HelenM

Congratulations on having the courage to write it and send it! And best wishes in dealing with the responses to it

Helen

Ensign Steve

Yes, please let us know how it goes. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, right? Good luck to you, hon.

beth

Well, I just got my first response from a third cousin. A sweet girl. Older than me. I am not sure if it would be respectful to post her response here since it gives very personal details about her experience with my grandmother's death.

I wil post an excerpt: and:She is a distant cousin. I do expect a level of hostility from my other cousins.

This cousin said she is crying from remembering this painful time.( My great-grandmother, the patriarch of our family is the subject here.) I think I will respond bty apologizing for causing pain in remembering Grandma's death.

I was only able to reach half of my family. I will also have to write personal letters to those who are not connected and I will have to call my mother (yuck!) and face another disownment. Last disownment caused a nervous breakdown. I hope this time I can weather the storm. Sucks because my one best friend and main support is no longer answering my messages.

Helen, I may need you.

HelenM

You can e-mail me anytime, bg

I don't think it was wrong of you to talk about your Grandmother but if you want to say that you're sorry to that particular cousin that you caused her to be reminded of painful memories, that would be a nice thing to say, imo.

I gotta go; my son is in the spelling bee this evening...

Helen

beth

I hope that if I remain nice, my families back lash won't be so bad.

beth

Thanks Helen.

i hope your son does very well! My son is in the Battle of the Books next week. Tops in his grade.

beth

This is anotherone from my cousins. They are mass emailing their replies to me so that each one can have a turn. My aunts and uncles have not yet responded, but a phone call last night nearly made me lose it. Oh well, I'm stronger now. Each hit enables me to take a harder hit.


Beth, I too am sadden by the events that took place around Grandma's death and not a day goes by that I don't think about her 100 times. I don't know for sure that grandma was in any pain at the time of her death, but I do know that when she passed, she stepped into our Saviors loving arms and was reunited with her loving husband as she so many times has referred to grandpa on the backs of pictures that she had in her family albums. How do I know this, because I sat for 2 weeks straight copying nearly every piece of this wonderful woman's life onto a scanner and not only did she refer to Grandpa as her loving husband, but that he had also become a christain before he passed away. This tell me that grandma was a christain, but not only did that tell me, but she has told me many times of her belief in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. The only comfort I receive from grandma's passing is that I KNOW BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT THAT I WILL SEE HER AND GRANDPA AGAIN ONE DAY IN GLORY WITH MY LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!
God isn't responsible for grandma's passing. We are. We as human beings are the responsible party for bringing sin into the world when Adam and Eve sinned against God. That is part of our punishment is that we must die someday. Not all of us will die, not those who are still alive when Jesus comes back in the second coming, they will be caught up in the sky and changed in the twinkling of an eye to an everlasting body, but the dead in Christ shall rise FIRST! That's grandma and grandpa! God is a loving God, why else would he send his only begotten son into the world that whosoever believeth in him, shall be saved! Beth, I don't believe a christain can loose their salvation. The only unforgiveable sin is blasphemy of the holy ghost and that is to say that Jesus Christ is not the son of God and that he did not die on the cross to save us from our sins to bear the sins of the world on his shoulders and raise up from the dead to join his heavenly father in heaven to prepare a place for us that he might one day come again and receive us unto himself that we may have eternal life with him. Beth we will all have eternal life, but God gave us free choice to decide where we will spend it. In Hell where there will be gnashing of teeth and eternal burning and separation from God or in heaven with our maker. To me, the choice is clear. I choose my heavenly father. Even though God is a loving God, he is also a God of Judgement! All we have to do is except him as your personal Lord and Savior. But for instance, if you did except God and for some reason, you thought he wasn't coming back, are you any worse off than if you had never excepted him. One way, you have a chance at eternal life in heaven and the other way, no doubt you will spend it in hell. I don't know about you, but I like the first choice of the two. You mentioned that you've been searching the bible since grandma's death and I'm wondering if you've had someone to walk down that road with you, because sometimes it helps to have someone who knows the bible well enough to show us where to find the answers we are looking for. Everyone has doubt from time to time, but we need to cast all our care on him-Jesus Christ. He will show us the way. Everything Susan said, I also echo and I will keep you in my prayers and pray that God will open your eyes to see the truth and not allow Satan to cloud your judgement. The time is more at hand these days than ever before to being close to the fulfillment of prophecy. Please don't give up your search and please try to surround yourself with other true believers who can help you to find the answers you are looking for. If I can ever be of some assistance please, please let me know. Love your cousin,
p.s. below are just a few of the bible verses that some of the wording above was taken from but was not used as exact quotes in the above references:
Genesis 3:19
John 14:6
John 3: 16
John 14: 1-3
1 Peter 5:10
Mark 1:15
Matt 13: 42-43

6748_smith_w

Ugh...... I feel really bad for you. It takes a lot of courage to do what you're doing. Be strong and keep us informed.

Proxima Centauri

Don't get worked up about those Helish threats. Go to the home page of the Internet Infidels. Type "Pascal's wager" into the search engine. Richard Carrier's response is good. You can read it yourself.
This computer won't let me post a link.:banghead:
Perhaps you can write a reply to your cousin based on what Richard Carrier has said. I wouldn't send them the actual article. It would upset them too much if they learnt how far you are involved with atheists. They arn't ready for that yet. They may never be ready.

beth

Thanks, B.Shack.

This is the part that gets me the most.
and: She's basically saying that I should accept Jesus whether or not I believe and that I wasn't a Christian because I blasphemed against the holy ghost. Or that's how I take it because I don't believe in her god, nor do I think Christ was divine. Most of the letters are like this.