Mailbag

‘The cowboy in autumn’

May 14 Thanks for the update. I used to listen to John R. Erickson’s delightful stories of Hank, Drover, and the coyotes and buzzards on cassette tapes while commuting. Your article encourages me to get the stories for my grandchildren.

—Greg Browning on wng.org

‘Children’s Books of the Year’

May 14 I absolutely agree with your top choice! Circus Mirandus is fantastic and renewed my hope that great children’s books are still being written. And thank you for your other recommendations; I always eagerly await your list of wonderful finds.

—Leslie Rayner on Facebook

‘Target on target’

May 14 I understand that the list of offending corporations is way too long to boycott them all, and I am sensitive to hurting hometown folks working for a living at Target. But allowing men into the ladies’ room is too close to home and family. I am avoiding Target.

—Neil Slattery / Fort Worth, Texas

I’ve been turned off by the vengeful, prideful attitude taken by some who tout boycotts. But I’m more repelled by the idea of enriching businesses that are trying to undermine or even destroy my freedom to practice my faith.

—Rich Asper on wng.org

I’m not the boycotting sort, but I signed the pledge to boycott Target, closed my PayPal account, and punted the NFL off my entertainment list. We get that companies market to many worldviews, but we ask that they include Christianity and don’t explicitly snub us.

—Mark Peerbolte on wng.org

We may not like the world, but this is the time, place, and culture to which the Lord has sent us to spread the gospel. I’ll keep some tracts handy in my purse if I ever run into a transgender person in the ladies’ restroom. I might be the only person to offer him love as Jesus would.

—Christina Wilson on wng.org

Tom’s peeping has become unnecessary. He can just self-identify as transgender and voilà: The ladies’ bathrooms, showers, and changing rooms are wide open to him.

—Eberhard Roell / Boulder, Colo.

I signed the pledge because I have a 6-year-old daughter. We need boundaries. Target has crossed the line.

—Vanessa Backer on wng.org

‘Beyond the walls’

May 14 Thank you for the reminder that we are fighting a spiritual battle in this rush to redefine sexuality. I worked and prayed for two years to defeat the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance only to watch the cancer metastasize across the nation. With 12 grandchildren to protect I soldier on.

—Beverly Nasrallah / Houston, Texas

No doubt many in the days of Nehemiah and Ezra feared for their future and their nation. It is easy for us to do the same, forgetting that the God of history, not voters, is in control.

—Eric Harris on wng.org

‘The next “dignity” to be affirmed’

May 14 Now that homosexual marriage and “gender identity” have been forced on us by the courts and Justice Department, polygamy, incest, and pederasty (and by extension, pedophilia and statutory rape) are the remaining dominoes to fall. After that, perhaps we can expect a heavy dose of fire and brimstone.

—Ronald Mele / Pinson, Ala.

‘Children of the state’

May 14 Atheist Daniel Dennett thinks that “willfully misinforming a child” is “as evil as sexual abuse.” He believes evil exists in a godless cosmos? That’s curious. It is not that Dennett opposes indoctrination; like any other intellectual tyrant, he has his own misinformation to impose on others’ children.

—Sam Richards / East Winthrop, Maine

‘Mother’s Day mourning’

May 14 I am in a puddle from Mindy Belz’s beautiful column. I lost my 94-year-old mom 11 months ago. I don’t know how to get through Mother’s Day, but this column filled me with the sweetness of my own mom’s words.

—Mary Ekstrom / Vermillion, S.D.

‘Morality games’

May 14 Are followers of Jesus so desperate for stories that they immerse themselves in depravity to experience a shadowed glimpse of righteousness and redemption? God works those out through His people in inspiring stories (some in WORLD) that can be read or watched without polluting our minds.

—Bob Bruechert on wng.org

‘The past and its sins’

May 14 Regarding the G.A. Henty book, constitutional questions were important; but the main issue in the Civil War was slavery, and that should not be sugarcoated.

—Hans Decker on wng.org

‘Jungle feast’

April 30 After reading your Jungle Book review, I took my 6- and 7-year-old granddaughters and their parents to see the movie. The adults loved it, but the two girls spent most of their time huddled in fear in their seats. I suspect other young children will find the action too realistic and the animals too menacing.

—Constance Rice / South Charleston, Ohio

‘Identity crisis’

April 30 We live and work on a remote First Nations reserve and have cared for many foster children. Parents can lose their kids any number of times, but the children are sent back anyway, and it destroys them. Apparently it is more important for a child to be returned to alcoholic parents than to be loved and cared for by a non-native family.

—Arthur Lyndaker / Poplar Hill First Nation, Ontario

‘Argumentum ad baculum’

April 30 As a contractor for PayPal, I don’t agree with CEO Dan Schulman’s decision to abandon plans to build offices in North Carolina, but I disagree that he’s a bully. Schulman is trying to do the right thing; to engage our culture effectively we must first interpret it correctly.

—Heather Merrill / Littleton, Colo.

Some states that resist the transgender agenda, like North Carolina and Georgia, will likely lose some concerts and business. So what? Morality, purity, and safety often call for sacrifice. I’m thankful for gritty government leaders who will proudly protect our children.

—Fred Kerr / West Columbia, S.C.

‘Strange sympathies’

April 30 In the Old Testament God used many bad leaders and bad nations to bring His people back to Him, and I believe that God is using Donald Trump to do just that. We deserve exactly what God has in store for us. We need to get down on our knees in repentance so people will be led to Christ.

—Gail Graeser / Fremont, Mich.

It is shocking to see so many Christian Republicans enthusiastic about someone who brags about his adulteries, repeatedly lies, and made a fortune from casinos. Righteousness exalts any nation, but by their sins rulers often bring trouble on their people, as David’s adultery brought suffering on Israel.

—Paul Young / Cape Town, South Africa

Corrections

Covenant Reformed School in Chengdu, China, has 17 third-grade students (“House church on a hill,” April 30, 2016).

The United States blocked a sale to Nigeria by Israel of U.S.-made aircraft in 2014 under Secretary of State John Kerry, using the rationale adopted under the Clinton State Department to block a previous sale (“Troubling ties,” June 11, 2016.)