The article begins with a letter Bart received referencing a talk he'd given where he told the story of a nine-year-old girl who'd been gang-raped. Her Sunday School teacher told her God must have had His reasons for allowing it to happen so the girl rejected God. The letter quoted Bart as saying:

"Because you believed God was indeed in control, and because you believed the girl's lack of faith doomed her to eternal damnation, you decided that God must be a a 'cruel bastard.'"

The letter concluded by asking how Bart had transitioned to trusting God again and the bulk of the article is his response. If I understand his main premise, he now believes that the nine-year-old girl "will somehow be redeemed, and she herself will be healed as part of the complete redemption and absolute healing that is to come for all of us."

In fact, Bart states his position quite clearly when he says:

"Perhaps, as many believe, all who die without confessing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior go to Hell to suffer forever. Most important of all, perhaps God's sovereignty is such that although God could indeed prevent little girls from being raped, God is no less just or merciful when they are raped, and those children and we who love them should uncritically give God our thanks and praise in any case.

For better or worse, I simply am not interested in any God but a completely good, entirely loving, and perfectly forgiving One who is powerful enough to utterly triumph over evil. Such a God may not exist, but I will die seeking such a God, and I will pledge my allegience to no other possibility because, quite frankly, anything less is not worthy of my worship.

Please, don't get me wrong. I am well aware that I don't get to decide who God is. What I do get to decide, however, is to whom I pledge my allegience. I am a free agent, after all, and I have standards for my God, the first of which is this: I will not worship any God who is not at least as compassionate as I am. If Mahatma Gandhi and my young friend who got gang-raped are going to Hell because they failed to believe the right stuff, then I suppose I am too, for the same reason."

I think Bart is making a huge mistake in holding God responsible for the actions of evil men. One of the pillars of the way this world operates is that God has given humanity free will. The choice between good and evil, sin and salvation -- in fact God and the devil, is the main plotline for the life of every man and woman.

Anyone who knows me knows that the death of my youngest brother as an infant was one of the foundational events of my life and greatly impacted who I am today. At 12 years old I was too young to adequately grieve and it took many years before my fury with God was released full force. It's a long story and doesn't need to be retold in gory detail -- suffice it to say, the salient point is that, as an adult, I had to decide whether I would trust the God I knew existed or reject Him...no matter the circumstances of my life. No matter what He allowed or caused to happen. No matter whether I understood His ways or not. On a certain day on a certain road at a certain spot I can point out to you, I pulled over and told God I would follow Him because there was no other legitimate option.

I can understand where Bart is coming from. It is indescribably difficult, at times, to follow a God who says He is loving and good while watching the world fall apart because of the actions of evil men all around you. But a lack of understanding the ways of God does not negate the fact that He is, indeed, God and we are but creation.

Many aspects of the article are disturbing to me, but the part I believe is truly dangerous is this:

"I still do my best to convince young people to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, but not because I'm afraid God will damn them to Hell if they don't. On the contrary, I want the kids I love to follow Jesus because I genuinely believe following Jesus is the best kind of life."

With all due respect, this is flat out wrong and, as I said, dangerous. I will only take space to quote four short verses, but there are many more throughout Scripture to refute his position:

Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 4:7-8 "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."
1 Timothy 2:5-6 "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men."

If Bart Campolo was just a regular Joe on the street, I'd give him the same respect I tried to give him in this entry. I disagree strongly, but he has every right to exercise the free will God gave him, just as I do. My problem is that, if he is involved in any way with Youth Specialties, he's passing on these beliefs to youth workers all over the country. In that capacity, he is having a dangerous and erroneous impact on those who interact with and teach the young and impressionable minds of children.

It may not be politically correct to claim this kind of stuff -- that there's one way to God. There's that look you get when you tell someone that the Bible says they're a sinner and must repent of their sins or they'll go to hell. Who wants to say that in our relativistic society? In fact, who wants to believe it? But as I said in the previous post, I worship a God who is, not a god I created in the image I wanted him to be.

Romans 3:3-4 "What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar."

If you'd like to read a different take on the article, here's where I first found out about it.