Letters to the Editor:
God chooses for us, we should have faith
A response to Hillary Scholten’s take: "Giving women a choice can also mean they choose life."
I would like to respond to Hillary Scholten's column about women choosing life. I am happy to read that Hillary and her husband chose life for their unborn child, and I am sorry for their loss. Every parent of a child with special needs has experienced anguish over their situation at one time or another.
Hillary bemoans the fact that she and her husband would have had only one week to decide whether or not to end the life of their child with special needs if the Republican 15-week bill would have been in place.
Hillary continues to say that missing from the conversation is the fact that banning abortion at 15 weeks takes away who gets to make the choice of life or death for a child with a disability. She says the Republican ban switches the decision maker from the parents and doctors to politicians.
Actually as is evidenced in her situation, God made the choice. God is in control and always has been. God is the author of life and loves life. Unfortunately, sin entered the world and, along with it death, disease and evil of all sorts. The Christian response in these difficult situations is to love and support each other and trust in the Lord. Jesus taught us to care for the weak and vulnerable. Every agonizing situation I have been in gave me a chance to completely trust in God. These hard times also gave friends, family and co-workers an opportunity to show me and my family love. I am a mother of a daughter with special needs and I have learned and am still learning to be a joyful servant.
Talk to a parent who has adopted. Right now, I know three families who have been waiting to adopt a child for months, two of them over a year.
Communities that support people with disabilities are beautiful places to live. I am blessed to live in West Michigan where every life has always been valued, a community where people give sacrificially to help others and demonstrate a servant heart.
The idea of selective abortion to rid the community of the burden of caring for those with high needs is not compassionate, caring or loving.
Stephanie HoekstraHolland
Can a Christian vote Democrat?
On the morning of April 9, 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged on the direct order of Adolf Hitler. Eric Metaxas recounts this period in history in his book "Seven Men and Seven Women: And the Secret of Their Greatness"; Bonhoeffer was arrested for his involvement in a plan to save seven German Jews.
On page 121, Metaxas said: “Somehow Bonhoeffer saw from the very beginning what no one else seemed to see — that Nazi ideology could not coexist with Christianity.”
The question that needs to be asked before the election is can a Christian support the CURRENT Democratic platform?
The answer is no based on the issue of abortion and other radical positions. No one can force you to have a biblical worldview or biblical values, but Christians believe life is a precious gift from God. We can’t argue to change someone’s mind; the change has to happen in the heart. I have held 11 grandchildren shortly after their birth. They were genetically engineered by God. My prayer for them is that they will find the divine purpose for their lives and fulfill it.
Bonhoeffer took action against the evil of his day and it cost him his life.
We need to stand against the evil in our day.
Ron VoelkerHolland
Et tu, Republicans?
If Republican candidates, national and local, have not found the courage, with 60 Supreme Court decisions backing them, to acknowledge Biden as our lawfully elected president, how will they ever resist collaborating with a totalitarian president?
Donald J. BrugginkHolland
Ballot box will be driven by the abortion issue
It appears from all the ads and commercials on television that abortion will be a primary issue in Michigan elections.
Anti-abortion proponents are characterized as extreme, uncaring, out of touch, violators of women's rights, etc. So let's do a little logical analysis of the situation and see if there is merit to those claims.
First, there is no "right to abortion" in the Constitution of the United States, or Michigan. That "right" was established by an erroneous misinterpretation and extrapolation of the wording by the ACLU and Planned Parenthood.
Second, I find it cynically curious that the "right" is always couched in terms of "women's health," or "reproductive freedom." Whose health are we talking about?
It certainly isn't those of the baby whose life is being terminated, or the mental health issues related by numerous women later in life after having gone through an abortion. What about the term "reproductive rights"? By definition, reproduction is the act of creating, in this case, another human being. How does aborting that process qualify as "reproduction"?
Third, the mantra chanted is "our body, our choice," or some variation of that theme. Since when do humans have the right of control over their bodies? Can we, as humans, predict our next breath, or the next heartbeat, much less control those functions? Because if we can't, do not talk to me about "rights" of control. These sound like appealing concepts, but they are without actual merit.
Opponents of abortion are labeled as extreme — that seems to be the favorite buzzword. I would contend the extreme position is the terminating of a human life, not the other way around.
Don Bergman wrote in a recent column: "Our Constitution’s authors were deadlocked over which one to pick. Consequently, they established a secular republic with freedom of and from religion." In fact, it is the Judeo-Christian ethics that are the basis for all our laws governing a civil society. One just needs to read the supporting documents the framers wrote to see that they had moral underpinnings in writing the Constitution.
Perhaps Mr. Bergman would prefer anarchy instead of a governing moral code.
Fourth, I cannot excuse the behavior of males in this action. They bear equal responsibility. As the old adage goes, "It takes two to tango." There needs to be accountability for males in these actions, both morally, and monetarily.
As so many other issues of the day, abortion is a moral issue. For those who don't want to follow God's ways, that is your choice. But there are consequences, if not from the state, eventually, from the creator and sustainer of life.The ads can say whatever they want, even if they do promote error.
This should never have been a government issue. If health is involved, this is a decision between the couple and the doctors. The state does not need to be involved in every facet of life.
Kurt TillmannZeeland
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Letters to the Editor: God chooses for us, we should have faith
