Roots by the River

This is an “open” letter to, or about, “closed” Christians. There are many kinds of “closed” Christians so there might be more than one “open” letter. One of the difficulties in this type of writing is that many “closed” Christians are so “closed” that they do not receive letters. First, I will define the minimum of truth that defines a Christian. “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.” (I Corinthians 15:1-5) Second, I will define the response to this truth. There are several works that are used in this re...

The Bible has many statements that describe unbelievers. Here are a few: “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.” (Romans 1:22) “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (I Corinthians 2:14) “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (II Corinthians 4:4) “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” (John 3:19) All of this is inexcusable. It is understandable, but not excusable. The above statements are obviously true of all non-Christians of whatever description. They do not explain the...