Letters to the Editor
xychro
Published Letters: 82 Editor's Choice: 1
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Shooting shit out of space is simply cool
[Read the article: Satellite shoot-down conspiracies]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What other reason do you need to fire a rocket 134 miles and blow up a satellite?
Dangerous fuel concerns, a showcase for our technology (considering the massive exposure of the event), confidential, top-secret equipment on the satellite - all of the reasons above are probably valid for shooting that satellite down.
But beyond all that, it's a cool story, and apparently good for PR - many people were interested.
Peace,
XY
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@ Fight
[Read the article: The gay marriage slump]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"I notice you didn't address any of my other comments. Could it be because their all true?"
No.
Peace,
Xy
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Ridiculous at best, evil at worst...
[Read the article: Are you going to hell?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Marks: "All evangelicals know that, once they get out of their own personal sphere, they will be seen as ridiculous at best, evil at worst."
This is a sweeping statement, and false in my experience. My personal sphere is about 80% unbelievers, and I'm the only believer in my family, at work, most of my friends are unbelievers. Maybe I'm just too used to them, but I've never encountered a stranger who ridiculed me or called me evil. Maybe being 6'4 keeps their mouths at bay... But in our postmodern world most people approach me with the attitude of 'Well if it works for you, great...' And though I know it works for all of us, I don't cram that down their throat.
Anyway, just thoughts from an Eva...
Peace,
XY
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On 'Fomer Born-Again...'
[Read the article: Are you going to hell?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There are no 'former' born-again Christians. There are people who get excited about Christianity, then realize they don't want salvation, and turn from it. But salvation is not something people get, lose, retrieve... It's a one-time offer, and either someone sticks with it, or they were never saved.
Peace,
XY
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DrMajorBob
[Read the article: Are you going to hell?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Certainly I have many times felt the "epiphany" that (I think) spiritualists feel when they're "overcome by the Holy Spirit" or whatever each one calls it. Mostly this has happened to me when solving (after great effort) a problem in math or programming; when recognizing and enjoying the deep insights of a writer, composer, or scientist; or when entranced by the beauty of a sunset or a beautiful woman, especially when imbued with the special human genius of a great photographer.
I felt it when, hypnotized by years of brainwashing, I decided to be baptized at nine.
And I felt it again when I FULLY realized how ignorant I was at age nine and what utter crap the experience truly was."
There's always the chance that you never felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. Comparing the rush of a personal achievement to the presence of the Holy Spirit is like comparing a flicker of static to a lightning bolt.
Peace,
XY
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Misidentification of Terms?
[Read the article: How to turn white evangelicals into Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't really understand Ms. Sullivan; Evangelicals are Protestants, but Protestant doesn't mean Evangelical or Evangelist.
Evangelists do not - and I mean _never_ subscribe to the theory that the Bible shouldn't be taken literally. If you don't believe me, just look up the definition of 'Evangelical' in Webster's. If you know an Evangelist who says 'You don't have to believe the Bible literally,' they are quite simply _not_ an Evangelist, and that includes Ms. Sullivan.
2 Timothy 3:16 summarizes an Evangelist's view of the Bible:
"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness."
As such, Evangelists do not condone abortion, and as for gay marriage - well, since we don't believe in sex outside of marriage in any form, (and it's marriage between man and woman) we will obviously never approve of it.
Peace,
XY
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Well, thanks for settling the issue...
[Read the article: The cold truth about climate change]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...if this debate about global warming kept going I wouldn't have time to go skiing on the three feet of snow covering my fields in late February. Let's stop CO2 emissions because if it keeps getting warmer, I'll have snow coverage till mid-May next year.
Stupidest... theory... ever... At least I'll never run out of material to rip on my liberal friends, even though they're shaking their heads over this one already.
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To Josiah:
[Read the article: How to turn white evangelicals into Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]'"Evangelical" comes from evangelism, the act of spreading the Gospel. Different Christians disagree on what parts of the Gospel are the most important, and how to interpret them.'
I think the dictionary settles matters well; Evangelicals are not based on spreading the Gospel, and Evangelicals stick to the Gospel.
'e·van·gel·i·cal
–adjective
1. Pertaining to or in keeping with the gospel and its teachings.
2. belonging to or designating the Christian churches that emphasize the teachings and authority of the Scriptures, esp. of the New Testament, in opposition to the institutional authority of the church itself, and that stress as paramount the tenet that salvation is achieved by personal conversion to faith in the atonement of Christ.
3. designating Christians, esp. of the late 1970s, eschewing the designation of fundamentalist but holding to a conservative interpretation of the Bible.
4. pertaining to certain movements in the Protestant churches in the 18th and 19th centuries that stressed the importance of personal experience of guilt for sin, and of reconciliation to God through Christ.
5. marked by ardent or zealous enthusiasm for a cause.
–noun
6. an adherent of evangelical doctrines or a person who belongs to an evangelical church or party.
Peace,
XY
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PffffROFL
[Read the article: The K Chronicles]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Keith just get the nitrous - you won't care what's happening at all. Just don't go in with any secrets!
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"The goal of science...
[Read the article: The certainty epidemic]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...is to gradually overcome deeply embedded superstition."
Since when does science have a goal?
Science is merely a systematic acquisition of facts about the world gained through observation and experimentation. It has no goal.
Scientists, on the other hand, can have goals. And in Burton's case, he has a stated goal. He should say, "My goal is to gradually overcome deeply embedded superstition."
And what superstitions are these? Well from his article, in which he mentions fundamentalism and Pentacostalism, it's pretty easy to tell what beliefs he considers to be superstition: that there is a God who revealed himself through Jesus Christ.
Peace,
Xy