If young are intolerant, blame their elders
Before too many folks get crazy and start blaming liberals or young people for the free speech debate on campus, here are some things they might do well to remember.
"The Golden Compass" -- the sequels never produced because the religious right whined and complained about the source material.
"The Book of Daniel" -- taken off television because conservatives whined and called TV stations to complain.
The Dixie Chicks -- removed from the air because they dared to be critical of George Bush.
"The Last Temptation of Christ" -- protested by folks who had never even read the novel.
The 1950s -- Young people were urged by censorious adults to throw their comic books into mass bonfires.
If there are foolishly intolerant young among us, well, they had teachers.
Richard S. Drake
Fayetteville
Grisham a little off
on the motivation of Jesus
The Rev. Lowell Grisham in his May 23 article, "A Jesus World," posed important questions: What if more people responded like Him? How different might our culture be if we engaged our world as Jesus engaged His?
Grisham is to be commended for his humanitarianism in pointing out Jesus' love and care for people, a love that begins with God the Father. Unfortunately, what is expressed in the column as Jesus' priority is actually a result of His first priority.
Jesus' first priority was not the meeting of physical needs or confrontation with established religious laws and cultural norms. The motivation to do all these things does not come from a heightened sense of morality. Jesus did not come to establish a new enlightened social order. He did not leave behind believers who were instructed to become a social service agency.
The reason anyone should want to be like Jesus is expressed by apostle Paul in his letter to the Christians in Philippi. Summarized in Philippians 2:5, it is "Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus." Our motivation comes from our commitment to Jesus as God (Philippians 2:6), Savior (V.7 & 8) and Lord (V. 9-11).
The highest and greatest reason to commit to a life of unselfish, sacrificial attitudes and behavior comes as a result of healing. It is not physical or moral, but the healing of the soul. That was and still is the priority of Jesus. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself" (Corinthians 5:19). As we, individually, become reconciled with God then everything else Rev. Grisham proposes becomes possible, not wishful thinking.
The Rev. Morris Vickers
Rogers
Commentary on 05/28/2017