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I want to know what you think about this...
 
Okay, so my brother, Mike has a friend named Eric. Eric's a good guy. He's religous- wants to be a minister! He even has a haircut so you can see the shape of a cross on the back of his head. He also has sideburns on the side of his face is the shapes of little crosses. He comes form a religious family, too. His brother is or is going to be a minister as well, and there is a youth group at his house twice a week. Now, since Eric is so into religion, he decided to pass out a letter to all the students at Oak Hills High School (all 3,000 of us), that would talk a little about God.
 
So, on Wednesday morning, I was in my friend's homeroom, checking my e-mail before school, when Eric came in, and asked me if I'd pass out something for him to the class. Not even realizing what it was, or how much this would affect the students, I gladly took some envelopes and agreed to help him.
 
Later on, in 4th bell, I heard two girls talking about some letter and how everyone was soo mad. (I'd never even read the letter, or took one for myself. Didn't even think of it. I still didn't know what it was.) They mentioned that this letter had started contreversy, and that it explained some things about God and Christianity. One of the girls, who had helped Eric pass out these letters to several homerooms let me read a copy of this letter.  The letter asked if you'd ever thought about where you're going when you die, and it said that the people responisble for this letter woudn't have felt like they were doing their job as fellow classmates by not saying those things. I read the letter, and was very pleased! I thought it was great that he had passed it out, but not everyone had the same opinion...
 
In my next class, someone mentioned to me, "So...I heard Eric was passing around some religious letter...?" Then she told me that she guessed he'd get suspended, or at least in trouble. (She hoped for the worst.) But I didn't really think anything of her opinion and ignored what she'd said. But all throughout the rest of the day, people were all saying either how mad they were, or how stupid Eric and his letter were.
 
I figured Eric hadn't gotten in trouble at all, and there wasn't any problem, till I found this in my inbox this morning:
 
"Many of you know about the letter that was being distributed at Oak Hills High School today by Eric Bast and probably a good number of you heard
about the result of that letter.

This is a letter that Eric has written and has asked me to forward to
members of the iMPACT youth group.

Hey everybody this is Eric Sideburns Bast and I did get suspended for 5 school days.  It's cool though.  I did violate school rules and there is no need for anybody to "go down with me".  Oak Hills and Mr. Vanassdall have been really cool about it and please don't be mad at them.  I broke
rules and I should be punished plain and simple.  The rules I violated were not anything to do with content of the letter but were about passing of pamphlets or leaflets without school permission.  I did not get school permission because I was afraid that if I asked the school and they said
that I couldn't do it then it would be over and I could not do this awesome thing.  So I decided to not ask them and take the chance of getting in trouble because that is how much I want people to know about Jesus Christ.  I just want everyone to know that use this is an awesome time to witness to your friends who need Jesus Christ.  If anyone
does not have a letter tell them to go to www. letter****friends.com and then click on "the letter" on the left side of the screen.  You are allowed to share the letter with others before and after school, in the
lunchroom and in between bells, just not in the classroom.  You should not hand out a letter to anyone in any of your classes.  You could get in trouble because it is a disruption to the learning environment.  If anyone
is talking about the letter ask them if they have read it first and if they have ask them what they think of it.  If they don't have one tell them about lettertomyfriends.com.  I have free bibles and free More than A Carpenters for anyone who is interested just let me know and I can get
some to you.  I will be praying for everybody.  You rule.

Eric"
 
I was shocked! A 5 day suspention?!!! Woah!
 
I later found out (from Mike) that he had spent $1000 to pay for ink, paper, envelopes....  He was on the news today at 6, I missed it though...he was also in the paper.
 
What do you guys think? I don't know if he's been excepted into a college yet, but if not, that can't look good! Not to mention, the (at least a thousand or so) students who were angered by the letter.
 
Well, anyway, you can go to http://www. lettert****friends.com/ to read his letter, or e-mail him (or either of the two other people) some support.
 
I want to know you're thoughts!

Edited by me
moderator

I will post the letter for you below.

By the way- yes, that is supposed to say "Seperation of Church and State". Sorry! Type-o!

I think it's important that you tell your friend that his rights have been violated and he should fight this. Not to create a problem, but because this is a matter of religious toleration for future generations.

http://www.aclj.org/Issues/Resources/Document.aspx?ID=764 (http://www.aclj.org/Issues/Resources/Document.aspx?ID=764)

It's important that you read this.

God Bless

THIS LETTER IS FROM SOME OF YOUR FELLOW STUDENTS
Dear
Every day we are faced with decisions that will affect us for the rest of our lives. Where are you going to college? Who are you going to marry? What career will your pursue? We don’t feel like we would be good classmates if we didn’t share with you the most important and life-altering decision of our lives

Have you ever thought about where you are going to go once you die? Everyone wants to go to Heaven, but how do we get there? Some people say that as long as you are a good person you’ll get to Heaven. What does God say? God says you must be perfect and without sin to get to Heaven. There’s a big problem with this because none of us are perfect. All it takes is one sin to separate you from God! God is perfect and can only be in the presence of another perfect being. God is like a bride in a pure white dress on her wedding day. The bride’s dress is perfectly clean and without stain, but say you saw her little brother, covered in mud, charging at her to give her a hug before her wedding? Wouldn’t you stop him? W hat would happen if the kid hugged the bride? Her dress would be ruined, wouldn’t it? Obviously the kid and the bride can’t be in contact because the bride’s dress will no longer be clean and pure. From the first time we sinned we were dirty and could not be in God’s presence because that would ruin Him.

We’re all imperfect, so how can we be with God? God says, “For the wages of sin is death, but  the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) Even though we willingly sinned against him, he still loved us and wanted to be with us forever. We couldn’t live a perfect life and we deserved death, so God sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life and to die in our place. A lot of people have seen the Passion of the Christ. Have you ever  wondered why Jesus went through so much torture and suffering? He was whipped, mocked, laughed at, and eventually was crucified and died on the cross. He did all of that for us because he loves us so much. He wants us to be with him forever!

Now Jesus Christ didn’t die like everyone else does: Three days later he rose from the dead to prove that he really was the Son of God. The biggest decision you will ever have to make in your life is what you’re going to do with Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) You can choose to believe in Jesus Christ and to give your life to him or you can choose not to. God is not going to force you to be with Him! He wants everyone to choose to be with Him. He gave us free will to choose to be with Him in  eternity in Heaven, or we can choose to ignore Him and be away from Him forever in a real place called hell. God says, “For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) Do you ever feel lonely? Do you feel like something’s missing in your life?

Do you ever wonder why you were born? I felt lonely and depressed many years of my life, asking these questions. When I accepted Jesus Christ, the emptiness was filled and now my life had purpose. Accepting Jesus Christ means to believe that he died on the cross for your sins, ask him for forgiveness, and invite him to be in control of your life. You might be wondering why you should commit your life to Christ. I’ve never been happier and more glad to be alive since I gave my life to Christ. I’ve found inner peace that I can’t describe and on top of it all, I now have a friend who will never leave me. Jesus promises his Holy Spirit for all who commit their lives to him. Matthew 28:20 says, “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” He will always be there
for you, loving you like no other human can. I no longer have to fear death because I know that I will be in  Heaven where there’s no pain and no suffering. We’re writing this letter because we want as many people as possible to be in Heaven with us. We don’t want people to suffer for eternity in hell.

Amen, DW.

yeah, that ^ was the letter, the one that caused so much contreversy....I've seen at least 4 news paper articles, seen it on local news 3 times, national news, KLove....

Honestly,  I think the world needs a few more Erics around.  He has stirred an honest debate about faith, life, and what is truly imporant in this world.

Why are we here?  Why did God decide that he wanted me in the world at this particular time in history?  What is the plan that he has for me in my life?  Am I here to save the masses, or am I here only to mentor the neighbor's child when he needs someone to talk to?

We spend too much time bickering over meaningless things in our life, and miss out on some of the truly important blessings in the world.  

We recently moved from the US to the UK in a job relocation.  On he back of the house we are renting is a glass roofed room called a conservatory.  The sun sets now here at 5 pm, and it is amazing that as we eat supper at night, to see the sun fall behind the horizon, and view the magnificent heavens above us as we dine.  The lord's handiwork in full display as we dine on the nurisment that he has given us.

Good for Eric! Too bad he had to break the rules and then get punished for it. Perhaps he could have stood just off school grounds to talk about Christ. Surely we as Christians wouldn't want propaganda about Islam or Buddhism circulated around to our children at school now would we?  ::)

Spread the news but don't break the LAW to do it. It makes a bad impression.

that is the coolest thing in the world!!!!!!!!!!