On Jan. 15 this newspaper printed a letter by Norm Fitzgerald (“America was founded on religion and the Bible”), which was contradicted by Jeremy Gosnell (“History says America wasn’t founded on religion and the Bible,” Jan. 20). Then I praised Norman Fitzgerald’s letter (“Our founding fathers had reverence for God,” Feb. 4).

In return another Gosnell rebuttal (“Which contributed more to America’s Greatness?” Feb. 7) appeared criticizing five persons, (1 The God of the Bible; (2) The Lord Jesus Christ; (3) George Washington; (4) Norm Fitzgerald; (5) and myself.

In view of this I feel constrained to give a report on the convictions of true Christians. Jeremy does not believe that we are all sinners.

God says, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 6:23). Jeremy states that we are “humans and the product of millions of years of evolutionary biology.” Jesus said, “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female” (Mark 10:6).

I think it very sad that a young man would imply that the Lord Jesus didn’t know what He was talking about. All Christians believe the Holy Bible to be the divinely inspired Word of God, unerring, infallible, and eternal.

Jeremy’s appeal to Buddhism is amusing. There are many “isms” in this world, but God says about Jesus Christ, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Buddhism is another form of atheism and does not believe there is a God. It believes in reincarnation, that is, after you die you return as perhaps a monkey, cow, or whatever. Christians are assured that after death they will immediately awake in heaven.

The modern view of man’s nature departs radically from the Biblical view. “The cult of self-expression,” believes that whatever one likes is therefore legitimate. This modern philosophy has also invaded the religious sector.

People used to be humble, and quite willing to confess they were sinners. Today folks seek to defend themselves by saying that the standards of Scripture are too high. Such are simply defending themselves against their own consciences and the Bible. Their desire is to be left unattacked and uncondemned.

The cult of self-expression seeks to justify its own ways, and assails Christians and the Bible. The Bible condemns sinful behavior, consequently the sinner hates its reproofs, and resisting, belittles the very Bible that can show him the way of forgiveness and salvation.

They believe that man possesses various powers, faculties, and instincts that enable him to better himself. In other words, he is the master of his destiny, he is his own god and that man is chained against his highest good by adherence to the warnings of the Bible.

They think that folks who believe in sin are perverted, psychopathic, and a threat to human progress. They teach that man is nothing but a biological mechanism and the result of biological forces. Thus he has no God to meet.

Christians know better, for they study and believe the Bible. Man was created perfect, but sin entered. This ruined the human race, and alienated man from his God, but God provided a way back, through the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

Man can be reconciled to God through the death of His Son. (Romans 5:10). “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3). There is an old saying worth repeating. “God hates sin – but He loves the sinner.” Here is the proof; “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Robert E. Surgenor

Fairview Park, Ohio