Letters to the editor: Church must play a role

Posted 4/13/23

To the editor,

In last week’s letters, I was intrigued by Mr. Cordua’s on book banning. I wish he would have elaborated on what books were being banned at schools and local …

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Letters to the editor: Church must play a role

Posted

To the editor,

In last week’s letters, I was intrigued by Mr. Cordua’s on book banning. I wish he would have elaborated on what books were being banned at schools and local libraries.

I am glad he never became a communist. Or did he? Communism always proclaims freedom to a higher goal of making people think like-minded. Some religions do that too. So what books should be banned?

As a vulnerable young man looking for meaning in life, books were a great escape, but I did not have a pessimistic view of life back then. Some of my friends in the 70’s bought the lie that the world would end by 1984, so hey, let's party. After a few fried brains and deathly car accidents, that led to more despair and sex with no commitments led to more anxiety, hence abortion got popular.

So what books or internet should be banned? You will never ban people from seeking answers to their problems by banning certain materials. But young people should be warned that Tik Tok or other forms of unreality should be checked in their hearts on a daily basis. Parents, church must play a big role in this. Seems my neighbors (Amish) do not fret about embittered students bringing guns to school, so they must be doing something right?

Later in my life (early 80s), life seemed to be too much pressure and the music did not help, so a divorce found me seeking answers to my problems. Mostly it was me, yes selfish me, that thought I was the most important thing in life! Artificial highs were making me more stupid and my job in a warehouse, a 5-year-old could do. Then it dawned on me that I was getting nowhere and peace inside eluded me every day. A co-worker in the warehouse suggested I go to a Friday night youth service on east-side St. Paul. Wow, everybody looked so happy – hmmm cult? I was ready to leave, when I heard "Anybody here need Jesus, come forward." Heard that same message a year earlier at an ex-drug addict’s talk in Minneapolis. So despite my religious upbringing, I knew I was a basket case and went forward.

Fast-forward 45 years and you still got this Christian enjoying people, books and serving others to complete my life.

Stephen Gullixson

Baldwin

book banning, Christians, letters, opinion