Dear Friends,
I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that those who claim to believe in the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ so often fail to look anything like him, and I'm sorry that because of this cynicism toward the religious establishment is often the only recourse. I'm sorry that people who picket abortion clinics and constantly harass homosexuals and other members of the counterculture do so with an understanding that it's "what God would want". And, because I too have often failed to live up to the name I have taken upon myself, I apologize for myself.
To those of you hurt by suffering and heartache, I'm sorry that you feel as if God has abandoned you, and that we are alone in a cold and uncaring universe. I'm sorry that circumstances conspiring against you and others have made it so that you find it absurd to believe in a God who is in any way benevolent. I'm sorry that so often your questions seem to fall on deaf ears.
And, sorry as I might be, I cannot promise that it won't happen again. I wish I could, but I would honestly be better off predicting that it will happen again and again, and is probably happening somewhere even as I type. But, two things I can promise: friendship, without agenda or qualification, and my personal attempts to live a life more in line with my adopted father's name.
Humbly yours,
The Wanderer
“The Promised Land always lies on the other side of a wilderness.”
3 comments:
I'm sorry that your religious beliefs are held without sufficient or good evidence, and that you're wasting your life thinking about something that was invented by people who thought the world was flat, and who thought that God had to kill somebody to make Himself happy.
I'm sorry that, unlike other religions, we've not (yet) seen this nonsense pass away like the rest of the religious myths of history.
Someday, Zeus and Jehovah will get the same eye rolls from the informed. But were not yet at that day, so I'm sorry.
Thanks for this candid and genuine letter.
I too am sorry. Anonymous reader, I am sorry that you do not know the writer of this blog, and you therefore do not know that he meant it sincerely. I am privileged to know the Wanderer personally, so I can vouch for the fact that he is a compassionate person whose unselfish and tolerant words are a reflection of his faith in a loving God. In his interactions with others, he attempts to live as evidence of this love, which accepts and welcomes even those who would attempt to mock and cut down others from behind a mask of narrow-minded anonymity.
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. --Bertrand Russell
Anonymous, I'm sorry you feel that way, and believe me, I share plenty of your frustrations with Christians who believe in a bloodthirsty God and refuse to believe in Science and Reason. I would be more that willing to have a friendly debate about the belief structure of Christianity vs. the belief structure of Science with you in email if you so desire.
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