Facebook Conversation with a Younger Relative

I was blessed, yesterday, to have a FaceBook conversation with a younger relative of mine and it went like this;

From him; its funny how some of the biggest bible thumpers are the biggest hypocrites. Live for you and the ones you love. respect love and nuture each other because we should.

From me; I know of the hypocrites you speak. It is I and I admit it.
But, throughout the time of growing into a man, I have had no other solution to the question of why we are here than that which came from Job after his long struggles, his response to his friends in Job 28:28; 'The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.' " and in Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." and in Micah 6:8-9 'And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Listen! The LORD is calling to the city— and to fear your name is wisdom...'

So, believing that God exists and is wisdom, that is the beginning of knowledge.

I could wallow in my hypocracy, but, God has provided the following; 2 Corinthians 5:16-18 'So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

Additionally, he has provided us with a way of escape from this world in which we live. It is a wonderful understanding of life in this world and the life that Christ has rescued us from; 2 Peter 1:3-10 "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.'

I, in myself, am a disgusting, selfish hypocrite. But, believing in the fact that God is real and is true wisdom as well as understanding that, in His mercy, He has provided me with a way of escape from my own evil desires, I accept God's grace, believe in His Son, Jesus Christ and obey him when he says that the greatest commandment is this; 'Love God with all of your heart mind soul and strength and this is the same, love you neighbor as yourself.'

I was a hypocrite. You saw the hypocrisy, but you missed the conviction, repentance, salvation and mercy of God.

BTW, because of my respect and love for Him, my family and you, I no longer do those things....

I pray you will forgive me...

I love you.

His response; Wow, I was just making a general statement because of all I see, and hear in the world. I do agree that one must be a good person, do good on to others and good will be done to them, but I do this because I feel it it right regardless of a god. I guess I just don't have faith in one being. There are so many "Religions" with all their own beliefs and convictions that its hard to see who is right. If u will kill for your religion what kind of person are you when god tells you to be patient and kind. These are all generalizations. I feel what ever give you hope, believe in it. Whatever you feel give you redemption for the wrongs done in life, believe in. Whatever makes you feel like your debts have been forgiven, believe in! I just believe in what makes me feel that way and I choose not to follow organized religion, or a book written by men claiming to speak for a god. I'm not condeming it I just choose to believe something different.

I am happy for you ______, I'm glad you have found a new path in life and have committed yourself to it. It is a process we all must go through and a lesson we all must learn. Finding our own paths and making our own mistakes is all part of the journey as long as we learn from it.

My response; Well, there's alot of stuff in your email, but, suffice it to say, "Would you want your friends to go down the path that they think is right if it was leading to death, forever?"

I find that most folks, including myself, think that whatever you believe is ok as long as you believe it and are sincere. Well, if I believed that I would be ok if I jumped off of a thirty story building, would I be ok?

I highly recommend reading something that will allow us the chance to understand what the Bible really says about life as opposed to our remembering what said to us in Sunday School as a toddler and adding all that we have experienced in the world to that youngster-type understanding.

Please, take the time to read the following book; http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+1&version=NIV all the way through chapter 21 and get back with me relative to your understanding of life then.

Come on, do it for yourself and for your ole Uncle Billy…

Lemme know…

Love you…

His response; Ultimate question for you, which religion is right? They all believe they are, so much so that they kill for it, even christians! Where is the love, caring and civility in that? Man has corrupted religion to fit their needs.

My response; You're right that 'man has corrupted religion to fit their needs', that is why it's very important to read John as I asked you to.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biblegateway.com%2Fpassage%2F%3Fsearch%3Djohn%2B1%26version%3DNIV&h=f22e9TjvQL8bOrsCaH25bn1kh7w

When you do that, you wil get the truth about what the Bible teaches about Jesus Christ and Christianity or 'being a Christ follower'. The world has tarnished the truth about being a Christ follower. It is critical to read what the book of Christianity says about Christ. As I asked, read the book by clicking on the link and give it a chance, give it a chance as an adult. Read it, then express your opinion of what it says, not, necessarily what you think it says or what someone else says is says. I recommend you pray before beginning, something like this; "God, I don't even believe in you right now, but, my Uncle Billy asked me to read this and out of respect for him and with curiosity, I ask you to help me understand what I will be reading. Again, I don't really believe in you, but, I am willing to check it out to see what I can see in it. Please help me if you would.

Thanks... DO IT, my friend...