Hello Greg;

What a pleasant surprise to hear from you again.  After your last letter, I had assumed you no longer wished to continue our discussions.  I very much appreciate you clarifying that you did not mean to be offensive to me and that you personalized it when you said that it all sounds so ridiculous to you.  I can understand that.  Thank you for being reasonable enough to realize that just because something sounds completely ridiculous to you, does not necessarily mean that it is ridiculous.  

For example, it sounds equally ridiculous to me that ...."the universe made itself", "a frog turning into a prince is considered a fairy tale... but given a billion years, it is then considered science!", "a group of people made up a fictitious character named Jesus, then suffered poverty, persecution, and death for him!", etc....  I think you see my point.  I believe the challenge we made to one another was to both present our "ridiculous" cases with as much sound reasoning and logic as possible, then determine which case seems to have the best evidence to back up it's claims.

However, I'm still not sure if you are really interested in continuing this. Is it true that your cousin David told you he felt you were "getting beat" in the "Great Debate"?  Or were you also just saying that to "make your point"?   If you are still truly interested in continuing our discussion, may I remind you of our agreement when we first began....

• We agreed to discuss only one topic at a time.
• We agreed to not introduce a new topic until that both sides of the topic was completely presented and we both agreed to move on.
• We agreed to directly answer each others question.

So, with that in mind Greg, although I am not opposed to providing you with sound answers to the barrage of statements you made in your last letter, I must point out that you seem to be trying to get us off track.... All those comments are ONLY RELEVANT AFTER WE GET THE BASICS TAKEN CARE OF...... specifically:

• Did Jesus exist?
• Was He Truly God come to us in the flesh?
• Did He Truly raise from the dead?
• Can He Truly save me?
• Is there any other way to be saved?

Greg, I would encourage you to focus more on these basics.  In your last letter you challenged myself and "my readers" (you are assuming that all people who come to visit my web site are Christian believers.  That is not the case.  I have been contacted by many non believers as well.  You may want to keep this in mind when writing your letters, as it gives you an opportunity to clearly spell out your case against Jesus existing and therefore "sway" visitors away from Jesus and this "Dangerous Christian Religion".) to "think about the things that a good Christian is required to believe in."  I need to point out to you that believing in ALL those things OR NOT, is not necessary for one to be saved.  One can be entirely wrong about everything else you think Christians must believe in and yet still be fully saved if they simply recognize they are a sinner, believe that Jesus did exist, was who He said He was (God in the flesh), can do what He said He could do (cleanse us of our sins and thereby save us), and ask Him to come into our hearts to be Lord and Savior of our life.  However, one can also be entirely correct about everything else and still die in their sins, if they refuse to truly accept Jesus.  You do not even need to concern yourself with the other issues you bring up... at least, not yet.

So, if you are interested in continuing where we left off, I believe I had fully presented my case summary in the letter dated November 29th on my website and had asked you to do the same, which you have as yet not done.  I think that is where we need to begin... with you clearly summarizing your case that "Jesus never existed" with as much sound logic and reason as you have.

Also, I had thoroughly answered another one of your side track questions... something about God allowing sex slaves, rape, etc.... and you failed to even acknowledge that response... where I pointed out that your thinking is coming from a lack of understanding of what the Scriptures really say.

Once we get "back on track", completely finish the subject we started with, I may be agreeable to continue on another "argument" you have.

• To respond to your "post script letter".  I am sorry you found my choice of background unsuitable.  No, I did not have any vicious motives in my choices.  I must just have poor taste.  I guess you can just chalk it up to the fact that I am an intellectually inferior person, with little or no education, who believes in such absurd things, which is what you have repeatedly and so graciously reminded me of throughout your letters... Just because I happen to be a Christian.  I am more than happy to change the backgrounds... I tried the light gray, but personally I think it is less appealing than what I was using, but if it's what you like, I'll go with it.  How about you could send me a background that you would prefer??   That way you could feel better about it.  In fact, an even better idea would be in addition to writing me a regular e mail letter, how about creating your own web page letter, send it to me and I'll simply put it on that way??  I am very serious and think it is a great idea and would certainly take away any possible unconscious bias when creating the pages that I might have.  The only condition I would ask it that you not use any graphics that I or any other reader would find very objectionable.  I would certainly confer with you on any such material.

Anyways, I hope all is well with you and your family and I truly did appreciate hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Derek