Letters to the editor
Who will stand tall? Dear editor:
Watching the revelations of the Russia connection and the Trump administration’s ties since before the election are getting the attention of everyone, particularly the general public. Who will bring charges against these treasonous individuals and groups that have conspired to reduce the respect and authenticity of the U.S. government as a world leader?
Reducing the effectiveness of the State Department by firing those with the experience to deal with the problems facing our world today will play directly into the hands of Vladimar Putin, who cannot compete one-on-one with the USA. Who will take these cretins who have worked to reduce the staff by firing career state department employees? Who will bring to task those who have sold us out for personal power and rewards? There are a few, but who’s standing tall with them? No one from Arkansas. Judy Ladd Hot Springs
Two questions Dear editor:
I have two questions for Larry
Bauer:
1. Why does he have to put labels on folks that do not agree with his views?
2. What the heck is a “Democrit”? Perhaps we should ask Jeremy the tree frog. Gary Vogt Hot Springs Village
Correcting a clarification Dear editor:
I replied to a letter Mr. Scott Ruff posted in The Sentinel-Record on Feb. 16. In his letter, Mr. Ruff made several assertions that were patently incorrect. For example, he stated that Ted Nugent repeatedly threaten to kill President Obama. He equated abortion to rape. He implied that President Trump was a rapist and alleged that a Christian could not vote for him. In reply to these inane statements, I asked Mr. Ruff, did not Bill Clinton get elected twice? I also asked him to explain how he could make the connection between rape and abortion. The Ted Nugent thing is so ridiculous as to defy explanation.
Mr. Ruff ’s reply was what he called a “clarification.” However, rather than answering my questions, he digressed into a long dissertation of his religious history. More recently he has offered a “re-clarification of the clarification.” Still he has never offered any validation of his earlier claims, nor has he explained how he conflated rape and abortion. Perhaps we could eliminate some of these clarifications if Mr. Ruff waited for a moment of clarity before he sat down to write his letters.
Mr. Ruff assures us that he is a God-fearing man that dedicated his life to the Lord 40 years ago. However, because he felt he harbored some evil thoughts, he deemed it necessary to become “reborn” a few years back in order to purge these evil thoughts from his mind.
I am certainly not a student of theology and would never consider questioning anyone’s religious beliefs. In his last letter he even offered a prayer for Mr. Trump and all those that voted for him. Personally, I appreciate his prayers, but I must confess that I do not believe God would condemn a person to hell for the way they cast a ballot. Cal Wilcox Hot Springs
Answering accusations Dear editor:
Mr. Ames accused me of stating “that those ‘born of God’ do not sin.” He is right in this: the purpose of being born of God is to be free from slavery to sin. He continued, “Scripture warns us to guard against the terrifying evil within every human heart.” Indeed, the Scriptures warn often to guard against sinning!
He then stated, “Noah was not ‘perfect.’” That is directly against the Hebrew text (though I am certain that it goes along with modern liberal translations). How could Noah be both righteous and walk himself with God, and yet not be blameless before God?
Mr. Ames then wrote, “The apostle Paul admitted his personal evil behavior, ‘the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing’” (Romans
7:19). Was Paul delusional, also writing, “How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans
6:2). Mr. Ames doesn’t understand the timing of the Romans 7 text, and he doesn’t understand the importance of consistently refusing to sin.
He also wrote, “There are two kinds of righteousness. One is ‘self’ righteousness and the other a ‘credited’ righteousness.” He is unaware that the third kind is from works of righteousness. He then quoted from his liberal translation, “Abraham believed the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). A literal rendering is, “And he will believe in Yehovah. And He thought her to righteousness to him!” (where “her” refers to his faith).
His assertion, that “‘Born’ of God means ‘conceived’ of God, is not true. He denied that ‘born’ means ‘born.’ He then referred to the “dechurched” and their spiritual suicide. (If he believes that one who isn’t born of God is dead, how can a corpse commit suicide?) I find that some “de-churched” folks truly fear the biblical God, and are born of God.
Now, he accused me of cherry picking, and he is right. I like to cherry-pick the entire orchard of Scriptures, going through an entire book, one verse at a time, in the greatest detail, with as many questions about each verse as I can find to ask. Mr. Ames spoke of “the basics of spirit life,” and how I take them out of context. (If the basics of spirit life don’t include refusing to sin, what do they include?)
He continued, “A sinner trying to reach out to God would find his demand for perfection an impossible
goal, which it is.” If it is an impossible goal, the problem is with his deity. Matthew 5:48, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father Who is in heaven is perfect.” Any commander who commands what cannot be done is an unrighteous commander. Any deity that claims to be able to deliver everlasting salvation, and yet cannot give created beings the ability to walk perfectly before that deity, doesn’t have the power to deliver either.
I personally hate impotent deities, whose followers are like them. James Wilson Hot Springs
‘Haters’ bring blessings Dear editor:
Jesus warned: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first.” He also said, “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:18, 20).
As a longtime Christian letter writer, everyone knows that I have sincerely tried to represent God and his teachings in the Bible. By what Jesus stated in the above Bible verses, is it surprising that a few liberal letter writers have attacked and criticized me so hatefully? No — indeed not! I am standing for God’s truth and the world at large doesn’t want it and doesn’t like it.
This is really nothing new at all. Following Jesus certainly may cause some people to even hate you. It is really Jesus (who lives in me) that they dislike!
Actually, all of you haters have brought God’s eternal rewards and blessings upon me! “Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man” (Luke 6:22). And verse 23 continues, “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.” So to all of my letter writing enemies, I say — Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You’ve just blessed me again!
Another thing to remember is that not everything that Jesus said is always pleasant, easy and what you want to hear. “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Conflict and disagreement will arise between those who choose to follow Christ and those who don’t. A choice must always be made!
As a Christian, I have pointed out that frequently there is a fundamental difference between Christian beliefs and liberal beliefs. Most commonly, there are two main topics which divide us more than any of the others. That would be the positions concerning abortion and homosexual marriage.
Take those two sins away and the extreme liberal agenda falls apart for the most part! Christians absolutely do not believe that there are any places in the Bible in which God approves of either one of these sinful practices. It is very clear what God says about these sins.
If some people who are members of a church don’t agree with these statements — then perhaps your argument is actually with God! Here is what God says in the Bible: “This is the verdict. Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed” (John 3:19, 20).
Remember, Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will perish” (Luke 13:3).
Have some of you repented? Repentance means a change of mind and turning away from your sins to Jesus. Lloyd Hoffman Hot Springs