Mailbag

Loving the despised

Bethel McGrew’s article was on point. I lived in India with a Christian organization helping young girls trafficked in the sex trade. It was a struggle because many were considered “untouchables.” But we prayed, built relationships with local police, and pressed on. The mission goes on, thanks to the hope this article brings.
    Vic Lacey / Oakhurst, Calif.

Heavy burden

Thanks for Emma Freire’s thoughtful, Biblical, honest reporting. I offer another way to lower the cost of a college education: junior or community colleges. My cost to attend a junior ­college for two years was the same as my first semester at a state university.
    Jeff Dickerson/ Morton, Ill.

All fun and games?

Christian colleges waste ­precious resources of time, money, and people in sponsoring video game competitions as a sport. First-person shooter games have no place in the life of any Christian, nor does any video game in the institutional life of a Christian college.
    Douglas Groothuis / Highlands Ranch, Colo.

Christian college students play esports and think they have “found a spiritual element” while India’s Christ followers faithfully serve Him at any cost. Our young people are frivolous and spoiled and have no idea of the cost of discipleship. We must pray for them to wake up and teach them the truth.
    Marjorie Hebda / Bridgewater, Mass.

Dear college gamers: “I love it when my husband plays video games,” said no wife, ever.
    Deanna Scott / Houghton, N.Y.

A “front porch” revival?

I lead a similar ministry, though the “front porch” is our great room. Participants come from varied religious backgrounds, some unchurched for years. The conversation is open and nonjudgmental. We always come back to “What does God’s Word say?” thereby avoiding the danger Andrée Seu Peterson so rightly warns us about.
    Lorraine Stevenson / Bloomington, Ind.

Serious Sabbath

Lynn Vincent’s delightful account of “sweet and ­deepening fellowship with God” was a joyful trumpet call to Sabbath keeping and spiritual, physical, and ­emotional rest.
   Sandra Langley / Vienna, Va.

I, too, have only come to realize the full significance of the Sabbath day. I find great joy in worship with His people, in silence and solitude, in Bible reading and prayer, in physical rest and restoration—in short, spending the day honoring the Lord, focused on Him and who He is. I delight in the day because I’m learning to delight in Him.
    Karen Parsons / Springfield, Mo.

Sunday is not the Sabbath. Never has been. While I commend and agree with everything Lynn Vincent wrote about taking Sunday as a day for rest, reflection, and worship of and giving glory to God, Sunday is the first day of the week. The Sabbath is the seventh.
    W. Wade Stooksberry II / Townville, S.C.

I once attended services where the pastor preached about Sabbath observance. He said we should abstain from our daily labors and refrain from causing others to work, and if we go out to eat after church, we cause others to not only violate the Sabbath but miss church as well. Nevertheless, as a visitor, I received two invitations to join members for a meal at a restaurant. So much for being doers and not just hearers of the Word. Oops! I’m guilty, too.
    Bruce Nelson / Byron Center, Mich.