| “When
my body dies, and my body closes its eyes for the final
time, I will awaken in Heaven.” |
Subject: Know Jesus
Hi Bob,
I found your website accidentally while looking for some Christian
information (I just typed in "Jesus Christ"). I suspect that
happens to a lot of people, hence all the hits and hate e-mail
from Christians. When I first saw the dress-up thing, I scrolled
down to see who could have made something so thoughtless and
awful, and I visited your website. At first glance I was horrified,
thinking this was some kind of satanic website; but then I
started reading the mail and your responses and my initial
disgust for you has turned into HOPE.
God obviously blessed
you with a talent for writing, humor, and art. He gave you
those gifts so that you could use them for His glory - strangely,
you *are* doing just that. While reading the "hate" letters
people wrote to you (NOT the ones filled with expletives or
threats, but those that simply state the Good News), I felt
such calmness and relief, knowing that there are so many others
like myself who know and love Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
I am glad to see that other caring Christians have emailed
you, to reach out to you. They send you those emails (such
as the one from Bettie: "This Jesus gave his life for YOU
and the world...paid the price of your sin and my sin so we
could have eternal life by just believing in Him. 'For God
so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.'
John 3:16") not to admonish, terrify or persecute but because
they actually CARE about your eternal salvation. I know I
do. I care about your eternal salvation because Jesus said
that the most important commandment of all is to love each
other as we love ourselves ... and if we can love other people
that much, all of the other commandments will fall into place.
I think Pastor
Bob hit the nail on the head when he remarked that you protest
too much. I think your website is actually your own search
for Jesus, and that's why you pay so much attention to Him.
You stated in your response to Pastor Bob, "I am doing this
for the comedy, self expression and chicks." Clearly there
are a lot of topics you can broach in a humorous manner for
self-expression, as it is obvious that you're an intelligent
and opinionated person with a flair for comedy writing. And
yet ... you have chosen to concentrate specifically on the
Lord, Jesus Christ. You could merely include the Lord in your
vast list of topics, but no - you have centered your entire
website on JESUS.
You know at first
glance, I thought you were one of those atheists that had
committed the one unpardonable sin (Read more about it at
christiananswers.net
if you don't already know) - but after reading your responses
to people, I don't think you have. As you may or may not know,
once you commit the unpardonable sin, God shuts your eyes
to Him forever. Bob, I think if your eyes were truly shut
to Jesus your responses would be much more angry and filled
with hate ... I see you mocking Him and questioning Him, but
I don't see the hate (Unfortunately, I *did* see it in one
or two of the "fan letters" you've received.) Even you yourself
acknowledge that you have no anger towards God: "I took a
moment today to imagine what it'd be like to be angry, angry
at God, and then 'bloody angry'. If I were any of these things
it would show itself in the form of unreasonable dialogue,
humorless rants, and violent/ vulgar drawings. Jesus Dress
Up could easily be worse... but it's humor, not revenge."
That's why I have
hope for you Bob. I believe that one of these days you *will*
turn towards the Lord, because your heart is already softened
towards Him and (despite your protests) open to His existence.
Another reason
I have hope for you is because ... well, I used to be just
like you. I, too have a flair for comedy writing, art, web
design, etc. I used to have a website that people hated and
would send me hate mail because of my opinions and the topics
I discussed. I used to post parodies of Chick Comic tracts
(you probably know what those are, www.chick.com if you don't)
on my website, merely clearing the talk-bubbles and replacing
the words Chick wrote with my own blasphemous remarks. A lot
of people found them funny; I feel badly now that I may have
turned anyone away from Christ, but I know that the Lord forgives
me for that.
Anyway, at the
time when I was writing all of those things, I was almost
an atheist. I thought the bible was a bunch of garbage written
by bigoted, sexist men who just wanted to keep people "in
line". I was getting to the point where I was starting to
believe that the legend of Jesus Christ was nothing but a
myth. I would scoff at Christians, particularly the ones that
typed "He" and "Him" and spouted verses - their presence made
me feel awkard, for some reason. I thought they were crazy
zealots, bigoted, and closed-minded; I felt that I was so
much more intelligent than they were because I was so open-minded.
What changed me
to become a Christian and what Saved me was a long process,
years in the making. It took the prayer of many people in
my life, mostly friends and family ... and probably some people
that I don't even know. I'd like to think that people who
didn't even know me, true Christians, saw my website, took
pity on me, and said a prayer that I would move closer to
God. Well, I don't know for sure if any strangers prayed for
me, but I know for certain that my loved ones did. They helped
bring me to Jesus, and they helped to bring me eternal life.
For that I will be forever thankful to them.
All of our bodies
will die someday, Bob. The YOU that's reading this letter
is not going to "fall asleep" or cease to exist ... YOU will
live on, forever - where you choose to spend eternity is up
to you. When my body dies, and my body closes its eyes for
the final time, I will awaken in Heaven.
I hope to see you
there someday. =)
God bless,
Emily
know_jesus@jesusanswers.com
|
