Heart goes out to recent letter-writer

To the Editor:

I am deeply saddened to read the letter to the editor (Eric Nase, March 11) “Questioning ‘God the Father’ ” — not because of its harsh rejection of the God of Christianity, but because of the writer’s apparent bitterness of spirit within himself. My heart goes out to him and I pray he will find relief from his own soul bitterness, for his own sake.

Additionally, I wish to respond to his critique of Christianity that leads him to reject Christianity.

Christianity is a comprehensive worldview that rests on the premise that God has revealed Himself and ultimate truth in the Bible. Its system of morality and ethics rises out of the text of sacred Scripture. Obviously, there are other worldviews out there with their own basic premises.

My question for Mr. Nase would be, “What worldview are you basing your criticisms of the Christian understanding of God?” If Mr. Nase is starting with any of the humanist worldviews that leave God out of consideration, then I would suggest he has no moral basis whatsoever to condemn the Biblical concept of God. These have no compelling moral compass at all upon which to make any moral condemnations.

As the Russian Writer Dostoevsky said, “If there is no God, then everything is permitted.” Might makes right; the survival of the fittest — these are the guiding premises of godless worldviews. He has no vehicle within his worldview to press for a moral conclusion. Instead, I believe he is hijacking the moral vehicle of Christianity and attempting to drive it into a tree.

If he is starting with any of the other major world religions, I would suggest that the Judeo-Christian faith (with all its moral failures throughout history), based upon the atoning redemption of Christ, has a much higher record of morality and justice than any other. Christianity, based on the understanding of God as revealed in the Bible, has been responsible for building more hospitals, schools and orphanages than any other religion or worldview. Christianity provided the cultural setting for the rise of modern science and medicine. This world would be a much more savage place without the God of Biblical Christianity.

You can’t have Christian morality without the underpinnings of the God of the Bible. Again, my heart goes out to the pain I felt coming from the heart of Mr. Nase. I pray for the eyes of his heart to be opened.

Keith R. Nash, Mitchell

Tags: eric nase, god the father, keith nash, opinion