Ok so where is the Good news? Our turning from sin is a response to the love of the relationship with have with God. We are not living on the way to the cross, we are supposed to live on the other side of the cross. Sin has been dealt with. Do we continue in sin? NO, but is our focus supposed to be the absolute avoidance at every cost, or living like new creations? With confidence that God loves us relentlessly. That He can not wait for us to connect with Him. He adores us, and we can never ever “be good enough” in our behavior to have him bestow His grace on us. He did it when we were at our worse. I am not preaching, but I am curious if you really know who God is at his core?
“Ok so where is the Good news?”
The good news, contained in my proposed sample letter to the atheist brother, would lie in the following portion:
“There is still hope for you. Repent.”
” but I am curious if you really know who God is at his core?”
I believe I do; not perfectly, but sincerely. I know He hates sin, and it is what separates us from Him. I know we must acknowledge we are sinners and repent of sin to obtain His forgiveness - putting our faith in Christ.
A man can’t repent of his sins if he doesn’t acknowledge them. Thus he remains lost. If my brother is sinning, I tell it to him.
“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.” (Mathew 18:15-17, that is Jesus talking)