Pressure to conform

[ Feb. 16 ] Thank you for the excellent article on gender dysphoria. As a family physician, I am distressed by how quickly the medical community has embraced gender dysphoria and encouraged doctors to do the same. Children and adolescents are being seduced into having barbaric procedures without any thought of God’s design and will for their lives. —Kristofer Sandlund / Zanesville, Ohio

There is a war on our children, especially our male children. —T.K. Wallace on wng.org

President Obama’s departments of Education and Justice articulated the transgender dogma in their 2016 “Dear Colleague” letter. It mandated that all public schools allow access to bathrooms and locker rooms based on self-proclaimed gender identity rather than biological sex. Was this based on science or ideology? —John L. Wiester / Buellton, Calif.

I know someone who went from a functioning male, college graduate, and manager at a book distribution company to a middle-aged lesbian who struggles to take care of herself. What a mess! It breaks my heart. —Kristine Barber on Facebook

Targets of hate

[ Feb. 16 ] As a young person during World War II, I couldn’t understand how Nazis could torture and murder innocent people at work and then go home to embrace their wives, love their children, and pet the dog. Then I read about New York lawmakers cheering after passing a brutal law that permits unborn babies to be torn limb from limb. I still don’t understand. —David M. Clark / Mansfield, Pa.

Jesus is the cure for the heartsickness that leads us to believe it is right to kill our children. How curious that God can only cover my own bloodletting sin with His own blood. —Sam Lochinger on wng.org

Thank God for WORLD, which actually seeks out news to report instead of the latest gossip or outrage. —Molly Crocker on Facebook

Leftist journalists who dismiss Christianity as so much nonsense don’t understand history or Scripture. The freedoms that Christianity ushered in allowed the development of the Christian heresy we know today as modern liberalism. —Greg Browning on wng.org

No guarantees

[ Feb. 16 ] I often fall into the trap of parenting for a guaranteed outcome. It never works. I want the little stinkers to do what I want, and I’m not above throwing a fit to get it. What a great example, right? We must entrust the outcome of our parenting choices to Him. —Amy Bloyer on Facebook

I still wonder and worry if I hovered and obsessed or smothered and sheltered our children during their homeschooling years. If I did, I can do nothing except to ask forgiveness from God and my children. —Elizabeth Edgren / Albuquerque, N.M.

My wife and I quickly realized that we needed to help our kids recognize the benefits of choosing God for themselves. We see so many young people from Christian homes launch out into the world with no real connection to God personally, totally unprepared to defend a hope that is not yet theirs. —Don Parfet on wng.org

Command and control

[ Feb. 16 ] My heart is sick. I discovered James MacDonald’s preaching recently, and it has been wonderful. Now that powerful word is not going out! Satan is surely interfering. —Christine Denning / Tulare, Calif.

These megachurch operations look a lot like corporate setups with all the power in the top elders. There are even church takeovers. —Wilma Rittinger on Facebook

I live in Naples, where I belong to Harvest and have had extensive access to the church’s leaders. Leaving aside one’s opinions of MacDonald and the merger, John Secrest’s inappropriate communication disgraced the church. —Doug Bartholomew on wng.org

Scooters at your service

[ Feb. 16 ] Two minutes into my first scooter ride I mistakenly slammed on the brakes and face-planted onto the concrete. I busted my lip and front tooth. Never again. —Maria Krause Whittle on Facebook

Out with a bang

[ Feb. 16 ] I tried to like The Big Bang Theory, but didn’t feel like wasting my time as it mocked creationism and evangelical Christianity through Sheldon’s mother. The scrap of feeling recognized while being scorned doesn’t make a show worth watching. —John Hale on wng.org

Back to the future

[ Feb. 16 ] Bob Woodson observed that we need to find allies among those suffering most from the agony that the left is pouring into the culture: fatherless homes and destructive drugs and sexual practices. Poor minority families who display traditional values should know that there is a better way than the destructive lifestyles Democrats so fiercely proclaim. —Charles Robbins on wng.org

Woodson is a remarkable man. And what a great interview! —P.V. Coleman / Houston, Texas

Expelled from China

[ Feb. 16 ] Chinese Christians have persisted and will persist through persecution. We need not fear or worry as conflicts continue. We should pray. As you concluded, God is raising up Chinese people to be missionaries. They have just as much reason for alarm looking at our country as we do at theirs! —William Duncan / Pacifica, Calif.

Man-made notions

[ Feb. 16 ] I spent many years as a university professor myself, and Marvin Olasky’s comment that “more education often leaves us with higher degrees but also higher levels of foolishness” struck home. All too often, more education just helps us better defend our prejudices. —George Krem / Holdrege, Neb.

Quick Takes

[ Feb. 16 ] A family in San Jose rented an apartment for their cats at $1,500 per month. The cover story in your previous issue (“Nowhere to live,” Feb. 2) described a teacher in the same town who cannot find a decent rental at a reasonable price. Irony, or what? If I were that teacher, I would find a city that needs me and move there in a New York minute. —Tom Olson / Woodville, Wis.

Correction

The p. 38 photo of Feryal, a Yazidi woman who escaped ISIS, shows her with her son (“Survivors in a great war,” March 16).

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

A Dalit’s dilemma

[ Feb. 16 ] God’s riches far outweigh anything this world has to offer, but it is sad that the world punishes Christian believers. —Barbara Skinner on Facebook

No guarantees

[ Feb. 16 ] Janie B. Cheaney’s description of homeschooling was so true and authentic. It can be frustrating, intense, and yet rewarding. However, I disagree with those who say homeschooling does not prepare students for the world. —Linda Jinkens / Arlington, Wash.

Out with a bang

[ Feb. 16 ] As a born-again man of science, I like this quirky show, evolution and all. But Sheldon wasn’t raised in “an evangelical Christian household.” It was nominally Christian, based on works-salvation and guilt. —Kenneth Cole on wng.org

Back to the future

[ Feb. 16 ] I found myself cheering at several things in this article. Woodson speaks truth. —Kelly Ogle on Facebook

Cost Analysis

[ Feb. 2 ] I disagree with William Inboden that President Trump is “the complete antithesis” of Ronald Reagan in foreign policy. Trump is deeply committed to our allies in NAFTA and our other trading partners. He just wants fair, reciprocal trade agreements and is working toward that end. A little “clumsiness” is preferable to a lot of talk and many lost years, whether in dealing with NAFTA, NATO, or moving our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. —John Hudson / Lowell, Mich.

Empathy and understanding

[ Feb. 2 ] Because your book recommendations are so often helpful, I was very disappointed in the review of The American Slave Coast. It provides the Howard Zinn–Karl Marx school of economic determinism and preaches hatred of the West. —David Upchurch / Lawrence, Kan.