LETTERS

In the absence of sin

A den of sin some call it, a casino in Tunica will soon close and 1,300 people face layoffs. I’m sure this pleases the editorial page editors of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and others who are opposed to gambling because of the sin and other reasons.

I was church-taught that Adam and Eve obeyed a talking snake instead of God and sin entered the world when the pair ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and, adding to the woes, mankind (nowpeoplekind for political correctness) had to start laboring and sweating. And I was taught that death is the wages of sin. Further, I was taught that if sin had not come to the world, we’d not have to work, nor die.

Based on these fundamental teachings, let us examine a sinless world with sin and death. There’d be no need for funeral homes, doctors, lawyers, hospitals and affordable health care, for starters, and unemployment figures would be a non-issue.

If I see clearly now, there’d be no economic system as we know it based on all this. Maybe an economist or a theologian can explain.

WILLIAM KRAMER

North Little Rock

A cheaper alternative

I read in a recent Otus the Head Cat column that North Little Rock has purchased Shep, a trained goose harasser (for $1,600 plus annual upkeep). Thus North Little Rock is committing to dedicated canine geese-harassment to deal with the inconvenient large-fowl defecation phenomena.

My question is what happened to last year’s volunteer pre-gosling abortion program. This was euphemistically referred to as egg addling. Addling is defined as temporarily removing the egg from the nest, coating it in corn oil(thus suffocating the embryo) and then returning the egg to the nest to fool the mother into thinking the embryo is just fine.

Still seems like shooting them in a controlled hunt is just as humane as what is done with the deer, ducks, etc. And once again virtually cost-free. I’ll supply my own gun and ammo.

JIM LITE

White Hall

Not grasping truths

It seems like you have given up on religious letters in the paper. I don’t blame you. People today seem to see religion as a man-made philosophy, an exercise program, a relaxation system or finally a little quiet time, or a hundred other things.

Even in our faith, many have taken God out of faith. Marriage apparently is only a social club, not the beginning of a family in the light of God’s truth. We don’t grasp God’s truths because we water down the supernatural elements and can’t understand how God uses our natural setting to explain and help us practice our spiritual values.

I believe we had better learn how to find faith in God in his church, not in our self-made religion.

THOMAS W. KELLER

Carlisle

Power to defeat evils

People praise those born with homosexual orientation for courageously “coming out.” Really? Do we praise those oriented toward greed and who defraud others? No. Do we praise those oriented toward pride and who are racist? No.

I believe everyone is born with one or more evil orientations. Jesus taught that out of the heart (our inner orientation) proceed “evil thoughts-murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man unclean,” i.e., unholy. Jesus came to forgive our outward sins and to give us the power to overcome our evil orientations. This is really good news!

ELTON STEPHEN IRBY

Hot Springs Village

Curling-page miasma

Last Saturday the now long-deceased feline, Otus The Head Cat, waded into the miasma that is the ongoing spleen-venting issue of the curling pages. After reading his column, I was ever so relieved to learn that the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is addressing this issue “head” on by installing a “state-of-the-art de-ligninator” at the end of their press, procured from the “Heidelberger Nutzlosen Maschinen factory near Heidelberg, Germany,” no less. It was to go online April 1, 2014.

Wait a minute-is there significance to that date? Hmmm.

I wonder now, having read, in years past, Otus’ columns about the Velcro farmers in Monroe County; the invasion of carnivorous, flesh-eating piranha fish into the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge in south Arkansas; and the annual summertime invasion of the dreaded Humidity Pods.

I get it, I do! Obviously those earlier columns were “humorous fabrication.” But the page-curling issue, being of such monumental importance to our way of life, surely deserves to be treated in a much more reverent manner.

Check your pages, fellow subscribers. Curl? No curl? Have we been had by Otus? Again?

Purr on, Otus.

J.P. HOSKYN

Little Rock

To further civilization

It seems the Apostle Paul was aware that there were many pranksters in the ancient and mixed city, Corinth, hence two epistles. Consequently, God spelled backward is akin to Xmas. The body is not the temple of the soul/spirit. Obviously, dog’s emphasis begins with the tail (physical). While I haven’t seen a poll on this, I believe most, or at least many humans, emphasize the head, the seat of the brain.

The behaviorist branch of psychology primarily reduces humans to the level of dogs, nothing more than a response to a physical stimulus. I don’t love dogs, nor do I hate dogs. They have a purpose for however they are trained. If you wish, you can get them blessed.

Indeed, the flesh is weak and we all come up short, but I believe mind over matter is more endearing, individually, as well as for the furtherance of civilization.

Now that March Madness is coming to a close, how about April?

My two cents’ worth on paper quality: There is a fine line separating a cheap or thrifty businessman. Could it be that man is manufacturing and using more chemicals than healthy trees God can produce?

DON RICHARDSON

Ash Flat

Second that motion

With reference to the letter about Defense Department cuts from Dorothy Hughes of Benton that appeared on the Voices page, I have only one word with which to comment on her views: Amen!

JODIE HARPER

Hot Springs