On Shirley Phelps Roper and the Westboro Baptist Church - Part 5

I was reading the WBC blog again, and came across another entry I had to respond to. So here's my fifth letter. Wow... Five already?

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Mrs. Roper,

You know, you and your church amaze me. And I have to admit, it's very rarely in a good way. I was reading your blog again when I came across the entry entitled "We Have A Hope," your reply to Caitlin's letter. As is the case when I read most of your other blog entries, I came away from this one with more questions than I had when I started reading it, but this particular case was more extreme.

When Caitlin mentioned the fact that none of us deserve mercy, you replied that you and the congregation of WBC "give all diligence to make our calling and election sure... [Because] we see mercy, and we have impulses upon our hearts to RUN to please our Great King, we have a hope. " But I get the feeling you're leaving out a couple very important verses. First, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." When Christ died on the cross, He took, not just our sins, but our sin nature, upon Himself. Yes, we still sin, but sin is no longer our master: God is. This means that, when we believe in Christ, we are freed from the chains of sin and added to the family of our Lord and Savior: "the elect." You say that obedience is the only way to be saved. I agree partially, but that's a very near-sighted view of the Way to heaven. Jesus says, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). Jesus is the only Way to heaven. Yes, obedience has a part in salvation because Jesus obeyed the entire Law perfectly, and we have to accept His sacrifice, but our personal fulfillment of the Law has no effect on our redemption. When a mother calls her child into the house after playing outside, the child continues playing and returns to the house an hour later; the fact that he returned makes no difference to the fact that he disobeyed by not immediately coming inside. It's the same with the Law of Moses: obeying the Ten Commandments now, after we've broken them many times in our past, will not make us any more righteous than we were before. The only way we can be saved is through reliance on Christ. Romans 8:3-4 says, "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Christ fulfilled the Law, and when we put our faith in Him—note: only faith is required, not strict adherence to the Law—God replaces our sinfulness with Christ's righteousness. Christ fulfilled the Law so that we wouldn't have to, so that our inability to fulfill the Law wouldn't condemn us.

Romans 10:4 says, "Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." Because Christ fulfilled the Law, the Law no longer has any power over us, whether we obey it or not. That is not to say that we shouldn't strive to keep the Law, but failure to keep the whole Law DOES NOT RESULT IN JUDGMENT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE PUT THEIR TRUST IN JESUS CHRIST. (Sorry for the caps lock, but I figure that, if you, as God's chosen people, can use it, then I should be able to use it without being judged for it.)

"Dude, shut up about us. It is NOT about us." Well, your response to Caitlin's letter seems to indicate otherwise: "Therefore, we must give all diligence to make [OUR] calling and election sure." What about everyone else? "But because [WE] see mercy... [WE] have a hope." Again, what about everyone else? "Get to the place God put his name and where he meets with HIS people!" Maybe I'm just crazy, but it sounds to me like you're claiming that WBC, and only WBC, is where God meets His people. Nowhere else, and with nobody else. That sounds pretty self-centered to me. Doesn't Jesus Himself say that His people will no longer worship in a specific place, but that they will worship "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:20-24)? I'm pretty sure you attend Westboro Baptist Church, not The Temple of God In Spirit and In Truth. Spirit and truth are present all over the world; therefore, God meets with His people all over the world. (Think of it this way: are you able to worship God while you are on the streets picketing, away from your church? By your logic, any worship you give to God while you are away from WBC should not even be considered as true worship. That's the claim you are making against the rest of the world for not attending WBC. That just doesn't make sense, now does it?)

Have you ever heard it said that a half-truth is no better than a lie? Then don't avoid giving a straight answer. Paul says in Colossians 4:6, "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." So please, kindly answer Caitlin's question(s): "Have you ever tried reading the Bible with an open mind? Tried wiping all beliefs from your thoughts and read it like any other book you might read? Or do you have special scriptures? Only speaking of God’s "Hate" for America and His creations?" Like Caitlin, I'm curious to know as well. Have you ever read the Bible as someone who has never even heard the name of Jesus before? Have you ever tried going back to the time when you first committed your life to Christ and tried to read through the Bible as if you were back where you started? I'm positive you would see the Bible in a different way if you did. You constantly tell your audience to "READ THE BIBLE" and "OBEY." But if you can't read with an open mind—willing to look for, find, test, and accept new ideas—that's really not any better than not reading at all. After all, it's not like you're learning anything you haven't heard already. The point of reading is to learn, wouldn't you agree?

Anyway, that's all I have to say this time around. But be prepared for more letters in the future. You can be sure that my last five letters (found here) will be followed by many more like them.

Thank you for your time. I apologize for anything I said that may have offended you. I look forward to hearing back from you to see what you have to say about the thoughts I have presented (more accurately, the thoughts I believe God has given me to present to you).

Again, thank you for reading, and God bless!

Michael Watanabe

"You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to You. Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry for mercy. In the day of my trouble I will call to You, for You will answer me." ~ Psalm 86:5-7

On Shirley Phelps Roper and the Westboro Baptist Church - Part 4

More on Westboro. "Re: Yes, Jesus Would Protest At A Funeral."

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Hello, Mrs. Roper.

Well, I'm sorry to bug you again so soon, but I was reading your blog again, and... well, I just had to say something. As the subject above says, this is in response to your reply to Lisa's letter, to which you said, "Yes, Jesus would protest at a funeral." I'm going to try to go in the order you wrote your response.

First off, you said that Jesus said, "Let the dead bury their dead." That's true, but He was saying this when he was calling people to follow him and one man asked to be allowed to bury his father before following Jesus. He then goes on in the next couple verses, saying that anyone who follows Him but chooses their family over Him when His commands are contrary to their views has sinned and doesn't really know what it means to truly follow Christ. The point of Jesus' comment here is that our heavenly Father comes before our earthly families, no matter what.

But even when we fail, there's still hope, as the woman in John 8:1-11 found out firsthand. The woman was caught in adultery, and the people were preparing to stone her, but Jesus said, "If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her " (John 8:10). Nobody stepped forward to stone her, and Jesus said, "[Neither] do I condemn you" (John 8:11). Not only does Jesus offer free forgiveness to anyone who will accept it, He even offered it to the woman who was not seeking forgiveness of sins at all, but only escape from death. All she had to do was accept it. God doesn't give up His children that easily.

And look at John 5:1-15. People were crowded around the pool in Bethesda, and Jesus approached one lame man who had no hope of getting into the pool to be healed. The man believed that the water in the pool had healing powers, and when Jesus came along asking if he wanted to be healed, all he said was that he had nobody to put him into the pool. Even when faced with Jesus Himself, the man still sought healing from a "magical" pool of water rather than from God, the only One who could heal him. But Jesus still chose to heal him. Why? If God hates sinful man, and not merely sin in man, then why did He heal the man who clearly had no intention of following Him?

Secondly, I would like to bring up the issue of judging people again, just like I did in my first letter. You said, "If you REALLY believed you shouldn't judge, you would not have written your Bible-hating email judging us." For one thing, the apostle Paul says in Galatians 6:1, "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently." Trust me, if I didn't think you might change your ways, I would not be writing you right now, and I wouldn't have wasted my time writing my other three letters (found here). And I believe Lisa had the same mindset. I dare you to find anything blatantly judgmental in my letters. Also, when the disciples ran into a man casting out demons in the name of Jesus—a man who was not physically following Jesus—they tried to stop him, but Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you" (Luke 9:50). Lisa and I are both trying to obey God. As you would say, we are not remaining silent but openly declaring your faults to you so that you would repent and obey. If that's not judging when you do it, then you can't blame either one of us for judging you. We would like to see you become true men and women of God who are relentlessly preaching the gospel to the world so that all people might receive salvation and eternal life.

Next, in the following paragraph, you said, "You're made in the likeness of Adam, Lisa. If you ever cracked a Bible you would know Adam alone was made in the likeness of God." But I have to disagree. Crack that Bible open one more time for me and read Genesis 1:26-27: "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." "Let us make man in our image... and let THEM rule..." "[Male] and female He created them." God created man(kind) in His image. Although Adam was the only one to be created by God (the rest of us are born according to God's will), we are all made in His likeness. That's why Jesus says, "Be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). If we were not made to be like Christ—in other words, made in God's image—we would not be able to be holy. And God Himself says the same thing in Leviticus 20:26: "You are to be holy to Me because I, the Lord, am holy." We are to be like God, hence the phrase, "in [His] likeness."

"Lisa, would Jesus start 2 big wars and murder hundreds of thousands of people in cold blood?" Mrs. Roper, would Jesus curse/swear/cuss? Would Jesus call anyone an idiot/fool? If I'm not mistaken, the only insult Jesus makes is calling people hypocrites. He never calls anyone a fool because they're His own creation, and by calling them stupid, He would be calling God Himself stupid. That's blasphemy, attributing to God a fault that does not exist. If you want people to obey God, I suggest you do the same.

Finally, about halfway through your second response to Lisa's letter, you bragged, "[He] has stood with us for 20 LONG YEARS EVERY DAY ON THE STREETS, NO TRAUMA TO US. NONE!" But Jesus says in John 16:33, "In this world you will have trouble." And in 2 Corinthians 12:10, Paul says, "I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." If you're just breezing through life, I'm sorry to say it, but I'm pretty sure you're doing something wrong. Hardships make us stronger and force us to rely more on God's power. That's why some of the strongest Christians in the world are those who have faced traumatizing experiences: untimely deaths, cancer, AIDS, severe persecution and torture, etc. I mean this in the least judgmental way possible, but I think that God is keeping you from trouble so that you would realize you're missing something and return to Him. It wouldn't do any good to put hardships on someone who may or may not already be on the wrong path.

I do have to say that I agree with the majority of the paragraph in which you say that this world has done the complete opposite of what God commanded. But despite that, there is still hope. And I don't have to tell you what His name is.

I apologize for anything I've said that may have offended you, and I hope to receive a reply soon. Please. I've been waiting for a response to my other three letters, and I've been disappointed to find every day that you still haven't written back. I would love to hear back from you.

Thank you for your time, once again. God bless!

Michael Watanabe

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" ~ Galatians 2:20-21

On Shirley Phelps Roper and the Westboro Baptist Church - Part 3

Well, it's been almost four months since I sent my last letter to Westboro Baptist Church, so I decided to write yet another letter. So here it is.

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Hello once again, Mrs. Roper.

This is Michael, the same one who wrote you twice before, once with my cousin Eddie. I'm sure you remember seeing my ridiculously long letters. If not, feel free to review them here.
Unlike my last two letters, I will try to keep this one relatively short.

I was going through your blog when two particular conversations caught my attention. The first was your conversation with Jeff entitled "A Huge Media Bath Thanks To Weston, MO," and the second, "We Bind This Nation So God Will Destroy Them."

I would just like to start by apologizing for Jeff. Not that that does anyone any good, but I honestly felt bad for you the way he was criticizing you. I do have to admit that he had good reason to criticize, but his method of using insults was not justified.

And one more thing before I get to the main point of this letter: in your response to Jeff's letter, you said, "Now, I must get off email and go make myself presentable for Fox 4." This is kind of off topic, but doesn't Jesus say in Matthew 6:25, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?"? And doesn't God say in 1 Samuel 16:7 when Samuel is looking for the next king of Israel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart"? Sorry to throw that at you, but that just stuck out at me as I was reading your blog.

Now on to the real topic of discussion. In your response to the unnamed Jew who is beginning to attend church, you told the unnamed author that you are "binding this nation to the standards/commandments of God so that God will destroy them." But in Mark 2:23-28, when Jesus was confronted for failing to uphold the Sabbath, He explained to the Pharisees how David ate the consecrated bread that was only lawful for consumption by the priests. He told them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27-28). According to the Pharisees, Jesus had broken the commandment that says, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy" (Exodus 20:8). But they had forgotten the reason for the commandment: God had blessed the Sabbath so that we would not need to do work, not that we would not be allowed to do work. As stated here, the Sabbath was made to be a blessing to man, not a burden.

Similarly, the Law was not established so that we would follow it to gain salvation. It was put in place so that we would realize our inability to keep the Commandments and our need for a Savior. That does not mean we should not strive to keep the Commandments, but it does mean that we are not condemned if we slip up. (See Romans 7:7-13.) As written in Hebrews 10:1-4, "The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." 1 Peter 3:18 says, "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." And in Romans 8:1-4, Paul says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Jesus died for us so that those who believe in Him would be freed from the power of sin, which is death, and "where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin" (Hebrews 10:18), meaning, once our sin has been forgiven, it stands forgiven permanently and does not need any renewal of forgiveness.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." Constantly the Bible reminds us that salvation is not through works, but through faith in Jesus Christ. (Admittedly, these words come from Paul; but if what we believe is true—that the entire Bible is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16)—then if Paul's words are taken as a lie, then the entire Bible is taken as a lie, and God is made to be a liar. To quote the verse you yourself referenced in your response to the unnamed Jew, "The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because He had pity on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked God's messengers, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against His people and there was no remedy." If you deny Paul's words, you deny the words of God Himself.) We are not saved by works, but unto works; we do not save ourselves by doing good things, but we do good things because we are saved. That's why Paul says in the next verse (Ephesians 2:10), "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." God presented the Law to us so that we would see our need for a Savior, and we strive to obey the Law because we are saved so that our salvation would look appealing to others looking in from outside the body of Christ.

As in my previous letters, I ask you again to reconsider your approach to spreading the gospel. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:13, "Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall." I believe this stands true for witnessing as well. If your method of spreading the gospel causes other Christians to develop hatred for you (breaking the Commandment against murder, according to Jesus), then you should strive to witness in a way that would promote love and curiosity from others. Paul became "all things to all men so that by all possible means [he] might save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22).

I would encourage you to read through the book of Hosea. (Not that I think you haven't already. I'm sure you have, but please read it again. It's a great book, as I'm sure you know.) The Bible was not written merely as a history book. It was written so that we would see how it applies to our lives and so that we would strive to obey the words that we can consciously follow. Hosea is all about how God loves His people, even when we turn our backs on Him. He held His hand out to us, even when we tried to slap His hand away. He allowed us to drift into our sin, not because He gave up on us and turned us over to Satan, but in order for us to experience the consequences, in order to teach us and bring us back to Him. And when we come back, like the father of the prodigal son, He takes us back joyfully. As Jesus told the Pharisees in Luke 15:7, "There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."

So please, re-evaluate the gospel you are preaching. Put your message to the test: match it up against the Bible and see if it stands firm in the truth. The gospel is a message of love, of grace, of mercy; it's a message of before and after: who we once were, and who we are now; the path we were on, and the path we are on now.

I want to make it clear that I believe you truly are a woman of God. But I believe that you don't quite have all the facts straight. You may very well be on the road to heaven, but your message is not encouraging others to come to the Lord. Jesus told His disciples to "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19), and we are His disciples, sent out into the world to bring others to know Christ. We are not to throw people's faults in their faces, but to show them the Savior who can (and wants to) redeem them despite their faults.

I would very much appreciate a reply. I'm getting a little discouraged because I haven't received a reply to my previous letters, and I'd like this to be a two-way conversation, not a monologue.

Thank you for your time, once again. I hope to hear back from you soon. And God bless!

Michael Watanabe

"If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." ~ 1 John 4:15-16

A Modern Parable

I was walking back to my dorm from the School of Music (a thirty-minute walk) when I started coming up with a random parable. I guess God wanted to teach me something through it. He kept adding more and more to the parable as I walked, which is great because I had half an hour to think of new stuff to add to it. So here it is.

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The Christian life is like driving to a party at a friend's house. You get to the house, park on the side of the road, and go inside. A few minutes later, you realize you forgot something in the car, so you go back out to get it, only to find a cop standing next to your car with a parking ticket. It turns out you had parked next to a fire hydrant and hadn't noticed it. What's worse is that the cop is your father. Your father hands you the parking ticket knowing you don't have the money to pay the fine, so he pays it for you. Then you give the ticket back, saying, "Let me just stay parked here a little while longer," and then go back inside. Your father has no choice but to arrest you and have the car towed.

In a similar situation, the same thing happens, but you hop in the car immediately to move it out of the way. Unfortunately, the car won't start. So your father calls a towing company to drag the car to the auto shop, where he gets the battery replaced. You then drive home following your father.

The police officer represents Jesus, the fire hydrant symbolizes sin, and the car is your life, while your friend's house represents the world. We are to be in the world, but not of it; we are not to let worldly things consume us. Before the Law was introduced in the Old Testament, sin was undefined; so the Law had to be put in place so that we would know right from wrong (Romans 7:7-9). In the parable, the son/daughter parks next to sin and doesn't realize that it was sin until his/her Father points it out as sin. We then have to pay the price for our sin, which is death; but instead, knowing that we couldn't pay the penalty ourselves, our Father came to us in the form of the Man Jesus and paid the price for us, setting us free (Romans 6:23). God's judgment, the parking ticket, has been satisfied (1 Peter 3:18). But the son/daughter in the first scenario then takes that forgiveness and abuses it by doing nothing to change his/her life and returning to the world. That person is consumed by the world, caring more about the party (the momentary pleasures of the world) than moving his/her car (getting out of sin to benefit him/her in the long run). The price Jesus paid is then worthless to that person because he/she has essentially refused it (James 1:22, 2:17). That person's car (life) is then dragged off, and he/she is put in jail (hell) because he/she has broken the law, and there is no more remedy (John 15:6; Hebrews 6:4-6).

On the other hand, the person in the second scenario gets in the car to move it, making an attempt to get out of sin (James 1:21-22, 25). But he/she finds that it is an impossible task to do alone, so he/she relies on the Father (John 15:5b; Luke 18:27; Philippians 4:13). Only through the grace of God can we dig ourselves out of the hole that is sin. Then instead of being thrown into prison/hell, our Father leads us home to heaven (John 14:6; Psalm 23:6).

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I thought it was really cool how God kept throwing more and more comparisons at me as I thought through this parable, so I just had to share it. I hope this helped someone.

Until next time, God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

I was riding the bus to class this morning when thoughts started running through my head. They were more of those Christianity vs. Atheism questions I had been compiling, and God was finally starting to give me answers—or, at least, questions to counter with. So since it's been so long since I've written anything, I decided I'd share what God was telling me.

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C: Jesus is the only way to heaven. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
A: There's more than one way to heaven. Truth is all just relative.
C: ... Relative to what?
A: ...

A: Wow. That guy is evil. He murdered his own family. I know I'm not perfect, but at least I'm not as bad as he is.
C: Really? What makes you say that?
A: That guy killed his own family! That's horrible!
C: Have you ever lied to someone? Have you ever been so mad at someone that you actually hated them for a while?
A: Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?
C: What are the seven deadly sins?
A: Wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony.
C: Is murder ever mentioned?
A: No, but...
C: But wrath is. Does rage come from the fact that you killed someone, or do you kill someone because you hate them?
A: ... You kill them because you hate them.
C: So which is worse: wrath or murder?
A: Murder! Come on! The guy KILLED people! That's evil!
C: Yeah, but wrath caused him to do it. So wrath is the source of that evil, which makes wrath worse than murder in the long run.
A: Who cares about "the long run"? We're all going to die and disappear anyway.
C: Then why is murder so bad? The guy just gave his family an early trip to where they were going in the first place. If we're all going to die and disappear, why do we try to live and make a difference? Why does it matter? If there's no ultimate goal in life, no final resting place, no life after death, then there's no reason to do anything. We should all just die now. The book of Ecclesiastes talks about this in saying that everything is meaningless without God. And it's true. The only reason any of us does anything is that we all realize, whether consciously or subconsciously, that there is something more to life, something more after death, a reason to live life to the fullest. And that reason is God.
A: ...

A: There's no absolute good.
C: Then who determines what good is?
A: It's relative. I'm better than that bully over there because I give money to the poor.
C: But how do we know charity is good and bullying is bad?
A: You get punished for doing bad things and rewarded for doing good.
C: I understand that, but who made that rule?
A: Nobody. That's just how it is. Nobody had to make that rule. It was just built into our nature.
C: So that's why little kids are inclined to steal things they want? Why they tend to throw tantrums and hit people when they don't have their way? Their internal sense of right and wrong is telling them to do bad things to get something out of it? Why do we have to learn to do good things to get what we want if we already know that rule?
Think about this: We're both trying to get to Atlanta. You're in Miami, and I'm in San Francisco. Who's closer to Atlanta?
A: I am.
C: How do you know?
A: Because I'm in the state right next to it, and you're all the way across the country. You have more distance to cover.
C: Now what if Atlanta didn't exist? Who would be closer to Atlanta then?
A: Neither one of us because you can't be closer than someone else to something that doesn't exist.
C: It's the same with good. If there's no absolute good, how can someone be better—more good—than someone else?
A: ...

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I hope that helps someone somehow. I'll probably make more Christianity vs. Atheism: Questions and Answers posts as I hear more questions.

Until next time, God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21

21-Day Challenge

Watkinsville First Baptist Church is doing this thing on campus at UGA called the 21-Day Challenge starting today. (The 21 days actually don't start until October 1st, but they started preparing for the challenge today.) For the next three days (including today) people from the WFBC college ministry are going to be handing out 500 copies of the New Testament to young men here at the #1 party school in America. With the New Testament comes a challenge: to read through book of John, one chapter a day for 21 days, and to pray each day before reading, asking God, if He's real, to reveal Himself to the reader.

So Watkinsville has a challenge for the rest of the world, a way for everyone to get involved in the 21-Day Challenge, even if you don't receive a New Testament from one of the members of WFBC: pray for those who do receive a copy of the New Testament. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Pray that the Word would move in these young men and convict them to accept the forgiveness of the God who loves us, offered through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

And just because you're already a Christian doesn't mean you're too good to take on the challenge yourself. Pick up your Bible every day from October 1st through the 21st and read a chapter a day from the gospel of John. (That doesn't mean that you should stop there. Keep reading even after the 21 days!) And don't forget to pray.

Thanks, and God bless!

Michael

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"Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." ~ 2 Timothy 2:22

Thoughts from Watkinsville First Baptist 9/19/10

Since my first week here at UGA, I've been going to Watkinsville First Baptist Church each Sunday, attending the college Bible study and the regular service. The usual trend is that the Bible study will be an incredible discussion of the gospel and life applications of the day's passage; and the service will be a sermon on living out our faith. The last couple weeks, I was a little disappointed with the main service (for reasons left unsaid, considering today's message on language and avoiding gossip), but today was a little different. Although the main service was still not quite top-notch, I felt like I got more from it than I did last week, even if all I got from it was directly from God rather than through the actual message. Today's message provided the Scripture, and God provided the interpretation.

I just want to share some of my notes from today, both from the college Bible study and from the main service.

In the college service, we studied Mark 2:1-12, the story of the four friends who lowered their paralytic friend through the roof of a house where Jesus was preaching. (I just realized that my notes on my iPod didn't save for some reason, so this is all from memory. And this blog post is as much for myself as it is for anyone else because I want to remember all of this as clearly as possible, which will probably be easier if I write everything out rather than rewriting my disjointed notes.) Verse 1 says that Jesus came "home" to Capernaum. Jesus was not from Capernaum, but Peter was, which is evidence that the gospel of Mark was dictated by Peter. (There are other reasons biblical scholars believe this, but this is just another additional reason to add to the list.) Verse 3 says, "Some men came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four of them." The way this is written, it sounds like the four men cared for the paralytic and believed that Jesus could make him well. This is made even more apparent in verse 4 when the four friends climb up on the roof and dig a hole through it to lower the paralytic down to Jesus inside the house. They must have had a lot of faith that Jesus could heal the paralytic.

Then we come to verse 5: "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'" There are two interesting points in this verse, and I'm going to start with the second half of the verse because that's how we did it at church today. Jesus said that the paralytic's sins were forgiven. This completely changes Jesus' ministry for the rest of His life. Up until this point, many people considered Jesus to be a prophet. After all, Elijah raised a kid from the dead, Moses turned water to blood, and lepers were healed before Jesus' time. He didn't have to be the Son of God to perform miracles. But He did have to be God to forgive sins. So when the teachers of the law were asking among themselves what authority Jesus had to forgive sins, they were asking a legitimate question. No one but God Himself can forgive sins. So Jesus asked the crowd, "Which is easier to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'?" Obviously, it's harder to tell a paralytic to start walking because the effect of the command can be proven: if the paralytic starts walking, then the miracle worked. But only God can forgive sins, and it can't be proven physically that one's sins are forgiven. So Jesus uses the miracle of healing the paralytic to prove that He has God's authority to forgive sins. If Jesus wasn't the Son of God, He would have been a liar, and God wouldn't have given Him the ability to heal the paralytic if He were lying about His identity as Christ.

Now, going back to verse 5 again, Mark says, "When Jesus saw their faith." Why does it say "their faith" instead of "his [the paralytic's] faith"? Well, the five men (the paralytic and the four carriers) must have been friends because the four men had to carry the paralytic around everywhere. One of the four men must have suggested that they go see Jesus, thinking that He could heal the paralytic. The paralytic had to have agreed to go because the four men wouldn't have taken him somewhere he didn't want to go. So their faith was also his own faith. Plus, if the paralytic believed that Jesus could heal him, the fact that the four men agreed to carry him to the house, climb up onto the roof, and lower him down to Jesus shows that they had a tremendous amount of faith that the Man preaching in the building had the ability to make their friend well. "Their faith" is their collective faith: If they didn't all believe that Jesus could heal the paralytic, they wouldn't have gone to Him.

The picture of the five men can also be a picture of witnessing and one of accountability. In the case of witnessing, the four men represent the witnesses and the paralytic is an unsaved person. The four friends had the mindset of "If we can just get our friend to Jesus, he can be healed." We need to have the same mindset about our own friends, thinking that, if we can introduce them to Jesus, He might touch their lives and save them. And in the case of accountability, we need to carry each others' burdens and pull people along in tough times, helping each other to grow in Christ, even when it seems inconvenient. I've always understood the miraculous nature of this story, but I never saw the modern application of it until today. So that was awesome.

We also looked briefly at Revelation 21:3-7. What stuck out to me in this passage was verse 5, where it says, "'I am making everything new!'" Although Revelation is primarily about the end times, this statement sounds like it is talking about the present. It sounds like it is an image of sanctification, the process of becoming like Christ. Sanctification is not an event, and it appears in the wording of this verse that renewal is not either. We are continually being renewed in Christ until He returns, when we will finally be completely new. Until then, we are constantly being changed into the image of Christ. I just thought that was a cool perspective of that verse. (We didn't actually talk about the verse that much. This was just one of the notes I made on my own because I felt like God was trying to teach me something.)

Then, after the college service, I went to the main service. For the last couple weeks, we have been going through a series on Proverbs. Today's sermon was on speech and language. Honestly, I remember very little from the sermon except that the main message was that we should watch our language in order to show that we are devoted Christians. What I really focused on was what God revealed to me in Proverbs 18:13, 21; and 10:21. Proverbs 18:21 says, "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." At first glance, this verse sounds like it's saying that, if we don't control our language, we will die and possibly lose our salvation. But I don't think that's what this proverb means. "The tongue has the power of life and death" — I believe God gave me a spiritual magnifying glass today so that I could see the fine print in this verse: We, as Christians, hold the key to life for non-Christians, the spiritually dead. We know the way to life—Jesus—and by sharing the gospel with others, we give them the key to life. But when we fail to share the good news with others, we abuse our power and condemn others to eternal spiritual death. Proverbs 10:21 also says something similar: "The lips of the righteous nourish many, but fools die for lack of judgment." The words of the righteous—in other words, the gospel—save people and help them grow in Christ, but fools—the unsaved—die because of our lack of judgment—our failure to realize our dire need of Christ in our lives in order to live and our failure to share the gospel with others.

And on an unrelated note, Proverbs 18:13 refers back to verse 12 of the same chapter by saying that our pride ruins us because we judge others without knowing their circumstances.

So... Those are my notes from today. I really enjoyed writing all of this down, and I hope it helped someone in some way.

Until next time, God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21

Christianity vs. Atheism: Questions and Answers

I've been compiling a mental list of all the questions I've been asked about Christianity by some of my Atheist friends, so I decided I'd write them all down/type them all out. So this post is going to be different from my others because I will be doing this in Q&A format. I hope this clears up some of the questions anyone might have. And if you would like to add anything, please feel free to comment. I want this to be as complete as possible.

A = Atheist
C = Christian

C: Do you believe in sin?
A: I believe in crimes.
C: But not sin?
A: No.
C: Then you believe all people are perfect?
A: Of course not!
C: Then you believe sin exists.
A: I just said I don't believe in sin.
C: You can't have perfect sinful people.
A: Okay, fine. So let's say sin does exist. I still don't believe in an original sin.
C: Then where did sin come from?
A: It just always existed.
C: Then that would make sin perfect because God said everything was good when He made it, which means that, again, you're saying everyone is perfect.
A: Well, Adam and Eve definitely didn't commit the first sin because a snake told them to eat a piece of fruit.
C: Then who did commit the first sin?
A: Nobody. I already told you, sin has always existed.
C: So sin is perfect? It would be okay for me knock you out and steal your wallet?
A: No way!
C: Then there must have been an original sin. In order for the whole human race to be affected by sin, one person had to have committed the first sin to pass it down through the generations. And that person, or those two people, had to be the only people in existence at that time. Otherwise, there would be a group of people who weren't affected by sin. So if it wasn't Adam and Eve, who was it?
A: ...

A: The Bible says the earth is approximately 6000 years old. This has been proven wrong.
C: How?
A: Through science.
C: Okay...?
A: Human fossils have been discovered that date back millions of years.
C: Prove it.
A: Prove what?
C: That the fossils really are millions of years old.
A: Scientists already have. They used radiocarbon dating to estimate the half-life to show. (I really don't know the rest of what they did but) the point is, it's been proven.
C: How do you know radiocarbon dating isn't fallible? Key word: estimate. Has anyone ever lived a million years? I'm sure they would be able to say whether or not radio carbon dating is accurate. Unfortunately, no one has ever lived that long, not even Methuselah in the Bible, who lived 969 years. Who says the half-life of elements can't change over long periods of time? Besides, if the earth is billions of years old, like scientists say, how is it that our solar system has survived relatively unchanged for that long? If you look at the life of stars, our sun could not have survived for as long as you and your "proof" claim.
A: ...

A: The events in the story of Noah's ark are impossible.
C: What makes you say that?
A: The ark couldn't have fit two of every animal in the world and still been able to float.
C: Who says every animal in the world was on the ark? The Bible says there were two of all the creatures of the earth and birds of the air "according to their kind." That could easily mean that Noah had two owls, two dogs, two bears, two snakes, two elephants. It doesn't have to mean that he had two horned owls, two snowy owls, two German shepherds, two black labs, two golden retrievers, two anacondas, two boa constrictors, and two fully grown African elephants. It's more likely that Noah took two of every animal according to its kind, meaning that, if he had a choice between a beagle and a wolf, it didn't matter which one he took. And for the larger animals like elephants and giraffes, he probably took younger, smaller animals. After all, Noah and his family could raise a young elephant, but what good would an old elephant do them if it died while they were still on the ark?
A: ...

A: Why do you waste your time preaching to people? It's not like being Christian is going to make your life any better.
C: I don't think it's a waste of time. I'm spreading the good news of hope, the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ, who was fully Man and fully God, who came down to earth to die (and be resurrected) for our sins so that we could have eternal life. Without Jesus, we are all separated from God. But through faith in Christ, we can be reunited with Him forever. I think that's definitely worth sharing. And you're right: being a Christian doesn't make life any easier. In fact, it gets harder because you begin to see the sin in your life, and you know you should turn away from sin. Battling temptation is a struggle. But it's the most worthwhile struggle anyone could ever go through.
A: Why would you want to make your life harder? Are you some kind of masochist?
C: James, the brother of Jesus, wrote in the Bible that we should rejoice in our sufferings (James 1:2-4). And even Paul, former Pharisee and persecutor of Christians, was glad when he was put in jail for the sake of the gospel. When we maintain our positive outlook on life despite our trials, it makes people wonder what we have that makes us so ridiculously joyful all the time. God loves everyone, and He wants everyone to be free of sin so that we can all live with Him in heaven. Obviously, that won't be the case for everyone. But we evangelize so that as many as possible can reach the goal of heaven.
A: Can't you just get to heaven by being a good person?
C: The Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Sin separates us from God, and we have all sinned. Jesus said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). We cannot be with God except through Jesus Himself. Not even being a good person can earn you a place in heaven. John 15:4 and Romans 7:18 say that nothing good can come from us apart from Christ. And Isaiah 64:6 says that even "our righteous acts are like filthy rags." So no, you can't get to heaven by being a good person because no person is good without Christ. Jesus is the only Way.

A: Prove God exists.
C: Prove He doesn't.
A: ...

A: How do you know God exists?
C: The Bible says so. And there's a kind of hole inside me that needs to be filled. It's inside all of us. Nature itself is too amazing to not have been made by an all-powerful Creator. When you look at the biology and chemistry and physics of things, the way everything works out is too perfect for it to have happened just by chance. It had to be organized by Someone. For example, look at laminin, the protein that holds cells together. It can't be coincidence that it's shaped like a cross, the tool that killed our Savior, whose sacrifice holds all things together (Colossians 1:17).

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Well, that's all I have for now. So until next time, God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21

Christianity vs. Atheism: Some Thoughts

I was walking back to my dorm from class just a few minutes ago, and I saw a group of people holding signs that said, "UGAtheists." I've had this thought before, but the signs refreshed my memory: What good can come from atheistic evangelism?

I don't mean that in an offensive way. It's a serious question because I really don't understand what good it would do anyone to preach that God doesn't exist. Okay, so there's the argument that Christians pray too much and never get around to doing anything, and atheists are better off because they supposedly control their own lives. But that's not true at all. Yeah, Christians pray, but that doesn't mean we sit around waiting for God to do something. We believe that we can't do anything without God. So we pray and ask God to help us, and then we do whatever it is we need to get done with His help. Part of being a Christian is going out and doing something in order to benefit the kingdom of God. We take control of our own lives too, but we believe that "our" lives really belong to God, and God alone. We believe that God can do anything without our help, but we also believe that that wouldn't serve His purpose in most cases. More often than not, God wants us to step out and get to work so that He can work through us, not just for us.

Think about this: Christians believe that God exists, that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins (and rise from the grave) so that we could live with Him in heaven for eternity. Atheists believe there is no God, and that heaven doesn't exist; there is no life after life here on earth. (At least, as far as I know, that's what they believe.) Christians have hope for a future. In fact, most other religions do too. Atheists, on the other hand, are content to live for 70 or so years and then stop existing altogether. And it seems to me that that should be a scary thought for evolutionary atheists (or anyone who believes that the earth is actually billions of years old). If you look at a timeline of the history of the universe, each of our individual lives would be just a speck compared to the rest of eternity. What's the point in appearing randomly on a planet in the middle of nowhere, only to live for a moment and then disappear forever?

And why would you want to spread that kind of information? Christian evangelism makes sense to me because we are trying to spread the gospel, the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Atheists are spreading the news that there is no hope for the human race. People will just keep coming into existence and then disappearing. Millions of years from now, Albert Einstein will be nothing more than a legend. Harriett Tubman will be long forgotten. And chances are, only the major historians will know the name George Washington. If these famous men and women will barely be remembered, what hope do I have of being remembered even a thousand years from now?

And why do we remember these names anyway? If they have disappeared from existence, why do we keep track of their marks on history? It's not like they can appreciate the fact that we remember them. It's not like they can be proud of their accomplishments. If there is no hope for a future after life on this earth, everything is meaningless. The world might as well come to an end now.

Christians believe that we can gain eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Even if it turns out that Christians are wrong, at least we can still go through life with a hope for a future. If we live as if there is life after death on earth, there are two possibilities: 1) we are proven right, and we get to spend eternity in heaven, or 2) we are proven wrong and we stop existing, so we're not around to care anymore. But if we live as if there is no life after death, then we also have two possibilities: 1) we are proven right and we stop existing, so we're not around to care anymore, or 2) we are proven wrong, and we spend eternity in... well, you know. So either way, following Christ has more benefits than giving Him the cold shoulder.

College is a time and place for decisions. I've made mine. It's time to make yours. And I pray that you would consider the options wisely.

Until next time, God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21

College Life: Monday Morning

So I went to do laundry in my dorm at 10:30 last night and didn't finish until 1:30am because of the dryers... (You have to run them at least three times to get everything dried. I probably should have run it again, but I was too exhausted to wait another twenty minutes.) I was planning on getting up at 5:30 to go to a trumpet studio warm-up, which one of the trumpet graduate students has been doing three mornings a week. But when my alarm went off, I got out of bed, turned it off, and decided I was too tired, so I went back to sleep. I got up at 7. The warm-up was at 7:15. Class starts at 8.

So I walked to the School of Music (a thirty-minute walk) and got there at 7:55, only to find out that the building was locked because of a power outage last night. (All the doors in the SOM are controlled electronically, so the system that unlocks the doors in the morning reset in the middle of the night, and the doors didn't open until 8 instead of 7.) So the warm-up I would have missed never happened. Then when the doors finally opened, everyone rushed to their classes, and the Dean of the SOM came to my class and announced that class was canceled.

So it was kind of bittersweet: I got to sleep longer than I would have if I had gone to the studio warm-up, but I still got up earlier than I needed to. And I didn't have class until 11:15, so I could have spent another two or three hours sleeping. But I'm just glad I didn't miss anything, and I'm thankful that God made me go back to sleep instead of needlessly getting up at 5:30.

I just felt like sharing that because God is awesome! Until next time, God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21

Baptized with Fire

Well, God did it again: He revealed the meaning of another verse that had remained hidden to me up to this point. I was at youth group today, and the last song we sang before the sermon was Fire Fall Down, by Hillsong United. Then the pastor got up on the stage, and he said something that made something click in my mind. I don't remember what he said, except that it was about fire.

The Bible talks about fire in a lot of places. Hebrews 12:29, which quotes Deuteronomy 4:24, calls God a "consuming fire." One of my personal favorites is the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 18:18-39, where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to see whether the Lord God or Baal was real. Elijah and the prophets of Baal both set up their own altars with several requirements added to the challenge. God completely consumed Elijah's altar in fire, while the altar of Baal stood untouched, proving that the Lord is the one true God. And of course, everyone knows the story of Moses and the burning bush.

But today I want to go to Matthew 3:11, which I have been hearing repeated several times over the last couple weeks: "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come One who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Whatever it was the pastor said today, something finally put another piece into the puzzle that God has given the world in His Word. Up until the sermon, I had only understood the part about being baptized with the Holy Spirit: the apostles had been told to wait in Jerusalem after Jesus' resurrection until they had received the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit came upon them, "tongues of fire" appeared above them, and they began speaking in tongues. But that's not what John the Baptist meant when he said that Jesus would baptize with fire.

Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:19: "Do not put out the Spirit's fire." When I finally made the connection between this verse and Matthew 3:11, I realized that the fire of Jesus' baptism is the holy passion the Spirit gives us when He comes and begins moving in us. John the Baptist's statement finally makes sense to me: "But after me will come One who... will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with [passion]." We know that we have been baptized by Christ because we can feel the fiery passion of the Holy Spirit burning within us.

I really have nothing else to draw from that. I just felt like sharing my discovery because it excited me so much! You could say it "set me on fire." Anyway...

Until next time, God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21

Pray continually.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 is probably my favorite verse in the Bible. It's short and gets straight to the point: "Pray continually." Two simple words that, when put into action, can accomplish the impossible.

I am currently studying the book of Galatians (click here to see my notes up to this point), but God put Colossians 4:2-6 on my mind today. For now I just want to focus on verse 2. It says, "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." At first, I read that and thought, "Okay, great. I need to pray a lot and keep an eye out for things to pray about." But I missed the word "thankful." I never really understood why thankfulness was thrown into this verse until now. And when I finally understood, the whole verse came together for me.

Paul tells us to be watchful in prayer, which does not simply mean that we should be aware when something major comes up that we should pray about. It means that we should go looking for things to pray about. Look at a picture or listen to music, and pray about whatever you think of. Trust me: look, and you'll find something. In fact, I just thought of something right now, just by listening to the sound of construction down the street. And something else popped into my head as I was thinking about college life. If you're reading this now, I'll make things easy for you: please pray for me, that I would stay strong in my faith here at the number one party school in America, and that I would have the boldness to step out and share the Word with others here; and pray that someone would listen and be influenced by the changing power of Christ, whether it be through me or through someone else. (That's actually Paul's request in Colossians 4:3-4.)

But now we get to the part about thankfulness. What exactly does Paul mean by saying that we should be thankful in prayer? Obviously, we should thank God whenever something good happens. We should thank Him when someone turns his or her life over to Christ, when we make a good grade on a test we weren't prepared for, when we win a prize we were almost guaranteed to not win. But there's more to this verse than that. I think Paul's point in telling the Colossians to be thankful in prayer was this: look for something to pray about, and be thankful that you found something when you find it. Be thankful that God has given you something to pray about. Be thankful that He has given you the opportunity to be a positive influence in someone's life, whether directly or indirectly. And be thankful that He answers all our prayers. (They may not always be answered the way we would like, but as we grow stronger in Christ, we learn to be thankful even when things don't go our way, and we allow God's will to take over our own.)

So I thank God for anyone who reads this, and for the opportunity to pray for you, as well as for those who don't read this.

Until next time, God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21

Everything is...

We've all heard someone say, "Everything is science," or, "Everything is music," or maybe, "Everything is language." I was sitting in my Music Appreciation class today, and my professor said, "Everything is math." And suddenly a light bulb went off in my head: If everything is math, music, language, science, history, art, and so on, everything is everything. That means everything is connected. If everything is connected, then there must be an original source of everything.

My mind is scrambling to sort my thoughts out into clear, understandable language, so I'll keep this short and simple. God is the original source of everything. God introduced science to humans. He introduced language to us, as well as history, music, math, art, etc. The very same God who gave us the breath of life, who gave us the ability to love, also gave us the ability to learn. And since we have the ability to learn, there must be something in the world for us to learn about. So God gave it to us. All of it. And all of it is contained in everything because God is in everything. Just as a composer leaves his stylistic mark in his music, God also leaves His mark on His creation. And that mark is Wisdom.

The Bible says in Proverbs 8:22-31 that Wisdom was the first creation, that Wisdom was with God when He formed the earth and that she (Wisdom) took part in the creation. All of the subjects mentioned above are a part of Wisdom. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans that we are all parts of the body of Christ (Romans 12:4-5). In the same way, all subjects make up Wisdom as a whole.

I'm still having trouble wording this the way I want to, but I think I've gotten my point across. If not, just leave a comment with any questions you might have. I'll try to make my answers more thorough than this blog entry.

Anyway, until next time, God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21

And so it begins...

I'm headed off to college in the morning. Now begins the rest of my life. And I give it all to Christ my Savior.

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21

On Shirley Phelps Roper and the Westboro Baptist Church - Part 2

So... I still haven't received a response from Westboro Baptist Church, so I'm sending an angry letter demanding that they write back.
... Not really, but I am sending them another letter. So here it is.

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Hello, Mrs. Roper.

It's Michael again. It's been a while since I sent the letter I co-wrote with my cousin Eddie, and I was just wondering if you planned on replying to it, or if you already have and I just missed it. In case you don't know what letter I'm referring to, you can find it here on my blog.

Anyway, that is not the only reason I am writing to you today. I was reading the book of Luke last night when I came across verse 10 of chapter 8: "He said, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, "though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand."'"

Here's something to think about: Why did Jesus come into the world as a man? Wasn't it to die on the cross as a Sacrifice for our sins? I'm sure you know that crucifixion was the worst punishment that could be given in the physical world in Jesus' time. And you know it was reserved for the lowest of the low, like the two men who hung beside our Lord. That is why Jesus had to speak to the Pharisees in parables: so that they would not believe that He was (and is) the Messiah and so that they would have Him killed, fulfilling the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. That is also why He came as the Son of a virgin and a poor carpenter rather than as the Son of a king.

Jesus hid His true identity from the Pharisees so that He would be killed at the proper time and thus be able to serve as the Ultimate Sacrifice for the sins of the world. He had a purpose for denying the Pharisees access to the Tree of Life. That is why it's written, "The Lord works out everything for His own ends—even the wicked for a day of disaster" (Proverbs 16:4), and, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). If He had revealed to the whole world that He was the Christ, then He would not have been sacrificed and we would not have redemption. The whole reason for the existence of the Pharisees and Sadducees was to have Jesus crucified, proving themselves to be sons of the devil and not of God, separating them from their Creator.

Stick with me here. Up until now, it has sounded like I'm agreeing with your stance in declaring mankind's sins in order to turn them off to the idea of following Christ to eternal life. Sorry to disappoint you, but that is not the case. Ecclesiastes 3, verses 3 and 8 say that there is "a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build" and "a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." Jesus' time was a time of war. Spiritual war, that is. Being God, it was up to Jesus to harden the hearts of the Pharisees so that His purpose could be fulfilled. He knew the reason and the outcome of His obscure words and actions. But we are only human. Our time is a time of love, of peace, and of building others up. There is no way for us to know for sure if we are interacting with an open-minded individual or with one with a hardened heart. So we should assume that everyone we come in contact with is open-minded, so that, if the assumption is correct, they might turn their lives over to Christ and be saved.

The Bible says that there will be 144,000 sealed Jews in heaven. It only specifies the number of sealed Jews. It does not state the number of Gentiles who will reach heaven. Only God knows that number. There are some things the Father withholds from the Son. Our goal should be to surprise the Son with one more believer than He is expecting. (Not that that is really possible.) Our job is to set the bar high; believe that God has prepared room for such a multitude of believers that the earth could not contain them all, even if they were to stand nose-to-spine, shoulder-to-shoulder, one on top of the other. Imagine that, if the believers stood on each other's shoulders, starting at the earth's core, several layers of them would be suffocating outside of the earth's atmosphere. We exist to add to the current number until we fill heaven to the capacity God has designed it for.

I'd like to know something: If you believe that the only way to redemption is to repent, why do you celebrate when pornography gains support, when states and countries legalize gay marriage, when murder runs rampant all over the world? Shouldn't you be out protesting those things rather than celebrating them and protesting funerals? Speaking of which, if your message is for the living, why do you protest funerals? It's not going to do that dead guy much good. Don't you know the proverbs, "He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished" (Proverbs 17:5), and, "Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, for the Lord will see and disapprove and turn His wrath away from him" (Proverbs 24:17-18)? These people need to be reached in a gentle, loving way. I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure protesting the funeral of a loved one would only anger people. It's a very rare case when someone actually turns because of such a bold action.

I beg you to reevaluate your actions and the message of the Gospel. You have such a God-given opportunity to share the Good News with the world. Use your publicity to share God's love with the spiritually needy. Such a radical change could shake the media world-wide. In fact, I believe that such a change would be more effective in expanding the kingdom of heaven than any of us could ever imagine.

I'm sure you've heard about the apostle Paul, but allow me to reacquaint you with his story, because it still amazes me every time I hear it. Saul of Tarsus was a devout Jew, a Pharisee. For a time, his purpose in life was to decimate the cult of the Christ-followers. Then, one day Jesus revealed Himself to Saul from heaven. Saul was blinded until Ananias, a servant of the Lord, healed him. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Saul became Paul and turned his life around. He went from being the fiercest persecutor of Christians to being the strongest advocate of the faith. That is nothing short of a miracle.

While giving his testimony to King Agrippa after being arrested yet again, Paul repeats what Jesus Himself said to him on the road to Damascus: "I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me" (Acts 26:17-18). "To open their eyes"—not to blind them. To make them see what we see: God's love and mercy, His grace, and an opportunity to spend eternity with Him. "So that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me"—you have to admit that this passage explains itself. If God sent the apostle Paul to open the eyes of the spiritually blind, then that should be our calling as well because we are Christ's ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), just like Paul.

In the same chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul writes, "All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation." "[He] gave us the ministry of reconciliation"—our message is one of redemption. We are to tell the world that by taking up the cross and following Christ, they can be saved. Of course, we shouldn't forget what we are being saved from, but the focus of the message is salvation, redemption, reconciliation. In marriage, when you have a fight with your spouse, you later go back and apologize and leave the whole thing behind. In a good marriage, you won't constantly remind your spouse why you got in that fight in the first place. You let your spouse remember on his or her own so that he or she will learn from the mistake. God doesn't throw our sins back in our faces after He has forgiven us. He forgives and forgets, never to bring up the sin again unless we do it ourselves. And He gives forgiveness freely to anyone who asks for it. James says that He gives wisdom to those who ask for it (James 1:5), and the same goes for forgiveness.

Thank you again for taking the time to read my rambling. Again, I ask that you show me the same respect that I showed you in my letter. Nothing more, nothing less.

Thanks for reading, and God bless!

Michael

---"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:18---

And there was evening, and there was morning—the eighth day.

We all know the story of Creation in Genesis 1. God spoke, and the heavens and the earth were formed, light came into existence, the oceans and the sky were separated, dry land formed in the water, plants and animals appeared on the earth, and God made man in His own image. That was Day One through Day Six. But what about the seventh day?

The Bible says in Genesis 2:1-2, "By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done." "He rested"—GOD took a break. Have you ever wondered why?

Why are there seven days in a week? You could say it's because God rested on the seventh day, and you'd be right, according to the words of Moses, who is believed to have been the author of Genesis. But really: Why are there seven days in a week instead of six? Why did God rest on the seventh day and leave it at that? Why did He bless the seventh day and not any of the others? Why isn't there an eighth day, and a ninth, and a tenth?

The truth is, God only rested from creating matter on the seventh day. Rather than continuing making things, God made time. He made a seventh day. And He made it for a reason.

Psalm 118:24 says, "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." And Genesis 2:2a says, "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy." He didn't need a break. After all, He's God, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Lord Almighty, Creator of the universe. He could have stopped at Day Six and then rested for the next six days, giving us six-day weeks instead of seven. He didn't have to bless the seventh day. But He did.

See, God knew that Adam and Eve would rebel against Him in the Garden of Eden. He knew the world would turn away from Him. He knew that He would have to make a fresh start by drowning the entire world except for His faithful servant Noah (and his family). He knew He would have to send His Son to die for the sins of mankind. He knew the world would hate Jesus and have Him killed. He knew man would invent religion after religion to turn others away from Him. He knew that one day He would return to bring His people home to Him. He knew that not all of mankind would follow Him and be able to live with Him in heaven for eternity.

And He knew we would need a break. He knew that after five or six straight days of hard work, we would need a day of rest. So He blessed the seventh day. Not for His sake, but for ours. Jesus says in Mark 2:27, "The Sabbath was made for man."

But He doesn't stop there. He goes on to say in verse 28, "So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." The seventh day, the day of rest, didn't come into existence on its own just so we could have a break from a long six days of work. God made it for us. We should be thankful. God took us into consideration before we even existed. Before the world even existed. He had a plan for us, and He included our well-being in that plan.

I write all of this because today is Sunday. Today is Sunday, and I was in a bad mood earlier. I started thinking, "I need to cheer up so I don't bring anyone down at band practice tomorrow." Then I realized that today is the Lord's day. If I should be joyful on an ordinary weekday, how much more joyful should I be on the day the Lord blessed for me? Each and every day is a new creation. I should be thankful that God has given me another 24 hours of breath in my lungs, especially if those 24 hours happen to have been blessed for my sake.

So whether you celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday, I want to challenge you to do something. And this is a challenge for myself as well: Every Sabbath, put everything aside. Take a break from the hardships of life. Clear your mind of everything. Everything but God. The Sabbath is the Lord's blessed, holy day. Treat it as such. God made the Sabbath for a reason: it's a day of rest and a day for us to worship our Maker. So make it useful.

The Creator of the universe had us in mind in the beginning. Thank God!

Until next time, God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21

Calling all the sinful. Calling all the saved.

TGIF - Thank God I'm Forgiven!!

For the last week or so, thoughts of Apologetics have been running through my head continuously. One argument in particular seemed to recur in my mind more often than any other: the argument of Jesus and His disciples. Defending my faith is something I'm very interested in, and I felt like this might help some people, whether Atheist, Jew, Muslim, or even Christians wanting help arguing for the plausibility of Christianity.

I would just like to make it clear that most of this is paraphrased from different books I've read, although I have thought the arguments through and reasoned that they are believable; however, I am not looking at the books as I type this, so the thought processes are my own (with God's help), which just happen to agree with what I remember from what I read.

Anyway, here we go.

Let's start by assuming Jesus existed. The story of His life happened exactly how it's read in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John: He was born of a virgin in Bethlehem, He grew up in Nazareth, He preached salvation to the Jews through the Son of God, He healed the sick and disabled and raised the dead to life, He lived a sinless life and was crucified unjustly, and He rose from the grave on the third day and ascended into heaven after spending forty days with His disciples.

But let's say someone believes that Jesus was not the Son of God and that He was, in fact, a normal sinful human being. My favorite response to this is the "Lord, Liar, or Lunatic" argument. There are only three types of person Jesus could have been. He could be Lord, the Son of God and God Himself, exactly the person He said He was. If He wasn't God, then He would either have to be a liar or a lunatic. But how could He be a liar? Why would someone who knew He was not telling the truth die for something He preached but didn't even follow? That seems pretty dumb to me. And if He was a liar, then He even had His disciples, who followed Him around everywhere He went, deceived. And how could He be a lunatic? How could someone come up with such amazing teachings like serving and loving one another if they weren't in their right mind? His teachings were (and are) so relevant to human living that there is no way He could have been insane. So with the options of liar and lunatic ruled out, that leaves Lord as the only possibility for who Jesus was (and is).

Some people argue that Jesus could have just been a "great moral teacher." But again, if He was only a great moral teacher, that would make Him a liar because He told His disciples and even the Pharisees and Sadducees that He was the Son of God. And if He was a liar, then He would have been a hypocrite because He constantly referred to the Scriptures, which teach that lying is a sin that separates humans from God. And if He were a hypocrite, He would have died knowing that. And He didn't even try to get out of bearing the punishment of being hung on a cross. So much for that argument.

So clearly, if Jesus existed, then there is no option other than the fact that He was and is and always will be God and the Son of God, Lord of all Creation.

But what if He didn't exist? That's where the disciples come in.

If Jesus didn't exist, I'm still convinced that His disciples did (even though they wouldn't really have been His disciples). Now why would twelve fishermen and tax collectors band together with a common belief that completely went against the religious teachings of the time and go out and tell the world about it, angering many? That seems more than a little masochistic to me. And in case you don't know the history of the eleven disciples (leaving out Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus, although that wouldn't be important if Jesus never lived), ten of them died a martyr's death. That means that ten of the eleven died for what they believed. Only one died of natural causes. So why would eleven of the world's average fishermen and hated tax collectors go out into the world teaching of an imaginary Person who would bring salvation to anyone who believed in Him? And why would they be willing to die for something they knew was false? That would just be ridiculous!

Now let's backtrack again and assume Jesus did, in fact, exist, and that He lived and died exactly how the Bible tells. But that's where the story ends: He died. He never rose from the dead. Instead, the disciples deceived the world by stealing His body from the grave. First off, one of the twelve disciples betrayed Jesus, and the other eleven abandoned Him when He was arrested, including John the Beloved and Peter, His two closest friends. When He was hung on the cross, only John and Mary, Jesus' mother, were there to see Him as He died. If the disciples weren't there for Him when He was dying, why would they be there for Him when He was already dead? Plus, Jesus' grave was sealed by a boulder that required (I think) twelve Roman soldiers to move it, as well as the Roman seal, which was kind of like special glue that marked the grave as Roman property. The disciples fled from the Roman guard when they arrested Jesus. If they were to steal Jesus' body from His tomb, they would have to face the Roman guard, overpower them all, break the Roman seal, and roll the boulder away, not to mention that the boulder was stuck in a ditch in front of the tomb entrance that locked it in place. Eleven fishermen and tax collectors against twelve highly trained Roman soldiers... The odds in favor of the disciples don't sound too good to me. And how did they plan on breaking the Roman seal and rolling the stone out of the ditch if they did manage to get past the guard? If it took twelve strong soldiers to roll the stone into the ditch, how could twelve fishermen and tax collectors roll it out of it?

The Bible also says that the soldiers on duty at the tomb were left alive. They only fell unconscious. If the disciples were trying to steal Jesus' body secretly, shouldn't they have killed the soldiers rather than let them live to report the event to Pontius Pilate, Caesar's governor in the area? But no, the soldiers remained alive, and they reported to Pilate only that Jesus' body was missing. They mentioned nothing about the disciples stealing the body.

The soldiers also experienced a massive earthquake while they were standing guard. Even the two Marys, who were on their way to visit the grave, felt it while they were on their way there. Something like that could not have been caused by the disciples, especially with the technology of the time.

The only explanation I can find is that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah of Jewish prophecy, the King of kings and Lord of lords, God of all Creation. He lived, died, and rose again for the sins of the world so that we humans can have a relationship with our heavenly Father and live with Him forever in heaven. He saved us from hell, the punishment for our sins, which separated us from our Creator. And He gave us His word, the Bible, through over forty different authors over a period of just under 2000 years so that we could know Him and the good news of salvation by the cross.

All because He loves us.

That sounds like some pretty good news to me.

Until next time, God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21

Snowbird

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend a camp called Snowbird. Within Snowbird, there are three main groups: SWO (Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters), which is the normal camp where campers participate in a variety of games and recreational activities (recs); SMO (Snowbird Missions and Outreach), which is basically a mini-mission trip; and OLD School (Outdoor Leadership and Discipleship School), which is where campers are sent out into the woods for old-fashioned camping, along with several adventurous activities. I chose to participate in SMO so I could get a chance to do some kind of mission trip before heading off to college this fall. And it was amazing. We walked to a house just down the street from the camp site, and our group painted the house for a family that Brody, one of the founders of Snowbird, has been pouring into, showing them God's love. We almost finished the house in two days, leaving only a few details to polish up on the third day. So instead of taking the whole group back, we had planned to have half the group go back while the other half went to a nursing home to spend time with the elderly. But it rained... So the half that was supposed to go back to the house just stayed at the camp site and did recs instead.

The last two nights hit me hard. Thursday night, the SWO staff did what they call "the Revelation skit." As the name suggests, it's a skit based on the book of Revelation in the Bible. They did an amazing job, and it really moved me. It reminded me of what we Christians look forward to: the return of our Savior and King Jesus Christ.

Then came Friday night... Brody spoke about missionary work and spreading the Gospel to those who have never heard it, and the message really struck a chord with me. After the sermon, I went up to the Prayer Chapel, which is a special building the SWO staff set up in honor of missionaries and persecuted Christians around the world. There were a bunch of things to read for personal spiritual growth, and there were stations where you could write your thoughts or write to a missionary or imprisoned Christian to encourage them. During Brody's sermon, I got the feeling that God wanted me to become a missionary, and He placed India in my thoughts because there are so many unreached people groups there. When I went to the Prayer Chapel, there were three main areas in India that were marked as unreached. I think God had me focus on a particular area for a reason, and I felt like He wanted me to take the Gospel there. After looking around on Google Maps some, I've set my sights on Shahpura, Madhya Pradesh, India. I'm still not sure about any of the details, like when I'll go, if that's really where God wants me, how I'll get the money to go, and what I'll be doing there, but right now I just need prayer.

One of the verses written on the walls of the Prayer Chapel really spoke to me. It said, "How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'" (Romans 10:14-15).

So please pray for me. Pray that God would reveal His plan for me, that I would grow in wisdom and faith so that I can share His love and His word if/when I go, for safety if/when I go, for godly fellowship to keep me moving forward, and that God would work through me to reach out to His people who have yet to hear the name of Jesus.

Also, Birju, if you read this, I could use some Indian language/culture lessons. Haha.

Until next time, God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21

On Shirley Phelps Roper and the Westboro Baptist Church

Okay, so a couple weeks ago, my friend showed me some video interviews of Mrs. Shirley Phelps Roper, the daughter of the founding pastor of Westboro Baptist Church. They were... interesting. My friend sent a letter to Mrs. Roper asking a few questions and making some comments on her actions, and he shared his letter with several friends.

A week later, my cousin came to visit for my high school graduation ceremony. He is very interested in God's word, so I decided to show him the video interviews to get his opinion on them. Clearly, he felt the same way I did, to an even greater extreme. When I told him about my friend's letter, he was more than eager to write a letter of his own. I was slowly persuaded to write a letter as well. So rather than send two separate messages to Mrs. Roper, my cousin and I teamed up to write one long letter.

Before I share the message, I would like to briefly explain what the Westboro Baptist Church preaches and why it and its congregation are so interesting. Founded in 1955 by Pastor Fred Phelps, the Westboro Baptist Church preaches that salvation is primarily through works. They travel the world protesting the funerals of American soldiers, claiming that they deserved to die for supporting America. Why would WBC be against America? Because this nation is filled with homosexuals and people who do nothing to oppose homosexuality, according to WBC. (The members of WBC use a different word for "homosexual," but I feel uncomfortable saying it, or even typing it. The word is even used in the URL for their website.) Mrs. Roper and her congregation go out on the streets, preaching that obedience is the only way to salvation and that, otherwise, we are all going to hell. (That is not the true message of the Bible, but I will let my letter do the explaining on that.) To make a long story short, WBC seems to believe that they are the only true Christians, the only ones righteous in the world, and that their mission is to make that known while hardening the hearts of men, blinding their eyes, and deafening their ears so that no others will obtain redemption.

If you would like more information, please feel free to look up Shirley Phelps Roper on YouTube. Her interviews are everywhere.

And now, without further ado, here is the letter that my cousin and I put together for Mrs. Roper.

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Hello, Mrs. Roper.

Our names are Michael and Eddie, and we are two teenage cousins with a love of God and a deep interest in Christian beliefs. We have seen several videos of your interviews and are very interested in your views and your reasons for your actions. We have several questions and comments we would like to make, which we will try to do respectfully, and we would very much appreciate it if you would give us a timely reply with the same respect.

First, we would like to apologize for the length of this letter. There are just so many points that we would like to address, and there was no way we could abbreviate it.

Also, please seriously consider what we are saying. We may be young, but we are simply trying to obey the words of 1 Timothy 4:12: "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."

Eddie and I both attend church regularly, and we spend a great deal of time in the Scriptures so that we can grow closer to God. We have experience in several different denominations, including Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, and Wesleyan churches. But we have never heard of any church that preaches what you preach. We were very surprised and, to be honest, somewhat indignant when we heard some of the things you said in news reports.

In one such interview, you clearly stated that God controls the hearts of men. We have come to believe over the years that, although God does have the ability to control our actions, often He does not use that ability. After all, if He did, then sin would be nonexistent. In fact, it never would have come into existence at all. We believe that our heavenly Father has given us free will to decide what to do for ourselves. As He says through John in 1 John 4:16, "God is love." The way I have come to understand love is this: the relationship between two humans is not forced but a mutual act of free will. Eddie and I believe that this understanding of love also applies to the relationship between God and men. God sent His Son to die for us out of love. He chose us, so now it is up to us as humans to choose Him and complete the relationship. In this way, God gives us freedom to choose our own courses of action. It is only when we give our lives to Him that He reveals His will to us so that we can act upon it, but even then He does not control us. We have to continually choose to follow Him.

We would like to bring an idea to mind. Have you ever considered that when young men and women die, God allows them to die rather than killing them? What we mean is this: there may be plenty of cases where God allows His people to die so that they can return home to heaven to be with Him, like Elijah and Enoch (2 Kings 2:1-14; Genesis 5:24). Just because someone dies does not mean that God hates him or her. I don't know about you, but we haven't heard of any more cases like Elijah or Enoch outside of the Bible. So by your reasoning, it seems that this must mean that God hates everyone. But it seems to me that you believe that you and your followers are the only people who will go to heaven. But I would like to remind you of Romans 3:10: "As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one.'"

Human death is not a thing to be ashamed of. In fact, aside from the coming of our Lord, it is the one thing we Christians look forward to the most in this life. After all, death of the flesh means entrance into the new life. We remain in this life only to do good works that glorify God and to spread the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.

As I understand from your interviews, you believe that only those who obey the Lord's Commandments will be saved. But look back at Romans 3:10 again. Nobody can live their lives without breaking the Commandments. It seems to me that you are preaching salvation by works, not by faith. But the Bible clearly states that faith is what saves us, and works are merely the evidence of our faith. For example, the famous words of John 3:16 say, "For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." "Whoever believes in Him"—not whoever obeys the commandments flawlessly, not those God likes: those who believe in Him. Now I do agree that faith alone cannot save us. In fact, Jesus' brother James says so in James 2:17. But that does not mean that our deeds can save us. See Ephesians 2:8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." "It is the gift of God"—God was under no obligation to give us salvation. He did it out of love for us. Paul then goes on in his letter to the Ephesians to say that we have been made to do good works. But this means that we are to serve others and glorify God, not judge others and condemn them by their deeds.

Romans 3:21-24 says, "But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." "A righteousness from God, apart from the law"—again, Paul makes it clear that we are not to rely on our works to gain salvation for us. Our works cannot save us; that is why Jesus came to die for us, in order to serve as the ultimate Sacrifice for our sins. "Through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe"—anyone can be saved if they believe in Jesus. To me, to "believe in" Jesus means that we thankfully accept His gift of salvation and turn from our sinful ways. And by "turn from our sinful ways," I mean, "wholeheartedly apologize to God and make an honest attempt to choose Him over our sinful desires." And of course you know Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Now before you zone us out, let me say this: I understand how annoyed you must get when you hear others tell you not to judge people when they themselves seem to be judging you. Allow me to apologize now for anything we may say that offends you or that sounds like we are being judgmental.

With that being said, I would like to direct your attention to James 4:11-12: "Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?" Do any of us have any right to judge a fellow human? James seems to think not. And if what we, as Christians, believe is true, then we can take James' words to be the words of God Himself.

We have a question for you. Any time an interviewer says, "Judge not," to you, you become indignant and retort that they are the ones judging you. That may be true, but seriously reconsider what you have been doing and saying. Take a minute and step into the shoes of the wife of a soldier who died in Iraq. Let's say, hypothetically, that this soldier was a devout member of the church (nondenominational); he read his Bible every day and spent time alone with God for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening each day; he led Bible studies at church every week, and he actively took notes on the sermon every Sunday morning and studied them throughout the week, applying them to his life along with the words of the Bible; through his actions and words over the last three years, he has brought ten people to Christ and has introduced God to hundreds. If someone came to you protesting your husband's funeral and claiming that he deserved to die, what would you think? Would you automatically think and say, "Thank you for warning me. Clearly God used my husband's death in order to save me"? Although it may be true that that is God's purpose in the deaths of some, that is not the case in all situations. I honestly cannot imagine you being so driven by your beliefs that you would stand by and let your own husband's funeral be protested. What do you think is running through the minds of those men and women whose loved ones have passed away, whose funerals you and your church are protesting? I highly doubt it is gratitude. If you were in their shoes, I believe you would be thinking the same thing so many people have been telling you: "Judge not."

Now please tell me, do you consider your actions to be acts of love? Again, I may only be a teenager, but I believe acts of love are recognizable as acts of love. Whether a parent's rebuke or a friendly hug, it is understood that these things are done out of love. But I cannot truthfully say that I believe saying, "Gays deserve to die," is very loving. Sure, the Bible forbids homosexuality, but God forgives sinners when we repent and turn our lives over to Christ. (Just to clarify, no, I am not gay.) In one interview, you repeatedly avoided the accusation that you had a child out of wedlock. If the accusation is true, then thank God that He is a forgiving God. (If it is false, thank God for helping you to keep His Commandment against adultery.) And because He is a forgiving God, He forgives all who call on His name and turn from their sinful desires. It is not for us but for God alone to decide who will live in heaven and who will die in hell.

1 Peter 3:8-9 says, "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing." And Galatians 6:1a says, "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently." When I see these verses, I think of a mother warning a toddler not to hit his or her siblings, or two brothers in Christ keeping each other accountable in staying away from lustful temptations. I ask you to reconsider your actions and see if there may be a better way to get the message across that Jesus is the only way to eternal life.

On the WBC website, there is a verse (Proverbs 1:22) that says that God doesn't love everyone. First, I would just like to say that my New International Version Bible does not say that. Second, I would like to show another verse that, I believe, contradicts that statement: Romans 5:6-8. "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." "Christ died for the ungodly"—that's great news for everyone, including you and me. After all, we are sinful human beings. Until we had Christ, we too were ungodly. "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us"—thank God! Think about it this way: If Jesus didn't die for the sinners but only for the righteous, what was the point of His death? After all, I don't know of anyone other than Jesus Himself who managed to live perfectly for his or her entire life. That means that there was no one for Him to die for. If that is the case, then Jesus died only for Himself... and what good does that do anyone?

As I came to this part of the letter, I began to think of a good way to wrap things up. I wanted to bring up John 3:16 again, and I thought it would be cool if I started and ended this message with the same verse. But then I realized that I didn't start the letter with John 3:16, and it turns out I won't be ending with it either, so I gave up on that idea. But I would still like to bring up John 3:16 again anyway. "For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." "For God so loved the world"—He sent Jesus to die for us because He loved the world. He loved His creation. He loved all of mankind. Not just those who loved Him, but everyone. If you've ever had a crush on someone when you were a kid, and you didn't know how he felt about you, but you continued to like him anyway, hoping that he would eventually come around and tell you that he liked you too, that is how God felt about all of mankind, on a microscopic level. He hoped to demonstrate His love for us through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. It is up to us as humans to decide whether we love Him back or not.

I enjoy doing Bible studies with my small group at church. A couple months ago, we were reading our way through 1 Corinthians. My small group leader stressed to us the importance of the message in 1 Corinthians 8, which I believe is summed up in 1 Corinthians 10:31-33: "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God—even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved." In an interview I saw on YouTube, you said that your mission as a church is summarized in Isaiah in the verse that says that the people will be "ever seeing but not perceiving" and "ever hearing but not understanding" and their hearts will be hardened. I would like to offer an alternative mission. Rather than harden the hearts of men so that they will not gain salvation, try sharing the Gospel. God loves His people: He hates sin and desires for everyone to be free of sin so that we can all live with Him forever. Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 28:19-20 to "go and make disciples of all nations." Not just His chosen people, Israel. All nations. So rather than cause the hearts of the unfaithful to become even more hardened and the newborn believers to become unsure of their beliefs, encourage new believers and show the positive side of the Gospel. Show love and compassion, and use all the publicity you have gotten to tell the world that God loves them and wants them to love Him back.

Now, to end, Eddie and I have a few questions for you, just to lighten the mood a bit (we hope).

Just out of curiosity, how many children do you have? We saw a couple video interviews, and in one you said you had eight children, and in the other you said you had eleven. So we were just wondering how many you have now.

I would also like to know (as if we haven't already given you enough to talk about), what is your view on the Harry Potter books? Are they permissible, or should Christians steer clear of them?

One more question: Where did you and your husband take your theological training? Just curious.

Again, we apologize for the length of this letter. And I sincerely apologize if anything we have said has offended you. (My cousin would not agree with my apology, but that is why I am the one writing, not him.) Thank you for your time, and God bless!

Michael and Eddie

---"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21---

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As I said to Mrs. Roper, I apologize for the length of this post. But I hope that it cleared some things up for anyone who had any questions on what Christians truly believe.

If, and when, I receive a response, I will be sure to post it. If you would like to send a message to Mrs. Roper and the WBC, visit the church's website (look up Westboro Baptist Church on Google, and it should be the first result) and click "Contact" in the upper-right corner.

Until next time, God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8