Tell truth from pulpit
I want to hear every minister and preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ tell their congregations all across America that the occupant of the White House is not who we are as Americans or Christians. We teach our children to tell the truth and never lie. We cannot tolerate a president who constantly lies to us. You can't trust anything he tells you. Jesus said if you lie you are not of God, but of your father, the devil, the father of lies. I believe Trump is the repudiation of everything Jesus stands for.
How can you not speak honestly to your congregation about Christian values: truth, justice, mercy, empathy, compassion for the downtrodden, and love for one another? When did Christians stop speaking truth to power? The evangelicals, under your leadership, helped put this badly educated man into office. Now it is up to you to correct what has happened on your watch. Tell the truth! God is with you if you simply tell the truth.
Stop the cheerleading for the Republican Party. Life begins at conception, but less than half of all human embryos are born alive. Americans don't raise taxes on the poor to give the rich tax cuts. Jesus told the rich man to go and sell all that you have and give to the poor. He said the worker is worth his hire, meaning a livable wage. Jesus wants everyone, especially children, to be properly fed, clothed, housed, educated, and cared for. He called the last judgment the judgment of nations where only those nations that care for all their people will inherit the kingdom of God. If you think that Jesus, the God of love, is going to send people to hell to burn forever, you don't know Jesus. He paid for your sins and mine so that we can be forgiven, and forgive and love one another.
RUUD DuVALL
Fayetteville
Facing consequences
Gun violence does not exist. People violence exists. The violence in the country is a cultural, societal issue. We have a problem facing reality. Family values and morality have been under attack for decades.
It seems schools have lowered the bar to maintain graduates. Discipline in public schools was removed decades ago. Many knew this would present problems for us down the road. Bad behavior is permitted, even coddled. Not too long ago when we misbehaved or were inattentive, a hickory switch or leather strap provided attitude adjustment. There is no prayer, nor pledge of allegiance. Too many students today skip class or do not go to school at all. It starts with family, but family can only do so much.
Today everyone gets an award for participating in sports. We have insulated our children where they cannot handle disappointment or get their feelings hurt. It used to be this was part of growing up.
We are no longer held accountable for our actions. Few have the fortitude to sacrifice for anything. Social media is the antithesis of social. We no longer have conversations with each other. Our media has been complicit. Years ago, popular TV shows often contained a central theme with moral significance. Find that today.
It appears the majority of mass shooters are young adults. This is the world they live in. What opportunity do they have? Many jobs have been outsourced. Drug use is a tool to escape reality. It is time to recognize and accept responsibility for our own actions.
JACK FLOWERS
Little Rock
Common-sense laws
I want to second the views expressed recently by Jarod Bridges. It is the most complete and needed list of things that should be done to keep us all safer. At a minimum, expanded background checks on all purchases, bringing back the Brady Bill, red-flag laws and eliminating high-capacity magazines are needed. We need to find congressmen who will stand up for all Americans who are sick and tired of senseless mass shootings.
Bob Dylan said it best in 1963: "Come senators, congressmen/Please heed the call/Don't stand in the doorway/Don't block up the hall/For he that gets hurt/Will be he who has stalled/The battle outside ragin'/Will soon shake your windows/And rattle your walls/For the times they are a changin'."
ED PARKS
Rogers
About climate change
A recent front-page article in the Democrat-Gazette ought to challenge the intelligence of all readers. It stated experts have warned that the drought in the Pacific Northwest in the United States is dangerous and is a result of climate change.
So what's the answer as to what caused the abundance of moisture in the last few months in many parts of the U.S. and the world? Why, of course, it is climate change. Similar articles by the liberal cabal of The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press decry the lack of snowpack this past season in Washington mountains. Meanwhile, just a few hundred miles east, the Rockies in Colorado and adjoining states experienced a snow pack this past winter and spring that was considerably above average and allowed skiing past July 4.
Just a few decades ago Al Gore and his gullible minions told us in a few years it was probable snow would all but disappear--go figure. All this fits into the laughable Democrat debates featuring presidential candidates who it seems are proposing the government spend trillions, not billions, to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, cows, autos, airplanes and corn fields. All in the name of climate change.
JERRY B. JACKSON
Heber Springs
Maybe it's his wiring
Schoolyard psychopaths will gather around a fight to encourage the combatants. Scientists say up to 70 percent of psychopathic traits are genetic. Childhood trauma and brain injury can add to the condition. So maybe all the abnormal behavior of our president is not his fault.
Maybe a DNA test combined with an MRI can determine if Trump was dropped on his head as a child, traumatized by his parents, or simply that parts of his brain don't light up at all. I think all presidential candidates should have their brains scanned before taking office. Trump has a very hard time feigning sympathy and suppressing his schoolyard psychopathic tendencies, so give him a break; it's the way his brain is wired.
I'm curious about his tax returns and his school grades, but most of all I'd like to see what parts of his brain light up in an MRI.
DANIEL SHERMAN
Bella Vista
Editorial on 08/17/2019