why Eberhard left the church

On Thursday October 5th the beloved mayor of Amsterdam, Eberhard van der Laan, passed away. Van der Laan grew up in Rijnsburg, the village Me and my family have lived for already twenty years. Eberhard’s father was an upheld GP in Rijnsburg and played an important role in the resistance of the war-years ’40-’45. He closely cooperated with the pastor of the reformed church, who was the brother of the well-known resistance leader Johannes Post.

In relation to the death of Van der Laan I read about his life story. I was curious about his reformed past and why he said goodbye to it. I couldn’t find very much about it, but I felt touched by a passage in the biography of Van der Laan:

When Eberhard is twelve years old, he visits catechesis. In one of the first lessons the pastor teaches that one can only reach heaven by knowing Jesus. The young man Van der Laan asks: “And what if you never had opportunity to know Jesus? For example the Inca’s” The answer was: those have bad luck. Eberhard knows enough. He informs his parents that he doesn’t want to visit church any longer.

Sad. The smart Eberhard didn’t leave the church because of rejecting the Evangel, but because the Evangel was not told to him! The Evangel is that GOD never forsakes the works of hands. Undoubtedly the boy Eberhard heard these words every Sunday in church. But the explanation of the pastor was the contrary. How many people like Eberhard, turned away from the church for this reason?

The name of JESUS is mentioned in church, but one is not aware of the meaning (YAHWEH saves!). One doesn’t believe that GOD is a saviour of all people. Or that Jesus bought all people with a price. Fortunately it means nothing for the truth that in the name of JESUS, every knee will bow, and every tongue will acclaim his name. There is no getting away from it. For the Inca’s and all those billions of people who never heard of the name of JESUS. But also for Eberhard van der Laan. And even all pastors who didn’t want to know this. Spread the word!

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