@melchinafan Sorry for the late ish response I feel kinda sick so it took me a while longer to organize my thoughts. Also here we fucking go apologies for no read more sins I am on mobile

And no I haven't seen those ign articles! More canon info to add to my hordes! And Jacob :( sad baby girl. I'll probably post those (The screenshots of the new info)  later for easy access for others

Your point on all 4 of heros being effected makes me wonder if Grave lock girls magic has sort of an area of effect or if the alpha vampires magic is a double edged sword in positively affecting the heros

And ooooo I didn't know there were other blood remnants that came in dif forms makes me wonder if they are somewhat similar to the alpha vamp remnants bc I think i remember it being mentioned somewhere the vial also had psychic residue?? Could not be I'm just losing it but eh. And the psychic residue perhaps being in the blood/body? And that's why it alters you?

And yeah I agree! I think that we don't carry them into the fight just to crack open the door and sort of wave a red flag at a bull sort of way

And then when the alpha vampire dies we get the remnant imbued with a bit of that vamps specific magic

And yeah perhaps using the skulls almost a psychic lockpick if those chosen had been imbued with some of the alphas powers (referring to the trickle down effect you noticed, Vampire mlm is a concept that will be lodged in my brain now)

The biggest one for Bellwether not giving a shit I believe was a piece of dialog that said like "once we get out of here do you think they'll drop a nuke on this place" which made me laugh bc I audibly went just like resident evil grqt2h3 which despite some of the negative reviews comparisons to other games the lack of resident evil with vampires is making me laugh (I mean it in a positive way I'm very attached to RE)

Plus I don't think a privately funded not so small military/mercanary group is gonna lose sleep over a "few" civilian casualties (especially not when you can write em off as vampire deaths when it comes down to it)

Yeah I agree! One of my main grievances was I wish that side quest/mini bosses got more diversity and watchers idk if those are miniboss types as I think they go down p easy (but like I said can't/haven't played the game so I could be wrong) they seem closer to the mutated cultists than "true" vampires

And totally get you on lore one of my other favorite games is destiny 2 and holy shit the amount of environmental storytelling/lore is so strong they have a fan run website to compile it all so I totally get you.

And ooo I'm always looking for new games to watch/obsess over so I'll have to check it out

And yeah unfortunately the people I watched wernt too into grave lock collecting and the only 100 locations video I've found doesn't play em in full

And yeah with Addison I won't spoil it but holy shit he was the worst one too me I wrote out/expanded on the house of Echos mission so I was rewatching and it ended up being 4k words but also it was woof. I almost wish they swapped the order of the map start out in the second way with the other 2 then work into the 1st area for the hollow man

Yeah my sort of interpretation (both in how I'm writing and general fun) is that his Ravens outlines + his guns lock on are from that eye but a fun thing I had was giving them all like the way things are highlighted blue for you to grab some of the psychic residue as most of the psychic energy we see (barring layla) tend to be a pale blue - teal(?) Ish color and it was just funny to me that the highlights for important objects were similar

I agree with vampires probably having night vision as they are supposed to be a sort of apex predator so night vision fits with the whole can't go in the sun.  It does make me wonder if Jacob would run into issues in direct sunlight with that eye time to invest in sunglasses my guy

And yeah I hadn't considered the psychic spaces as like stronger spaces where the trance is louder, bc in my thoughts I think the trance is a seperate but adjacent magic thing to what turned them into vampires

It definitely seems like the magic sort of got them all or bolstered abilities in some way and come on we both know that devs def smart enough to crack teleportation lmaooo necessity is the mother of invention and all that. But I do think that magic and science go hand in hand (destiny 2 is so great for that reason aswell because so much of what looks like magic can be kinda turned into science)

I think Remis ult is pure video game but healing it would make sense if it gave out a sort of opposite end of the spectrum vampire healing and helped you regenerate by like tapping into that magic that's settled in you or the vials/remnants

yeah we don't know how the healing actually works as you don't regen health unless you find medpacks which leads me to believe you do have to needle and thread it up instead of magic video game heal as explained in dishonored or prey

And yeah I'm assuming vamp regen at best at worst, you should uhhhh probably got get that looked at bud and yeah blood as fuel is a good idea even if it was connected or disconnected

And yeah the tissues, I'd imagine a wash cloth would be slightly more useful than tissues but eh and yeah sort of a gunk goop dripping thing (ie Eris Morn from destiny with her hive eyes)

And yeah! I think to be a bloodbag/sin eater it also I think is slightly voluntary(?) As the sin eaters are like that. And the blood bags seem pretty eager so maybe the most devoted cultists get turned into em

And yeah I'm uncertain bc I remember for one of the missions Jacob has a line like "but slitting the throat of your neighbor to get in." Or smth like that it's been awhile

And yeah vampire mlm, and yeah definitely maybe the more sacrifices brought in = higher chance of getting turned

I think it's a bit of both as we see with the alphas they were all real shitty people beforehand and yknow being willing to kill others to further your own gain definitely fits under "bloodsucker" (derogatory) in my mind lmao

And I think that's why Jason got away was bc hes not a bad person and was rather selfless hence but still also perhaps shaped by the intent of the person giving you magic (jacobs raven, laylas telekinesis which is something other higher up vampires can do as weve seen with the sea) But also made to shape you're own natural abilities remis healing, devs gadgets :) especially in those latter two cases where they wernt forced really to have the powers

The slow boil is soooo intresting to me bc like where were they? Like in the nests psychic spaces and just coming out to feed plus with the size of the alphas I think that'd kick up a fuss

I think probably a but of both, as drug trials/medical research like aevum was doing was bound to test on mice at least and upon observing the effects may have worked there way up to humans but huge fucking claw marks are probably vampires especially from what we've seen they are extraordinarily wasteful with animals perhaps both as food and ensuring surviving humans can't get it

And birds + animals disappearing evokes a similar feeling of when animals tend to dip before natural disasters because there senses and instincts are so much stronger than ours but also vampires killing them because they couldn't go after people yet

also lmao yeah like idk where tf they were going with that like was the plan to eventually move out of redfall or use it like a home base or smth bc you kill the animals and the people you're gonna have to start eating each other

And yeah I have to imagine at least one cultist was wincing and didn't voice it but was very much like aw come on guys

And yeah! Idk if it's ever explained if vampires exclusively have to eat blood/meat or can eat other things aswell

And oh my God don't get me started on the impacts of introducing a fuck ton of apex predators into your ecosystem and food chain not to mention if other animals mutated and are breeding. Like just removing Wolves from Yellowstone was enough to fuck over the ecosystem I can imagine something on this scale plus the probably intense growth from the decomp rates of bodies.. anyone in an environmental science field would be tearing their hair out (specifically my own redfall oc whose a park ranger is not having a great time with that)

You would have to build ground up essentially as trying a top down approach would fuck up the few remaining secondary and primary consumers (obligatory environmental science rant over)

They all def do the trance def is giving hive mind vibes aswell as a removal of emotional/rational thinking makes me wonder if the blood trance heightens base instincts/hunting drive or aggression like with animals being aggressive and shit being fucked

And oh def, bc each of the bosses has there own space but the nests aswell which makes me wonder if vampires have their own allegiances or a nest is like a pack

And yeah hindsights 20/20 and yeah fears a hell of a motivator and cults pray on scared lonely people with no other options and yeah in too deep

I haven't! Unfortunately I haven't watched a dev playthrough and there's not too many multiplaythroughs on YouTube but I'll inform you if I come across any! And as for rough speculation on mothman physique(?) I think leathery makes sense from someone as logical as dev since it glides so it being similar to a bat or moth it almost makes me think of point pleasants.. intresting... statue of the mothman to say the least...

And yeah woof the scientists sure as hell are doing some malpractice although I'd admire arkanes commitment to fuck the rich with them being consistent enemies.  And yeah sorry this got Hella long

Velliks Lightkin

Guardians name: Velliks Lightkin, formerly Harn Amrok

Age: Unknown

Race: Eliksni, formerly Awoken

Call signs/alias: The Waking Eliksni, Ahamkara-born, Wishborn

Pronouns: He/him

Class: Warlock

Preferred subclass(es): Ark, Stasis

Ghost’s name: Teka

Their Vanguard: Zavala, Ikora, Cayde-6

Fireteam name: Harbingers of Destiny

Fireteam teammates: Magnus, Dominus Ghaul, Anthem-99, Velliks, Gadrax, Kahun

Favorite legendary weapon: Steelfeather Repeater

Favorite exotic weapon: Thorn

Favorite exotic armor: Claws of Ahamkara

Favorite ornament armor set: Lightkin set

Favorite weapon ornament: Book of the Dead

What stats do they focus on: Recovery, Mobility

Are they offense, defence, or support: Support

Do they prefer being close, mid, or long range: Mid-range

Do they lean more “Element of Surprise” or “Upfront and Aggressive”: Upfront and aggressive

Strikes, Gambit, or Crucible: Strike

Who was their mentor(if they had one. If it is a character you created, tell us about them!): Mithrax

Who are they mentoring(if they are. If it is a character you created, tell us about them!): Nobody at the moment. Velliks is a young Lightbearer, and thus, is too inexperienced to train anybody.

What ship do they have: Kabr’s Glass Aegis

What is their Sparrow: Micro Mini

Favorite Ghost shell: Orbweaver shell

Favorite shader: Byzantium Lotus

Favorite color: Purple and green (they’re tied)

Favorite food: Ether

Favorite piece of Pre-Collapse tech(if they’ve seen any): None. Velliks wasn’t born before the Great Collapse.

Favorite Pre-Collapse music(if they’ve heard any): N/A

Favorite place in The Last City(if it’s a place you created, give a little description!): The Eliksni Quarter

Favorite NPC(s): Mithrax, Zavala, Ikora, Cayde, Osiris, Eris Morn, Elsie Bray

Favorite patrol location: Anywhere in the EDZ

5 things your Guardian likes(can be anything): Ether, Eliksni, snuggling, being Eliksni, fighting the good fight

Least favorite food: Salmon

Least favorite shader: Nessus Mirage

Least favorite patrol location: Anywhere on Europa, as the whole planet almost caused the downfall of his entire species.

Least favorite Pre-Collapse tech(if they’ve seen any): N/A

Least favorite NPC(s): Eramis

Least favorite weapon ornament: Coup de Main

Least favorite ornament armor set: Moonfang X-7

Least favorite legendary weapon: Calus Mini Tool

Least favorite exotic weapon: Bastion

Least favorite exotic armor: Verity’s Brow

5 things your Guardian dislikes(this can be anything): Eliksni haters, cowards, the House of Salvation, anyone or anything malicious, broken trust

Your Guardian has to rest. What is their living space like: A small house, with a living room, bedroom, bathroom, and a room for the servitor and materials for it to convert into Ether. The overall place is beautiful, modern, and neatly-kept.

Does your Guardian have any casual wear?(Y'all remember Polyvore? The website URSTYLE works very similar if that helps!): Velliks is actually the only Guardian I have without a casual style. He insists on wearing his House Light clothes as his everyday clothes.

What hobbies and/or skills does you Guardian have: Gadrax hasn’t discovered any hobbies yet, but he’s skilled in healing the wounded, more so than many other Warlocks.

What would your Guardian’s lore book be called: Wishborn

Where was your Guardian reborn?(If you created the location, give us a little description!): Somewhere in an abandoned part of The Tangled Shore, a place without name or purpose to anyone.

What were they wearing when they were reborn: Tattered Awoken Corsair clothes.

What was their reaction to being reborn: Confusion

What was their reaction to their first rez: Amazement and laughter. Velliks felt invincible entirely.

After being reborn, did they meet friendlies first or hostiles: Friendlies. The first people he met were the House of Light, and specifically, Mithrax.

Who was the first other Guardian they met?(Same thing! If you made them, give a little description!): Osiris

Did your Guardian get reborn with, or find, any indication of their past life? If so what do they have/found: Velliks’s only indication of his past life was the Corsair clothes. Beyond that, he knew and still knows nothing about who he was, other than that he was clearly Reefborn.

How did your Guardian get their name(if they didn’t rez with past life momentos): After spending months helping House Light, the Eliksni saw the Warlock felt alone without a name. One day, an Eliksni called him “kir-Velliks”, or “strong Velliks”, as he was seen as a strong commander of the House. Thus, he took on the name Velliks, and became a commander within his House.

Going back to your Guardian’s lore book, what would be some some quotes or passages from their book: “A Wish, a Wish for my sake, but at the cost of how many others’?” “Worry not about what will happen to those who wish to help you. They’ve taken the desire you hold, and shared it. Let them rejoice as you shall in your success. Let them help.”

Does your Guardian have a significant other: Nope

Did your Guardian go explore first before going to The Last City? If so, where to: Velliks explored wherever the House of Light went before they finally arrived in The Last City.

What was their reaction to first seeing The Last City: Awe and wonder. It was everything he was told it’d be. Velliks assumed he was on his way to discover it when he’d escaped the Reef, and finally seeing The Last City with his own eyes gave the Eliksni a sense of accomplishment and wholeness.

Is your Guardian a part of a clan: Mithrax’s House of Light

Does your Guardian’s clan have a back story? If so, what is it?(if you want to or able to share): N/A

If your Guardian would have a quote as a flavor text for a weapon and/or piece of armor, what would they be: “A Wish, o Eliksni mine.” “What lovely gloves you’ll make, o Granter mine.”

If your Guardian has had any interactions with any civilians (The Last City/The Farm), Eliksni, Cabal, Vex, Hive, Taken, Scorn, Rouge Lightbearers, or Iron Lords/War Lords(if your Guardian is an Old Light) tell us about it!: Velliks was found upon first revival by the Eliksni of House Light. From there, Velliks began to take on Eliksni habits, lifestyle, personality, everything, and tried to be as much like them as he could, even going so far as mimicking chittering sounds and whatnot. He insisted on speaking Eliksni more than English, and being as much like an Eliksni as he could be.

Does your Guardian have any unconventional allies or connections(By Vanguard standards): Nope, not as of yet

How does your Guardian feel about themselves or others using Stasis: Velliks trusts Stasis entirely, as it was the only way he could stop Eramis from destroying his kind. He knows for a fact that Stasis can be wielded without corrupting the user. Himself and Elsie are proof of this.

Did they run The Last Wish raid? How did they react to seeing a live Ahamkara a.k.a Riven: N/A

Did they run The Deep Stone Crypt raid? How did they react to the Crypt and seeing Exo Eliskni: N/A

Is your Guardian from D1? How did they react to seeing Taniks alive once again: N/A

Where did they go and what did they do during The Red War: Velliks wasn’t revived before the Red War, so he doesn’t remember what he was doing during that time. He assumes, based on how he was revived, he’d been attempting to flee the Reef, however.

Here are some characters that are either polarizing or have created a strong enough mass emotion within the community. What opinion does your Guardian hold on each of them(These are only a handful of characters!)>>>

Osiris, First Warlock Vanguard, originally exiled: Trustworthy, a great teacher, and his ally.

Eris Morn, Bane of the Swarm: He feels bad for Eris, but also admires her DEEPLY! Velliks aspires to be as persistent and driven as Eris, though he’s unaware of just how driven she can be, and how that has proven dangerous.

Cayde-6, Sixth Hunter Vanguard: An interesting guy. Velliks didn’t meet him until after the events of Forsaken and when the Traveler brought him back in my canon, so Velliks is unaware of what the Vanguard has gone through.

Ikora Rey, Second Warlock Vanguard: A deeply dear friend, and his greatest teacher. Velliks has learned everything about being a Warlock from Ikora, and appreciates her, aspires to be as skilled in wielding the Light as she is, and hopes to live up to her name as her student.

Commander Zavala, Second Titan Vanguard: A hesitant ally, but an ally nonetheless. Velliks places his trust wholeheartedly in the man, but the question arises of whether or not Zavala returns it. That remains to be seen, and hoped for.

Saint-14, legendary Titan, First Titan Vanguard: Velliks doesn’t trust him. He wants to, he hopes to, but Saint has been pinned up as an enemy and slaughterer of his kind, and thus, he hesitates to go anywhere near Saint.

Lord Saladin, Iron Banner handler, One of the last remaining Iron Lords: Velliks doesn’t see anything bad about the man, other than his sternness. He’s unaware of what the man has done.

Lord Shaxx, Crucible handler, Hero of Twilight Gap, living megaphone: Noisy, eardrum-shattering man, but kind and loving and supportive. He likes Velliks, and Velliks likes him in turn! They get along amazingly!

The Crow, New Light, Ex-Enforcer to The Spider: A brother, a friend, someone to trust entirely. He’s a part of the House of Light, and must be treated as such.

The Spider, The Shore’s Only Law, founder of “House” Spider: Don’t trust him at any costs. Velliks hasn’t met Spider, but he also hopes he never does.

Uldren Sov, Prince of the Reef, Master of Crows: Velliks never met Uldren, so he has no opinion on him.

Mara Sov, Queen of the Reef, Queen of the Awoken, Ex-Kell of Wolves: A misguided woman who let the Darkness take her and control her.

Variks, the Loyal, founder of House Judgement: An ally and someone who must be protected. Variks is trustworthy and, although mistaken, everyone makes mistakes, and thus, Velliks forgives him.

Mithrax, the Forsaken, Kell of Light, founder of House Light: A father to Velliks, his hero and savior. Mithrax treats Velliks like a son in return.

The Exo Stranger/Elizabeth “Elsie” Bray, Granddaughter of Clovis I and Sister to Ana Bray: A great ally, and teacher in using Stasis. She can and must be trusted, and if he can help ease the burden of teaching other Guardians to use Stasis all alone by doing the same and spreading knowledge of its benefits, he will do that for her sake.

Eramis, of House Salvation, Kell of Darkness: Killer, evil witch, someone who Velliks was glad to eliminate personally. He can’t stand to look at or think about Eramis. She threatened all his kind, and that’s unforgivable.

Empress Caiatl of the Cabal Imperial Empire: Although she’s Cabal, Velliks trusts her. He believes in unconventional alliances, considering he’s Eliksni and a Guardian. Velliks seeks to speak with Caiatl and become a good friend of hers at some point.

Taniks the Scarred, the Perfected, the Abomination, the Shadow Thief: N/A

The Darkness is fast approaching. How is your Guardian handling it: Velliks is scared, but he’s ready to fight. He will give his life fighting the Darkness’s evil if he must do so. And he’s ready for that day, whenever it may come.

And finally, does your Guardian have any advice for any New Lights: “Follow your heart. Only there does the Light guide you. Nowhere else inside.”

Her Name Is Not “baby”, It’s JANET.

It’s not “Miss Jackson if you’re nasty” either, although just as iconic.

What better way to celebrate Women’s Month than to get to know a great embodiment of a strong and powerful woman. In fact, so strong and so powerful that my instinctive reaction when I first saw the invite to her journalism class was “Oh no.”

That was the G-Rated version of it actually. Nevertheless, same message. 

I barely even knew who she was or what her teaching style was going to be like. Her G-suite display picture just exuded “Oh no” energy. I mean that as a compliment.

I went straight to my friend from elementary school who shifted to Communication a year earlier than I did. I said “Do you have any tea on her?” The first thing he told me was that she had very high standards.

I like that, actually.

Back when I was in high school, which seems like very long time despite only having been a whopping three years, those were the types of teachers that I would consider my favorite ones. Ma’am Rachel from my English class, and Ma’am Elma from my Research and Biology class. Both of which actually went on to be school heads in different schools after we graduated.

I’m just here thinking to myself “God, I would’ve been excelling at her class if it isn’t for this stupid pandemic.” I clearly am not. We will get to that soon.

When we had the chance to organize an interview as a class, it invigorated me a tad bit. This is the closest I can get to having human interaction in an academic sense, but it was also my chance to have an idea or two of who ‘Janet Tibaldo’ was. Is she going to be the bane of my existence for the next four or so years or is she going to be alongside the people who I consider to be my “heroes”?

To my surprise, she’s very, well... human.

From what I’ve gathered in both of the interviews, our class’ and the other, she is a woman of strength. She is a passionate educator, a dedicated mother, and most of all, a woman of faith and devotion. In both of the interviews, she often emphasizes the importance of the “vertical relationship” in her life, and how it can have a positive effect in one’s horizontal relationships.

I do appreciate those remarks from her quite a bit, despite me having a rockier and more complex relationship with God as a queer person. I never considered myself an atheist. I do believe in God, and I believe that I am loved by God, despite knowing that people out there will try to convince me otherwise.

How could he possibly hate me when I pray to him too and he answers them just the same? It makes absolutely no sense to me.

When she said that you can fix your horizontal relationships once your vertical relationship is stable, it did strike a cord just as much as it struck a verve in me. I am trying to. It took me a while, but nevertheless I’m glad that I am here.

She often described herself as “strict”, both as a parent and an educator. It often surprises me how much bombardment my friend from elementary experiences from her subjects. The way he describes it to me sounds a bit like torture. I always took his words about her with a grain of salt. I will probably never believe him until I experience it first hand. He did say I was lucky that I shifted during online classes because she is a bit more lenient, otherwise I would’ve been dead meat.

If she was the monster that she’s painted out to be, I do understand why. It’s not like I don’t have a maternal figure or two in my life with eerily similar approaches. Like I said, she is a bit more human than what one would expect. She talked about her sleepless nights to dedicate herself onto her work, how she takes it upon herself when things go wrong, and how she said she hopes for a better and more empathetic world when I asked about her hopes for the future. To me she sounds like a person who stands her ground and knows exactly what she wants, even if it gets the best of her at times.

With that, she shared a peek of her younger days, how she spent her childhood during the Martial Law era, how newscasters on TV sparked her interest in the field of Communication, how in her college days they made do with the resources they had back then, emphasizing how lucky we are to have the technology we have now, how she was an activist back in the day. It painted a picture in my mind. Ahhh. No wonder.

There has always been ‘fire’ inside of her. A fire that lead her to be an educator today, despite having left the path of being a media practitioner.

I did think about it a couple of times. If being a visual artist doesn’t work out for me, maybe I’ll just teach. To me, it looks fun. She did say that she never thought in a million years that she would end up becoming a teacher because she thought it looked boring. According to her, lot of her family members ended up becoming teachers and she never wanted to be one of them. Maybe there’s some ugly parts of it that I don’t get to see, but it seems like a much more stable career path than visual arts, especially in a country like this.

Just from the interviews alone, you can tell that she has so much wisdom to offer in this field. That makes me all the more excited to meet her in person. If anything, there’s your proof right there that God is out there writing poetic justice for people. Maybe it was God’s way of saying “I have something better in mind for you, you just have to trust me.”

Another standout from the interviews was when she told all of us as a piece of advice that we should grab opportunities as they come. Oftentimes, the biggest regrets you have in life aren’t the things you did but the things you didn’t do. I have to admit, the main reason why this music video is taking too long to make is because of self doubt and insecurity. She’s right. I should toughen up a bit, shouldn’t I? Not only that, but there’s a lot of competitions that I found interesting in the facebook group that I just allowed to pass me by. I don’t want to blame my years in Architecture for it, because it did cause me some good. It’s just that I knew what I was running away from after years of feeling like I will never amount to anything. 

I knew that. If anything I was way bolder when I left high school, only for Architecture to beat me down. It does take someone like her to remind me of who I was then.

When I was going through my depressive episode late last year, ultimately leading me to shift to Communication, I found myself seeking refuge in the music of Janet Jackson. As a matter of fact, I shared her music to the same friend I mentioned earlier, and now he’s a fan too. We’d often joke about which Janet we were talking about in the conversation.

On one hand, we have Janet the popstar, who despite being blacklisted by Bush’s racist and misogynistic America, kept on going. She kept performing and making music for as recent as 2018, and now she’s inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On the other, we have Janet the teacher, who keeps holding on to her faith despite all of the trials and challenges that came her way all these years.

What’s it about Janets being fiery passionate women anyway?

That actually leads me to my next point of interest.

What moved me the most about both of the interviews was her openness about her struggles with mental health, and how she refers students to seek help as well back when classes were physical. I don’t think conversations like these were possible back in the day, especially when I was a child. Apparently I didn’t have ADHD I was just an idiot, and people like me get punished for their idiocy. That was my upbringing, and it’s so refreshing to know that kids nowadays are lucky to have a ‘zeitgeist’ like this.

I was brought up for the longest time in the idea that if you show any signs of vulnerability, you are weak. It took some time for me to ‘rewire’ my brain and undo all of that...

because that is blatantly false.

If anything, for me, it further solidified how strong she was. It takes so much strength to admit that you’re human. It takes so much courage to tell yourself that you probably need help because you struggle in this aspect of your life. It is so easy to pretend that you can take everything like a champ and you don’t need anyone to help you.

The easy route was to say “I’m fine” or “I’m doing good” when asked a simple question “How are you?”, the hard route is to ask yourself that same question “How am I?” and be honest and introspective about it.

She did just that. She took the hard route.

She said she was having trouble sleeping and that she had to consult a mental heath expert for that recently, and that this pandemic made it particularly hard for her to juggle work and home matters.

I don’t think she will ever understand how a simple statement like that inspires someone like me, because what I got from that was ‘if somebody as strong and as passionate as her bleeds the same way that I do, I too can be strong like her.’

I just booked my appointment to my therapist yesterday. I haven’t seen her in quite some time now. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone in this, despite going there for feeling alone. Ironic, isn’t it? I feel like I’m running out of friends, and it’s starting to feel like paralysis, really.

After the interview ended, and I finished watching the interview from the other block, I couldn’t grasp the idea of this woman being taken as a monster, because the only words I could think of in association to her thus far is ‘uplifting’ and ‘inspiring’, in the same way that Ma’am Rachel was one of the people who inspired me to be a a cartoonist and Ma’am Elma inspired me to be a competitive dancer.

I had to give up three years worth of friendships to start back from scratch and to be here. I was actually so unsure if it was even worth the sacrifice, but Ma’am Janet Tibaldo, out of all people, showed me something to look forward to in this field. Based on what I’ve gathered from her, I’m up for a good time.

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The Bechdel-Wallace exam, which is actually thought about a quite simple litmus test for females's communications in films, usually still cannot occur in several popular flicks as well as TV programs. After reviewing this manual I gave my buddies a checklist from phrases and also inquired to tell me if each word described children or females. The assault was actually halted after a neighbour, that presumed they were a kid as well as a woman having sex, interupted, the jury system heard. Yet some males and females still consider given that there are actually separate males's and also ladies's responsibilities. New Young boy focuses on these activities at the expenditure of solid charact New Child, by Julian Houston, covers knowledgeable region in young person myth, and with excellent explanation. 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As a male that had had severe issues along with mental wellness in the past, this was actually often very angering to me. The team also really did not feel that males may be feminists, and actually created that versus their constitution for males to run for board settings. To Bok, the everyday knowledge of finding Mr. http://totpentrufemei.info/ fund his recommendation altogether that created the publishing world of that time gasp along with skeptical awe was actually a splendid possibility, of which the publisher took full conveniences thus in order to learn the complexities of a world which approximately that time he had actually recognized simply in a restricted method. For all its own cult beauty, individuals occasionally fail to remember why the Online Child fell short: since that sucked, and much worse, because this created our team physical pain. 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Make certain teachers recognize the other discovering designs from children and also ladies so that they manage to make a knowing environment that satisfies the necessities from both, by educating various techniques that catch women' necessities for spatial learning method, including geometry, as well as kids' necessities for enrichment tasks. The young boy admitted he was, as well as the preacher had a good laugh one of those deep laughs of his that were thus infectious. I traces the unraveling realisation of his sexuality for a 12 years of age Indian kid who presently observes themself as an outsider. As a result, the young boys were actually much less happy to have a shut guy good friend despite the fact that they all informed her they wanted one. Blue Child is an exceptionally amusing, heart Kiran is a sixth-grade student that recognizes he is actually various from his fellow classmates, yet in his mind, various is better. 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A Rundown of My Camp NaNo Characters

I’m writing a really complex story this time around, different than any I’ve ever written before.

These five characters exist in the same small town in the same universe, but are either strangers to each other (at first, anyway) or just know each other on the surface. In this story, their worlds collide a lil bit and have tiny little effects on the outcomes of each other’s stories. I mean, it’s basically like five novels rolled into one; like, Shane is the main character in his own story, but a secondary character in Grant’s. Essie is a secondary character in Cecelia’s story but a minor character in Shane’s, and the main character in her own. But they all exist within the same book, the same BIG story, and the point of view changes every chapter.

*sigh* It sounds/looks better in my mind, but then again that could be because I suck at explaining my stories...

But without further ado, meet my lovelies:

Shane Brady: Legal name, Shayna. Cute (in a sort of lanky, clumsy way), quiet Mennonite girl on the outside, boy who doesn’t really give a damn about getting his good church clothes dirty on the inside. He has a complicated relationship with his dad. There’s a small part of him that would love to stick up for himself more, but if God forbid he ever spoke back he’d fear a paddle coming for his ass--or worse. He’s also head over heels for Cece, even though he’s really too shy to try to get closer to her...

Essie Silverstein: Shane and Cece’s high school English teacher. Almost a year ago (or maybe less), Sue and Essie’s relationship fell apart. Essie still isn’t entirely sure what she did wrong, but she thought Sue just needed some time to cool off... and then they just never talked again. Seeing as how Essie’s family was incredibly homophobic and disowned her when she came out, Sue was really the closest thing she had to, y’know, a person she could lean on. She’s wondering if she should send just one more text to see if Sue will respond finally, or maybe just sell the ring she’s had in her sock drawer for the past three years and... I dunno... become a nun?

Cecelia Williams: The one--and only--writer for the incredibly lackluster school paper, the Alabaster High Chronicle. She’s in English class with Shayna and they’ve only made eye contact once as far as she can recall, and well... Shayna scares her a little. Cece’s the bane of Essie’s existence, namely because while she constantly asks for critiques and pointers on her less-than-stellar prose, she seldom actually takes the advice. And, I mean, Cece can sometimes just be straight-up stubborn; the school paper didn’t used to be a one-woman show. Only time will tell if Cece can actually be successful... and what that will entail. 

Stacy Howard: Cubicle monkey currently separated from her husband. Has a daughter, Laura, who now lives at college over three hours away. As much as they’d like to, they both just have too much on their plates to see each other ever, leaving Stacy with the haunting feeling that she’s a terrible mother. She has a lot of distaste for Dave (her former husband), who’s so busy being a drunken fool that he can barely muster to pick up the phone and tell his daughter happy birthday, much less participate in her life in any way at all. Stacy’s just trying--and sometimes (but not always) failing--to be better than that and give Laura at least one parent that’s not a failure, a zero, to show her she actually cares. Not to mention that she herself is fighting a losing battle to get and stay sober.

Grant Michaels: Basically grew up without a father, but found a fatherly figure in his high school basketball coach. He’s in his forties now, and he’s repeatedly tried to meet back up with his old coach to no avail–thus far, anyway. He meets Shane along the way and the two spark a sort of friendship, even though upon first introduction Shane found him to be a little eccentric. Not that Shane’s initial judgment wasn’t accurate--I mean, come on, Grant’s the kind of guy who when he eats pie, peels the crust away from the filling and just eats the filling, or cannot for any reason get in his car using the driver’s side door, or starts to break down if his socks don’t stay pulled up. He really does have a heart of gold, though.

Feel free to send me asks if you have any questions about them/my story, or reblog and tell me a lil bit about your lovelies!

11 Questions Game

I was tagged by @weaver-of-fantasies-and-fables, whom I adore! Thank you!!!

1. Do you prefer writing first pages or last pages?

Oh this is tough! I think I’m going to go with last pages. The Pressure of Exposition always makes those first few pages really stressful, whereas the last pages give you an opportunity to wrap things up at exactly your speed, exactly the way you want to wrap them up.

2. What kinds of scene are your favourites to write?

I love internal dialogue and (though I’m trying to be less heavy-handed with it) my favorite scenes are always the ones in which the character undergoes a revelation, or has some kind of intense emotional conflict come to a head. So much the better if it’s while they’re attempting to do something else, like talk to another person, and they get totally overwhelmed by emotion in the middle of it. XD

3. Descriptions. Are they the bane of your existence or the ace up your sleeve?

Depends on what I’m describing! I have never thought setting was a strong suit of mine, though people tend to be complimentary about it. But I think I prefer describing setting/appearance/etc. to doing action scenes and the like.

4. Is there any recurring theme in your writing?

If you’d have asked me a year ago I would have said “no,” but I’ve recently noticed all of my big stories (at least, original fiction) deal a lot with memory, fear, and recovery from trauma. Which is pretty cool that I accidentally started writing about those things, because they are some of the themes I love most to read about.

5. Would you say there’s a specific event in your life that has led you to writing?

Oh there were probably many things! I’ve been writing as long as I can remember! But the catalyst that stands out was in 4th grade, when my teacher gave me a notebook (it had tropical fish on the cover!) and I was so honored that she had given me a gift that I filled it up with fantasy stories and dedicated it to her. She was so sweet about it, and I’m sure her encouragement had something to do with me continuing to pursue it.

6. What do you like most in a book?

Oh man, characters! Well developed characters!! They could be kazoo-playing nomads from Planet Ridiculous, following the most convoluted plot in the WORLD, but if they’re well developed and realistic I’ll love the book.

7. How do you feel about the Classics? Are they to be looked upon for guidance or forgotten? Or maybe read just out of curiosity?

Oh a little bit of all of the above! Which I know sounds contradictory, but bear with me! I have read a lot of classics (since I once thought I would be an English teacher) and some of them are true literary genius. Some of them just mark important movements in literature, and therefore history. Some of them are only worthwhile for the picture they paint of the times in which they were written. I think we can learn a lot from the classics, but (and don’t crucify me for this) I think we learn more about history than we do writing. To become a better writer in the here-and-now, I think we are better off reading books from the here-and-now, while picking and choosing the devices from classic literature that we like. Oh man, I hope that’s not an unpopular opinion, haha!

8. Name the one thing you will absolutely have in your writing.

Loveeeeee. I hate myself so much; I am nearly incapable of writing anything without romance. Well, okay, that doesn’t apply to my short stories necessarily, but anything more than 5k-words there’s usually a romantic subplot (or main plot) in there.

9. Do you have any writing ritual? Or just write whenever, wherever?

No real ritual! We have a writing room now, which is AWESOME, but to be honest I’m very seldom home when I have time to write. Usually I’m typing furiously on my lunch breaks at work, or sitting in the bathroom during intermission of a play typing out a couple sentences on my phone. Except Saturdays. Blessed Saturdays. I spent two hours in the writing room last Saturday and it was AMAZING.

10. Background music, ambient noises or complete silence?

I’m all for complete silence, but I do have an instrumental writing music playlist (which I mostly use at work, because I hate office ambiance haha). When I’m at home, though, my favorite writing soundtrack is the hum of the heater going and the sound of the cat purring. Hahah

11. Name two authors you adore and one you can’t stand.

Chuck Palahniuk and Margaret Attwood are among the authors I adore, though I have admittedly cooled off on Palahniuk over the years, he also taught me a LOT.  As for hate... Fucking Hemingway. Sorry to any fans, but his style and emphasis on MASCULINITY just irks the hell out of me.

Thanks again for the tag, Hana! I’m going to tag some pals and some new writeblr buddies! @thewriterandthestoryteller, @scarlett-olivier , @rosesonneptune , @revolant , @thewaltzrio , @flamingbluepanda , @avatarthorpe , @consistentlycontradictory , @weaver-of-fantasies-and-fables (if you want to do another one, but only if you want to!) and anyone else who wants to do this! No pressure if you don’t!

Here’s my questions for you!

1. If you had to stop writing in your preferred genre, what genre would you take up?

2. Do you do any writing exercises on a regular basis? Or just go-go-go with your projects?

3. What is the biggest writing project you’ve ever tackled? (Biggest in size, scope or challenge).

4. If you could bring one of your characters to life, who would it be and why?

6. Do you have any creative outlets other than writing? If so, what are they, and do they connect to or enrich your writing at all?

7. If you could choose one published author to read and edit your work, who would it be?

8. Name a major writing influence in your life (can be famous or a family member or friend. Just someone who inspires you).

9. Tell me about the first piece of fiction you ever wrote (at least, the first piece of fiction you remember writing). 

10. What is one aspect of your writing that you’re actively working to improve?

11. What do you think is your greatest strength as a writer?

*Halloween* Scream And Shout. (Frank Iero x Reader)

Request: a user on Wattpad: ‘hi! this is probably really late, but could you an imagine of prompt 6, 16 and 22 mixed together with frank (if that’s too much, you can just choose any of the three :D) like it’s after school, and it’s like a grey day and the reader goes with frank in a graveyard, telling scary stories and shit, and ending up scaring themselves shitless in the place. Oh, maybe you could make them go ghost hunting and stuff! gosh, is that too big? hope it’s not too late’

Prompt 6: Glum/grey days

Prompt 16: Graveyard

Prompt 22: Scary stories

Note: I left out the ghost-hunting bit; I hope you don’t mind. x

“Hey, beautiful,” Frank smirked, smoothly sliding up to your locker and leaning against it in an attempt to look seductive.

“Hi, dork,” you retorted, reaching out to ruffle his matted black hair as you closed the locker door.

Frank scowled as he swatted your hand away and tried as best he could to tame his hair, leaving you sniggering as you slung your backpack over your shoulder. After he fixed his hair, he smiled and pulled you closer, leaning in to kiss you; you hastily shoved him away.

“We’ve got eyes on us,” you explained upon seeing his confused expression, and cocked your head slightly down the hallway – in the direction of Mrs Davids’ penetrative gaze. She was standing outside her office, legs shoulder-width apart and arms folded as two of her nauseatingly orange-painted fingernails tapped impatiently on her bicep, a glare on her face. Everything about her demeanour indicated that she was waiting for the two of you to show some PDA so that she could call you into her office and lecture you about it.

This woman was the bane of both of your existences; she would constantly go out of her way to try and catch the two of you, even if you weren’t doing anything. She once called your parents just to tell them that she caught the two of you holding hands. It was as if she had nothing better to do with her life than try and sabotage your relationship. Frank says it’s because she’s secretly in love with the both of you and is bitter because she can’t have you.

Her attempts to break you up never bothered the two of you – she’s just a batshit crazy, menopausal woman – and you never changed the way you and Frank interacted with one another, but you tried to avoid kissing and touching when she was around; getting called into her office on a regular basis is incredibly annoying.

Frank rolled his eyes before turning around and blowing a kiss at the glowering teacher, who in turn pursed her lips and turned up her nose, before turning on her heel and stomping off to wherever.

“Bunk this period with me?” Frank pleaded, brushing your hair out of your face and cupping your cheek.

You laughed. “Right. Don’t you remember what happened last time? We had to hide out in the prop room in the auditorium because Davids patrolled the entire campus in search of us.”

“Yeah, but this time we won’t be on campus.”

“What are you talking about, Frankie?” you sighed, shifting your backpack.

“There’s this graveyard back on Turner Street. It’s very secluded and hardly anyone’s ever there, so I thought we could go there and…” he bit his lip and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, which made you wheeze in amusement.

“Nice one, Iero,” you shook your head at your boyfriend, who gave you one of his signature adorable closed-mouth smiles. “But no.”

“Oh, come on,” he whined, slouching down in annoyance. “It’ll be fun. ‘Sides,” he shrugged, reaching forward to grab the English notebook from your grasp, “it’s last period and you have English. No one will notice if we’re gone.”

You chewed on the inside of your cheek as you contemplated your choice. Frank was right; if you didn’t show up to English, the old Mr Petersen probably wouldn’t notice and if he did, he wouldn’t question anyone about it – he was too much of a sweetheart for that. But Frank’s teachers were another thing.

“Won’t Mrs Naysmith go all insane if you’re not in class?” you questioned.

“Already told her that I need to leave early for a doctor’s appointment,” he beamed proudly, extracting a forged doctor’s note from the pocket of his leather jacket, holding it up to show you.

With a sigh and one final glance around the slowly emptying hallway, you nodded.

“Okay,” you gave in, bringing a huge smile to Frank’s face, “But we need to move quickly.”

“Way ahead of ya,” he responded as he scooped you up bridal style before dashing out of the exit and to his car, your echoing giggles drifting behind.

~

You deepened the kiss as Frank’s hands crept up the side of your abdomen, carefully lifting up the fabric of your shirt, and when he traced his fingertips in light circles on your skin, you involuntarily let out a tiny moan, making him smile against your lips.

He pulled away so that you could get some air and focused his mouth on your neck instead, while his fingers continued caressing you. He nibbled on your sweet spot as he let his hands trail higher, all the way up until he was squeezing your chest.

“Frank,” you moaned breathily, touching your palm to his chest and half-heartedly pushing him away, “stop it. I am not having sex in a graveyard.”

He sighed, kissing you once more before climbing off of you and tucking your hair behind your air as he brushed away the tiny flecks of dirt on your face. “What do you wanna do?”

You shrugged, twirling your fingers in his hair. “I dunno. Tell me a story.”

“A scary one?”

You thought for a minute before nodding. “Yeah. Why not? It’s almost Halloween, we’re in a graveyard, and this weather,” you looked up at the ominous grey clouds floating in the sky, and shivered as a breeze blew, prompting Frank to drape his jacket over you, “practically screams ‘horror movie’.”

“Okay. I’m gonna tell you a scary story,” he shifted so that he was sitting comfortably, “The scariest story of them all. A story so scary, that it freaks me out just thinking about it.”

You leaned in and raised your eyebrows, intrigued.

“One day,” he started, “a guy convinced his girlfriend to bunk the last period of school and go to a graveyard with him. She agreed, and the guy got all excited, thinking that they could have some alone time – which they hardly ever get. But when they got there, and started making out, the girl was like-“

He shut up once you threw a small pebble at his head. “I meant a real scary story, assbutt.”

“Believe me, it’s very scary for me,” he sassed, rubbing the sore spot on his head. “Hey, how about we play a game? We each try to come up with the shortest, scariest story we can.”

“Oooo,” you marvelled, “I like that idea!”

“Okay, I’ll go first,” he cleared his throat, “The last thing I saw was my alarm clock flashing 12:07 before she pushed her long, rotting nails into my chest, her other hand muffling my screams. I sat bolt upright, relieved it was only a dream, but as I saw my alarm clock read 12:06, I heard my closet door creak open.”

“Pfft,” you chuckled, “Lame.”

Frank frowned, folding his arms. “Let’s hear yours, then.”

“After a hard day at work, I came home to see my girlfriend cradling our child. I didn’t know which was more frightening: seeing my dead girlfriend and stillborn child, or knowing that someone broke into my apartment to place them there.”

“That’s just straight up twisted,” Frank shuddered, “But anyway… I woke up to hear knocking on glass. At first, I thought it was the window… until I heard it come from the mirror again.”

“I walked into the bathroom one night and looked at myself in the mirror. Only one of us walked out.”

“As I was stumbling in the night to get to the bathroom, I felt my dog brush against my leg. But then I heard my dog barking at something else downstairs.”

This back and forth of scary stories carried on for the next hour or so, getting more and more unsettling and frightening after each one. Both you and Frank had become scared beyond belief, but neither one of you wanted to stop – you both wanted your story to be the final one. It had gotten darker, and the graveyard was eerily silent, other than your voices. The atmosphere was astonishingly creepy, but despite this, you didn’t stop.

Not at your own accord.

“My daughter won’t stop crying and screaming in the middle of the night. I visit her grave and ask her to stop, but it doesn’t help,” Frank said. This one freaked you out so much, you went quiet for a little bit.

That’s when you heard the screaming.

_______________________________

Thank you for reading x

Articles on Catholic Theology and Teachings - Part 3 - Faith: A Stumbling Block and a Balm for Christianity

None of the theological virtues is more confused, distorted, publicized and mocked than the virtue of faith. Yet, it is the centerpiece of nearly every Sunday sermon throughout the world and is synonymous with piety and religion in our modern culture. Centuries of heresy and a corrosion of religious teaching have wrecked havoc on the simple foundation of the Christian Way; but hope in modern society should not be lost since the average man still believes faith is necessary for a virtuous life. Instead, the real threat to modern Christianity is a distortion of the virtue of faith rather than obstinate refusal of it. An enlightening examination of faith is perhaps the best way to prevent oneself from sinking into the mire of unbelief and heresy so prevalent in today’s modern Church.

In an age that respects tolerance of beliefs over the value of objective truth, it is no wonder that so many people no longer believe in the necessity of the Christian faith. Indeed a common position held today is the following: “It doesn’t matter which religion you belong to as long as you are a good person. God doesn’t care which religion you join as long as you mean well”. This statement is an example of a modern heresy called indifference, and it has taken root throughout all levels of Christianity. If this heretical statement were to come from a Christian (and it very often does) and they were to be challenged by asking, “What about faith, isn’t it necessary for salvation?” the answer would probably be that faith only means you believe in some god. After all, if God is good why would he burn someone in hell for picking the wrong religion? Here it can be seen that the proponent of indifference has struck a chord of truth: why punish the ignorant for not knowing the facts? This is the very bane of modern Christianity: a distortion of Christian doctrines with half-truths, confusion of facts and ignorance. Modernism is so insidious because it resonates with half-truths. Perhaps an examination of what faith really means is necessary to obviate religious indifference.

Faith means believing in the teachings of God without the need for direct evidence or rationalizations. Christians believe in the articles of faith because God has told us they are true, and we need no other evidence in order to live our lives according to those articles. It needs to be emphasized that faith is not a warm sensation we have in our hearts that tells us we are right. Faith is not defined as simply believing that God exists. Faith is not even a warm, gooey emotion that lets us know God loves us. In its essence, faith is intellectual and virtuous. C. S. Lewis noted in Mere Christianity that faith is considered virtuous because it sustains us in periods of trial when our beliefs are in doubt. Faith does not force us to believe something irrational; rather it allows us to hold true to our Christianity during periods when irrational doubt assails us. Indeed, faith is not irrational or contrary to reason, hence no Christian believes the articles of Christianity to be contrary or opposed to reason. Given this definition of faith we can understand why religious indifference is contrary to true Christianity.  A man cannot have true Christian faith unless he is willing to accept and believe the articles of faith. Here we arrive at the crux of the problem: what are the Christian articles of faith and how are we to know they are those of Jesus Christ?

The source of the Christian articles are those teachings that come from God. Christians and Jews believe that God first communicated his truths to men through the Jewish prophets beginning with Abraham, father of the Jewish nation. God adopted the descendants of Abraham as his chosen people and in doing so helped to forge the first seed of salvation throughout the ancient world. It was the Jews who first received the Ten Commandments and the law of God. The Jews became the bulwark of truth in a confused, pagan world. They were the first major religion to embrace monotheism, a radical notion at the time (although it seems very orthodox and obvious today). This is not to say they were a perfect people, in fact they very often rebelled against God and turned to polytheism and it’s pantheon of false gods. It took nearly four thousand years for the Jewish people to reach the point were they could go no further. Their religion was wholesome and good in that it reinforced the law of God that is written in our hearts, it encouraged prayer, and most importantly it offered an imperfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. Unfortunately, it could go no further. The Jewish faith was very stagnant and had become mired in hairsplitting over interpretations of the Mosaic law. No attempt was made to evangelize to those outside the Jewish faith because the Jews believed their religion to be hereditary: they believed the truth was meant only for Abraham’s children. Finally, the imperfect sacrifices offered by the Jewish High Priests was not enough to atone for the scandal of man’s sins. It was then that the God-man Jesus appeared from the obscure town of Nazareth and did things shocking, outrageous and wondrous. Himself a Jew, Jesus spoke and preached like one of the great prophets. He could cure the sick, heal the broken, raise the dead, prophesize the future, multiply bread and fish, and walk on water. Even more remarkable, he claimed to be able to forgive a man’s sins. Such a statement from a Jew was considered blasphemous and outrageously conceited. The Jews must have fumed! How can a mere man claim to forgive a person’s sins? For his seemingly blasphemous statements and growing popularity with the common man, the Jewish leaders had Jesus crucified. What many of the Jews did not realize however, was that this was no mere man. On the third day following his crucifixion, the followers of Christ testify to his resurrection from the dead. It was the resurrection that provided the proof that Jesus was in fact God in the flesh, and from this miraculous event Christianity was born.

Many readers have heard the story of the birth of Christianity countless times, and the point of reiterating it is to show what the basis of our faith is. We have faith in Christianity because this man Jesus proved himself to be more then a man by his deeds, words, prophetic fulfillment, and resurrection from the dead. We believe his teachings are true because we believe he is God, and his teachings and practices constitute the fulfillment (not the replacement) of the Jewish religion. Although Jesus ascended into heaven forty days after his resurrection from the dead, he did not abandon his flock. He instituted a living, visible Church lead by his apostles and guided by the Holy Spirit. The leader of the infant Church, Peter (whose original name was Simon until Christ changed it), was chosen by Christ, “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18)”. The Church, lead by Peter and his successors, has always been the guardians and teachers of the doctrine of Christ for, “the household of God [is] built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone (Ephesians 2:20)”. God has given us the church to instruct and interpret Christ’s teachings. No man is left to private interpretation of the Bible; rather the Church protects the original creeds of the apostles and shepherds us to the truth. One of the first leaders of the church, St. Paul instructed the early Christians to reject private interpretation of the doctrines of Christ, “ no prophecy in Scripture is the subject of private interpretation.” The inevitable conclusion is that the Church plays the vital role of teacher, interpreter and protector of the Scriptures. This is why any attempt to break from the church’s teachings by abandoning the Church, starting a new denomination or railing against “the institution of the Church” is pure folly. Here is why so much confusion and error has infected “Christianity”, not because the Church has gone astray but because people of have gone astray and left the true apostolic Church.

Now there can be no doubt that the Catholic Church of today is the same church as that instituted by Christ nearly 2000 years ago. Does this seem shocking? It should not, for we can see that Christ clearly instituted a church lead by St. Peter in the scriptures. The name Peter is the English translation of the Greek word “Petros” which translates to “kepha” in Aramaic, the language of Christ. Kepha means rock in Aramaic, and it is clear in Matthew 16:18 that Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter (rock) in order to show that Simon was the rock on which the church would be built. Additionally, Christ said that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church; we thus have an assurance that the Church cannot fail or fall away. It makes sense that the Church would remain infallible in doctrine and teaching, even though it’s own leaders are still vulnerable to sin. The Church cannot fail in correct teaching and interpretation of doctrine because this would undermine the basis for all Christian faith. How could we ever be assured of the truth without an infallible, everlasting church? The Protestant reformers, no matter how good their intentions, erred seriously in defecting from the church. Although, they had good reason to protest the corruption and sins within the hierarchy of the church leadership at the time, they had no right to break from the infallible church of God. Without the Catholic Church’s councils and papal definitions of doctrine, Protestantism quickly lost its way in a sea of conflicting doctrines and practices. The original Protestant Lutheran denomination, Anglican denomination, and Anabaptist denomination fractured into thousands of competing sects within a few hundred years after the original Reformation. Protestantism, despite the good intentions of its adherents, is nothing less than a heresy and it has lead millions from the true Church.

Does the reader still need evidence that any given Protestant church is not the original church of Christ? Simply look at the doctrines of any Protestant denomination and compare it to the teachings of the original Church Fathers. The Church Fathers lived a mere fifty to three hundred years after Christ’s birth. Who better to study when confirming a given denomination’s orthodoxy? I’ll leave it to the reader to do their own research, but here are two critical examples:

·    Infant baptism—Origen wrote in the 3rd century, “the Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism also to infants.” Yet nearly every Baptist, evangelical and fundamentalist Protestant denomination rejects this vital doctrine.

·    Sacrifice of the Mass—Clement of Rome wrote about the bishops’ offering of masses in the 2nd century, “from the episcopate who blamelessly and holily have offered its sacrifices”. Unfortunately, only the Orthodox and Anglicans make any pretense to offer a sacrifice of the mass.

The list could go on and on, but the fact remains that Christ would not come to earth and leave his teachings without any authorized guardian and teacher. Those who claim the Holy Spirit helps each individual person correctly interpret scripture without any need for a single, authoritative church needs to open their eyes. Protestantism has tried this theory and failed: witness the countless denominations that preach conflicting doctrines. Only the Catholic Church can make any valid claim to being the historical Church, because only Catholics can attribute the succession of leadership from St. Peter through the chain of popes. So it seems that Christian faith is tied to belief in the teachings of Christ as well as membership and loyalty to the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church has often been called the “ark of salvation” because the Church’s protection of Christ’s doctrines is necessary for the perpetuation of the faith.

Nonetheless, there are still those who do not understand why faith is necessary for eternal salvation. After all, what’s so great about believing a list of teachings? Isn’t being good so much more important? The Church has always recognized that three virtues are necessary for salvation: faith, hope and charity. Faith helps us to properly conform our consciences to the law of God and reinforces our loyalty to him during the best and worst of times. Without faith, a man might believe his actions are permissible when in fact they are evil (such as those who fool themselves into believing abortion, mercy killing, or promiscuous sex is not sinful.) Hope is necessary because it gives us utter reliance and longing for God. Without virtuous hope, a man would lose sight of God and pursue a lesser good, or he would believe God is no longer necessary for salvation. Finally, charity, also known as love, is necessary because it brings us into communion with God, the one being who loves us more than anyone else. St. Paul tells us charity is the greatest of all virtues, but hope and faith are also necessary for salvation, “faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13)”. Hope and faith sustain a Christian and fuel a Christian’s love for God.

At last we finally understand why faith is so misunderstood and so needed in today’s modern church. True faith helps us conform our lives to God’s will, and without faith guided by the Catholic Church, we are doomed to languish in manmade religions. If faith is to become the balm of the modern world rather than a stumbling block, the Christians of today must enter into the one, holy, unified, and apostolic church. For, “the church of the living God [is] the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Timothy 3:15)”.