To the editor:

The Public Forum letters, “Important part of Bible not shared in letter”, and “Don’t want to live in a theocracy”, provide an opportunity to address the writer’s concerns.

Yes, Jesus did say, “Love your neighbor as yourself”, but there is more to His answer to the “expert in the law” who asked, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25-37) Jesus first replied with this question, “What is written in the Law?” The “expert” answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.” (He was quoting Deuteronomy 6:5), and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18)

First, we need to ask, “How does God want us to love our neighbor?” God gave us Commandments to tell us how to honor God, and how to honor and love our neighbor for our own wellbeing. Consider the high number of syphilis cases men in same sex marriages are experiencing. Romans 1:27 notes, “Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” Yes, we are all God’s children. As God’s children, do we show our love for our heavenly Father by living according to His desires or ours? Galatians 6:5 provides a list of acts of our sinful natures, which includes sexual immorality, hatred, jealous, fits of rage . . . As parents we love our children, but do we love and approve of everything they do? Other cities have banned drag queen entertainment and story hours for children. When a woman was about to be stoned for being caught in the act of adultery, Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” When the crowd had disappeared, He said to the woman, “Go and sin no more.” As I wrote, “We all have sinned . . . ” Yet, the writer of the second letter called my manner, “arrogant and self-righteous.” How so? My concern is not “with others’ sexual orientation and gender”, as the writer stated, or whether he lives in a “theocracy”, but that we all inherit eternal life, as God also desires. “God so loved the world .. . ” (John 3:16)

Trudy Madetzke

Marshall