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Real Answers™
gh79
Copyright: © ©2004 Gary Hardaway
550 words

AN OPEN LETTER TO RON REAGAN, JR.

By: Gary Hardaway

First of all, please accept my heartfelt condolences on the immense loss of your father, our beloved fortieth president. Secondly, thank you for your carefully chosen, beautifully eloquent, genuinely loving words of tribute at the interment ceremony. Like your dad, you possess extraordinary charm and communication skill.

I listened to your remarks with rapt attention, because, according to a number of internet sources, you are an atheist. You appear on various lists of professing atheists, and I assume you would offer a disclaimer if you disapproved of such listings. I’ve not found any disclaimers.

If, in fact, you believe there is no "god," then these past few days surely presented you with terribly difficult, perhaps heartbreaking dilemmas. Outwardly you showed such thoughtful respect for the spiritual sensibilities of those who prayed, and those who read the Scriptures. But what angst must have crept into your inner being.

At the outset of the journey, your pastor chose a most comforting Psalm as he read, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble" (46:1) and "Be still and know that I am God" (46:10) How hard it must have been to hear these words but believing them to be utterly empty. No comfort. Just superstition and nonsense.

And then, through the days of repose, departures, arrivals, processions, lying in state, commemoration, and other meticulous ceremonies, you must have heard forty or fifty hallowed hymns of the faith: “Abide With Me,” “Nearer My God to Thee,” “My Jesus I love Thee,” “Eternal Father Strong to Save,” and “Just As I Am Without One Plea,” to name a very few. And many prayers. And, again and again, “Amazing Grace.”

Ron, it must have hurt deeply to find yourself immersed in a world energized by faith in Christ, resounding with testimony of His grace, and overflowing with hope of the resurrection. You graciously took it all in stride, ever honoring the faith of your father and mother without sharing it. But how I wish you would share it.

I don’t know why or in what circumstances you decided to become an atheist. Perhaps intellectual issues arose and seemed too formidable to resolve. Perhaps some emotional trauma struck you deep in the heart and alienated you.

Whatever the source of your disbelief, I implore you not to give in to terminal denial of your Creator. Such denial is ultimate despair. It leaves you alone in the cold, unfeeling void. There's no need to go there. Your creator gave you a mind to know Him, a soul to enjoy Him. He sent a Savior to lead you through "many dangers, toils, and snares" out of darkness and death into His light and eternal life.

Tactfully you declared, "He is home; he is free," words that could suggest a number of interpretations. But one stands out as the most thrilling and most cogent of them all. This faith is not blind. It’s backed by one who said – and proved – "I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).

Your father lives. Not in memory, not in metaphor, not in the poetic, imaginary landscape you painted in your eulogy. He now dwells in a Reality so blazing it makes this world seem like a flickering shadowland. He sees the face of God.

Gary Hardaway has taught in universities in the USA, Lithuania and Canada. He holds a Ph. D. in foundations of education. "Real Answers™" furnished courtesy of The Amy Foundation Internet Syndicate. To contact the author or The Amy Foundation, write or E-mail to: P. O. Box 16091, Lansing, MI 48901-6091; amyfoundtn@aol.com

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