"God does not work salvation for fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin vigorously.... Do not for a moment imagine that this life is the abiding place of justice; sin must be committed." You took this out of context... Here is the complete saying of the above quote... "If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. if the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God's glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us ...

Dear Dave, My name is Jason and I am a Youth Pastor. I read your testimony and must say that your honesty is refreshing. Although I disagree with your conclusions (so far) with agnosticism, I can respect your "throughing in the towel" on your christian religious jouney. I went to Bible college and am about to complete my masters in Theology and can understand your theological dismay, I too have vasilated back and forth between how I view scripture and election, thinking that my eternal salvation was at stake. My current status is that of a more Barthian view of scripture (seeing the Bible as more a witness to the Word of God) and of predestinarian universalism ( I see hell as redemptive rather than punitive). Although we have come to different places, I think we both are finally being honest with God (and/or ourselves). This is the place that I think God wants us, since I do believe that God is infinitely more interested in us rather than our behavior ...

I am not an ex christian if you are wondering, but I was researching Charles Templeton to see if he became a Christian at the end of his life. I understand that you have doubts about the Christian faith- I have had many in the past. But I was not willing to give up my faith just because of those questions. I have buried myself in research and I have found the answers to the questions. Such questions are about the trinity, evolution proving Christianity wrong, and why is there suffering if God is so loving. I found all those answers and many more. If you are willing to actually research the Christain Faith I will recomend you books. The two I started out with was the Case For Faith and The Case For Christ by Lee Stobel. Please write me if you want any information. I will also answer any questions and I am willing to listen to your side of things. Hope to hear from you. jana smith