In the Sept. 6 Daily, Roger Hughes said it would be more interesting to talk about “a loving God who tortures people for being imperfect? How can one not be intrigued by such a strange concept?” I admit, I would be intrigued by such a concept as well, but that is simply not the case with the Christian God. I have often struggled with wondering why such awful things happen to people that God supposedly loves. But this creator of the universe and one, true God DOES care, and he does love. It is important to know that no one has ever seen the physical hand of God torturing anyone. We men torture our fellow man for a lack of love and because of the evil built up within us (Matthew 12:35). My critics will jump on me for using Bible passages, but it is important to see that the Bible speaks about these issues. We are an imperfect people because of the fall of man in Genesis 2-4. Adam and Eve disobeyed the command of God not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the death of man had arrived; man was no longer perfect. Soon after, Cain killed Abel and the “evil ball” started rolling. And yet, God continues to give us freedom to choose. So the question one asks is: how does a perfect God allow imperfect creatures in his presence for eternity? In his infinite love, mercy, and grace, he sends a Savior, Jesus Christ, who provides redemption for the sins of us humans. God shows his love for us by allowing us to enter into eternal life, even though we are evil, simply by believing that Jesus Christ is his Son who died for our evil and rose again on the third day. The evil that we as humans encounter will be defeated. There is not a false prophecy in the Bible and I have no reason to think that Revelation 21-22 is false. These two chapters tell of what will happen when Satan and evil are defeated in the final days. God is not evil and he did not create evil. Satan tricked us, and evil came into the world by the abuse of the freedom that God gave us: the freedom to choose. God does not torture us. We sin against God every day, and he is justified to punish us however he may wish. But God chose Christ to be the only savior of the world so we are not punished. My letter does not include proofs for God or Christ and uses Scripture. The issue at hand is a theological one that is usually not discussed and needs to be because the fact remains: God is not evil. God is love. He loved the world so much that, in spite of our sins and evil, “whoever believes in [Christ] shall not perish but have eternal life.” Andy Merrick

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