John, please only post this if you think appropriate to do so.    Thank you so much for this five doves site.

 

 

I have changed the name on this letter but it is a communication with a good friend who "can't believe in a God that would allow such tragedy".   Walt<><

 

 

Reply to Fred    (not his name)

Fred, I know that you do not really think that Christians would contemplate sending their children to heaven without the opportunity to grow into adults. I am sure that you are just grasping at straws that you really do not want to come face to face with. I do not really understand what your problem is. The God that you do not believe in seems, in your mind, to be responsible for all the misery that occurs on this planet. He indeed created us and He created us to have free will. Any creature that truly has free will can and will make his or her own decisions. You make your decisions and I make mine. You can influence me and I can influence you but in the end, we both are responsible for our actions. As kind of an allegory think of a plain old cow. A cow cannot be really good nor can it be really very bad. It can only be a cow. A dog, however can be very good, even heroic but it can also be very bad and even dangerous. A human, on the other hand can by free choice be very good, even angelic or can be very bad even demonic. That is the way life is when free will is the plan. If you were God, I do not know how you would arrange things. I kind of like free will but also see the danger in it. Just tell me. What would you do to the whole planet if you were a compassionate God that wants to have a people with free will. Do you think that free will is a bad idea? What would be your alternative? Please at least answer these questions after reading this letter to you.

Do you think that to be a Christian you have to be a goody two shoes? I can tell you this, Fred, as far as morality and righteousness no one on planet Earth is much different than anyone else. There are people that I know that are so much more generous and considerate and loving that I am one would think that if there is a heaven that those people would surely be there. The truth is that their moral living has nothing whatever to do with their final residence. There are folks out there that you would never expect to find in heaven that will shock you that they are there! When it comes to morality and good living, by God’s standard we are all totally lost. We are without hope. We always have been. This is a lost world if we have to go by good works. I know you Fred, you are not much different than I am. There are things in both of our lives that we wish we would have done differently. There are things that we have done in our past that we are somewhat ashamed of and wish that was not part of our personal history.  If you or I deny that we simply lie to ourselves. We do not get on God’s right side by being a goody two shoes.

I do not know how many children that you have Fred, but let us say for example that you have 10. Some of those ten children were so easy to raise to become responsible citizens of the community that you are amazed. Some of them needed more discipline and instruction but they made it OK. One of them ended up in prison. One thing that I am sure about you Fred is that you will love every single one of them and you will never stop calling them your children. Even the one that is in prison you will visit and encourage and instruct. They are yours period. The neighbor’s children, on the other hand may be like angels and you may have the greatest respect for them but, they are not your children. You have no authority over them and they will probably never be part of your inheritance. So it is with God’s family of which I am a part. He does have authority over me and he does discipline and instruct me as a father should. I have a final residence that God Himself tells me is beyond my imagination. I cannot lose it. It has nothing to do with how good or bad I am. It is an inheritance from Christ who died in my place for my sins. By believing in Jesus and His sacrifice for me, I am born into His family. At this point, you are not part of that family or that inheritance. You are like the neighbor kid. It has absolutely nothing to do with your morality or what you have or have not done. It has, on the other hand, everything to do with what you have done concerning the one who died specifically for you Fred. That is to say what you have done with Jesus.

I am sure of one other thing Fred, and that is that I, myself, will never be able to convince you logically about these wonderful truths. God’s own word tells me that you must be drawn by the Holy Spirit. But His Word also says that those that seek Him will find Him!  Proverbs 8:17

If you have any interest or integrity at all on this matter, whether you believe in Him or not, He will honor you and reveal Himself to you if you just ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Just try it! I do not know if you even have to be sincere in asking. Just ask! If God is who He says He is, you will at some point in the future KNOW it. For now, you are just an agnostic, uncommitted to either side. Sad.

 

Walt<><