Christ was not political
In the Aug. 21 edition of the Cherokee Scout, one reader wrote, “Why vote Republican.” My blood is boiling, and it has zero to do with voting Republican.
Pastors should tell people how to vote? Seriously?
Was Christ ever involved in politics? When churches get involved in government, or government in religion, when have you ever seen anything good happen? Surely, she forgot the Crusades.
Wasn’t the holocaust a kind of anti-religion war? ISIS? That Hindus and Moslems routinely fight one another?
Has she any idea what goes on in countries like Iran, where religion rules politics? How about Catholics and Protestants in Ireland? If pastors tell people who to vote for, how long do you think it’ll be before there’s a “holy war” on non-Christians?
Mind your own business. Stop demonizing everyone who doesn’t think like you. Who appointed you to sit alongside Christ at the final judgment?
Republicans are Americans. Democrats are Americans.
Every human has a right to think as they want. Democracy is messy.
“Diversity, equity and inclusion, issues have infiltrated the church under the misguided pretense … of compassion,” you say? And I thought compassion was a Christian value.
Matthew 25: “For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink …”
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”
“Christians have a duty to vote biblically,” you say? OK. Then walk your walk.
If Christ were alive today, do you think he would be against DEI or for it? And what do you think He’d say about the person you want everyone to vote
for who calls himself a “Christian,” yet has no morals, ethics, loyalty and cares not for another except himself? And you say Democrats “don’t follow God’s word?”
You may not have realized this, ma’am, but Christ was never involved in politics. And any good preacher will stay far the heck away.
David Bellino, Murphy
The Hilton or Motel 6?
Last week I went crazy in a very special way. We’d just moved into a four-room,
135-unit retirement homeon the edge of a small north Georgia mountain town, run by the Methodists. More like a Hilton, than a Motel Six, is my line.
Several days later, we drove the 20 miles up to the folk school where, due to Rose’s teaching there last year, Becky was awarded a week’s worth of watercoloring, three yummy squares and a deluxe room in an octagonal bunk house.
Me and Ginger spent the week with ourselves, which was my private disaster. So, Saturday night, I showed up at the folk school dining hall as a genuine zombie. Darcy jumps up and tells me to save my special announcement until after dinner.
After spending a week living with other old people, I was desperate to claim an ancient French patriarchal homesteading tradition.
Several years ago, Darcy bought this house in the hills, midway between Hayesville, Brasstown and Warne,. If she’d asked, I would have recommended a somewhat more level parcel, but she didn’t ask.
Her beautiful house is near the bottom of a roughly rectangular, forested, southwest-facing parcel. The community covenants prevent one from raising pigs or building anything unusual within sight of any existing house or road.
So I insanely invoked this ancient French patriarchal tradition of awarding any existent papa, 1/8 of an acre, or 1/56th of Darcy’s 7 acres, life estate, on or near the bulbous, forested, parcel’s center: my Private Piece of the Sky, as an eternally temporary respite from our beautiful 1/138th portion of a north Georgian “Hilton.”
With pick and shovel I will go, in a 1990 Accord, down from the Ridge Road, with shears and a bow-saw, down to near Darcy’s Parcel’s center to make my flat.
Harry Holdorf, Blairsville, Ga.
$3,500 for area seniors
We are pleased to announce that the Mountain Lakes Board of Realtors collected more than $3,500 worth of supplies for our local senior centers.
We would like to thank all our Realtor members, board affiliates and members of the public who helped support local homebound seniors. We could not have done it without all of you.
Supplies have been delivered to Cherokee, Clay and Graham counties senior centers.
Donna Srabian, Murphy
The writer is chair of the Mountain Lakes Board of Realtors.
Cocaine and fentanyl kill
Cocaine is one of the most expensive drugs on the streets. The average price of a gram of cocaine is around $120. The availability of cocaine has been growing steadily. Finding pure cocaine is almost nonexistent because dealers are cutting it with anything cheaper to extend the product and increase their income. One of the things they are starting to cut it with is fentanyl.
Cocaine is already addictive, but when you add fentanyl to it, it becomes even more addictive. Fentanyl is highly addictive and can cost on average $1-$2 per dose. People using this can get hooked on a deadly cocktail and not even know it.
Mixing cocaine and fentanyl can result in respiratory failure, arrhythmias, heart failure and stroke. It can greatly impact your heart causing it to beat slowly then rapidly.
It is vital to know the health effects when mixing cocaine and fentanyl, whether you are using it knowingly or unknowingly.
Some of the following may occur when mixing opioids (fentanyl) and stimulants (cocaine): anxiety, high blood pressure, confusion, incoherence, drowsiness, mental impairment, paranoia, irregular or strong heartbeat, suppression of breathing, blurred vision.
Knowing the signs of overdose is vitally important so you can get your loved one help immediately.
Signs of overdose when mixing opioids and stimulants: vomiting; inability to talk; blush lips or fingernails; irregular heartbeat; loss of consciousness; choking or snore-like gurgling sounds; slow, erratic, shallow breathing.
Using drugs nowadays, you run the risk of it being laced with fentanyl.
If you or a loved one are struggling with addiction, reach out for help before it’s too late.
Alina Snowden, Denham Springs, La.
The writer is with Narconon Drug & Alcohol Rehabilitation & Education. Visit narcononnewliferetreat.org.
Who has our best interest?
After reading three letters to the editor in the Aug. 21 edition of the Cherokee Scout, it’s time to present a different viewpoint.
To the gentleman who references the rabid raccoons, why do you think that hiring someone who lies, cheats and steals will not do the same to you? If he doesn’t keep his promises to others, why would he keep his to you? There is an old saying – the definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over, expecting different results.
For the lady talking about church leaders being given false information and preaching it, that is an absolutely true statement. Nowhere in the Bible does it say we should follow a false idol. In fact, the Bible warns us that we should not worship a false idol.
Why, then, should we follow after someone who likens himself to dictators and says he is the perfect person to lead,when his business history is filled with repeated failures, bankruptcy and corruption? He is an admitted adulterer and ruled in civil court to be a sexual predator.
The Bible tells us to love our neighbor, help the poor and be a good person. I cannot understand the hypocrisy of a person calling themselves a Christian and then holding up such an ugly person as an example.
The recent period of inflation can be attributed to many policies from our former administration. Remember the major tax cuts for wealthy people? Additionally, immigration is at its lowest level in years.
I do not agree with all of the Harris/Walz agenda, but I do believe they will put the best interests of our country ahead of their own. I also think they care about people and would never refer to them as “basement dwellers” or mock them for their disabilities.
I want people of compassion, empathy and integrity to lead our nation.
Roslyn Heaton, Andrews
Jesus was very ‘woke’
I was a bit concerned by the Your View “Why to vote Republican” in the Aug. 21 edition of the Cherokee Scout. The writer, Tamara Phillips, details how to get around pastors working for political causes.
This seems contrary to Jesus’ teachings, but then I realized the entire column is contrary to Jesus’ teachings. I am not certain what church or religion this represents, but my Bible has a New Testament in it, and in that New Testament the words of Jesus tell me over and over that we should feed the poor, help the sick and welcome the foreigner.
“Woke” is exactly what Jesus was in the teachings of the Bible. Defined in Oxford dictionary as “alert to and concerned about social injustice and discrimination.” Yes, Jesus was woke, and He commanded His followers to be woke.
To be clear, feeding poor children, concerning ourselves with the poor and helping the sick is antithetical to the Republican platform of the last eight years.
The commenter is welcome to her opinion and to encourage preachers to endorse the convicted criminal, but please be honest with yourselves and others that you disagree with everything Jesus was recorded as saying in the New Testament.
James Bradley, Murphy
A real liar, opportunist
The letter “Liars and opportunists” (in the Aug. 21 edition of the Cherokee Scout) calls Kamala Harris and Tim Walz “socialists, people of shockingly poor character, liars and political opportunists” with no factual examples.
Perhaps the Cherokee Scout needs to clarify its letters to the editor policy stating it publishes letters from readers “that are not … a personal attack.”
There is indeed a candidate who fits the description of shockingly poor character, liar and political opportunist, and one only needs to follow the news to know which candidate it is. Yet, he is embraced by a shockingly large number of Christians who somehow overlook those character flaws, his attacks on our very democracy and plain weird behavior.
If I had mishandled classified documents in a willful manner that threatened national security in the same manner as this candidate, no doubt I’d have been charged and thrown in jail.
The same letter states “President Donald Trump’s court cases are all Democratic lawfare, brought in Trump-hating jurisdictions to ensure guilty verdicts from jurors afraid to vote contrary to their own community politics,” which deserves some clarification.
Donald Trump is not our president. He lost the election fair and square, despite his continued declarations to the contrary. He has admitted as much several times.
The classified documents case referred to is being heard in Florida. Does the author believe Florida to be Trump-hating jurisdiction?
In New York, where he was found guilty of 34 felony counts, he was found guilty be a jury of his peers selected by his lawyers as well as the prosecutors. Anyone keeping track of the number of his lawyers also found guilty of breaking the law will soon be running out of fingers.
November’s vote results will be facilitated by people who are not afraid to vote contrary to their own community.
Thomas Hudon, Morganton, Ga., and Stuart, Fla.