The Return of Gabriel: The Gabriel Letters, Book Ii ~More Advice to a Young Angel~

By Richard V. Shriver

This collection of letters is a continuation of my earlier collection, The Gabriel Letters. I stumbled on the idea of writing imagined letters from an archangel advising a young guardian, while reading an introduction to C. S. Lewis Screwtape Letters. It has been a marvelous way perhaps delusional of standing back and imagining that I can see the world through angel eyes. The amazing result for me has been a sense of objectivity and good will.

The intended purpose of the letters is to apply to all things the idea of Gods complete love (self-sacrificing, eternal, parent-like love). This idea is the center of Christianity. It is Jesus message, and it is St. Pauls good news. If we desire to be Christian, we should begin, it seems to me, by attempting to apply Jesus teachings to all things: to our behavior; to our human relationships, especially family; to our work and our business dealings; to the way we run our churches; and to the way we study the scriptures. If we take Jesus seriously, we must reevaluate much of the Bible the parts which are not specifically the teachings of Jesus. Jesus, Himself, questioned much of the scriptures.
These letters cover a variety of subjects, many of them Biblical. Some Biblical passages need correction in light of Jesus ideas. Some Biblical passages are so marvelous that we need to lift them to the sky and shout, Look at this! Some Biblical passages are confusing, and we need to wrestle with them. But in all, we should be trying to see them through Jesus eyes.

To see through Jesus eyes is, I suspect, what the true Gabriel wants, and it is the intent of this book.

- Richard V. Shriver

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 3, 2005
• ISBN: 9781477162415

Richard V. Shriver

Richard Shriver was born in Nashville, Tennessee, the second of three sons of Thomas A. and Attie Gene Shriver. His father was a highly honored judge of the Tennessee Court of Appeals. His education was in the public schools through the twelfth grade. His bachelor’s degree is in Philosophy from Vanderbilt University, and his Master of Divinity degree also is from Vanderbilt. He is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church, having served churches in Tennessee, Wisconsin, and England for thirty-two years. Dr. Shriver continued his education in History, Music, and Christian Education in the graduate schools of Vanderbilt University, Peabody College, Scarritt College, Wisconsin State University, and Middle Tennessee State University, and earned his doctorate in Education and Theology at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School. He has been active in radio and television as a regular guest on Nashville’s Channel 5, Lebanon, Tennessee’s Channel 66, and WLAC Radio. He shares the hosting of Nashville’s CATV’s “We Believe,” and is a regular guest on WNQM Radio’s “We Believe,” a Roman Catholic sponsored show. Dr. Shriver’s first book, The Gabriel Letters, was published in 1990. He presently is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee and is Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies at Volunteer State College in Gallatin, Tennessee where he lives with his wife, Joy. They have two grown children…son, Colin and daughter, Kendal.

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Copyright © 2006 by Richard V. Shriver. August 2005 Edition

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

LIST OF THE CHARACTERS

LIST OF CHARACTERS,

CONTINUED

INTRODUCTION

I

A PARABLE:

THE FLASHLIGHT AND THE FOREST

II

THE OTHER CHEEK? GIVE US A BREAK!

III

JESUS IN A MILITARY UNIFORM

IV

JOSHUA’S MISTAKE

V

JONAH THE BIGOT

VI

THE ATTEMPTED MURDER OF ISAAC

VII

THE FLOOD: GOD DISPOSES OF A

DEFECTIVE MODEL

VIII

THE DEMOCRACY OF GOD

IX

WRATH OR REDEMPTION?

X

NOT HEAR THE PRAYERS OF JEWS?

XI

FAITH OR WORKS?

XII

THE CHURCH AND RELIGIOUS CONCEIT

XIII

CHOIR PROBLEMS

XIV

MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND EQUALITY

XV

JESUS AND WOMEN

XVI

HOSEA AND THE HARLOT

XVII

RAPE: THE REST OF THE STORY

XVIII

PREJUDICE AND ALTERNATIVE LIFE

STYLES

XIX

THE HATED SAMARITAN

XX

THE MOSES-JEREMIAH-JESUS DEBATES

XXI

THE PRODIGAL’S FATHER

XXII

EVOLUTION: THE GREAT MIRACLE

XXIII

COMMENTS ON THE FLASHLIGHT

AND THE FOREST

XXIV

DEMOCRACY IN RELATIONSHIPS:

GOVERNMENT, RELIGION, MARRIAGE

XXV

GABRIEL MEETS SCREWTAPE

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my mother,

Attie Eugenia Humphreys Shriver.

She was born in Brownwood, Texas,

the daughter of Kentucky educators who had gone

west at the beginning of the 20th Century.

She is the reigning matriarch of our clan!

She ever has been the wonderful disciplinarian, motivator,

endless optimist, and source of cheer and good will.

I suspect that my stubbornness has its source in her.

Could we call it character?

For Attie Gene Shriver,life is always the great adventure!

RVS—1995

Post Script

Attie Gene Shriver died on All Saints Day, November 1, 1999 at age 97.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank those who have helped me with the preparation of this second volume of The Gabriel Letters, moving from manuscript to computer, revising, editing, expanding ideas, adding new chapters, transferring from old computers to newer ones, proofing, and finally getting it ready for publication: Sarrina ViAnné, Jill Adcock, Karen Willis, Mary Davidson, Jamie Smith, Sommer Rose, Dena Gehris, and my lovely wife, Joy.

I should add that the many students in my classes at Cumberland University and Volunteer State College have been both patient and helpful by listening to the reading of the letters as I have used the material—or tried it out—in class lectures and discussion. One such class member, the late Jack Holladay, was especially helpful with many supportive ideas.

The last letter, Gabriel Meets Screwtape, was an idea suggested by members of the Covenant Class, a Sunday School class taught for 25 years by my brother, Tom. They had asked me to teach a series of sessions relating The Gabriel Letters to C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters. I really enjoyed the project!

My son, Colin, did the cover art work.

I am very thankful.

Richard Shriver

August 2005

LIST OF THE CHARACTERS

LIST OF CHARACTERS,

CONTINUED

INTRODUCTION

Nels F. S. Ferré, the great theologian, said that the sovereign Lord, the ruler of the universe, is also saving love. Expanding on this statement of Dr. Ferré, I would say that God is self sacrificing, eternal, parent-love. This message is the center. It is Christ’s message, and it is St. Paul’s good news. All truth comes from the truth of this message. All problems and issues have their potential solutions in this message.

After the publication of The Gabriel Letters, I received a fourteen page, single spaced, typed letter (the typing was very poor) from an archangel! The signature was, simply, a star. Modern psychology would, of course, declare it the work of a delusional human. My first reaction was that the letter was a practical joke. As I read it, it became very clear that the letter was no practical joke. It was full of deep compassion and good will. The writer was entrusting me with information that he/she considered of utmost importance, telling me some of the secrets of the universe. I was particularly pleased that the writer said that he/she had spoken with Gabriel, the other archangel, about the book, that Gabriel knew about it, and that he did not mind having his name attached to the book!

Delusional human or true angelic spirit, the writer had beautiful ideas to express. God’s love is the center of the letter. He/ she said, God never gives up on His children, for we are all PART of His divine ESSENCE … to give up on one of us would be like denying a part of Himself. There is NOTHING you can do to cause Him to forsake you! Such eternal compassion is the center of real religion and, I intend, the center of my book, this collection of letters.

I stumbled on the idea of writing imagined letters of an archangel, advising a young guardian, in an introduction to C. S.

Lewis’ Screwtape Letters. It has been a marvelous way—perhaps delusional—of standing back and imagining that i can see the world through angel eyes. The amazing result for me has been a sense of objectivity and good will.

The intended purpose of the letters is to apply to all things the idea of God’s complete love. We find the source of this message in the teachings of Jesus. My great personal desire is to be a true Christian—a follower of Christ. I see it not as a limiting or exclusivist desire—Hindus, Muslims, Jews, and others may be followers of Christ without knowing His name. The human race is the family of God. We are all brothers and sisters. God loves us all and reveals Himself to all. Christ is God.

I fall far short of my desire to be a true Christian. But if we desire to be Christian, we should begin, it seems to me, by attempting to apply Jesus’ teachings to all things. We should apply it to our behavior. We should apply it to our human relationships, especially family. We should apply it to our work and our business dealings. We should apply it to the way we run our churches. We should apply it to the way we study the scriptures. And my point is, in several of these letters, that if we take Jesus seriously, we must reject or at least re-evaluate much of the Bible—the parts which are not specifically the teachings of Jesus. Jesus, Himself, questioned much of the scriptures.

And so, the letters cover a variety of subjects, many of them Biblical. Some Biblical passages need correction in light of Jesus’ ideas. Some Biblical passages are so marvelous that we need to lift them to the sky and shout, Look at this! Some Biblical passages are confusing, and we need to wrestle with them. But in all, we should be trying to see them through Jesus’ eyes.

To see through Jesus’ eyes is, I suspect, what the true Gabriel wants.

A note about the masculine language used in the letters:

As in the original The Gabriel Letters, the Archangel Gabriel refers to God as our Father and He and Him. The author of the letters is not implying that God is masculine or like a man. God is not masculine. God is not feminine. God is much more than both yet not plural. In both Jewish and Christian traditions, God is singular and personal. The problem is that in the English language there are no divine pronouns, and so Gabriel uses the limited but traditional masculine language.

I

A PARABLE:

THE FLASHLIGHT AND THE FOREST

Dear Angelique,

How nice to hear from you again after what seems like an eternity! I have missed your letters. We, of course, have kept up with your work with the young minister, now a college chaplain. You are becoming a fine guardian, and we are very proud of you. Our ministry with humans on the earth-planet has been going through some very difficult times! We need to be ever vigil. Working for a compassionate God has not been very popular with humans lately.

Now you tell me that your young minister has become involved in an important new project, and you want to help. He is arguing for the teaching of religion in schools and in educational programs for children and young people. He says that high school graduates arrive at college with almost no knowledge of religion except their own denominational points of view. If they are not active in a religious organization, they do not have even the denominational point of view! What a huge vacuum! They know nothing of the beliefs and practices of their close neighbors.

The religions of the world are treasure houses of God’s truth. There are hundreds of denominations in Christianity, and there are many other great religions. Unfortunately, only a few seem to be teaching the whole of religion—the history—the breadth. Great gaps of ignorance are the result. The riches of other’s religions and their cultures are never known. The beauty of variety is left undiscovered. I have a story—a parable—to tell you:

There once was a young man who wanted to go for a long walk in the night. He was afraid of the dark, but he had been told that the out-of-doors at night came alive with beauty. He had never been out walking alone at night. The darkness was an unknown. He feared the unknown, but he loved to walk, and he felt a strange attraction luring him out into the night. And so, he purchased a bright flashlight.

With his flashlight, he ventured out into the night, walking down the lane which led from his house. The lane went along a lake, across a beautiful meadow, over a hill, and through a dense forest. As he walked, he pointed the flashlight ahead and could see the spot of light on the lane. He could see where he was going. It helped his fear.

Night hikes became very enjoyable for him. He discovered that the lake, the meadow, the hill, and the forest were indeed very pleasant at night. The night was peaceful and cool. He could think more clearly.

At first there were strange sounds that frightened him. He would turn his flashlight toward a sound and discover an owl sitting on a tree branch or an opossum waddling through the leaves on the ground. He grew accustomed to the sounds and they became to him friendly sounds. His night hikes soon were a regular routine and an important part of his life.

Still, though, the night was very dark around him. Beyond what he could see with his flashlight, the night remained a great unknown. The flashlight gave him some sense of security, but he continued to have mixed feelings about the darkness. He feared the darkness and the unknown, yet he desired to know what was out there, beyond the small spot of his flashlight. Even though he had become very fond of his night hikes, the lurking fear of the darkness sometimes overwhelmed him. He would return to the light and safety and familiarity of home.

But when he stopped his night hikes, he missed them. Something continued to call to him from the night, luring him out, and something in him wanted to know what was out there. He would pick up his flashlight and venture out into the dark, clinging to the source of his security, the flashlight with its sure, small spot of light beaming reassuringly before him.

Occasionally, he would meet others in the night on the lane. They were always going in other directions. Usually they, too, had flashlights. The light from their flashlights annoyed him. He would greet them, and sometimes would make conversation with them about their experiences in the night. Each one of them had seen things differently than he. Sometimes he was pleased with these meetings and longed to be their friend. Other times they argued with him about what they had seen and where they should be going … they would insist that he was going in the wrong direction. Often their points of view seemed quite strange. Then they would pass, and he would not meet them again.

The young man had three dogs who went with him on his hikes. Two were collies—a sable male, very large and shaggy, named Ladd, and an old, dark tri-colored female named Shona. The third was a mixed poodle named Raffles, lean and fast like a deer. (There was also Shandy, half poodle and half chihuahua, who barked a lot but stayed at home.) Ladd, Shona, and Raffles loved the hikes. When the young man came out of the house to go for the walks, they barked and danced with excitement … and they jumped all over him. As he walked along the lane, Ladd and Raffles ran