Symbols and essence
The divide between those who worship the essence of faith and those who worship its symbols is eternal. The prophet Amos, in the 8th century BC, rebuked Israel for mistaking its sacred feasts and assemblies, its offerings and songs for the essence of its faith. Instead he insisted its essence was justice and righteousness.
The essence of this country was based on the most radical ideas generated by the Western Enlightenment: that all men are created equal, and that government must assure liberty and justice for all. Various ruses have been employed to ignore the historical reality that the country's institutions and cultural forms were also based on various ideologies of white supremacy.
African Americans have borne the greatest burden in adjusting the disparate traditions, while whites play the greatest role in sustaining them. President Trump curiously praised Frederick Douglass, the black abolitionist, as "an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more." I wonder what he'd think if he read Douglass' 1852 speech, "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro."
In part, he said: "What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him ... the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; ... your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, ... with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy--a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages."
Douglass knew the difference between symbols and essence. Do we?
DAVID SIXBEY
Flippin
Presidents of the past
I enjoyed the "Miss them yet?" column from Oct. 2. Let's review.
This one was impeached by the House on a charge of perjury. The best of the three, he didn't start any wars and balanced the budget. Despite his shortcomings, I would've voted for him again.
This president was left a masterpiece and turned it into a finger painting. Starts two wars and doubles the national debt.
This one almost doubles the national debt that was doubled by the "Warmonger." Puts over $8 trillion on our credit card.
Miss them yet? Not exactly.
RAYMOND G. HOWARD
North Little Rock
Don't dishonor nation
America is in trouble. This country that has withstood a Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea Conflict, Vietnam, and has been, and is now, in conflict in the Middle East. God has richly blessed her through all of these. Still, it seems that there are forces at work that want to destroy this country.
I served in the Army three years, and we always saluted the flag, not because it was a piece of cloth but for what it meant to us as a symbol of liberty and freedom. It reminds us of the price our forefathers paid for our freedom. Somewhere along the line that freedom has gotten lost. How can some of the highest-paid athletes, living in the best country in the world, act so disrespectful by not honoring the flag and all it symbolizes?
I still am thrilled when I see a picture of the Marines raising Old Glory on Iwo Jima. I am humbled to see the guards of the Tomb of the Unknowns, standing their post in all kinds of weather, 24 hours a day, and seven days a week. They love this country and so do I, just as the men that gave their lives so we could be free.
Now if one feels the need to protest, there are more effective ways to do it without dishonoring our flag and America.
FREDDY N. BOEN
Fordyce
Reason for calamities
I believe most of mankind causes God to bring calamities by adding their pagan holidays to God's word. Christmas and Easter are not in the Bible. One version has Easter, which should read "Passover."
And Revelation says if ever anyone may be adding to the word of God, God will be adding to him the calamities written in his word. The calamities will increase. Beautiful holiday, but not in the Bible.
HERBERT PAGE
Conway
No hogs in watershed
Governor Hutchinson, do the right thing. Put a stop to commercial hog farming in the Buffalo River watershed before it's too late. This can be your legacy. The governor who saved the Buffalo again, or the governor who turned a blind eye and allowed the pollution of the nation's first national river.
HANK VAN ROSSUM
Bigelow
How we leave world
A couple of months ago two people wrote letters concerning obituaries which stated the deceased had gone to heaven. Having more pressing things to do, it has taken a while to respond.
When I read the obits, which I do daily to make sure my name is not in there, I often smile at the way some describe how the deceased departed this earth. The two writers, and perhaps others, apparently do not realize that it is not the body, but the spirit, or soul, of the deceased that is described as departed, transitioned, etc. Jesus was, of course, the first person whose body arose from the grave and was reunited with his spirit, which he had commended to his father at the time of his death on the cross. Other righteous people, already in the grave at the time of Jesus' resurrection, were also resurrected at that time. The rest of us will have to wait until Jesus returns to have our bodies reunited with our spirits; i.e., to be resurrected.
One of my favorite poems, "Ode: Intimations of Immortality" by William Wordsworth, talks about where our spirits come from: "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; the soul that rises with us, our life's star, hath had elsewhere its setting and cometh from afar; ... but trailing clouds of glory do we come from God, who is our home." The two gentlemen who wrote the opinions apparently missed the verse in Ecclesiastes which says, "Then shall the dust [our bodies] return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who also gave it."
Incidentally, I am grateful for the First Amendment and the editorial page of the paper. It often provides my entertainment for the day. Sadly, however, sometimes the opinions are so harsh, and often downright cruel, that there is no wonder the world is in such turmoil and hatred. Regrettably, it is not likely that that hatred and turmoil will cease until our spirits have all passed, transcended, etc., and Jesus comes again to put us back together.
PAUL J. HANSEN JR.
Sherwood
Grammar needs a fix
Please schedule an appointment for Outdoors Editor Bryan Hendricks with "Watch Your Language!" columnist Bernadette Kinlaw so he can learn the proper use of I or me in his outdoor stories.
JOHN CAMPBELL
North Little Rock
Editorial on 10/14/2017