A Letter to a Friend

To you know who you are,

                The thought of a God is crazy to you. You have dealt with so many Christians in the past and they are jerks and liars, or so ridiculously hypocritical that you have no room for them in your life. Religion is a crutch that hopefully one day will no longer need to be around. There are so many different religions and beliefs from the extremely weird to the just plain annoying, they cause fights and wars, they are restricting, racist, and the list goes on. I know what you are saying and I understand why! When I watch the media and look in to the origins of many of the wars around the world religion is at the very heart of it. Besides, we are a maturing people with advances in science and education that are hopefully moving us out of the hocus pocus need for man to have a “god” to rule over him. The thought sounds great, we make our own rules, and our only accountability is ourselves, science is a better answer. I have heard this argument from you many times and I have perceived it in your actions and reactions when I am around. I will let you know this… I have somewhat been walking on eggshells as it pertains to this topic around you and that is going to change. I don’t want you to feel the need to walk on the proverbial eggshells around me either. I have realized that my fear of how you may perceive my faith is actually allowing you to prevent my freedoms just as if I did not allow you to speak your mind. You will see this change, not in a threatening manner but when you ask me what I think of something I will be honest of the reasons behind it. You are very welcome to take it or leave it I will not force what I believe on you anymore than I will allow you to force your beliefs on me. We can discuss it, and agree to disagree or better yet maybe learn something about each other and move on. Here are my challenges to you…

1)      If there is no Jesus and we are animals evolved from a lower species, where have we developed morals, where have we learned that murder and rape is wrong? I know your initial answer is we learn from society and those around us. So I ask which society do we chose to follow? As our society changes what do we use as our moral compass to determine the direction it should go? If it is a free country does one have the right to dislike another for what they believe or how they look? Is there any reason they cannot believe what they want? If we came from animals why can’t we share similar values such as multiple females to spread our lineage etc.?

2)      How is it that my faith and how I choose to live my life makes you feel so uncomfortable? You feel like I look at you and am “judging” you for how you live your life, and maybe sometimes I am, but are you not doing the same to me? Are you not watching my movements and actions noticing that they have changed from my previous behaviors and making judgments about my hypocrisy or lack of desire to fit in the way I used too? It is impossible to not judge, it is what you do with those judgments that make them right or wrong. Is your judgment of me better or more right than my judgment of you? How do we determine what is right once again? What measure do we use?

3)      This point is for you and you alone…Why do you have such a strong negative response to the thought of Jesus? What has He done to you that hurt you so badly? Was it Him, or was it somebody claiming to be one of His? I will tell you now, in my walk to be more like Christ I have hurt many many people and I wish I could go back and fix some of the damage I have done. That being said, sometimes coming to know Him is painful and difficult when we get a look at who we are through His filters. I challenge you to dig deep to find the answer to this one. Stepping in to His light can be an uncomfortable feeling when we are used to living in the dark.

4)      In reference to question 3… If you do not believe that Jesus existed, or that He was just some random historical man, then why do you care so passionately about the mention of His name? If somebody told me that Klingon Law stated that I am going to be held eternally on their fiery planet oogieboogie and I don’t believe in Klingons I would laugh and move on with my life no matter how much they believed it to be true. So why the passion when it comes to something you feel is just hocus pocus? Maybe there is a piece of your spirit inside you that would like to know the truth? So let’s discuss it!

5)      If I have ever done something to hurt you please let me know, I am guilty of occasionally being oblivious to those around me and I would like to either explain myself or apologize.  Please do not hold on to stuff that is causing you pain or stress, or at least stress that doesn’t need to be there. Some stress is good stress and is there to make you stand up and deal with something.

6)      I believe the Bible to be a factual document. Many, who do not believe, assume it is a bunch of fairy tales. Most have never taken the time to look for themselves. Hopefully you know me well enough to believe that I am not completely crazy, though I understand some of what I believe is difficult for you. I challenge you to examine the history and archaeology of the stories and places of the Bible. The ruins of many ancient cities are there, such as Jericho, Ninevah, Jerusalem, Shechem, and hundreds more. Numerous documents of past battles from other cultures that describe the same events exist. Even the science, though this is a tough one for many, has not been disproven. If the Book is true it sure helps the case that the God of the Book is true as well.

Understand this, you are my friend and my family, I care for you all and hope we can have many discussions on the subject of God. Please understand that Jesus is not just something I believe when it is convenient for me, and is not something that a true Christian will ever turn off. While at work, I am a Christian, while in school, I am a Christian, etc. I do not ask you to stop your belief at certain times and turn them back on at others so I am not made to feel uncomfortable around you. It is impossible! Think of religion as the filter we use to make our decisions, and the same filter that controls our thoughts and desires. We are all religious, I just try to give my complete filter over to the Holy Spirit of God since I believe that to be the only correct filter. I occasionally fail. Oh and ….

7)      Yes, as we have previously discussed so passionately, I believe that you are going to Hell when you die if you do not turn and follow Jesus. This still does not make me “better than you” it just means that I am covered by the blood of Jesus that He spilled voluntarily for those of us who want to get to know Him. This is a very serious matter, your life and future depend very heavily on it. Jesus is the ONLY WAY! Through no other religion or God can you be saved from the judgment day looming in the future. My prayer is that He reveals Himself to you as He has to me.