I seem to have put your letter away so carefully that I cannot find it. You indicated that you would like to have my opinion on some questions. I am not submitting these comments as a basis for argument but I think you should have a clear understanding of my position and what I believe.

I believe that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. This is well stated in many ways in the New Testament. Matthew in particular makes an effort to show that Jesus was the fulfilment of prophesies and was indeed the Christ.
See Luke 2: 25-32 for the temple drama.
For the witness of John the Baptist and the voice from heaven see Matt. 3:17, Mark 1: 11, John 1: 29-34, Luke 3: 15-17.
For the voice at transfiguration see Matt. 17: 5.
For the disciples' opinion see Matt. 16: 13-14, 15-17

The Bible is full of Jesus statements about himself. Here are a few of them. Matt. 5: 17., John 9: 35-37, Matt. 16: 20, Mark 14: 61-62, Luke 4: 17-21, Mark 8: 31, John 10: 30, John 8: 23, 42.

Faith in Jesus Christ is the basis of Christianity and Jesus made it plain that there is no other way. See John 14: 6, Luke 12: 8-9, Matt. 10: 32-33, John 3: 15, 17-18, Mark 16: 16.

Jesus put much emphasis on faith. See Matt. 17: 20, Mark 9: 23, Matt. 21: 21-22, Matt. 7: 7-8, Matt. 6: 30-34. The New Testament has a great many descriptions of healing by the practice of faith and even the dead were restored on several occasions. There is currently much scepticism now a days about faith healing but there is no reason to doubt the healings of Jesus. A couple of weeks ago your Morn and I were at a meeting of The Christian Medical Association in Minneapolis. The speaker of the evening was the executive secretary of a movement to bring Christianity to foreign students while they are in the United States. He formerly visited widely in the mission fields in Asia. He told about finding a Christian community in Korea which derived their Christianity from a community in China quite a number of years ago. They are an indigenous church with no influence from this country. He said he found a depth of Christian faith which makes our religion look like we are immune to religion. He said that after this church had been worshiping and praying for several days the sick people from all around began to gather and there were a lot of people healed much like in Jesus time. He said he examined some of those whose muscles were restored to function. One of the lady physicians at our table said she had seen these healings in Korea and that her mother was one of them. Her mother is visiting her here now. This doctor is a friend of ours and she was born in Korea. The same speaker said that in this community in Korea a young man was also raised from the dead and that he is now attending college. He said that in this case rigor mortis had set in. In medical fields rigor mortis is a sure sign of death.

I believe in the Resurrection of Jesus. This is the power behind Christianity. Without believing in the resurrection there is no triumph over death, no belief in eternal life hereafter and no justification for believing that Jesus is the Son of God. The resurrection is well certified in all of the gospels. See Matt. 28: 1-10, 16-20, Mark 16: 2-14, Luke 24: 1-12, 13-53, John 20: 9, 11-18, 26-31, and foretold Matt. 26:32, Mark 10: 34.
I do not believe that all men will be raised from the dead and appear in their present body forms. It would be a sorry sight indeed if the dead were restored to life in the condition they were in when they died. The hereafter will be different and the only way we can describe it is to say it will be spiritual. If you ask me what that means I cannot tell you. Jesus certainly believed in eternal life and identified it with himself (see John 6: 40, 47, John 11: 25, 26, John 14: 1-3, 19, 28, 29, Matt. 25: 31-46.

Before Jesus went away he made it plain that he would send the Holy Spirit (see John 14: 16, 26, John 16: 7, Acts 1: 8.)
The Holy Ghost came to the disciples at Pentecost (see Acts 2: l-4) (See enclosure) The effect of the Holy Spirit has been felt by many followers of Jesus since that time. (see enclosed story of John Wesley's experience).

I believe with you that love is the one term which comes closest to defining God or what he is like. (See 1 John 4: 16). In 1 Corinthians 13, we find much about love which you are familiar with. As you know it says "And now abideth, faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love." Love does not exclude the importance of faith, nor belief, nor the ten commandments, nor obedience, nor humility, nor forgiveness, etc. but it is the relationship which makes all these other things the natural consequences.

I hold to the belief that man is saved by Grace which is an expression of God's love and not by works. Good deeds are not of course excluded as tangible evidence of the Divine Spirit within. To me Matt. 20: 26-28 points out an expression of love as well as humility. How frequently parents live this kind of love every day and think nothing of it. Another indication that good works must be a labor of love and not premeditated doing good is found in Jesus parable Matt. 25; 31-40.

We commonly speak of the love of God as being similar to the love of a parent for a child and this is true up to a point. A parent does give love to a child and expects only trust, obedience, unquestioning respect and loyalty. This is a picture of a little child relationship and in many ways it is like our relationship to God. As a child grows older the situation necessarily changes. The child becomes more assertive and begins thinking for himself. This is normal development and in a way it is like God giving us freedom to choose. With freedom to choose goes the possibility that a wrong choice will be made. Wrong choices by children may be as grievous to a parent as our wrong choices are to God but of lesser consequences. As a child grows older it may seem to a child or teenager that he is not loved as much as formerly. While a parent does not actually love a child less, normal development demands that the protective overwhelming love poured out on a younger child be manifested on an older child in a different way. Otherwise emotional maturity is interfered with. Immature adults still dependent on mother are rather common and are not pleasant to see.

I think in some respects the love of husband and wife comes closer to expressing the relationship we should have with God. In the marriage relationship there is complete commitment of both parties in love which has no reservations. It is a giving outpouring of love which features giving rather than getting. In the child parent relationship the expression of a parent's love is likely to be identified with getting on the part of the child. This is apt to carry over into adult life as a conception of God as the great giver of all things and our prayers are apt to consist largely of petitions asking God to give us something. It is true that God wants to give us what is good for us but to come into the fullness of God's love we must respond to His love with an all consuming love which submerges our will to His because in Him we recognize the apex of all that is good and perfect and excellent whose will and judgements are unquestionable.

The love of God for man and the love God requires of man is not any mild wishy-washy sort of thing but an intense all consuming passion. Paul expressed the overwhelming power of God's love in Romans 8: 38 and 39. John 3: 16 tells us that God's love for man is so great that He gave his only begotten Son. Jesus expressed the great depth of love which man can express in John 15: 13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends". Jesus not only said this and believed this but He did just that on the cross. Furthermore by His death Jesus showed the extent of God's love for man.

What kind of love is expected of man? We get one answer in Matt. 22: 37-40. We get another answer in Matt. 10: 37-39. This is love that gives all. This is not the kind of love which asks for everything and gives nothing. Jesus tried to show that love of God is more than lip service when he talked to Peter in John 21: 15-17. He might have said "If you love me as you say, show me. If you love as much as you say, why don't you do something about it? If you love me as you say -- Go ye therefore and teach all nations ------ and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world". Matt. 28: 19 and 20.