LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — Gone away too soon

Dec. 16, 2012: The morning worship crowd was in a festive mood with Christmas only days away. Holiday colors brightened some worshipper’s clothes. But there was an undercurrent of somberness brought about by the slaughter of the innocents only two days before. Then the man selected to open the service heightened the sober mood by announcing that one of the men of the congregation returning from the MD Anderson cancer treatment center in Houston had collapsed on the plane from an apparent heart attack. No other details were available except that the plane had landed in Dallas.

The service ran longer than usual and the one who led the final prayer revealed that the man had died in Dallas. Muffled sobs and cries punctuated his closing prayer. Afterward, few members rushed away. The restaurants must wait this day. Burdens needed to be shared. The scripture that admonishes Christians to share one another’s burdens, thus fulfilling the law of Christ, needed to be accomplished. And it was. The man’s family was whisked away to meet his wife at the airport to face together the troubling days ahead.

In memory of one Alex Reed, resident of Russellville, husband, father, brother, son and friend. Deacon for the master’s flock, who slipped all too soon into that vale of no tears that we know so little of except that the master is there and that he promised to make a place for each of his followers.

Where you now dwell, so soon shall we. Watch for us.

JOHN McPHERSON

Searcy

Fear loss of freedom

I wish to express my thanks to Steven Martinez of Gravette for his Voices letter. He voiced my very same feelings concerning guns and our liberty.

Should we lose our freedom, we will have lost our greatest asset.

H.E. KITCHENS

De Queen

Not a secular scheme

I have encountered too much silliness about “Merry Christmas” versus “Happy Holidays” to keep quiet any longer. It is a non-dispute.

The phrase “Happy Holidays” (plural, not singular) is not a secular plot of any kind. For as long as I can remember, it has been used alongside Merry Christmas in order to be inclusive of New Year’s, and probably Chanukah as well, in an embracing and festive sense. If there are other major holidays that fall this time of year, so much the better, happy, happy, happy!

If one wanted to get all cranky, it would be possible to question the proper Christianness of that merry in “Merry Christmas.” Very popish at the least, if not downright pagan.

So what?

And by the way, “Xmas” does not leave Christ out of anything. You do not read it as “ecksmass,” you read it as Christmas because the X is not our Roman letter, but the Greek “chi” and the abbreviation for Christ, with usage as old as Christianity itself. You see the abbreviation “viz.” but do not read it as “vizz”, you read it as “to wit.” You see Xmas and say Christmas.

May the calendar keep bringing happy holidays to you.

STANLEY JOHNSON

Little Rock

It’s America at its best

Michael T. DeWitt must really be worried about the influence of the Tea Party, a group of people reviled by the Democrats. His recent letter, in which he spews forth venom against this group of citizens, is chilling. What did he hope to achieve by doing this?

I attended a Tea Party meeting held on the grounds of the state Capitol once. It was America at its best. Young and old came from across the state. Babies were carried on hips, canes and wheelchairs were in evidence, and lawn chairs were set out for the elderly and some of the young mothers. The group was diverse, as is America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we can speak out against the intrusive nanny state, socialistic-leaning government we now have in effect and where you can protest against the Tea Party, even in the cowardly, denigrating way he chose.

DeWitt also mentioned the Koch brothers, but neglected, as do most liberals, to mention George Soros. His comment about allegiance to the serpent flag must be a dig at Christians, although it was difficult to discern in the garble of meaningless words. Christians are another favorite target of the left. Seeing as we are all “as sharp as a bag of wet mice,” in DeWitt’s words, I may have misconstrued his meaning. I only taught secondary English for five years.

All of us will find out someday if there is a real serpent and also if there is a real God.

R.C. DEATON

Little Rock

Ignored facts still exist

Letter writer Dixie Cole of Fayetteville seems to be an intelligent and sincere person. However, and with all due respect, she and most Christians seem to have little notion or comprehension of the real origins of their religion. Many of their creeds, rituals, devils, demons, hobgoblins and other mischievous troublemakers are fully represented and elaborately expressed in the non-Christian religions and rituals of paganism.

All things considered, the mentality of modern-day Christians is not so far removed as a person might think from the mentality of their pagan contemporaries. For example: The war in heaven between Satan (Venus) and Michael (Mars) is pure mythology.

The gods and devils of mythology could and did change forms from time to time, and around 330 B.C., the Hebrews borrowed such an entity, the pre-Greek goat god, Pan, complete with bifurcated hoofs, horns and tail. Is it not ironic that they endowed this devil with the same malevolent character as the cruel vindictive god who stalks the pages of the Old Testament? Later our ancestors would appropriate the god of the Jews and adopt their devil as well.

There are those who simply do not want to hear about these truths for fear of losing their faith, but facts do not cease to exist just because they are ignored.

AL CASE

Enola

Does Obama know?

Twenty-seven dead in Connecticut. Oh my God!

Sixty thousand dead in Syria. Oh, well.

Maybe somebody better tell the president.

And another thing: I don’t understand how a police department can buy back something that it never owned in the first place.

DON SHORT

Farmington