‘Bitter pills’

Jan. 21 | Thank you for this pro-life issue. It has great articles and a great cover graphic. The lead article on chemical abortions was the best I’ve read on the subject. —PAUL MATLOCK / Pagosa Springs, Colo.

Instead of a surgical procedure after my last miscarriage I was given pills that cause chemical abortions. I nearly bled to death. It was the most horrific experience of my life. My home looked like a crime scene, the pain was excruciating, and I ended up at the hospital anyway. I cannot imagine a teenage girl going through that. —YVETTE BEGIN FREEMAN on Facebook

We work with women who are having babies, but I almost never hear about male responsibility. Our society seems more focused on fixing results than fixing causes. —GEORGE NETTLETON / Willow Street, Pa.

Thank you for this insightful story. Leslie Wolbert’s statement about flushing the last of her baby down the toilet particularly spoke to me. —LUKE MACKENZIE / Union City, Pa.

‘Incapable of shame?’

Jan. 21 | The 2 million Israeli abortions since 1948 are just as much of a holocaust as the 1 million Jewish children killed by Hitler. The American numbers since 1973 are far worse. Has the promise “never again” been forgotten? —MICHAEL DuMEZ / Oostburg, Wis.

At the Nuremberg trials, U.S. chief prosecutor Robert H. Jackson of our Supreme Court introduced as one of his first exhibits a shrunken head of someone killed in the camps. It was prominently displayed before the judges, so when anyone referred to the hundreds of thousands of people killed, the judges always had the visual of one person before them. —NOLAN NELSON / Eugene, Ore.

‘Life on ice’

Jan. 21 | At some clinics couples can “adopt” someone else’s embryo and carry it to term. It’s a wonderful solution for the problem of extra embryos. Our niece and her husband adopted two from the same set of parents and now have two beautiful daughters who are truly sisters. —DEBRA COSTAS on Facebook

‘Quite contrary’

Jan. 21 | Good column on Genesis 3. In the true contrast to the curse, Paul writes in Ephesians that women are to submit to their husbands, not try to control them, and that husbands are to love their wives rather than lord it over them. It’s all made possible by our Lord Jesus Christ. —WILMA RITTINGER on Facebook

I agree with Janie B. Cheaney’s main points but would point out that while God “curses” the serpent and the ground, that word is not attached to Adam or Eve themselves. Is there pain and separation from God? Yes! We’re doomed without His intervention. But I suspect there’s a reason, rooted in Genesis 3:15, God chose not to use that word. —SCOTT HAYDEN / Bangkok, Thailand

‘Unhelpful insults’

Jan. 21 | I was struck by Joel Belz’s column on showing respect for those with whom we disagree politically. We aren’t free, even when armed with the truth, to be mean or rude in the application of that truth. Thank you for helping me raise the bar on my words. —DAVID LELAND / Raleigh, N.C.

When we use the truth as a weapon without love, brutality is the result. The unsaved then regard Christians as enemies to conquer rather than friends calling them to salvation in Christ. God have mercy on us. —JOHN LANGEBERG on wng.org

‘Beyond ISIS’

Jan. 21 | I so appreciate Mindy Belz’s Globe Trot newsletter for its variety of news and items for prayer. She has a unique perspective from all her experience traveling in the Middle East, and I look forward to reading her recent book, They Say We Are Infidels. —DIANE ETHERTON / Upper Marlboro, Md.

(To sign up for Globe Trot, email Mindy Belz at mbelz@wng.org.)

So few American Christians are deeply concerned about refugees or know much about the persecuted church that I am not surprised that little American humanitarian aid is reaching displaced Christians in the Middle East. Moreover, aid groups working in Muslim-dominant countries often are under government pressure to hire Muslim employees, who show -preferential treatment to Muslims in need. —ELIZABETH KERR / Ontario, Calif.

‘Journey of grace?’

Jan. 21 | It’s difficult to judge harshly those in Shūsaku Endō’s novel Silence who stepped on the fumi-e, the images of Christ, when so many in this day will symbolically do the same thing for a much smaller threat. —RICH ASPER on wng.org

‘Logic, not logorrhea’

Jan. 21 | Thomas Sowell’s very existence as a black conservative economist who writes with lucidity confounds both the liberal establishment and far-right racists. Who will replace him? We will miss him indeed. —BOB BARNES on wng.org

‘New light in winter’

Jan. 21 | Thanks for a great article. Regardless of the causes, materialism is near the root of cultural suicide. The Japanese version and its rationalizations may look unusual, but other cultures have the same problem. —DICK FRIEDRICH on wng.org

‘Reporting worth supporting’

Dec. 10 | I’ve decided to become a monthly supporter of your ministry. I’m a pastor and believe you are providing fearless Christian journalism for me, my church, our nation, and the world exactly when we need it. —KEITH SISNEY / Meadville, Mo.

I couldn’t decide if I agreed or disagreed with your call for Trump to back out of the election, but I never considered canceling my subscription. I will continue to look for opportunities to tell people about WORLD. —AMY STANTON / Fort Wayne, Ind.

Correction

The Turkish city of Izmir is home to a strategic U.S. air base in the war against ISIS, though not one of the largest such bases. (“Caught in a dragnet,” Feb. 4, 2017).

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

‘Allies in good works’

Jan. 21 | This is an incredible story, and yet it shouldn't be. As believers, our first response should be to look for ways we can affect our world spiritually. Sadly, most times we are more hesitant than we should be. —JENNY BRITTON on Facebook

‘Points of dispute’

Jan. 21 | As a Reformed Southern Baptist, I would go further and say that the divisions between “traditionalist” Baptists and Baptists who hold Calvinist theology include issues of ecclesiology and eschatology as well. We Reformed Baptists tend to favor the regulative principle of worship (rather than “seeker” models) and reject dispensational premillennialism as a 19th-century innovation. —BRIAN BULLER on Facebook

‘Quotables’

Jan. 21 | Thank you for your mention of Andrew Brunson, the American pastor arrested in Turkey after ministering with his family for over 20 years in Izmir. This is a travesty of justice. His wife Norine recently posted on Facebook that she’s received some of his letters but he “despairs of ever getting out, of being reunited with me, hugging our kids, making our daughter's June wedding, etc.” She asks for prayer. —SUZANNE RICE / Rockville, Md.

‘Improbable things’

Dec. 31 | Regarding Joel Belz’s reaction to Trump’s moves so far, we may have a busy four years trying to persuade the world that not all conservatives are willing to gloss over past sexual assault and ongoing calumny for short-term political gain. The Founders didn't fear demagogues because of potential Cabinet appointments; they feared a demagogue could cause otherwise-rational men to lose their common sense—and their principles. —JENNY FAST / Irving, Texas

We've been spared the known horrors of a Clinton presidency for the unknowns of Trump. I've got high hopes, as I'm sure all of you do, but the only guarantee is the faithfulness of God. Thank you for reminding your readers of that in every issue. —MIKE BRICKER / Springdale, Ark.