Hey Pastor John,
While at school, I have recently noticed a new idea that people have come up with (or at least this idea is new to me). It’s basically that you just have to find what religion (or lack there of) is right for you.
This just feels completely wrong to me every time i hear this idea expressed. I just feel like saying, NO! thats wrong, you need to follow Jesus (and even if I did, I would immediately be silenced by a teacher or adult leader and no one would agree with me). There are just so many wrong ideas about religion and about God out here and in the world, it just saddens me.
But in other news, Jesus has been showing me the opposite of what these teachings are. That he came to set us free from all the finding and thinking about doctrines and to let us learn from him. I hate that everyone else just can’t understand that simple truth. Sandy’s song “What I believe in” (I think thats the name) seems more true and more of a right answer to me than ever before.
Love,
Jacob H
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Hi Jacob:
You’re right to suspect that that idea is not new. I heard that when I first started in the Lord. When I wrote one of my professors and told him about the change Jesus had made in me, she wrote me back, saying, “We all have to find our own way to God.” When my father read that, he said, “Jesus came to keep us from having to find our own way to God.” That cleared things up for me pretty quickly.
We just have to let people try to find their own way, though, until God calls them. And Jesus said that when anyone really hears from his Father, that person will come to him, every time. So, just pray that God will have mercy on the confused people around you. When God calls them, they will know where to go for relief.
Pastor John