3 Questions

By Vince Kame

3 Questions delves into barriers that were keeping the author from having a deeper, more meaningful relationship with God. After initially turning to God and church after a lifetime of being a non-religious person, Vince felt stuck in a place where the relationship with God and with others was superficial and static. These 3 questions were the catalyst to begin a journey to discover what he believed and what his life be like with God as the focus. These 3 questions were: Is God Real? Am I assured of my salvation? What effect do these answers have on my life?

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Harbor Press
• Release date: Apr 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201673253

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3 QUESTIONS

TRANSFORMATIONAL ANSWERS FOR TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY FAITH

Vince Kame

Copyright © 2021 by Vince Kame

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Kame/New Harbor Press

1601 Mt. Rushmore Rd, Ste 3288

Rapid City, SD 57701

www.newharborpress.com

3 Questions/Vince Kame —1st ed.

ISBN 978-1-63357-384-0

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright © 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Thank you so much to Joann, my wife, who not only inspired this book with her questions but truly inspires me each day with the depth of her seeking to know and to show who God is. Thanks also go to each of my dogs. Hazel who was on my lap for much of the writing of this. McGee who teaches me about how God loves me in spite of my quirks and issues. Quinn who is the epitome of the eighties’ anthem Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

Contents

Prologue

PART 1: Is God Real?

Houston We Have a Problem

It Started with a Whisper

Questions of Science, Science and Progress

No Static at All

We'll Always Have Paris

Oh, the Humanity

Things That Make You Go Hmmm

Imagine There's No Heaven

PART 2: Am I Assured of My Salvation?

Can Music Save Your Mortal Soul?

Thunderbolts and Lightning Very, Very Frightening Me

Oh My My, Oh Hell Yes

Here Comes the Son

One Thing I Can Tell You Is You've Got to Be Free

PART 3: What Effect Do These Answers Have on My Life?

Ch-Ch-Changes

Why Must You Be Such an Angry Young Man?

Rosebud

What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate

Walk This Way

He’s a Pinball Wizard

Hey Jealousy

I'll Make Him an Offer He Can't Refuse

Louis, I Think This Is the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

References

Chapter Titles

Prologue

Please allow me to

introduce myself:

My journey with God began at an early age but in circumstances somewhat less than typical. I was not a churched person growing up. Church was a twice a year commitment on the big holidays and then not really thought of again until the next year rolled around. My family had nothing against God and church but it was just not something we did. Sundays were still a family time but usually centered around whatever sport was in season at that time. Belief in God was assumed but not really thought about. The small town I grew up in was predominantly Roman Catholic, so many of my friends and others that we all knew, as again it was a small town, attended Sunday mass at St. Patrick's as well as church services on the other holy days. The kids I knew, played sports with, went to school with and who were some of the most misbehaved and sinful kids were also the ones serving as altar boys on Sunday. It was hard for me to reconcile those facts, and it made me think that if there was a God and He is granting heaven to these kids and not the others who were better behaved, then I was better off taking chances on my own. This is not to say that I didn’t break more than a few commandments but the seeming contradictions between behavior and salvation were difficult for me to grasp. You can see that at that point I did not get God. I had no understanding of the grace and mercy aspects of the Father let alone Jesus Christ. As time progressed and life with its ups and downs further drew me away from a belief that there was a God and even further from the belief that if there was, He had a plan for me to prosper and not to harm, plans to give me a hope and a future as Jeremiah says in chapter 29, verse 11.

College came and degrees in health care and human physiology drove me farther away from the belief in God. I had the attitude that surely everyone knows that a scientist cannot truly believe in God. Marriage was next to a wonderful woman who was raised Catholic but respected my beliefs and did not push to change them. She was struggling with her own issues regarding who God was and how he could allow so much suffering in the world. So religion and church were pushed to the background. There were career choices that led to moving away from my family and friends, daily struggles with the realities of life and worldly stresses that continued to drive me to the self-centered, self-reliant, self-focused way of life. From a worldly perspective I would be seen as a success. I have had a great career. I have owned and currently own part of my Physical Therapy practice as well as small parts of others. From a spiritual perspective I was floundering and so was my wife.

One morning over breakfast, she said to me that it was time for her to return to church. As fate, or divine providence, would have it, over the few weeks prior to that, I was thinking that I needed to search for God. I had had a few very important people in my life who reflected the love of Christ and who walked the walk that demonstrated the positive influence of God. From my interaction with these people, I knew I wanted what they had and needed to find out who God really was and what his message truly was. The true message, the real Gospel was never presented to me and more importantly never modeled to me as the way to glorify God. The timing of her announcement was perfect as it was time for both of us to begin the climb back. From that point, we visited a few churches to find a good fit for us, and since then it has been a journey for both of us. Hers was to recapture the love of God she had as a little girl and for me to finally get to know who God is.

The whole beginnings of this book sprang from an email that she sent to me as well as to others from a small group that we meet with on Sunday afternoons. The questions she sent had been on my mind since she initially presented these to our group. The more I thought about them the more I realized that these would form the root of my faith. The questions were these:

Is God Real?

Are you assured of your salvation?

If so, how does this affect your life?

The first few years of my journey have been to lay a foundation, to get to know the basics of Christianity as I really didn't know what the Christian tradition was about.

I needed to learn how to read and interpret the Bible.

I needed to learn who the characters were and what they were supposed to teach me.

I needed to see that the kids from my youth that misbehaved and that God still loved them was the point and not a contradiction.

This was the beginnings, the first stages that were needed to have a base from which to launch what would come next. What I soon realized was that the asking of and the answers to these three questions would be the next part of my journey.

This book is that part. It is a road trip with these three questions as a direction but not a detailed map. I have looked at the general route and have an idea of what I may find and what I hope to find along the way. There is a bias built in as I am not just heading out blindly. As a Christian, I believe in God, but like a lot of Christians out there, do I know God is real and am I sure of my salvation and that it is eternal? Have I changed because of these answers? I have read many different authors representing many different aspects of Christian theology from fundamental doctrine to apologetics to the mystical side represented by the Desert Fathers and early saints. However I was stuck, spinning my wheels trying to get some traction but not able to move forward. This book is me with a belief in God and a desire to know more and to feel more and to do more and to love more but not trusting that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will provide. This is me wanting the grace and mercy freely offered but not wanting to let go of my abilities and my perception that I can grab these myself.

I believe that the answers to these questions are the key to my, and I hope others’, journey from observers to participants, from living on the periphery to coming home to God's house. My goal is that through these pages I will see what has been out there all along. I will see the beauty that has always been present. My hope is that I will become the person that has always been there buried beneath doubts, pride, shame and fear.

Is God real?

Am I assured of my salvation?

What effect do these answers have on my life?

PART 1

Is God Real?

CHAPTER 1

Houston We Have a Problem

The question of whether

God is real is fundamental to either having a real faith and trust or a casual flirtation with God. Without the realization that God is real, we are left with what religious critics accuse Christianity of being, just a mechanism to use as a crutch to deal with a world with no