Skip to main content

Dear Friend: Catholic, Protestant, Christian

Dear K,

Thank you for the help you gave me.

Although your mother was Catholic and your father a Jain, you intimated that you had grown up neither. You may not be interested, or you may be interested but are concerned about what your parents think.

The attached explanation was written with you in mind, but I realize that content applies to everyone. Along with this letter, I recommend that you read How to Read the New Testament in 67 Days, the story of how I became a Christian when I was 20, Olinda Britton’s testimony. (This is her story written about six months before she died. She was born, lived, and died a Catholic.)

This may be hard to believe, but most religious Protestants and devout Roman Catholics do not have the characteristics that the Bible describes of people who have been saved from their sins and are going to Heaven.

The three things I recommended are full of quotations from the New Testament. As you read the New Testament, you will realize that the quotations are not out of context but represent what the rest of the chapter says. In any case, I recommend that you read it all. It may be very different from what you think. Whether or not you take any of these suggestions, I would be pleased to follow your career.

What I believe does not make anything true. If something is true, it is absolutely true independent of anyone's belief. There are a million beliefs in this world. Each believer holds that it is true because they believe it is true. They certainly are not all true. They might all be false. I cannot study all of them. What is the solution?

All non-Christian religions and most "Christian" religions are complicated and demanding. There is one, not a religion, that is simple and free, and you can know now. There are people, Catholic and Protestant, who have come across this simplicity and have had their life changed in an instant. My life was changed on October 18, 1947. Most Catholics and some Protestants have not come into this simplicity. They are still following the rules and consequently are missing the life. People who follow rules do not know that they have made it to Heaven until they die. That is too late to find out. Besides being simple, this life is also free and is experienced now.

Your friend and patient,

Jim Wilson

P.S. I would encourage you again to read the New Testament. If you read four chapters a day, you will finish it in about two months (four chapters would take around 15-20 minutes). You could also join this summer Bible reading challenge.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why Is Obedience So Hard?

There are several reasons why obedience seems hard. I will comment on some of them and then speak positively on how obedience is easy. We think: 1) Obedience is an infringement on freedom. Since we are free in Christ, and obedience is somehow contrary to that freedom, we conclude that obedience is not good. Yet we know it is good. Thus, we become confused about obedience and are not single-minded. 2) Obedience is works. We who have been justified by grace through faith are opposed to works; therefore, we are opposed to obedience. 3) We have tried to obey and have failed—frequently. Therefore, the only solution is to disobey and later confess to receive forgiveness. It is easier to be forgiven by grace than to obey by effort. 4) We confuse obedience to men with obedience to God. Although these are sometimes one and the same (see Romans 13, 1 Peter 2-3, Ephesians 5-6, Colossians 3, and Titus 2), sometimes they are not the same (see Colossians 2:20-23, Mark 7, 1 Timothy 4:1-5, a

Lifted Up

In the first thirteen verses of John 3, Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was talking about. It was nonsense to him. When Jesus said verse fourteen to him, Nicodemus finally understood Jesus. Here it is: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up…” (John 3:14). The reason it made sense to Nicodemus was because he knew of the event that Jesus spoke of. People who had been bitten by a serpent could look at the bronze snake and did not die. Nicodemus knew the Bible story.   Here it is: “Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, ‘We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyo

Getting Old

This is a post for those who are getting old or considering themselves old, from 65-100. Right now, I am 91.* I will be 92 in October. I have my own house, but I cannot live in it alone because of my physical inability to move around. One of my sons lives with me. All of us will have to make some adjustments. That includes money, relatives, your own ability and willpower to stay independent, etc. My advice is if physically and financially you can live independently, you should certainly do that. If you do, you will still need to have visits from your family frequently. You need your family. Even if you don’t need them to take care of you, you need them for the fellowship. The more fellowship you have, the longer you’ll live. If you can stay independent do it, but only if friends and relatives can see you often. In my case, I can’t walk, and I can’t do much physically. So, whether I like it or not, someone else has to get me up, get me showered, and get me dressed. I am blessed to have