Click here for "Final Lecture".
This speech is the "Final Lecture" of Professor Randy Pausch, Professor of Computer Science, HCI, and Design; Co-Founder, Entertainment Technology Center Carnegie Mellon University.
Professor Pausch is dying, and this lecture is supposed to be inspiring.
Instead, I find it one of the saddest I've ever seen or heard.
Please pray that God will open the Professor's heart to know the Lord Jesus Christ. He has weeks to live as of this writing.
Click here for "Final Lecture".
I wrote Professor Pausch the following email:
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To: professorrandypausch AT gmail.com
Subject: With Love, A Word About Your Soul
Dear Mr. Pausch,
My heart goes out to you in love.
But I'm not inspired by your speech. It saddens me.
Jesus said, "What does it profit a man if he gains the
whole world, but loses his soul?"
Before you reject that thought, please read the Gospel
of John, the 4th book of the New Testament. What do
you have to lose? If it appeals to you at all, read
it again.
Then read the Book of Romans.
You will find what so many of us have found. These simple
truths:
1. That the power and attributes of God are clearly shown in
the creation around us, but men "suppress the truth in
unrighteousness" (Romans Chapter 1).
2. That "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God" (Romans 3:23).
3. That "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
4. But that "the FREE GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
5. That if anyone believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior, that He died on the cross to pay for thier sins,
that He rose again from the dead...that they will be
forgiven of all their sins.
6. And when they die, they will not be punished for their
rebellion against the Holy Lord, but will live with Him
forever in heaven.
And it's a free gift. That's what "Grace" means. We don't
deserve it, but Jesus paid for it on the cross, because of
His love.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but
have eternal life." (John 3:16)
May you take this to heart, Professor.
While many are inspired by your speech, believe me, many
others are praying for your salvation.
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved."
(Acts 16:31)
Sincerely,
Terry Rayburn
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Update: July 25, 2008, Randy Pausch died.
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13 comments:
It's sad.
I do believe he is living in denial, for he is refusing to face the reality that there is life eternal after death; life with the love of our Father God or life with the wrath of the Almighty God.
dec,
Good point on the denial.
It reminds me of the old saying, "If they say it's not about the money...it's about the money."
If they say they're not in denial, they're probably in denial.
He doesnt realize that the wall is the wall he has built himself to keep God out. Its the wall Pink Floyd sang about in all of his emptiness. The wall will either lead to depression or to great acheivments depending on the person, but the end is the same. Eternal emptiness and seperation from God. As I watched him I began to realize how utterly impossible it is to believe without the quickening power of the Holy Spirit. We simply love our pride and sin and acheivements for boasting rights to much to accept the Eternal living God. I am so thankful for you brother Terry. My heart goes out to Him. I guess I am one of those other people who didnt quite acheive the greatness. I really have no towers to brag about. How foolish it is in the face of death to neglect so great a salvation. O how we must praise Him Terry for opening our eyes and pray that this mans eyes come open. I fear there is great hostility against that in his tone though. May the love of the Lord break through in your email brother. Oh how I praise His name for your witness here.
How empty that speech leaves the one who knows and yet how madly happy it seemed to make the crowd.
Oh Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.
who are you to judge him so quickly? "I AM a born again christian and i think that you should open your heart and close your mouth. shame on you , i hope he ignored your email. he Could be born again you dont even know. shame on you
Brian,
You wrote, "How empty that speech leaves the one who knows and yet how madly happy it seemed to make the crowd.
Exactly. Thanks.
Anonymous,
I only wish you were right, and there's nothing I would like better than to have him write me and say, "Hey, I really AM born again, and I feel so foolish taking such a great opportunity and wasting it. And I repent of the arrogance I showed. And I didn't really mean it when I spoke of Karma, the evil Hindu false teaching that has permeated our society. I'm sorry and I will try to give another lecture before I die, one that honors the Lord Jesus, Who gave His life for me."
Do you believe in Karma, Anonymous?
You're all a bunch of self-righteous monsters. The man is dying - let him do so in peace. Don't force your fairy tales on him
My husband died June 22, 2007 of Pancreatic Cancer. He too was young, only 54 years of age. The ugliest of all cancers. I watched my husband die and I grieved without hope. After my husbands death there were many who said God/Jesus would heal my soul. Is this same God that allowed my husband to die? The same God that is allowing innocent children to starve all over the world.
Walk in his shoes or the shoes of his family. Who are any of you to judge. I thought not judging others was the Christian thing to do.
Anonymous 11/18/2007,
Believe me, I'm not self-righteous. Self-righteousness is precisely the problem. It's trying to be righteous enough on our own. No one can do that.
The Bible says that our unrighteousness is like a filty rag (Isaiah 64:6). We could never be righteous enough for the Holy Creator on our own.
But...
He has offered the gift of HIS Righteousness to all who will believe on Jesus.
The interesting thing is that what you call "fairy tales" is something you know in your heart is true. But you "suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18).
That means that you know God is the true and good and just Creator, but you harden your heart and pretend it's a "fairy tale".
That's O.K. Today is the day of salvation. If you will change your mind about your sins against God, and change your mind about Jesus Christ, and believe in Him as Lord and Savior, you will still be saved.
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
Change your mind and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said that whoever would come to Him He would in no way cast out.
Anonymous 1/5/2008,
I am so sorry to hear about your husband. I pray God would indeed give you comfort. But I pray that such comfort would come by your coming to know Him for Who He is.
That means that you would become a believer in Jesus Christ.
I'm sorry people have promised you comfort that they have no power to give. People should not promise you that God/Jesus would heal your heart, because they don't know your heart.
But God does.
He knows the wickedness of the heart that we are born with. No one is "innocent", even children. We are all born in sin, and we sin as soon as we can cry.
That's why we need a Savior. Because God is Holy and Good, and we all have sinned against Him.
But He offers us hope (yes, and comfort) through Jesus Christ, who died on the Cross to pay for our awful sins, and rose again from the dead. And He did it out of love.
We live in a fallen sinful world, because we inherited the sin nature of Adam. But God gives us a new nature when we are born again. And He forgives ALL of our sins when we believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
We then become children of God, and there is true comfort for the child of God who draws near to Jesus in fellowship and love.
I pray you find that comfort through knowing Him.
Call on Him today. Change your mind and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Bravo, Randy...
I pray for your renewed health daily, and enjoy your spirit for life, at any cost! I truly enjoy your posted pics, and believe that you are making most of your time left on earth.
Carry on, dear Randy, and celebrate the joy of family and life.
thank you this is confirmation, that their are more important things than money and prestige and popularity, and a job I guess God is trying to tell me something. thanks, money isn't evrything/
From my experience, I never figured out how to judge someone and love them at the same time...so I just decided to love them.
Woody,
Does that mean you refuse to tell them the truth because you "love" them?
That's not love, Woody.
I would tell them if a bus was headed their way to run them over, and I would tell them that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life and that NO MAN comes to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6)
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