Received 1.23.2001

The Lord is a Spirit and those who worship Him must worship him in Spirit and truth. There is much confusion in this world and the world waxes worse and worse each and every day..... Read the Word of God for yourself before you make any judgement .. Pride is the fall of mankind...... There is many false prophets who do miracles in the name of The Lord Jesus.. There are also satanists ... you don't think so take a look at marilyn mansons website lamb of god ...... You can't see the wind yet it is there ... You can't see the Lord but I assure on my Life ... That those who lose there life shall find it and those who gain their life shall lose it... In are current day man is seeking life in the physical flesh body and may even find it ... In the Bible it says men shall seek death and shall not find it .... could be they touched something evil..... I am a christian I do not belong to a church... I do not know too much on occasion I even swear and I am a sinner... There is none righteous not know one excepth the Lord Jesus Christ.... The Lord says to seek the truth with your whole heart ... that takes some work.... Woe even some churches are without Light.... Lord help us all....I believe .. I can't make you believe but I can only share my convictions... God Bless.

Deborah

My Reply:

Deborah, thanks for writing. You say "the world waxes worse and worse each and every day." I have heard this idea expressed by other Christians and I think it is worth discussing. Move back through time and think about the events that have shaped our history: racial segregation, slavery, the Catholic Inquisition, the ravaging of native peoples in North and South America. Today we have a common understanding that these events were wrong. We have learned from our history. There is a quote from Martin Luther King, which I may not have exactly right, but it goes something like "The long arc of history bends toward justice." If you take the long view of things I think it is apparent that mankind possesses a growing and learning collective social conscience.

Christians may feel like the world waxes worse and worse each day because their beliefs are at odds with some of the issues we are dealing with today, namely homosexuality, abortion rights and religious freedom. As we move through history the outcomes of these issues have been slowly "bending toward justice." For Christians a step backward on the arc of history would be a good thing, a regression to a time when it was illegal to teach evolution, when there was prayer in schools, when women had no abortion rights, and when homosexuals had even fewer rights than they do now. But, as Martin Luther King points out, moving back through history is also moving away from justice.

You also say "You can't see the wind yet it is there." I may not be able to see the wind, but I can feel it. In fact, it recently knocked the chairs over in my backyard. I can wave my hand in front my face to create wind. There is no mystery about wind. A better analogy is to compare God with an idea. Ideas exist, they affect people's lives, but they have no physical substance. You can't see or touch an idea, only its manifestation. Why does this analogy work so well? Because God IS an idea.

On the topic of "There are many false prophets who do miracles in the name of The Lord Jesus" and "Woe even some churches are without Light," I have to admit that I am continually fascinated by the Christians who insist that only their particular variation of Christianity has it right. All Christians are using the same guide book yet still reach mutually exclusive conclusions. What if your supervisor at work assigned you a task, something he or she genuinely wanted you to complete, but gave you such vague directions that each person who read them set about completing the task in a different way? This would be the hallmark of a bad supervisor, someone you would complain to friends about over lunch. If your supervisor happened to be an all-knowing, omnipotent god wouldn't you expect better?

Hopefully I haven't come across too harshly. It is commendable of you to take the time to write to a site where you know your views will be openly debated. Thanks again.