I have read both this and the Hosea one. You are very good at writing and expressing.
I am a believer in Christ, but you resonated with me. Were you brought up in the church? This can cause a lot of pain.
Look I am not trying to preach or anything I truly find your ideas interesting and penetrating.
I was abused, you seem to have first hand knowledge. God did watch, but...

Oh, just shut up, everyone. Cherry Blossom wrote a beautiful piece of work, and just because YOU think that it's wrong doesn't mean it is. Opinions cannot be wrong. Sorry to be so...abrupt, but please just accept the fact that some people's opinions are different from yours, and they are NOT wrong because they are different. The End. (^^;; Voices in my head are talking to me...And they tend to make very irritable. Sorry about that.)
Cherry Blossom, once again I'm in awe of your writing. Corny as this sounds, I hope to write as well as you someday. I love the last line; it's a perfect way to end.
--Taji Yokaze

Read the Bible. God made women out of man's side, not his foot, not his head, his side. And let's face it, eve3ry man needs a little help. Besides, have you ever thought about how much you hurt God? God doesn't care- He died for you! Read about the Roman crucifixion in history- it wasn't pleasant! You want freedom, but you choose slavery- the slavery of sin, of not being able to turn your back and walk away from something. If I wanted to, I could turn from GOd, but a druggie can't leave his drug, an alcoholic can't stop drinking... I am a woman, I am proud of it. I am not a doormat, I am not a toy. I am a child of GOD.

It's me again. I've realised that this is going to be much more difficult than I first percieved. I am but a young little high school student and you are obviously much more... experienced?
In some ways, I agree with Godfather but let me explain it in a hypothetical situation.
Suppose someone offered you a plate of donuts. They say to you, you can eat these donuts, as many or little as you like. You can even throw them at me or not even accept them. Do whatever YOU wish."
Now, you, being the somewhat rebellious person that you are, want to be rebellious. But you are remorseful to find that there is no possible way for you to rebel so you upset the tray in a spontaneous fit of rage. (which you were also allowed to do. )You have NO choice.
Now, suppose that you are again offered a plate of donuts with all other circumstances as the last but this time there is one string attatched. There is one donut that you are not allowed to eat. You rejoice in the fact that you can now be the rebel that you are and eat the forbidden "donut" You now have a choice. Voila, instant freedom.
And to address why God let's bad things happen to even good people. (Job is a good example.) We don't really know for sure. Yes, God has some miraculous plan that we are all intwined in but we can't see it from here. It's like looking at the underside of a quilt. All we see are the ugly stitchs and disorganized string all over the place but when you flip it over you can see the beauty that didn't seem to be there before.
I think you made God too harsh. He does not condemn us like you say. "For God sent his Son to the world not to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:17

Great, one of the best things I've ever read in this section! I couldn't agree more with it if I had written it myself.

That was fantastic.

Godfather's review, I mean. It is exactly what you fail to see.

And what aspect of Christianity, pray tell, has prompted you to believe it to be some form of imprisonment, a cage as you call it? You have to sacrifice five minutes of your day for prayer? Or an hour on a Sunday?

Or perhaps. . . perhaps you don't want to forfeit your own unjustifiably self-righteous nature for the greater good?

How sad.

No offense, But I think it is severely selfish and arrogant to assume that even though God created you, even though the only reason you are living is that he wills it, you get to make the rules. If God made the universe, shouldn't HE get to make the rules instead of you?

Basically, to stop evil is to stop good.

Love is the greatest good.
Love requires free choice.

Free choice implies the possibility of the opposite choice.


To stop evil is to stop free choice.

To stop free choice is to stop love.

To stop love is to stop the greatest good

To stop the greatest good is the greatest evil

Read it a couple times, you'll get it.

Also your point about hell is simply answered by this: Man wants a world without God, they want to be free from God. God will try to get them to see that they are mistaken but being a God of free will will not force them. If they choose to be apart from God, they will get their wish. God is good, so the absence of God is evil. What man gets is hell, the culmination of evil. So what does man do? He blames God for sending him to hell when in fact, hell is what he chose. He wanted a Godless existence, got it, and blamed God.

On the story: while the content is flawed, the story itself is very good.

P.S. I'll probably send another review later that elaborates on some of my points.

Adios

The point, my dear Omelette, is not that God has complete control over everything. Otherwise the picture would indeed be bleak. I believe in my Creator who is neither omnipotent or omniscient, but merely creates. As if "merely" were the right word for something so important as creation.

Either God is all powerful and all-knowing and so is the source of all things including suffering, or God is neither of these things and we make our own misery.

But if it turns out I am wrong and God is in complete control, then at least I will have tried, in my way, to be free. And now I'm quoting Leonard Cohen.I think it's time this review stopped, don't you?

Beautiful. but wrong. so very very wrong. Your perception of God is skewed, and I grieve at your misconceptions. A work of fiction can be very beautiful, as yours is, but that does not make it true. And this is far from the truth. What is the truth? I have said it so many times, but it has been refused again and again, so I will not trouble you any further with it. I can only say, this is very very wrong.

. Interesting, but not your best work at all. I thought your protagonist's logic was a bit skittery and flawed. At the end, I was left with one question. If God controls everything, then wouldn't he control you even if you didn't buy into him? What is the point then, of not believing? Just a thought.

Yay! Go freedom!
That gave me warm and fuzzy feelings inside. :)

Luckily, I don't think it'll come down to a choice between slavery and hell, but if it did, I'd choose hell (or at least, I hope I would.if I wimped out at the last moment I'd be disappointed in myself.)

Beautiful. Absolutly Beautiful.

And so very true at that.

Excuse me for a moment.
*exits room*
E!
*re-enters*
Thank you. Now the review may begin.
I love this to itty bitty bits! The Utena references just worked so well here! (The great thing about SKU is that it can be anything you want it to be, so it can fit in anywhere.)
And I loved the paragraph that had the "being of light and skin ." part. That was incredible.
I also loved the argument about the divine plan vs. free will. If there's no divine plan, there's no free will.
Okay, okay, I'll stop for now. But there was also the part where- *is attacked from behind* Ai!

tears are the blood of the heart -
then you have now a baptism
of water and fire
and the love of a Rose Bride
striving to be a prince.

thank you.