The Third Epistle – The First Letter of Francis “I do not call ₿ a religio
The First Letter of Francis ⏎ “I do not call ₿ a religion, but I call it a philosophy.”
By Eric · Updated October 17, 2026
Satire and commentary: names and likenesses are used for parody, and nothing here is a statement of fact about real people. Sourced facts are in the sections below.
📖 The ₿ible The Third Epistle – The First Letter of Francis “I do not call ₿ a religion, but I call it a philosophy.”
1:1 Brothers, I, Francis, write to you from the land of Canada. I once ran an exchange, and I have stood for truth while contending with regulation.
1:2 I declare to you: “₿ is not a technology, but a philosophy.” “At the heart of that philosophy lies decentralization and self-sovereignty, not trust, but verification.”
1:3 I did not flee from regulation, nor did I compromise with power. Instead, I helped build legal frameworks and ethics so the ₿ community could defend itself.
1:4 To every centralized exchange I proclaimed: “Do not betray Satoshi’s design. The keys you hold belong to your users.”
“Even if banks change, the philosophy must not.”
Francis 1:4
1:5 I did not borrow Satoshi’s name, but sought only to uphold his spirit. ₿ belongs to no one, and must belong to all.
1:6 Therefore, I urge you, brothers: “Run your own node. Hold your own keys. And never forget your philosophy.”
In plain words: what this means
The scripture is satire, and the letter is written in the voice of a character called Francis. We cannot confirm who the author means, so we will not guess. We check the ideas instead. Checked on October 17, 2026.
"Not a religion, a philosophy"
This is the one line the chapter is built around, and it is an opinion. The site you are reading is a parody that borrows scripture style, so it fits that we say plainly that Bitcoin is software and a set of rules, and not a faith. Bitcoin's rules are enforced by everyone who runs a node, as bitcoin.org explains (bitcoin.org: Running a full node).
The practical advice
"Run your own node. Hold your own keys." These are real recommendations, and we have plain-words pages for each: running a node and holding your own keys. Bitcoin.org also puts it this way: "When a third party controls your keys, you rely entirely on their security and honesty."
Claims we cannot check
"I once ran an exchange" and "I helped build legal frameworks" are claims about a person. They are not sourced here, and we have not identified who the letter refers to.