Research lacking
in religion attack
Editor:
I can’t imagine where Diane Daiute gets her information on what Christians believe. Certainly not from the Christians themselves.
Even though I often disagree with her, I have admired some of her previous research, but there is none evident here.
I have been a Christian for 70 years, and have attended a wide variety of churches in my many moves in several states. I have never met one who had no concern for people or the environment. I recycle more diligently than anyone else I know. There are degrees of dedication, but none I know of have gone to the rip-off left side of neutral.
Christians are to choose God’s ways when they conflict with man’s, which really isn’t that often. We obey the laws, provide soup kitchens for the needy, pay our taxes, get building permits… what is rapacious about that? We are to love God and help our neighbor, which is not limited to the house next door.
We don’t have a death wish… we want to live as much as the next guy. But we are not afraid of death because we know our next home will be better than this one.
We do care about the “long run” because we might be here a long time yet. We are to be prepared to meet God any minute, like a fatal car crash, but He didn’t say when that minute is, and it has been a few thousand years so far, so it might be a while longer yet. I want to leave a viable planet to my 24 great-grandkids.
And we do care about other people, who don’t follow Christ… or why would thousands dedicate their lives to missionary service to try to introduce a better way of believing and living in difficult, far-away places? Our lives here are certainly more peaceful than in Iran, where Christians are persecuted.
I can’t think of any place that doesn’t have some form of religion. Would you prefer the caste system in India? You don’t realize how good you unbelievers have it here because of the influence of centuries of the Good News that Christians have brought to this land. Otherwise, why are so many refugees pounding at our gates? They know what a non-Christian environment is!
Your definition of not caring about people, and whose god is Money, truly fits the robber barons of a century or more ago. For whatever reasons, they named the name of Christ but they did not display the Christian life the Bible tells us to live. The Bible says that faith without works is dead. That is, you can claim to be a Christian but if your life doesn’t show it, you’re a lying fraud. Jesus himself said that people would identify with him but not behave in the way he modeled and taught, adding this caution: “By their fruits you shall know them.” (Matthew 7:20) Seeing is believing. Don’t paint all Christians with the same hogwash that applies to a few, whose behavior betrays them.
Religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas were never intended to be money-makers. That was done by the Money Barons, past and present. New clothes, Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies have no significance whatsoever to the religious event. They come from the original pagan rite of spring. Many Christians have joined that circus, so now the borders are fuzzy, but they aren’t biblical.
This nation had two sets of settlers who came on the same ships… those who yearned for the freedom to worship as they understood the Bible. The other group was admittedly European businessmen, hoping to rake off everything they could, thus decimation by starvation of the earliest settlers who didn’t know how to live in a wilderness.
The Big Boys across the pond, again, many of whom may have identified as Christians (because it was socially acceptable to do so), engaged in all manner of abuses, enslaving and abusing Native Americans and others in their greed. Again, they let their own interests overrun their reading of the Bible, which doesn’t support that behavior on any level in those circumstances.
You accuse Christians of being immoderate, but who are you to define moderation? You aren’t, yourself. Moderate Christians far outnumber fanatics. We don’t agree with the few who would murder abortionists; that is not Jesus’ way of dealing with social problems. We don’t join the Name It and Claim It group… that is mere greed, which is listed along with gossip and murder and adultery, all equally bad, in the Bible.
We are all so thankful that our early politicians wanted to separate government and religion, but that did not mean freedom from religion, only the freedom to worship as individuals saw fit, not by coercion, which gives a lot of latitude to any religion. That doesn’t mean that Christians are to remain silent in their concerns about our government and not vote… they have the right to express their views as much as the LGBT, who want only their views to be accepted, with no opposition. Now who is fanatic?
God’s Word is quite specific about the way we should interact with our culture. But humans being what they are, godless until they know Him, many try to read into the Bible what they want it to say… but that doesn’t mean that’s what the Bible really does say. Taking little bits out of context and making them life principles is not playing fair.
That is not truth.
Joan Scofield
Sweet Home
Letter writer
needs help
Editor:
I feel sorry for Diane Daiute. I feel that she could be somewhat slow, mentally, and needs help instead of criticism.
No. 1, I would explain that to a fool time brings only age, not wisdom.
No. 2, a shallow thinker seldom makes a deep impression.
No. 3, minds are like parachutes. They work best when they are open.
No. 4, never miss a good chance to keep your mouth shut and your opinions to yourself.
Wes Marchbanks
Sweet Home