Sientir's Blog

I've spent a lot of time and energy on this blog figuring out who I'm not, but I've not entirely put together who I am, and I think it's high time I focused on that. As I view it, I've filled in a lot of the negative space in this piece of art that I call myself, and now it's time, with God's help, to figure out my identity, to fill in the positive space. I find myself thinking about all of the challenges that have led here. There are so many forces telling me who they think I should be. Cultural forces, both secular and Christian, have conspired to try to convince me to take up the identities they would have for me. I must deny them and disown that false self. It is only my Creator who gets to say who I am, and it's been a long labor of His helping me learn who I'm not. If I'm to do as I've said I wanted to do this year and accept the me God has made me to be , I need to understand who that person is. Also, I should state that everything I ...

Sin is like strangling thorns Growing in the garden of our hearts We fertilize it when we treat others As less than human It produces a harvest of death Its tempting fruit Filling our world with suffering and sorrow We long for a world untainted by sin But we cannot make it ourselves It is beyond us No matter how hard we try No matter what laws we make We cannot cleanse ourselves from sin We cannot fully weed it out Of the gardens of our hearts Yet despite our sin God wants us Our Creator loves us And so Jesus came down And bore our death But He didn't stay dead Love rose again And He will return To make all things New To live with us In a world Untainted by sin With Communion we declare The bitter weight of sin And the death it brings Which Christ suffered A declaration we make Until the day That glorious day The day of His return You can support Sientir in his creative endeavors by subscribing to his  Patreon  or sharing his work.

I've been finding myself thinking about marriage a lot lately. I've had a lot of questions. What is marriage, really, if you boil it down? Why does marriage exist? I write here today to ponder these questions (and more), and I really mean ponder . I'm typing this up as a way to force myself to think through these ideas and get them out of my head. I don't know that I'll find any answers in so doing, but hopefully it'll leave me with something to share with others to get their input. These thoughts have been prompted by a number of things. One of those things has been reading about the history of misogyny as recorded in Naked Feminism: Breaking the Cult of Female Modesty  by Victoria Bateman . Another has been people I follow online, primarily on Twitter, who have presented ideas and concepts about sex and sexuality that were foreign to me, ideas that raise questions in my mind. One of those big questions is: what is  sexual immorality? As I've pondered the S...

It was on a Sunday morning—that of August 25, 2024 to be exact, when church was starting—that God gave me a revelation, not unlike others He has given me in the past. It's the kind of revelation that gave me understanding of something about myself that had been eluding me. In this case, it was the way church and church culture, at least in the ways I've experienced them, have been a stumbling block in my ability to know God, desire Him, and feel desired and loved by Him. We Christians represent God to the people. I think He's chosen to make us His ambassadors because He's a big fan of free will—it's kind of necessary for love, after all (you can't force genuine love). So in a very real sense, Christian culture, and more directly church culture, paints a picture of God. Unfortunately, this picture is often inaccurate in many ways, as it's affected by the world; for me, the most warped part has been the way the church has so often adopted the world's conce...

Lately I've found myself wondering if the science-fiction dream of colonizing the stars isn't just a human dream, but one God has for us, too. This is pure speculation, of course, but it doesn't come from nowhere. You see, I found myself wondering if people would have children after the Resurrection. The Bible doesn't say one way or another, though some interpret something Jesus said in such a way as to come to the conclusion that people won't have kids, but I'll talk about that later. There is one thing that is clear regardless: after the Resurrection, humans will be immortal, which makes having children problematic due to issues that arise with an ever-increasing population. Over the last couple of centuries, we've seen concerns over population growth, with fears that the number of people would outstrip resources, such as food. You see, population rates exploded when medical advances reduced mortality, especially child mortality, but people were still havi...

  If virtue is a good thing, how is it that the pursuit of it causes so much pain and suffering? “Virtues” are the things—qualities and behaviors—that a society or culture deem to be Good. Virtue is how we earn a good reputation, social acceptance, and the praise and accolades of others, but perhaps more significantly, it’s how we protect ourselves: it wards away the threat of becoming an outcast or pariah. Different cultures do have their own sets of things that are considered virtues, though there are a few commonalities: being beautiful or attractive, having a respected job, going to a prestigious school, coming from a well-regarded family or region, and being wealthy are all examples of common virtues. Of course, what things cause someone to be seen as beautiful or attractive will be culturally dependent, what jobs are highly regraded may vary, as do other reputational markers (e.g. family, prestigious schools, etc.), and many cultures have other things they consider virtue...

  I’ve been having a discussion with my pastor, and it’s prompted me to put into words how I view the Bible. So let’s start with an important question: How much authority would I say the Bible has? This is a trick question. The Bible, it turns out, is a book! Inanimate objects, such as books, cannot have authority, and to assign authority to the Bible is to anthropomorphize it: to treat it as a person. There are several serious dangers to this, not the least of which is turning the Bible into an idol. Remember, God is the one who has authority! This issue of authority is important, so I’m going to start with the dangers that can stem from it before delving into my views of the Bible more broadly. The most significant danger is, as already mentioned, turning the Bible into an idol. The Bible does not save us, Jesus does. The Bible does not speak, the Holy Spirit does. The other major danger is using the Bible to steal God’s authority for humans. This will require some explanat...