A couple of weeks ago a woman named Rachelle wrote on my Facebook wall that she hadn’t read my book, only “clips” from it. She claimed that I portrayed God as a “bloodthirsty evil monster who delights in preparing ways to torture humanity.” She went on to declare that if my book is what it appeared to her to be, she would “burn it on the spot.” Needless to say, I was shocked and offended by this. I prayerfully pondered how I should respond, if at all. I was reminded that in Matthew 18:15 we born-again believers are instructed to confront people who wrong us directly. Therefore I responded to this woman, whom I did not know, “Rachelle, God wrote in His Word (that’s the Bible, Rachelle, another book I’m confident you haven’t read) in Proverbs 12:15, ‘The execution of justice is joy for the righteous, but is terror to the workers of iniquity.’ Your urge to burn a book that offends you puts you in impressive company: Hitler, Stalin and many other great despots of history. Congrats.”
The next day I posted: “Hey, Rachelle, I have an offer for you. Send my publicist your address and we’ll send you a free copy of my novel. If you read it and still hate it, burn it and/or attack it here on my Facebook page. What do you say? If you agree, I’ll post the name, address and phone number of the publicist, and you can contact them for your book.”
Soon I received the following from Rachelle: “I want to apologize for saying I would burn the book. It was entirely foolish. Please forgive me.” I quickly responded, “Thank you, Rachelle, for your generous response. I accept your apology and totally forgive you. I understand that showing the harsh side of God is an upsetting aspect of the novel. I plan to post soon why I felt it was necessary. Meanwhile, my offer of a free book is still good. Blessings to you and yours.”
Is God’s Word powerful or what?