It’s not really my favorite verse. I think Jesus is probably true, that “That which is first is last, and that which is last is first.” Because this one verse has been misinterpreted and distorted by so many people.

So, “Whosever shall believe on me, will have eternal life,” Who is it that believes? It’s the one who does what Jesus asks of them. Not of works, that man should boast—of course that’s going to be the rebuttal. But, then what?

So, faith is a walk, and it’s a walk where doing good should produce more rest and relaxation than doing evil. As the work of the conscience is the Holy Spirit. We’re not to “Try” to get better—like if drug addicted, abusive, angry, blasphemous, lazy, etc.—we’re to rest on God’s power alone.

So, to believe on Christ, is to be empowered to do good. And to rest on Him to accomplish the work. Not to try to strive like a hypocrite to be good, but to desire the LORD’s righteousness, until He reigns it down on you.

But, you cannot be saved, and be a sinner. So, our hope is that the LORD gives us a portion of His Peace and Righteousness, and enables us to do good, rather than sin.

As that desire is what saves us, and that hunger and thirst is what’s satisfied.

“A Bruised reed He shall not break, nor a smoldering flax will He extinguish.” Those who desire the LORD’s righteousness, and hate their own sin—be it LGBTQ, Adultery, Drunkenness, Kleptomania, Murder, Oppression, Hatred, Bitterness, whatever habitual sin—the LORD’s who takes it out of you. And He replaces your heart with a clean heart. And He will not make an end with you, if you retain that desire, but He will bring you through the furnace of affliction to purify your heart.

So, that’s what it is to believe on the LORD. It’s to love His law, and have it be your delight, and wait upon Him to rain down upon you righteousness and rest. As Christ is the Sabbath, and breaking the Sabbath is a sin.

I was just reading Leviticus, and was stunned by the Curse. You read the verses, and see the Bible has some very simple laws. It’s not as hard as it seems, but America has trespassed almost every single one of those laws, and celebrates people who do so. The left celebrates LGBTQ, Child Sacrifice and Adultery, while the right celebrates Oppression of the Stranger, Unrest and Inequity.

Until you root out that sin, you’re never going to have peace. I mean, seriously, read the Blessings and Curses, you see it’s exactly paralleled to America. Because God’s law works. We DID have to eat the old store, because of the new. We did have abundant food, and no wild beasts tormenting us. And a pleasant land. We had water in the deserts, and fruit trees growing there.

It’s not from the top down. It’s from all levels of society. I see such blatant sin being celebrated, and people are downright rotten right now. Like, I hear it from everyone. My aunts, my uncles, my parents and siblings, my cousins, my friends,—I see it firsthand on Quora and YouTube—what’s happening in this country. And simply put, the problem is people are wicked, lazy, lustful, slovenly fools, and until they fix that and find Christ again, they won’t be able to have a world that’s like Heaven.

Like another thing to consider, is what’s the fastest growing religion? It’s Heathenism and Paganism and Atheism. Which, Science is culminating into a sort of magical belief system, where men can be women, and people “Attract” and “Manifest” prosperity to themselves through sheer will. That is Wizardry and Familiar Spirits. That has to stop, too.

The Shepherds are idle, and rich and fat. They feed on the portion of our tithes, but they do not feed us. They teach us lies, in exchange for our money, and they stand fervently idle, not seeking out the brethren who are the Spoiled Flock. They devour the outcasts, and call them "Heretics." They do not bind the brokenhearted, they do not seek the sick and wounded, they do not visit the captive, they prey on the widow and orphan. They teach nonsense for their sermons, and wander lightly around, feeding their full bellies with the substance of the poor and needy, and selling them on riches and fame.

I see ovens in your churches, but I see the rich eating from them. I see portions being sold to raise funds, and the freewill offerings published. I see the poor cast from the church because they smell bad, and not bathed. I see the pastor with the sleekest wagons, and finest horses money can buy. Arabian and Clydesdale, while their congregants have a mule and no oxen. I see the pastor preaching, "Believe, and there shall be opened doors." Where are the open doors? The peoples mourn, and are poor, while the rich get rich and join the fields together for themselves and no others. The poor are shamed for having no work, but lo, there is no work for the wicked are among them and the scattered sheep cannot feed or prophesy. For all are leagued against them. They go to work, as the pastors preach them how to prosper and make money--there is no more work for them to do. Yet, they are shamed. The pastors, what the poor do manage to have in their coffers, buy expensive meals, and luxurious clothing, and expensive watches and preach "Do what thou wilt to become rich!"

The prisoner, the sick, the brokenhearted, they say "You are a sinner!" To the cruel and unmerciful who are rich, they say, "Good fellow, you have brought much into your storehouse, and are a kind and decent man, for I see your pockets are deep, and they will pay my children's tuition, so they can go to seminary like me, and feast on the poor's salaries."

Where are the shepherds who wool the flock when it is summer, and grow the wool when it is winter, and milk the sheep when it is their time for milking, and nurture the lamb on their shoulders, at last, they do none of this, but stick them in a pen with cheap grains, and then fatten them and slaughter them, and then eat their meat, and drink their blood. Only one Lamb, the Lamb of God, could we do such things, and I'm afraid the blood and body of your flock is your Eucharist, and it shall damn the idle shepherds who have made a wage from their flocks, and not given them the sustenance they needed.

They promise them work, but then humiliate them. They promise them success, but it is only penury. They promise them hard work, but would not lift up the burdens themselves. Not even to call the man looking for occupation on the phone, to give him work, but then they sit in idle judgment of this fellow. Then the one who comes from a rich family, comes in his bright clothing and status of his wealth, and the pastor takes him, but the scattered sheep he lays a burden on, for he will not touch him, for he is sad.

We have nothing but shame, for you have injured us. Woe to the pastors who spoil the flock.

How is it possible that a Quadratic equation has two answers? There's multiple dimensions to these questions. I think Pilgrim's Progress does a good job at explaining the Calvinist tradition. You can be destroyed if you fall into sin. But, the seal is there to perfect your faith, and give you safe passage. Christ foreknew Judas Iscariot was the one who was going to betray [H]im. But Judas walked with [H]im the whole time, didn't he? But in that time he walked with Christ, Judas was counted among the number of Apostles.

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.

We're saved by having the LORD's righteousness.

So through faith, and walking in faith, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit into good works appointed by God unto our salvation.

Through belief we are saved, by belief in the Resurrection it becomes our righteousness, and with the mouth's confession our salvation.

 I think it's physically His blood and body. I'm a firm believer in Transubstantiation. And I think many saved Christians were saved believing the Old Testament wasn't literal. Augustine wrote a chapter about that in his confessions. The same arguments have been circulating since the beginning, and there are legitimate expressions of the faith that don't include literally believing Genesis. In my personal opinion, I think God's omnipotent, so what of it? He formed Eve from Adam's rib and turned water into wine. Why can't God create the world in 6 days, and also 6,000,000,000,000 years? Like, a computer programmer will create their world onscreen differently than the player experiences it in a video game. Or a painter, too, creates the painting in a different order than we experience it. It's no different for God and Adam and Eve. And the Flood actually has a lot of evidence backing it up, that it actually happened.

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Murder, Rape Robbery and Theft are not constant. [...]But, I think the argument for Christ’s ethics is a little more nuanced than “Morals must need God to exist.” It’s that God’s morals work, that’s the argument. Not that they need God. And then the fact that morals aren’t agreed upon, and many people suffer for it, that’s why there needs to be an ultimate judge.

Personally, I think morals are self evident, and I think they’ll be discovered to be so some day, based on objective metrics of how sound a society was.

But, with the argument from design, I was just musing on the geometry of Calculus the other day, how Sine reduces to Pi because it’s based on the radius of a circle—like radians—and the area underneath the shape can describe real things, which on an XY graph shows quadratic natures—and that the Rate of Change is used to describe the slight nuances of a curve. And the fact that all of this works, and number describes it exactly, down to the very slightest fraction or even imaginary number—as that has its uses in engineering too—it’s just obvious to me there is design. How does number exist? It’s a law, and the same law of ratios describes everything. Geometry relates to different things in the world, even Gravity can be described by Parabolas on a Quadratic graph.

I mean… to me it’s not about “Fine Tuning” but about the language of the universe. That things exist in real substance. And that’s what my faith is based on, is that substance. That there is real stuff beneath everything, and it allows us to understand our world in comprehensible ways. And I think that language proves there’s a designer. How I get to Christ, is His ethics, which seems to have been proven time and time again, and they seem more common sense to me than anyone else’s. Christ was wiser than 10 sages and that’s enough for me to believe in Him.

And then you add the fact that the Gospels can be established as witnesses, and you can see Christ actually did fulfill Messianic Prophecy. That’s too much evidence for me. Personally. But, my faith isn’t based in blindness, but rather the evidence of things unseen, and the substance of things hoped for.

 The restoration of our captivity is in heaven. The Bible places Heaven---and also Hell---on Earth's Cosmology to show that it's real. But all those verses in Ezekiel and Isaiah about our prosperity being restored fully are about heaven. You either are righteous, and are restored through Salvation, or are wicked, and destroyed. That's what the Prophecies mean. And our rebuilding--Nehemiah and Ezra--begin on Earth after the moment of Salvation starts, and our conversion.