In Search of Reliable Truth

Preface

This book represents the complete collection of letters I

penned to a young couple in 2009; they in turn have
generously given permission to share it with others.

My reason for writing these letters is to give a solid

understanding of those things in life that are reliably true—
that is, things that are true to such an extent that one can fully
depend on them for support and use them to build up a solid
belief system which will stand firm through life’s storms.

In the interest of protecting the privacy of the individuals

involved, I have changed their names. Otherwise, these letters
remain in their original form.

James Brooks
June 2009

Note: This publication may be copied at will.

 Letter 1: An Introduction

Dear Scott and Amy,

You have probably heard such things as “Knowledge is
power,” or “The truth will set you free.” If you will forgive
the pun, there is some real truth to these sayings.
In contrast, false knowledge (something you hold to be true
but is actually false) can hurt you very badly if you put weight
on it and trust it with your whole being. Most people don’t
fear flying in a plane because they know that, in general,
commercial flights are safe and reach their destinations
safely. Passengers thus reason that the flight is safe and they
trust their lives to the plane and the pilot. But what if their
trust is not well-founded (perhaps the particular plane they are
boarding has failed all safety codes and the pilot has never
flown before)? It could mean disaster. We have to put our
trust in something, or else we can’t function in this life. The
key question is: What can be trusted? We need to be
confident in our answers, or else face possible disaster.
As I write this I am reminded of my hobby of learning which
wild plants are edible and which are poisonous. Suppose I
learn from Wikipedia that Poke berries are edible and I trust
this information enough to eat a handful of them.

I would die.
False knowledge can kill you.
But why would anyone spread false knowledge when they
know it is not true and that it could seriously hurt someone?
The answer is simple. By planting false knowledge
(propaganda) you can more easily control people by making
them believe what you want them to believe. In fact, there are
multitudes of folks these days who desire to control you so
that they can benefit from it. Thus, false knowledge is very
common. Many people who believe false knowledge spread it
to others without ever realizing it is false, and this leads to a
general consensus that such false knowledge must be correct
since so many believe it.
The times in your life where knowing truth is especially
important is after a huge loss – perhaps the loss of someone
who is very close to you. It is at this point that you may begin
to question things you have never had reason to question
before: Does God really exist? If so, how could He allow this
to happen?
If you have thought through such agonizing questions
beforehand – before your loss – the answers can be a great
comfort to you and can allow you to grieve without the
unnecessary baggage of questioning everything. After all,
grieving takes up most of your mental energy and you really
can’t think very objectively.
My plan is to continue corresponding in this manner, to give
you a series of letters which I hope will be useful to you as
you seek out the truth of things for yourself. My goal is to
present information in such a way that you can verify each
step for yourself, to see if it is indeed reasonable. I want you
to be convinced in your own mind of the truth so that you are
willing to trust it with your whole being. You can’t just take
the easy road of distrusting everything: such distrust of
everything tends to make one bitter towards life. But total
trust in something you deem to be trustworthy brings joy—it
allows you to live life to the fullest.
Love Always,
Jim

PS—This series of letters are being written specifically on

your behalf, but I don’t mind you sharing them with others.
 Letter 2: Trusting Our Senses

Dear Scott and Amy,

Can you trust your senses?
Where have I heard that question before?? Oh yeah, in
science class. After posing this question, the teacher then
introduces various optical illusions to show that in fact you
can’t always rely on your senses.
OK, so when you board an airplane, you trust your life to it,
right? Is that because airplanes can always be trusted? No, of
course not. You know for a fact that there have been airplane
crashes. You trust the airplane with your life because in
general airplanes don’t crash.
Let’s transfer this logic to our senses. Can our senses
always be trusted? No. But are they trustworthy in general?
Absolutely they are. So, yes, you can trust your life to your
senses.
There are actually people in this world who claim that they
do not trust their senses, even in general. However, I’ve seen
them drive. When they come to a red light, they stop.
Clearly, they are trusting their senses. They say one thing, but
act in a completely different manner. The truth is that we
can’t survive long in this world without trusting our senses.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 3: Creators of Deception

Dear Scott and Amy,

So far I have stated the importance of detecting false
knowledge and embracing reliable knowledge. I have also
argued that we should trust our senses; we should embrace
them as a source of true and reliable knowledge. In this letter,
I want to talk some about the people who create false
knowledge with the intent to deceive.
Are there any tell-tale signs of someone who maliciously
creates false knowledge?
Surprisingly, yes.
The key to identifying these people—those who
intentionally hurt others—is this: they have little to no visible
conscience. They don’t seem to care that they hurt people.
They have worked hard to dull their feelings of right and
wrong. You can verify this for yourself using this logic: if it
were not true (if they were bothered by wrong), they would
not be able to stand themselves.
In fact, there is a simple test you can use. When the person
in question is overcome with happiness, is it always because
he got his way? If so, then you are dealing with a person who
probably creates false knowledge on a regular basis with the
intention to deceive. If, however, the person sometimes is
overjoyed because something good happened to someone else,
this is not a person who deceives intentionally.
So we now have a test. It is great for detecting those who
manufacture false knowledge. However, there are still very
well-meaning people (people whom we call “sincere”) who
pass along loads of false knowledge without ever knowing it.
These people are lovable, and therefore particularly
influential.

We like them and therefore we tend to believe what they

say. For this reason, these are the ones who do the most
damage. There is no easy test to detect them. The only way
to avoid their influence is to take the long journey of reasoning
for yourself what is true and reliable, then comparing your
knowledge of the truth with what they are telling you. This
series of letters is meant to guide you on this journey.
Unfortunately, there is no easier way.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 4: Behold the Beauty of Life!

Dear Scott and Amy,

In a former letter I showed that our senses can be trusted,
and that we can rely on them as we search for reliable truth.
In this letter I want to talk about the beauty conveyed to us by
our senses.
I do not want to be lopsided, and I realize that not all of what
we sense is pleasant. I will deal with the not-so-pleasant side
of things in another letter. In this letter, I want to focus on
beauty.
It is interesting to note that nothing that we sense is beautiful
by itself. We must respond to what we sense, and that
response is an integral part of the experience of beauty. We
need both—the input from our senses, as well as our response
to that input—to experience beauty.
One such experience of beauty is the experience of being in
the midst of a huge expanse, with no one else around. It is the
feeling of being a part of something much larger than oneself,
and it is incredibly calming. I experienced this growing up in
New Mexico, looking out over hundreds of acres of empty
land, immersed in the orange brilliance of the setting sun.

The best word to describe it: serenity. A few years ago, I met
a fellow who spoke of flying his airplane solo over the ocean,
with no land in sight. He experienced the same sereneness,
the same beauty. This experience can be found in many other
situations where we are confronted with something in our
natural environment much bigger and more powerful than
ourselves:

1) Astronauts in space, as they look at the earth, a small

ball in the expanse of the stars and galaxies.

2) Hearing the roar and spray of Niagara Falls.

Another very beautiful sensation is the melting away of
something sharp and painful into something peaceful and
smooth. This is a quality of artwork that appeals to our
senses. It is especially found in music. We cannot listen to
sharp, painful (dissonant) music for long, unless it is followed
by a resolution into an open, airy type of music (consonance).
Dissonance followed by consonance in music does something
wonderful to us. It gives us the feeling that although there is
pain, it does not last long, and gives way to peace.
Next, a very powerful and beautiful sensation is that of
being rescued from something bad. If I owe money to the
bank, and they hound me day and night for it, but then
someone shows up and pays the bill for me—that is a very
beautiful thing indeed. Being forgiven for something I did
wrong is another powerful example of this. It is truly
beautiful.
There is the very beautiful and deep serenity that comes
from being cared for. If I know someone loves me
unconditionally, and will never abandon me regardless of the
stupid things I might do, there is a feeling of worth—that I can
do anything I want to do as long as I put my mind to it. This
feeling of being cared for is one of the most powerful and
beautiful things one can experience.
Finally, there is the awesome feeling of making a difference
in someone’s life. If I can do something which will bring
beauty (such as the things mentioned above) into someone’s
life, it brings beauty into my own life as well. To feel useful
is a huge thing, and the beauty that comes from it is
indescribable.
Life is truly beautiful. A person is wise who takes the time
and effort to experience the beauties of life.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 5: Decay

Dear Scott and Amy,

We have looked at the incredible beauties that abound in
life. They are so beautiful that no one, not even the most
skilled poets, can adequately describe them. I want to
eventually look at the dark side of living, to investigate what
our senses tell us about the painful aspects of life. But before
we do that, I want you to think through your own experience
and see if you agree with me on this: Everything dies.
Everything runs down eventually. Some things last much
longer than others, but they all eventually wear down, get
thrown away, or die.

In fact, the only way that humanity (or any species) can
survive is by reproducing itself. People tend to have babies
which grow up to have babies of their own. But a baby cannot
have a baby right away—there needs to be some growing-up
time first. And survival is critical during this growing-up
time; otherwise, there will be no chance for reproduction.
This continual cycle of survival and reproduction has been
touted by some as a means whereby generations get better
with time, and thus evolve to higher and higher levels of
sophistication. The idea for this was best presented by Charles
Darwin in the mid 1800’s. It was not a scientific theory, per
se; it was just a hunch that Darwin had as he recorded his
observations of the world around him. Here’s how it would
work: an organism which is successful at surviving passes
this success to his offspring, so offspring do not have to repeat
the mistakes of the parents but can begin where their parents
left off. We can see this phenomenon to a great extent in
human culture, but Darwin thought that such information
could be passed from one generation to the next through the
genes, so that the organisms actually improve biologically
over time. Darwin felt that the ultimate test of his theory
would be to put significant effort into digging up fossils of
ancient organisms. If his theory is right, there should be
multiple thousands of simpler, less sophisticated organisms
found, the precursors of what we see living in the world today.
Some time after Darwin’s treatise, the nature of genetic
material was made known, and it was found that the genetic
makeup of a single organism does not change—genes cannot
record an organism’s experiences, to be passed to its offspring.
Additionally, many digging expeditions have been performed,
and the fossils needed to support Darwin’s theory have not
been found. What were found were mostly the same life
forms we see living today. Nevertheless, there are many
people in the world who want to dull their consciences, and
they need for personal reasons to believe that there is no God.
These people cling to Darwin’s theory, because they see it as
the only theory that will allow them to believe they do not
have to answer to a higher authority.
Having said all that, I do not want you to discard Darwin’s
ideas totally. Darwin’s idea of “natural selection” has been
shown to be very useful in understanding the world we live in.
Natural selection just means that if you look at all the genetic
information in a species, then look at the genetic information
in that same species many generations later, some of the
genetic information will be missing in the later generation. In
other words, there is a loss of genes in the species gene pool
over time. The genes that survive tend to be ones that are best
at surviving in the recent past, but if the environment changes
back to the way it was previously (which it almost surely
will), suddenly some of the genes needed for survival are no
longer there. Natural selection is a tragedy. It is the reason
there are so many species going extinct. It is not because of
pollution. It is because this is what natural selection does.
Over time, more and more species go extinct, and the beauty
that once was is no more. We no longer have dinosaurs, or the
Kiwi bird, or the Wooly Mammoth.
 So the picture is indeed grim. Not only are things wearing
out and dying, but the diversity of life is decreasing over time.
Some new diversity is generated through mutations (such as
Down’s Syndrome, Sickle Cell Anemia, or Cystic Fibrosis in
humans), but that’s no substitute for the diversity lost through
natural selection. Diversification through mutation is like
diversifying a car by taking a sledge hammer to it.
This discussion of Darwin is much more than I want to say
to you, but I feel it is necessary simply because there is a lot of
false information surrounding his theories, and I want to give
you some information to help you sort it out in your own
mind. I myself, as a graduate student and researcher, was
misled for many years on this very topic. I listened to what
“nice people” said to me regarding evolution and the origin of
life, rather than thinking it through for myself.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 6: Suffering

Dear Scott and Amy,

This letter will explore what our senses can tell us about
suffering.
Helmut Thielicke, a famous German theologian, at the end
of an extensive tour of the United States, was asked what he
felt the greatest defect was among American Christians. He
replied, “They have an inadequate view of suffering.”
Americans, as a rule, make it a point to think about suffering
as little as possible. And they have tools to help them ignore
it: entertainment, medications, and a general attitude of
avoiding exposure to suffering people.
That’s why I want to devote a letter to suffering. To
embrace truth, we must embrace not only the beautiful parts of
life, but the painful parts as well. We will be much better
equipped to live life to the fullest if we face the truth.
The world is filled with suffering, and not just a little
suffering. Humans and animals suffer through sickness
because they are wearing out (see my last letter). From the
day we are born we wear out slowly over time, and eventually
the degradation of our bodies produces sickness of various
types. Physical injury produces suffering as well. We can be
burned by fire or harsh chemicals, poisoned, stabbed, beaten,
scraped, shocked, or chilled. Additionally, we can suffer
through being deprived of something we need to survive: air,
food, water, light, or space. These things can happen by
accident or, horror of horrors, they can be done intentionally
by other people (usually to try to make us do something
against our will).
 As unbelievably painful as these physical sufferings are,
especially if they are experienced over prolonged periods,
there are even worse things which people suffer from. Fear is
at the top of the list. If we are afraid, we lose control of
ourselves and allow our environment to control us. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first inaugural address (in the
midst of the Great Depression) said these words: “So, first of
all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to
fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror
which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into
advance.”
Another emotion that causes tremendous pain is bitterness
towards someone, the refusal to forgive. Bitterness will eat a
person alive from the inside out.
There is so much suffering in the world—seemingly without
limit—especially now that communist and other regimes have
made torture into a science. They take notes and measure
their victims’ responses, and find new ways to make them
suffer more. They have medical doctors standing by to make
sure their victims do not die, because death would relieve
them of their pain.
The world is a very sick and painful place. We need to
understand that—and embrace it.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 7: Loss

Dear Scott and Amy,

The last letter spoke of suffering: bad things happening to
your body and some inappropriate reactions to suffering
(bitterness and fear) which lead to even greater suffering.
This letter is about loss, the unpleasant experience of losing
something dear to you.
If you have ever experienced a major loss, you will probably
agree with me that it is not so much the thing itself that you
miss so much as the piece of you that went with it. The pain
of loss is not a constant thing—it comes in waves, and the
waves hit you without warning.

Once you lose something of extreme importance to you, you

never get over it. The feelings of loss will always remain, but
the fierceness of the waves subside somewhat with time, and
the waves do not roll in quite so often.
Loneliness is a type of loss. A lonely person tends to remain
lonely, but if one’s need for companionship is satisfied, the
lonely feelings subside somewhat with time. Loneliness often
starts in childhood when the relationships the child craves are
not there, or are inadequate.
What do you do for a friend who has experienced the death
of a loved one or some other great loss?
Here are three things you can do:
1) Treat your friend like you normally would. Don’t try to
“handle him with care.”
2) Don’t bring up the subject of his loss.
3) Be with him even more than usual so that he has the
opportunity to share his feelings with you if he so desires.
The best way to understand loss, unfortunately, is to
experience it, but the following poem paints a good picture of
what it’s like.

SIERRA GRANDE

The very first time I heard the news

A chill went up my spine.
But after that it was surreal
And I was feeling fine.

It seemed to me unneeded
All the fuss and care.
Why were onlookers in tears
While all I did was stare?

Soon people carried on

With all their normal plans.
Did they forget about the drama,
The otherworldliness at hand?

I start to feel anger.

I guess their tears that flowed
Dried up before the stage was cleared
Before the curtain closed.

People start to say things.

He’s taking it real hard.
Why do they look at me?
Weren’t they sad right from the start?
I look inside my heart
To search again my soul.
I find no heart at all this time,
Just one consuming hole.

The current was going in, not out.

Was pulling me inside.
The first wave hit me from behind
Torrential tears I cried.

I saw the beauty, memories,

The things I took for granted.
All gone before the smoke could clear
God how much I miss it.

Finally I stepped back some

To view the hole again.
I saw it was much smaller now
But tied to all I am.

If I can just untie those cords,

Re-wire around the hole.
To find a work-around somehow
Restore again my soul.

I’m used to leaning hard on God

With everything I am.
But grief is not to be dismissed,
Not something you can calm.

God knows I need this time;

My reason I abandon.
I just want to be alone,
To drown in tears I’m making.
The answer’s simple yet not so,
To watch and not do something.
But all my grief needs to heal
Is absolutely nothing.

I lean on God for all I need

He keeps my vision firm.
But tears I cry afresh each day
For those who do not know Him.

I cannot escape my grief,

My loss, my tears, my pain.
But with God I have purpose,
The flowers from the rain.

--Anonymous

Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 8: Blaming God

Dear Scott and Amy,

This letter is on the topic of getting mad at God when things
go wrong, especially after experiencing major suffering or
loss. Covering this subject now seems out of sequence
because we have not yet established that believing in God is
reasonable (but stay tuned); nevertheless, blaming God is a
very common reaction for people, even those who say they
don’t believe in Him.

In almost every case, the God people are blaming is the God
of the Bible.
The key is this: Being angry at God comes from the belief
that having faith in God and doing what is right should make
one’s life on earth better, not worse.
Let’s fasten our seatbelts, open our Bibles, and see if this
belief is biblical.
Start by reading II Corinthians 11:23-33. This passage is a
summary of the unbelievable sufferings experienced by Paul, a
man who followed after God! Soon after Paul became a
Christian, he was almost captured by his enemies and
narrowly escaped by being lowered in a basket from a window
in the wall of the city. I am sure at that point Paul began to
realize how hazardous life can be as a Christian. In fact, God
even says concerning Paul, “I will show him how much he
must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:16.) Is it just Paul who
must suffer for Jesus’ sake? Take a look at what Paul says in
II Timothy 3:12 : “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
The godly should not be surprised when they experience
hardship, whether it be suffering or loss in general, or
suffering and loss through persecution.
To sum up, being mad at the God of the Bible is not
reasonable. To be mad at Him, you must believe in Him. And
if you believe in Him, then you should expect to experience
suffering based on what the Bible says. We should by all
means get rid of the belief that being righteous makes our life
on earth more comfortable. If anything, it will make it less so.
So, go ahead: be mad at God—He’s big enough to take it.
Almost everyone does it at one time or another. But you must
eventually realize that you are wrong in doing so, and refrain
from letting your anger turn into bitterness.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 9: Intent or Accident?

Dear Scott and Amy,

Pretend for a moment that you are a detective who has been
called to the scene where someone has died. The question on
everyone’s mind: Was the death from natural causes or was
there foul play? It is up to you to determine whether or not the
person was harmed intentionally.

What do you look for? Fortunately, you have been highly

trained to detect things which are caused versus things that
just happen by accident. A whole body of knowledge has
developed along these lines. Briefly, from your training you
know that things which are caused have these qualities:
1) they are highly improbable (to have happened by chance);
and
2) they exhibit a pattern or purpose which can’t be explained
by the surroundings.
If I find burn marks around the corpse’s neck, is that highly
improbable to have occurred by chance? Could it be
explained by something in the surrounding area?
Now, extend the same logic to the world around you. You
go to the beach and find ripples (long hills and valleys) in the
sand. Was it caused by some person who likes making ripples
in the sand? No. Although ripples like that are highly
improbable to have occurred by chance, they are readily
explained by the action of the ocean waves as they repeatedly
wash over the sand and then retreat.
Suppose, however, that you go to the beach and find a
picture of Hillary Clinton’s face in the sand. It is highly
improbable that this just happened by chance. Also, there is
nothing in the environment that can explain it. So we assume
someone must have drawn it.
 What about your body? You are able to survive day after
day, long enough to grow up and mature. Is this by chance?
To survive, you must be able to find food and water, and get
sleep. Internally, your heart must keep beating, your worn-out
cells must be replaced, and foreign organisms must be
destroyed. Where did all this come from? Could it have
happened by chance? No, it is too purposeful. Is this purpose
related to purpose we find in our surroundings? Yes, in a way.
Our ability to do these things is determined by our genes, and
thus our parents’ genes, and the genes of their parents, and so
on. So where did the complexity found in the genetic code
come from? It is way too complex to have occurred by
chance, and there is nothing in the environment that could
explain it. The reasonable conclusion is that our genes (and
therefore we) were designed.
Am I saying I know this without a doubt? No. But it would
be ridiculous to assume otherwise. Given the evidence we
have, the only reasonable thing to do is to believe in a creator.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 10: Art Reflects the Artist

Dear Scott and Amy,

I love listening to soothing music, such as that of Beethoven
or Handel. My soul feels at rest. Can I infer from this that
Beethoven and Handel must have felt these feelings, too? I
stare at a painting in an art gallery and feel angry and chaotic
inside. Did the artist feel these things? I read a love poem,
and am deeply moved. Does this mean the author knew love
in this way?
Of course, the answer to these questions is yes. One cannot
create something unless it is in some way a part of him. A
single painting does not tell us everything there is to know
about the artist, but it should tell us something.
In my last letter I concluded that we are created. What are
we like? As we’ve seen, we can experience joy unspeakable,
and yet also experience unbearable pain and suffering. We
can experience loss that brings us to our knees. We can think
logically about the world around us. We can love each other,
and communicate complex ideas. We have personality. We
have definite ideas about what is right and wrong—we are
moral beings.
Based on these qualities, what is our creator like? Our
creator is not a thing, but a person. And by person, I don’t
mean a human. Our creator has the ability to experience
incredible joy, but also the deepest pain. He communicates to
others like Himself, and can think logically like we can. He
loves. He is moral.
You may ask, “There is a huge amount of evil in the world
He created. Does that mean He is evil?”
To answer that (very good) question, we need to go back to
my letter to you on the topic of decay. Our senses tell us that
the world is running down, becoming more worn out and
disorganized. It is quite possible that evil itself could be a part
of this disorganization, rather than part of the original creation.
Let’s look at an illustration of this. Suppose I have never
seen a guitar before. I am strolling through a dump and find a
broken one with no strings. I can tell that it must have been
created, but I can’t really tell whether it was created broken
like that, or whether it was in one piece originally.
Now, suppose instead that I have seen plenty of guitars before.
Upon seeing the broken guitar, I immediately know that this
was not the state in which it was created—simply because I
am acquainted with guitars in their unbroken state.
In the same way, since we do not at this point have any idea
of what state our Creator created us in, we need to be careful
about attributing states of chaos (like evil) to Him. The chaos
of evil we now experience may not have been a part of the
original creation.
However, complex and wonderful qualities such as
personality, love, and communication had to have been part of
the original creation (either that, or something even more
complex and wonderful than what we see today), because they
are not effects of chaos and decay.
Here then, is what we know about our Creator. Our Creator
is a person with personality. He thinks and feels like we do.
He is not alone, but communicates with others like Himself.
He knows right from wrong. And He loves.
These are things that we can logically accept as reliable
truth. We can put our weight on these beliefs, and trust them
to hold us. They are pegs which we will use to climb to even
higher heights in our understanding of the world we live in.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 11: Communication With Our Creator

Dear Scott and Amy,

We have established so far that we were created, and that
our Creator has personality and communicates. This letter
explores the possibility that our Creator may want to
communicate with us, and discusses what form that
communication might take.

Since we are created, we can ask, “What is our purpose?”

The Creator must have had a purpose in mind, something that
we’re supposed to be doing. He could have made that purpose
so obvious to us that we don’t have to ask the question. If that
were true, there would not be any need for Him to
communicate with us about what our purpose is. What do you
think? Is it obvious to you what your purpose is? As for me, I
don’t have a clue, unless my Creator reveals my purpose to
me.
Apparently we are not designed to know up front what our
purpose is. If we don’t know what it is, then how can we
follow it? We have to communicate with our Creator in some
way to get this information.
It appears then that our Creator wants to communicate with
us. How does that work? Should I start talking first, or is He
going to begin the conversation? I don’t have a clue how to
communicate with Him, so the only way it will work is if He
goes first.
The amazing conclusion: Our Creator is trying to contact
us! He wants to give us needed information about our purpose
in life.
 Since He is trying to contact us, He must have been
successful to some extent and contacted someone somewhere
with the needed message. But who? And when?
Someone somewhere has likely heard this message from the
Creator, and it is extremely likely that the message was written
down in a sacred text for others to read. And it is also likely
that this text is available for many to read for themselves;
otherwise, our Creator will not have succeeded in conveying
His message to us.
My next letter to you will explore the texts available to us
that are considered sacred by various religions, to see if we
can identify the real one from the many imitations that
abound.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 12: Sacred Texts

Dear Scott and Amy,

As explained in my last letter, our Creator has most likely
communicated to us what our purpose is by speaking to a
person in the past who has written it down in a sacred text.
My goal in this letter is to wade through the many texts that
claim to be sacred and find the one that really is from our
Creator.

To weed out the false texts, we need some criteria to use as a

test. Here are my criteria:
1) The text must be fairly common and available for
people to read; otherwise the Creator has
largely failed to communicate to mankind as a whole.
2) The text as a whole must not be mystical and difficult
to interpret. Such mystical, non-logical
writing is meant to convince, but not to communicate.
3) The text must convey our purpose, not just give a list of
rules to live by. It must show the big
picture of what our purpose, our goals in life, should
be.
4) Any text that is built on top of (or depends in some
way) on another text will be put aside for
now in favor of the text it depends on. It could be that
such a dependent text is from our
Creator, but for now I want to zero in on the most
critical text (one independent of other texts).

Using the first criterion (it must be fairly common), one text
jumps out immediately. The largest religion in the world is
Christianity, which uses both the Jewish Scripture (Old
Testament) and the New Testament as texts. The New
Testament is based on the Old Testament. The Old
Testament, in turn, is composed of 39 books having various
authors, and all of them rest on the first five books (the Torah)
of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy. These 5 books have the same author and
can be considered a single text. So, based on prevalence, we
would choose the Torah. Interestingly, the second largest
religion in the world is Islam, which also ultimately rests on
the Torah. Many other religions in addition to (or imitations
of or extensions of) Christianity and Islam are based on the
Torah: Judaism, Latter Day Saints, Gnosticism, Catholicism,
Protestantism (including Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians,
Episcopalians, Anabaptists, Church of Christ, etc.),
Cerdonianism, Marcionism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Satanism,
Rastafari Movement, Meher Baba, Yazidi, Manichaeism,
Mandaeism, Swedenborgianism, Unification Church,
Samaritanism, and others. So, based on sheer prevalence, the
Torah would win hands down.
Let’s explore the second criterion. The following are texts
that can be eliminated based purely on the fact that they are
cryptic and confusing (obviously not meant to clearly
communicate our purpose in life): the Principia Discordia of
Discordianism, the Hermetica and Emerald Tablet of
Hermeticism, the Havamal of Asatru, the Akilam of
Ayyavazhi, the many texts of Jainism, the Orphic Poems of
Orphism, the Tao Te Ching of Taoism, the Gathas of
Zoroastrianism, and the Kangyar and Tengyur of Tibetan
Buddhism and Bon.
On to the third criterion. The following texts (which have
not already been eliminated) can be eliminated based on the
fact that they are lists of rules, but do not tell us why we’re
here, or what our purpose in life is: the Kitab-i-Aqdas of
Bahai, the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism, the Tripitaka
of Mahayana Buddhism, the Holy Books of Thelema (of
Thelema), the Guru Granth Sahib of Sikhism, the Genesis
According to Spiritism (of Spiritism), the Four Books and
Five Classics of Confucianism, the Epistles of Wisdom of
Druze, and the Sanskrit of Hinduism.
What does that leave us with? Not much, believe it or not.
The only texts left are the Torah, and things like the Qur’an of
Islam, New Age books, and books which are extensions of
Christianity such as the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great
Price, and Doctrine and Covenants of the Latter Day Saints.
All of these depend on the Torah, except perhaps the New Age
books. The New Age books may or may not depend on the
Torah—they piggyback off other religions, including those
using the Torah; in other words, they have no independent
sacred texts of their own.
This exercise shows us that we can look to the Torah with
confidence as the core of communication to us from our
Creator.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 13: Message of the Torah

Dear Scott and Amy,

We have discovered to our delight that our Creator has a
message for us, and that we can read that message in the
Torah, the first five books of the Bible. The message is easy
to understand; in fact, it reads like a novel.

What does the Torah tell us about our purpose in life?

The Torah was written in Hebrew, and there we find that our
Creator is referred to as God, which in Hebrew is plural
(Genesis 1:1). Then, in Genesis 1:26 we read, “And God said,
‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’” What
does “us” and “our” mean? Could God be talking about
angels who are helping Him create? That might make sense if
God needed them to bring him materials or tools to use. But
Genesis makes clear that God created the world out of
nothing. The angels can’t help with that. The only conclusion
that makes sense is that God is more than one person. We
have been created by a group of Creators.
If we look further ahead in the Torah, we read in
Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is
one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all
thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
This is interesting. It tells us that God is not many, but one.
To understand this better, look at Genesis 2:24. It says,
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and
shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” What
does this mean? When you get married, do you cling to your
spouse and your bodies stick together permanently, becoming
a person with 4 arms and 4 legs? Of course not. It means that
the husband and wife love each other so much, and take care
of each others’ needs so much, that they are of one mind and
soul. They function as a single unit. That is in fact what God
does. Though He consists of multiple persons, He is One.
The last part of Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (above) tells us our
purpose: to love God totally with no reservations—to love
Him more than anything else. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It’s
not. There are so many things in life that compete for our
affections, and they are things we can see. God is invisible,
yet He is to be first in our lives.
To help us understand our purpose, God gave us 10 rules to
live by, referred to as the Ten Commandments (found in
Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5). The first five of the
Commandments speak of loving God with all our strength.
Commandment #5 is interesting because it is the
commandment to honor your parents. What does that have to
do with loving God? It is very important to God that we honor
and obey those He has placed over us (as long as they are not
going against God’s will). By honoring and obeying them, we
are honoring and obeying God. The last five of the
Commandments talk about loving other people (don’t kill,
commit adultery, steal, witness falsely against someone, or
covet). God wants us to love other people simply because He
created them. We are not to pre-judge them as not worth our
love based on some ideal we have. We are to admire and
respect the homeless man or prisoner as much as a movie star
or the President of our country. We are to treat them as if they
were us.
The rest of the Old Testament basically repeats the message
of the Torah, and chronicles the history of the Jewish people.
It is the extension of the Torah, giving history and the words
of their prophets. It is worth our while to examine the rest of
the Old Testament, and to treat it as a reliable document,
supplementing the Torah. One way to increase our confidence
in the reliability of the Old Testament is to check its
prophecies and see if they really predicted future events. We
will be looking at a few of these prophecies in my next letter.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 14: Prophecies

Dear Scott and Amy,

We have seen so far that the Torah is where we must turn for
reasonable truth revealed directly from our Creator.
Furthermore, we have noted that the Jewish Scriptures (the
Old Testament) is a continuation of the message of the Torah,
with an account of the history of the Jews as well as
prophecies of things to come. In this letter I wish to look at a
few of these prophecies (which have come true in glorious
detail), both as confirmation of the truth of the Old Testament
as well as the key for understanding more of what God, our
Creator, wants to say to us.
The first prophecy is found in Daniel 9:24-26. God had
already told the prophet Jeremiah that the city of Jerusalem
would be torn down and would lie in ruins for 70 years
(Jeremiah 29:10). Daniel knew this prophecy (Daniel 9:2),
and was agonizing over it in prayer when the angel Gabriel
came to Daniel and told him the following:
Seventy "sevens" are decreed for your
people and your holy city to finish
transgression, to put an end to sin, to
atone for wickedness, to bring in
everlasting righteousness, to seal up
vision and prophecy and to anoint the
most holy. Know and understand this:
From the issuing of the decree to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the
Anointed One [Messiah], the ruler,
comes, there will be seven "sevens,"
and sixty-two "sevens"...After the
sixty-two "sevens," the Anointed One
will be cut off.... (Daniel 9:24-26.)
Daniel, because he had been meditating on the 70 years of
Jerusalem's desolation, was already thinking in terms of years.
Gabriel does not explicitly say that he is speaking of years, but
it is implied by the context of what Daniel is thinking about.
Gabriel told Daniel that it would be seven "sevens" plus
sixty-two "sevens" (years) after the decree to rebuild before
the Messiah would come and be cut off (die). If we do the
arithmetic, Gabriel is talking about a span of (7x7) + (62x7) =
483 years. We must be careful, though, because the calendar
we use today is different than the one Daniel used.
Specifically, our calendar has 5 additional days per year. So
to convert to our calendar, we must subtract 5 days for every
year, subtracting 5x483 days = 2415 days, which is 6+ years;
so we must subtract 6 years from the 483 years given by
Gabriel, and this gives 477 years. Artaxerxes, the ruler of
Persia, ordered Nehemiah to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
(see Nehemiah 2) in 444 BC. If we add our 477 years to 444
BC, we get 33 AD.
So Gabriel is saying that the Anointed One, the great ruler
(the Messiah), will die around 33 AD. What really happened
in 33 AD? This was the year, according to history, that Jesus
died on the cross. Who was Jesus? He was a man who
claimed to be the Messiah predicted in the Old Testament (see
John 4:25-26). This prophecy given by the angel Gabriel
gives us reason to take Jesus seriously as being the Anointed
One predicted in the Scriptures.

There are several historical accounts of what happened to

Jesus when He died. It is totally amazing that many of the
details of His death are prophesied in the Jewish Scriptures.
In particular, Psalms 22 and Isaiah 52:13-53:12 predict many
things about Jesus that happened exactly as prophesied. Here
are some of them:
1) Mocked, insulted, people shake their heads at Him.
Prophesied in Psalms 22:7. Account of it happening:
 Matthew 27:39.
2) Onlookers say, “He trusts in God. Let God rescue him.”
Prophesied in Psalms 22:8. Account of it happening:
Matthew 27:43.
3) His bones are pulled out of joint.
Prophesied in Psalms 22:14. This is a known
consequence of being hung on a cross.
4) His hands and feet are pierced.
Prophesied in Psalms 22:16. Crucifixion involves
nailing the hands and feet to the cross.
5) Dice are thrown to see who gets His clothing.
Prophesied in Psalms 22:18. Account of it happening:
Matthew 27:35.
6) He is beaten so badly that he no longer looks human.
Prophesied in Isaiah 52:14.
Account of it happening: Historical accounts of Roman
floggings, as well as Mark 15:15,19.
7) He is punished because of our trangressions/sins.
Prophesied in Isaiah 53:4-6,12. This is a major belief
among Christians, based on Jesus’ death on
the cross.
8) He keeps silent.
Prophesied in Isaiah 53:7. Account of it happening:
Mark 14:61.
9) He is placed in an elaborate grave, as one who is rich.
Prophesied in Isaiah 53:9. Account of it happening:
Matthew 27:57-60.
10) He comes back to life.
Prophesied in Isaiah 53:11. Account of it happening:
Matthew 28.
The only doubt one could have is to wonder whether the
prophecies were written after Jesus was crucified (by altering
what was actually written in Psalms 22 and Isaiah 52-53).
However, the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered by an Arab
shepherd in 1947, were manuscripts that we can confirm
existed before Jesus lived. In these manuscripts we find
multiple copies of Psalms and Isaiah as we know them today.
In fact, a complete 24-foot-long scroll of Isaiah was found.
This confirms that there is no way that the prophesies could
have been written after the crucifixion of Jesus.
 Our conclusion is this: Jesus is the promised Messiah of the
Jewish Scriptures. In addition, He suffered and died for our
transgressions, and then rose from the dead.
My next letter will explore the reliability of the New
Testament, which directly deals with Jesus’ life and teachings.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 15: New Testament

Dear Scott and Amy,

My last letter established that Jesus is truly from God, that
He suffered and died for our sins, and that He rose from the
dead. This letter will explore the New Testament, which deals
specifically with Jesus’ life and teachings. Specifically, I want
to explore whether the New Testament can be trusted as a
source of true, reliable knowledge.

We know from history that Jesus had disciples (called

apostles) who followed Him during His lifetime. We also
know that after Jesus died and rose to life, that these apostles
suffered greatly; in fact, historical accounts tell us that 10 of
the 12 disciples were tortured and killed because they believed
in Jesus’ message and would not stop telling people about it.
Jesus obviously had a huge impact on their lives, and they
were willing to give all they had to tell others about Him.
They showed by their sacrifice that they really believed what
they were saying. Thus, we can trust that the apostles speak
the truth when they write about what Jesus said and did.
Two of the apostles—Matthew and John—wrote accounts of
Jesus’ life which we have today. These accounts are part of
the New Testament and are named, appropriately, Matthew
and John.
According to these two accounts, what did Jesus say? In
Matthew 5:17-18 Jesus says that the Law (meaning the Torah)
and the Prophets (meaning the prophecies of the Old
Testament) hold true, and that He will in no way override
them. In John 10:35 Jesus says that the Scripture cannot be
broken. In these passages we find that Jesus says that the Old
Testament is reliable truth and should be taken seriously. This
is a confirmation to us that our trust in the Old Testament is
justified.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus, wrote two letters (I Peter, II Peter)
which are found in the New Testament. Because Peter is an
apostle and ultimately gave His life (he was crucified) for
Jesus’ sake, we can trust what he writes. Peter says in II Peter
3:15-16 that the writings of Paul are Scripture. What Peter is
saying here is that we should trust Paul’s writings in the same
way we trust the Old Testament.
Peter also says in II Peter 3:2, “I want you to recall the
words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the
command given by our Lord and Savior through your
apostles.” Here Peter is saying that God speaks to us through
Jesus’ apostles. This means that the writings of the apostles
are on par with the Old Testament and with the teachings of
Jesus and the writings of Paul.
If we consider that the writings of Paul (who is considered
an apostle even though he was not one of the original twelve)
and the other apostles are reliable, what does that mean? It
means that the writings of Matthew, John, Peter, and Paul
found in the New Testament are reliable truth. The remaining
books of the New Testament were authored by 5 people:
Mark, Luke, James, Jude, and the author of Hebrews
(probably Apollos). All five of these people are known to
have been ardent followers of Jesus. Mark was Peter’s
assistant and his book (called Mark) is the record of what
Peter remembers about Jesus’ life. Luke was a doctor and
historian (thus very good with details) and worked closely
with Paul. James and Jude apparently grew up with Jesus:
they were Jesus’ brothers. They did not believe in what Jesus
was saying until Jesus appeared to them after He died and rose
again (yeah, I guess that would make me a believer too).
Apollos was a trusted colleague of Paul, known as a scholar of
the Jewish Scriptures, and passionate in his dedication to
Jesus.
Thus, we can say with confidence that the New Testament is
a reliable source of knowledge.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 16: The Law of God

Dear Scott and Amy,

We have taken pains to reason out why the Bible is a reliable
source of knowledge, and for good reason. In this letter I want
to begin exploring what the Bible tells us. In particular, I want
to explore the Law of God.
In my former letter on what the Torah tells us, I said that
God has revealed what our purpose in life is: It is to love God
with all that we are, to love Him more than anything else. I
also said that this purpose is expressed in more detail in the
Ten Commandments; the first five of them speak of loving
God, and the last five deal with loving other people.
In Genesis, we learn that in the very beginning, after God
had created the earth and all that is in it, all of creation was
totally good—no pain, suffering, murder, envy, nor anything
else that is bad. God had created the first humans, Adam and
Eve, and they too were perfect. They loved God with all of
their hearts, and spent time communicating with God. Then
one day they decided they wanted to be like God; they decided
they were no longer happy with their God-given purpose.
They wanted something more.
It was at this very point in history that suffering entered the
world. It entered because Adam and Eve decided to go
against God’s plan. As a result, God had to refashion the
world to match Adam and Eve, and now we live in an
imperfect, evil-filled world. Genesis tells us, in fact, that the
world became so filled with evil that God decided to wipe it
out, leaving only Noah and his family alive. And God did just
that, in a worldwide flood. Noah was a man who loved God
with all of his heart, and God saved him and his family from
the flood.
God continued along the same lines, destroying most people
and saving a few. God chose to save a man named Abraham,
with all of his descendents. These people became known as
the Israelites, and God continued destroying many nations,
and giving their land to the Israelites. Thus, the Israelites
quickly grew into a large and prosperous nation. In the
process, God wrote down the Ten Commandments for the
Israelites to live by, to make it easier for them to love God and
do what was right. The Israelites did pretty well with keeping
the Ten Commandments when things were going badly for
them, but as soon as God showered them with good things,
they started to get comfortable and forget to put God first and
to love Him with all of their heart. When this happened, God
punished them severely (usually by killing many of them),
which usually brought them back into obedience again.
Jesus’ teachings made it much more difficult to keep the
Law of God. For instance, in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew 5-7) Jesus said that the sixth commandment “Do not
murder” actually means “Do not wish bad things on
someone.” If you harm someone in your mind, it is the same
as murder in God’s book. Also, the seventh commandment
“Do not commit adultery” actually means “Do not lust after
someone.” What Jesus was saying is this: It is your thoughts
that are the problem. If your thoughts are pure and you love
God with all your heart in your thought life, then you are
obeying God’s Law. If not, you are subject to God’s wrath.
Remember, God wiped out every single person in the world
except Noah and Noah’s family. If in your thoughts you are
thinking of anything other than putting God first in everything,
you are guilty before God.
Why is God so particular, that he even monitors our thought
life? The answer is simple: All the suffering and loss that we
experience in our lives are a direct result of inappropriate
thoughts that went through people’s heads at various points in
history. Mark 7:20 says, “It is the thought life that pollutes.”
Inappropriate actions, as described in the Ten
Commandments, are simply manifestations of our thought life.
The thought life, in its perversion, eventually leads to
perverted actions, and these actions bring suffering and loss.
Think of it this way: There are thousands of criminals who
rape, torture, murder, and destroy lives and families each year
and never get caught. If God is fair (which the Bible tells us
He is), will He let them go without punishment when they die?
Of course not. God will punish them for what they have done.
The Bible tells us that God has reserved a terrible place called
hell for punishing the devil and his demons, and that criminals
will have a spot there, too.
 Given that criminals will be punished in hell, consider
Galatians 5:19-21:
But when you follow your own
wrong inclinations your lives
will produce these evil results:
impure thoughts, eagerness for
lustful pleasure, idolatry,
spiritism (that is, encouraging
the activity of demons), hatred
and fighting, jealousy and
anger, constant effort to get the
best for yourself, complaints
and criticisms, the feeling that
everyone else is wrong except
those in your own little group
—and there will be wrong
doctrine, envy, murder,
drunkenness, wild parties, and
all that sort of thing. Let me
tell you again as I have before,
that anyone living that sort of
life will not inherit the
kingdom of God.
Have you been guilty of any of this? If so, God is angry with
you, and will punish you for what you have done. There is in
fact nothing you can do to make up for it. Don’t you think
Adam and Eve would have given anything to erase the sin that
caused the world to become corrupted? God respects us
enough to take our thoughts and actions totally seriously. We
can’t just say, “Oh, I was just joking. I didn’t really mean it.”
God holds you responsible for everything you say and think.
 That is the beautiful thing about how God created us. He
has a huge opinion of us—what we say and do. His opinion of
us is much higher than our opinion of ourselves. But as a
result, we are bound for hell, because He will judge us fairly
according to everything we have thought about.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 17: Fearing God

Dear Scott and Amy,

My last letter to you was not easy to write. It is the most
terrible news anyone can be told, that God will one day hold
us accountable for everything we have done. Fairness seems
like a good thing until we realize that every time we have not
put God first, it has damaging consequences for ourselves and
others, and God in His fairness must hold us accountable for
that.
In this letter I want to explore the natural consequence of
this understanding, and that is to fear God. God is in no way
bad. In fact, He is all good, and that is where the fear comes
in. Because He is good He must punish us for the evil we
have done.
If you are not petrified when you think of this, you have not
thought deeply enough about your situation. The fear of God
permeates the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. He
is to be feared, because of the punishment we face.
As an example, consider Isaiah when He encountered God
personally: “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone;
because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of
a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the
LORD of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5.) Why is Isaiah upset? It is
because he realizes he will be accountable for every stray
word and every unholy thought that comes from his lips and
mind. Isaiah is terrified.

Let’s look at another example, this time in the New

Testament. God was angry at a couple who were respected in
the early church. God was so angry that he killed them both
instantly. For what? For lying about how much money they
gave. What was the result? Acts 5:11 says, “And great fear
came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these
things.” Why were they afraid? Clearly it was because they
reasoned that if this couple were punished so severely, how
could they themselves possibly escape the wrath of God?
Now consider James 4:9-10: “Be sorrowful, cry, and weep.
Change your laughter into crying, your joy into gloom.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
Here we see that when we are afraid of God (afraid of our sin
against Him), this is the beginning of a beautiful thing. And
this is something that is almost impossible to understand: God
is rich in mercy. It says throughout the Bible that if we will
cry out to Him and humble ourselves, prostrate ourselves
before God because of our sin, and make the decision to put
God first, He will have mercy on us and will forget our sins.
What? How can that be? How can God be fair and yet choose
to overlook sin? This is a great mystery. The great truth,
which seems like a contradiction at this point, is that God
holds us accountable for everything we have done, yet at the
same time He forgets our sin completely (therefore not
holding us accountable for it) when we fear Him and as a
result we humble ourselves before Him. This seems totally
contradictory, but the resolution of this contradiction is the
most incredible good news you will ever hear. Stay tuned!
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 18: Price to be Paid

Dear Scott and Amy,

As we’ve seen, we were created to love God with all that we
are, and to love Him more than anything else, in every thought
we think and every word we speak. That is the way we were
created to be. We fall woefully short of that, and when we do,
it leads naturally to much suffering and pain, both for
ourselves and others. Furthermore, since God is fair, He has
no choice but to punish our sin.
Yet, God has incredible mercy towards those who fear Him
and who turn from their sins, those who truly try to honor God
in everything they do in spite of themselves.
How does that work?

Suppose you are guilty of murder, and are standing before a

human judge. You plead for mercy, but the fact is - you
murdered someone, and you must pay the price. As the judge
is about to pronounce your sentence, you see out of the corner
of your eye the wife of the man you murdered. She
approaches the judge and the judge pauses as she whispers
something in his ear. The judge looks at you and says, “You
are free. Your penalty has been paid.” You are so full of joy
that you literally bolt out of the court and call all of your
friends to tell them the good news. Late that night, a thought
occurs to you. You must thank this woman, the wife of the
man murdered. You ruffle through some papers and find her
address. Early the next morning you knock on her door. A
neighbor sees you and shouts, “You won’t find her there. She
was taken to prison early this morning. I don’t understand
why, but she chose to go to prison for the rest of her life, so
that her husband’s murderer wouldn’t have to.” Your knees
give way. “Why? How? What can I ever do to repay her?”
When you humble yourself, when you throw yourself at
God’s mercy, He forgets your sin and pronounces you free.
How is He able to do this? It is because someone has taken
your penalty for you. This is clear in the Torah, starting with
Adam’s sons. The price must be paid, and it must be paid by
killing the innocent, by the shedding of blood. All through
Israel’s history, this was accomplished through the butchering
of animals. But all this blood and gore was nothing compared
to what God did when He sent His Son Jesus (Jesus is also our
Creator and is God, see John 1:1-5) to earth. God is like the
wife of the murdered man. He chose to suffer in your place.
Can you imagine sending your own son to die for murderers?
For those who cause unbelievable pain to others? That’s
exactly what God did, and Jesus bore the pain and agony, the
price of your sin. If you choose to humble yourself, and truly
desire to put God first, you are free. Your penalty has been
paid. It is a free gift, but it is far from cheap: Jesus went
through horrific pain, shame, and agony on your behalf.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 19: The Church

Dear Scott and Amy,

In my last letter I explained that God (the Father) sent God
(the Son) to die for our sins. Why did He do that? The
ultimate answer is that the Father wishes to glorify the Son,
the One who was willing to give His life for those He loves,
even for those who have not yet desired to serve God. But
Jesus, the Son, didn’t only come to die for our sins, be raised
from the dead, and then celebrate. No, He is still in the battle,
but operating through us who have benefitted from His
sacrifice. We, the ones who humble ourselves before God, are
part of what the Bible calls Jesus’ Body, the Church. Our
mission as His Body is to do what Jesus did while on earth:
1) Tell people (who are not a part of the Church) about God’s
Law, fearing God, and the sacrifice God made on their
behalf. We are to tell people this regardless of the
consequences to ourselves, just as Jesus did while on earth.
2) Joyfully suffer the consequences of telling others about
God, regardless of how severe those consequences may be
(starvation, jail time, torture, or death). As we suffer, we
are to pray for those who cause the suffering: pray that
God would get through to them so that they can believe in
Jesus too.
3) Love each other (others in the Church) in the same way
Jesus loves us. How much does Jesus love us? Enough to
give up His life.
These three things are impossible to do on our own. But when
we die to ourselves (humble ourselves before God), Jesus
gives us supernatural power to accomplish His purposes. He
does this through the Holy Spirit (who is also God), the same
Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead.
If you are willing to follow Jesus, to be part of His Body, He
will give you the strength you need to do these things.
I have said that we were created for the purpose of putting
God first in everything. That is true, and the way we do that is
by doing what Jesus did: tell others regardless of the
consequences, love enemies and pray for them, and sacrifice
for other followers of Jesus. This then is our ultimate purpose
in life, and if we do these things we will be filled with so
much joy we will hardly be able to stand it.
There is an account of the Apostle Peter, who after being
threatened with persecution in Rome decided to flee the city.
As he was traveling away from the city he saw Jesus walking
toward him. Not knowing what to say, Peter asked Him where
He was going. Jesus said, “I am going into the city to be
crucified again.” Peter immediately understood, reversed his
direction, and went back into the city. Peter was crucified that
day.
Jesus continues to suffer through His Body, the Church. The
purpose of this suffering is to glorify Jesus, to bring many to
humble themselves before God and accept His free gift, and—
it is also for your own good.
After all, it was what you were created to do, and nothing
else will satisfy.
Love Always,
Jim
 Letter 20: Final Comments

Dear Scott and Amy,

I started this series of letters by telling you why I bother to
do this – to serve as a guide for you as you determine for
yourself what is reliable truth. If you put all your energies into
something that isn’t real, you’re going to get burned. The
final conclusion of these letters, of course, is that you will be
burned if you do not choose to follow Jesus, using the
guidelines I mentioned in my last letter.
I showed you that the Bible can be trusted. Read the Bible
for yourself, and see if I am telling you the truth. If you truly
want to follow God regardless of the consequences, the Holy
Spirit will show you truths from the Bible—not all at once, but
little by little—as you need them. Read the Bible diligently.
Memorize as much of it as you can; God can speak to you
through memorized passages in ways not possible by just
reading or studying them.
Spend as much time as you can listening to God. Try to talk
less and listen more. And if you do talk, talk as who you are
—a sinner terrified by God, and because of that fear you throw
yourself at His mercy at the foot of His cross. From this
position let His grace and mercy wash over you. Because you
are His follower, you have a great reward in heaven. Let that
hope of heaven spur you on. Concentrate on His mercy to
you, letting it well up inside you until you burst forth in songs
of praise to Him (see Psalms 28:6-7).
Don’t change your position in life. If you want to be an
artist, then be an artist. If you want to make money, then do
that. But whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. And
God will use you in whatever position you find yourself to
influence others to be followers of Him, too. It is also worth
mentioning that as a believer in Jesus you will find many
opportunities to undo the damage of sin. It is important to do
these things, both to make the world a better place, but also as
a witness to the world of who you are—a follower of Jesus.
Finally, surround yourself with other believers in Jesus,
particularly those who are suffering the most, suffering simply
because they refuse to be quiet about Jesus. Hebrews 13:3
says, “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them;
and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in
the body.” To interact with these fellow sufferers of Jesus you
will most likely want to order a free magazine which will
allow you to learn about these persecuted believers and to
minister to them. My favorite magazine of this type is from
the Voice of the Martyrs (www.persecution.com), but there
are other similar and very good agencies such as Open Doors,
China Aid, and Gospel for Asia. Learning about these
believers, praying for them, and doing what you can to
minister to them—all these things will strengthen your faith
and your resolve to follow Jesus whatever the cost.
My God’s grace be with you abundantly.
Love Always,
Jim