Open letter to Cotton
Dear editor:
This an open letter to U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton.
Sen. Cotton:
In 2016, when President Obama nominated Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court, you released a statement saying "In a few short months, we will have a new President and new Senators who can consider the next Justice with the full faith of the people. Why would we cut off the national debate on the next Justice? Why would we squelch the voice of the populace? Why would we deny the voters a chance to weigh in on the makeup of the Supreme Court? There is no reason to do so. I respect President Obama's right to nominate someone to the Supreme Court. But the stakes are high and we cannot rush this decision. This nomination should not be considered by the Senate at this time."
While I have not always agreed with your opinions, I agreed with you on this and I still do. The question is do you still agree with yourself? Do you have the gumption to stand up again and do what is right?
Are you a man of your word?
Adam Webb
Hot Springs
The Christian contradiction
Dear editor:
I commend Greg Szczurek for his sarcastic letter "End justifies means" of Sept. 17. Readers who don't understand sarcasm may have missed his major point: The ends do not justify the means" from a Christian point of view. Dictators practice that philosophy. The Bible does not teach it.
Greg's first item dealt with pro-life. "If your conscience demands pro-life, you will endure the shame of being led by a president who pays off porno stars and brags about grabbing women by their private parts." Obviously, there is a Christian contradiction here.
I believe that many evangelicals support the president for his recent pro-life stance. So many are obsessed with this issue alone that they are willing to overlook the president's many faults.
We Christians who do not support the president on most issues do admit that Jesus' parable of forgiveness is a very strong admonition (forgive 70 times 7). But other teachings of Jesus demand virtue, honesty and good works." If you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me." And St. James writes that "Faith without works is dead."
One of the issues that the president emphasizes is "law and order." Most Christians believe in following laws made, state or national. Although many Christians did not agree with the Supreme Court ruling of the '70s, abortion was made legal and became the law of the land. The years following the decision even into the '90s saw many "in the name of God" wrecking abortion clinics, attacking women going in, and sometimes shooting and killing doctors and patients.
One can't have it both ways. If women choose pro-choice, they are the ones who must answer to God, not the Gentle Readers nor I. All are responsible of following laws made or else suffer the consequence. If one can forgive the president for lack of virtue, of dishonesty at times, of ego in the extreme, then cannot one forgive a person for doing something we might disagree with strongly? Another parable shows a rich man forgiving one who owed him a great sum of money. That man then had one put in prison for a very small debt owed him. Is forgiveness limited to some acts but not others? A primary teaching of Christianity is that a sin is a sin and individuals are responsible for their own.
John W. "Doc" Crawford
Hot Springs