A good and honest man
Farrell Till jftill@midwest.net
Mon, 27 Oct 1997 23:02:40 -0600 (CST) (00878036560, 199710280502.XAA19622@cdale3.midwest.net)
At 08:20 PM 10/27/97 -0800, Ralph Nielsen wrote:
>DOUG LARSON
> <snip>
>> What am I? I don't know! All I know is that I reject the Christian
>>God and everything he stands for. What are we doing with our kids?
>>Nothing at present. What can I say? They've seen their daddy standing in
>>the pulpit, preaching and teaching. They've seen their daddy writing
>>letters to the local newspapers against the evils of homosexuality.
>>They've seen their daddy rallying up the troops of brothers and sisters,
>>fighting the evils and moral decay within our society. They've seen their
>>daddy practicing his sermons, using them as my Sunday audience, driving
>>home the doctrines found in the only true religion. They've seen their
>>daddy, standing on a solid cornerstone, unwavering in all his convictions.
>>They've seen their daddy, scaring non-believers, into the kingdom, with the
>>biblical doctrine of hell. They've seen their daddy, condemning those evil
>>democrats for bringing down this country's legal system as it adopts pagan
>>sin as the law of the land. They've seen their daddy, start up a ministry
>>in apologetics and polemics, countering the claims of the cults via the
>>internet, and on the local level.
>>
>> What the hell do I do? Will I become in their eyes, a father who is
>>the biggest hypocrite and liar that ever walked the face of the earth?
> <snip>
>
>RALPH NIELSEN
>No Doug, you are an honest man who was mistaken, as so many of the rest us
>have been before you. You have had to give up more than most of us,
>however. That makes you even more honorable in my eyes.
>
>I have for many years maintained that "If you can't be honest, you can't be
>moral." You have shown that you are both honest and moral. And very
>courageous, too.
>
>Feel free to tell this to your children. They have a father they can be
>proud of. You're a good man, Doug, and you have a good wife, too.
TILL
I had to deal with this same problem in my own children. One Sunday I stood
in the pulpit and preached, but on the way home, I told my family that this
part of my life was over. I don't think my children ever thought anything
about it.
Farrell Till
Skepticism, Inc.
jftill@midwest.net