I was saddened to read of your rejection of God in The Chart on last Friday. Though I must admit that after reading it more than once I still don't understand your point, you know that's that thing that good writers make in a story. I understand that for some reason you don't trust God anymore. What I wonder is what happened? If in fact you were a Christian, which I doubt, what happened to you that was so bad that you denied your salvation and cursed God. Surely a man like yourself would see the benefits to serving an all powerful God, but then again you think he's dead. I assure you that God is in fact alive and well, and at least still working in my life on a day to day basis.

As to your statement that God "couldn't or wouldn't" stop any problems I have this to say - any true Christian could tell you that one of the great and worst things about our faith is the fact that we do have a free will to govern our lives as we see fit. In fact, God loves us so much that he, in his divine wisdom, gives us the choice to go to heaven or hell. What more could you want or ask for? If you want to go to hell, God, your loving creator who wishes it of no person, will let you. He made it so you could. Hell is total separation from your creator, and despite what some say, Satan is no master in there. He will suffer along with the rest of everyone who chooses to go there with him.

I was also most intrigued with your statement about the proof of God and his Bible, or the lack there of. Who was this wise man that told you that there was no God and that the Bible was a lie, and what made his story so much more creatable than that of the Bible? I would challenge you to read three books and then tell me that there is no God in heaven and that the Bible is fiction. First being, The Case for Christ by Lee Stroble. Second, Mind Siege by Tim Lahaye. And lastly, a book by the name of Why I Believe, for which I don't have the author's name handy. If you cannot do this I would ask that you not publish your uninformed opinion about my faith or my God again. Not only do you make yourself look like a fool, but your fourth grade writing level is a dishonor to our school as a whole.

Next, the Bible has almost never been passed by word of mouth from one generation to the next. The human authors wrote down the words themselves, starting with Moses and ending with John and Paul. Where did you get your information, or is this just your opinion again? Even through the Middle Ages monks of the church faithfully transcribed word for word from generation to generation. And if you knew anything about the Jewish religion you would know that if even one letter was copied wrong on the last page of a manuscript, it was burned and started again. But you being the informed editor you are took that into account when writing your column.

I will not lie or try to deny that the name of God has been misused in the past. Yes, murders, massacres and much more have been justified in the name of God. But that is also not true in the way that you think. Many of the so-called religious wars were purely enacted for monetary gains and only painted with the guise of religion and not faith-based. By the same token, the worst of wars and hate crimes have been for money and land. Does that mean we should reject money and land or is it easy for you to mock God and those that serve him for you own kicks? 0h, and your missionary statement - do you have any idea what the U.S. government did to the Native Americans? Well if you are so highly enlightened, why aren't you going back to Europe or still farther, or did you forget that we have already killed the Indians as a people, and we are all guilty of that?

Missionaries are not sent to destroy cultures for one, and unless you go the Amazon Basin you won't find any tribe or people that have not been touched by the modem world for good or bad. I guess that you could tell me what the number one distributor of aid in the world is, the Red Cross. Well could you tell me the second, no let me tell you then ... it's the Southern Baptist Convention, a mission based organization, but I thought you said they were going out to destroy these people.

OK, now the tough question - what is a Christian? Well, you're right that many people don't agree on what a Christian is or should be. This is what I believe and what the Bible teaches: "That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation" (Romans 10: 9-10). But aside from just that I believe in The Apostles' Creed. "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he arose again for the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic (meaning universal) church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen." That sir is what I believe and what any person believes is what makes them who they are. I myself do not drink, smoke, sleep around or any such thing as some of your hypocritical friends do for which I am sorry. I once heard a man say "that there are two things you can do with a hypocrite, you can go to church with them or you can go to hell with them." I think this is true. The true love of God sees through our sins. It is sad you think the way you do.

One of your last points about "hypocrisy and greed" I must say is just down right false. Christianity does not teach that material wants are bad and does not shelter an atmosphere of greed. What it does teach is that all things come for God, and therefore we should be willing to give them back if he asks that from us. In the parable of the rich man, Jesus says that it is harder for a rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. You might sight this as a supporting point for yourself, but did you know that the eye Jesus may speak of is in Jerusalem. There is a spot that is shaped like the eye of a needle and it is tall enough for a man to walk through, but if a camel comes to go through that door with a full pack, he must first get on his knees to pass through the eye much the same way Jesus wants us to pray to the Father. And the pearly gates and streets of gold are simply an illustration, or parable if you will, to show us in worldly terms how much heaven is worth and help us see that the things we care for so much in this world mean nothing in heaven, i.e. the streets are gold, what do think of pavement, if anything.

Lastly, I leave you with this, you should be proud that you can now hold your name with such names as Jefferson, Franklin, and Locke. They were all members of deism as you have now claimed to be.

David W Armstrong