The Letter Kills

What people fail to understand about scripture, is that if you take the Bible literally, it will grind you to dust. If you build theology around the Bible's prophecies, and make them literal prophecies, you'll be ground to dust. If you take the teachings of Christ, and work the prophecies in your life, seeing that you fulfill them, you'll be ground to dust.

The point of the Bible is to give a moral law, and to detail Christ's satisfaction of that Law, so we wouldn't have to. So we could have room for failure, and disappointment, and discouragement, while He did not. And while Christ walks through the Path, He is our salvation. He walks through the trials for us, and gives us our light yoke.

The Yoke is not light because we are allowed to sin, no my brethren. The "Saved by Faith and Not Works" does not mean we can live life as a sinner. And no protestant pastor had ever preached such a thing, except for blatant heretics at the fringes of the Church, who probably fill up congregations numbering in the Tens of Thousands but that is not the Gospel. You are not allowed to be a sinner. The yoke is light because our conscience can be unburdened from all sin, present, past and future, and we can walk unspotted and free in every action we do because of a good conscience.

You are also not allowed to neglect charitable giving. Or to visit the captive and unburden them, you are not to neglect. But, you are also not to neglect the Sabbath--resting on God's work and mercy. You are to enjoy the fruits of your labor, not force yourself to do good, but to do good because it is there.

A famous moral conundrum was brought up, that one is drowning far away, and it is your moral obligation to go find him. Heaven forbid it, let the one nearby, who has the work and by grace and rest finds this drowning person, save him. Not some far away heretic looking for good works. You are not to prowl around, looking for good to do like a Super Hero. None of us, even with superordinate powers of grace, can do such a thing. We are rather, there to in the moment do our passive good works, and cheer up the broken, give money to the homeless we find while upon our walk of rest, and visit the prisoner because they are in prison, and we know who they are.

Yes, some of us are called to deal directly with the Prisoner and the Homeless, because we have been given into those circles that allowed us. But, "I could do neither good nor evil." The person in the position of Grace, may be in a position of weakness where they can do no good. And such a person is saved. But, they do not do evil, either. But, furthermore, the same person with grace is a light unto others, and does great things of charitable love and kindness. They do not tempt you, they do not gossip or slander you, they do not try to knock over your progress or trample over your work. They are a blessing on those whom they meet, and an encouragement, and a divine sentence of grace upon all they meet, and not filled with slanders and cursers, but with encouragements and blessings. Not judging either, but encouraging one another in kind words.

But, if there is a sin, the brother reprimands it gently. Not with harsh words, or hatred, but with love and kindness. Because the true Christian it torments them that their enemies will end up in hell. It does not comfort them. And remember prophecies set brothers against one another. The letter of the Law tells you to hate your brother, and wish evil upon them. While the Spirit tells you to rest on God' s work alone, and not take the Bible as a literal story, but rather as an emblematic story, handed down with a tradition and apostolic ministry of succession of the Word of God, and right interpretation.

We are not to accomplish salvation for ourselves or anyone else. If a prophet, and someone scorns your words, they walk away. They shake the dust off their feet, not to make their enemies as a heap like Sodom and Gomorrah, but to bring them to repentance and truth and justice. For, if I smack my shoes before a pastor, it is not to destroy him or cause him fear, but to cause him to recognize that he is in error.

Though, it is never error to reprimand or caution of sin, as the heresy today is to enable man to sin, and to increase lawlessness. And this "Saved by grace and not works" enables the heretic to follow their vain lusts and passions, and walk in accordance to what is filthy and disgusting, rather than the truth. Surely, Paul says such a thing, but this is why you do not take the Bible literally. There is a tradition handed down in interpretation, which only the elect will find, and hold in their hearts, as the pearls would be trampled elsewhere. And then, the condemned, even hearing the truth, deny it for their hearts are pecked with the leaven of the world.