Letters and Responses

From The Mary T. and
Frank L. Hoffman
Family Foundation
and All-Creatures.Org

Letter from Elizabeth About Christianity and Animals - 14 Sep 2009

Hey,

I�m trying to become a Christian again but I have a lot of questions that none of my family could answer. I�ve never been baptized or a communion, confession or anything like that. I haven�t been to church a whole lot.

I�ve asked family members what is the Christian faith and to put it bluntly, I think they can be pretty judgmental and kind of harsh on things like with homosexuals for instance. Are they going to hell just because of their sexual orientation? They�re human just like everyone else. No matter how good hearted they are, are they going to hell regardless? You can be gay and Christian right? God tells us to love and accept. Why doesn�t the Christian community practice what they preach? I believe God loves everyone and I highly doubt he�s worried about anyone�s sex life.

And what about suicides? I�ve ask a few family members and they told me that people who commit suicide burn in hell. I find that sad and hard to believe. Would God turn his back on a sad and broken soul? I mean, if you're depressed enough to believe death is the only way hoping to maybe find salvation in heaven? But people I�ve met say those who commit suicide don�t believe in God. In the first place I don�t believe that, I think you can still believe in God and still have suicidal thoughts. Are these souls ignored?

I apologize if I offended you or anyone else who reads this but I�ve wanted to become Christian for a very long time and this is the first time that I�m actually making an attempt to really become one.'

Just want to say your site seems really welcoming. I thought it was an animal welfare site like HSUS. When I stumbled on to it I was really surprised to find that this is a Christian community that actually believes animals have souls! Never met anyone with faith who believes that. From what I�ve experienced, it's either you love animals or you love God. I�m glad I was wrong.

Yours truly,
Elizabeth

P.S. If it's okay with you I would very much like to e-mail you questions about faith In general and I mean like really basic stuff.

Reply from Frank and Mary Hoffman

Dear Elizabeth:

Thank you for writing. We'll do our best to help, and nothing that your wrote is offensive.

Christianity is not as complicated as a lot of people make it out to be. If you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord of your life and that He rose from the dead, you are basically there. The only other thing you have to do is confess your sins and ask the Lord to forgive you and to change your life so that you can turn away from your former sinful ways. If you mean this, He'll change your life and your a Christian.

The open practice of homosexuality is considered a sin, but in our opinion, it is not nearly as bad as the blatant indifference to the suffering of billions of animals every year that we see in most professing Christians. Thus, this deliberate hardening of their hearts prevents them from fully being able to love, and makes us wonder of they are really saved. Also remember that as the Bible teaches us, perfect love covers a multitude of sin.

There is absolutely nothing in the Bible that says that people who commit suicide go to hell. God is a God of Love and He sees the true intent of the heart.

If we truly love God, shouldn't we also love the whole of His creation? Of course we should, and this includes every other human being, every other animals, and the rest of creation. To honor and protect God's creation is a way of expressing our love for God.

We look forward to hearing from you again.

In the Love of the Lord,

Frank and Mary

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