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Letters to the Editor

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Letters to the Editor

I just finished reading your papers of July 27 and 29th. There were two articles that I especially enjoyed reading.

One is the good that the summer camp is doing for the Syrian refugee children near Toronto. Written by Cassandra Szlarski. Our church is helping to support a family. They will be or are settling in Chatham, Ont.

Our Minister is very interested in anything about Syrian refugee families. I cut the article from the paper and will give it to her. Sometimes she reads part of news of different Syrian families to the congregation on Sundays/

The other article was written by Kelly Spencer, on 'Ancestors of our Land.'

When I was a child, my parents grew tobacco and hired many Native Canadians to help in the harvest of the tobacco. They were from The Six Nations near Brantford, Ont. Some were leaf handers, primers, boat driver and tobacco hangers in the kilns. They always slept in our house and ate with us at the dinner table.

Later in life I worked with Native Canadians from Muncey and also near Sarnia, Ont. They were always respectful and showed courtesy whenever we worked together at the nursery plant.

When I lived in Brandon, Manitoba, I roomed (in the YWCA) with some other Native Canadians. They were from B.C. and northern Manitoba.

Then there was my neighbour in Brandon who married a Native Canadian, a reg. nurse from Norway House in northern Manitoba. They were always good neighbours to me. I was known as Miss McGregor in those days.

I also saw small powwows when I did volunteer work with St. John Ambulance in Brandon.

I have also sewn little dresses for small Native Canadian girls, for their mothers to sew ribbons with beads on them.

I have written about my adventures with Native Canadians, First Nations people, but never had it published in a book. They will always have a special spot in my life and heart.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth M. Butler,

Dresden

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Letter to the Editor

Christians are sometimes known for protesting what they are against.

At a gay pride parade, for example, some Christians may be seen carrying signs in protest. Outside an abortion clinic, too, Christians will sometimes be found once again carrying signs.

When was the last time you saw someone holding a sign outside a restaurant or shopping mall on the Christian Sabbath (ie. Sunday)? More likely they were inside enjoying the food or picking up groceries.

When was the last time you saw a group of Christians protesting the local hockey game also held on the Sabbath? Probably they were in the arena playing hockey with everyone else; which is why you’ve never seen 'that kind' of protest. Doesn’t that make us a little bit inconsistent?

The Bible says that “sin is transgression of the law,” and by law the Bible means God’s law. It means the Ten Commandments. Christians tend to be very strong on some of them. We fight vigorously in defense of marriage and show in that way our commitment to the 7th commandment. We fight vigorously in defense of life and show, too, our commitment to the 6th commandment. Ironically, we have forgotten the one commandment which God explicitly told us to “remember”! The 4th commandment says, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”

It used to be that stores and restaurants were closed on Sundays because of the influence of the Church, which in those days believed in all ten of the Commandments. It used to be that work and sports were put away on Sunday because of the witness of the Church. Baptist, Presbyterian, Reformed, Methodist, Mennonite and Anglican churches (for example) were agreed that Sunday was a day to be set apart for God.

Christians sometimes worry about the social and moral changes taking place in Canada, and we are often guilty of pointing the finger as if the fault were someone else’s. If we are concerned we need to look in the mirror. How can we fault people who don’t go to church for breaking God’s law when we don’t keep it ourselves?

If you are surprised by how quickly they are changing their mind about values that are centuries old, don’t be. Only 200 years ago, had someone told your forefathers what Sundays would look like in 2016 they would never have believed it. Here was a value, after all, that was centuries old. But society changed and with it the Church. Now again that same pattern is being repeated.

If you are troubled as a Christian by those changes, be consistent. The Bible says that the 6th and 7th commandments were written by the finger of God and it says the very same of the 4th. 'If' it is a sin to break those commandments it is equally a sin to break the 4th.

Instead of holding a sign, let’s set an example: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”

Rev. Stephen Richardson,

Tillsonburg 

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