Mailbag

Campus mutiny

May 22—Jim Panyard/Palmyra, Pa.

Administrators at Seattle Pacific University and Calvin University should be ashamed for even considering complaints from students, faculty, or employees about Biblically based definitions of men and women and the Old and New Testament stance against the sins of homosexuality. Placating advocates of sin is bad business for any Christian organization.

Rachel Lowers/Wyoming, Mich.

It looks like the LGBTQ crowd is not reading the Bible. Scripture presents God’s holiness, His purity, His sacrifice, His sovereignty, and His dividing of the sheep and the goats. Students at Christian schools have no excuse. I’m praying for them.

Enlightened entertainment

May 22—Jerry Zimpelmann/Eagle River, Wis.

Like Megan Basham, I am very excited about The Chosen’s second season and its potential to share the story of Jesus with so many. But she failed to mention the Mormon religion’s involvement with the project. We all know that “he that holds the purse strings controls the message.”

Jonathan Shipp/Knoxville, Tenn.

Basham addresses “those able to watch [on-screen depictions of Jesus] with a clear conscience,” but I can find nowhere in Scripture where obedience to the moral law rests on the discretion of the human heart or conscience. The Chosen breaks the Second Commandment by attempting to portray holiness and perfection in human terms.

Ismael C. Alvarez/Lancaster, Pa.

I loved Basham’s review of The Chosen. Her line “Where wouldn’t you go to follow the man who not only frees you from sin and guilt but so obviously enjoys your company?” made me weep for joy!

Post-vaccination questions

May 22—Karen Davis/Exton, Pa.

Dr. Charles Horton’s answers were very helpful. But with so many serious unanswered questions still circulating and people’s trust levels in the COVID-19 vaccine faltering, a lot of us are anxious to hear more of his thoughts.

Adam Niederloh/Minneapolis, Minn.

I have always appreciated WORLD’s approach to handling complicated topics. With so many different opinions and information bombarding us by the minute, with lies masquerading as truth and truths that are labeled as lies, it’s incredibly difficult knowing which information sources we can trust and have confidence in.

Thinkin’ about Lincoln

May 22—William Miller/Winston-Salem, N.C.

While Abraham Lincoln and others before him set out to change public opinion on slavery, it took about two generations to accomplish. Yet he took a decisive stand and fought against evil—and evil hit back. People shouldn’t think they can confront evil without expecting there to be a fight that gets messy and has casualties.

Cultural icons

May 22—Mary Michol Oen/Saint Marys, Ohio

I worked at a daily newspaper for almost 29 years, and Joel Belz’s column brought back memories of operating a Linotype. It was a beast and had its quirks, but it certainly revolutionized the graphic arts industry.

Publishing postures

May 22, p. 20—Carmen Julius/Edinburg, Pa.

Publications and communications are the latest and most important victims in the year of U.S. mob rule writ large. What is now “fit to print” does not make room for any other points other than the most popular or “the most desired” by those in charge.

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

Enlightened entertainment

May 22—Virgil Dunbar/Portland, Ore.

If we believe in the deity of Christ, do we now accept and promote a screen image of God? Doesn’t the use of video images of Jesus have serious consequences? Considering such consequences, can we say that The Chosen promotes sound entertainment about Jesus?

Drew M. Poplin/Durham, N.C.

After reading the review of The Chosen, which failed to point out the inherent evil of a TV show creating a false image of a person of the Godhead and included an intrinsically sinful image of Christ to illustrate the article, my conscience requires that I make my protest known and request that you cancel our subscription. I believe WORLD offers quality content, but I cannot financially support a Christian magazine that would openly neglect the law of God—which is good and not burdensome to the Christian—in this manner.

Cultural icons

May 22—Richard Brewster/Cutchogue, N.Y.

I enjoyed Joel Belz’s column, but before we talk about the Mac and the cell phone, we need to remember what started it all: the “invention” of the bit about 100 years ago.

Anti-slavery Constitution

May 22—Roxanne Ivarson/Lakewood, Colo.

Thanks to Marvin Olasky for his review of James Oakes’ The Crooked Path to Abolition. Fredrick Douglass wrote the following, but I changed the word “slave” to the “unwanted unborn” to illustrate the similarities of the slave and abortion debates:

“What, to the American unwanted unborn, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.”

In praise of book reviews and reviewers

MaryAnn McElhany/Ephrata, Pa.

For many years I have greatly appreciated WORLD’s book reviews. Thank you to Janie B. Cheaney and those who work along with her for wading through the multitude of offerings available to provide readers with recommendations for books that are uplifting and inspiring while warning us of the ones that have a less-than-godly worldview.