AMANDA: Bruce, everything I have answered is only a tip of the iceberg.  Talking about this sort of issue you have would be much easier than trying to write it down, but I hope you can find some sort of understanding to my points put down.

BRUCE:  Yeah, it's the "tip of the iceberg" alright!  I have barely begun to hold the horrors of your own Bible up to your face, and force you to actually deal with the atrocities, the injustices, the inconsistencies, the contradictions, the failed prophecies, the plagiarism from far more ancient religions, etc., etc., etc.

AMANDA: I can't even begin to figure out where all of your hatred stems from, but it is certainly aimed at the wrong person.  You gave up on Christ at the age of 17 (from what I figured out on your web-site).  You didn't give yourself enough time to know Christ.  Going to youth camps and Bible Studies doesn't give you an instantaneous relationship with God, that is something personal which you have to do yourself with prayer and I'm sure that in your 17 years you never did that.  If however, you really and truly were saved (which you put as "saved", so I'm not sure if it was real or not), then God's not going to let you go to the devil without a fight.

BRUCE:  Yes, of course, it always comes back to the no true Scotsman claim; meaning, of course, that I must not have been a "true Christian" or else I would still be one today!  Well, Amanda, if I wasn't a "true Christian" then no one is, because I believed it all hook-line-and-sinker!  In fact, Amanda, my beliefs were very similar to those you are professing here, although even when I was a Christian I would have NEVER been so hateful as to proclaim out loud that the death of a friend's child was a "consequence" (i.e., punishment from God) for their failure to "live in God's will."   

But, hey, for the sake of argument let's just assume that you are right and I was not a "True Christian," and that I wasn't really "saved."  And just as I challenged you earlier, why don't you take this opportunity to demonstrate exactly what makes one a "True Christian"; and more, exactly what it takes for one to be "saved" and thus acquire "salvation" in heaven with Jesus?  Remember, Amanda, creeds and opinion are useless!  I want direct Bible citations to back up your assertions, and make sure that none of these contradict or conflict with any other passages!  Being that you are a "True Christian" (TM) this should be a simple task for you to accomplish!

AMANDA: I'm praying for you Bruce because, whether you know it or not, there is a war in the spiritual realms right now over your soul.  Call me fanatical and/or narrow-minded if you want to, but I care what happens to you, and especially to your little girl who is dependant on what you teach her.  I pray that God will open your heart to His Word and reveal His glory to you.

BRUCE: Oh goodie--another person "praying for my soul"!  Well, Amanda, I literally have hundreds of "True Christians"(TM) praying for my soul, so if even one among you is a "True Christian" then according to Matthew 21:21-22 and 1John 5:14-15 I should be home free irregardless of what I say, or do, or believe!

[Matthew 21:21-22]   21 Jesus answered them, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' it will be done. 22 Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive." (my emphasis)

[1 John 5:14-15] 14 And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.

BRUCE:  So, Amanda, if your God is real and it is "his will" that "all men should be saved" (1 Timothy 2:3), then the only thing that could prevent my actually being "saved" would be if you, and all the other Christians currently praying for my soul, were somehow lacking in your own "faith"! 

Maybe if you were really a "True Christian," Amanda, you could perform those resurrections and healings Jesus says "believers" should be able to do!  Maybe, instead of presuming to speak for your God in professing the death of your "friend's" little boy as being some "consequence" of her failure to follow your God's will, you could get off your duff and show the world the "truth" of your God, and your "faith" in him, by resurrecting that little boy from the dead yourself!

As for being concerned about "what I teach" my daughter?  She will be free to believe whatever she likes.  I will not prevent her from learning about Christianity or any other religion; to the contrary, I will encourage her to become a good student of religion!   And when she inevitably comes home from school and starts asking me questions about being told (most likely by school mates) that she is a "sinner" and in need of "saving" by Jesus, I will help her understand that she most assuredly is not a "sinner" or a "bad person," or in need of being "saved" from anything!  I will make sure she knows and understands that she is a "good" person, and that I love her, and that she should always feel free to talk with me about anything!  If she chooses to follow Christianity, so be it, but she will be doing so with a knowledge and understanding of many religious beliefs and philosophies, and that will include no religious beliefs at all!

Bruce Monson