To a Young Man who Wanted "Reasons."

See, ________. You ask for "natural evidence," and I give you evidence in your soul.
But you doubt you have a soul, which is logical because if you doubt God you doubt
everything not material. If you ask for fish, I will not give you a stone. If you ask why
you cannot see, I will not point to the sun but to your eyes.

You do not like that response because that means you are responsible for your
unbelief, not me. I know why you don't believe; it is because you are a sinner born of
Adam's race. But you want a chemical formula. You would divert me from the disease.
There is plenty of natural evidence and I could talk all day and all night and you still
wouldn't believe. Faith is one, and if you do not believe the greater you will never
believe the lesser. God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in
spirit and in truth.

The Bible presupposes God and ventures on no "proof" as God needs no proof. You
are disappointed that you cannot see the sun and want me to tell you about flashlights.
Men are held responsible for their unbelief, not God. "They will not believe if one rose
from the dead." He did, and they didn't, and many still don't and go around blaming
God for not giving them enough "evidence," when they ignore the evidence that is
everywhere around them and in their own hearts and souls.

Everything you need is in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the rest of Scripture. If you
will not believe the Scripture and the words of the Apostles, why should I waste my
time? I am not smarter than they.

I can disciple only those with faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please God, for
he that cometh to God must believe that He is and is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him." You know the verse.

Seeking God without faith is like turning the light off and complaining that you cannot
see where you are going. The blindness is a moral deficiency, not an intellectual one.
Your problem is not lack of information for there are many fine Christians who do not
pretend to know all the works of God, but you pretend that it is their fault that you are
a wicked unbeliever.

If a man stands in my front yard with his eyes tightly closed and complains that he
cannot see the sun, I will not point a flashlight at the sun and expect him to see. I will
say, "Open your eyes, you fool." Then he will complain because I do not explain it
better? "Awake, thou that sleepest, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give thee
light."

I will point you to the very one that can resolve your problem, resolve your doubts, and
bring rest to your soul. You will read about Him n Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Your problem is not Bud Powell, It is the Gospel. Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the
Life, not Bud Powell, and I will not presume to be the author of your faith.

You ask, "Why should I believe in Jesus of Nazareth, that he should tell me the truth?"
Why, indeed? And why should you then believe that Bud Powell has not told you the
truth? And why should I believe that you are telling me the truth when you say you
don't see and it's my fault? I don't believe you. I think you are a liar. "Who is a liar but
he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?" I am telling you the truth.

Jesus Christ is plenty convincing. If you cannot see THAT, then I cannot help you.
And you want to talk about rocks and dead bones? If you don't believe Christ, the
living word, you won't believe a dead rock, because if you do not understand Christ,
you will not and cannot understand the rock.

John 6: "22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole
body shall be full of light.

23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the
light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"

The problem is the eye; not the sun. You may laugh at me in your intellectual
superiority, which shows that you indeed are blind, for they laughed at Jesus, too. Why
shouldn't you laugh at me?

If you mock the Bible, why not mock me? I am too old to care for that. I do grieve,
because I have seen so many go that way to the same result. Lu 6:25 "Woe unto you
that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and
weep."

"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and
purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your
laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the
sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."
I will and do continue to pray for you. It avails much, but is not "natural."