was very high so Sarah refused to give him the keys to his car. He got extremely mad and then got a gun, held it to his head, and threatened to kill himself if she didn't hand over the keys. Fortunately, Danny and Aaron were taking a nap during all of this. Sarah called the police during this whole exchange and the operator heard a lot of what BIL said over the phone so based on that they arrived at the house. He apparently drove away and it took the police a bit to find him but once they did he turned himself over. They admitted him to a mandatory 72-hour stay at a psychiatric ward for a mental health assessment. Sarah then came up to the rest of the family (not me or my Wife) and gave them Danny and Aaron. She then went and confided with Lana and Karl about how abusive BIL had been and how life was just miserable right now. A lot of us, especially Karl and my in-laws, were telling her that she needs to leave BIL and file for emergency custody of her children. She seemed to be listening to us and turning a corner, but inexplicably the psychiatric ward allowed BIL to have a phone call with Sarah and they had a long conversation. Suddenly, Sarah shut us all out and completely changed her story. She started defending BIL again. BIL was then let out of the psychiatric ward a day early. Since Karl was working at the time, Lana came to stay with us and then over at her in-laws. We are especially concerned about her safety around BIL due to her being pregnant. They have since cut nearly all contact with us for 4 days now. They have only told Karl that they were getting a new TV because the old one mysteriously broke somehow. They have continued to post on social media like nothing has happened. They have spent 2 days with BIL's family so we aren't sure what their opinion of this is, though we do know a sibling of his has also told Sarah to leave him prior to this latest situation. We don't know what their plans for childcare is because they are wholly reliant upon us. Lana is very reluctant to ever be home alone. Ruth is as well. There are so many other details I haven't mentioned. There have been holes in walls they've had to fix. There is some evidence that BIL is cheating on Sarah, but that evidence is somewhat inconclusive. The bigoted comments for a while now have gotten increasingly misogynistic. It's a lot of 'we need to respect proper gender roles' kind of stuff. There's just too much and I've already written a book on here. I don't really know what to do at this point. Because a lot of this stuff has been swept under the rug it's hard to tell how seriously CPS or police would take our claims. FIL has threatened to kick them out of their very cheap rental they're in now. Who knows what they would do in that scenario. I know this post is detailed and because of that BIL or Sarah might see it, but at this point I wonder if I even give a shit. They've already eluded to keeping their sons from us in the past and the vibes we are getting now is that they are already doing it. And from the bottom of my heart, fuck BIL. 

My husband, my 5 months baby, and I have been living in a house right in front of my in-laws' house, on the same property, for about a year.
Since my pregnancy, we realized what they really are (I am also a daughter of narcissistic parents) and for almost 4 months, we haven't spoken to them after finally setting boundaries, and of course, they didn't like it and have used every manipulation technique, including a smear campaign on social media and throughout the family, especially against me. They didn’t even care about the grandson over their ego, never asked if he was ok since we went LC and stopped reacting to all their bullsh*t. This woman, 4 days after we announced our pregnancy to everyone, called family members saying she was going to kill herself just to get attention back.
We've been preparing our move to a new country for months and didn't want them to know in advance to avoid risks. However, we learned that there might be a third person who partially knows about our plans and might tell them, so we decided yesterday to assertively inform them through a message but didn't specify the exact month of the move (it's going to be earlier, so we're still somewhat one step ahead).
My husband just looked at his phone now and laughed. He looked at me and commented that his mother's response (which took almost 24 hours) was to say something she never said in 30 years. Guess what.
"Wish you all the best. I love you so much."
This made me feel so many things, especially now that I am a mother. I felt sick.
We can't wait to get out of here and never see these people again.

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Almost everyone is probably aware of the timeline inconsistency in Book 1 of HoC with the Fall of Pale being said to have just happened, and this not matching up with it supposedly being 1159 Burn's Sleep. What most people might not be aware of is that even if the year was 1163 it would still be an inconsistency because it would be the wrong time of the year.
In chapter 2 of GotM Tattersail tells us Pale fell in late winter:

In some military headquarters back in the Empire's capital of Unta, three thousand leagues distant, an anonymous aide would paint a red stroke across the 2nd Army on the active list, and then write in fine script beside it: Pale, late winter, the 1163rd Year of Burn's Sleep. Thus would the death of nine thousand men and women be noted. And then forgotten.

But in chapter 1 of HoC, right after Karsa has started his journey, we are told that it is late spring:

Less than a score days remained in this, the season of spring.

While in chapter 3 Torvald Nom says Pale has just fallen:

‘This is Culvern Crossing,’ the Daru went on, ‘and it’s a storm swirling with the latest news from the south. All right, a small storm, given the size of this latrine pit of a town. The scum of the Nathii, which is saying a lot. The Malazan company’s pretty excited, though. Pale’s just fallen, you see. A big battle, lots of sorcery, and Moon’s Spawn retreated-likely headed to Darujhistan, in fact. Beru take me, I wish I was there right now, watching it crossing the lake, what a sight that’d be. The company, of course, are wishing they’d been there for the battle. Idiots, but that’s soldiers for you-’

It's clear that Pale must have just fallen, and it can't be months old news that have just reached them since Torvald thinks Moon's Spawn is crossing Lake Azur in that very moment. Karsa's journey would have to have taken him nine months for it to be late spring when he set out, but be late winter when he's in Culvern Crossing. Karsa needing nine months to reach Silver Lake seems far too long.
There is also another indication that Karsa travels to Seven Cities around the time of GotM, and that is later in chapter 3 after they have entered the Nascent when the Unbound are on board the Silanda after Karsa has killed Binadas they sense they are hunted by other T'lan Imass:

‘Let us find out. Begin the preparations. Ber’ok, scatter that handful of otataral dust in the cabin-the Tiste Edur sorcerer’s warren remains open and, in this place, it will quickly become a wound… a growing wound. The time has not yet come for such unveilings.’ The speaker then lifted its mangled head and seemed to sniff the air. ‘We must work quickly,’ it announced after a moment. ‘I believe we are being hunted.’ The remaining six turned to face the speaker, who nodded in answer to their silent question. ‘Yes. There are kin upon our trail.’

I think it's a very reasonable to assume that these are the same hunters that Felisin's group encounter in chapter 9 of DG. I also think it would be weird to have these T'lan hunters roaming the Nascent for years without finding the Silanda, but them being there for a handful of months seems relatively reasonable.
Another oddity related to the timeline placement of HoC Book 1 is the age of Karsa's daughters in TtH. If we assume that Harllo is five years old in TtH as the book says, then TtH should be set during late winter 1170, since he was conceived in the middle of 1164 in MoI, and would therefore be born in 1165 and be five in 1170. If HoC book 1 is in 1159 then this would mean that Karsa's daughters should be around 10 years old, which seems far too young.
Karsa's daughters being 10 might in fact be too generous. In tGiNW we learn that Sarlis was pregnant with Rant for 2 years, and if Teblor women have equally long pregnancies then Karsa's daughters wouldn't be born before 1161, and only be 9 in TtH. If we also take the date for HoC Book 1 to be winter of 1163 based on the Fall of Pale reference, then Karsa's daughters would in fact be younger than Harrlo.
Something that many might not know is that when HoC was originally published the year given for Book 1 wasn't 1159, but 1139. I wonder if Erikson might have based the age of Karsa's daughters on the 1139 date, which would mean that they are in their late twenties in TtH, which seems much more reasonable. But this would be a very strange error to make if the 1139 date was simply a typo. Erikson should know that HoC Book 1 isn't decades before the other books, unless that was in fact the original plan and he forgot he had changed it.
I feel the type of timeline errors related to HoC Book 1 indicate that there originally was a time skip in the middle of it that was abandoned relatively late in the writing process. Erikson has said that he doesn't care overmuch about the timeline, but he also prides himself on that he doesn't put anything in a book that he doesn't feel must absolutely be there. I can't really see any purpose to the mention of the Fall of Pale except to give the reader an idea of the timeline, but this would be unnecessary since we have already been given the year and even the season earlier in the book. If there had been a time skip then Erikson feeling the need to clarify when the story is taking place would make perfect sense.
My guess is that Erikson originally planned for HoC Book 1 to start in late spring of 1139, and then have a time skip and end it in late winter of 1163. In chapter 2 Karsa gets captured by the people of Silver Lake and put in a slave pit, but he almost immediately escapes before being recaptured by Malazan soldiers. The natural place for a time skip would have been to have Karsa be a slave for 24 years before his escape attempt.
In addition to the age of Karsa's daughter making more sense in TtH, another neat thing with the part of HoC before Karsa becomes a slave being in 1139 would be that Elade Tharos would be 80 years old in tGiNW just like Karsa was 80 at the beginning of HoC, and I really like the symmetry in that. In HoC Elade Tharos is "no more than forty" when he witnesses Karsa killing his family. tGiNW is set about ten years after MBotF, which would be around 1180, roughly 40 years after 1139.
Elade Tharos's ambitions in tGiNW are exactly the same as Karsa's in chapter 1 of HoC when we learn he is 80:

And I have but just begun on this path. Newly arrived to my eightieth year of life, finally a warrior in truth. I have heard the oldest words, the whispers, of the One, who will unite the Teblor, who will bind the clans one and all and lead them into the lowlands and so begin the War of the People. These whispers, they are the voice of promise, and that voice is mine.

If Erikson in fact planned for Karsa to be enslaved for several years then why did he abandon this idea? It might be that Karsa being a slave for so long became too derivative of the Conan the Barbarian film, or it might be as simple that he felt the story flowed better without Karsa being enslaved for a long time. Or there might never have been a time skip with Karsa being enslaved, and I'm just taking crazy pills.

Me again!
Context: My beautiful baby turned 1 last week. She’s our first. On her actually birthday her dad and I took her to an indoor playground, and got ice cream after and it was the perfect day just the 3 of us.
We have a birthday party planned for her in early June, which is admittedly late but ultimately how it worked out. We have 1 party planned that everyone is invited to. Period.
We aren’t doing any side quests, and asked for both sides of the family to respect that. Its an honour and privilege to be able to do this for her (even if she won’t remember)
The Story: A suspicious brunch invite was sent to us for this last weekend at my ILs. It was decently last minute, and the timing of it being so close to my daughter’s birthday just set my spidey senses off. I asked DH to explicitly ask if this was a birthday celebration, or just a get together. MIL swore up and down that it wasn’t, and she just wanted everyone over for brunch. Cool, we agreed to go.
We get there and there’s presents and cake and the whole family was invited to celebrate. I immediately shut it down and very firm that this wasn’t to happen. Her response? “You celebrated her birthday last week, it’s my turn”
Full passive aggressive, running off and talking negatively about me within earshot. DH pulled her aside and we left right after.
She does this tho, that’s why I knew this brunch was suspicious. You explicitly ask her not to do something and she will do it anyways if she doesn’t agree with your answer.
Example: She announced my pregnancy at a party of hers after we explicitly asked her not to because I was having serious difficulties and hadn’t told a lot of people yet.
I can’t stand this woman.

“It was a special day, during the year 0, in the Roman occupied lands of Palestine, as I was with a very important task”
Gabriel started to narrate her story, reminiscing those days she mentioned.
““_Give this message, to a girl named Mary, in Bethlehem:You will bear the Son of God, and He shall be God in form of man_” as Lord YHWH ordered me, and as I walked down the streets, I began to hear a voice, of a rather young girl, going person to person, asking for something, before she came up to me, and asked me:”_Miss, do you perhaps know of a man looking for a bride? I am looking for a man to marry_”, and when I asked of her name, she was the one and only Mary, so I was taken aback, given how young she was, but I had to send her off, as I was not prepared for this”
Gabriel kept going, not taking her gaze off from Mary.
“I met her some time later at a well, and I asked her for how long she has been asking for a husband, and she’s been searching for 3 days, and this was the 4th, and had begun to lose hope in finding a man, despite praying each night. I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel bad, so that night, now that I was sure that was the Mary Lord YHWH appointed me, I entered her mind in her sleep, and gave the this message in her dreams:”_Mary of Bethlehem, for 4 days you’ve prayed to find a man, and tomorrow, you will, as you will be the mother of The Savior, Jesus Christ. Tomorrow, you will find your man before sundown_” and the next morning, she gave those incredible news to her parents, who were very joyous and honored that Lord YHWH heard their pleas”
Gabriel had a huge smile on her face, Göll also smiling from the story.
“What happened after? She met her husband Joseph right?”
Gabriel immediately answers Göll’s question.
“Yep, she did, in the same well she met me, as he heard of her wish, and decided that if no one else was going to marry her, he will, Mary was very happy to hear that, and decided to spend the rest of the day until sundown to be with him, as they then both began to learn more of each other, Joseph revealing he is a carpenter, which coincidentally had helped Mary’s parents, but that day, when Joseph and Mary went to her house, they found the entire house had been ransacked, the parents unharmed, and both thanked our Lord for the safety of Mary, who then gave her the news that the Roman Emperor had found out about the existence of hidden Christians, and sent soldiers to eradicate them, before Joseph stepped up, promising to protect Mary if her father gave him her hand, which they happily did”
As Gabriel was talking and Göll was listening, Brunhilde was still focused on analyzing any trick that Mary was using against Lucifer.
“And so, Mary and Joseph embarked on a long travel, where they met with a caravan heading to Nazareth, where under the guise of rags and wrinkles, I decided to join in, to keep an eye from Mary, before I once again entered her dreams, announcing that the birth of Jesus will be a virgin one, and that she must say this to everyone to avoid confusion, but as the caravan traveled, Mary had began to suffer the symptoms of pregnancy, Joseph taking extra care for her, before they were stopped not too far from Nazareth due to a storm, before Mary decided that they were close enough where she and Joseph could make it there by themselves, and once the storm settled, she and Joseph thanked the caravan, and made it to the city of Nazareth, meeting a group of farmers before Mary began to go into labour, the farmers helping Joseph hurry Mary into their staple, lying her carefully on a pile of cloth and straw, and as Mary started to give birth, a bright star shined above, when Lord YHWH sent the 3 other Archangels to tell 3 kings to follow the star, and give their gifts to the son, as he shall bring salvation from sins”
Göll was amazed at the story, before Gabriel kept on going for the final snippet.
“And thus, began the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, which Mary and Joseph, together, helped raise, and bore witness to his various parables and miracles, and both sadly wept at the time of his crucifixion and his rebirth, but even after he was gone, Mary kept on spreading the word of God, redeeming sinners and aiding with local issues, and one day, years after the death of Jesus. I was allowed to show myself in my full glory, for I had one last task for Mary:helping her ascend to the kingdom of Heaven before her death, a feat yet not done by neither man nor woman today, and as she ascended, Lord YHWH gave her among the biggest honors a human could ever have:the titles of Holiest saint, greatest woman, and the one most important title, the one of the Queen of Heaven:_Regina Caeli_”
As soon as Gabriel finished narrating, Brunhilde was still puzzled.
“Queen of Heaven? So she’s a much bigger deal than I thought”
Göll said, amazed at Gabriel’s story of Mary, Gabriel looking at the fight.
“Yeah, but I’m confident she’ll net humanity a well needed win”
{Intermission:Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit}
[these intermissions are meant to be like extra chapters with either interaction with audience members, or are the introduction of them]
As Mary was walking to the arena doors, she was greeted by a familiar voice and footsteps nearby.
“May God be with you, my dear”
And as Mary turns around, she can see her dear husband Joseph, accompanied by Jesus and his 6 other siblings:James, Joses, Simon, Jude, Judith and Miriam.
“Joseph? My kids, what are you doing here?”
Mary asked them, resting her thurible around her neck and waist as Joseph went to hug her, alongside the rest of the family.
“Just wanted to see you one last time before we went back to the audience seats, dear Mother”
Jude told Mary, as she embraces the hug”
“Thank you my son, worry not about the fight, I’m sure our Lord won’t let me die against his greatest oppressor, for I am his Holiest Saint”
Mary smiled, before she saw Gabriel approach them, her family also noticing her.
“Been some time, Mary of Bethlehem”
Mary was about to bow, but Gabriel stopped her.
“I was just passing by, I was headed to the medbay to help our Raphael, but I am glad to see you safe, although I never would’ve thought you’d step up instead of Joan” “It is my duty as the Queen of Heaven to eradicate sin and bring salvation”
Mary responded to Gabriel, before she looked at the door to the arena behind her.
“We’ll keep cheering you on, Mom”
Judith said happily, Jesus and Joseph nodding as Gabriel then accompanied them back to the audience seats, Mary looking at the arena entrance, taking out her bible and beginning to pray as Heimdall began to announce her entrance.

I love my cousin, and she had a baby in March. I love both her, and her baby, and I’m really happy for her.
I’m going through a divorce at moment, and have lost my baby who would’ve been two months younger than my nephew. I feel terrible about it, so much to the point where I avoid looking at wedding pics or pregnancy/birth announcements even on social media. Even though I’m really happy for them, I lost my child towards the end of December. Ik it’s been 5 months. I’m still recovering mentally. But I end up thinking about what my child would’ve been like, when I see babies. (Ik I shouldn’t. I’m trying my best at working on it, but sometimes I can’t help it. I just drive home and cry)
My cousin is not aware of the marriage, divorce, my pregnancy or losing the baby. (We had a court marriage and didn’t tell anyone apart from parents. We decided to do a ceremony after a few years.)
She threw a party last month, inviting all the relatives, for a meet and greet, with my nephew and decided to do his name reveal. She lives in a different state.
I did not attend and blamed it on work.
When she reached out, I said I’m really sorry, and that I’d definitely fly down to meet her and my nephew soon. But I still can’t seem to find the courage to do that.
But I also feel her getting impatient, and might assume there’s something wrong or that I’m not happy for her. I’m really happy for, and I want the best for her and my nephew.
Idk what to do. Should I suck it up and just go meet them for a few hours? Or AITA to wait till I feel better, before meeting them?

I hope this is not too stupid to ask, but I'm a FTM 10w6d and I was just wondering how does it work when you go for a scan and don't want to find out gender there and then, but rather reveal it at home? One of my friends did a confetti in their garden which I really liked as I want to share this moment just with my partner. So what happens? How do I get the confetti for example without knowing? Is that something they sell at the Dr's? I'm in the UK... I can't ask my friend because I haven't announced my pregnancy yet 😬

It’s very clear them and their pr run that sub and has become a place for them to spread hate, create meme and narrative they then get to spread to other social media and media outlets. This has been happening for couple of years now against Deepika, Ranveer and any other actors they don’t like and feel insecure about. (Vicky, Kartik, Kriti etc)
Most Deepika fans are banned in that sub so they won’t counter their hatful posts and comments. When a post calling for a stop for the targeting harassment of Deepika gets a lot of comments and upvotes from general sub members the post gets taken down like it just happened few hours ago.
Obsessing and trashing Deepika as a woman, an actor and spreading negativity about her relationship been their go to methods but now they can’t even leave her alone during pregnancy.
After the mass love they got in their announcement of their pregnancy and the crowd that gathered when they went for ambani wedding has woken up the insecurities and jealousy of these nepo couples and it’s been a none stop attack on her pregnancy since then.
All slandering narrative from Ranveer isn’t the father to she’s not really pregnant and faking it for attention and everything in between and beyond been first posted on that sub then spread to other sm and mods allowed and nurtured that behavior when they didn’t allow it and were banning people when Alia was pregnant. No Deepika fan were fighting for free speech to trash a pregnant woman. If they said anything not positive they were banned let alone be entertained for free speech debate.
That sub is a dictatorship and not a democracy just like most subs. They have their orders to allow the harassment and slander of Deepika pregnancy and there is nothing you can do to stop it so pls just avoid it. This will continue after she gives birth as well comparing skin color and eye color just like they do with the adults.
Just report to reddit what you can and use other subs for bw related communities.
FYI again let me make this clear, majority of Deepika fans been banned from that sub since long time and the few that remain aren’t big enough to do and say anything that warrant “Deepika fans” kind of comeback. Every neutral that says nice things about Deepika or upvotes and downvotes aren’t Deepika loyalist they’re just bw fans.

My group of 7 closest girlfriends ( these are all 15+ year friendships )all had babies in the last year or are currently pregnant and completely have distanced themselves from me. All of them had instant pregnancies and none of them had to face any difficulties nor infertility. 2 of them were on the fence about having kids yet ended up having them anyway bc they felt their biological clock ticking and felt pressure from their families.
Since the very beginning 4 of them were unable to support me and make space for me, so I distanced myself from them and would only respond when they would reach out which was minimal at first and became nonexistent. Another one stopped following up as it almost felt like my constant bad news and set backs were bumming her out and I felt her just pull away.
The last friend standing, my Maid of Honor, who had gotten married less than 6 months ago, announced her pregnancy a week after my miscarriage, right before the holidays and the news were crushing to say the least. This friend and another ( mother of my godson) tried for a bit but gave up when they both got pregnant- my MOH with her first and my comadre with her second. Now I can’t even bear to see their names pop up on my phone, without having a panic attack, as both of them are days apart from my due date and are a constant reminder of my MC. I mourn these friendships in addition to everything else in this process but slowly learning to choose myself and let go of what no longer serves me. This journey is hard as it is but I was so certain that I would have friends that have my back during the hard times, but now I realize they were only in it for the good times. Hoping to find a new tribe and community of people who get what this is like and can show up for me in ways I need them to.
Does anybody have similar experiences?

I’ve always wanted to be a mom but this feels nothing like what I always thought it would. Of course I knew I’d be tired but I didn’t realize it would make me so angry. I didn’t realize everything about this whole experience would make me so angry. I’m angry about what I had to go through to have this baby, I’m angry that I have to go through it and my husband doesn’t, I’m mad at myself for going through with this pregnancy and thinking I could do this, I’m angry about how my body looks and feels postpartum and that after 6 months of living in sweatpants and old gym clothes, I’m still living in sweatpants and gym clothes and I feel like a slob and it makes me feel like shit about myself. I’m absolutely PISSED at the number of people making comments about us having more kids, and my husband is among those people making those comments. It fills me with so much resentment towards him when he makes comments about having more kids because it just brings me back to how I have to go through so much physically and mentally to have kids and he doesn’t have to experience any of it. It’s easy for him to demand children when he’s not the one doing all the work. And it makes me angry in general when people ask me about having more kids when I just gave birth literal WEEKS ago. I never want to put my body through this again. I’m so disturbed by my labor experience and it makes me sick to think of the damage done to my body. I used to be pretty active and now the most exercise I get is walking around every day which, surprise, makes me angry. I’ve never hated being a woman until now. I never want to go through this again. I keep seeing women posting pregnancy announcements and all I can think is ‘don’t do it!’

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"Has the Kingdom of God Come?"

The Scriptures seem to imply that the kingdom of God isn't exactly synonymous with what is called "the Church." The Church was a temporary eschatological community of believers that existed on earth in preparation of a kingdom where God Himself would reign, and said community had Christ reign over them in the meantime. The head of the Church was Christ, with the Father serving as his head (1 Cor. 11:3). The Scriptures teach that, when all Christ's enemies were to be made his footstool, he was to give back all authority to the Father (Psa. 110:1, 1 Cor. 15:22-28), and it is this page's belief that this happened in 70 AD.
The following quotation is from the above hyperlink:

As for the "1000 years" mentioned in Revelation, they are apocalyptic metaphor for the 40 years Christ "reigned" (triumphed) over his enemies both human and spirit, with the final triumph being the judgement of apostate Jerusalem. The "1000 years" began with his ascension, and ended with this judgement.

Thus, the community to replace the Church on earth was to be the kingdom of God. But, what even is the kingdom of God, and why did God have to reclaim authority of His own creation in the first place?
To be as succinct as possible: man sinned, and so the great level of authority God initially granted us ourselves over the creation was stripped. As a result, the human condition has suffered and it must be redeemed for God to allow us to reign with Him in the way that He originally intended for us. God has always been sovereign, of course, but He seeks the good of man to make us stewards over His world with Him, as that was His original plan and this was His original view of what a kingdom of His truly looks like: a kingdom characterized by man's love for Him and love for others.
A Biblical understanding of Adam's sin, contrary to popular thought, isn't that we are guilty of what he did personally. We simply inherit his fallen nature and a fallen world as a result of his sin, the same way a baby could leave the womb already addicted to certain substances because the mother abused said substances while pregnant. It's not the baby's fault for its condition, it was the parent's. But the baby is born with this condition and enters the world like this nonetheless.
The implication of this is that we are all only guilty of our own sins, and whether or not we ever seek to treat (or possibly cure) our condition in the first place is on us. We were dealt a bad hand due to Adam, sure, but God doesn't hold us responsible for what our forefather did. God only holds us responsible for what we do, and whether or not we seek to be liberated from the dark forces which keep us in bondage to our sinful condition (Gen. 4:6-7, Deut. 24:16, Jer. 31:30, Ezek. 18, Matt. 9:9-13).
The whole Old Testament is essentially a record of God's people constantly breaking their covenant(s) with Him. There are individuals mentioned throughout that were, of course, commended by God and the Biblical authors for their righteousness in honestly pursuing to remain faithful to their covenant with Him. But even the best of these people often faltered and, in fact, did rather heinous things in their lives at one point or another. One of the greatest examples of this is king David, who was literally called by the Scriptures "a man after God's own heart" (1 Sam. 13:14, Acts 13:22). Yet, this same man at one point committed adultery and then murdered the man he stole the wife of to try and cover it up. This was a heinous thing, and David repented of what he did with genuine sorrow and guilt toward God. God ultimately forgave him, but not without a heavy hand of chastisement and earthly consequences for his actions.
All throughout the Old Testament, you see various men of God who were deemed righteous, but these same men were usually shown to have some major flaw that prevented them from living a life that could be characterized as consistent obedience to the commandments to love God and love others as themselves. There is something deeply wrong with man's heart, according to the Bible. Something so wrong, in fact, that a whole prophecy had to be given that promised to address the issue of man's seeming incapability to accomplish fulfilling the commandment to love consistently on their own without some sort of divine help from above:

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh."-Ezekiel 36:26

Naturalistic philosophies see the physical world as all that exists. Humans beings are the result of mindless, chance causes and processes. Humans are essentially animals – highly evolved, but no different in significance than any other living thing. Thus naturalistic views demote humans. But this view leaves a lot unexplained. Why do humans practice altruism, benevolence, or acts of heroism? What explains acts of incredible goodness? Sure, naturalistic arguments have been made that true altruism doesn't exist, and that "unconditional love" is really just an illusion that's been disguised very well by our survival instincts that we've developed over a long period of time at certain stages of our evolutionary process. However, many people have found such arguments to be unpersuasive and naive when compared to their actual experience of the world as they mature in their lives and have what they know to be truly meaningful experiences that can't simply be reduced in the way that the naturalist wishes them to be. This realization was ultimately why I transitioned from hard atheism to agnostic spiritualism at one point or another.
On the other extreme of these things, transcendental worldviews and philosophies say that the physical world is illusory. Only the spiritual world is ultimately real. Humans are an expression of the divine spirit that is the essence of all things. If naturalistic views demote humans to the level of animals, transcendental views promote human beings. God is not “out there” somewhere; we are God. God is all, thus God is us. But this view doesn’t explain real evil. Why are people selfish? Why do they hurt others? What accounts for personal acts of evil like rape or terrorism? If we are all truly "God," then why would we ever do such things to what is ultimately "ourself"? And why can't a person who practices the belief that we are all actually "God" be only loving? There are so many people who adopt this view of reality who are constantly, day by day, finding that they struggle to be as truly loving as they wish to be because they will still sometimes find themselves thinking and doing rather evil and selfish things. I can speak from experience here, remembering throwing myself into the New Age movement when I was desperately seeking what I did not know at the time was forgiveness for and redemption from my sins because of who I was as a person up until that point. I was seeking the mythic "ego death" that promised me that I could truly be loving and find the forgiveness and redemption I was searching for, because I thought that if only I truly realized I was "God" all along, I could then accomplish these things all at once and simultaneously. I eventually found even this philosophy unsatisfactory when I came to the aforementioned conclusions concerning our great capacity for evil, and also realized that forgiveness can only exist if there are two parties: forgiver and forgivee. Such a thing is impossible if there is only really one being at play at the bottom of reality, and I knew deep down that forgiving oneself (at least, on its own) will never satisfy one's pursuit for redemption that we all inherently take part in whenever pursuing to mend even our own relationships with each other as humans. Further, love would be an illusion in this philosophy too, being that there is only really one party behind and in all of existence if "everything is God." Such an idea would make true altruism a farce, as well. There would be no such thing as real sacrifice for another, because in this worldview, there is no "another."
The French mathematician and Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal said, “Man’s greatness and wretchedness are so evident that the true religion must necessarily teach both.” Any philosophy that cannot fully account for human greatness and human depravity at the same time should be abandoned because it misses something obvious about the human condition. The religion of the Bible has a valid explanation for human greatness: people are made in God’s image. Thus we have dignity, value, and capacity for good. The Bible also explains human evil: the image of God has been defaced by sin. Our great capacity gets used for the wrong purposes. Our creativity is placed in the service of evil and our best intentions twisted for selfish gain. Something has gone terribly wrong. While other worldviews unduly demote or promote humanity, the Bible gets the tension just right.
Thus, human nature is puzzling and conflicting. Other worldviews—both secular and religious—struggle to account for this enigma, and don't offer satisfying solutions to the problem itself. The Bible, however, explains what happened when it tells us that man rebelled against God in the paradise that was prepared for him called "the Garden of Eden." We fell into temptation and estranged ourselves from God by tarnishing the image we were created in, and now are born with a natural proclivity to do evil, despite our best efforts to do good (that is, to do good consistently).
And so, the Bible promised a solution in the prophet Ezekiel that God will literally change our natural human condition, if we simply choose to humble ourselves before Him in faith to allow for such a change. While as unbelievers our inner disposition towards God is often rebellious, we at least still have the capacity to choose to do the righteous thing in seeking God that He may change us and forgive us if we so let Him. This is one reason why Jesus, (the one who made the fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy even possible by his coming, sacrifice, ressurection, and outpouring of the Spirit upon his ascension), said that only faith the size of a mustard seed was required for something so miraculous as moving a mountian to happen, because so little is required from us to allow God to change us into the kind of person He's always wanted us to be, and yet changing the condition of our own heart can be compared to literally moving a mountain if we were to try and do so on our own strength alone. The mustard seed was the smallest of seeds, and yet if one simply planted it and nurtured it, it could become a bush so large that it was comparable to a tree with branches that stretched to the heavens for the very birds of the air to rest on.
It was when I came to these realizations that I prayed to God for the first time again, having been years since I did so, going so far back as to when I was a little child even. I prayed in the dead of night in my room, and asked God to show me the truth and to reveal Himself to me if indeed these things were true, and in an instant I felt His very presence in my room, and my heart was changed. To describe such an experience would be like trying to describe the taste of something to the man born without tastebuds, the color of something to the man born blind, or the sound of something to the man born deaf; there are no words, and it is only something you can know by experiencing it for yourself. Suddenly and all at once, I knew right then and there that Jesus really was who he said he was, that the one true God is the God of the Bible, and that I have been forgiven. As the time of this post, it's been 5 years since then, I'm 23 now, and I'm still walking with God.
My prayer for anyone reading this that may not know God for themselves yet is that one day, you will too.
Back to the topic at hand.
When Adam sinned, we fell under the tyranny of death, corruption, evil heavenly powers, and sin itself. When Jesus came, Jesus was the new and exalted human, the new Adam, through whom humanity could now realize their original destiny that was laid out for them in the Garden of Eden. Because Jesus, being a man, obeyed unto death, he has defeated the powers which held us so long under bondage; we are now promised liberation so long as we simply place our faith in his sacrifice to wash us of our sins and receive the Spirit of God that is also promised to all who exercise this faith.
We often think of ‘the gospel’ as the part that brings the forgiveness of sins (and of course, that is part of the idea), but ‘gospel’ is the announcement that everything has changed in the coming of Jesus and it leads us to a new kind of living.
The gospel Jesus preached and the gospel the apostle Paul preached were different, in that Jesus preached of a kingdom where God reigns directly and with all His faithful subjects as participants in that reign. The gospel Paul preached was about the exaltation and reign of Christ, and because Christ reigned, the consummation of the kingdom of God with earth could now finally take place (Col. 1:12-13). This consummation was put on hold during Christ's "millennial" reign, which transpired between his ascension and his return. However, the consummation has come to full fruition since that return.
We will be arguing for some of these claims by pointing out how central the kingdom of God actually was to Jesus' earthly ministry and message, and demonstrate what Jesus taught about how it actually looks like.
The term 'kingdom' appears 53 times in 42 places in Matthew, 17 times in 13 places in Mark, and 41 times in 29 places in Luke. When the 'kingdom' is qualified, Luke always refers to the 'kingdom of God' (32 times) and Mark follows this pattern (14 times). Matthew, on the other hand, prefers the term "kingdom of heaven" (31 times), using the phrase to refer to the same idea "kingdom of God" only four times: 12:28, 19:24, 21:31, 43.
The Gospel of Luke records an event where Jesus responds to the population that lived near Simon Peter's house who believed in him after he had done his miraculous work there, but saw that he was leaving them:

"And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them. And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore [i.e., for this pupose] am I sent." (vss. 42-43)

The Greek word euangelion is often translated as the word 'gospel.' In the Bible, this word is always used whenever it concerns the announcement of the reign of a new king. And in the New Testament, the Gospels themselves use this word or the phrase "good news" to summarize all of Jesus’ teachings. They say he went about “preaching the gospel [good news] of the kingdom [of God]” (Matt. 4:23).
There’s this beautiful poem in the Old Testament, and it’s in chapter 52 of the Book of Isaiah. The city of Jerusalem had just been destroyed by Babylon, a great kingdom in the North. Many of the inhabitants of the city have been sent away into exile, but a few remained in the city, and they’re left wondering, "What happened? Has our God abandoned us?" This was because Jerusalem was supposed to be the city where God would reign over the world to bring peace and blessing to everyone.
Now, Isaiah had been saying that Jerusalem’s destruction was a mess of Israel’s own making. They had turned away from their God, become corrupt, and so their city and their temple were destroyed. Everything seemed lost. But the poem goes on. There is a watchman on the city walls, and far out on the hills we see a messenger. He’s running towards the city. He’s running and he’s shouting, “Good news!” And Isaiah says, “How beautiful are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings [news]” (vs. 7a). The feet are beautiful because they’re carrying a beautiful message. And what’s the message? That despite Jerusalem’s destruction, Israel’s God still reigns as king, and that God's presence is going to one day return with His city, take up His throne, and bring peace. And the watchmen sing for joy because of the good news that their God still reigns (vs. 10).
Jesus saw himself as the messenger bringing the news that God reigns. Jesus also claimed to be the Son of man. This was Jesus' favorite self-designation, being used some 80 times in the Gospels. Notice, not just a son of man, but the Son of Man. Jesus was directing our attention to a vision described by the prophet Daniel:

"I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him:"-Daniel 7:13-14a

At Jesus' trial, the Jewish high priest accused Jesus: "Art thou the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed [God]?" His answer left no room for doubt. "I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." (Mark 14:61-62). Because Jesus' was rejected and killed for threatening the power the religious authorities had over the people, the consummation of God's kingdom with earth had been put on hold until all of Christ's enemies would be put under his feet after his ressurection and ascension.
But again, what is the kingdom of God? What does it look like exactly?
Well, the way that Jesus described God’s reign surprised everybody. I mean, think about it. A powerful, successful kingdom needs to be strong, able to impose its will, and able to defeat its enemies in physical combat. But Jesus said the greatest person in God’s kingdom was the weakest, the one who loves and who serves the poor (Matt. 23:11-12). He said you live under God’s reign when you respond to evil by loving your enemies, and forgiving them, and seeking peace (Matt. 5). To us, this is an upside-down kingdom. But to God, it's right-side up. This was what God had originally planned for us: a kingdom where God reigns in our hearts.

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."-John 3:3

Jesus was being quite literal here. You can’t see the kingdom until you’re born again and have the life of that kingdom. When you’re born again, you start 'seeing' differently. You see what others don’t see, you hear what others don’t hear, you know what others don’t know. And yet you may be physically in the same earthly location as they.
The kingdom of God is the totality of God’s influence that covers the world and heaven. It’s everywhere, but its manifestation isn’t everywhere. It manifests on earth wherever there are those who are born again and live as if God reigns in their hearts.
Before Jesus, John the Baptist announced to all people, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matt. 3:1-2), as he saw a soon coming kingdom of God that would be ushered in by the Messiah. Notice that John the Baptist didn’t say that something “like” the kingdom would come and he didn’t say that the real kingdom might be thousands of years away. He said over and over that THE kingdom was at hand! Do you believe him? Did God inspire him to give a clear and accurate message or a mistaken one? If we dare to believe him, things might become surprisingly clear, simple and exceedingly optimistic.

"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."-Matthew 6:10

Jesus taught his followers of his generation to pray that God's kingdom come and that His will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Why pray for something that will just inevitably come by force, unless it was actually through our willing participation? That is, unless God's will is carried out through us "in earth, as it is in heaven"?

"Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel."-Mark 1:14-15

It's very telling that these are the very first words the Gospel of Mark chooses to record Jesus as saying.
The kingdom is NOT something to wait for. Jesus says the kingdom is NOT something visible, and it is NOT something in the sky. The Kingdom Jesus taught is a spiritual reality that comes into the world through us. Considering that Jesus even said the kingdom was in and among the Pharisees in Luke 17, which seems almost offensive to consider, perhaps it is like a spiritual seed that has been planted inside each of us, and that activating faith in God makes it grow.

"Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it."-Luke 13:18-19

Jesus talked about the kingdom as if it would be a present reality, yet one that was growing in the world like a seed grows into a tree.

"And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."-Luke 13:20-21

To Jesus, the kingdom was something growing in us like yeast through dough, increasing in effectiveness.

"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."-Romans 14:17
"For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power."-1 Corinthians 4:20

Paul says the kingdom isn’t something you taste or touch like physical food. It’s not even saying the right words. But rather the kingdom comes in the realities of righteousness, peace, joy and power that flavor our lives when we live empowered by the Spirit of God and God's Spirit in us.
Since Jesus the Messiah returned only 40 years after his earthly ministry, putting all enemies under his feet, the complete consummation of earth with the kingdom of heaven has finally taken place.
The kingdom of God has come, and it continues to come through us as believers. It makes progress like light shining into the world and dispelling the darkness.

"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."-Matthew 5:14-16

Eternal Life Is Now

Most Preterists affirm that we are in the kingdom of God now. That is, we believe that through faith in Jesus Christ's atonement we enter into the kingdom of God, which is spiritual. We speak of the spiritual nature of the kingdom. We speak of God dwelling with men. We affirm God’s presence with us. We even affirm that we are in the new heavens and new earth. But the question remains: If we have all of this now, how does this translate into a proper view of “the afterlife”? (Hereafter this term will refer to consciousness and the new body after physical expiration of this body in this mortal realm.) In other words, how does this translate into a hopeful view of the afterlife?
We must dispel a dismal doctrine floating around that this is all there is. There are some Preterists who teach that we are in the kingdom in the here and now, but when we physically expire it is all over. We simply turn to dust. What follows will prove this idea to be dreadfully wrong. This will be evident not so much by proving what we will not have after our body dies; rather, it will be evident by proving that what we have now is eternally enduring, because we have immortality.
“He who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Jesus said this to Martha after her brother Lazarus had physically died. She was a real woman who had a real conscience and a real life experience. Lazarus was physically dead; therefore we must take this into consideration as we try to make sense of Jesus’ subsequent words:

"Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"-John 11:23-26

The Jews obviously believed in a resurrection of the dead. Martha did too. But Jesus tells her that he is the resurrection and the life. However, he doesn’t stop there. He begins to both qualify and quantify this life: “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (vs. 25b). At this point we might still infer from his words that he is referring to physical life, but his next words contradict that idea: “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (vs. 26a). Let’s paraphrase his words to elucidate his view of resurrection: “I am the spiritual resurrection and life. Your brother has died physically, but he will rise with a ‘better resurrection’ (Heb. 11:35). He who believes in me, though he were physically dead like Lazarus, yet shall he spiritually live. And he who is presently physically living shall never die spiritually.” Some try to convolute this text by inferring that Christ was speaking of two resurrections. But his statement that he is the resurrection and the life prohibits that concept. Finally, he is obviously not stating that he who lives and believes in Christ will not physically die. If this were his meaning, then we would have to conclude that no one ever truly believed in him, for all of us still physically die; or we would have to conclude that he was mistaken or was lying, neither of which is an option within the parameters of the Biblical faith.
Obviously those who question this idea will ask questions like, “So this is heaven?” By “this” their minds usually gravitate back to what they see, hear, and feel and not to what the Scripture says. They fail to make a distinction between the physical realm and the spiritual realm. We must remind them that even they will confess that God dwells in their hearts. They would never say that this is a physical dwelling place. In fact they will gladly tell us that our hearts are the spiritual dwelling place of God, a fact with which we would agree. So it should not seem a strange thing that all the blessings mentioned in Revelation chapters 21 and 22 are bound up in the affirmation that God dwells in our hearts, presently. God does not cease to dwell in our hearts in the afterlife. He merely continues to live out His presence with us both here and hereafter.

"What Does It Mean to Love God Consistently?"

With all this established, if God is truly reigning in the heart of a believer, what does it mean for us if and when we sin again in this mortal realm? Further, what did Jesus mean by the following statement?:

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."-Matthew 5:48

Many mistakenly interpret "perfection" here as meaning sinless perfection, but in context, that's not what Jesus is saying here. This statement is the conclusion from his introductory statement in verse 20 of the same passage:

"For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is pointing out how outward actions and behaviors are not enough to be approved by or to fulfill what God requires of us. He argues that the condition of one's heart is primarily what God is concerned with, and the scribes and Pharisees with all their legalism and their exclusively deontic approach to interpreting and practicing the Law was not enough to merit entrance into the kingdom of God. They were not spiritually mature enough to consider the intents and motivations that drive one's actions in the first place.
The Greek for "perfect" in Jesus' statement could also mean "complete," "whole," or "mature"; in this context, it doesn't mean the common, modern understanding of the word. There's a high standard one should strive to attain; and striving, and actually practicing righteous conduct, is indeed attainable. We are to strive for spiritual maturity, and this is possible, just as it's possible to be considered overall faithful in a relationship despite having made mistakes at certain points. Those mistakes don't necessarily make the relationship void so long as the person who committed them demonstrates to the other genuine remorse and a change from within, so that their outward conduct overall corresponds to said change.
There's a big difference between the man who lies to his spouse about something trivial like actually finding another woman attractive and then admitting this lie to them, versus the man who completely breaks his covenant by seeking a sexual interaction with that other woman and does not even feel remorse. The latter would only find forgiveness and be called overall faithful if he were to atone for what he did through genuine repentance and a change of heart to cause a change of conduct. Only then would the unfaithful man be considered faithful again, and find forgiveness and reconciliation, (assuming the spouse is merciful, which God of course is; the Lord is longsuffering toward us). On the other side of the coin, the "faithful" man who does not act on his desire for another woman could be proven unfaithful when it's shown in the judgement that in his heart he coveted another man's woman all along. In either case, it's all about both the condition of one's heart AND their corresponding actions that matter to God, not just actions alone.
Said in a similar context, the Gospel of Luke clarifies Jesus' statement in Matthew 5:48:

"Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful."-Luke 6:36

God’s sinlessness is not under consideration in Jesus' statement. God's absolute kindness, nothing lacking, is being stressed in the passages in reference. The whole Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5–7) was designed to bring God's covenant community to spiritual maturity. It is not enough for them to love people who love them, for even the unbelievers love those who love them. Spiritual maturity concerning kindness is they should love those who hate them! As the Creator, God deals gently with people who despise His words and refuse to believe them (going so far as to give these people material sustenance such as sunshine and rain; Matt. 5:45), so believing Israel was to deal tenderly with their persecutors.
To put it simply: you are saved by faith from past sins (Rom. 3:25) but then judged by works (Jam. 2).
We who live today aren't under the Law of Moses, we are under the law of the Spirit, which is necessarily not a law written in ink. See 2nd Corinthians 3.
"Oh, if you don't follow the Law of Moses, does that mean you can go and kill, since you don't believe in the law that says not to kill?"
The law of the Spirit is centered around love. God's love, through His Spirit. We don't kill, but not because Moses said so. We don't kill because the Spirit we have and are under the law of says not to.
When Paul says that a man is saved by faith and not by works, he means specifically "works of the law." The 'mitzvah.' When the apostle James said that a man is not saved by faith but by works, he is NOT talking about the Mosaic Law. Paul and James agree, but not in the way Protestants have typically understood.
When Paul speaks of faith, he means your entire walk as a Christian. Your thoughts and your actions. So when he says "faith without the deeds of the law" (Rom. 3:28), he's implying your actions under the Spirit are also included in faith. Most miss this.
When the James speaks about faith, he means a mental proposition (Jam. 2:24). So, just earlier in chapter 2, he talks about how the demons know that God is one. In other words, the demons have 'faith' (mental knowledge) that God is one and yet they have no works because they don't act like it. They serve another god, that is, Satan.
James is directly addressing the issue of Paul. When Paul wrote his epistles, people of the time thought when he said "not by works," Paul meant all works. So, they didn't need to help the homeless, feed the poor, etc. Those works "won't buy your salvation." Sound familiar? James is addressing this issue. That's not what Paul meant. Paul meant that works of the Law won't save you, because if you read Romans 7, you'll see that the Law died in Christ, and "we are married to another." A faith that is dead is what the audience of James' letter were doing. They saw a man hungry and said "I have faith you will be well." But they did nothing. No deeds. James is saying that your knowledge of God isn't going to clothe that man or feed that woman. You must do works. You are not saved by faith alone. Faith meaning your beliefs. But to Paul? Faith meant the man who sees someone hungry, and then acts according to the Spirit of the law. Not under obligation by a written law in tablets of stone, but by the Spirit law on the heart.
So ultimately, entrance into the kingdom of God is not merely about affirming mental propositions, neither is it about actions by themselves, but rather a walk defined by faithful covenant obedience. This is what it's all been about, and willing participation with the Spirit of God is necessary for us to be conformed to His image as He originally intended. This is why it's so important that we have a Biblical understanding of what "perfect" means according the authors of the Scriptures, as its meaning has everything to do with the kingdom of God itself and what it means for us practically.
I will conclude with a quotation from another post of mine:

Righteousness is not an impersonal, abstract standard, a measuring-stick or a balancing scale. That was, and still is, a Greek view. Righteousness, Biblically speaking, grows out of covenant relationship. We forgive because we have been forgiven (Matt. 18:21-35); “we love" because God “first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:8, 10, Gal 5:14, Jam. 2:8). Paul even looked forward to a day when “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10), and he acknowledged that his clear conscience did not necessarily ensure this verdict (1 Cor. 4:4), but he was confident nevertheless. Paul did in fact testify of his clear conscience: “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation [i.e., behavior] in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward” (2 Cor. 1:12). He was aware that he had not yet “attained” (Phil. 3:12-14), that he still struggled with the flesh, yet he was confident of the value of his performance (1 Cor. 9:27). These are hardly the convictions of someone who intends to rest entirely on the merits of an alien righteousness imputed to his or her account.

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Hello everyone! I (25f) have just found out a few days ago that I am approx 5 weeks pregnant. We are overjoyed (and scared)!
I was diagnosed with PCOS in Sept 2022 and was told then that natural conception would be very unlikely. A year and 9 months later we finally have a positive result (naturally!). I won’t lie- I am RIDDLED with anxiety that I will have a miscarriage but I understand that there’s not much I can do to prevent this. Also, nobody mentioned the cramps!! Mild to moderate period-like cramps that feel like pulling and pricking! They can be scary too. Dr Google tells me here this is also normal unless accompanied by blood.
Anyway. I want to announce my pregnancy to my parents at 12 weeks, but all of the cards talk about “promotion” which isn’t sitting right with me for some reason. Does anyone have any nice stories/ideas for how to announce a pregnancy to the future grandparents?
Also any other tips would be greatly appreciated. We have no idea what we are doing lol!

Hi all, so I have been discussing about putting me forward for this years promotion cycle at the end of the year but, once i announced my pregnancy, they dismissed it (they blurted it out really!!). I didnt really take into consideration during that moment but now it haunts me that I didnt do anything. I am on second trimester.
I confronted about this but was reassured that this wont be the case, ("we will need to prove i am capable of it to be considered"). Its a yearly cycle and I dont know if i can wait that long.

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Tuesday Postpartum Thread
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