Letters to the editor: Sept. 21

Talk about it

God’s word does not evolve

Brenda Holappa

Two Harbors

The marriage issue is just one more battle in the age old war that’s been happening since the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, when the evil one said, “Yea, hath God said…?” and “…Ye shall not surely die.” God’s good creation fell into sin, death and confusion as a result of twisting words. It wasn’t an instant physical death but a spiritual one. All creation fell, and it groans in pain to this day. No one can deny it; look around. We’ve all been corrupted because we are part of the creation. All are sinners in need of true redemption, God’s gift to fallen humanity. Can we expect anyone to live as they ought apart from God’s grace and forgiveness? God loved us and condescended to man, and sent His Son to die in our place so we wouldn’t be left in this hopeless state. He also gave us His word, the Bible, to reveal Himself as holy and just, and it is our operating manual to live by.

I would argue that God’s word is a unified whole or monolithic; literally meaning, one rock. Unlike the shifting sand of popular opinion it explains the human condition. It’s not a wax nose to form any way we wish. God is the Creator and we are not. Marriage is the reflection of God’s love toward us; that is,loving someone that is uniquely different from ourselves. How does same sex “marriage” attain this? That’s why marriage is defined the way it is, and if you insist on this type of arrangement please call it something else. Polygamy happened after the fall and wasn’t part of God’s intended created order either. Praise God that He’s not capricious, therefore His word doesn’t evolve.

Support sports fishing by voting no

From Jim Hagen

Silver Bay and Minneapolis

If you want to support the sports fishing industry, vote no on the marriage amendment. While the proposed amendment has nothing to do with church recognition of marriages, it has plenty to do with dozens of laws and regulations such as fishing licenses.

In 2011, Minnesota issued 193,162 “combination” licenses. This is the $8.00 annual license you can get as the spouse of someone who bought a regular license for $17.00. The DNR doesn’t care what state or country you were legally married in, but this proposed marriage amendment would freeze into place a discriminatory provision that should be dropped: the legally married couple cannot be a same sex couple, such as many marriages are in Iowa and Canada. By Minnesota rules, if your wife is licensed, you get to pay $8 for a license if you’re a man, but you pay more than twice that much ($17.00) if you’re a woman. When it comes to Minnesota’s “sports” license, which includes some hunting, the penalty for being the wrong gender is that you have to pay more than three times the normal price ($29.50 instead of $9.00).

Discrimination isn’t just bad, it’s bad for business, and in this case it’s even bad for an outdoor recreation lifestyle that many of us enjoy. At a time when we need more people to embrace the great outdoors, not fewer, it serves no good for the voters of Minnesota to be telling would-be sportsmen and sportswomen that Minnesota doesn’t want them. According to the US Census, there were nearly 14,000 same-sex couples in Minnesota in 2010. We need to grow outdoor recreation, not slam the door in the face of would-be sportsmen and women by penalizing them for being the wrong gender. Please vote “no” on the marriage amendment.

Vote for Havlick

From Tim Jezierski

Two Harbors

In 2010 Senator Bakk stated his top priority was to get as many Democrats elected as he could. This year, he said it was to take back the Senate for the Democrats. His priority is not jobs, or fixing our failing roads, not the possible closing of three of our local power plants. His priority is not the people of his district, but instead it is partisan party politics.

I believe it is time to retire Senator Baak and elect someone who will put the people ahead of party politics. Let’s elect Jennifer Havlick to the Minnesota State Senate. Let’s make people, jobs and fiscal responsibility our priority.

Jezierski is the Republican Basic Political Operating Unit Chair for Lake County.

Don’t use constitution to limit freedom

From Fran Kaliher

Two Harbors

A state constitutional amendment on the ballot in November seeks to define marriage as only between one man and one woman. Marriage between one man and one woman is a good thing and it has served us well. It accounts for how most of us got here. No one wants to vote against marriage between one man and one woman.

But if it is such a good thing – providing legal, financial and emotional security for loving couples and their children and contributing to general social stability - why wouldn’t a person want to extend that blessing to all loving couples and their families? A No vote on the marriage amendment leaves open the possibility of making the laudable institution of marriage available to all loving couples without in any way threatening the sanctity of anyone else’s existing or future marriage(s).

Please Vote No on what I call the anti-marriage amendment. Since when do we use our state constitution to limit individual freedoms and demote some of our citizens to a second class?

Land swap will hurt area

From Claire Runquist

St. Paul

This summer I was lucky enough to be working at a summer camp in northern Minnesota. I loved working with the kids and other staff, but the setting of the camp made all the difference. Being able to go to the Boundary Waters or to Lake Superior whenever I wanted, made for one of the best summers of my life.

Unfortunately, last week a bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives calling for a land swap of state land currently in the Boundary Waters for federal Superior National Forest land. This swap would remove environmental protections that are currently in place on the Superior National Forest land, opening up extractive industries. The most problematic of these industries is sulfide mining.

The mining would negatively impact the ecosystems of both the Boundary Waters and Lake Superior. Representative Cravaack supported the land swap bill and failed to consider the interests of those who use these wild areas for recreation—including hunting, fishing, canoeing, and camping.

The negative impacts of sulfide mining could potentially put an end to all of these activites. Much of northern Minnesota’s economy is based on attracting tourists to these very activities that are threatened by this bill. I am deeply disappointed in Representative Cravaack’s vote on this bill. We must do all we can to prevent a similar bill from passing in the Senate.

Whose Bible rules?

From Thomas Koehler

Two Harbors

All marriages recognized everywhere in the US are secular (non-religious) contracts. The two people must be of lawful age, not close blood relatives, capable of giving informed consent, not under duress, and the marriage event must be witnessed by competent witnesses. Every recognized religious marriage must also meet these conditions. In fairness to two people who love each other and want to commit to each other, the state must allow them to marry, regardless of their assigned, assumed or recognized gender. Religious marriages may – and do – impose any sectarian restrictions the congregation wishes, but the limitations imposed by government must be met.

While many sects claim the Bible is the inerrant and inspired word of God, there is no agreement on just what is a Bible. There are Protestant Bibles, Roman Catholic Bibles, Eastern Orthodox Bibles, the sacred texts of the various forms of Judaism, the newer Biblical canons of various Mormon observances and unknown numbers of other revered texts of other religious groups of monotheist belief. So, just whose Bible are we to be guided by, if a religious change is made to our secular constitution? Will non-religious people also be bound by religious law?

It is conveniently forgotten that the Bibles in use today are far different from what was recognized as a Bible as recently as 400 years ago. Further, all versions of the Bible reflect the social and linguistic biases of the translators involved, and they are all different from each other. This raises the question, just which Bible is the true one? Has God changed His or Her mind over the years?

In our own recent past, Biblical justifications have been made for wife-beating, slavery and the prohibition of mixed-race marriages. Who draws the line on how the Bible controls

Tags: opinion