On What it Means to Be an Intellectual, Evolution and the Bible

None. Just a brain. That’s kind of why the whole word has taken on a negative connotation.

A lot of intellectuals move outside their fields, too. Like, they find a niche in some science, and then think that broadens it out to religion; or they get a doctorate in Gender Theory and think that makes them an authority on Economics. Like Richard Dawkins is a good example of someone moving from their field of expertise into something unknown. He’s amazing at what he knows about Evolution—though Noble is probably closer, due to the recent discoveries they’re making about genes. They say DNA has some elements of Artificial Intelligence programming. That’s called “Learning Theory.” So, I think Noble is closer to the truth.

But, generally, a preacher once said, 27 out of the 31 civilizations that existed, fell due to losing God. There’s something real about God. You see it in sages like Pythagoras, you see it in sages like Confucius… there’s a real part of humanity that needs God. It just makes us better people. We have hope, and if we don’t attain this life and its benefits, we have the next.

So… to be an intellectual you just have to have a brain. And many people dabble in one field of knowledge, but don’t necessarily gain the credentials in another.

While a Renascence Man dabbles in all fields of knowledge, and gets a basic proficiency at everything—usually by following established tradition in the empirical sciences and witness testimony of history.

However, Christ seemed to live a perfect moral life… He seemed to demonstrate perfect Charity and sacrificial love. He seemed to validate our exasperation with the world, and also our feelings of needing solitary isolation. He was a true man, who showed true morals, and there’s tons of physical evidence that shows the Bible is true. I just think the evidence shows that God interacted with the Jewish People, and brought God Made Flesh into existence, where He could teach us what man couldn’t. And through His apostles, and Prophets and Saints He established a tradition that’s sound in all sense of the word.

As it is, God’s law is self evident, and that’s what converts. Specious theories of Creationism and Creation Science—for any of their theories to be true, the Earth would have to basically be flat. It couldn’t be the cosmology talked about by science, it’d have to be a completely different one.

But, still, Christ came, He died, He raised—we have witnesses who died believing that, including His own brother James—He had wounds when Thomas touched Him. He was God made in Human Flesh. He was the moral paragon, which humans need because without it, we don’t know right from wrong. We need the Bible to tell us how morality actually functions, even down to the nitty gritty about what it is to wage war.

But, again the conversation is about intellectuals. Anyone can be an intellectual. However, your intellectual prowess comes from the quality of information you look at. So, to be a useful intellectual, you have to find useful information. And you need the acumen to identify what is and isn’t. Which if you ask me, is guided through the Holy Spirit, as He is the giver of all knowledge.

The Gospel’s Witnesses “A Conversation”

[Tacitus would] go to the Roman records and see Christ was Crucified. He was a historian. That was his work. {...} Probably copies of it in the Tabularium right in Rome, as it is a complex empire, and will have records kept of the whole empire, on every official duty, wherever the central seat of Government is.

[B]oth of those [Josephus and Tacitus] wrote on the account of witnesses. {...}People from the time of Tacitus—when he was young—would have witnessed Christ. And why did Nero persecute Christians? It was because some of His followers saw Christ raised from the dead, and spread the religion like wildfire, and there were enough Christians there for Nero to persecute. Christ’s own brother died believing He was the Christ. That’s accounted in Josephus.

Tacitus hated Christians. There’s no way he believed any of it. But, he recorded Christ’s death, and that’s all that matters.

{...}Josephus did write the passage [pertaining to Christ]. There’s possibly a small Christian interpolation, but the bulk of the passage is original. It may just be all Josephus, too.

Luke actually does say the Gospel was written on Eyewitness accounts, and they don’t have to come out and say that. That’s stupid. We know who authored the Gospels. Papias leaves us a record of it, and it’s all through eyewitness. You assume they’re going to come right out and say “This is eyewitness account.” That’s silly. We know they were, based on the way they’re written, and their consistencies—and inconsistencies—with the other gospels.

No, the Authors didn’t witness all of it. Other people did. There were more than just the Gospel writers who were accounted in the witness testimony. Yes the Gospels are written from an Omniscient point of view, because it’s God’s word, and God is omniscient. Like the lady at the well, they learned it from her. When Jesus sweat blood, someone saw it. As the condition is a real medical condition that absolutely no one would have known about. Same with the water flowing from Christ’s wound, that’s a real medical condition too. It could only be Eyewitness report.

Well, there is a miraculous component to the world. So, Christ dying and raising from the dead, was an ultimate victory. For me at least.

Because Tacitus, though being a butthead, was a first rate historian, and would not say Christ was crucified unless he had verification of it. Yes, Josephus does [say James the LORD's brother was martyred]. He was martyred. That’s what Josephus says. Why do you get martyred?

{...}

“Josephus didn’t tell us what James believed.” Then what is implied in the fact that James was put to death? Like all [the] arguments are about thus, they give no credit where there ought to be any, and are simply dismissive of something that for all intents and purposes, are probably good historical accounts.

Papias says Mark wrote the Gospel through Peter’s testimony. What Mark could it be?{...}

Literally, I have the fragment sitting on my bookshelf. It can mean nothing, unless it is the Gospel writer of Mark.

[Also] the Gospels were being quoted around 80AD, meaning they were in copious circulation by then. We have quotations from Clement, and Polycarp, and Ignatius straight out of the Synoptic Gospels, not to mention the Didiche[.]{...}

And it’s James the LORD’s brother. You’re the one altering the texts. Not the Christians. By all means, I doubt you 100% if these are the best arguments you can come up with, are conspiracy theories and generally, the passage in Josephus is known to be pretty much 90% accurate, and may actually be his words. He may have had a moment where He believed in Christ. It was possible. People were converting like wildfire, but at the very least, it’s well known most of the passage is original. That’s just well known. And not to be disputed, because it’s in his diction. Not someone else’s.

{...}

Okay, so just let’s frame one of your arguments. “Eyewitnesses are in first person.” Not if the eyewitnesses were not the writer. The writer wrote what he heard from eyewitnesses. In the case of Matthew and John, most of that is compiled through other people who also knew Jesus, like the Woman at the Well or Mary and Joseph. It’s pretty simple, actually, to understand. You’re taking large sweeping jumps to avoid the fact, that the simplest answer is that the New Testament is true, and Jesus lived, and actually fulfilled hundreds of Old Testament prophecies, so the religion is real. That’s the only conclusion you can have. No other.

Maybe Jesus taught them about the Devil and Him. You know, Jesus did teach His disciples? He was called the “Word of God.” He did have a mouth. Who’d think of that? And when His own brother saw Him raised from the dead, James died believing it. As why else do you get martyred unless you believe on Jesus. They usually would keep you alive, if you denied the faith.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, maybe some peasant saw Him? Why is that so hard? He sweat blood, we know that, and nobody would think to make that up. You can’t. I bet you didn’t even know about hematohidrosis yourself, until I told you.

Actually, you’re the one inventing wild eyed conspiracy theories, and trying to reinterpret texts that have been in circulation through countless millennia. You’re the one altering the evidence. I’m simply telling you what I’ve learned. You’ve misrepresented every source I’ve showed you, you’ve reimagined it, in fact you’re doing what you accuse me of. Exactly what you accuse me of. Who’s really the religious fanatic here? The person who keeps putting words in Josephus’ mouth? The one who doesn’t think Tacitus did his job as a historian, and couldn’t but admit Christ died? The one who can’t figure out that the Gospel writers weren’t the only witnesses used?

It’s all quite plain to me.

“When therefore Ananus was of this disposition, he thought he had now a proper opportunity [to exercise his authority]. Festus was now dead; and Albinus was but upon the road. So he assembled the sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus who was called Christ, whose name was James: and some others; [or, some of his companions.] And when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned.” Josephus Antiquity of the Jews Book XX.

The Jewish Law [is what's being referred to here]. And for what? For Blasphemy, because he was a Christian. That’s how he broke the law.

{...}[Also,] if it’s not the Mark who wrote our Gospel, why even say it? {...} [I]t’s right there. Right there. Why did James get stoned? Because he was a Christian and the Sanhedrin called it Blasphemy. It’s an enthymeme. Why did Papias say Mark wrote a gospel and so did Matthew, unless it’s the gospels of Matthew and Mark? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever [to say it couldn't have been those gospels and those authors].

Mark’s gospel is out of order. Some of the events are displaced among the narrative. It was constructed by his memory. It’s not like the crucifixion is going to end up in the beginning, and all that stuff. It’s so obvious it’s Mark who wrote that gospel. You take evidence and then say it’s not. When it obviously has to be, and couldn’t be anything but.

[The Gospel of Mark] would reflect Peter’s [memories of Jesus' teachings], [but not] put him in the center of a narrative about Jesus['s life]. Like, why would it? [So, i]t’s based on his memory. And the teachings Peter handed down to Mark.

There’s lots of quotations from as early as 70AD in the writings of Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp, and also Barnabas. I have them on my bookshelf. They were written in the first century, and everyone knows that.

Yes, Papias told us who wrote them, from John the Presbyter, who is John Son of Thunder, as a close reading of the text proves it to be, and Eusibius is just like you, putting into doubt something that really isn’t a question if you read the text carefully.

It can only be Jesus Christ.

[W]hen a Court Recorder puts down what a witness says, it’s still an account from a witness. Just think about what I’m saying. It makes perfect sense. The court recorder isn’t a witness, but the person on the bench is.

So you can’t believe because of miracles? That’s all you got. “There aren’t miracles, so the Gospels can’t be true.” When indeed, there are lots of miracles, and science has known that for a long time. And those contradictions show the gospels aren’t plagiarism, and are indeed written by different accounts from different eyewitnesses. Which is what a professional who works in eyewitness testimony says about it. [J. Warner Wallace]

[T]he simplest is the Presbyter John knew Mark and Matthew, and told us who wrote their gospels and how.

I really don’t think [Josephus or Tacitus] [were] corrupted. I think that’s your last ditch effort to avoid the obvious fact. No reason to believe that [they're] not authentic.

{...} They didn’t exactly have book stores back then. Especially ones that sold the gospel, as it would have been illegal. They had libraries, with scrolls, which you had to travel too, and they didn’t have real access to lots of books like we do today. And a peasant with their penury wouldn’t be able to afford a book, so likely Irenaeus and the rest were trying to establish a proper canon to protect the Gospel from Gnosticism, and what they had were ragtag scrolls circulating around at the time period. That’s why John had to write the Book of John, through Papias, as it says in surviving fragments.

Like, we know who wrote the Gospels, because of Papias. It’s the only thing that makes sense. And we know the Sanhedrin stoned James for the same reason, that it talks about him being Christ’s brother, and they’d stone him for blasphemy as it doesn’t have to be said by Josephus as it’s implied in the text. An Enthymeme is an important part of logic[.] {...} It just is. It can be the only logical conclusions to have, about those two things. Calculus is an Enthymeme.

{...}Macrion or what have you, it wasn’t published at book stores, and likely Irenaeus and the rest of them wanted an established Canon, and found the books written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—as John was written on the word of mouth by John through Papias—and through John they established the canon of Paul’s letters and the other epistles, and also the Gospel [and Revelation]

The Little Book of What I Believe

Introduction:

So, my beliefs are very complex, but I will use the simplest of language to tell them. Generally, I believe in the Christian Faith, as handed down by Christ, Paul, Peter, James, John, and then the Apostolic Ministry. And then I believe in the universality of Math and Language. And this discourse will go through each point of my religion and philosophy, based on a deep learning of all subjects throughout my tenure here on earth.
I do not claim to be an expert at anything, beside knowing Christ Jesus. The human heart is full of many wonders, and I realized just recently, how little people actually say when they talk, but rather the profound love imbued in their speech is more important than the philosophy. I have profound peace, knowing that my work is merely for the intellectual, and not for the bulk of humanity. For the bulk of humanity need only simple answers for faith and reason, and such names ought to be organized so they find Truth.
Unfortunately, most human beings have no ability to guide or shape themselves, and are rather bits of Logos they picked up from other people, repeating things they've heard other people say. And when you understand that these things people say are not them... rather their true selves lie beneath in beautiful glory, then you understand the human condition that we are limited. But, because we are limited, there can be a science to language and morality.

I. Religion

1. Athanasian Creed

Whoever wants to be saved should above all cling to the catholic faith. Whoever does not guard it whole and inviolable will doubtless perish eternally.

So, this statement, “Whoever wants to be saved” is rooted in a deep desire to fear and know the LORD. Therefore, the one who wishes to be saved, ought to cling to the Complete Faith and guard it carefully. Not a source of airy arguments about Predestination---I do not get into such silly conversations. Rather, the statement, that to be saved, one must have a deep desire to be saved, and cling to the faith with every bit of substance they have, mentally, physically and materially.

Now this is the catholic faith: We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being. For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another. But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty. What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit. Uncreated is the Father; uncreated is the Son; uncreated is the Spirit. The Father is infinite; the Son is infinite; the Holy Spirit is infinite. Eternal is the Father; eternal is the Son; eternal is the Spirit: And yet there are not three eternal beings, but one who is eternal; as there are not three uncreated and unlimited beings, but one who is uncreated and unlimited. Almighty is the Father; almighty is the Son; almighty is the Spirit: And yet there are not three almighty beings, but one who is almighty.

I believe wholeheartedly in the Trinity. This statement is the most profound statement of the Trinity, and reflects my views, of which I shall add nothing to it.

Thus the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God: And yet there are not three gods, but one God. Thus the Father is Lord; the Son is Lord; the Holy Spirit is Lord: And yet there are not three lords, but one Lord. As Christian truth compels us to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords. The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten; the Son was neither made nor created, but was alone begotten of the Father; the Spirit was neither made nor created, but is proceeding from the Father and the Son. Thus there is one Father, not three fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three spirits. And in this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or less than the other; but all three persons are in themselves, coeternal and coequal; and so we must worship the Trinity in unity and the one God in three persons.

Again, I believe this wholeheartedly, without any additions with my paltry understanding. This reflects my views completely.

Whoever wants to be saved should think thus about the Trinity.

It is necessary for eternal salvation that one also faithfully believe that our Lord Jesus became flesh. For this is the true faith that we believe and confess: That our Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, is both God and man. He is God, begotten before all worlds from the being of the Father, and he is man, born in the world from the being of his mother— existing fully as God, and fully as man with a rational soul and a human body; equal to the Father in divinity, subordinate to the Father in humanity. Although he is God and man, he is not divided, but is one Christ. He is united because God has taken humanity into himself; he does not transform deity into humanity. He is completely one in the unity of his person, without confusing his natures. For as the rational soul and body are one person, so the one Christ is God and man. He suffered death for our salvation. He descended into hell and rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Again, I believe this wholeheartedly, without any additions.

He will come again to judge the living and the dead. At his coming all people shall rise bodily to give an account of their own deeds. Those who have done good will enter eternal life, those who have done evil will enter eternal fire. This is the catholic faith. One cannot be saved without believing this firmly and faithfully.

Here I divert off of the Protestant position, of “Grace Salvation” not being accompanied by works. Obviously, in John 5:29 Christ Himself speaks this doctrine of salvation, and it is the core of Christ's teachings, about the sheep and goats, and also the Sermon on the Mount, which as a popular preacher says, I disagree fundamentally that those laws are for Heaven. As the one who is established is the one who builds his bedrock on that foundation, rather than the sand. I think this is the core of the faith, that those who've done good, and clung to the Catholic Faith---the Complete Faith, as “Catholic” means the “Complete” Church, in all bodies and denominations, wherever those individuals reside---that they are raised to eternity in Bliss, and those who have done evil, and not repented or have done wickedly and hid their light under a basket, they shall go to hell.

2. The Apostle's Creed

I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,

I do believe in God the Father, seated on His throne in Heaven, and Who establishes all authority on Earth, and Under Earth, and in Heaven. Wherever there is a world, whether known or unknown, created or uncreated, spirit or Flesh, the Father has dominion over all of it, as the divine Consciousness, and provider of all things which came or come into being.

and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in Christ Jesus, God's only Son, and the only Begotten of the Father. Conceived by a virgin through miraculous conception, and not through any physical intercourse. He was crucified under Pilate, died, and was put in a tomb—therefore buried. And I do believe He descended into Hell, as Paul says in Ephesians 4:9: (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?) And foreshadowed in the Burnt Offering, and our Eucharist being the flesh of the lamb and His blood which we drink, it can only mean our Lamb was offered on the fires of Hell to be our burnt offering. And Christ raised from the dead, conquering death and the grave, and he ascended into heaven. And now the LORD is seated at the Right Hand of the Father, in a resurrected Body, which ours will be in His likeness, and in His like mind, and in His like Spirit, when we are indeed in heaven also.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.

And I do believe the Spirit gives all life, and knowledge. I believe in the Complete Church, and communion of all saints, in all ordained bodies of the true faith, I believe saints have communion with one another, wherever we are, and should be in unity not division, and I believe our bodies will be resurrected unto everlasting life, into a body like our LORD Jesus'.

3. The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in One God, in Trinity Form, Who made Earth through His Son Jesus Christ, God's Holy Word. And all things, all worlds, are submitted under His authority.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.

I believe the LORD Jesus Christ is one with the Father, but also a distinct person. He is the Way, the Truth and the Light, and the Life, to those who believe on Him, and the everlasting fountain of Living Waters, of which if we drink, we shall live forever for eternity. His Blood is good drink, and His flesh is good Flesh.

Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
and was made human.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered and was buried.
The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.

The third day of resurrection is important, as the LORD could not have been but dead. No necromancy or divination could revive Him or medical miracle. But, His body did not see decay. Rather, His resurrection could only be that, of one who actually died. And the history of the faith, attests to this resurrection, that the Apostles who ate and slept upon the same gravel as Jesus, died believing He was indeed raised from the Dead, and the Incarnate God.

He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again with glory
to judge the living and the dead.
His kingdom will never end.

Christ Ascended to Glory into heaven, and is seated at the Right Hand of the Father. He will come with Glory, upon His second coming, and return, in Robes dashed with the blood of His enemies, and soaked with their blood, and we, the saints, shall be seated in clothed apparel more beautiful than the Sun, Moon and Stars, and be seated above, as the world enters into damnation.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life.
He proceeds from the Father and the Son,
and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.
He spoke through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,
and to life in the world to come. Amen.

I believe in all of this, even the One Complete (Catholic) and Apostolic Church, and that Christ Jesus did indeed speak through Prophets, as He still works miracles today, and the Procession of the Holy Spirit works divine intellect, and miraculous intervention in the lives of the saints, to prove them to the world that they are indeed Christ's, and no wile of the devil can ever separate them from the LORD, so long as they keep fast to their desire for Righteousness and Mercy, they shall not be damned.

4. The Philadelphia Creed

First, I attest to the three oldest creeds of the faith.
The Athanasian Creed, the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed.

I have already dialogued on these three, but do hold soundly to their beliefs. However, the further resolves for a Confession of Baptist Doctrine, and some of their more minute heresies are disputed, while some of their correct theology is lauded.

Second, I believe in John Bunyan's understanding of Calvanism.
I believe we are sealed by God, through the predestination of His election,
And that we must hold onto our Seal, lest we succumb to death by rejecting Christ.

John Bunyan was a Calvinist, but in Ephesians Chapter 1 it speaks to Predestination, but in Hebrews 6 it says that those who have left the faith, cannot be reconciled. I cannot hope to understand or mend this supposed contradiction, but rather through much philosophy, see predetermined things still have volitional aspects to them. So, it is my assumption that the Predestined are foreknown by God, what their choices shall be. Not that the man does not have choice, but rather that their choices are already known by God. Therefore, we can indeed lose our salvation (Which God knows beforehand, but through all hope has written us into the Book of Life during our conversion), but rather God is all Hope, as Love always hopes. Therefore, a man can walk in eternity, with the full power to lose it. As Bunyan shows many dead among the path to the Celestial city, and this was given to him in vision.

I believe every man, woman and child are called and written into the book of life
Until they have sinned, and were thereby separated.

In Matthew 18:10, the children all have angels watching over their souls. They stand before God, and it says: “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. “ Therefore, if the children are so loved by God, they are saved. Until they have sinned, as I do not accept original sin. I believe sin is what separates us, and innately, no one is born with sin. It says so in Ecclesiastes: “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.“ Rather, we are born with capacity to know sin, and that is why judgment proceeds into the world, and Genesis 2-3 shows a metaphor of Childhood burgeoning into Adolescence, as this is what the story means, it shows that children are innocent, until they have come upon the knowledge of Sin, and for that there must be judgment.

Yet, by accepting the LORD Jesus, our names are rewritten back into the book of life.

Being that as long as someone has life, they have potential to be grafted back into the vine. We are first in the vine, as children, yet then sin made a separation between us and God. By which, when we have found the LORD, and entered back into His rest, our names are rewritten into the book of life, where before they were blotted out. Genesis 2-3 shows a metaphor of Adolescence, when children we are in the garden, and purified from all evil, until we eat from the tree of knowledge. And then, we know sin, and therefore, heap damnation on ourselves. Only when we can know sin is evil, does God have judgment. For the animals have no knowledge, and are not judged, and neither do the children have knowledge, either, as Adam and Eve didn't have knowledge, until they had sinned. So with the child, they have knowledge when they too have sinned. For sin gives us deep knowledge of the world.

If we lose our profession of faith, our names will be blotted out of the book of life.

If we lose our profession of faith, or even the deep desire to do good, we shall be blotted out of the Book of Life. For, profession of faith is what cleanses us, and no other thing. Jesus' blood is necessary to purify us of our sins, and give us new desires which the old heart cannot have. And also to guide us into all wisdom and knowledge.

I believe in the Millennial Kingdom, as prophesied in Isaiah, Ezekiel and Revelation;
That it is its own distinct time and dispensation
Meant to give sustenance to those who've suffered in this life; that they shall then gain the things of this world during Christ's reign, and it will be so that the Meek inherit the Earth.

The Millennial Kingdom is the first of heaven's wonders. A time when the Elect Judge the Earth, and dole out mercies to the saints, and punishment to the wicked. Many saints will not have Earthly Treasure, but rather will be spoiled by the King of the North (I use metaphors) (Daniel). So, therefore, God shall give provision for them, a time, and a Hephzibah (Isaiah 62) a heavenly City, which they shall then reap the harvest of their good deeds upon the Earth, and have the things of this world without the sufferings caused by the Assyrian (Nahum).

I believe in dispensations, that first men had a vapor of knowledge that God exists
And later, God would reveal Himself to Abraham, and Moses, the Prophets and finally reveal Himself unto Death as Christ Jesus, and furthermore through the Apostles.

We see remnants of Judaic Law in Babylonian Law, and also stories. This must be that the faith originated in Babylon—as the Bible says, “Your Father was an Amorite”—and carried for the worship of the title “El” or “Lord” and brought it into Egypt. And the first faith, of Job's and Noah's was different than the faith of Abraham and Isaac, which was different than the faith of Moses and David, which was different than the faith of Christ and Paul's. The faith had broadened from a small lineage of people, to an entire people, and finally to the whole world (Hosea 2:23).

I believe works of charity are integral for salvation. If one has sustenance, they must give to the poor, and have a deep desire to do so.

All of Jesus' words speak to this effect. There is not a word spoken by Jesus—and even Paul in Romans attests this, in Chapters 12 – 15—that if you are to be a Christian, you are to accomplish works of righteousness. As Martin Luther said, our righteousness should be passive, and through a desire to do good and fear God, not through a hypocritical act devoted to unlawfulness and licentiousness.

I believe that the Old Covenant is what Jesus referred to as "Finished",
And that when Paul says "Works" he means "Works" pertaining to the Mosaic Covenant.

When Christ said “It is Finished” He meant the Hebraic Law. He fulfilled it, and gave us a religion of conscience, rather than a religion of oblations and empty works. Worship in the true faith, is outward toward your fellow man, and not inward, with pouring drink into the ground, or sacrificing lambs so you can have dinner. Nor, is it what you can or cannot eat. That dispensation is over, and a new priesthood is ordained through Christ Jesus, established in Abraham's seed.

I believe in the direct revelation of Prophets and Faith Healings and Tongues---
That all these gifts are still active today.

It is true, that people speak in tongues—they speak new languages they never learned—and they heal by faith, and they prophesy. These gifts are still active.

I do not believe the Bible is literally inerrant, because I believe it must be that men do not worship it above God.

The Bible is not the object of faith. Certainly, more people have lost their faith, assuming the Bible is completely inerrant, as God is Whom we worship, and He can reveal whatever words in the Bible we need, to bring us through. Faith is what makes the Bible useful, but the letter kills. And the Spirit of the Law gives life.

I believe God's law is inherent, and can be observed by those outside of the church, and even discovered and witnessed.

I believe God's law must be observable by the gentiles, otherwise He has no business judging the Earth. And of course, we see how the Earth itself falls into damnation when people act out of alignment with the Gospel's truths, and people suffer from even worse cruelties. We see the causal chains of human deeds, and what they create upon the Earth, and therefore, we can know why Sin is Sin.

I believe in the Miracles of Genesis, and that God's Omnipotence is above my own understanding.

Again, people fall out of faith because they cannot understand God's omnipotence. How is the Earth six billion years old and Adam and Eve true? Simply, I explained what the story meant, and suffice it to say, I believe in the stories as they literally happened, but God's miraculous vision is much deeper in breadth than my own. So, one might say, “Then God had lied, for the elements of the universe declare Him.” I'd say this is true only for the Moral Law, but perhaps science if the Christian is truly devoted to it, but such things cause little faith and not great faith. Rather, believe in a God who can do all things, and you will be well.

I believe the morals set down by Christ and His Apostles are the law we must follow, and that the Mosaic Law in the Old Testament we must abstain from following.

I do not believe the Morality of Scripture is optional. Some preachers preach that The Sermon on the Mount was for heaven, but then the Kingdom is to be brought to Earth in the LORD's prayer. Therefore, we establish the Kingdom through our good deeds, and our charity, and our love for one another. The Sermon was not a suggestion meant only for heaven, but was rather a dictum for what we do here on Earth. For in heaven, there will be no sin, therefore, no need for such guidelines, as everyone will be compelled by their new forms to walk in accordance with the Law, and cannot ever sin.

I believe every man, woman and child deserves a sentence of death, as described in the Mosaic law, and this is why Christ accomplished grace at the cross, for even disobeying the Sabbath---who is Christ---is a penalty worthy of death.

I believe no one is guilty, until they break God's law. Even the Sabbath. As unrest is what creates fruits of wickedness, in all things. Trying to do good, no man can, without the Spirit's aid, and must need Forgiveness to have a clean conscience for any charitable act. Otherwise, their malice and bitterness will make them hard, and unloving, and cause them to be wicked, and at their best they are still evil. Rather, we need Grace to do good, for there is no other way to do it. We need to be guided into our works through rest, yet even the unbeliever can be at rest, and hold to the powers of the Spirit, but must acknowledge the Gate, and enter through it in order to be saved.

I believe in the Old Liturgy and Hymns over newly created ones, save that the hymns have rich theology based in the Holy Prophecies of Christ.

I believe the melodies of Contemporary Worship are ecstatic, melancholy, and rude. Their lyrics are simple, and don't instill knowledge of the faith. We need an older liturgy, until new hymns are developed through the skill of the old, in their theological depth. A new Hymnry is preferable, but done in the traditions of auld, where there were merry melodies, or somber ones with some skill that do not cause grief or great stirrings. For that is not the Holy Spirit, but melancholia.

I believe the Rapture is at the 6th bowl of wrath, as is prophesied by Christ and John.

This is likely the most controversial of all my statements, but let me make a claim to it. When the Fig leaf is in bloom, we know Summer is Nigh, and Christ says, Matthew 24:29Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

And in Revelation 16:10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony 11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.
12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. 13 Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
15 “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

I believe that if I hold onto these beliefs, and never reject them, and all others taught by God through the Holy Scripture and Prophets and Saints, that I shall never see nor taste of death, and I shall never need suffer through the seven years of tribulation.

The Church of Philadelphia ministers on the Earth during the Tribulation, and sees none of the wrath of God. “10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” Not to say that my doctrine is perfect, but these are all doctrines that come from the Holy Scripture, and cannot be denied.

I believe in laying no barriers to Baptism, save a confession that Jesus is the LORD, that He raised, and a confession of the Trinity.

When I was trying to be baptized, no one wanted to do it without long winded classes, and indoctrination into a Church's heresies and legalities. Rather, baptism should be done immediately, for the faith to be pure. A confession of the Trinity, and that Jesus is the LORD, and Christ, and that Jesus Raised from the dead—for with Confession of the Mouth one works salvation, and with the belief in His Resurrection it produces righteousness—is all that's needed for baptism. That, and to be done by a faithful minister, who has confession in the Faith.

I believe true salvation is evidenced by a deep desire to Fear God's name, and walk in His commandments.

There can be no salvation, without desire to fear God's name Lord Jehovah-Jireh Jesus Christ, and obey His Holy Ordinances. There can be none, unless the sinner desires deeply for righteousness, as Hunger and Thirst are not impulses we control, but are rather part of our nature. And where one has no hunger or thirst for righteousness, they are already dead in their trespasses. For, without hunger or thirst, there can be no life for the body; for a body without hunger or thirst is not a living body, but a dead body. Amen.

I believe in the Fruit of the Spirit, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, Self Control, Goodness and Faithfulness are gifts from God, and come from no other source but through God, and are the evidence of the faith.

All goodness proceeds from God, and no other source. Therefore, I've never seen a person given to righteousness, without confession of the truth. Either knowledge of the Spirit—even if in another faith—or through true confession. No one can do good—even the Good Samaritan—without God's peace in their life, and without knowledge of the Law, and the power to uphold it. All faith proceeds from Jesus Christ, and no good deed can be done, without empowerment from the Holy Spirit.

I believe that I am a sinner, guilty of capital punishment and therefore guilty of hellfire, and so need God's grace to return unto Him, and walk a perfect walk with an unstained conscience.

Every sin God condemns to Death in the scripture, is a sin we can go to hell for. Whether dishonoring the Sabbath, which leads us to unrest, and causes us to stray off the Holy Path, or by committing fornication through Homosexual or Adulterous acts. Or by making oneself a different sex than what they actually are. Or by theft, blasphemy, cursing, bitterness, anger, deceit, lying, or any number of wicked deeds, especially all which are rooted in covetousness. For all sin proceeds from covetousness. Even idolatry, which one wishes to obtain welfare through means other than that of the Solitary Gate, Who is Christ Jesus. For one wishes to obtain fortune through illicit means, and enter into the Gate through a way which is not Commanded by God.

This is the list of beliefs one must have to be a member of the Church of Philadelphia.

II. Math

1. Number

Now I will get into pure philosophy, on what I believe regarding it.
First, starting with Number. Pythagoras, the ancient, talked a lot about number being the fundamental aspect of all reality. One starts with Ontology, that it begins with Number. One might think this strange, until they study Euclid, and find out what he means by “Square”, and then do the mental math that all his proportions actually work. This is number. 1 is as much the same as 42, but the same laws of ratios apply to both—of course, some number theory only works in Base 1, and that's the fundamental proportions of Geometry. However, through almost all things, number works according to the same laws, where any fraction multiplied into a number will lessen it, and any two whole numbers broaden it. Why? Well, consider, you multiply a thing by half, it is actually not multiplying it, but dividing it. And all things work this way.
Even more, numbers explain all bodies of ontology. Whatever exists, can be explained by numbers, and even animals to some degree understand it. It is a universal thing, which species unrelated to humans understand, giving it precedent—much the same way elephants paint what will be trees and a sun—there is objectivity.
And on the basis of Objectivity, that is my fundamental philosophy, is Epiphany, the contending with the world as it exists and not as I will it. Christ says we can move mountains by faith—verily we can—but it does not move by our word, but His. The mountain cannot move, or be established, except by the laws God proscribes. Which, mountains can move, funnily enough, but unless it is established by witness, it will not. Understanding that you don't move the mountain, except maybe as John Henry does, that is the means by which humans will necessarily move mountains. They exert their effort over the mountain, and by means of physical instruments, gain the wind and motivation to move them, whether by dynamite, steam shovel or pickax. And all of that relates to number, that the particles are numbered, the mountain is numbered, the men doing the work are numbered, the very atoms within the particles are numbered. Where we get into the realm of Quanta we see randomness, but even that randomness has numerical value.
Thus, number is a fundamental part of nature. How does this happen, unless by design? One can think we arbitrarily create number, but then the animals do it too. By capacity to understand number, it must exist, as witnesses across all cultures discover it. Whether Aztecs, African Bushman or European Savants like Newton. They all discover number, and fundamentally observe the world that way. As even the nominalists, understand number, that the individual object is its own entity, different ever so slightly from the other form. This is number. Through form we understand the world, too—which I have gotten into on another essay—but also through number.

2. Ratios

What's even more powerful than number, are ratios. The theorems in Euclid, they derive our calculus, they derive our trigonometry—for Trigonometry's functions are derived from the same logical frameworks as Euclidean Geometry. The squares proportion in their ratios, to cause all numbers to behave in that way. And indeed, they do. And one can muse upon the ratios, to see the lines interact upon the shape to create similar numbers, no matter how obscure.
Understanding this fact about Ratios, that all things obey this, otherwise there couldn't be mathematics—no calculus equation could work, unless the ratios were understood in proportion to the curve, nor would any trigonometry function work, either—it begins to be even more perplexing. How does this work? We certainly do not invent number, as it's inherent in the universe, so then is ratio, as even the laws of Gravity form themselves into behaviors according to ratios. Otherwise there could be no physics or engineering.
It's hard for me, and I find it absolutely specious, to say this comes about on its own, through randomness. As it seems to imply a design, as nothing could exist without number or ratio. Whatever would exist, wouldn't be comprehensible... and one might say this is what necessarily causes it to form this way. But, rather, it works, and if it does, the arguments of Newton and Leibniz were right, that they must prove God exists.
Of course, one has the William Blakes of the world, who decry Newton and does not want language to be objective. Which will be the further discourse here. But, why is this? Why do people want objectivity to disappear? Why do they abandon God when they see this comprehension? Certainly, I don't know... but the fact remains that this organization in the universe proves a Designer. In the way a Deist might understand it, a Great Architect at the very least. To me, this first principle proves a God of some sort. The moral necessities prove the specific Deity of Christ Jesus.

3. Geometry

Which gets to the next relation, that all mathematics relates back to geometry. Even sets are a series of geometric identities, though not connected by physical space, they obey the same laws of Number. How? How does a Set, or everything else, get explained by this rational system? And how does the Area under a Curve identify so many useful things? How does area get calculated to distance traveled, for speed and acceleration, and how does useful knowledge get calculated from differentials and rates of change, and how does this leap made by calculus work—for it is indeed a leap of faith, if anyone truly understood it—prove things? How does the logic get necessarily completed by our formulas, to assume an answer and it is correct?
Too many divinations were correct, to assume this were hocus pocus. As the fact remains, it is not divination. It is, rather, completely based and founded in reason. It explains everything in the world perfectly, and geometry is the way we prove it. We observe shapes, and predict the calculus and frame formulas to complete our known predictions, to then, again, use those ratios to predict more complex predictions we cannot know.
And it works. It produces sound science that leads us directly to rockets that fell from space, and brings us through those same formulas, by use of a limit, to exact locations. Again, the limit isn't being calculated by adding up the series, but rather is completed through the formula's prediction.
And again, faith is a lot like this. We can never know God exists by touching Him with science, or any kind of argumentation. People say it's “Tautological” but then all logic is rooted in Tautologies. There must be a sound beginning, and a firm foundation of what truly is, and simply put, our geometry is the Tautology. By mere fact that the shape is, and what we understand is derived through it, it's not by systems of a priori reasoning we create our math. That would be silly. Rather, we frame our math based upon the ways geometry works. And it produces sound conclusions, which as a matter of fact, need no logical chain to subsist, but rather exist of their own accord.
The same thing is with God. We can approach Him as a limit, but cannot understand Him unless we take the next leap into the completion of the logic. All moral and physical laws seem to suggest He's real. The physical showing a design, of at the very least some Pantheistic or Deistic being, and the Moral Law showing a very active God Who came to Earth and Shed Human Blood for us. For, how else were we to know? Sure, we know... but that will be gotten to next.

III. Language

1. Language's Meaning

Good linguists do not understand things through denotation, but connotation. They understand things through context, and its descriptive application, and not its literal application. This troubles many Left Brained people (If I may use that, you know what I mean and that proves my point all the more), into thinking again there's some hokum being done.
But, rather, there is objective meaning, and science to language. By mere relation of what the words mean in their purest sense, strings of ideas get put together—even in a generative grammatical structure—and they become understood. By meaning, they move up to more formal natures, and from the object of the words, they move up to meanings.
Consequentially, humans understand things in cause and effect, through behaviors that create suffering or prosperity—even so, that's not the entirety of it. But, rather, people understand things through their behaviors and relations to one another.
Why is it that a poem has meaning? Even in the tone, a poem can express deeply hidden thoughts, which many people tap into, no matter how hard. And when a poem does not have this meaning, it is possibly a failed piece. Of course, the Postmodernist places emphasis on personal interpretation, but there's good reason to be skeptical whether they have knowledge. They have a sort of knowledge, and exert their discipline over poetry that does not have a true meaning. But, many poems do, and many people understand this. Truthfully, too many people find the same nuances hidden in the same poems, for there not to be communication. The author can be read—the same way psychics do—through their language, and real things can be understood from it.
Why is this? Well, fundamentally, human language is based in as Plato says “The Logos.” Lao Tsu says, “A way that can be named, is not the way.” It's not to say that you can't speak truth—that's postmodernism—it's to say that two languages with completely different words, meanings and grammars, both communicate the same notion, albeit in different forms, they still mean the same things. Fundamentally, things exist underneath language, that lets us identify what is being said. And that is how all language has meaning.

2. Moral

With that said, moral consequences can be understood from language, and this is the primary device used in literature, is showing consequences, and how they lead to fortune or ill fortune. And albeit, we need a higher framework than mere fortune to understand right from wrong. And that is Christ Jesus, whom having no fortune, lived a perfect walk, unstained by Sin. Humans absolutely need this role model. Otherwise, they have no way.
Euclid's word “Square” confused me for several years, in that I could never come to the conclusion he did, not in a million years. I had to be told, and once I was told, I tested the theory out, and saw that it worked. Same thing with Christ. We see an innocent Being put to death for speaking truths more profound than thirty moral sages, living a life more noble than Pythagoras or Diogenes, and a moral principle that created the most stable civilizations in history. Certainly, you need no more proof than this.
You cannot, for instance, have the genius of Christ and form those understandings on your own. It's too difficult. Just like Euclid's meaning for “Square” was too difficult even for this man to understand—I had many faulty ways of understanding it, where I related the shapes being made as the “Square”—but I had to be told the line must be formed into a square. And then it all made sense.
The same thing with Christ, and the apostles, they had to live a life, sometimes fruitlessly dying and being slaughtered, for people to recognize the moral imperative of living a righteous life. They had to see it, and through the Gospels we see a perfect life, of a moral sage and philosopher giving a perfect moral statute, derived from an Old and Barbaric Moral System, of which He accomplished, so we wouldn't have to. The Jews were given to judge the world, until Christ took that from them, and thereby saved us from it.
Thus, “Judge not Lest You Be Judged” is indeed one of the foundational moral principles, that we are not to judge the world, and condemn it, but rather to speak for its correction.

3. Aesthetics

Thus, we get to aesthetics. One has to know the aesthetics of what's truly beautiful, before they can have a foundational education to build upon. They need to see beauty, both in emotion and physical beauty, before they understand what's good.
It's just a simple fact, that aesthetic is the foundation of all morality. What is ugly, disfigured, bitter and hurtful needs to be understood as evil, while what is beautiful, whole, happy and loving needs to be understood as good.
Of course, the child says, “But this man is ugly, but he's good.” Certainly... but one needs to know beauty is good. It's not the matter of the Form of Man's appearance that the child needs to understand as good, but that beauty is good, and having a comely appearance is a good thing. Having a homely appearance is a bad thing. Being disfigured is a bad thing. Being whole is a good thing. Waste, destruction, war, famine, disease, those are bad things. Flourishing, productivity, peace, fatness, health, those are good things. A beautiful painting is better than an ugly one.
As from there, the beautiful painting gives good emotions, of which the child imprints, and understands are good. And thus, they develop into a healthier individual later on in life. As all moral antecedents are meant to give the higher pleasures of life—love, joy, peace—rather than the lower pleasures of life—concupiscence, revelry, activity. Sure, there is good in sex, fun and activity, but not to overshadow love, peace and joy.
Thus, the child must know what is truly going to fulfill them. Monogamy fulfills more than lasciviousness and adultery. Having deep trust for people fulfills more than being distrustful. Knowing the good of people, fulfills better than knowing the evil.
And with that, a people cannot be good, unless they build their foundations from Truth, Beauty and Goodness. Rather than Lies, Monstrosity and License. For if any of these foundations are cracked, the interpretive power of the person—to discern the meaning of language—is destroyed, and fundamentally, if you destroy this foundation in reason, there can be no knowledge at all.

Why Homosexuality is Unlawful

Well, you'd have to read a lot of history. It alters the psychological state of the social organism, and causes a lot of corruption. The 13th Century Collapse into the Dark Ages, was preceded and probably caused by it and infidelity. So was the Roman Hedonism and the culture developed there.

There's been lots of stable societies that accepted LGBT, but none of them were necessarily just societies. They didn't promote human flourishing, but rather just the opposite. Because, again, it is aberrant human behavior. Unlike the animals, people understand right from wrong. And usually, what causes a lot of social unrest, frustration--which is the cause of mass movements and war--is usually rooted in the first principles of the Libido, and it is caused by frustrating the libidinal output. That's just how human psychology works.

To simplify that, humans usually become Homosexual when there's increased frustration, usually due to unfulfilled desires and the society being unable to fulfill them for whatever reason. And that leads to more frustration, which catalyzes a culture into rampant corruption, and it also leads---kind of miraculously at that--to disease. And it also causes war.

That's just history. From Japan, to China, to the Americas---you can study the American tribes, and how awful they were---it's just not good for people. That's also why Christianity is so persuasive because it aligns with the human moral nature better than any other religion.

Also, in a very Confucian way of thinking, it leads to silly conversations, which proceed to bad governance, as it's doubtful whether humans are naturally disposed to do that, any more than they are cannibalism or incest. As animals do both of those things. So, generally, there is a moral absolute people naturally are disposed to, given that we're genetically hardwired to know right from wrong--that's been described by thousands of sages--that behavior being one of the things that causes a disturbance in the human social organism. It can last a long time, but typically the governments get so corrupt and horrible that they're literally legalizing every crime imaginable, and no one can have any peace.

On Familiar Spirits

[A[ familiar spirit [is when you commune with the dead], and there is something wrong with that. But, sometimes it comes from faith, when it's an angel. But, you're not to communicate with the dead. That's a big no no. It's a form of idolatry. Most likely, because if the person is not in hell, you're communicating with an angel, and they can do nothing for you, save God will it. So, it's not something you should do. Though, angels do speak to the living---they call that a conscience. But that's holy guidance, and should be superseded by the Spirit. But so do demons; those are called intrusive thoughts or temptations. As Elijah had to be still, and hear the still small voice.

The Evolution of Faith

The Jews weren’t wrong, until they rejected Christ. They had the true religion, just like Abraham’s faith was true, before there were the Jews. And the Torah was not established until 1300BC, so before that, another religion—the religion of the Patriarchs—was correct. Just like when Christ shed His blood, the atonement switched from the Lamb to the Lamb of God Who is Christ.

The faith evolves, with more and more revelation of Who God is. In the time of Job, when Behemoth walked the Earth, there wasn’t much knowledge, but the faith was handed down by the Patriarchs. Then Abraham found God, and worshipped only Him, and established law in Mesopotamia. And His seed bore the Covenant, and the Jews were given the Law, so that only one people knew the God of all, but they transgressed, so Christ came and fulfilled it unto death and resurrected so the whole world could have true life.

Why Hell?

Well think about it this way, the only way you could have eternal life, is if you had Christ’s mind and righteousness. So, inherently, how are you going to receive that? Unless you choose to have it? Because human minds are fallible, and full of sin and doubt, and also nasty thoughts. Just think about all the nasty thoughts you have, and your anxieties on a daily basis. You don’t want that in heaven? So, you’re basically asking Christ to give you His body and His mind, with your Soul, and His Spirit, so you cannot sin, and therefore, will have everlasting peace.

Without it, even if you lived on Earth for eternity, it’d pretty much be hell. Because life without God’s peace is hell. So the more you drift away from Christ, the more like hell your life becomes. It’s not that “God doesn’t love sinners”, it’s that you have to choose God and His mercy, to avoid the wrath, by saying “I’m not good enough to be in heaven.” Because you’re not. You need Christ’s righteousness to live eternally, and be able to fully have pleasure and not sin. You also have to recognize you’re not perfect, and accept Christ’s Lordship in your life, as that’s the only way to receive mercy, is to accept God’s grace, and live with full understanding that you’re not worthy. As only that will produce the kinds of fruits necessary to gain access to the Kingdom.

On Eternal Life in This World in This Body, Even with Eternal Youth

[T]his world would get so boring, and it's already hellish enough. Imagine never dying, and having to witness war after war, siege after siege, disease after disease, see people grow corrupt, destroy an entire civilization, and then rebuild it, and once it got things just right, it gets corrupt again and falls apart. Or then someone gets the idea to put you into prison, because you're in the wrong country at the wrong time. I mean, even if the woman you loved were immortal too---and you two had the most passionate romance ever---it'd grow dim. Unless we ourselves were empowered by Christ's Holy Mind, we'd never be able to accomplish it. Which is another reason we need Christ to go to heaven. As eternity in our flesh minds and living in this world would be the utmost worst possible thing we could ever have done to us. It'd be even worse than Hell.

On Making an End to Lust

Just ask Jesus to take it out of you. And keep asking until He does. If you need to, what helped me was blocking my access to my phone's internet. But then don't establish patterns on your computer, otherwise you'll have to get rid of that, too. Just cry out to Him to purify you. It'll work. 

Also, don't feel guilty about whatever dreams will come your way. All the saints go through that. Lewis, Augustine, Bunyan... if you built up patterns of lust, it'll come out in your dreamspace. It's unpleasant, but it's how it has to be. Don't be worried about stuff like "Succubi" or whatever. Literally, all the Saints had nightmares as that was the only place Satan could get to them. Just get up, wash, and stay out of battle until nightfall. Peace.

Contrast Between Buddhism and Christianity

Buddhism is about removing desire, and causing yourself to not cause yourself or others suffering. It’s about “Empathy”. It’s about how your mind is not capable of understanding the outside world, and therefore, you are “Fire” as the famous sermon by Siddhartha goes. Everything is “Fire”, all things are rooted in your perception of them, including pain, relationships, joys. All things are tied back to your own perception and mental processes. It also has no belief about the afterlife, but rather views life as a cycle of reincarnations.

Christianity is about fulfilling your desire through seeking the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s about understanding the world’s suffering is arbitrary, and uncontrollable. That being good, you almost will have to suffer, but then you’re to find strength in God’s power and mercy, and joy in His Holy Covenant. It’s about accepting the outside world, and using faith to move “Mountains”, as in, accept reality for what it is, and shape your place in it by having the faith to endure and rely on God’s provision for your joy. It believes in reality… where Buddhism is focused on the interior world, Christianity is solely focused on the exterior world and your place in it. Its moral philosophy is strict, and prudent, and not about “Empathy” only, but also about repentance and turning away from sin; so Christianity is about discipline, so one has the tools to later find joy, and enter into the kingdom and not have sorrows. And of course Christianity centers around Heaven, and entering into the Kingdom.