I have a very good friend who is worried that I am going to hell. Sweet woman, never lived more than 100 miles from where she was born. I don't think she knows well anyone besides me who is not a Christian. So I tell this story, which I am copying from a review of the book:
It was a cold, rainy November day. The wardens had found the body of the suicide, and the Reverend was speaking to the victim's brother. He looked solemn for a minute, then asked if the church would bury his sister, since she had just been told in church that suicide was a sin that God could never forgive. Her answer was basically this:
"The game wardens have been walking through the freezing rain all day trying to find your sister. If they hadn't found her, they would have looked all day tomorrow and the next day, in the cold, in the rain, so they could bring her home to you. If there is one thing I am sure of, it is that God is no less kind, committed, or merciful than a Maine game warden."
~Kate Braestrup Here if you Need Me
If there is a god, I believe that he will forgive my lack of faith, and be pleased by my attempts to serve his creation. I also have no interest in a god who would be petty, mean or wasteful. Eternal damnation is a silly idea.
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