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"Boy, I hope that preacher man catches on!" |
(Knock-Knock! Knock-Knock-Knock!)
"Preacher, are you in there?"
"Yes. Who is it?"
"It's me, Jimmy Sternbush, Sam Sternbush's youngest boy."
"Oh yes, Jimmy, come in."
"Man, Preacher, you got an awesome office."
"Thanks Jimmy. I decorated it myself. Have a seat. So Jimmy, what can I do for you?"
"Preacher, somethin's got me kinda confused. It's some of the songs we sing in church. They don't always jive with what you say when you're a preachin'. And I don't know if I should believe you or the song or neither."
"Well, Jimmy, could you give me an example of what you mean?"
"OK. That song we sing by the Planetshakers - 'Nothing is Impossible' says that God can do anything. And that Phillips Craig and Dean song we sing all the time 'You Are God Alone' says that God is unstoppable. But you said in church last Sunday that God's not gonna get everything He wants."
"No, Jimmy, you must have misunderstood me. I believe nothing is impossible with God."
"Well, Preacher, you told us to memorize Bible verses, so I remembered one you read last week. It was 1 Timothy 2:4. It says that God our Savior 'wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.' You were talking about how some people believe God's gonna save all people. And a lot of those people use this verse to say that God will save everybody. But you say they are wrong."
"Yes, Jimmy, that's right, that verse says that God only wants to save all people, not that He will actually do it."
"Well why won't He? If He's God, why can't He do what He wants to? You mean He can't do everything? You mean He ain't unstoppable? You mean millions of people will burn in hell forever, and God won't or can't save 'em?"
"Jimmy, I think you're confused."
"I know Preacher! That's why I came here, so you can unconfuse me."
"Jimmy, it's hard to explain why God can't save all people."
"Maybe it's hard to explain because it ain't true. Why don't you just believe God can do what He wants? He wants to save all people, and He can save all people. It's not like that's a bad thing...is it?"
"No, Jimmy. It would be a good thing if God saved all people. But it's just not going to happen."
"Why not? Is there something stronger than God that won't let Him? You are always tellin' us that God is the Almighty. Well, is He or isn't He? Preacher, you need to believe what you're a tellin' us to believe. You don't wanna be one of them hippogrits, do ya?"
"No Jimmy. I don't want to be a hip-o-crit. This is one of the deep mysteries of God that we just can't fully understand in this life."
"Well, Preacher, I don't think it's hard to understand. God wants something good and He's able to get it. Not much mystery in that. I'm a thinkin' maybe you're the one that's confused. I think we oughta stop singin' those songs or you oughta stop preachin' what yer preachin'. Well, I'm gonna go fishin'. You think about what I've said, OK?"
"I will Jimmy. Good luck fishing."
