Hi all! I am currently a junior in high school and I attend a public school in Michigan ranked about 30th-ish in high school rankings in Michigan. This fall, I begin my college application process and I am so eager and excited, yet worried and stressed that I wont get in and my life will be over.
I wanted to share my high school stats and extra curriculars etc. with you all with the hopes that you guys could tell me what you think my chances of getting into the colleges that I am looking at are and to just lay out my current status.
(DISCLAIMER) My stats/description may come off as cocky or ignorant at some points, please don't take it the wrong way.
Background:
-White Male
-Low-Mid Middle Class Family
-Dad attended Michigan State University - he is a high school teacher
-Mom did not go to college -she works as basically a college counselor
-I will need financial aid for college, parents are not contributing
My highest ambitions in life/out of college:

• I hope to one day have a job in a high finance position in New York City or Chicago (Investment Banking, PE, Consulting, Quants etc) - therefore I am applying to top prestigious target schools for recruitment, internships, and networking opportunities
• I hope to one day be one of the greatest musicians of all time

Stats:
Grades, EC's, Leadership, Sports, Work, Businesses, Volunteer, Music, etc.

1. 4.0 GPA
2. 1390 SAT Score-the one thing that will hold me back? 😭 - I am going to take in probably 6 times. 1390 was my first try, 690 Reading and Writing, 700 Math
3. AP Classes: (I wish I would've done more)

Sophomore Year: AP US History (4)
Junior Year: AP World History, Most likely will get a 5; AP Precalculus, Most likely will get a 5 too.
Senior Year: AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics

1. Musical Prodigy - Piano at least

Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Drums
Piano:

• 12 Years
• Completely Self Taught
• Rock n Roll, Boogie Woogie, Blues, Jazz, Country Western, and Gospel Pianist (not your average 17 year old piano player lol)
• Play By Ear (Play me a song on the radio, I'll play it back for you)

Guitar (Electric):

• 7 Years
• Completely Self Taught
• Same Music Styles as above
• Play By Ear
• My Room's walls are filled with guitar diagrams and sheets, it looks like I am going crazy lol-may use this in my college essays, idk haha.

Drums:

• 1 Year
• Completely Self Taught
• Same Music Styles as above
• Play by Ear

Five: Sports
Tennis:
-Freshman, Sophomore, Junior year Varsity Team
-2023 (Fall) Division 3 MHSAA #1 Doubles Individual State Champion
-#1 Ranked Doubles Player in the State of Michigan
-2023 First Team All State
-Never Lost a Conference Match/3-Time Team and Individual Back to Back to Back Conference Individual and Team Titles (2021, 2022, 2023)
-2 Time Individual Regional Champion, 2 Time Individual Regional Team Champions (2021, 2022)
-Apart of the 2021, 2022, 2023 all academic teams
-Finished 6th Place as a team in 2022, Finished 5th Place as a team in 2023
-I will play my senior year
Golf:
-Freshman, Sophomore: JV Golf Team
-Junior: Varsity Golf Team, Ranked 4th as a team in the state
-I will play my senior year (on the varsity team)
-Most Likely will win the Conference Championship and Regional Championship in the next two weeks 😬
Basketball:
-Freshman Year: Freshman Team
-Sophomore Year: JV Team
-Did not play junior year, and will not play senior year
Pickleball Club Member at my Highschool

1. Work/Businesses:

-Created a Piano Teaching Business the summer of 7th grade, have done that since. (Self Employed)
-Joined a friend on the summer before junior year to co-own a car detailing company (may rejoin, not sure) (Self Employed)
-Worked as an Usher at a movie theater, winter of junior year (Hourly Pay) - will return for winter of my senior year
-Will work as a tennis camp/lesson instructor with my tennis coach at a training facility this summer (Hourly Pay)

1. Volunteering

-A member of the National Honor Society
-Volunteered at Kids Food Basket, local libraries, tennis camp volunteering, and various school sponsored events

1. Leadership (Lacking-ish?)

-Business Owner with piano teaching in that I personally teach kids piano
-Varsity Tennis Captain
-Tennis Lesson Teaching this summer

1. Demonstrated Interest, to an extent lol

-Job Shadowing a CFO this summer at a company
-Visiting each college this summer as well
-Currently learning how to trade financial markets (Duration=1 year)
-Spend hours each day learning music and finance/math stuff
-Performed Piano (boogie woogie/rock n roll improvisations at high school talents shows, played piano in a wedding when I was 11, played piano at churches for graduation baccalaureates.

1. Essay Topics:

Few things I am considering including or basing my college essays off of:
-My determination and dedication to math, finance, music, and life in general
-Metaphorical topics about navigating the struggles of the social and academic aspects of high school
-My obsession with music from the 50s-90s
-My obsessions with gaining knowledge and learning as much as possible and why or how things happen or work.
-My obsessions with improving each day and getting stuff done
-How I am a winner in life and that I excel in the things I pursue and that I do everything I can to improve and win
*I am in the way early stage of brainstorming btw*

1. Letters of Recommendation:

-My Precalculus teacher: He told me he is going to write my letter of rec and I hadn't even asked him yet lol so I assume it's going to be a good one
-My AP World History teacher: Another teacher that loves me just as my math teacher does
-My High School Counselor: Also loves me and has connections to my family, so we are closer than other highschool students are with her.

1. COLLEGES I AM APPLYING TO:

*Main majointerest is Finance; want to do music as well so that it can stay apart of my life
*Want to do a double major: Finance, and Music (Maybe Minor or Triple Major with mathematics)
*Schools that don't offer a undergraduate business school I will most likely do some sort of combination of economics, mathematics, and music
Schools 😬:
Safety: Michigan State University (Broad School of Business) (Honors)
Reaches (All IB target schools are reaches 😭, except maybe Indiana):
-University of Michigan (Ross)
-Pennsylvania University (Wharton)
-New York University (Stern)
-Indiana University (Kelley)
-Columbia University - no undergraduate business school
-Northwestern University - no undergraduate business school
-Duke University - no undergraduate business school
-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
-Vanderbilt University - no undergraduate business school
-University of Tennessee (Haslem)
-Penn State University (Smeal)
-Cornell University (SC Johnson)
Schools I might just apply to at the last minute for the heck of it:
-Princeton
-Miami (Florida)
-Illinois University
-Virginia University
THIS POST IS LONG AND I AM SORRY.
Please give me feedback on whether I'd have a strong chance or not of getting into these top schools. It would mean the world to me as I don't know where else I can go to get someone to help rate my stats and tell me if I am out of my mind or not about applying to these schools, or my goals in life in general.
Thank you for letting me rant, and please be honest

So, to start with, a friend of mine had an extra ticket to go see the live production of "The Book of Mormon" yesterday (as a side note, it was funny, but wildly offensive in many aspects). After the show we'd left the building and there was an LDS missionary standing outside and I approached him – I'm not sure if it was the Holy Spirit or just me that drove me to go over to him – and I struck up a conversation. I told him my beliefs and it was, to be very blunt, pretty brutal. He had answer for everything's I'd brought up and it was quickly apparent that he's no slouch and I felt outgunned. I was blustering and yammering through most of the conversation and then he asked "tell me what you know about my religion", now, I know enough about the Mormon faith to refute some of it, but my mind was absolutely blank. I left the conversation feeling defeated and, frankly, humiliated. I'm not much of an apologist, but I do know enough about the Bible and Christianity to defend it, but I was just much too nervous to do much of anything last night.
I slept on it last night and I decided to see this as a learning experience. I'm still solid in my faith, but there's obviously more for me to learn about both the Bible and defending my faith and sharing the Gospel.
I wanted to share this as a warning to people who are thinking about approaching people like this: don't go in unprepared, have some Bible verses and talking points ready, and don't go in alone.

The “disciple whom Jesus loved,” known as John, either John the brother of Zebedee (the Apostle), or John the Elder, was writing his recollections of his experiences with Jesus so that those who hear or read would believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and would find eternal life in His name (cf. John 20:31). He began by speaking of the Word of God, the Creator, the life and light of men, who took on flesh and dwelt among us as Jesus of Nazareth (John 1:1-18). He then described the calling of the first disciples, Jesus’ first sign at the wedding in Cana, the events which took place while Jesus was present at the Passover in Jerusalem, and Jesus’ return to Galilee via Samaria (John 1:19-4:54). John the Evangelist then set forth Jesus’ healing of a lame man at Bethesda and the storm of controversy it engendered, Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand, and His challenging description of Himself as the Bread of Life (John 5:1-6:71).
John the Evangelist has been relating narratives regarding Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles (or Feast of Booths; Sukkot) in Jerusalem, featuring Jesus’ instruction and the thoughts and feelings of the crowds and Jewish authorities, ultimately leading up to a desire to stone Jesus for blasphemy (John 7:1-52, 8:12-59). For many textual critical and literary reasons, we have reason to believe the pericope adulterae, the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery, of John 7:53-8:11 was not originally written by John, let alone would have taken place at this point in the Gospel narrative. We therefore conclude John the Evangelist wrote a continuous narrative of events at the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7:1-52 and John 8:12-10:21.
While we have a tendency to disconnect the narratives of John 9:1-41 and John 10:1-21 from the events of John 7:1-52, 8:12-59, and even disconnect them from each other, John the Evangelist presented them as all part of one continuous literary unit. In John’s narration, Jesus has gone back and forth with the Jewish people and religious authorities in John 7:1-52, 8:12-30 and then spoke specifically to the Jewish people who believed in Him in John 8:31-59; having miraculously escaped those who would have executed Him, Jesus left the Temple area with His disciples, and walked by a man who had been born blind (John 9:1). Jesus’ disciples asked who had sinned, he or his parents, which led to his blindness; Jesus responded it was so that the acts of God might be revealed through him (John 9:2-3). The disciples reflect the standard prejudice and presumption regarding disability deriving from specific sins; we should not develop a theology of disability from either Jesus’ disciples or, for that matter, Jesus’ specific response in this particular circumstance.
Jesus re-affirmed how He was the Light of the world and needed to do the works of God while the day remained (John 9:4-5; cf. John 8:12). He then spat on the ground, made mud, put it on the blind man’s eyes, and told him to wash in the pool of Siloam; the blind man did so and was able to see (John 9:6-7). The people responded, wondering if he indeed was the man who was blind and had formerly begged; some recognized him as such, but others did not think so; he did not shrink away from confessing who he was and had been (John 9:8-9). They asked him about what happened and he relayed the story (John 9:10-12).
The people decided to bring the man to stand before the Pharisees since an astonishing miracle had taken place (John 9:13). John the Evangelist then informed us this healing took place on a Sabbath (John 9:14); many of the Pharisees thus considered Jesus’ making mud on the ground as work and thus deemed Him a transgressor of God’s law, entirely missing the miraculous on account of this detail, but some did experience the cognitive dissonance and wondered how a sinner could do something like this (John 9:15-16). They asked the formerly blind man what he thought; he confessed Jesus as a prophet (John 9:17).
The Pharisees refused to believe his testimony and summoned his parents; they affirmed him as their son and that he was blind, but said nothing about how he gained sight (John 9:18-21). John the Evangelist explained their reticence: the Pharisees had agreed to put out of the synagogue anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ (John 9:22-23). To be put out of the synagogue meant to be alienated and isolated from the Jewish community, and it would not be as if the Gentiles would welcome them with open arms. Many commentators believe John is retrojecting the situation of his later community onto this event; we have no reason to believe the religious authorities would not have thus leveraged their power at the time.
The Pharisees brought the formerly blind man back in and chastised him: they knew Jesus was a sinner, and he should glorify God; they were Moses’ disciples, but he was a disciple of Jesus, and they do not know where He came from (John 9:24-25, 29). The formerly blind man stood against them sharply: God did not listen to sinners, but Jesus had done a miracle which had never before been done according to the witness of the Scriptures. If Jesus were not from God He could do nothing (John 9:26, 30-33). The Pharisees had no patience for such a rebuke: they denounced him as born entirely in his sins, and yet he would presume to teach them (John 9:34)? We will have reason in a moment to comment on the irony of this statement; sufficient for the moment is to recognize how the Pharisees have revealed who they are in their response.
The Pharisees cast the man out. Jesus found him and asked what he thought of the Son of Man (John 9:35). The man asked Jesus about who the Son of Man might be, and Jesus confessed Himself as the Son of Man (John 9:36-37). The formerly blind man confessed his belief and prostrated before Jesus; Jesus said He came into the world so the blind might see and those who see might become blind (John 9:38-39). The Pharisees, perceiving the challenge, asked Him if they were blind; He told them they would not be guilty of sin if they were blind, but because they presumed to see, their sin remained (John 9:40-41).
John the Evangelist laid the irony on thickly: the blind saw, but those who believed they saw proved blind. Those who were “born in sin” found forgiveness, but those who presumed themselves to be holy were in transgression. Appropriate critiques about making caricatures and strawmen out of the Pharisees are important and should be heeded; nevertheless, it is always a temptation of those with religious zeal to think too highly of their own righteousness and inappropriately prove sanctimonious toward those with less formal accreditation or standing.
We tend to end the story there, but John did not: in his narrative, Jesus immediately continued on by speaking of Himself parabolically as the Door of the sheepfold and the Good Shepherd of the sheep (John 10:1-21).
The world of shepherding and sheep would have been familiar to Jesus and to everyone in His audience. Sheep were important for their meat, milk, and wool; nevertheless, sheep are very dumb creatures. They require a lot of assistance, direction, maintenance, and protection. Shepherds would spend a lot of time with the sheep and would be dedicated to them. They would know their individual sheep. Sheep heed the specific voice and call of their shepherd; even when flocks are mixed, with a call or sound the sheep will appropriately separate out and follow their respective shepherds. Bears, lions, and wolves would find sheep an easy meal; other people might be tempted to steal sheep. Shepherds thus had to direct sheep to find appropriate pasturage and water, and would be kept in sheepfolds to provide some protection during the night. The shepherd would use the door (or gate) of the sheepfold; those who would come to rob and steal would try to enter another way.
Such was the story Jesus told about the sheep, the sheepfold, and the shepherd in John 10:1-18. The people would have understood the referents, but they did not understand what Jesus meant by it all (John 10:6). Jesus attempted to explain. He was the Door of the sheepfold, for the others who came and claimed to be the Messiah were really thieves and robbers, and the sheep, the people of God in Christ, did not listen to them. Those who go out through Jesus find salvation and “pasturage”; going after others leads to exploitation and oppression, but Jesus came to give abundant life. Jesus is the Good Shepherd of the sheep, who would lay down His life for the sheep. Hired hands would abandon the sheep if it proved too costly; the wolves, or the false Messiahs or religious authorities, would then come in to devour the sheep, God’s people. Jesus had sheep in other sheepfolds He would gather to Himself. But He knew His sheep, and they knew Him; He would lay down His life for them, and take it back up again, according to the commandment of His Father (John 10:1-18).
Jesus was by no means the first person to speak of Israel and leadership in terms of sheep and shepherding. Moses and David had been shepherds when God called them to lead His people (Exodus 3:1-6, 1 Samuel 6:11-13). The prophets would denounce the nobility and prophets of Israel as shepherds devouring the flock; yet YHWH promised He would return and personally shepherd Israel His sheep (cf. Ezekiel 34:1-31). We should definitely pick up on the textual association between Jesus, the I AM before Abraham, and Jesus the Good Shepherd, YHWH who had returned to personally shepherd His sheep (John 8:58, 10:11). How He would lay down His life for the sheep, and take it back up again, would become manifest in its good time.
The people did not quite know what to do with everything which had transpired (John 10:19). Some continued to be convinced Jesus was demon possessed and insane, and asked how anyone else could listen to Him (John 10:20; cf. John 8:48, 52). But others denied His words could come from a demon, and asked how anyone possessed by a demon could give sight to a blind man (John 10:21).
Thus John the Evangelist ended his narratives about Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles. As Israel celebrated the gifts of light, food, water, and life during the Feast of Tabernacles, thus Jesus demonstrated how He was the Light of the world, giving sight and wisdom, providing pasturage and fountains of living water for those who believe in Him. He proclaimed Himself the Son of Man and God the Son and made attestation by doing a thing no prophet before had ever done, but was prophesied regarding the Messiah: He gave sight to a blind man. The people remained as divided as ever: plenty found reason to dismiss Him as demon-possessed and insane, and while no one could make complete sense of what He was teaching, others could not dismiss Him so easily or glibly. May we well recognize Jesus as our Shepherd, the Light of the world, giving life through His sacrifice, and share in life in Him!
Ethan

I went on a couple of short term mission trips during my teenage years (mid-2000s) with an organization based in the Midwest called Royal Servants (umbrella org is called Reign Ministries). I've been doing a lot of deconstructing lately and have come to realize that a lot of the tactics used at both the Royal Servants "training camp" and on the "mission field" were very cultlike and brain-washy...I was changed forever after going on these trips, and now I'm trying to unpack the religious trauma of it all almost 2 decades later.
Some of the aspects I think were particularly cultlike when I look back at the experience include:

• no showering for (at least?) the first week of training camp, and then we were all made to shower together and given less than 5 min to do so.
• Having only 2 min to get out of our tents fully dressed each morning while our team leaders yelled at us and banged pots and pans...then having us do an obstacle course before running us ragged all day in the sun so that we'd be emotionally maleable for the alter call in the evening.
• Group "discipline" that involved waking us all up before dawn and marching us silently to a place where we did manual labor until breakfast - all because someone in the group was supposedly talking after lights out (I am convinced they would have come up with a reason regardless and this was a planned tactic to break us down and form a group identity).
• daily sermons for the entire summer + daily hour long devotionals, scripture memorization, and D-group conversations about our spiritual growth.
• the "No future questions" rule and general expectation of blind obedience/ total and unquestioning submission to authority at all times
• memorizing the 4 spiritual laws booklets and then when we inevitably weren't able to recite it perfectly, the lesson was "this is why we need God's grace" and learning that the adults never expected we would succeed in the first place. It was all to build up the emotion of the moment we failed so that, again, we would be emotionally maleable.
• strictly enforced purity culture and gender roles
• being told by the team leader that the nightmares I was having halfway through the summer were actually Satan attacking me because I was growing spiritually.
• training us how to pick out people in a crowd who would be more susceptible to proselytizing (if they were training us to do this they were probably using the same tactics on us)
• teaching us that you can't trust your feelings (fact, faith, feelings train)
• using poverty tourism to reinforce prosperity gospel teachings and inspire feaavoidance of any values that are not "biblical".

Anyway, I haven't been able to find a single reddit post referencing Royal Servants so I'm starting this thread to try and find others who went through the same thing.
If you went on a RS mission trip, what was your experience?

Bryce Young sucked in 2023. That shouldn't be debatable. Sure, if you squint you can find some flashes, but he had a historically bad year. He sucked.
Bryce Young is valued 70th on KTC. So clearly there's still some hope that he'll be good. Jared Goff and Trevor Lawrence also sucked in year 1 and ended up being good. But why don't we take a more data driven look at it: Let's look at 15 years of drafts from 2007-2021.
I will subjectively classify QBs drafted in the top 10 into hits, busts or ambiguous because there's no perfect methodology. This is also arbitrary, but I'm going to mark whether they were 15% below league ANY/A in their first year as a starter as "terrible" and any other year as "not terrible."
Hits: Matt Ryan (Not Terrible) Matthew Stafford (Terrible) Cam Newton (Not Terrible) Andrew Luck (Not Terrible) Jared Goff (Terrible) Josh Allen (Terrible) Kyler Murray (Not Terrible) Joe Burrow (Not Terrible) Tua Tagavailoa (Not Terrible) Justin Herbert (Not Terrible) Trevor Lawrence (Terrible) Overall, there were 11 clear hits. 4 were terrible in their first year.
Busts: Jamarcus Russell (Terrible) Mark Sanchez (Terrible) Jake Locker (Not Terrible) Blaine Gabbert (Terrible) Robert Griffin III (Not Terrible) Blake Bortles (Terrible) Mitch Trubisky (Terrible) Sam Darnold (Not Terrible, though close) Josh Rosen (Terrible) Zach Wilson (Terrible) Trey Lance (N/A)
So 11 busts, 7 were terrible, 3 were not, and one was N/A. Though notably, only RG3 was actually good as both Locker and Darnold were well below average despite not hitting the 15% threshold.
Guys who are ambiguous and weren't great QBs, but can't be classified as a total bust and did shine at times: Sam Bradford (Not terrible) Jameis Winston (Not Terrible) Marcus Mariota (Not Terrible) Ryan Tannehill (Not Terrible) Carson Wentz (Not Terrible) Baker Mayfield (Not Terrible) Daniel Jones (Terrible)
So 7 QBs, 6 not terrible.
So what if we apply Bayes' Theorem to Young? We want to find out if he'll be a bust or not, given that he had a terrible first year. Let's define B as bust, and T as terrible first year.
P(BT) = P(TB)*P(B)/P(T) Well, 11/29 or 38% of QBs were busts. So P(B) = 38%. P(T) = 12/28 (excluding Lance) so 43% of QBs were terrible year 1. And P(TB) = 7/10. 70% of busts were terrible in year 1. So we'd estimate that Young has a 63% chance of busting. Obviously not gospel, but that doesn't look great for Bryce.

Three big questions many Christians have.
If God is good:

1. Why does life depend on death to continue?
2. Why hasn't Jesus returned and made things right yet?
3. Why hasn't Jesus' teaching done away with suffering?

Life is a classroom to teach us how to be worthy of eternity. Eden represents life in its perfect, heavenly state. God created us in His image to teach us to be like Himself. Unity, equality, and love are distinct, but inseparable components of God. We must learn to value them to be worthy of eternal life.
We had everything we needed in Eden to create heaven on earth. We could have learned every lesson by interacting with God and Creation. The animals' traits teach us about character. The plants teach us value. The seasons teach us preparation and timing. Every lesson shows that patience and love give the greatest benefit. Healthy limits on these avoid their abuse.
The unity of Adam and Eve shows us why we must be like God to fulfill our purpose. (The other big lesson of "family" is to support the weak, Job 29:11-17, Acts 4:32-35) Adam is made in God's image. God gives Adam His own breath = spirit. (John 4:24) Adam has a surplus without a deficit to fill. This is the state God / Love is in without a Creation to receive His love. Adam sees his need when he cannot find a worthy partner among the animals. (Genesis 2:20) From his own body, God fashions a woman. Eve, was with Adam from the beginning, but not in a form that truly completed him. She is given back to him and they return to being one. (Genesis 2:23-24) We "leave and cleave" because this sacred relationship is the most important lesson we need to get before time runs out. We can learn to be one in the most joyful and painless way, if we keep marriage sacred and sinless.
Sin divides us. Every lesson on earth teaches us to distinguish between what brings life or death. All sin eventually brings death. We change our classroom every time we bring sin/death into it. We have to deal with the consequences as part of our lessons. The curses on the First Family, are lessons that teach what a god must patiently endure when his creation deviates from eternal behavior. (Psalm 82:6, Matthew 5:43-45, John 10:27-38)
Genesis 3:17-19

• Adam (representing God)
• works the ground (earth representing Adam)
• to produce food (satisfaction for God's emptiness without a safe target for His love.)
• but it only produces thorns (Adam's selfish, destructive behavior)

This pattern continues throughout history; for example, we didn't have a "death-penalty" until we needed it to stop sin from spreading to all life. Once we realized, "an eye for an eye" would make the whole world blind, we were ready for the Healer, Jesus Messiah.
The questions:

1. "If God is good, why does life depend on death to survive?"

Death is a consequence of being unable or unwilling to sustain life. Sin is willful deviation from unity/equality/love. Sin leads to death of the innocent. It eventually will lead to the death of everything. It is stopped by the correction and/or punishment of the deviant death-bringer. (The difference is between willful sin and ignorant sin. Numbers 15:28-31, Romans 5:12-21, Luke 12:47-48, Romans 6:23)
The death-penalty is like surgery. It's a last-resort treatment to keep sin from spreading to healthy, life-supporting members of creation. There was no death in Eden until humans brought it in by sinning, instead of healing our world. (Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:15) The flood account tells us that all life was corrupted by sin. It's why God resorted to destroying every land animal that didn't enter the Ark. (Genesis 6:11-12)
When man left the Ark, we received meat as food and the death-penalty for shedding innocent blood. This came about in order to weed-out the abusive and negligent. (I say "we" because we are all still one, as long as sin doesn't separate us.) Removing the sinful, and cleaning up after sin is part of sustaining life now. (Genesis 9:1-6) Creation is made whole again when its resources are put to use by those who submit to eternal laws, (Unity, equality, love. Proverbs 28:8) Evolution denies the Biblical account, so please know I don't judge anyone for believing our secular school teachers. Evolution can't account for things like this: "Deer saves rabbit from hawk." There will be no death in the age to come. (1 Corinthians 15:26, Isaiah 25:8)

1. "Why hasn't Jesus returned and made things right yet."

God is being patient with us. He doesn't want anyone that could be saved to be left behind. (Ezekiel 18:30-32, 2 Peter 3:9, Matthew 24:29-44) We have one life to complete our lessons. Like babes in the womb, mankind has a fixed time in this age. We will become fit for eternity or we won't, depending on what we spent our lives becoming. We are all one. Each person's experience serves as a witness to what is, or isn't life-sustaining. (Ecclesiastes 9:10, John 9:4) We're wise to live by eternal lessons for the sake of ourselves and those connected to us. (Ecclesiastes 9:11-18, Matthew 25:1-13)

1. Why hasn't Jesus' teaching done away with suffering?

Sin creates suffering for everyone. That's why it's so evil. We have a free-will to choose death or life. (Genesis 2:9, Deuteronomy 30:19, Acts 2:38-40) Jesus taught us to do things that promote life, but we disobey Him. (Matthew 25:37-40, Proverbs 19:17) What we live and die to accomplish proves our devotion to love, unity and equality, or our lack of it. (John 11:7-10, 1 Peter 4:12-19)
Scripture references:
Life is a classroom meant to teach us how to be worthy of eternity.
Job 29:11-17 NKJV

11 When the ear heard, then it blessed me, And when the eye saw, then it approved me; 12 Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and the one who had no helper. 13 The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. 15 I was eyes to the blind, And I was feet to the lame. 16 I was a father to the poor, And I searched out the case that I did not know. 17 I broke the fangs of the wicked, And plucked the victim from his teeth.

Acts 4:32-35 NKJV

32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. 34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.

The first family's form and situation parallel spiritual truths about God.
John 4:24 NKJV

24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Genesis 2:20-24 NKJV

20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Every lesson on earth teaches us to distinguish between what brings life or death, in order to become like God. He is the source and example of unity, equality and love.
Psalm 82:6 NKJV

6 I said, "You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High.

Matthew 5:43-45 NKJV

43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

John 10:27-38 NKJV

27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. 30 "I and My Father are one." 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God." 34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods" '? 35 "If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 "do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? 37 "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 "but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."

Genesis 3:17-19 NKJV

17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return."

The questions:

1. "If God is good, why does life depend on death to survive?"

Death comes from being unable or unwilling to sustain life. Sin brings death when those who could sustain life abuse, neglect or don't understand their duties. We all have a conscience. We know we owe our lives to someone who believed in supporting the weak, but some of us listen to our flesh anyway.
Numbers 15:28-31 NKJV

28 'So the priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when he sins unintentionally before the LORD, to make atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. 29 'You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwells among them. 30 'But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people. 31 'Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.' "

Romans 5:12-21 NKJV

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Luke 12:47-48 NKJV

47 "And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 "But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

Romans 6:23 NKJV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There was no death in Eden until humans brought it in by sinning, instead of healing and taming our world. The flood account tells us that all life became irreparably corrupted by sin. We were put here to tame the animals, but instead, we led them by our bad example.
Genesis 1:28

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 2:15 NKJV

15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

Genesis 6:11-12 NKJV

11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

There will be no death in the age to come.
1 Corinthians 15:26 NKJV

26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

Isaiah 25:8 NKJV

8 He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.

When man left the Ark, we received meat as food and the death-penalty for shedding innocent blood. This came about in order to weed-out the abusive and negligent. Creation is made whole again when its resources are put to use by those who submit to the eternal laws of unity, equality, and love.
Genesis 9:1-6 NKJV

1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 "But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 "Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. 6 "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.

Proverbs 28:8 NKJV

8 One who increases his possessions by usury and extortion Gathers it for him who will pity the poor.

1. "Why hasn't Jesus returned and made things right yet."

God is patient with us. He doesn't want anyone left behind unless its absolutely necessary.
Ezekiel 18:30-32 NKJV

30 "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. 31 "Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? 32 "For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore turn and live!"

2 Peter 3:9 NKJV

9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Matthew 24:29-44 NKJV

29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 32 "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 "So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near--at the doors! 34 "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 35 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. 36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 "Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 "Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 "But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Mankind has a fixed time on earth. We will become fit for eternity, or we won't, depending on how well we paid attention to life's lessons.
John 9:4 NKJV

4 "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.

Ecclesiastes 9:10-18 NKJV

10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. 11 I returned and saw under the sun that--The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, Like birds caught in a snare, So the sons of men are snared in an evil time, When it falls suddenly upon them. 13 This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: 14 There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it. 15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. 16 Then I said: "Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, And his words are not heard. 17 Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; But one sinner destroys much good."

Matthew 25:1-13 NKJV

1 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 "Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 "Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 "but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 "But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 "And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' 7 "Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 "And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 9 "But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' 10 "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 "Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' 12 "But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' 13 "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

1. Why hasn't Jesus' teaching done away with suffering?

Sin and suffering are inseparable. Our Teacher has done all He could to bring us into eternity despite our sinful world. He even provided a perfect example for us to follow. Sadly, some still use their free-will to choose sin. We must be able to manage a free-will to be safe to inherit eternity.
Genesis 2:9 NKJV

9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV

19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Acts 2:38-40 NKJV

38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." 40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation."

Jesus explained that our response to His teaching should be to do things that promote life.
Matthew 25:37-40 NKJV

37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 'When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 'Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

Proverbs 19:17 NKJV

17 He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, and He will pay back what he has given.

What we live and die for proves our commitment to love, unity and equality, or our lack of it.
John 11:7-10 NKJV

7 Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." 8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 "But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."

1 Peter 4:12-19 NKJV

12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. 17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?" 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

May truth and love guide us home.

Three big questions many Christians have.
If God is good:

1. Why does life depend on death to continue?
2. Why hasn't Jesus returned and made things right yet?
3. Why hasn't Jesus' teaching done away with suffering?

Life is a classroom to teach us how to be worthy of eternity. Eden represents life in its perfect, heavenly state. God created us in His image to teach us to be like Himself. Unity, equality, and love are distinct, but inseparable components of God. We must learn to value them to be worthy of eternal life.
We had everything we needed in Eden to create heaven on earth. We could have learned every lesson by interacting with God and Creation. The animals' traits teach us about character. The plants teach us value. The seasons teach us preparation and timing. Every lesson shows that patience and love give the greatest benefit. Healthy limits on these avoid their abuse.
The unity of Adam and Eve shows us why we must be like God to fulfill our purpose. (The other big lesson of "family" is to support the weak, Job 29:11-17, Acts 4:32-35) Adam is made in God's image. God gives Adam His own breath = spirit. (John 4:24) Adam has a surplus without a deficit to fill. This is the state God / Love is in without a Creation to receive His love. Adam sees his need when he cannot find a worthy partner among the animals. (Genesis 2:20) From his own body, God fashions a woman. Eve, was with Adam from the beginning, but not in a form that truly completed him. She is given back to him and they return to being one. (Genesis 2:23-24) We "leave and cleave" because this sacred relationship is the most important lesson we need to get before time runs out. We can learn to be one in the most joyful and painless way, if we keep marriage sacred and sinless.
Sin divides us. Every lesson on earth teaches us to distinguish between what brings life or death. All sin eventually brings death. We change our classroom every time we bring sin/death into it. We have to deal with the consequences as part of our lessons. The curses on the First Family, are lessons that teach what a god must patiently endure when his creation deviates from eternal behavior. (Psalm 82:6, Matthew 5:43-45, John 10:27-38)

• Adam (representing God)
• works the ground (earth representing Adam)
• to produce food (satisfaction for God's emptiness without a safe target for His love.)
• but it only produces thorns (Adam's selfish, destructive behavior)

This pattern continues throughout history; for example, we didn't have a "death-penalty" until we needed it to stop sin from spreading to all life. Once we realized, "an eye for an eye" would make the whole world blind, we were ready for the Healer, Jesus Messiah.
The questions:

1. "If God is good, why does life depend on death to survive?"

Death is a consequence of being unable or unwilling to sustain life. Sin is willful deviation from unity/equality/love. Sin leads to death of the innocent. It eventually will lead to the death of everything. It is stopped by the correction and/or punishment of the deviant death-bringer. (The difference is between willful sin and ignorant sin. Numbers 15:28-31, Romans 5:12-21, Luke 12:47-48, Romans 6:23)
The death-penalty is like surgery. It's a last-resort treatment to keep sin from spreading to healthy, life-supporting members of creation. There was no death in Eden until humans brought it in by sinning, instead of healing our world. (Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:15) The flood account tells us that all life was corrupted by sin. It's why God resorted to destroying every land animal that didn't enter the Ark. (Genesis 6:11-12)
When man left the Ark, we received meat as food and the death-penalty for shedding innocent blood. This came about in order to weed-out the abusive and negligent. (I say "we" because we are all still one, as long as sin doesn't separate us.) Removing the sinful, and cleaning up after sin is part of sustaining life now. (Genesis 9:1-6) Creation is made whole again when its resources are put to use by those who submit to eternal laws, (Unity, equality, love. Proverbs 28:8) Evolution denies the Biblical account, so please know I don't judge anyone for believing our secular school teachers. Evolution can't account for things like this: "Deer saves rabbit from hawk." There will be no death in the age to come. (1 Corinthians 15:26, Isaiah 25:8)

1. "Why hasn't Jesus returned and made things right yet."

God is being patient with us. He doesn't want anyone that could be saved to be left behind. (Ezekiel 18:30-32, 2 Peter 3:9, Matthew 24:29-44) We have time limits on our lessons. Like babes in the womb, mankind has a fixed time in this age. We will become fit for eternity or we won't, depending on what we spent our lives becoming. We are all one. Each person's experience serves as a witness to what is, or isn't life-sustaining. (Ecclesiastes 9:10, John 9:4) We're wise to live by eternal lessons for the sake of ourselves and those connected to us. (Ecclesiastes 9:11-18, Matthew 25:1-13)

1. Why hasn't Jesus' teaching done away with suffering?

Sin creates suffering for everyone. That's why it's so evil. We have a free-will to choose death or life. (Genesis 2:9, Deuteronomy 30:19, Acts 2:38-40) Jesus taught us to do things that promote life, but we disobey Him. (Matthew 25:40, Proverbs 19:17) What we live and die to accomplish proves our devotion to love, unity and equality, or our lack of it. (John 11:7-10, 1 Peter 4:12-19)
Scripture references:
Life is a classroom meant to teach us how to be worthy of eternity.
Job 29:11-17 NKJV

11 When the ear heard, then it blessed me, And when the eye saw, then it approved me; 12 Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and the one who had no helper. 13 The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. 15 I was eyes to the blind, And I was feet to the lame. 16 I was a father to the poor, And I searched out the case that I did not know. 17 I broke the fangs of the wicked, And plucked the victim from his teeth.

Acts 4:32-35 NKJV

32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. 34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.

The first family's form and situation parallel spiritual truths about God.
John 4:24 NKJV

24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Genesis 2:20-24 NKJV

20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Every lesson on earth teaches us to distinguish between what brings life or death, in order to become like God. He is the source and example of unity, equality and love.
Psalm 82:6 NKJV

6 I said, "You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High.

Matthew 5:43-45 NKJV

43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

John 10:27-38 NKJV

27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. 30 "I and My Father are one." 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God." 34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods" '? 35 "If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 "do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? 37 "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 "but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."

The questions:

1. "If God is good, why does life depend on death to survive?"

Death comes from being unable or unwilling to sustain life. Sin brings death when those who could sustain life abuse, neglect or don't understand their duties. We all have a conscience. We know we owe our lives to someone who believed in supporting the weak, but some of us listen to our flesh anyway.
Numbers 15:28-31 NKJV

28 'So the priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when he sins unintentionally before the LORD, to make atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. 29 'You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwells among them. 30 'But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people. 31 'Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.' "

Romans 5:12-21 NKJV

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Luke 12:47-48 NKJV

47 "And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 "But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

Romans 6:23 NKJV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There was no death in Eden until humans brought it in by sinning, instead of healing and taming our world. The flood account tells us that all life became irreparably corrupted by sin. We were put here to tame the animals, but instead, we led them by our bad example.
Genesis 1:28

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 2:15 NKJV

15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

Genesis 6:11-12 NKJV

11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

There will be no death in the age to come.
1 Corinthians 15:26 NKJV

26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

Isaiah 25:8 NKJV

8 He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.

When man left the Ark, we received meat as food and the death-penalty for shedding innocent blood. This came about in order to weed-out the abusive and negligent. Creation is made whole again when its resources are put to use by those who submit to the eternal laws of unity, equality, and love.
Genesis 9:1-6 NKJV

1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 "But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 "Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. 6 "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.

Proverbs 28:8 NKJV

8 One who increases his possessions by usury and extortion Gathers it for him who will pity the poor.

1. "Why hasn't Jesus returned and made things right yet."

God is patient with us. He doesn't want anyone left behind unless its absolutely necessary.
Ezekiel 18:30-32 NKJV

30 "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. 31 "Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? 32 "For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore turn and live!"

2 Peter 3:9 NKJV

9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Matthew 24:29-44 NKJV

29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 32 "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 "So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near--at the doors! 34 "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 35 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. 36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 "Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 "Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 "But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Mankind has a fixed time on earth. We will become fit for eternity, or we won't, depending on how well we paid attention to life's lessons.
John 9:4 NKJV

4 "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.

Ecclesiastes 9:10-18 NKJV

10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. 11 I returned and saw under the sun that--The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, Like birds caught in a snare, So the sons of men are snared in an evil time, When it falls suddenly upon them. 13 This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: 14 There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it. 15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. 16 Then I said: "Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, And his words are not heard. 17 Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; But one sinner destroys much good."

Matthew 25:1-13 NKJV

1 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 "Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 "Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 "but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 "But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 "And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' 7 "Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 "And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 9 "But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' 10 "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 "Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' 12 "But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' 13 "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

1. Why hasn't Jesus' teaching done away with suffering?

Sin and suffering are inseparable. Our Teacher has done all He could to bring us into eternity despite our sinful world. He even provided a perfect example for us to follow. Sadly, some still use their free-will to choose sin. We must be able to manage a free-will to be safe to inherit eternity.
Genesis 2:9 NKJV

9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV

19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Acts 2:38-40 NKJV

38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." 40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation."

Jesus explained that our response to His teaching should be to do things that promote life.
Matthew 25:40

40 "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did good to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

Proverbs 19:17 NKJV

17 He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, and He will pay back what he has given.

What we live and die for proves our commitment to love, unity and equality, or our lack of it.
John 11:7-10 NKJV

7 Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." 8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 "But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."

1 Peter 4:12-19 NKJV

12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. 17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?" 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

May God's love guide us.

Three important questions many Christians have.
If God is good:

1. Why does life depend on death to continue
2. Why hasn't Jesus returned and made things right yet
3. Why hasn't Jesus' teaching done away with suffering

Life is a classroom to teach us how to be worthy of eternity. Eden represents life in its perfect, heavenly state. God created us in His image to teach us to be like Himself. Unity, equality, and love are distinct, but inseparable components of God. We must learn to value them to be worthy of eternal life.
We had everything we needed in Eden to create heaven on earth. We could have learned every lesson by interacting with God and Creation. The animals' traits teach us about character. The plants teach us value. The seasons teach us preparation and timing. Every lesson shows that patience and love give the greatest benefit. Healthy limits on these avoid their abuse.
The unity of Adam and Eve shows us why we must be like God to fulfill our purpose. (The other big lesson of "family" is to support the weak, Job 29:11-17, Acts 4:32-35) Adam is made in God's image. God gives Adam His own breath = spirit. (John 4:24) Adam has a surplus without a deficit to fill. This is the state God / Love is in without a Creation to receive His love. Adam sees his need when he cannot find a worthy partner among the animals. (Genesis 2:20) From his own body, God fashions a woman. Eve, was with Adam from the beginning, but not in a form that truly completed him. She is given back to him and they return to being one. (Genesis 2:23-24) We "leave and cleave" because this sacred relationship is the most important lesson we need to get before time runs out. We can learn to be one in the most joyful and painless way, if we keep marriage sacred and sinless.
Sin divides us. Every lesson on earth teaches us to distinguish between what brings life or death. All sin eventually brings death. We change our classroom every time we bring sin/death into it. We have to deal with the consequences as part of our lessons. The curses on the First Family, are lessons that teach what a god must patiently endure when his creation deviates from eternal behavior. (Psalm 82:6, Matthew 5:43-45, John 10:27-38)

• Adam (representing God)
• works the ground (earth representing Adam)
• to produce food (satisfaction for God's emptiness without a safe target for His love.)
• but it only produces thorns (Adam's selfish, destructive behavior)

This pattern continues throughout history; for example, we didn't have a "death-penalty" until we needed it to stop sin from spreading to all life. Once we realized, "an eye for an eye" would make the whole world blind, we were ready for the Healer, Jesus Messiah.
The questions:

1. "If God is good, why does life depend on death to survive?"

Death is a consequence of being unable or unwilling to sustain life. Sin is willful deviation from unity/equality/love. Sin leads to death of the innocent. It eventually will lead to the death of everything. It is stopped by the correction and/or punishment of the deviant death-bringer. (The difference is between willful sin and ignorant sin. Numbers 15:28-31, Romans 5:12-21, Luke 12:47-48, Romans 6:23)
The death-penalty is like surgery. It's a last-resort treatment to keep sin from spreading to healthy, life-supporting members of creation. There was no death in Eden until humans brought it in by sinning, instead of healing our world. (Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:15) The flood account tells us that all life was corrupted by sin. It's why God resorted to destroying every land animal that didn't enter the Ark. (Genesis 6:11-12)
When man left the Ark, we received meat as food and the death-penalty for shedding innocent blood. This came about in order to weed-out the abusive and negligent. (I say "we" because we are all still one, as long as sin doesn't separate us.) Removing the sinful, and cleaning up after sin is part of sustaining life now. (Genesis 9:1-6) Creation is made whole again when its resources are put to use by those who submit to eternal laws, (Unity, equality, love. Proverbs 28:8) Evolution denies the Biblical account, so please know I don't judge anyone for believing our secular school teachers. Evolution can't account for things like this: "Deer saves rabbit from hawk." There will be no death in the age to come. (1 Corinthians 15:26, Isaiah 25:8)

1. "Why hasn't Jesus returned and made things right yet."

God is being patient with us. He doesn't want anyone that could be saved to be left behind. (Ezekiel 18:30-32, 2 Peter 3:9, Matthew 24:29-44) We have time limits on our lessons. Like babes in the womb, mankind has a fixed time in this age. We will become fit for eternity or we won't, depending on what we spent our lives becoming. We are all one. Each person's experience serves as a witness to what is, or isn't life-sustaining. (Ecclesiastes 9:10, John 9:4) We're wise to live by eternal lessons for the sake of ourselves and those connected to us. (Ecclesiastes 9:11-18, Matthew 25:1-13)

1. Why hasn't Jesus' teaching done away with suffering?

Sin creates suffering for everyone. That's why it's so evil. We have a free-will to choose death or life. (Genesis 2:9, Deuteronomy 30:19, Acts 2:38-40) Jesus taught us to do things that promote life, but we disobey Him. (Matthew 25:40, Proverbs 19:17) What we live and die to accomplish proves our devotion to love, unity and equality, or our lack of it. (John 11:7-10, 1 Peter 4:12-19)
Scripture references:
Life is a classroom meant to teach us how to be worthy of eternity.
Job 29:11-17 NKJV

11 When the ear heard, then it blessed me, And when the eye saw, then it approved me; 12 Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and the one who had no helper. 13 The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. 15 I was eyes to the blind, And I was feet to the lame. 16 I was a father to the poor, And I searched out the case that I did not know. 17 I broke the fangs of the wicked, And plucked the victim from his teeth.

Acts 4:32-35 NKJV

32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. 34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.

The first family's form and situation parallel spiritual truths about God.
John 4:24 NKJV

24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Genesis 2:20-24 NKJV

20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Every lesson on earth teaches us to distinguish between what brings life or death, in order to become like God. He is the source and example of unity, equality and love.
Psalm 82:6 NKJV

6 I said, "You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High.

Matthew 5:43-45 NKJV

43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

John 10:27-38 NKJV

27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. 30 "I and My Father are one." 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God." 34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods" '? 35 "If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 "do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? 37 "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 "but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."

The questions:

1. "If God is good, why does life depend on death to survive?"

Death comes from being unable or unwilling to sustain life. Sin brings death when those who could sustain life abuse, neglect or don't understand their duties. We all have a conscience. We know we owe our lives to someone who believed in supporting the weak, but some of us listen to our flesh anyway.
Numbers 15:28-31 NKJV

28 'So the priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when he sins unintentionally before the LORD, to make atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. 29 'You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwells among them. 30 'But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people. 31 'Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.' "

Romans 5:12-21 NKJV

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Luke 12:47-48 NKJV

47 "And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 "But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

Romans 6:23 NKJV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There was no death in Eden until humans brought it in by sinning, instead of healing and taming our world. The flood account tells us that all life became irreparably corrupted by sin. We were put here to tame the animals, but instead, we led them by our bad example.
Genesis 1:28

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 2:15 NKJV

15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

Genesis 6:11-12 NKJV

11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

There will be no death in the age to come.
1 Corinthians 15:26 NKJV

26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

Isaiah 25:8 NKJV

8 He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.

When man left the Ark, we received meat as food and the death-penalty for shedding innocent blood. This came about in order to weed-out the abusive and negligent. Creation is made whole again when its resources are put to use by those who submit to the eternal laws of unity, equality, and love.
Genesis 9:1-6 NKJV

1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 "But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 "Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. 6 "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.

Proverbs 28:8 NKJV

8 One who increases his possessions by usury and extortion Gathers it for him who will pity the poor.

1. "Why hasn't Jesus returned and made things right yet."

God is patient with us. He doesn't want anyone left behind unless its absolutely necessary.
Ezekiel 18:30-32 NKJV

30 "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. 31 "Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? 32 "For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore turn and live!"

2 Peter 3:9 NKJV

9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Matthew 24:29-44 NKJV

29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 32 "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 "So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near--at the doors! 34 "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 35 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. 36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 "Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 "Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 "But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Mankind has a fixed time on earth. We will become fit for eternity, or we won't, depending on how well we paid attention to life's lessons.
John 9:4 NKJV

4 "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.

Ecclesiastes 9:10-18 NKJV

10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. 11 I returned and saw under the sun that--The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, Like birds caught in a snare, So the sons of men are snared in an evil time, When it falls suddenly upon them. 13 This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: 14 There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it. 15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. 16 Then I said: "Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, And his words are not heard. 17 Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; But one sinner destroys much good."

Matthew 25:1-13 NKJV

1 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 "Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 "Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 "but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 "But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 "And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' 7 "Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 "And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 9 "But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' 10 "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 "Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' 12 "But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' 13 "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

1. Why hasn't Jesus' teaching done away with suffering?

Sin and suffering are inseparable. Our Teacher has done all He could to bring us into eternity despite our sinful world. He even provided a perfect example for us to follow. Sadly, some still use their free-will to choose sin. We must be able to manage a free-will to be safe to inherit eternity.
Genesis 2:9 NKJV

9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV

19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Acts 2:38-40 NKJV

38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." 40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation."

Jesus explained that our response to His teaching should be to do things that promote life.
Matthew 25:40

40 "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did good to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

Proverbs 19:17 NKJV

17 He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, and He will pay back what he has given.

What we live and die for proves our commitment to love, unity and equality, or our lack of it.
John 11:7-10 NKJV

7 Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." 8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 "But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."

1 Peter 4:12-19 NKJV

12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. 17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?" 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

It didn't dawn on me until after this was finished that evolutionists may not be able to take much comfort from it. Let me know if God's shocking ability to write parables into history and nature made an impact on you. It's things like this that made me question my education. Peace.

This is my attempt at a 1000 word essay on three big questions many Christians have.
If God is good:

1. Why does life depend on death to continue
2. Why hasn't Jesus returned and made things right yet
3. Why hasn't Jesus' teaching done away with suffering

Life is a classroom to teach us how to be worthy of eternity. Eden represents life in its perfect, heavenly state. God created us in His image to teach us to be like Himself. Unity, equality, and love are distinct, but inseparable components of God. We must learn to value them to be worthy of eternal life.
We had everything we needed in Eden to create heaven on earth. We could have learned every lesson by interacting with God and Creation. The animals' traits teach us about character. The plants teach us value. The seasons teach us preparation and timing. Every lesson shows that patience and love give the greatest benefit. Healthy limits on these avoid their abuse.
The unity of Adam and Eve shows us why we must be like God to fulfill our purpose. (The other big lesson of "family" is to support the weak, Job 29:11-17, Acts 4:32-35) Adam is made in God's image. God gives Adam His own breath = spirit. (John 4:24) Adam has a surplus without a deficit to fill. This is the state God / Love is in without a Creation to receive His love. Adam sees his need when he cannot find a worthy partner among the animals. (Genesis 2:20) From his own body, God fashions a woman. Eve, was with Adam from the beginning, but not in a form that truly completed him. She is given back to him and they return to being one. (Genesis 2:23-24) We "leave and cleave" because this sacred relationship is the most important lesson we need to get before time runs out. We can learn to be one in the most joyful and painless way, if we keep marriage sacred and sinless.
Sin divides us. Every lesson on earth teaches us to distinguish between what brings life or death. All sin eventually brings death. We change our classroom every time we bring sin/death into it. We have to deal with the consequences as part of our lessons. The curses on the First Family, are lessons that teach what a god must patiently endure when his creation deviates from eternal behavior. (Psalm 82:6, Matthew 5:43-45, John 10:27-38)

• Adam (representing God)
• works the ground (earth representing Adam)
• to produce food (satisfaction for God's emptiness without a safe target for His love.)
• but it only produces thorns (Adam's selfish, destructive behavior)

This pattern continues throughout history; for example, we didn't have a "death-penalty" until we needed it to stop sin from spreading to all life. Once we realized, "an eye for an eye" would make the whole world blind, we were ready for the Healer, Jesus Messiah.
The questions:

1. "If God is good, why does life depend on death to survive?"

Death is a consequence of being unable or unwilling to sustain life. Sin is willful deviation from unity/equality/love. Sin leads to death of the innocent. It eventually will lead to the death of everything. It is stopped by the correction and/or punishment of the deviant death-bringer. (The difference is between willful sin and ignorant sin. Numbers 15:28-31, Romans 5:12-21, Luke 12:47-48, Romans 6:23)
The death-penalty is like surgery. It's a last-resort treatment to keep sin from spreading to healthy, life-supporting members of creation. There was no death in Eden until humans brought it in by sinning, instead of healing our world. (Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:15) The flood account tells us that all life was corrupted by sin. It's why God resorted to destroying every land animal that didn't enter the Ark. (Genesis 6:11-12)
When man left the Ark, we received meat as food and the death-penalty for shedding innocent blood. This came about in order to weed-out the abusive and negligent. (I say "we" because we are all still one, as long as sin doesn't separate us.) Removing the sinful, and cleaning up after sin is part of sustaining life now. (Genesis 9:1-6) Creation is made whole again when its resources are put to use by those who submit to eternal laws, (Unity, equality, love. Proverbs 28:8) Evolution denies the Biblical account, so please know I don't judge anyone for believing our secular school teachers. Evolution can't account for things like this: "Deer saves rabbit from hawk." There will be no death in the age to come. (1 Corinthians 15:26, Isaiah 25:8)

1. "Why hasn't Jesus returned and made things right yet."

God is being patient with us. He doesn't want anyone that could be saved to be left behind. (Ezekiel 18:30-32, 2 Peter 3:9, Matthew 24:29-44) We have time limits on our lessons. Like babes in the womb, mankind has a fixed time in this age. We will become fit for eternity or we won't, depending on what we spent our lives becoming. We are all one. Each person's experience serves as a witness to what is, or isn't life-sustaining. (Ecclesiastes 9:10, John 9:4) We're wise to live by eternal lessons for the sake of ourselves and those connected to us. (Ecclesiastes 9:11-18, Matthew 25:1-13)

1. Why hasn't Jesus' teaching done away with suffering?

Sin creates suffering for everyone. That's why it's so evil. We have a free-will to choose death or life. (Genesis 2:9, Deuteronomy 30:19, Acts 2:38-40) Jesus taught us to do things that promote life, but we disobey Him. (Matthew 25:40, Proverbs 19:17) What we live and die to accomplish proves our devotion to love, unity and equality, or our lack of it. (John 11:7-10, 1 Peter 4:12-19)
Scripture references:
Life is a classroom meant to teach us how to be worthy of eternity.
Job 29:11-17 NKJV

11 When the ear heard, then it blessed me, And when the eye saw, then it approved me; 12 Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and the one who had no helper. 13 The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. 15 I was eyes to the blind, And I was feet to the lame. 16 I was a father to the poor, And I searched out the case that I did not know. 17 I broke the fangs of the wicked, And plucked the victim from his teeth.

Acts 4:32-35 NKJV

32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. 34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.

The first family's form and situation parallel spiritual truths about God.
John 4:24 NKJV

24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Genesis 2:20-24 NKJV

20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Every lesson on earth teaches us to distinguish between what brings life or death, in order to become like God. He is the source and example of unity, equality and love.
Psalm 82:6 NKJV

6 I said, "You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High.

Matthew 5:43-45 NKJV

43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

John 10:27-38 NKJV

27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. 30 "I and My Father are one." 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God." 34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods" '? 35 "If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 "do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? 37 "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 "but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."

The questions:

1. "If God is good, why does life depend on death to survive?"

Death comes from being unable or unwilling to sustain life. Sin brings death when those who could sustain life abuse, neglect or don't understand their duties. We all have a conscience. We know we owe our lives to someone who believed in supporting the weak, but some of us listen to our flesh anyway.
Numbers 15:28-31 NKJV

28 'So the priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when he sins unintentionally before the LORD, to make atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. 29 'You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwells among them. 30 'But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people. 31 'Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.' "

Romans 5:12-21 NKJV

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Luke 12:47-48 NKJV

47 "And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 "But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

Romans 6:23 NKJV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There was no death in Eden until humans brought it in by sinning, instead of healing and taming our world. The flood account tells us that all life became irreparably corrupted by sin. We were put here to tame the animals, but instead, we led them by our bad example.
Genesis 1:28

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 2:15 NKJV

15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

Genesis 6:11-12 NKJV

11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

There will be no death in the age to come.
1 Corinthians 15:26 NKJV

26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

Isaiah 25:8 NKJV

8 He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.

When man left the Ark, we received meat as food and the death-penalty for shedding innocent blood. This came about in order to weed-out the abusive and negligent. Creation is made whole again when its resources are put to use by those who submit to the eternal laws of unity, equality, and love.
Genesis 9:1-6 NKJV

1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 "But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 "Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. 6 "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.

Proverbs 28:8 NKJV

8 One who increases his possessions by usury and extortion Gathers it for him who will pity the poor.

1. "Why hasn't Jesus returned and made things right yet."

God is patient with us. He doesn't want anyone left behind unless its absolutely necessary.
Ezekiel 18:30-32 NKJV

30 "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. 31 "Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? 32 "For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore turn and live!"

2 Peter 3:9 NKJV

9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Matthew 24:29-44 NKJV

29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 32 "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 "So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near--at the doors! 34 "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 35 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. 36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 "Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 "Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 "But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Mankind has a fixed time on earth. We will become fit for eternity, or we won't, depending on how well we paid attention to life's lessons.
John 9:4 NKJV

4 "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.

Ecclesiastes 9:10-18 NKJV

10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. 11 I returned and saw under the sun that--The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, Like birds caught in a snare, So the sons of men are snared in an evil time, When it falls suddenly upon them. 13 This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: 14 There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it. 15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. 16 Then I said: "Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, And his words are not heard. 17 Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; But one sinner destroys much good."

Matthew 25:1-13 NKJV

1 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 "Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 "Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 "but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 "But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 "And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' 7 "Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 "And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 9 "But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' 10 "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 "Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' 12 "But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' 13 "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

1. Why hasn't Jesus' teaching done away with suffering?

Sin and suffering are inseparable. Our Teacher has done all He could to bring us into eternity despite our sinful world. He even provided a perfect example for us to follow. Sadly, some still use their free-will to choose sin. We must be able to manage a free-will to be safe to inherit eternity.
Genesis 2:9 NKJV

9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV

19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Acts 2:38-40 NKJV

38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." 40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation."

Jesus explained that our response to His teaching should be to do things that promote life.
Matthew 25:40

40 "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did good to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

Proverbs 19:17 NKJV

17 He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, and He will pay back what he has given.

What we live and die for proves our commitment to love, unity and equality, or our lack of it.
John 11:7-10 NKJV

7 Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." 8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 "But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."

1 Peter 4:12-19 NKJV

12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. 17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?" 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

First im sorry if my English is not perfect. I(34f) was one of my sis (36f) bridesmaids. My sis got married 5 years ago, the day before the wedding we went to the hall were the ceremony and reception was gonna take place to decorate everything, it was fun and everything, so we finished with the whole thing a little after midnight, i was soo tired, we needed to wake up really early in the morning to get dressed and do our makeup and everything. I woke up at 5 am with another bridesmaid because my sis forgot to buy some fruits for the cocktails. I was a little sleepy still and i hit my foot with the edge of the bed so naturally i said a bad word, so my sis flipped(she is Christian)and started to yell at me in front of her friend, i felt sooo bad and humiliated that i started crying, even though she did all of that i went to downtown to buy the fruits(btw it was like 35 minute drive from the hotel), plus we didn't found everything at the same store so we had to go to different stores. When we finally got back to the hotel she was furious because "we took too long" and my mom waited for me to go to the other bridesmaids room to get ready to tell my sis friend a bunch of rude things about me (the girl told me what she said a day after the wedding). The ceremony was absolutely beautiful until the bride call every single woman to get together to throw the bouquet. She threw the bouquet and a girl and i got it in the air and we slipped, i grabbed the bouquet and i held it high like i won, so my sis proceeded to take it away from me like a mom take a toy away from a child and gave it to her. Again she humiliated me but this time in front of everyone( there was about 60 people) i was so embarrassed that i just took my stuff and left before family pictures. I think im petty but only to people who are b!tches to me. So at my wedding (btw she said she was "too busy to help") she wanted the dj to play gospel music, so in front of everybody i told her THIS IS NOT A CHRISTIAN WEDDING that if she wanted to hear her own music she should go to her car. After that i felt like an AH for hurting her feelings. SO AITAH?

I hear this a lot, that Jesus represents human perfection. This seems to be taken as, well, gospel by most church goers (happy to be fact-checked on my observation). What bothers me is that they're basing the entirety of that opinion on the NT. But the NT is filled with books that, not only were written for various audiences, presenting the Jesus character in different ways, but also, as we know, full of contradictions.
I wonder how we'd be received if, when hearing the admonition in this post's title, we offered the correction that, no, Jesus is only portrayed as perfect, and that the literature which puts forth his perfection was written to portray him that way. Setting aside the issue of historicity, we can point out that there's no reason to accept that particular portrayal, since that characterization was deliberately made by the NT authors. (They were likely building on each other to make a "more perfect" Jesus, as well.)

I'm not going to get into the details related to George Santos and the absolute clown show of his career.
But I was watching a story about him and one thing suddenly became perfectly clear, and made perfect sense, you might even say it's predictable despite its utter Madness and the thick fog of bullshit that surrounds everything about him.
He has repeatedly responded to established facts about his past and his actions and his background by just saying no I didn't do that or no that's not what happened.
If I actually went through all of the events and details he claimed about his past and his actions that turned out to be absolute horseshit and easily debunked then we'd be here all day.
But probably the one that stands out in everyone's memory is the fact that he was a drag queen for years, and an ambitious one at that.
Once press got a hold of irreproachable evidence for it, that fact was widely published and caused quite a stir given his location on the map of political ideology. But even though there were photos of him doing it, videos including one of him in drag proudly discussing how many venues where he had performed, and witnesses who knew him then all made public...
Santos just said no I didn't.
He gave the same response when being caught in many many other lies; I mean basically his entire biography is fiction cut from whole cloth. When and how his mother died, where he went to school, where he'd worked, pretty well everything he ever said about himself was absolute gobbledygook and reporters were digging up absolute incontrovertible proof.
But he just keeps saying no I didn't or you miss heard me or I misspoke.
Why?
It just hit me like a ton of bricks that George Santos is not an absolute mad man nihilistically weaving fairy tales for his constituents while assuming the press couldn't possibly uncover the mountain of evidence that disproves everything he says.
Santos was just following in the footsteps of the most successful Republican in more than a decade.
Trump does exactly that. Trump simply denies and dismisses things for which there's unquestionable proof.
Trump makes constant claims that are easily disproven.
And yet nearly half of Americans are 100% on his bandwagon. They have the incredible staggering ability to just ignore evidence and facts. No matter what the proofs are no matter how airtight they just say no he didn't do that because he said he didn't do that.
In a world of politics where there is absolutely no significant meaning given to what's provable or factual regarding Trump, where his followers' ability to blind themselves regarding reality and regurgitate absolute Fairy Tail nonsense like it's gospel is so powerful you could swear they were robots. Droids programmed to only accept particular input and only spit out particular affirmations with no possibility of reflection or serious consideration or even possibly changing that opinion just because they love that guy so damn much.
In a world where that is actually a thing it makes absolutely perfect sense for George to shoot his shot at just saying no to everything proof or not. To simply call people who are pointing out his lies liars.
Because it worked perfectly for the new Republican role model. He would have had at least some chance of pulling it off.
My opinion is that he failed to reach anywhere near Trump's level of safety from incriminating truths mainly because he's just a repellent human being and the accusations included drag which in America right now seems to be on a road towards being legally deemed so heinous as to Warrant the death penalty.
But he tried it.
And it damn well could have worked. That's where we are. Facts and proof mean nothing. If you're on the right team and you hate the right people you can do any horrid inexcusable thing, like taking a bunch of minors away from their homes to another state, passing them around for you all to fuck at parties with your buddies, have that indisputably proven, and still be extremely successful, laughing your ass off while you watch the Rubes who support you telling reporters that they just don't believe any of that stuff because you are one of theirs.
This is a terrifying new landscape where politicians who frankly were always widely believed to be overall a corrupt and crooked collection of individuals, can truly perpetrate the most absolutely horrible acts imaginable, seemingly especially rapes since Matt Gates and Donald Trump are both well known and proven sexual predators and yet our two extremely successful politicians to this day.
And all they have to do say no I didn't do that and the people voting for them immediately become impervious to all proof taking their word as the absolute gospel and closing their eyes and ears to anything that might run counter to that belief.
I don't think it's an exaggeration anymore just say that Trump could pull out a gun and shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue then look at it a crowd of supporters and say I didn't do that and they would all cheer and emphatically agree that no he did not do that.
My God this is depressing. I feel like I could go drink a whole bottle of bleach right now. Maybe put my head in the oven but it's electric so probably won't help.
Thank you for attending my TED Talk.

I tells ya, so much falls into place here. This comes from Helen Hardacre's book Kurozumikyō and the New Religions of Japan, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1986. First, some background:

The contemporary religious scene in Japan is commonly divided into the "established religions" (kisei shūkyō) and the "new religions" (shinshūkō). These categories are further divided into Buddhist- and Shintō-derived varieties of each as well as into further subcategories.

The titular "Kurozumikyō" is a Shintō new religion founded in 1814 by the Shintō priest Kurozumi Munetada. As of this publication, it had a total membership of 220,000.

Founded by a priest of the "established" Shintō tradition, it is one of the oldest of the so-called new religions and seems to combine aspects of both new and established types. (p. 3)
THE NEW RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
The new religions and their members represent an important and distinctive sector of Japanese society. In spite of the great variety of their doctrines, new religions share a unity of aspiration and world view significantly different from those of secular society and from the so-called established religions. New religions constitute the most vital sector of Japanese religion today and include perhaps 30 percent of the nation's population in their membership. (p. 3)

A source I read recently noted that the Soka Gakkai grew from poaching members of other new religions; it seems this demographic was the most fluid and changeable of Japan's religious demographic. However, at just 30% of the population, even if the Soka Gakkai had managed to claim 100% of these new religions' memberships, it would still have fallen short of Ikeda's self-defined minimum requirement of 1/3 of the population.

Among the doctrines of the new religions there is great variety, since doctrine frequently originates in revelations to a founder. (p. 5)

Here is the Soka Gakkai's version:

• The enlightenment attained by President Toda in prison is the prime point of Soka Buddhism.

Founders tend to be charismatic individuals who attract a following through faith healing rather than through ordination and textual erudition.

The Soka Gakkai version:

• Ikeda: "Every disease can be cured by Gohonzon!"

Also here and here and especially HERE - DEFINITELY with the "faith healing".
As far as the "textual erudition" goes, Toda's post-WWII lectures on the Lotus Sutra were expected to be accepted as the "gold standard" of textual interpretation, and today, SGI members study Ikeda's lectures on texts rather than the texts themselves - see here and here. Who needs any priest??

The new religions tend to recruit their following through evangelistic proselytization and dramatic conversion, at least in the first generation. They promise followers "this-worldly-benefits" in the form of healing, solution of family problems, and material prosperity. In ethics they emphasize family solidarity and qualities of sincerity, frugality, harmony, diligence, and filial piety. Between laity and leaders there is only a vague dividing line, and for the most part, anyone may acquire leadership credentials, including women. Frequently the new religions recognize no sacred centers but those of their own history. (pp. 5-6)

While the Soka Gakkai initially embraced pilgrimages ("tozan") to the Nichiren Shoshu Head Temple Taiseki-ji, their regular activities were centered on Soka Gakkai buildings ("kaikan", or "centers") rather than on Nichiren Shoshu temples. In fact, this was an early source of conflict, as the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood justifiably questioned WHY the Soka Gakkai was putting so much more effort and resources into building NEW Soka Gakkai centers than on building Nichiren Shoshu temples, which would have been the proper function of any religion's legitimate lay organization. Add to that the bad optics of Ikeda's cult's attempted steeplejacking of established Nichiren Shoshu temples, and there was DEFINITELY something rotten in Denmark, so to speak. The Soka Gakkai's focus was trained on IKEDA rather than on the priests of the order they supposedly belonged to as a lay organization. That's some fucked up priorities and it was only a matter of time before that became an open, obvious problem. Of course Ikeda hoped to delay that reckoning until he was in a position to seize the entire Nichiren Shoshu religion for himself. Too bad, so sad, the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood headed him off at the pass and spoiled all his beautiful plots.

The world view of the Japanese new religions conceives of the individual, society, nature, and the universe as an integrated system vitalized by a single principle. Every level represents the manifestation of that principle on a larger scale. The relationships among the levels, however, are not static. They must be maintained in balance, harmony, and congruence. These qualities are manifested in conditions of happiness, health, social stability, abundant harvests, and regular succession of the seasons (free of such calamities as flood, drought, and major earthquakes). The opposite conditions (unhappiness, illness, social unrest, scarcity of food, and natural disasters) are symptomatic of a lack of harmony or congruence. Everything is interconnected so that a change in one dimension, no matter how small, eventually ripples out and affects other dimensions in a larger context. Religious practice is a striving for continuous integration of self with the body, society, nature, and the universe. This involves careful management of the most basic components: the self, the faculties of mind and emotion, and the personality. (pp. 11-12)

This thinking was the basis for Nichiren's Rissho Ankoku Ron, or "On Establishing the etc. & whatever".
Here is the chart that illustrates this thinking; you can clearly see the basis for "A great human revolution in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and, further, can even enable a change in the destiny of all humankind". There is no scientific basis for this kind of delusion; ignorant people just LIKE believing it. "Look how IMPORTANT and INFLUENTIAL I am!! Everything is all about MEEE!!!" The Soka Gakkai has been in existence (in a continuous state) for some 80 years now; if this sort of thing DID happen, we'd see it. We already know Ikeda had such high hopes for his followers, but the truth is that the membership never lived up to Ikeda's expectations. No "world leaders" emerged from Soka Gakkai ranks; they didn't even become rich! That simply isn't something that happens because of "this practice", no matter how much Ikeda misled all the gullibles. Daimoku is obviously NOT "the perfect solution for all problems".

Although the new religions inevitably adopt the system I have just described, they state it in different idioms. They may use Buddhist, Shintō, or colloquial terms for the self, calling it variously the kokoro (heart-mind or heart), konjō (guts), *reikon (spirit), tamashii (soul), and other terms. Similarly, they may name the principle vitalizing all existence by Shintō, Buddhist, or other terms: kami-nature, Buddha-nature, karma, ki, yōki, and so forth. They may predicate the existence of a variety of supernaturals who exist on a different plane than human beings, intervening in human affairs from time to time. These may be kami, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, or ancestors. Alien to the system is the notion of a single deity standing outside the whole and manipulating it by means of an unknowable will. The supernaturals of the integrated system are subject to its rhythms and generally conform to its principles. The system is compatible with a variety of cosmological ideas and world pictures, including horizontal and vertical cosmologies seen in Japanese myths and in Buddhism's many-tiered realms of existence. (pp. 12-14)
Because self-cultivation is the primary task of all, textual erudition, esoteric ritual, and the observance of abstinences are rejected or relegated to secondary significance.

Because "Earthly desires ARE enlightenment", right?? And all that other Buddhism stuff, well, that's all obsolete now, "as useless as last year's calendar", right??

The notion of kokoro is a hallmark of Japanese culture, and it is the central pillar of the world view of the new religions. Consider the following proverb, one that could be endorsed by the new religions and is a stock saying in secular society: "Both suffering and happiness depend on how we bear the kokoro." Kokoro is borne or carried in a certain way, good or bad, and according to that we suffer or are happy. We are in control. An ordinary, nonreligious interpretation of this proverb would say that our attitude toward circumstances determines in large part whether we are happy or unhappy, or that an attitude of "positive thinking" can improve our experience of unfavorable situations even if the circumstances are not thereby altered. (p. 19)

You can see Ikeda alluding to this here:

Even a man who has great wealth, social recognition and many awards may still be shadowed by indescribable suffering deep in his heart. On the other hand, an elderly woman who is not fortunate financially, leading a simple life alone, may feel the sun of joy and happiness rising in her heart each day.

An interpretation of the proverb among the new religions is likely to be much stronger, to hold that human beings certainly have the power to be happy, depending solely on the manner in which one bears kokoro. We need only exercise that power by self-cultivation.

And remember - NO COMPLAINING!!

Moreover, the idea that circumstances can be changed by the power of diligently cultivated kokoro is pervasive. It is a question not only of a change of attitude but sometimes of radical material change, such as an improvement in economic situation or a miraculous healing. It is understood that the cultivated kokoro has the power also to change external persons and events, and that nothing is impossible. Exercising the full power fo the kokoro is possible for anyone who practices self-cultivation through the spiritual disciplines of the particular religious group. (pp. 19-20)

Isn't that the whole basis for the idea of "human revolution"? How else could anyone understand "You can chant for whatever you want!"? Don't the Dead-Ikeda-cult SGI culties love to talk about "making the impossible possible"?? Hmm..I wonder why they never do...🤨
Here Ikeda likens the Soka Gakkai practice to the magic lamp of the "Aladdin" story. And it only works for Soka Gakkai members, of course.

We chant to make the impossible possible, we want extraordinary, not ordinary. Let's get those benefits flowing, let's appreciate those challenges that allow us to grow and win and share those victories with others so that they can be inspired and win. Source

While the terminology of the self is basic to understanding Japanese constructions of self, the patterns of action and affect in which these are embedded constitute the functioning of the world view of the new religions. Here I identify four such patterns:

(1) the idea that "other people are mirrors,"

(2) the exchange of gratitude and repayment of favor,
(3) the quest for sincerity, and
(4) the adherence to paths of self-cultivation.
So much for the supposed "novelty" of Dickeata's supposedly eternal "clear mirror guidance", eh? Oh, and EVERYBODY owes Scamsei and the SGI their eternal gratitude, too, and you NEVER EVER get to finish your "human revolution" ("self-cultivation")!

Each of these patterns represents an indispensable element of Japanese culture, and thus their implementation in Japanese religions is not unique. (p. 21)

Nope. The Soka Gakkai is just bog standard for a Japanese New Religion. Nothing unique or special. Just like all the rest.

The idea that other people are mirrors makes the individual totally responsible in all circumstances. Although the burden is heavy, there is also a tacit message that the self can control any situation. Placing blame and responsibility on the individual also denies the idea that "society" can be blamed for one's problems; hence concepts of exploitation and discrimination are ruled out of consideration. On the whole the new religions are uninterested in political action to improve society; to them it is a question of individuals improving themselves individually and collectively through self-cultivation. (p. 23)

Remember, this author ISN'T talking about Soka Gakkai here! This a feature of ALL Japan's new religions!

Since self-cultivation is the primary determiner of all human affairs, notions of fate or divine wrath (karma or bachi, for example) are reinterpreted, ignored, or denied.

Or introduced when necessary to blame a member when the promises of SGI leaders are proven empty and false. It's always the MEMBERSHIP's fault somehow, never that the teachings are wrong or deceptive.

In like manner, because of the primacy of self-cultivation, the concept of pollution cannot be fully credited, and this opens the door to greater participation by women than is the case in the established religions.

In the case of the Soka Gakkai, "greater participation by women" has been implemented as "greater exploitation of women". The women of the Soka Gakkai were expected to deliver daily newspapers for no pay throughout the Soka Gakkai's history; it is only recently that their numbers have declined so catastrophically and they have aged so much that the Soka Gakkai finally had to contract with a delivery service - which of course Soka Gakkai has to PAY now. Newspapers are SO much more profitable when you can find some suckers to deliver them at no cost to YOU!

Thus the new religions stress unquestioning performance of their established disciplines, fully aware that the demand for uncomprehending obedience (at least iat the beginning) will cause the convert frustration. Also involved as a minor theme is the pedagogical principle that "physical action can be perceived as isomorphic with spiritual change." Thus, for example, polishing floors can be assumed to "polish" the self. If one enters through form, eventually the kokoro will follow.

Speaking of exploiting women, who else heard that when women were cleaning the toilets for free at the local SGI center, they were "cleaning their karma"??

The hardship entailed is not to be avoided; no one denies that it is punishing to polish floors by hand, recite sutras, or endure cold water ablutions. Hardship in itself is virtuous and confers compassion and maturity.

Isn't that the essence of SGI's much-vaunted "youth division training"? Basically, it's SGI leaders getting off on forcing young people to do all sorts of scut work and to engage in unpleasant activities just because they can - somebody has to do the grunt work, right? Make THEM do it! Tell them it's "training" when actually it's just training them to allow themselves to be exploited. For a funny example of this attitude, see how this colossal doofus was trying to cajole and coerce his employee into joining SGI before he aged out of the youth division, so he could get him some of that gooooood "youth division training"!!

Meanwhile, now I worry about Chad, who has only a few months left to obtain YMD training, to whom I had to slip September Living Buddhism under his door, since his subscription is on the internet, and I want him to start working on the Introductory Exam material. Yesterday he did not answer or reply when he was supposed to be at work. (He is paid per day of work from his home.) Today when I arrived he was not even there. So I have been chanting for his welfare. He recently reported to me a medical difficulty he has that may be interfering with his efforts, or worse.

That's ONE way to duck an annoying self-important SGI stalker-nag! "Sorry, can't talk - have the plague..."

All the new religions agree that a person's real potential cannot be fulfilled without suffering, and in this they share with secular society the suspicion about someone who has failed that perhaps kurō ga tarinai, "the person hasn't suffered enough." That is, if one had endured sufficient trials before the present ordeal, one could have conquered this hardship. Accordingly it is important to establish how much leaders and founders have suffered in the course of their own self-cultivation. (p. 28)

See More myths about how the young Ikeda suffered so much and was so sickly wah wah

All problems can be traced to insufficient cultivation of self. Thus it is misguided to expect fundamental social change from political ideology. Instead, society can be improved only through collective moral improvement, the doctrine of meliorism. Similarly, attempting to cure disease simply by treating the body alone is useless. Healing can come about only through rededication to ethical values; hence medicine is effective only in a provisional way. Education and secular achievements apart from faith and cultivation of self are houses of cards, castles on sand. Accordingly, media-sponsored presentation of thoroughly secularized views of life are disapproved. (p. 14)

You can see the clearest examples of this thinking in the teachings of Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai from the 1960s, before people understood how immediate and pervasive "political ideology" could effect fundamental social change, as in the US when the anti-race-mixing "anti-miscegenation" interracial marriage legal prohibitions were swept away in the US Supreme Court's 1967 judgment on "Loving v. Virginia". That changed society more fundamentally and pervasively than any religion's doctrines that people's "hearts" must be changed FIRST before anyone could hope to see societal change realized, or in the terms above, "collective moral improvement". No. Remove unjust laws and establish penalties for behaving unjustly, and voilà! Society changes!
See SGI is actively OPPOSED to social justice and thus will NEVER contribute meaningfully to world peace and More on why SGI will never make any significant changes to society.
Back when Japan's medical system was primitive, with limited availability, the new religions advertised "faith healing", as seen above and here. But as medical care improved and, most importantly, became widely accessible, that became people's healing option of choice, so the new religions (and all the rest) had to drop it as a selling point, because nobody was buying it any more. Within the ignorant and indoctrinated ranks of SGI members, we can STILL see claims of "faith healing"; they apparently don't realize this isn't a compelling sales pitch any more. Except that in house, the superstitious, magical-thinking culties still eat it up with a spoon 🙄
But you can see Ikeda here explaining that medicine is unnecessary to treat various ills; there must be a "faith" component or the treatment will inevitably be ineffective. OR that having faith will make even a nonsensical nontreatment effective! Also slamming medicine as harmful and condemning members as somehow "deserving" of terrible illnesses.
And remember when Ikeda told "girls" they didn't need to go to college? That was fun. And how Icky denigrated university graduates??
Let's not forget how the Soka Gakkai has always been anti-union and has never established any charitable services anywhere, not even for the needy within its own struggling membership.

Lacking justification for a strong differentiation between the religious lives of priests and laity, the tendency to make the laity central is strong and pervasive. (p. 14)

This was a primary issue within the Soka Gakkai that festered until Ikeda brought it to a full boil out of his obsessive desire to BE the object of worship. The Soka Gakkai/Nichiren Shoshu alliance, while expedient for the Soka Gakkai and undeniably profitable for Nichiren Shoshu, was nonetheless an uneasy alliance, given the Soka Gakkai's defining characteristics as a "new religion" and Nichiren Shoshu's "established religion" status. Those two simply don't mix. Especially on this last point, you can see that it is a characteristic of a "new religion" to have the fundamental attitude that "priests are unnecessary". Ikeda simply wanted to USE Nichiren Shoshu for his OWN convenience, in service to HIS plans, instead of directing the Soka Gakkai to function as a legitimate lay organization whose focus was their religion, Nichiren Shoshu. Ikeda made it all about himself and his goal of maximizing his own power and control. Ikeda was never a religious person.

My (32M) mind is a complicated place. I was "saved" at about 13, always went to youth group and church growing up (presbyterian/nondenominational). Living on my own I didnt always go to church but started attending a church regularly several months before meeting my wife (30F, this was 7 years ago). She was raised catholic but their family didnt actually go to church much more than 1-2 days a year. She liked going to church with me. We did various groups together and on our own during our 3 years dating and typically attended Sunday service. We did premarrital counseling through our church and our location pastor officiated our wedding just before the pandemic started.
Something seemed off with the Lead Pastor and his wife, who was also a Pastor at our church did a online AMA style sermom before things started to open back up. They had a awkward falling out where she left the church and they broke up without much public explaination. At that point we started seeing the Lead Pastor as a little ignorant/egotistical in a idk who I offend validate how good my jokes are kind of way. Being more liberal leaning, my wife didnt feel comfortable with some of their policies returning to inperson services so we started to explore other options. My wife was furloughed from her job for a while but eventually we moved about an hour away to support her new role. Her long distance bff who unfortunately has since somewhat broke up with her (somewhat my fault) helped in the research until we finally settled into the church we go to now.
My wife has volunteered 1-4 times a month with young kids ministry (brave for helping the terrible twos) for over 5 years and is sometimes judgemental that I have not taken an equal initiative to donate my free labor. Theyre opening up a location near us and shes passionate about helping with launch team. Ive tried a few serving areas here and there but never really got connected in that way.
All that background, probably time to get into our beliefs. My downfall was probably about when I discovered street epistemology, made popular by Anthony Magnabosco. Upon trying to back up the beliefs that I held for so long (bad news and good news gospel) I found that I didn't necessarily have good evidence to justify my faith in the Christian God. I absolutely did not want to become more agnostic/skeptic as it was rather critical to be accepted/approved by my wife and birth family. After all, I had brought her to the Christian faith and she was passionate about being equally yoked where I could lead our family. My sister and brotherinlaw who we are close with are strong evangelicals who had planned to become fulltime missionaries in India or China but thankfully for various reasons theyre still living in the same state. While most of their network would encourage this leap of faith I think it puts my wife and I as well as our parents in a weird spot.
I hate falling in the middle of what should be issues of the utmost importance that I should have clarity on. As a smart guy I feel dumb for not quite getting it. I don't really feel comfortable, if I'm being honest, identifying as a Christian or an Atheist.
Reading through "our beliefs" on my churches website for example my response is typically how do you know that or what do you mean by that. Not sure if most definitions of God can really be proven or disproven. Sure most Christians will pivot at some point to well thats where faith comes in but to me it does not seem like faith is in any way a valid path to Truth as you can believe literally anything based on faith. While doubts and questioning can be healthy for some but it never really results with any better understanding for me.
So thats just kind of where I'm at not that its where I want to be. I wish I could lead my wife spiritually. I wish I could understand what I dp not with any sort of certainty. Due partially to my mental illness (bipolar) I dont always wake up in time for church. I try to suck it up and go with my wife as it is important to her that ww prioritize church. Last week she had gone by herself after volunteering where the sermon was on tithing. She came back wondering if we would get more blessing by giving more to church with the sentiment that shes not where she expected to be at this point in our lifes. She gets worried about getting older or the possibility of further infertility issues. Seeing families, baby dedications etc reminds her at least subtely how we have been unsuccessful in conceiving. I think we'd make good parents but obviously having fundamental disagreements can be hard. With most important relationships (my wife and God) i wish I didn't have thoughts/beliefs in disagreement with theirs but I don't know if we can really "choose our beliefs".
So what can I do to improve my marriage and be more confident in my Christ affirming beliefs in alignment with our church? Can anybody relate? Thanks for reading my rant/woes hope everyone is happy and healthy on this fine Monday.

I have a friend who asked me to officiate their wedding this summer. They live in South Carolina and I'm wondering if anyone knows if South Carolina will accept Universal Life Church? Their law states "Only ministers of the Gospel, Jewish rabbis, officers authorized to administer oaths in this State, and the chief or spiritual leader of a Native American Indian entity recognized by the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs pursuant to Section 1-31-40 are authorized to administer a marriage ceremony" but I don't really know what that means as far as accepting an online ordainment. I just want my friends marriage to, you know, be legal.

Hello, I could use some advice for a bar to rent out / perform in. In October of this year, a large crew of my friends and I are coming to New Orleans to celebrate my birthday, and a few of us are DJs that play deep-house/bass-house/gospel-house/afro-house, and we'd like to do a small party at a simple + fun spot.
We're looking for a bar that has a decent PA system + CDJs in house that we can use to do an event, and we'd like to try to do it in a neighborhood that would be be wise to do it with a bunch of out-of-towners (the Quarter, Frenchman St, Bywater, Garden District) and also could have some pedestrian traffic coming in the door as well.
Would anyone have any suggestions/connections to a place to do something like this in? I'm looking to reach out to a bar owner and line it up well in advance. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Ever since July of 2022, my wife and I have been struggling a bit with shelterlessness. It all began from this one time I was speaking with my birth mother over the phone and she would give me the usual bullying saying that my job wasn't good enough and I wasn't doing enough for God or my family ect. and my wife wanted to stand up for me. My wife told my mom that kind of talk wasn't acceptable and that if she wanted to keep talking like that then she wouldn't be speaking to her son. Pretty understandable. My parents always let me know I didn't ever do enough growing up, so it doesn't really get to me but it sure grinds my wife's gears.
After this altercation, fight, whatever it was my mom went to spread rumors about us. She told everyone that we'd gone crazy, that we were calling her names and screaming at her. Other things might've been said and I'm not exactly sure who all got around to hearing the news, but I did know that my brother heard from her and that mattered because my brother was our landlord. We later get messages from him that we'd need to "shape up" with a list of things to do better, including cleaning up after all the 4 animals and 3 other people in the house, to get a better job, and to spend less time in the living room???
He said that if we had any problem with it then we could leave now. Well, to be honest, both I and my wife had a big problem with all of this, so we left now. We spent the next year sleeping where we could and staying dry when we needed. It was definitely scary at first but we both quickly adapted. We really made the best out of it, getting joy from the little things like a cup of coffee or an iced water. There have been a lot of long days with lot of tears and life can sure be frustrating living outside, so at a certain point we'd get fed up sometimes and throw our hands down and scream.
During this time we have both been keeping in contact with our families letting them know that we're safe and all that, and it seems like my birth mom doesn't have any ill will towards us anymore. She offers us not only a bed to rest, but also paying for us to go to school and she doesn't want us to work. I and my wife discussed it for many days before our nativity took control and we were ready to accept.
Not even one month into keeping her house clean and taking care of her dog and going to her church nearly every day it's just not good enough apparently, since now on top of all this my wife and I were not allowed to hang out in the living room together anymore. We weren't allowed to be anywhere near each other unless we were in our separate rooms. The last night we stayed at her house, it was past midnight and she was screaming at us that we had a demon inside of us that made us the way that we are that she was trying to cast out. And then she told us to pack our shit and gtfo.
While I was rushing trying to pack my bag, my birth mother sends in my step dad to tell us to hurry up, even though it has been barely minutes since we started grabbing our things to go. I was hunched over my bag when he came in so I stood up to look him in the eye and a fist came right for me at the neck. My step dad pushed me down, a man half his size and half his age with great might directly into the ground on top of my disabled wife who is also holding our 5 month old puppy.
She was pretty badly bruised on her side and told me she heard/felt her rib slide out of place (yikes). She's been physically disabled most of her entire life so she knows how to get around her disability especially well with a little bit of help from me, but for someone to not even take that into consideration when attacking her makes me want to vomit. She's pretty much already powerless and vulnerable, there is 0 reason to need to assert dominance or prove that you're strong or anything idk it just makes no sense to me. Neither of us are violent or loud or want to cause problems but both my birth mom and step dad despise us so much. I'm not sure what it is.
So here we are, back at square one and a very long way from ever trusting my mom again. Both of us have very simple needs; to spread the message that Jesus wants you to love yourself. He doesn't want you to be so self aware that it hurts you. That the reason he died is so that you not need to worry about your fleshly body. There is so much hate in the church and the church focuses so much on people being successful and we want Christianity to not be skewed by those who use it as a stage to promote guilt.
We want so bad to own our dream home: a small hatchback car that we could use to travel and spread our gospel across the Americas. Once we are in possession of our house, we'll use it to do doordash on the road so we can support ourselves. I know the money from doordash can be not very great but all our main expenses will be is gas and food. Beyond that we'd need to immediately begin setting money aside for car repairs as we need it, and continue spreading the gospel of the all-loving God that we know.
https://gofund.me/aa4bd909

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THURSDAY - MAY 9

NBA Playoffs: Celtics vs Cavaliers @ TD Garden @ 7PM
After Dark @ MIT Museum @ 6PM Enjoy an adult-only lively evening of entertainment, science, and tinkering.
‘Cat & Nat Unfiltered’ Podcast Live @ The Wilbur @ 7:30PM Best friends, moms, best-selling authors, and creators of the award-nominated podcast Cat & Nat present a hilarious and interactive live comedy show.
Celeste Barber Comedy Show @ Shubert Theatre @ 8PM
Ahren Belisle Stand Up @ Laugh Boston @ 8PM
Candlelight: Tribute to Coldplay in Concert @ Simons Theatre @ 7PM / 9PM Coldplay’s biggest hits ‘Fix You,’ ‘Viva La Vida,’ ‘Clocks,’ and many others are performed by a string quartet!
Hatsune Miku EXPO @ Wang Theatre @ 8PM The concert features brand new Hatsune Miku songs as well as the big hits for fans who had been eagerly waiting for an opportunity to see her on stage.
The Whiskyx @ Roadrunner @ 7PM With St. Paul & The Broken Bones
Holly Humberstone @ Paradise Rock Club @ 7PM
Cheekface @ Brighton Music Hall @ 8PM With Yungatita
Jerry’s Middle Finger @ The Sinclair @ 8PM
JER x Insignificant Other @ Crystal Ballroom @ 7:30PM

FRIDAY - MAY 10

Red Sox vs Nationals @ Fenway Park @ 7:10PM
NHL Playoffs: Bruins vs Panthers @ TD Garden
Late Nites @ MFA @ 8PM This after-hours party celebrates current exhibitions and features dancing and DJs, pop-up performances, exploring the galleries, art-making activities, and more.
Nate Jackson Stand Up @ Shubert Theatre @ 7PM
Justin Silva Stand Up @ The Wilbur @ 7:30PM / 10PM
Candlelight: The Best of Hans Zimmer in Concert @ Simons Theatre @ 7PM / 9PM Hear Hans Zimmer’s best soundtracks from ‘Inception,’ ‘The Lion King,’ ‘Interstellar,’ ‘The Dark Knight,’ and more.
Freddie Gibbs + Madlib @ MGM Music Hall @ 8PM
Chicano Batman @ Paradise Rock Club @ 7PM With Lido Pimienta
Olive Klug @ Brighton Music Hall @ 7PM With Chrysalis
Svdden Death @ Big Night Live @ 9:30PM
Hot Water Music @ Royale @ 7PM
Alice Merton @ The Sinclair @ 8PM With Juliana Madrid
Big D and the Kid’s Table @ Crystal Ballroom @ 7PM

SATURDAY - MAY 11

Red Sox vs Nationals @ Fenway Park @ 4:10PM Promotion: El Alfa Day
Ongoing - Artisan Market @ Rose Kennedy Greenway @ 11AM
Somerville’s PorchFest @ 12PM Musicians and bands in styles including funk, blues, gospel, bluegrass and so many more serenade passersby from porches throughout Somerville.
Watch City Steampunk Festival @ Waltham Common @ 10AM The festival will feature costumed performers, musicians, kids' activities, and a large collection of unique vendors peddling all things Steampunk!
Aries Spears Stand Up @ The Wilbur @ 7PM
‘Encanto’ in Concert @ Symphony Hall @ 2PM Disney’s Academy Award-winning film comes to life in a concert event, featuring the entire feature-length film with a full orchestra performing the score.
Zucchero @ Emerson Colonial Theatre @ 8PM
Madison Beer @ MGM Music Hall @ 8PM With Charlotte Lawrence
Sanguisugabogg + Jesus Piece @ Paradise Rock Club @ 6PM
Emo Night Brooklyn @ Brighton Music Hall @ 9PM
Ride @ Big Night Live @ 7PM
Silk R&B Party @ Big Night Live @ 9:30PM
Indo Warehouse @ Royale @ 10PM
Sawyer Hill @ The Sinclair @ 8:30PM With Raue
Tim O, l.ucas, Jiida, Rilla Force, & Faybee @ Crystal Ballroom @ 8PM

SUNDAY - MAY 12

Red Sox vs Nationals @ Fenway Park @ 1:35PM Promotion: Sherpa Belt Bag, Moms and Kids Run the Bases
NHL Playoffs: Bruins vs Panthers @ TD Garden
Duckling Day @ Boston Common @ 10AM A beloved Mother’s Day tradition, this event features activity booths, lawn games, magic, live music, and a duckling parade.
Say Anything @ MGM Music Hall @ 7:30PM
Alpha Wolf @ Paradise Rock Club @ 7PM With Emmure
Combo Chimbita x Panchyman @ Brighton Music Hall @ 8PM
Sunny Day Real Estate @ Big Night Live @ 7PM
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets @ Royale @ 7PM
Lewis Ofman @ The Sinclair @ 8PM With Fonteyn
Frankie Cosmos @ Crystal Ballroom @ 8PM

ALL WEEKEND

FRIDAY & SATURDAY - Gianmarco Soresi Stand Up @ Laugh Boston
FRIDAY & SATURDAY - Doug Key Stand Up @ Nick’s Comedy Stop @ 8PM
FRIDAY & SATURDAY - Harry Connick Jr. in Concert @ Symphony Hall @ 7:30PM World renowned artist Harry Connick Jr. returns to the stage at Symphony Hall to perform with the Pops for the first time in 23 years in a superlative Opening Night at the Pops!
All weekend - ‘Spring Experience’ Ballet @ Citizens Bank Opera House Explore Boston Ballet’s dynamic and captivating Spring program composed of three masterful ballets featuring classical and modern dance elements.
All weekend - ‘A Strange Loop’ Musical @ Wimberly Theatre Winner of Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, Michael R. Jackson’s blisteringly funny masterwork exposes the heart and soul of a young Black artist grappling with desires, identity, and instincts he both loves and loathes.
All weekend - ‘Jersey Boys’ Musical @ North Shore Music Theatre Featuring legendary hits, this award-winning musical tells the behind-the-scenes drama of the international sensation boy band The Four Seasons.
All weekend - ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Play @ Calderwood Pavilion Brought to life by Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Shakespeare’s most famous duo return in a flurry of forbidden love, exhilarating fight scenes, and tragic fate.
All weekend - ‘Orpheus in the Overworld’ Play @ Black Box Theatre LAST CHANCE - In this play, The gods have forced Orpheus and Eurydice to repeat their tragedy for centuries, but this time everyone is a bit more queer than usual.
All weekend - ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ Play @ Lyric Stage LAST CHANCE - This bubbly love letter to musical theater sparkles with one show-stopper after another, story mix-ups, mayhem, and a wedding (or two).
All weekend - ‘Mermaid Hour’ Play @ Arrow Street Arts Fast-paced, funny, and heartfelt, ‘Mermaid Hour’ follows two parents and their trans teen kid as they all seek to understand who they are and who they wish to be.

ONGOING

Ongoing - Immersive Disney Animation @ Boch Center Step into the art and legacy of Walt Disney Animation Studios and celebrate the music, artistry and animation from the creators of Frozen, The Little Mermaid, Big Hero 6 and many more.
Ongoing - Musical Shows @ MoS Planetarium Museum of Science puts on special experiences adapting the music of Pink Floyd, Rihanna, Beyoncé, and The Divas to immersive visuals in the Charles Hayden Planetarium.
Ongoing - ‘Firelei Báez’ Exhibition @ ICA One of the most exciting painters of her generation, Báez explores the multilayered legacy of colonial histories and the African diaspora in the Caribbean and beyond.
Ongoing - ‘Wordplay’ Exhibition @ ICA Highlighting the rich interplay between imagery and text, the exhibition showcases how contemporary artists have played with words to animate and expand their art practices.
Ongoing - ‘Hallyu! The Korean Wave’ Exhibition @ MFA Enjoy an immersive and multisensory journey through Korea’s fascinating history, and celebrate its contemporary vibrant creative force.
Ongoing - ‘Dress Up’ Exhibition @ MFA Through more than 100 works from the MFA’s collection including 20th- and 21st-century clothing, jewelry, accessories, illustrations, and photographs, this exhibition explores adornment and its role in the creation of a look.
Ongoing - ‘Comrade Sisters: Women of the Black Panther Party’ Exhibition @ MFA This exhibition brings together 27 powerful photographs by Stephen Shames that feature the women of the Black Panther party and showcase their crucial work for the movement.
Ongoing - ‘Thinking Small: Dutch Art to Scale’ Exhibition @ MFA Featuring 15 intriguing objects from 17th-century Netherlands such as paintings, prints, silver medals, and books, this exhibition compels viewers to reconsider their relationship to the world around them.
Ongoing - ‘Raqib Shaw: Ballads of East and West’ Exhibition @ ISG Museum Shaw’s images of magic and mystery combine Western artistic tradition with ornamental elements derived from the Japanese, Persian, and Indian cultures that he vividly remembers from his youth.
Ongoing - ‘Picasso: War, Combat, and Revolution’ Exhibition @ Harvard Art Museums The exhibition explores the dictator Francisco Franco’s Spain, imagery of death, struggles of good and evil, political and artistic revolution, and issues of desire and capture.
Ongoing - ‘Our Time on Earth’ Exhibition @ Peabody Essex Museum This traveling exhibition from the Barbican Centre in London celebrates the power of global creativity to transform the conversation around the climate emergency.
Ongoing - ‘AI: Mind the Gap’ Exhibition @ MIT Museum MIT Museum presents its latest riveting, interactive exhibit exploring the tremendous promise, unforeseen impacts, and everyday misconceptions of AI.

It wasn’t the stink, you know—I get how months out in the field can mess with a fella’s cleanliness, but the look on his face was like he was fixin' to puke, as if he was sick or caught a whiff of somethin' dead close by. Squirters had some clue about what went down that night in Kandahar, but I wasn’t about to let this joker mess up my chance for a hot shower and a decent meal. I sure wish I’d listened to the ganner; truth be told, I ain’t had a proper night since then. All I member of his face these days.
Some context… anything to keep me awake at this point…
I dropped in shit lake, 2006 just fore' the surge. The name came from the literal pit of human waste left open to the air, they don’t tell you about it before you get on the 17, and they laugh their ass off when the doors first open. Made your eyes water, and the smell stayed with you for weeks.
Once we got used to it we followed suit, fuckin’ wit everyone else who hadn’t had the pleasure. Came te’ be a rite of passage, whether ye’ came on a bird or a moose.
I’d been there a month and it was getting stale, I couldn’t taste anything at chow most days anyway and I spent so much time on circuit in the gun that I don’t member much about the pond anymore, these days, fuck… Brass suited me with a terp, they thought I knew the lay, no one fuckin did, always gonna be another flash on the road no matter how many times you been down it. Tried to tell em’ but butters ain’t got the sense te light a cig, much less listen to a grunt.
Anyway, I get this guy named Ali, never membered his last name, didn’t care, so many angels dropped cause terps were workin both sides the rifle, ain’t gonna put my trust’n one if I get my say, but I still get orders and the brig ain’t away from th’ smell, I hear it’s gone now, but my boots still have the memory in the summer.
Ali spoke English, er’ his version of it, I could understand em if he talked slow, and didn’t keep is’ mouth open too long, muj’s ain’t heard a mouthwash neither. He was ‘posed to introduce us te’ people that we could link up, ain’t got nothing te’ do with me, and the serpentine’ stopped every jingle not up te play nice so far, so I let em’ do’is job.
Met up with Hekmat, Ali said he was an uncle, but all these ganners got some kind of cousin thing going on so it didn’t mean nothin’. E’said that we was in the birthplace of the Taliban made me kinda warm’n that I was being as much a thorn in their ass as they were in ours, but Hekmat said ‘Argandab’ was gonna be quiet the next few nights, but he wouldn’t say why, just said the word “dehqan” tween the two of them, a word Ali didn’t translate for us. I had been picking up a little Pashto while I was there, it meant landowner, or 'farm crew boss'. I could tell however, by the way he said it; it didn’t mean ‘farmer.’ I could smell a setup a mile away so I thought Ali was gonna rabbit and leave me and my guys into an ambush, but intel was intel, maybe I could get bagram for the weekend if I found a nest a’ muqs I wasn’t gonna be picky getting off the lake as we was calling it.
On the gun back to base, Ali said we had to wait until morning, that were we was going wasn’t gonna be safe til’ then. I looked back at my TL Scott and he just shook his head, ain’t no way we was waitin til mornin.
Scott, called back te’ base saying we was checking something out, it was gonna go it with the NOD and we was gonna make sure nothing was coming in from the north, we find something, the drone could paint it and put some heat on our mujs’ fore they was ready.
We got off the horn and Ali looked nervous, I asked em’ what he was afraid of, we was in the safest way to travel in the area, and we was just lookin’ but Ali was insistent that we not go north, not tonight, I was determined more than ever, and I ain’t been wrong yet. He said that there were things about his country we just didn’t understand, that it would be best to wait til’ mornin’.
I asked him if it was because of the Dehqan? His face went pale as I mentioned it, he swallowed deep.
“We ain’t afraid of no farmers, Aladdin.” The six of us in the gun laughed, but Ali said nothing.
He just sat there, the fear of the situation beginning to sink in.
...
As the sun dipped below the horizon, night crept quick over the valley, makin' them caves stretch longer and deeper 'til they gulped down all the sand and moondust blanketing the whole area.…
The night dragged on, our convoy cuttin' through the Afghan dark like a blade through black velvet. The moon, tucked behind them rugged mountain peaks, threw a dim, spooky light across the land. As we pushed deeper into the north, the chill in the air bit harder, and you could feel the tension buildin' up amongst the boys.
Ali was about near his breakin' point. His eyes kept flickin' to the shadows that hugged the rocks and gullies along the road. Every little sound had him jumpin', and that jitteriness was catchin', sending ripples of nerves through the whole convoy. I was tryin' my best to keep steady, but Ali’s scare was infectious.
The air was so tense, felt like you could slice it open with a bayonet. I tried to crack the tension, hollerin' over to him, "What’s got you jumpin', Ali? You’d think you just seen a ghost or somethin'."
He shook his head, mumbling something about bad omens and cursed lands. It was then that a peculiar smell wafted through the air, a mix of decay and something wild, a scent that didn't belong.
"Damn, Ali, if you're that scared, you could've just said so instead of lettin' one rip," I joked, forcing a laugh that sounded more hollow than I intended.
The boys gave a weak chuckle, but the laughter didn’t last none, choked out by the thick air and the quiet understandin’ that the smell was somethin’ else—somethin’ none of us could pin down. My heart missed a beat. The scent weren’t human or animal; it was somethin’ old, somethin’ that whispered of the earth and decay. Ali’s eyes widened, and he whispered fiercely, "It is not me, sir. It is them. The Dehqan."
The stench got thicker, tellin' us clear as day we weren’t alone no more. The jokin’ stopped dead, swapped out for the click of safeties comin' off and the sound of tight, nervous breathin’. The boys were on edge, scannin’ the dark, fingers glued to their triggers, senses stretched to the max.
The convoy slowed down some, drivers takin' it careful as that heavy scent wrapped around us, thick and chokin'. We was miles from any sorta safety, way out in the middle a’nothing where anythin' could be livin', but that smell—it was tellin' us there was somethin' out there, somethin' downright alien.I glanced at Ali, his face pale in the dim light of the vehicle’s dashboard. "Talk to me, Ali. What are we dealing with?"
He swallowed hard, his voice a whisper torn straight from nightmare. "The Dehqan... they guard the night. They are the night! We should not have come." he shrieked, pulling at his ears and trying to hide from the deep darkness in the cabin.
Before I could press him further, the radio crackled to life, breaking the tension for a moment. "Top, movement up ahead—large, unidentifiable!" The NOD tracked heat and low-light features and at the moment it was the only things that illuminated the road, the readout was clear, somethin’, was there.
My eyes shot to Ali as he nodded and covered his head as though that would do anything.
The ground started shakin' just a tad at first, like the earth itself was just tossin' in its sleep. Then them shakes got stronger, rhythmic and purposeful, sendin' a low rumble through the air that you could feel in your bones, tellin' every man in the convoy somethin' huge was movin' in the dark just past the beam of our gear.
As them thuds got nearer, my boys clamped down on their weapons, bodies all tensed up, braced for whatever might come. Ali, though, he looked near 'bout ready to break apart, all them earlier words of his 'bout things we couldn’t understand, like them Dehqan, echoin' in my head.
Scott was peering through the NOD, his voice comin' over the radio soft and raspy, "Contact. Big... really big." His voice just dropped off into that kinda silence that takes over when you're starin' down somethin' you never imagined you'd see.
Out of the darkness, figures began to emerge—Dehqans, titans silhouetted against the night. Each of their steps made the earth beneath our boots tremble, a slow, rhythmic thud echoing through the air like the beat of an ancient drum. They stood as tall as trees, at least 25 feet at the short end. Massive yet with no apparent malice; their faces bore a detached curiosity, reminiscent of a traveler pondering a line of ants on a trek.
Night vision counted seven, but the dim headlights of our convoy only illuminated two with any clarity. These were not men, not people as we could have understood them, but something else, something beyond.
As they approached, a palpable tension filled the air, thicker than fog. One of them, moved by a child-like curiosity, reached out—a gesture so disarmingly naive. Its finger, the size of a log, gently tapped the side of the lead Humvee. The impact was soft, yet it sent a shudder through the four-ton vehicle. Metal groaned under the strain, the driver's door buckling inward, the windshield spider-webbing as if struck by a boulder. Vasquez was at the wheel; the look on his face one of incomprehension as the life was literally crushed out of him.
Johns and Askew in the back screamed—a raw, primal sound of terror that seemed to startle the giant. Reacting as if stung, it swatted the Humvee. The vehicle was no match; it crumbled as though it were made of paper, the 50 Cal snapping, bending backward with a shriek of tearing metal.
Then came the silence—a suffocating, oppressive silence that enveloped us all. Inside that twisted metal coffin, three lives were extinguished without warning, without a chance to fight back. We, the survivors, stood frozen, our weapons rendered absurd in our hands, our training useless.
The air was thick with the smell of oil and blood, a stench that would stick to our clothes and haunt us forever. I looked around at my troops, their faces etched with shock and disbelief. This was no ordinary horror, no simple brutality of war. This was a grotesque display of our own fragility, a harsh reminder of our insignificance against beings so colossal, so alien.
The notion of retaliation flickered through my mind, a brief, irrational spark quickly extinguished by reality. What were our rifles against such enormity? Against such ignorance of our very existence? It was futile, a tragic farce.
The Dehqan, its face twisting with what seemed like regret, didn't understand what it had done. It hadn’t intended to kill; it probably didn't even grasp what death meant to us. But that small comfort did little to ease the sting of our loss.
This moment, this horrifying lesson, would replay in my mind for the rest of my life. It wasn’t just outside the norm—it was beyond the realm of human understanding, taught by a being that didn’t even realize it was a teacher. Ali’s voice, barely a whisper, cut through the tense silence. "They do not see us as threats. We are too small, too insignificant. But their paths are theirs alone; we must not block them."
Like Ali’s words were gospel, the Dehqan kept to their slow roll, their huge shapes breezing past our convoy without so much as a side-eye. They trooped with a smoothness that didn’t match their bulk, melting back into the black they came from as quiet as they showed up.
After the dust-up, the convoy was dead still, everyone silent as the creatures passed. We’had to chew on th’fact that their iron and drills wouldn’t have meant squat to those massive shadows. It was a real gut-check, a slap in the face of our own smallness in a sandbox that hid secrets way older and bigger than any of us could’ve figured.
…
After that brush with the Dehqan, the first light of dawn felt like a bit of a breather, but it didn't last none. Rolling back into base, the silence in the convoy wasn't just quiet—it was heavy, like a thick blanket, squashing any attempt at normal jawing.
The minute we passed the gate, the S-6 crew was all over us. Assignments and classifications officers lined up, poker-faced like the mountains we'd just left behind. My team spilled what we'd seen, every last detail, but it was like talking to a dang wall. They wrote it all down only to bury it deep in the classified files.
Ali disappeared in the shuffle, went down a different hall, and I don’t even wanna know where he’s stuck staring at the ceiling, but I know he ain’t sleepin', ain’t none of us sleeping sound.
"Thanks for the intel, Sergeant," one of the brass hats drawled, voice flat as a pancake. "But we gotta see this from what it might mean to morale—for your safety and the mission's." Typical brass—sittin' on secrets that could blow up in everyone's face, not givin' ah’shit who gets hurt.
Grunts, we ain't big on secrets. we keep em' cause we're used to brass playing their games, and throwing the board when they didn't win, but this was another level. Knowing about them giants out there, who didn't even see us as a blip on their radar, it kinda shrinks you. Makes you see just how tiny your spot in the big picture really is. To them, we were less threatening than the dust our trucks kicked up.
They shipped me off with a fat pension, said I’d been blown up, that my thinker wasn’t right no more. Same deal for my crew—all discharged under every excuse in the book: shell shock, health snags, you name it. We tried to talk about what we'd seen, but all we got were shrugs and more pills, and yammering about dehydration or heatstroke. All bull.
I know what I seen, and they seen us too—not as threats or even somethin' to mull over. More like how you'd spot a leaf driftin' down a creek, just passin' by, here for a sec and then gone. That kind of thing sticks with you. It changes you, knowin' there's things out there so big, so indifferent.
Sittin' here now, years later, that night is still as clear as crystal. Them giants up in the hills, the smell of ancient earth, the sound of their steps—a deep, echoin' thud that's still ringin' in my bones. They’re out there, walkin' paths we can't even start to wrap our heads around, keepin' secrets that ain’t meant for us to know.
No matter how hard the top brass tries to bury it, or how many times they say we were just seein' things, that night under the stars with the Dehqan was the darnedest, realest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. They didn’t just send me packin' with a pension; they tried to silence a truth too mighty to squeeze into their tidy little records.
But you can’t unsee them faces, the eyes, the… everythin’ of it all, and you can’t shake off the feeling of being totally, utterly insignificant. Not really…
Not sure, if any ya’ll even give this a listen think this’s real but we better hope they just keep seeing us as ants, I don’t think there’s anything we got that’ll even shake the shit off their boots, much less hurt em’.