Peopling a war

[ Dec. 8 ] The human side of history, as Rania Abouzeid writes in No Turning Back, is what is all too often missing from today’s news. I wish we could see these nations and people as Jesus sees them, and may we extricate ourselves from the politicized and polarized news the pundits spew our way. —Steve Shive on wng.org

Beyond platform shoes

[ Dec. 8 ] Thank you so much for sifting out these book recommendations from among so many possibilities. —Kevin Abegg on wng.org

What price hope?

[ Dec. 8 ] I just finished Jonathan Leeman’s The Rule of Love, which made your short list for Accessible Theology Book of the Year, and cannot say enough good things about it. —Jamie Green on Facebook

‘Nobody can hurt me’

[ Dec. 8 ] Thank you to Mindy Belz for her column on Asia Bibi. What a sad day for America if we are too fearful or don’t care enough to offer her asylum. It looks like Pakistan’s Supreme Court justices had more courage than our current administration. —Bill Curtis / Lansdale, Pa.

Perhaps American officials look the other way because they worry that if the United States grants Bibi asylum, then Islamist political parties in Pakistan will gain influence. They should do the right thing anyway and grant her asylum. And we should put Christians from the Middle East, whose countries we destabilized, at the front of the immigration line. —Paul Jaedicke on wng.org

Chosen and hated

[ Dec. 8 ] Four thousand years after God chose Abraham and his descendants, anti-Semitism is an unbroken plague. I pray regularly for our nation and for Israel, that God will save Jewish people and add them to the church. Lately my prayer has been, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” —Doug Combs / Bunker Hill, W.Va.

One day God will gather His own, Jew and Gentile alike, in Christ and “all Israel will be saved.” It’s the best story of all time. —Beth McMichen / Meansville, Ga.

Memento mori

[ Dec. 8 ] Wonderful article. Our need for Christ is pre-eminent, but we also need community and an opportunity to express our emotions in art. I don’t care for tattoos, but I celebrated a little with the gentleman who had his dragon tattoo completed the day before being declared cancer-free. God is beautiful! —Deborah O’Brien on wng.org

Hopefully, the woman who asked why everything has to end will understand one day that only that which is perfect can last forever. In a world where everything dies, Christmas brings the beautiful message that Jesus came to offer us a second chance at the world where everything lives. —David Staats / Fort Collins, Colo.

Sizing up our hearts

[ Dec. 8 ] I loved Joel Belz’s column about applying the Golden Rule to our political divisions. I recall listening to my father, grandfather, and other relatives discussing politics, but none ever parted ways over their views. Today we are fractured by so much information that has nothing to do with our family, neighbors, or community, while social media fuels the fire by emphasizing the emotional aspect of any given topic. —Ann Williams / Alpine, Calif.

We must stand firm against evil. At times that may come across as less than civil, but stand we must. —Tim Leever / Fayetteville, N.C.

Dispatches

[ Dec. 8 ] Do the women suing Dartmouth College for sexual assault and harassment have any personal responsibility to refuse to drink or have sex with professors (who if guilty are beyond reprehensible) to get better grades or future jobs? What does this teach our young women about character, morality, and consequences? —Bill Russell / Brighton, Mich.

Two short items in the same issue made a striking contrast. For the first time ever, a female was selected to move forward in the Green Beret process, and a woman caught in the Borderline Bar shooting remarked in “Quotables” how the men made a human wall around the women. God has wired men and women differently, and if that female Green Beret comes under fire, the men in her unit will surround her, no matter how much feminism and gender-blending has infiltrated society. —Elaine Neumeyer / Seacrest, Fla.

California apocalypse

[ Dec. 8 ] Great feature about people pulling together to help one another in tragedy. —Christina Wilson on wng.org

Criminal speech

[ Dec. 8 ] I am bewildered by your review of The Crimes of Grindelwald. One message from the movie is that having a clear right and wrong side doesn’t mean things are always simple or easy. People on the right side are capable of evil acts themselves, especially if motivated by fear. —Abigail Biggs / Murphy, Texas

Miles to go

[ Dec. 8 ] Thanks to Marvin Olasky and the rest of the WORLD staff for a truly remarkable magazine that stands in stark contrast to The Christian Century and the secular media. They seem to regard truth as whatever their agenda happens to be. —Rick Flanders on wng.org

Science vs. Darwinism

[ Dec. 8 ] The purported 95-98 percent similarity between chimp and human DNA has recently been re-evaluated down to 87 percent or less in research by both Christian and secular scientists. As evolution dies, literal creation increasingly receives the support God provides in His Word and in His world. —Michael DuMez / Oostburg, Wis.

Calling Professor Corey

[ Dec. 8 ] I am always refreshed to read Andrée Seu Peterson’s writing, but also deeply saddened by this topic, the corruption of language. Often we must laugh before we cry. Thank you for this most excellent column. —Judy Farrington on wng.org

Corrections

The pedestrian bridge at Florida International University that collapsed, killing six people, weighed 950 tons. Fidel and Raúl Castro between them ruled Cuba for nearly six decades (“2018 News of the Year,” Dec. 29, pp. 52, 54).

More letters, emails, and comments we didn’t have space for in the print edition:

Sizing up our hearts

[ Dec. 8 ] We lived in peace with our Democratic neighbors for many years, but once during a heated presidential campaign I awoke to see someone had replaced my Republican yard sign with a Democratic one. I stormed out the door, tore it to shreds, and left it in the street. A few minutes later my neighbor came, picked up the pieces, and put my sign back. Someone had switched the signs as a prank, and my neighbor was quietly applying the Golden Rule. It took all I had to go get a new Democratic sign and knock on my neighbor’s door. We’re now the best of friends. —Pam Burback / Kearney, Mo.

California apocalypse

[ Dec. 8 ] Tragedies like these seem to bring people together, but the world’s so-called “peace” divides us. Thanks for the article. I will be praying. —Daniel Strange on wng.org

Criminal speech

[ Dec. 8 ] I saw The Crimes of Grindelwald and was bored waiting for something to congeal into an actual plot. What joy did Grindelwald get out of his supposed evil? —Anastasia Mather on wng.org

Thank God for men

[ Nov. 24 ] Thanks to Andrée Seu Peterson. It is, indeed, open season on men. God created us male and female, giving both unique and vital skills, characteristics, and temperaments that, when meshed together, make for an outcome greater than the sum of the individual parts. —Andrew McDonald / Zeeland, Mich.

How could anyone claim that men say cooler things to each other in private? We are far more alike than not, and the differences enhance all of our human experience. Shame on you. —Mindy Blume / Princeton, W.V.