THE PERSONHOOD OF GOD

Have you ever read something so outrageous in a newspaper that you felt compelled to write the editor? That happened to me in September of 1980. In fact, I had my letter printed in The Edmonton Sun the next week.

Back then, my sight was good enough that I could read newspapers with a magnifying glass. I had plenty of time to read during my security guard shifts as well. One news story attracted my attention. A man, convicted of starting forest fires in B.C., was caught on a surveillance tape praying that God would get him out of his perdiciment. The Crown's lawyer objected that the recording from the holding cell couldn't be admissable because God wasn't a person.

As soon as I arrived home that morning, I wrote a letter to the editor which stated that God was indeed a person and that many believers around the world maintained that belief. Though I doubted that anything would happen, the letter appeared in the paper the next week.

After the Wednesday evening Bible study, the minister of the house church I attended complemented me about the letter. I felt so proud. The elderly woman in whose house we met often criticized my activities and also restricted the time I could have alone with the minister. Receiving his praise blessed me and boosted  my confidence.

Though it wasn't the first time my name got into the newspaper, I kept the well-edited letter as a memento. Never did I suspect back then that I'd be a writer and that I'd publish a book on how God led me out of that toxic church. Thanks to modern technology, I'm able to write, edit, and publish just like a fully-sighted person.

I wrote extensively about that house church in my newly-published memoir, How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity. Please check it out at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm.