Alright everyone...lets get down to brass tacks here. I'm sure there will be plenty of commenting after this, but I don't care. I really feel I have to respond to the response that was generated by my last blog.

First of all, I think some of you misunderstood what I was trying to say. God loves everyone. Period. More than anyone else loves anybody. He even said so over and over and over again.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believe in him shall not perish, but have everylasting life."

So, for point one. God does not love only Christians, nor was my last message meant to imply that at all. Quite the contrary.

So, starting with the basis that God loves every human that is, and was, and ever shall be, he also is not a God to let everyone wander around blind. God wants everyone one of the people he loves so much to have the best possible life (that does not mean a trouble-free, easy one) in relationship to him. "This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

God is not an "Anything goes" kind of God. Yes, he associated with the best and the worst of people. He went among prostitues and swindlers, common peasants, religious aristocracy, outcasts, and even the social and ethnic outcasts. He was willing to meet people where they were. He was not content to let them stay that way. He told every person to "come Follow me." Some did, some didn't. That's the choice we all get to make. And he didn't say " I am A way" but "I am THE way." So, if you are a Christian, and believe that the Bible is true (whether you believe every word is inspired, or picking and choosing -- the Red Letter parts aren't usually as in disupte), you have to accept that Christ is the way to God. That is the entire reason you get to become a Christian. The basic belief. Andas a corollary of that, you must therefore also acknowlegde that other religions are, at best, less perfect ways to find God, or at worst, false. (And I can divert you to several theologans who can go into that discussion with far greater depth than I, I'm not going to get into it now.)

So, to 'sum up,' to say that God doesn't love someone because they aren't a christian is really quite out of place. It is because God loved us that we are able to follow him.

For those that do not...I think there are people that will be accepted as God's Children even without following Christian Creed. There are people in the world who will never have a chance to hear anything about Christ at all. In the Bible it says that those who are never introduced to his message will be judged based on what they believe to be true, and then how well they follow it. But there is no guarantee that way. Why take the chance?

Saying that God doesn't love people because they aren't christians is like getting mad at the architect because he didn't save you from getting hurt, when you decided to jump the ravine instead of taking his lovely new bridge.

So there it is. You aren't obligated to agree with me. I am neither a seminarian, nor a theologan. The best way to determine if what I'm saying is valid is to dust off your Bible and compare what I'm saying to it. That's where I try to get my information. It's the best authority there is.

I feel better now.