God bless you, have a good day. Thank you so much. Thank you. Hey! And the cross, I was just in a class. We were just talking about St. Thomas Aquinas. Oh, okay. My name's Tony, and you are? I'm Eden. Eden? Good to meet you. Garden of Eden. Okay, all right. I just wanted to drop by and say thank you guys for this. Well, God bless you. Do you attend church here locally, or? Oh, not regularly, but I mean, I would consider myself Christian, yes. Okay. If you have a minute, I'd love to hear your story. All right. How'd you come to faith in Christ? Oh, you guys are Baptist. Okay. Yeah. I'm Catholic, but I love all Christians. I love everybody. Okay. Well, you know, I went to catechism when I was younger. I didn't really quite understand it, per se. But I mean, it's something I really understood. As I've gotten older, things have resonated with me. And over this past year especially, I've been feeling closer to God, I think. Okay. What has brought that about? I'm not sure. I don't know if it's the people I've been around. I don't know if it's, I guess, like somewhat This is my friend, Matt. This is Eden. Eden, like Garnameen. Oh, yeah. Yes. But yeah, I just got out of there and I figured I... Something was telling me I think I was meant to be... I should come to say hi to you guys. So what were you studying? What are you studying right now in Aquinas? Criminal Justice. Oh, really? I was a deputy sheriff for 20 years. Bless you. Thanks. Thank you. What do you plan to do with that? I want to work in law. Hopefully I'm studying for the LSAT at the moment. Oh, okay. So you want to be a lawyer? Yeah. Okay. Hopefully a judge someday. All right, okay. So Eden, let's say instead of wanting to be on the right side of the law, you were someone who was on the wrong side of the law. Hypothetically, hypothetically. Okay. Just to paint a picture. You mentioned sometime wanting to be a judge. Yeah. So I want to paint a picture about a judge, okay? So let's say, I won't even mention his name. His name's not worthy to be mentioned. Let's say instead of that man who came onto this campus last week, Let's say that was you. I don't believe for a second it was me. I understand. It's a point. Don't you worry. And unlike that cowardly man who took his life after taking the life of others, you're caught by the police. You stand trial. You, even of your own volition, without being coerced or threatened or promised anything, you write out your own confession. Because you have some remorse. So as you'll learn as you study law, a confession never proves anyone's innocence. A confession only shows their guilt. So no one should ever be let go because they confess to a crime because that confession is evidence of their guilt. So if anything, shouldn't we look to forgiveness? Well, let's get there. Let's get there. So you confess to the crime, you're remorseful. The judge, however, though, finds you guilty for three counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, and the judge sentences you to death. I just had a class about the death penalty last semester. Okay. Alright. Okay. So, in our present system, you might have ten years or more of appeals. Appeals. Yes. Right. Appeals. Right. Okay. But instead, in this hypothetical, instead, there are no appeals. They're going to immediately take you into the next room, strap you to a gurney, shove a needle into your arm, and put you to sleep like a stray dog. I'm as well against the death penalty, I will say that as well. Okay, alright. But, be that as it may, whether we're against the death penalty or not, if the law says that death will be the punishment for this crime, it doesn't matter whether we're against it or not, you're going to suffer the death penalty. Right, exactly. So as they're about to do that, Eden, The judge, who rightly found you guilty, the judge, who alone had the authority to sentence you to death, stands up from behind his bench, takes off those black robes of authority, steps down, walks over to you and says, Eden, you are guilty, and according to the law, you do deserve to die, and I'm going to take your place. And the judge goes into the next room. He allows himself to be strapped to a gurney with your name on it. He allows a needle to be driven into the vein of His arm with your name on it, and He dies the death that you should have died, not because you're innocent, not because you confessed. This is what Jesus did. This is what Jesus did. God the Father sent His Son to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, truly God, truly man, and without sin. He lived a perfect life from cradle to grave that neither Eden or Tony... None of us can do. None of us can. Yet even though He knew no sin, He voluntarily went to that Roman cross, died the death he did not deserve to take upon himself the punishment you and I rightly deserve for our sins against God. And then he forever defeated sin and death when he rose from the grave. What God commands of us in response is that by faith we turn from our sin, that's called repentance. By faith we repent and we put our faith and our trust in Christ alone for our salvation. Now Eden, let's say the judge did that. And in response, you said, I'm appreciative of the judge for taking on the punishment I deserve, but I don't think that's enough. I think I also have to do good deeds. I think I also have to do penance. I think I also have to go to church on Sunday. I think I also have to help the poor. I think there are other things I need to do in addition to what the judge did for me. Do you think that would magnify the judge's sacrifice or diminish the judge's? Magnify. No, actually it would diminish it. it would diminish it, because if the judge determined that what must take place for you to be set free is for the judge to die, and then after that, you say, I appreciate the judge's sacrifice, but I don't think that's enough, I think I need to do these other things, would that not diminish the judge's sacrifice? Okay, so in essence, should we just always be that way? No, no, I understand what you're saying. No, no, that sacrifice doesn't give us a license to violate God's law. It doesn't give us a license to sin. But when we say, that's Jesus, and then we add to the work of Jesus the works of penance, the works of confession, the works of good works, the works of religious practices, In order to add to that sacrifice, we are actually diminishing the sacrifice because we're saying it's not enough. Does that make sense? I think so. I think I'd have to... Sorry, it's just been a long day. I'm sure. I do see what you're trying to get at. I'm sure. So in the system of Roman Catholicism has a professed belief in Jesus and his sacrifice. And in addition to that, there are also works that must be done in order to attain that grace, that gift of eternal life. Penance, confession, good works, participation in the Mass, and so on. Like you, I have a Catholic background as well. So any... I'm gonna warn you, it's been a few years. Okay, all right, okay. I'm not ultra-religious, but like, I try to be a good person. Okay, so here's the thing about being a good person. Jesus said you are to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. So how good then do you have to be for your goodness to merit grace from God? Or mercy? I don't know. Well, if Jesus said you are to be perfect, So how good do you have to be? You have to be perfect. Right. Okay. Neither one of us have been. We can't be, right. Right. So if we want to merit God's forgiveness or God's grace or mercy based on our own perceived goodness, then all we have to do, Eden, is live a perfect life and thoughtward indeed from cradle to grave. There's no hope in that because we've already failed. Okay. I see. I think I do see, yes. The Word of God says that it is by grace we're saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is a gift from God, not as a result of works, so that no man may boast. You are young enough to be my son, quite certainly, if you're an undergrad student. Yes. Let's say you were my neighbor, and you knocked on my door. There's an ice storm coming. I think we're supposed to get about nine inches of snow here tomorrow. Sure. You go when you need to go. You go when you need to go. I have to go here soon, but I wanted to say thank you. All right. I really thank you. Well, good talking to you, Eden. Absolutely. God bless you. I know I was meant to be here. I wanted to say thank you as well. I believe that too. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. All right. God bless you. You guys stay safe, OK? All right. Thank you.