r/CuratedTumblr • u/Hummerous https://tinyurl.com/4ccdpy76 • 1d ago
Shitposting the price
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u/Jan_Asra 1d ago
Okay, but everyone is going to die? So what about that would make her special?
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u/ScaredyNon Trans-Inclusionary Radical Misogynist 1d ago
Yeah I feel like giving birth in general will set your child up for a life of unavoidable pain and suffering regardless if God puts them on a pedestal or not
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u/AkrinorNoname Gender Enthusiast 1d ago
But not everyone dies by being specifically tortured and crucified. There's also a bit of a difference between being born to be murdered and being born to live, with the dying just being incidental.
It's the difference between a pet dog and a lamb bred for slaughter.
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u/itsjustmebobross 1d ago
i went to a christian school and we had bible class and my teacher actually just held a class one day where we as a group talked about mary and her emotions regarding this. it was actually really cool because you got to hear even the class clown get real for a second and be like “yeah idk how she did it. i can’t imagine holding your child knowing they are the savior of humanity but will also go through a great deal of pain before that”. that bible teacher was really cool. he encouraged discussions of all religion and i remember one girl asked about buddhism and he only knew the basics so at the end of the week he came back with all this information to tell us about. good teacher. good guy.
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u/ZinaSky2 1d ago edited 1d ago
There goes Tumblr stumbling upon some deep analysis of Christianity as if they’re the first to think about it lol
I mean there’s literally a song about this called “Mary, did you know?” It’s really moving IMO and while I think of it as more appropriate for Lent it’s commonly used as a Christmas song. I guess it’s not “horror” per say but it’s specifically addressing the stark contrast between the tiny, delicate newborn born to Mary and what he would be destined to do.
How I experienced the song is more in line with the horror of it I think tho. Bc at my church during the reenactment of the stations of the cross there’d be a part where ‘Jesus’ stumbled through all the aisles in the church, carrying the cross with ‘Roman soldiers’ trailing behind. Spitting, yelling nasty things, whipping at him as he cried out. As they passed your pew, you could hear ‘Jesus’ breathing hard and his bare feet padding on the ground. And throughout this whole thing this marvelous singer (we were beyond lucky to have her in the choir) would be singing “Mary, did you know?” So they were showing us the passion of Christ while putting this imagery of newborn baby Jesus in our minds with the music. I always thought it was fantastically done. (And lol this is why I personally feel the song is more suited to lent)
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u/indigo121 1d ago
They used the phrase "Mary did you know" in the post, so I think they are well aware they are not pioneering anything
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u/ZinaSky2 1d ago
I did notice that phrasing, thought maybe it was a coincidence. If they are aware, idk then I guess I just don’t really get the point of the post?
Would probably be more apt to ask why there isn’t more focus on the horror of it. But then, Christmas is happy bc it’s the miraculous birth of the savior. The time for sadness and mourning and pondering the price paid for you and striving to be worthy of it is during Lent. (And then we go back to happy at Easter.) Doesn’t mean we don’t think about it all in context tho. Not rare to hear sermons around Christmas that directly reference what’s to come at lent. But the overarching theme is meant to be joy and gratitude. 🤷🏽♀️
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u/ElectronRotoscope 1d ago
This sort of thing, at least in my vague amateur understanding, has been somewhat discussed in the literature. Many traditions have Mary's parents visited by angels or told through revelation that their daughter will be important, and I think sometimes that she was raised in a temple to be a servant of god. A lot of the stuff with Mary sad but loving, like all those statues and stuff, really leans on the "I am raising a sacrificial lamb" thing
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u/ElectronRotoscope 1d ago
Imagine a version where they don't know for the first 12 days, and only find out when the Wise Men get there. "Okay. So your kid there is really very sweet, and yes we've also noticed he does seem unusually peaceful. So... okay we should give you this Stuff we brought. So... with regards to little Joshua's future, sort of good news and bad news"
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u/LazloNibble 1d ago
…and that’s why Werner Herzog doesn’t get to give the Christmas dinner toast anymore.
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u/AkrinorNoname Gender Enthusiast 1d ago edited 1d ago
The whole horror aspect of Christianity is really underexplored for how dominant it is.
You've got your ritualized cannibalism, kneeling before the effigy of a tortured corpse, the ritual drowning of children, and the fixation (and looking forward to) the apocalypse.
That's grade-A material for a horror movie.
By the way, y'all really should read Gideon the Ninth and the rest of The Locked Tomb.
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u/Goosedukee 1d ago
You know the first post here actually goes hard before the last two sentences kinda ruin it.
Still very basic writing and kinda surface-level but they had a point and wrote it well enough.
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u/FenrisSquirrel 1d ago
Is OP aware that quite a high proportion of people who are born eventually die, and that most mothers know this? Also, frankly, death by the age of 30 was not particularly uncommon during this period, especially for young Jewish men in Roman occupied lands.
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u/Deblebsgonnagetyou he/him | Kweh! 23h ago
It's a religion nominally about hope, peace, and love, not someone's cosmic horror worldbuilding project, that's why
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u/telehax 1d ago
Christmas is pretty solemn in terms of "actual" church traditions, in my experience. You go to church and contemplate the miracle of Jesus' birth. The church-organized carolling is the most raucous it gets. All the other stuff is a cultural thing not a religious thing. It's at Easter where the church starts partying.
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u/NancyInFantasyLand 1d ago
Anyone who is intrigued by this should just go and watch Peter Greenaway's most excellent The Baby Of Mâcon, which is not only one of the most beautiful and harrowing films I've seen in my life, it also has twink Ralf Fiennes getting disemboweled after the stand-in Baby Jesus catches him in the act of almost defiling its "mother" and then goes full on crazy wrathful god over it.
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u/bilboard_bag-inns 1d ago
banger of a post to read as I'm distracted while re-watching the new dune movies for the 4th or 5th time lol. yes i know it was extremely intentional by frank herbert that this connection is so strong lol
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u/Worried-Language-407 1d ago
It has come to my attention that a lot of people do not understand the significance of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Frankincense is a type of incense which has been used in religious ceremonies for a long time. It had great significance in Judaism, but among other things it was used during rituals at the Great Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus was the son of God, and therefore his birth itself was a religious ritual.
Gold is the most obvious: it's for a crown. Jesus was to be king of the jews, he needs a golden crown.
Myrrh is the important one here: it's a kind of perfume which is used at funerals. It smells heavy and bitter, and it was used to cover up the smell of death. Jesus was always going to be a sacrifice for the redemption of humanity. His funeral was foretold from his birth.
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u/toastedbagelwithcrea 20h ago
Mary, did you know? That your womb was also a grave?
Everyone dies, couldnt you say that about literally any mother's womb?
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u/Relevant-Pen3742 1d ago edited 1d ago
Let's just leave out that Mary knew Jesus was God's Son, that He came to redeem mankind and Christ rose again because it doesn't fit into your narrative. If you're going to co op a story you need to stay true to the story.
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u/Just-Ad6992 1d ago
Christ rose again, but it took him three days? It takes about 15 minutes and a granola bar for me to do that! Seinfeld bass music plays as I am lynched for my terrible attempt comedy
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u/YUNoJump 1d ago
From what I can tell Mary didn’t know Jesus was a sacrifice, there’s no special horror for her. As for Jesus himself, after he died (for real) he went to heaven, and he saved humanity from its sins, those are supposed to be good things right? The only “horror” is that Jesus died for a purpose, but an incredibly virtuous purpose, which is pretty weak as horror goes. IIRC he was even happy to die for our sins, he let it happen.
I’m no expert on Christianity though, I’m sure someone has a better idea of it than me.