In Memoriam: Frank Pastore

Strong Son of God, Immortal Love
Who we, who have not seen Thy face,
By Faith, and Faith alone, embrace,
Believing where we cannot prove.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Frank Pastore was a man who took issue with the divide the Enlightenment placed between Faith and Reason.  Though precipitated by personal tragedy, his conversion to Evangelical Christianity was primarily intellectual.  He set out to prove his Christian friends wrong and ended up arguing himself into the belief that Yeshua bar Yosef, the minor itinerant preacher from first century Nazareth, was in fact the Logos incarnate; the primordial Wisdom behind the kosmos become a living, breathing person.  To be less literary, he came to believe that Jesus was God and, in Evangelical-speak, accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior.  The fruit of that was an academic quest to learn all he could about the proofs for Christianity and eight years of sharing them on the air-waves of LA.  That's where I encountered Frank Pastore.  He was offering an apologetics class at a local church and my friend and I decided to attend. We carpooled each week down to that class, books, notebooks, and pencils in hand and listened to Mr. Pastore share what he'd learned.  During that time, he often spoke highly of a University he was affiliated with, Biola.  As an east-coaster, I'd never heard of the place, but I was applying for colleges at the time and decided to check it out.  Frank Pastore led me to Biola and Biola changed my life forever.

That's the story.  Dad called me on the phone this week to tell me that Frank Pastore had passed away from injuries sustained during a motorcycle accident on the 210.  Dad listened to his radio show on his commute through the LA area for years.  So what do I say?  Thanks Frank.  We miss you.  God be with your family and friends.  May He who raised up Moses raise up a Joshua in your place.  

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