Letter to the Editor: May 31
By EIC May 30, 2011 at 11:03 pm 
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GOD IS GOOD
(In response to Sean McCauley’s May 1 column, “Critique of the nature of the Christian God“)
In the May second edition there is an article saying that the God that Christians purport to believe in and the one in the bible can’t be the same. This is completely untrue and insulting. We are condemned by our own actions and intents not by God’s random decisions. The quotation from John stating that no one can come unto Christ except that God draws them is correct but God draws all men to Christ.
If you think that the bible says that God won’t forgive those that repent you are sorely mistaken and haven’t read the bible. As for the quote from Romans, Romans is a letter to the gentiles of the church about the gospel. The particular chapter in question is in regard to the concept that men (and women) are foreordained for certain things but he also explains that the gentiles could obtain the same blessings by faith and works but that it is not their right to question or complain that they were not born into this right.
Everyone is different and has different trials that they need in order to return to their Father in Heaven. Because we have it hard in one thing does not mean that that thing would be hard for someone else. God loves or he wouldn’t have put us on this earth to be tried and to learn to be more like him.
Paul was not intending that only the Jews would be saved or that a select few would be. The choice is up to each of us to live as he would have us live and not how we would have us live. God is merciful but he is constrained by justice as well and bound by it to punish those that sin and will not repent. He offered Christ as a way to be merciful and to pay the price of justice for us.
This tremendous gift is given to all to accept or deny. Every man woman and child will hear the gospel at some point and be able to choose for themselves to accept or deny it.
That is the God I believe in. And you have no right to print against my belief. Attacks on faith do not belong in any newspaper let alone a state funded one.
Blair Reese
Undergraduate
Blair,
Just a quick response. The views which you represented above are the views of a certain “branch” within christianity – Arminianism. I believe if you study the Bible a little bit closer, you’ll find that the God of the Bible, as the Bible has portrayed him to be, is sovereign above the will of his creation. This means that the Holy will of God is not subject to the decisions of mankind; in other words, mankind cannot change God’s master plan, as doing so would limit your God’s omnipotence. There are many passages in the Bible that talk about God and His “elect”; the people He has chosen before time to save. The Bible teaches that salvation is a gift from God, not based on any works we do.
I did not mean for my column to be an “attack” on your faith. I was trying to point out a contradiction I believe is present in the Bible, regarding the nature of God. If you in any way believed I was personally attacking you or your faith, I apologize, for this is not the case.
I wish you the best.