Letter From a Friend

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="1562c2c3.jpg"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>*** The following is a letter from a good friend of mine.  He is struggling with some questions that are usually brushed aside in our minds because we don't have the courage to face them head-on.  I thought the questions contained in it are very pertinent for many, so with his permission, I've posted his letter followed by my response… ***</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Andrew,</B></div> <div> <B>Hey man, what's up? Very cool to read your stuff.  I hope you are doing well…</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>…Okay, here is my Bible question. It's not something I fling around, but I know you can handle it, and I'm very interested in what your take on it is. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I've been struggling a lot with the idea of forgiveness and most notably, hell, lately.  I just can't get my mind around it. Here are the main things: </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>We are commanded to forgive, no matter what is done to us. God, on the other hand, will not forgive people who do not believe in him. He will make them burn in eternity in utter torment. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The people who will be burning? God already knew they would burn for eternity long before he created them.  He created the earth knowing they would burn for eternity. Choice supposedly was involved, but he created the earth with the combination of ingredients that sends billions of people to hell. If he had created the earth with a slightly different combination of ingredients, more or less people would go. He 'saved' the world. But it's a world he created a certain way, knowing what was going to happen.  If he hadn't wanted us to sin, he would have created us differently. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>If I wanted some companionship, so I created my own little world, and sentenced all the inhabitants in it to an eternity of torment who didn't believe it me, it would come across as being pretty bad (by the way, I don't believe God created us to worship him.  Companionship makes much more sense. The actual idea of God needing 'worship' to make him happy so he creates humans takes away from his all powerfulness in my mind). </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Forget the good people for a moment. Let's take the bad people.  If we make Hitler burn in hell for 1 trillion years for each person he killed, is that enough punishment? Nope. He's burning for eternity. Even for the bad people that's pretty darn harsh. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Now take the good people. That really nice lady that is legitimately a good person. Not a believer though, and sure, she's sinned. She'll admit it. Well, she is going to hell for all eternity. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Part of leading someone to Christ is getting them to realize they are a sinner and separated from God. That's fine, but I have a hard time reconciling the punishment with the crime. Hell, after all, was created for Satan and the demons.  That sweet old lady who is an unbeliever gets to burn side by side with Satan, even though the worst thing she ever did (apart from not believing) was yell at her neighbor. Heck, maybe she beat the neighbor up, doesn't change the fact that the punishment doesn't fit the crime. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>This is the stuff that really messes with me, especially the fact that God knew before the earth began who was going to hell. I would gladly give up my eternity in heaven and disappear into oblivion if someone would get out of hell and disappear into oblivion as well, but I'm sure that would not be allowed. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>We are told Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice. Not sure about that. We have billions of people burning in ultimate torment for eternity.  Okay, let's say that Jesus' time while he was dead was as bad as hell, or twice as bad, or a trillion times as bad. It's over now, and he is back in heaven for eternity. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Okay, Jesus is all upset in the garden asking God if he has to actually go through with it b/c he knows it's going to be so miserable, YET he then turns around and sends people to burn for eternity. When God turns his back on him he is distraught, YET he is with God now for all eternity.  That was just 3 days of pain. Let's say "deity days" are like 1 million years.  Still, just 3 million years of pain for Jesus, instead of eternity for Betty Sue the non-believer who is burning forever. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>As you can see, it's the eternity bit that kills me. I can handle non-Christians being destroyed or being 'purified'. Eternity is heavy. God says that the human life span is just a blink of an eye.  So basically, even though you didn't ask for it, I'm going to create you, give you the blink of an eye to make a decision, you make the wrong one, and you burn for eternity. No one asked to be created, after all. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>If God is love, how can this be? Love keeps no record of wrongs, after all. Love is patient, etc. etc. None of these qualities line up with sending someone to hell for all eternity. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Okay, I think you see my drift.  You can take your time with the response, but this is definitely something that I am struggling with, I'm not playing the 'stump Andrew game' or anything like that. Also, you are welcome to call me - (XXX) XXX-XXXX, but I'd prefer you respond to this in writing, so I can think it out. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I'll talk to you soon. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>XXXXX</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Hey XXXXX,</B></div> <div> <B>Glad to hear that things with your music are going well.  So how's your new job?  Well, ok, I'll just skip all the formalities and get to the meat of things.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>XXXXX, I must first of all say that I really appreciate that you trust me enough to let me in on such a struggle that you are going through and that you are in a place of so much reconsideration.  I don't take that lightly.  </B></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Anyways, the fact that you're reconsidering it all is not necessarily bad.  In fact, I think its good because just the fact that you're struggling so heavily with these issues now shows that you've likely never been deeply grounded in them in your heart.  Its one thing to learn them from your church and parents and to always believe them, but something quite different for God to have reached down and burned these truths into your heart.  So anyways, questioning is great -- especially if God has done the work, because then it will always strengthen your faith in the long run.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Ok, enough prefacing.  I'll try to address your questions as well as I can.  XXXXX, these are questions that many have considered and I have to say that I personally have gone through the very same questions/thoughts that you are having, and please do not assume that I've just brushed them aside.  I know from where you sit, you can't see how they can be answered, so you must assume that most people just brush them aside so that they don't "lose faith".  Well, there may be those people, but I'm not one of them.  I've gone head-on with these questions and I know that they can be answered squarely from both God's word and logic.  </B></div> <div> <B>This is the thing:  I'm going to level with you and tell you exactly what I believe is the truth, but I'm afraid that instead of "settling" your fears immediately, it will likely do more "unsettling" initially.  Much like if a house has been built wrong, you must first "unsettle" or tear parts down, before you can rebuild it correctly.  </B></div> <div> <B>So what I'm saying is that I believe that your faith is like that house -- some of it is sound, but other parts have been built with "wood, hay, and stubble" and are beginning to shake and fall apart.  I say this because I've undergone some similar things in my life and through them, God has revolutionized my whole foundation for how I view Him, Scripture, myself, etc.  For some, this shaking could bring down the whole house and ruin their faith, but I pray that this will not be you, XXXXX.  </B></div> <div> <B>So yes, I believe that you, like me, have been grounded in a form a Christianity that has been luke-warm and watered-down.  I'm going to tell you why and what I fully believe the true, pure gospel of Christ is, but I can tell you now that you will have a hard time with it, as I did.  Much of it will challenge trains of thought that you've been ingrained with in circles of Christians that we've been in.  Please don't just shut down when it seems too hard to swallow.  Also, there will be some temptation while reading this to throw things I say into age-old classic arguments and think things like "oh yeah, I've heard that stuff before", or "people have argued about this for centuries" -- but PLEASE do not give in to those because your view will then be biased.  I'm asking you to do what is so hard for all of us to do --- read what I say with no pre-conceived notions or biases.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>This watered-down gospel is a man-centered gospel -- one that puts man in the center of everything and just assumes that God must do everything for us that He can.  It's a gospel that emphasizes God as loving (which He is), but in doing so leaves out His other attributes.  They paint a caricature of God as this loving, merciful God who is pleading and hoping and wondering if men will come to Him.  What they don't show is that God is infinitely JUST and RIGHTEOUS and that HE is the center of all and that HE does all that he does for HIMSELF AND HIS PURPOSES first -- we are secondary to that.  Scripture clearly shows that God has Himself and His own interests in mind and utterly serves those completely.  God revealed this in </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>Romans 3:25</B></FONT><B> -- that He actually sent Christ as a sacrifice to "</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>demonstrate His justice</B></FONT><B>"!!  God's purpose was to show that NO, he hadn't just been excusing people from their sins for the past 4000 years for no reason --- people who He had forgiven, he had done so because of Christ's death -- so His purpose was to prove that He was righteous and not just "sweeping sin under the rug".  In </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>Eph 1:11-12</B></FONT><B>,</B><B> God declares that the reason he chose us to be in Christ was so that we would be "</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>for the praise of his glory</B></FONT><B>".  </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>Isaiah 48:9</B></FONT><B> declares that God spares us "</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>for my own name's sake</B></FONT><B>".  This theme of God doing all for Himself first is found everywhere in Scripture -- To name a few:  </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>Psalm 23:3, Psalm 79:9, Psalm 106:8, Psalm 109:21, Psalm 143:11, Isaiah 48:9, Ezekiel 20:44, Romans 1:5</B></FONT><B>, and so on.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>So XXXXX, in response to your thoughts on why God created us, whether for companionship or worship, I must say that above all of that is that He created us for HIS GLORY -- to bring Him glory!!  </B></div> <div> <B>Isaiah 43:7</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B> says: "</B></FONT><B>everyone who is called by my name, whom I created FOR MY GLORY, whom I formed and made.</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>"</B></FONT></div> <div> <B>You know C.S. Lewis.  Well, do you know what he said it was that kept him from accepting Christ for such a long time?  He read the whole Bible and came to the conclusion that the God of the Bible was a SELFISH God!!  Well guess what?  HE WAS RIGHT!!  God is selfish.  And that is not wrong!  It's wrong for us to be selfish because we owe all we have to God and He created us -- but who created Him -- no one!  He continually declares through Scripture that He does all for His own purposes.  He answers to no one, and there is nothing above Him that He must answer to.  He is not holy because He follows what is right -- that would put something above God -- no, He is holy because HE is the standard of holiness, so that no matter what He does, he is right.  (</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>JOB 23:13</B></FONT><B>)!!!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>So all that God has done and will do is for the end goal of His Glory.  So what is that?  It is that God desired that He make known WHO HE IS.  He is perfect, just, holy, righteous, loving, jealous, sin-hating, merciful, etc.  So He ordained that evil exist to do just that, and yes, he created people knowing that many of them would be objects of His wrath.  He ordained that to be so that they would show His justice and anger against sin.  God's anger and hatred of sin is a HUGE aspect of His character and so He chose to display His character through these means.  Paul said this explicitly:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Rom 9:11-24--</B></div> <div> <B>11</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B> Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad-in order that God's purpose in election might stand: </B></FONT><B>12</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B> not by works but by him who calls-she was told, "The older will serve the younger."  </B></FONT><B>13</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B> Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."  </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>14</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B> What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! </B></FONT><B>15</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B> For he says to Moses, </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, </B></div> <div> <B>and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>16</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B> It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. </B></FONT><B>17</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B> For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."  </B></FONT><B>18 </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>19</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B> One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" </B></FONT><B>20</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B> But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'"  </B></FONT><B>21</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B> Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>22 </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath-prepared for destruction? </B></FONT><B>23 </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory-”</B></FONT></div> <div> <B>(NIV)</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>So Paul makes the point here that God "</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>hated</B></FONT><B>" Esau and "</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>loved</B></FONT><B>" Jacob before they were even born and had done anything good or bad -- why would Paul make the note that it was before they were born or had done anything right or wrong?  Because he was trying to explain that it had NOTHING to do with Jacob or Esau -- it wasn't even that He foresaw anything good or bad in them -- it was just for His own purposes.  God says, "</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion...</B></FONT><B>"  --- do you see that God can do whatever He pleases?  That's not just a theoretical idea that we all acknowledge -- its true and He really does!  So God has the right to do with His creations whatever He pleases!  </B></div> <div> <B>Why would He do that?!  Because He is doing all this for HIS Glory -- and demonstrating His justice and wrath against those who are sinners is a major way He accomplishes this.  That's why Paul said, "</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath-prepared for destruction?  What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy...</B></FONT><B>" -- </B></div> <div> <B>God predestined some people for destruction so that it would make the riches of His Glory known to us, the objects of His mercy -- for all eternity we will be keenly aware at the stark contrast of God's wrath and anger against sinners and His love towards us when we could easily have been in hell, too.  This is what brings God glory -- Who He is is made known and fills us with awe, reverence, and unbelievable gratitude for our salvation.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>At this point, I know you are struggling with this because it goes against everything you've ever been taught -- not only that, but it goes against our very sin nature itself.  That's why the Bible says that natural man is at enmity with God (</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>Romans 8:7</B></FONT><B>) -- our very nature cries out against Him having the right to do what He wants.  Our sin nature says, "NO!! I'm in control of my destiny!!  God doesn't have the right to decide who goes to heaven and hell!!"  But we're dead wrong.  He does, in fact, have that right.  Many people will reject God because they see this, but that's sad -- they will never change the truth.  This is plain in Scripture.  You see, we are not born saved and then we choose at the "age of accountability" -- that is nowhere in Scripture and will never fit.  No, we are born dead in sins, and will go to hell for them if God does not reach down and awaken us (</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>Ephesians 2</B></FONT><B>).  </B></div> <div> <B>XXXXX, I'm giving it to you straight, and I'm positive that right now you're having a hard time swallowing this.  Yes, God is loving, but you've been slightly brainwashed (as all of us have) to think that God just loves everyone the same.  </B></div> <div> <B>What I believe is happening in you is that you have been brought up to believe in the Arminian version of God -- but now you are beginning to look deeper into some issues and you're finding that the Arminian version of God does not and will NEVER fit with the doctrine of hell.  That is why people have invented lies such as "ultimate reconciliation" (everyone goes to heaven) and "purgatory" (special place to be purged of your sins) -- both of these lies are slaps in the face of Christ and what He has done.  If you have this man-centered view of God and the gospel, you will never understand hell.  Hell is an eternal place of God's wrath being poured out on sinners.  Why eternal?  Because God's Glory is infinitely beautiful and when we sin, even once, we are INFINITELY despising God -- we are saying to God, "God, I choose this worthless thing over You -- it is worth more than You" --  Now about you're old lady -- you are missing this:  She is not sinful because she sins, she sins because she is sinful -- She is just the same as Hitler in her heart, no different.  Put her in the same circumstances and she would do the same as Hitler -- and so would you and I.  We are prideful wretches if we think that we are better than some horrible sinner out there, but that is exactly what the Arminian gospel tells us.  It tells us that we come to Christ because we are somehow different than that next person who didn't accept Him.  It's the root of pride and judgment of others.  If you realize that you had NOTHING to do with your salvation, however, then you will tend not judge others or think of yourself as better in any way.  This is the Christ-centered gospel.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I realize that this is hard to accept, and it hasn't come easy for me, either.  I've been going through the process of dying to false beliefs for a few years now at least.  I don't expect that you will grasp this overnight.  You're very smart and probably understand it all mentally already, but you're heart is another story.  It resists this with all its might.  It wants to hold to the lie of free-will.  But if free-will is so important and real, then tell me why William Tyndale, who essentially gave us the New Testament in English, denied it to his death?  Denying the existence of free-will was one of his seven crimes that he committed against the Catholic Church and he was burned at the stake for it.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Martin Luther said:</B></div> <div> <B>"I wish that the expression "free-will" had never been invented.  It is not recorded in Scripture either and should more justly be called 'self-will' which is worthless." (Martin Luther)</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Charles Spurgeon was dealing with the same false gospel infiltrating his culture as it has ours and said:</B></div> <div> <B>"They have attempted to amalgamate [mix] the gospel with free-will, carnal reason, natural philosophy, and such-like doctrines of men, which would, if it were possible, frustrate the counsels of God;"</B></div> <div> <B>(Charles Spurgeon, Sermon: "Homage Offered to the Great King")</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>John Owen (a contemporary of John Bunyan who wrote "Pilgrim's Progress") said this:</B></div> <div> <B>"Evangelical truths are easily received on Arminian terms where that rooted enmity [sin nature] is allowed to retain control over all its decisions, and to be self-sufficient.  But when these truths urge man's inability to repent and believe without the grace of God first working in them, then that enmity [sin nature] pleads free will, and resists with all its might the sovereignty of God in the salvation of men."  (John Owen, "Apostasy From the Gospel" pg 54-55)</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>John Newton, who wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace”, said about the lie of free-will:</B></div> <div> <B>"We zealously contend for this point in our debates with the Arminians and are ready to wonder that any should be hardy enough to dispute the Creator's right to do what He will with his own...Undoubtedly the ground of this opposition lies in the pride of the human heart."  (John Newton, "More than a Calvinist")</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>So XXXXX, These truths come hard to someone who has been raised to believe otherwise, but they hit us all hard really because, like Charles Spurgeon said in a sermon once, we are all born Arminians by our sin nature.  We strive against it, it doesn't seem fair, and we try to put God in a human-shaped box and think that He must do things like us.  But He is not like us.  Certain things that we do that are sin for us, are not sin for Him.  For example, if you kill your neighbor, you have sinned because you don't have the right to do that.  You even sin if you take your own life because it's not yours, its God's.  But if God takes a life, it is NOT sin.  He is still righteous for He does what He pleases.  It is for Him to give life and take it.  He creates life and it is His to do with as He sees fit.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>You're right, we did not ask to be created, but you're still operating in the mindset that says we have rights -- we don't.  "</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?</B></FONT><B>" (</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" ><B>Romans 9</B></FONT><B>)</B></div> <div> <B>He can make someone for the purpose of destruction if He chooses to.  No, He doesn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked, but He does do things at times that cause Himself pain because they serve His ultimate purpose.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I know you were raised in a church that would call all of this false.  But examine Scripture for yourself and you will see what is true and false.  You mustn't distance yourself from them, but it is wise to distance yourself from their doctrines.  I'm sure there are great believers in those circles, but their doctrines and teachings are dangerous at times.  The problem you're having now is not fitting hell and death with God, but fitting hell and death with the </B><I><B>Arminian</B></I><B> God.  You will never do it.  If you hold on to the Arminian God, you must either stop questioning and just accept everything you hear like a good little boy, or you must reject the doctrines of hell and punishment and this will mean falling away from the gospel of Christ.  But there is one more option:  Pray hard about these things and forsake the false Arminian idol of free-will.  Put God back in the place of God -- sovereign over all including evil, sin, and Satan.  Then and only then, will the gospel and the rest of the Bible begin to fit together in harmony to you.  If not, you will strive and strive unsuccessfully to ever see the harmony and consistency of Scripture.  You will see a New Testament God and a different Old Testament God.  You'll see Isaiah's God, Paul's God, Peter's God, Abel's God, etc.  You won't see ONE God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Well, please pray about these things.  Don't take them lightly.  I love you and always will.  I've spent most of my day responding to your letter because I care so much about you.  I know we haven't talked much in the last couple years, but I'd still lay my life down for you in a second.  I know that you'll likely have a thousand more questions that arise from reading this, but don't be discouraged -- there ARE answers.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In Christ ---</B></div> <div> <B>Andrew</B></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>