Adam's Faith

Above: me & my wife on our wedding day

Basics: What is Adam's Faith?

1. I am an Evangelical Christian

2. I believe in the Bible.

3. Love is very biblically important & faith helps me to love.

4. I value & seek wisdom.

5. I seek excellence.

6. I am candid.

7. I prioritize hard work.

1. I identify as an Evangelical Christian.

That said:

a. I acknowledge that too often I don't live up to the idea of being a "little Christ" or "follower of Christ", which is the original meaning of the word Christian in Greek. It would be more accurate to say that I "seek to follow Christ" than to say that I "follow Christ" or that I am "like Christ".

b. I have some beliefs that don't align with typical white US Evangelical Christians on a wide variety of topics (i.e. masks). Even within the US, white and black evangelicals are divided on many issues (i.e. the environment) based on party lines.

2. I believe in the Bible and that the original form of it was divinely inspired. I believe that the current version in their original languages are likely somewhere above 95% accurate vs the original version, possibly over 99% accurate. A prime example is how our earliest copy of Isaiah today (from the Dead Sea Scrolls) was so close to our next earliest copy that was around 1,000 years later. That early find of the 20th century included Isaiah 53, which is about Jesus, lining up clearly with our views of Him, and the copy dates to before He was born.

   
   

   I believe in the primacy of Scripture above tradition, a foundational element of the Protestant reformation, and accordingly, believe that it's important to research/test that which is provided from others prior to adopting it as a belief in many cases, theologically (Acts 17:11; 1 John 4:1).

   
   

   I believe that bad theology today is primarily a product of (in order):

   1. failure to apply what's in the Bible,

   2. not having the correct theology through poor exegesis (i.e., treating certain Proverbs [which are wisdom literature and a completely different genre than epistles like the book of Romans], like promises rather than probabilities, which naturally results in disappointment and disillusionment)

   3. some cases of misinterpretation of the original languages (i.e. "meaningless" or "vanity" rather than "unfulfilling", or similar in Ecclesiastes 2).

   4. failure to diligently observe objective data & reason outside of the Bible

3. I strongly believe that the 2 greatest commands in Scripture, as stated by Jesus, are to love God & to love (charitably - Greek Agape) my neighbor as myself (Matthew 22:36-40). The Bible provides details on how to best love others & God (Matthew 22:40; Romans 13:18-10;  Galatians 5:14).

If I spend my life doing great things, but lacking in charitable love for others, what I do is relatively meaningless (1 Corinthians 13). "If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen (1 John 4:20)."

While faith is critical (Hebrews 11:6), I believe what the Apostle Paul stated when he said that charitable love was even more important than faith (1 Corinthians 13:13). My love is fueled by faith & by God (1 John 4:7-21).

4. I believe that it's critical to seek truth & to seek wisdom in life (Proverbs 2; Proverbs 3; Proverbs 4; Colossians 2:2; . I believe in "blind as a bat faith", and that the call to "blind faith" is not a call to willful ignorance, but is in part a call to see that which is not obvious through more than one lens. Reason & faith can & should co-exist. When reason is cast aside for the sake of faith, false religious beliefs and other bad things happen. When truth is abandoned for the sake of "sloppy love", it is not loving. Truth is critical, and it's worth defending, even if done very directly.

5. I believe that it's critical to seek excellence in all the work that I do (Ephesians 6:7; Proverbs 22:29).

6. I am a candid person, and appreciate others' candor with me (Proverbs 27:6).

7. I prioritize hard work that many other agents are unwilling to even attempt ( (1 Corinthians 15:10). I believe that self-discipline is critical in life (Proverbs 6: 6-11; Proverbs 12:1). I am thankful to God for giving me my work ethic by His grace.

Many of my other life philosophies are based on faith. These are just a small sampling.

Hypocrisy: I admit that I too often do not practice that which I cognitively assent to.

Hypocrisy: I too often do not practice that which I cognitively assent to, and need to abide with the source of life, to "abide in Christ". I remain inadequate to live a Christian lifestyle apart from closeness with God according to His Word as evidenced by love, with the fruit of joy, the ability to leave the world a better place during my short tenure in it (John 15:1-17), freedom from the bondage of hatred, prejudice, oppression of others, & other sin, & enabled to enjoy the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 13-26). I think that Jordan Peterson makes some good points on how identification as a Christian should not be taken lightly in light of the implications of what it means on everyday life. There are passages in the Bible along these lines as well of people who claim to follow God and did things in the Name of God, yet who did not know God as evidenced by their life (Isaiah 1, 1 John 3 & 4, Matthew 25:31-46).

Life Verse: 1 John 4:16

1 John 4:16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Adam was a Youth Minister for Over 4 Years

Initially, when I started at Garrett Realty Partners, I was a youth minister. I remained a youth minister for over 4 years while at Garrett Realty Partners. Eventually, I left the ministry to focus more on my marriage and my real estate career. I was thankful that my pastor's last task for me was for me to find my replacement and I've been blessed to come back to the church to preach and teach once & asked again subsequently since then when my replacement wasn't available.

It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made, but one of the most important ones. My career had plateaued for years 2-4. After I left the ministry, my first full-time year away from the ministry, my career experienced a 50% production increase. The year after that, it more than doubled from the prior year. I hope to someday return to the ministry, but in a better place financially than I ever was. Finances always restricted what I could do in ministry.

Volunteering

• Around 20 mission trips, starting at the age of 11 for a trip to Southeast Asia, including a week in a Christian Nepali orphanage (1) & around a dozen trips with Orphan Helpers (now Counteract International) in El Salvador & Honduras.

• Ministry to the homeless (1, 2)

• Years of children's ministry at churches

• Travel hacking ministry

• Ministry in my church on the "pastor's counsel" as an elder.

Adam's Christian Education

• Bachelor of Arts in Christian Education with a Minor in Bible - Wheaton College

• Master of Arts in Practical Theology - Regent University

• Mini Bible College, aka Foundations (180 approx 25-30 min sessions)

• I typically read through (listen mostly) the Bible once a year in the Bible App's (Youversion) 1 year plan with The Bible Project with integrated video. When doing so, & like to research various topics as I go.

• I believe that Bible memorization is critical. Bible at Hampton Christian in 6th grade was my worst subject, primarily if not exclusively from the memorization component. I wasn't getting good sleep and wasn't using any mnemonic devices (memorization techniques) to memorize Scripture. Both elemens are critical for effective Bible memorization.

Invitation to My Faith-Based Group on Facebook & Bible Study

• If you'd like to join my FB group where I share more from a faith-based perspective, go to Seeking Jesus in Love, Spirit & Truth

• I also co-lead a Bible study once a month based on a 1-year Bible reading plan in Youversion with videos from the Bible Project. Let me know if you'd like to join and I can send you a link. We start every January 1st.

Adam's Beliefs:

How Does Adam Treat Those of Other Faiths & Belief Systems?

No matter what religion you are or what lifestyle you have, I believe that it is very important for reasons of faith to love all people, to seek to help others no matter their beliefs or practices, and to protect victims of oppression.

See Jeff Rich's recommendation in case my faith, which is very important to me, is a concern in case you have had negative experiences with Christians:

"Although so much of Adam's life has been devoted to his Christian faith, Adam is open to all. I am an Atheist and Adam has never shown one iota of judgement toward me in the many years since we become friends. He is interested in my thoughts and has asked me to write about them, for him. Atheists can be judged very harshly in this society. I appreciate his friendship. My recommendation to any potential customers who may not share his beliefs is to hire Adam because he is a good person and expect to be treated with respect."

Jeff Rich

While another person who gave me a review didn't share his other religion explicitly in the review (so I won't repeat it here for the privacy of his faith), one of the top 3 best reviews I've received came from someone who knew about my faith, who was of a different faith, & whose first introduction to me was for me to help him to purchase a house.

I'm candid about some beliefs that vary among Christians.

Examples of beliefs that vary among Christians:

1. I seek to avoid real estate work, save limited urgent matters on Sundays. This timing lines up not only with Scripture but with objective data, as I demonstrate in the article linked above using statistical data on rest and on day of the week for listings. I have great support from other experienced agents to fill in the gap for me for showings when needed. I also have excellent resources such as my perhaps locally unmatched buyer guide & seller guide that help answer many questions

2. I am a continuationist, not a cessationist. Cessationism is popular among some Protestants, including some Evangelicals. It became popular during the Protestant Reformation as a reaction against Catholic apologists who pointed to supposed miraculous activity within the Catholic Church as a reason to not become Protestant. I believe in the active work of the Holy Spirit in healing & other gifts of the Spirit today (Mark 16:14-18; 1 Corinthians 12; 14:1, 39).

3. There are some cases where data-backed responses align with faith that you might see me write about. For instance, I do not recommend that an unmarried couple buy a house together with the intent to move in together before marriage. I provide the data on why that's not a best practice from a mostly non-religious perspective, with a brief faith-based integration yet also provide a disclosure about my faith bias as well as sharing how to limit liability if doing it anyway.

Mission of the Church Statements Should be Comprehensive & Include Both Faith & Love

1. Despite the high volume of Scripture that points otherwise, there is a minority yet substantive % of Evangelical Christians who state that the "mission" of the Church is exclusively evangelistic and discipleship oriented. While I believe in these 2 things as part of the overrall mission (that is more comprehensive) as they're supported biblically (i.e., the Great Commission), an exclusive mission of those elements goes directly against some of the passages I referenced on love, can lead to the neglect of personal holiness, & can result in the kind of religious spread of something bad with good intentions referenced in Matthew 23:15. I'm wide open to talking about God, especially in certain contexts like when people ask, in juvenile detention centers in El Salvador & Honduras with Counterract International, which my father started, in writing and via videos. However, I believe that some people hammer people with evangelism out of the blue in an overly aggressive & combative way that gives them a negative reputation among the very people they seek to reach when they should be doing a lot more living out of the gospel. While it might seem far-fetched, I remember an occasion in December 2011 where I was talking with another Christian about faith and a bounty hunter close by interrupted the conversation, who appeared very antagonistic to the faith & to my new friend & I's conversation, even though we had only been talking with each other before his interruption. He put a knife up to my neck and asked me if God would save me if he tried to kill me. Right after I defended him when security heard of it from someone, he asked me if I could go outside and talk to him while he smoked. There, he shared with me about his life and explicitly asked me if I could talk to him about Jesus, to which I obliged.

2. When the help of the poor & those in physical need is completely neglected, even for the sake of evangelism and discipleship, it doesn't align with the Bible's teaching. Among other causes, I strongly believe that well drilling & combatting human trafficking should be stronger foci among Christians due to the high impact in the 2/3 world on reducing disease & oppression. For specific examples in the Bible, see:

   1. Jesus parable of the "Good Samaritan" (Luke 10:25-37), where a question about how to inherit eternal life started out with loving God & neighbor & led Jesus to talk about a priest & someone in full-time ministry (a Levite) neglecting to care for someone who had been robbed and who might die without assistance. Conversely, a Samaritan, someone of different ethnic and religious origin, stopped, cared for the person, and paid for their expenses to recover.

   2. In Paul's commissioning, which was most known for its evangelistic & discipleship orientation, James, Peter, and John, the leaders of the Church at the time, said, "they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do (Galatians 2:7-10)."

   3. Many forget that Stephen, the 1st martyr of the Church after Jesus, was put in ministry with others because widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food etc., with him and others being commissioned to help ensure that the widows got enough (Acts 6-7).

7 Pillars of Wisdom

While I'm wide open to engage in debate on the subject (especially arguments based on reason, objective data, and Scripture), I believe that the 7 pillars of wisdom are (in order of importance):

1. Scripture -accurately translated even if it means more words and interpreted accurately, w/ love, grace of God to repent, and faith prominent. Acts 17:11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

1. Objective data/reason - w/ elements that are collective & some that are individualistic, knowing though that bias influence and half-truths are common and that we think we are much smarter and more intelligent than we really are. While at the top in the model along with Scripture, the majority of people shouldn't be effectively treating it like it's at the top in cases where it's in conflict with their perception of Scripture, due to too high an opinion of their ability to reason and too little effort to accumulate pertinent objective data & other pillars to weigh in reasoning.

2. Holy Spirit - without Whom we can't have any hope of walking according to Scripture. However discerning the Spirit is very difficult, especially without the Bible and without objective data to "test the spirits to see whether they are from God (1 John 4:1)." 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

   19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.

3. Fear of the Lord - Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

4. Pursue wisdom - Proverbs 4:7 "The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom, though it cost all you have, get understanding."

5. Tradition/community- I suspect that most Christians will be surprised at this number being number 5 and not higher up. We rely far too heavily on the traditions & commands of men at the expense of the commands of God. I have done that for the majority of the past decade. I am tired of it. - Hebrews 10:24-25 "24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

6. Experience uncovered in the application of Scripture.

Why Objective Data & Reason Next to the Bible in the 7 Pillars, & Why the Bible is Unique Among Religious Texts in Standing in the Face of That?

Placing objective data and reason right alongside the Bible at the top is admittedly very controversial among Christians, where I expect many will reject the 7 pillars because of it. I'd like to make a case for that placement:

1. Proverbs states, “The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”

2. If a religious text is placed above reason and objective truth, then there is too heavy of an inherent bias for those inside that tradition to not reform it, less of a rational path to God for those outside the tradition, & more reason to break away because of it due to bad theology being legitimized.

Christianity is unique because the Bible can be rigorously tested by reason, history, and objective data—and instead of collapsing, it is clarified, purified, and strengthened. The leap of faith gets much smaller when one has the objective data to back it up. See sections 4-13 of this article on romantic cohabitation prior to marriage & premarital sex for an example of that.

One doesn’t come to Christ from birth; reason and objective data should be some of the primary drivers to faith.

Reason and objective data prioritized at the top makes it harder for those in the Church to exercise control when they are off, but that is a very good thing, not a bad thing, as it means that the Church has less cause to split like it did in Luther’s day after his teachings were rejected by those in power not because he was wrong, but because those in power didn’t feel like defending themselves biblically and because they knew that they could get away with it and retain power in many cases.

3. Not getting well educated has become popular among Christians in the US. That’s a bad thing based in part on harmful deprioritization of objective data and reason as well as not adequately equipping kids for the perils of a degree of indoctrination in the public/private school system and in colleges/universities (public and private, though Wheaton College in IL excels here where many don’t).

4. People are frequently off regarding their view of Scripture and application. Scripture should never be read in a vacuum, but should be read ideally after learning about how to properly interpret Scripture from a Scripturally solid source. Many of the top universities today are skewed in their teaching methods on how to interpret the Bible. Many people without formal Scriptural teaching teach Sunday school classes, even big ones of over 100 people in some cases like my dad, who have never learned even on an informal substantive basis how to interpret the Bible.

5. When objective truth/reason isn’t treated with high suspicion as it is in some circles frequently today (though warranted in some cases), religious leaders and religious interpretations are held to higher standards, naturally refining each, and more people are drawn to God.

6. Reason/objective data at the top rather than the Bible is more honest in part due to the limited topics considered, though very comprehensive for the time, i.e. topics not directly touched that weren’t even an issue at the time like microplastics. The Bible focuses on stewardship, but since destroying the environment wasn’t as readily possible at the time it was written, it doesn’t have a major focus on it.

7. Passages that the Bible says are not necessarily from the Lord, i.e. 1 cor 7:6, 7:10, 7:12, 7:25, 7:40; 2 Cor 8:8, 11:17, and how the Catholic Church split from the Orthodox church in part due to misunderstandings of Scripture which were against reason and objective data that led to many Church abuses and a doorway for demonic oppression of church leaders via sin creeping in due to institutional sexual repression by the Church of clergy.

8. Luke 1:1-4 (investigation performed to produce gospel of Luke, who also was the author of Acts) and 1 Thessalonians 5:21 "...test everything, hold fast to that which is good." established the pattern I seek to follow.

9. 2 Corinthians 13:3-10 ESV

[3] since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. [4] For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God. [5] Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! [6] I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. [7] But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. [8] For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. [9] For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. [10] For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

https://bible.com/bible/59/2co.13.3-10.ESV

10. The Bible is the best and most reasonable framework of ethical objective data that points to its divine inspiration

11. Reason and objective data verifies much of what the Bible says and drastically narrows the gap required for a leap of faith when studied thoroughly

12. If one isn’t using objective data/reason, you won’t nearly be as adept at navigating between what God wants you to do via Scripture and what you think He wants you to do, especially if those you trust who know a lot more about the Bible than you do are saying something contrary to God.

13. Scripture is available widely today like never before in large part due to reason/objective data, i.e. invention of printing press, interchangeable type, and other more modern forms of media.

Concerns About & Use of AI

Artificial intelligence has great potential (I use it extensively because of this potential) but also some significant concerns if people are going to AI rather than the Bible for their morality. A blend of the 2 is beneficial when one has a solid foundation of non-AI-based morality and when one is seeking wisdom in a 7-pillars-of-wisdom framework that I believe is important. If one goes to AI soon after conversion or without a thorough knowledge of the Bible, intimacy with the Spirit, without sufficient objective data, without sufficient other pillars, there is too great a concern for unbiblical influence.

• Use of AI will never replace use of Bible, and even if you're trying to integrate AI into an understanding of the Bible, if you don't know the Bible well by reading it through repeatedly, it's easy to have bad theology.

End Times Beliefs & Practical Resource Guides

1. Contrary to popular US eschatology, based on numerous factors including a comprehensive reading of many passages on the subject taken qualitatively and quantitatively, I lean toward either post-tribulation rapture, post-wrath rapture, or another model, & am explicitly against pre-tribulation rapture models. The meta result of various models I ran on Chat GPT using 80 passages of Scripture are:

   1. Pre-Wrath: ~48%

      Post-Trib: ~45%

      Pre-Trib: ~5%

      Mid-Trib: ~2%

      Other: ~0–1%

   2. I think that ChatGPT's "Other" probability is smaller than the actual figure. I wouldn't be surprised if "other" happened & think that the probability of that should be greater than Pre-Trib, while Post-Wrath and Pre-Wrath should be lower to provide more room for "other".

2. While I was unconvinced for the majority of my life, as of November 2025, after running a statistical probability model in ChatGPT regarding the tribulation starting in the near future (by 2040 as 55% probable), I believe that it will occur in my lifetime. Many of the bottlenecks of probability models are hampered by post-enlightenment thought, when grounded interpretation should view reality first from a pre-enlightenment framework to be more faithful to proper interpretation (exegesis rather than eisegesis). Factoring that into the equation, I've converted all investments in my Roth IRA since that time that have since performed very well, as I expected would occur.

3. Among modern figures, David Wilkerson (deceased) & Jonathan Cahn both have some good teaching on the end times.

4. Practical guides beneficial for end times during tribulation:

   1. Virginia Map Guides (Especially Central & Eastern VA)

   2. Free Things to Do in & Around Virginia

   3. Homeless Resources in US w/ Central & Eastern Virginia Focus

   4. Guide to Move to East & Central Virginia

   5. Hunting in VA Guide: Law, Resources, Details

   6. Fishing in Virginia Guide: Fees & Resources

   7. Low or No Cost Camping (Including VA Map)

   8. Living in a Van, RV, or Otherwise on Wheels

   9. Live-Aboarding on a Boat

   10. Land Purchases & Sales

   11. Tips on Modular, Manufactured, & Mobile Homes

   12. Finding a Church

   13. Marinas, Ramps, & Water Type (Fresh vs Salt) in Virginia

   14. Unique Dynamics of VA Waterfront Properties

   15. Points/Miles/Cards for Free & Reduced Cost Travel

   16. Gifting Points for Travel

More Faith-Based & Related Articles from Me

My Facebook profile's about section (desktop view) has a substantial amount of content about who I am and quotes from others.

I have done some writing of faith-based articles, i.e., the following:

• Should I Purchase a House with my Girlfriend, Boyfriend, or Others I'm not Married to?

• Finding peace,

• Freedom from sin,

• Favorite Quotes

• Stories from mission trips and some other writing starting from the bottom article on this blog

• Intentional Homeless Submersion for months in 2009 & 2010 within 1 year of graduating from Wheaton College (IL)

• More articles on faith coming soon

  
  

  However, a relatively low number of views of each of those articles after a year or multiple years discourages the prospect of many more articles like them. I attribute that number in part to my need to shift out of Wix Classic, no paid ads, the need to reach out to more people who might be in a good position to share articles directly, and needing to work more on SEO so that something like that is less likely for future publications.