prayer from the cell: oh the numbers

When I was in my last year of high school I was good friends with Janice. I remember we were at a party. We got into a conversation about God because she knew I was going to go to Bible College and she asked why. She had gone through so much suffering in her life that she decided there must not be a compassionate god. She added force to her argument by pointing out all the atrocities around the world throughout history. She flatly said, “David, there is no god!”

After the party when I was walking home I was overcome with a mixture of sadness and frustration. How could God send someone like her to Hell? She was so kind, gentle and caring. She was nicer than the church folks that I knew. This did not make sense to me.

I decided right then that the idea of “Hell” was not understood and I refused to accept without question what I was taught.