Letters to the Editor 03-31-2004
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Adding Up - Blood Drive - Homosexuality - Stolen Birdhouse - Saved By Grace
Adding Up
Editor, Times-Union:This is in response to Ms. Smolen's letter dated 3-24-04. Let me start this out by saying that I have never written in to the paper before. But after a few discrepancies I was hoping someone could shed some light for me. I have not been following very closely the fight between the CCQE and the school board. Obviously I'm missing something. In your letter you said Mr. Yeiter needed to apologize for his inaccurate information. Well, while looking over your numbers provided, and then looking at the numbers Dr. McGuire provided for what the Indiana's Prime Time program allows, something just doesn't add up. You stated that by current enrollment (3/18/04) there is: kindergarten 20:1, first grade 19:1 and second grade 21:1. Now if you take what Dr. McGuire said about the Prime Time program into effect: kindergarten 18:1, first grade 18:1 and second grade 20:1. Seems to me that that spells it out loud and clear. The school is ALREADY over what prime time calls for. This is before adding any new students. I'm sorry, but the numbers just don't seem to be adding up here. I don't currently have children in the school system, but I will soon. I think I, like many others, have looked on without a fight because we didn't feel it affected us directly. Boy was I wrong. It looks like it's time for me to get involved. I think my children's future education is too important to be pushed aside. I would encourage all parents with children in the school system to take notice of what's going on. It's going to affect all of our children. Not just the ones that go to the three schools that are closing.
Missy Prater
Warsaw
via e-mail
Blood Drive
Editor, Times-Union:As the weather and temperature warms up with the approach of spring, it is my sincere hope that the residents of Kosciusko County will step forward and "roll up their sleeves" to donate blood in support of our Red Cross Blood Donor Program. Residents will have several opportunities to donate in accordance with the schedule shown:
April 7, Grace College, Lancer Gym**, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; April 13, Center Lake Pavilion, 12:30 to 6:30 p.m.; April 14, DePuy-Johnson & Johnson Corp.*, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; April 23, Kosciusko Community Hospital*, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
*Denotes a private blood drive, closed to the public.
**Students and staff are encouraged to participate in this drive.
I strongly recommend and encourage all donors to call 800-GIVE-LIFE (800-448-3543) to schedule an appointment to donate blood. Of course, you can always "walk in" at the respective public location, and you will be served.
In conclusion, donor support was diminished during the month of March, and I am hopeful that we can generate additional donor participation during the month of April. Please know that your support is greatly appreciated and on behalf of the Kosciusko County Chapter, I want to thank our donors and our volunteers! "Together, we can save a life!"
Larry E. Peppel
Executive Director
American Red Cross
Kosciusko County Chapter
Homosexuality
Editor, Times-Union:In response to Brandy Webb's letter. Miss Webb obfuscated the issue with slanderous remarks and unsubstantiated theories. She claims she read the Bible once and didn't like it. Why would she like it? The Bible is plain that God does not condone homosexuality. God is not a sadist, he does not create a homosexual and then make homosexuality a sin. For Miss Webb to say she was born a homosexual would be like saying some people are born to steal, murder, rape, molest, etc.
Miss Webb said it was an insult that homosexuals are listed with other sexual perversions such as incest, bestiality and rape and that whoever thinks this way is a sick person. Miss Webb stated she had read the Bible yet how ironic that she listed the biblical laws of sexual perversion in Leviticus and conveniently skipped the verse pertaining to homosexuals. Webb is calling God a sick person since he is the one who wrote the sexual perversion laws. Webb agrees with the Bible that incest, bestiality and rape are wrong, yet Webb disagrees with the Bible on homosexuality.
Her declaration of being born a homosexual is propaganda nonsense. There is no homosexual gene that some people would get and pass on to its next generation. There is no "extra" chromosome that would give cause for homosexuality as in those who have Downs Syndrome. There is no sin in the Bible for being born with Downs Syndrome or Edward's syndrome. That is not God's nature. To admit that a homosexual is "born that way" is to admit they are a birth defect. While sodomites and lesbians want to think they are born to commit sexual perversion, they would not admit that their homosexual birth is a defect. For the sake of argument, assuming homosexuality is purely genetic, there would be no natural mechanism for procreation, and therefore any genetic programming for homosexuality would result only from mutation, because there would be no possibility of passing on the gene.
Steven Hite
Warsaw, via e-mail
Stolen Birdhouse
Editor, Times-Union:To the person who took the "Welcome Friends" birdhouse from the sale Monday, March 22, at the fairgrounds ... Whether you took it by mistake or stole it, I would like to have it, since it was on my bidder number and I paid for it. I'm sure you will not enjoy it or apreciate it as much as I would since it has family sentimental value to me. The same auction crew has a sale at the fairgrounds Monday, April 5. Please take it there and return it to one of the crew members and they will see that I get it.
Thank you.
Sue Clark
Silver Lake
Saved By Grace
Editor, Times-Union:In response to Ms. Webb's letter titled "Not a Choice."
Ms. Webb, you state that you have "read the Bible and don't care much for it," yet you are very misled about what it says. I wonder if you have actually read it, or just have a wrong idea of what is in it based on what certain professing Christians have told you.
The Bible never addresses women as "just something to look at" whose only function is to have children. I would challenge you to find that in the Bible. Nor does it define the wife's relationship to her husband as being that of a doormat, as you seem to describe in your letter. Instead, God calls for voluntary submission "to one another" in love, and reminds us that women are to be treated with honor and with sacrificial love by their husbands.
Also, if you have read the Bible, Ms. Webb, I don't think that you could say with any certainty that "part of God must be gay." God is completely holy and without sin. We are born with a sinful nature and as such, we live in our sins until he saves us. Whether or not your sins involve homosexuality does not matter. We are all sinners in need of grace. I do not see you, as a lesbian woman, any differently than I would see any other person who needs God.
You seem to think that all Christians judge and hate others. If you have encountered professing Christians who have behaved this way, you have not really seen the heart of Jesus Christ. He has shown love, mercy and forgiveness to all - thieves, prostitutes, homosexuals, all kinds of people from many different backgrounds. Anyone who claims his name as a Christian should do no less.
Like it or not, Ms. Webb, I have added your name to my prayer list and I will be praying for you. I am no better than you; I am just a sinner who has been given the most priceless gift imaginable - GRACE - and it has changed my life. The desire of my heart for you - and I will be praying to this end - is that you would encounter Jesus Christ and that his grace would change your life as well. "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Rebecca Miller
Winona Lake
via e-mail
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- Adding Up - Blood Drive - Homosexuality - Stolen Birdhouse - Saved By Grace
Adding Up
Editor, Times-Union:This is in response to Ms. Smolen's letter dated 3-24-04. Let me start this out by saying that I have never written in to the paper before. But after a few discrepancies I was hoping someone could shed some light for me. I have not been following very closely the fight between the CCQE and the school board. Obviously I'm missing something. In your letter you said Mr. Yeiter needed to apologize for his inaccurate information. Well, while looking over your numbers provided, and then looking at the numbers Dr. McGuire provided for what the Indiana's Prime Time program allows, something just doesn't add up. You stated that by current enrollment (3/18/04) there is: kindergarten 20:1, first grade 19:1 and second grade 21:1. Now if you take what Dr. McGuire said about the Prime Time program into effect: kindergarten 18:1, first grade 18:1 and second grade 20:1. Seems to me that that spells it out loud and clear. The school is ALREADY over what prime time calls for. This is before adding any new students. I'm sorry, but the numbers just don't seem to be adding up here. I don't currently have children in the school system, but I will soon. I think I, like many others, have looked on without a fight because we didn't feel it affected us directly. Boy was I wrong. It looks like it's time for me to get involved. I think my children's future education is too important to be pushed aside. I would encourage all parents with children in the school system to take notice of what's going on. It's going to affect all of our children. Not just the ones that go to the three schools that are closing.
Missy Prater
Warsaw
via e-mail
Blood Drive
Editor, Times-Union:As the weather and temperature warms up with the approach of spring, it is my sincere hope that the residents of Kosciusko County will step forward and "roll up their sleeves" to donate blood in support of our Red Cross Blood Donor Program. Residents will have several opportunities to donate in accordance with the schedule shown:
April 7, Grace College, Lancer Gym**, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; April 13, Center Lake Pavilion, 12:30 to 6:30 p.m.; April 14, DePuy-Johnson & Johnson Corp.*, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; April 23, Kosciusko Community Hospital*, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
*Denotes a private blood drive, closed to the public.
**Students and staff are encouraged to participate in this drive.
I strongly recommend and encourage all donors to call 800-GIVE-LIFE (800-448-3543) to schedule an appointment to donate blood. Of course, you can always "walk in" at the respective public location, and you will be served.
In conclusion, donor support was diminished during the month of March, and I am hopeful that we can generate additional donor participation during the month of April. Please know that your support is greatly appreciated and on behalf of the Kosciusko County Chapter, I want to thank our donors and our volunteers! "Together, we can save a life!"
Larry E. Peppel
Executive Director
American Red Cross
Kosciusko County Chapter
Homosexuality
Editor, Times-Union:In response to Brandy Webb's letter. Miss Webb obfuscated the issue with slanderous remarks and unsubstantiated theories. She claims she read the Bible once and didn't like it. Why would she like it? The Bible is plain that God does not condone homosexuality. God is not a sadist, he does not create a homosexual and then make homosexuality a sin. For Miss Webb to say she was born a homosexual would be like saying some people are born to steal, murder, rape, molest, etc.
Miss Webb said it was an insult that homosexuals are listed with other sexual perversions such as incest, bestiality and rape and that whoever thinks this way is a sick person. Miss Webb stated she had read the Bible yet how ironic that she listed the biblical laws of sexual perversion in Leviticus and conveniently skipped the verse pertaining to homosexuals. Webb is calling God a sick person since he is the one who wrote the sexual perversion laws. Webb agrees with the Bible that incest, bestiality and rape are wrong, yet Webb disagrees with the Bible on homosexuality.
Her declaration of being born a homosexual is propaganda nonsense. There is no homosexual gene that some people would get and pass on to its next generation. There is no "extra" chromosome that would give cause for homosexuality as in those who have Downs Syndrome. There is no sin in the Bible for being born with Downs Syndrome or Edward's syndrome. That is not God's nature. To admit that a homosexual is "born that way" is to admit they are a birth defect. While sodomites and lesbians want to think they are born to commit sexual perversion, they would not admit that their homosexual birth is a defect. For the sake of argument, assuming homosexuality is purely genetic, there would be no natural mechanism for procreation, and therefore any genetic programming for homosexuality would result only from mutation, because there would be no possibility of passing on the gene.
Steven Hite
Warsaw, via e-mail
Stolen Birdhouse
Editor, Times-Union:To the person who took the "Welcome Friends" birdhouse from the sale Monday, March 22, at the fairgrounds ... Whether you took it by mistake or stole it, I would like to have it, since it was on my bidder number and I paid for it. I'm sure you will not enjoy it or apreciate it as much as I would since it has family sentimental value to me. The same auction crew has a sale at the fairgrounds Monday, April 5. Please take it there and return it to one of the crew members and they will see that I get it.
Thank you.
Sue Clark
Silver Lake
Saved By Grace
Editor, Times-Union:In response to Ms. Webb's letter titled "Not a Choice."
Ms. Webb, you state that you have "read the Bible and don't care much for it," yet you are very misled about what it says. I wonder if you have actually read it, or just have a wrong idea of what is in it based on what certain professing Christians have told you.
The Bible never addresses women as "just something to look at" whose only function is to have children. I would challenge you to find that in the Bible. Nor does it define the wife's relationship to her husband as being that of a doormat, as you seem to describe in your letter. Instead, God calls for voluntary submission "to one another" in love, and reminds us that women are to be treated with honor and with sacrificial love by their husbands.
Also, if you have read the Bible, Ms. Webb, I don't think that you could say with any certainty that "part of God must be gay." God is completely holy and without sin. We are born with a sinful nature and as such, we live in our sins until he saves us. Whether or not your sins involve homosexuality does not matter. We are all sinners in need of grace. I do not see you, as a lesbian woman, any differently than I would see any other person who needs God.
You seem to think that all Christians judge and hate others. If you have encountered professing Christians who have behaved this way, you have not really seen the heart of Jesus Christ. He has shown love, mercy and forgiveness to all - thieves, prostitutes, homosexuals, all kinds of people from many different backgrounds. Anyone who claims his name as a Christian should do no less.
Like it or not, Ms. Webb, I have added your name to my prayer list and I will be praying for you. I am no better than you; I am just a sinner who has been given the most priceless gift imaginable - GRACE - and it has changed my life. The desire of my heart for you - and I will be praying to this end - is that you would encounter Jesus Christ and that his grace would change your life as well. "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Rebecca Miller
Winona Lake
via e-mail
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