We're all sinners
It's not going away: same-sex marriage.
The passion on both sides is amazing. It's amazing how the Bible views these matters. Sin is sin with God. One small one is as bad as whatever determines the biggest one.
Not with people. The majority, Christian or not, act like sin is an acronym for "sin is negotiable." The fact is, we are all guilty of sin, according to the Bible. There are none righteous, not one.
Sexual sin means adultery involving the married or fornication involving the unmarried or homosexuality — they are all the same. Those who speak out the loudest about same-sex marriage usually get quiet when confronted with Jesus saying that looking at a woman in lust is just as bad as adultery or fornication — which makes all of us guys guilty and probably most women.
While I'm not for same-sex marriage, I can't cast the first stone. I needed a savior to forgive me of all my sin as well as one I can go to daily for forgiveness when my eyes get me in trouble. And the last thing I need is a magazine's new swimsuit edition.
The bottom line is all of us, straight or gay, need to understand what is acceptable and not acceptable in God's eyes and not our own. Then all of these issues would take care of themselves. But most of us would rather pick up a stone for our cause than confront ourselves about such matters.
JOE ESKRIDGE SR.
Lewisville
Religion and medicine
Supposedly some employers would be violating their religious beliefs by providing insurance coverage of birth control to their employees.
Do they willingly cover other medications that can support sin? Viagra to support lust? Insulin to support gluttony? Heart medications for those slothful people who haven't exercised aerobically all their lives?
Is considering their religious beliefs to be more important than those of their employees a form of pride? Does forcing an individual to unwillingly choose grace over sin actually free the individual from that sin?
Many of Caesar's laws are the same as God's laws; they protect individuals from others. But God's laws go further: They protect your soul from yourself. Do we really want Caesar involved in protecting our souls?
DOROTHY MATHEWS
Rural Hall
CORRESPONDENT OF THE WEEK
Canine cruelty
What a welcome difference a year and new trial can make ("Dog's death plays out in courtroom," Feb. 16).
Many readers will remember last June when a woman who starved her dogs to death was given a token suspended sentence ("Forsyth woman guilty of starving two dogs," June 10). Now we have Pedro Lamont Hill, who decided to teach a 5-pound Yorkie a lesson and ultimately caused her death. This followed a previous incident when he had caused the Yorkie to suffer a broken bone. We can only hope that these are the only acts of cruelty Hill has committed, given that animal abuse and human abuse are often close cousins.
Faced with a reluctant witness (the Yorkie's owner) and the tragic demise of the arresting officer, prosecutor Matt Breeding faced a dilemma. Nonetheless, the jury convicted Hill of misdemeanor cruelty to animals, the best that they could do under the circumstances.
Fortunately, Judge William Z. Wood gave Hill nearly the maximum penalty, unlike the suspended sentence in last year's case. Community service, probation, a fine, money to an animal-abuse fund and anger management/parenting classes are the best we could hope for and a positive sign that animals finally have a chance in our local courts.
Thanks to the judge, prosecutor and jury for a job well done. Oh, and shame on Hill for attacking a defenseless animal that weighed perhaps 3 percent of what he does.
KEITH MURPHY
Winston-Salem
Murphy is president of Fur-Ever Friends of NC and a member of the Forsyth County Animal Control Advisory Board. — the editor
Sum It Up
Could America ever have a non-Christian president? Respond to letters@wsjournal.comand put "Sum It Up" in the subject header. Only signed entries, please, no anonymous ones. Briefer responses receive preference in print.
LTE #2....in addition, if a Catholic employer need not provide insurance that covers birth control because of religious beliefs, would an employer, whose religious belief was in faith healing only, have to provide any insurance at all?
ReplyDeleteZ Smith Reynolds
ReplyDeleteI wonder if O.T's recent discussion had any impact on this publication?
ReplyDeleteHey, don't blame me for this. ☺ I was one of several who begged Steve Mann not to rehash the Smith Reynolds thing for the 1000th time.
DeleteSince this is initially scheduled as a quarterly publication, I wish they would focus on some lesser known, yet more important events in local history.
Note that most of the stuff in the special section is simply reprints of Journal stories from the time. Anyone who knows anything about Smith's death has to smile at the Journal's characterization of the "dinner party" with its demure connotations and proper little guest list.
It was actually a pretty wild party held at the boat house, with a good bit of swimming and drinking involved. There were considerably more people involved.
And in the aftermath there was some sort of sexual tension among Smith, his wife and his best friend, Ab Walker, all of whom were clad in bathing attire. There is also a question about who Blanche Yurka was and what role, if any, she played in the drama.
As to the video, I'm thinking that the car might be a Cadillac and that the ladies might not be friends but family.
Well, after tearing itself away a bit yesterday, the Journal comments are right back in the Bible. Maybe the biggest problem with the Bible is that apparently it was not written by intellectuals.
ReplyDeleteI simply do not comprehend this kind of harm being done to man's best friend. The kind of person that does it is incomprehensible to me as well.
ReplyDelete"Could America ever have a non Christian President?". We now have a President that does not believe in America. We have had loud Christians as President who didn't act like it as well as quiet Christians who did. Anything is possible. We may even have a woman as president.
ReplyDeleteThere are probably some people who would say that our Unitarian presidents were not real Christians.
DeleteRev. Lovejoy: "Here Lisa, have some Unitarian Ice Cream!"
DeleteLisa Simpson: "There's nothing here."
Rev. Lovejoy: "Exactly!"
True. Heaven help when we elect a Mormon.
ReplyDeleteWhen asked to assume the presidency of Yale in 1899, Howard Taft declined, saying: "I am a Unitarian. I believe in God. I do not believe in the divinity of Christ. And there are many other postulates of the orthodox creed to which I cannot subscribe."
ReplyDeletethat would disqualify him in the minds of many.
I forgot Taft. I remembered Jefferson and Adams x2.
DeleteMillard Fillmore too.
DeleteFillmore #13, was an Anti-Mason, Whig, and a Know Nothing, too.
DeleteWoodrow Wilson came from a long line of Presbyterian ministers. He was buried in an Episcopalian service though...his second wife Edith was an FFV Anglican.
Delete:)my grandfather was a superb Anglican. He could catch more fish in one hour than I could catch in a week.
DeleteHey, that's what religion is actually all about.
DeleteRemember:
18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
Matthew 4:18-20
And for a Quaker, Richard Nixon sure cursed a lot.
ReplyDeleteClearly, all the aforementioned "needed Jesus?".
DeleteWe have already had quite a few non-christian presidents. Washington, both Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Fillmore, Lincoln, and Taft were either Unitarians, deists or something else.
DeleteHarry Truman was technically a Baptist, but had little use for much of the Baptist dogma, particularly the parts about dancing and drinking.
Against his better judgment, he allowed Billy Graham into the White House, with the understanding that there would be no praying or preaching. Of course, Graham cannot breathe without preaching so Truman ended up giving him the bum's rush.
Later he said that Graham was a phony. Can't say that I would disagree with him.
Come to think of it, the Bible may be of help this morning as I had a culinary foulup. Eggs Benedict is a favorite of mine but I messed up big on it and undertook a great exhibition of colorful language.
ReplyDeleteWW, I assume that this is a poaching problem, since the rest is pretty elementary. For me, poaching is about a 50-50 proposition...some days it works, others it doesn't.
DeleteOf course, if we want to get into a truly intense controversy, far more important than the economy, just ask about the origin of this dish.
Yep, poaching. My Eggs Benedict turned into "Eggs Bubba". Controversy is right! An international one. Too me it starts this way:
Delete-English muffins-lays there orderly and stylishly.
-Canadian Bacon-lays there calmly and politely.
-Asparagus-what can I say,anything THAT Green must be a citizen of the world.
-Hollandaise sauce= trouble...Dutch and French parentage, runs over top of everything with careless disregard.
-Poached eggs, NC raised not far away and was the cause of my problems...Eggs Bubba.
Well, think about it this way. Life is not supposed to be easy. If it were, it would be like making a peanut butter sandwich.
DeleteAs long as you have good extra crunchy peanut butter and some decent bread, the only way you can go wrong is to not put enough peanut butter on it.
The potential to fail is what makes life worth living. Thank goodness for poaching and other tricky matters.
Same for politics. Every elected president has come to office thinking that he had the answer. None ever have.
DeleteSome have done better than others, but as often as not it is just a matter of timing. For instance, I think that both Jimmy Carter and Herbert Hoover would have made fine presidents if they had not had the misfortune to arrive in Washington at the wrong time.
And just imagine if Andy Jackson had been born a bit later and had been elected in 1856 instead of Buchanan. He'd have fixed his beady eye on the nullifiers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere and threatened to hang them, all the while keeping the eye in the back of his head on the idiots in South Carolina.
Civil War, our greatest disaster, maybe not?
LTE # 1 & 2 - The writers (both of whom I know) make some good points and go to a great deal of trouble to concoct their arguments, but unfortunately, their arguments are irrelevant because they are trying to apply religious law to civil law.
ReplyDeleteI guess that will never end.