The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1007585
C-10 Wednesday, July 25, 2018 The Press-Dispatch OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg To be able to engage in discuss- ing issues that divide the church, we need to recognize that all of us bring preconceived ideas and no- tions to the table. This can create problems when we think we under- stand one another just because we are using the same words. It is a given that each of us de- fines words and phrases differ- ently, which can create problems when we assume all in the discus- sion embrace the same meaning. For this reason within the local church, it is vital that it embrace, recognize, and define core values of the faith before discussing any issue Values are principles within us that guide moral behavior and are foundational in navigating the complex issues of life. Each of us has scores of values, which we consider non-debatable having the most impact in daily decisions. The same can be found in the church. People bring their values with them to the local parish, and as people interact, it becomes no- ticeable that all do not share the same values in the same order of importance. That is why it is imperative that the church recognize what its core values are, and it has been sug- gested that there are four core val- ues that are a must for all believers in the local assembly to embrace as a group, for Amos wrote cen- turies ago, "Can two walk together unless they are agreed? " The values consid- ered the most impor- tant to bring into any discussion are godli- ness, Biblical authen- ticity, love, and com- munity. Godliness has its origins in the greatest commandment as identi- fied by Jesus: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' Therefore, as disciples of Je- sus, we identify with Him and ac- knowledge that the foundation of our faith is that: God is the creator and sustainer of all that exists. Godliness is epitomized in Christ as Paul wrote to Timothy: "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." Jesus was God in the flesh and worthy of following! Paul makes this point clear to the church at Corinth: "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." Godliness is an attri- bute or lifestyle of the disciple of Christ. It is the cumulative work of the Holy Spirit and is a visible result of sancti- fication as one surren- ders to Christ. Therefore in a sense, godliness is the perso- na that radiates from a follower of Jesus. The attributes that should be present include "piety, holiness, reverence, sobriety, and righteous- ness before God. These personal qualities are evidence of the Fruit of the Spirit, which is "love, joy, peace, longsuf- fering, kindness, goodness, faith- fulness, gentleness, and self-con- trol." Embracing godliness as a core value means the disciple is pious in his/her life before God which involves reverence, affection, de- pendence, submission, gratitude, and obedience. In short, godliness is the daily practice of revealed re- ligion. Godliness is the result of em- Lucid Moments By Bart Stinson Listening real hard from right field Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Godliness Tribute to Frank Heuring My Point of View by Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. A tribute to Frank Heuring, Press-Dispatch publisher since 1952. It is with a great feeling of sad- ness that we have lost a man of great character. As I was read- ing the article on his life and ac- complishments, I could not help but feel so touched by his achieve- ments both from the standpoint of his personal life, family life, ser- vice to our Country and his pro- fessional life. His spiritual life al- so was an outstanding component of his being. Since I have dabbled a little bit with writing for this paper, I be- gan to realize the challenges of producing an outstanding newspa- per. One has to gather newswor- thy events, meet deadlines, pur- sue truth no matter how others may not like what is being report- ed, be available 24/7 to witness or gather happenings. For the past 40 years, I always looked forward to receiving a copy of The Press Dis- patch and going through each sec- tion of the paper with delight. Many times our family had used it to discuss the happenings in our community and beyond. It became the source of information we otherwise would have missed. It also became a medium for fol- lowing the milestones of our chil- dren's and their friends' life and ac- complishments especially during their school years, and then later on their careers and personal and social journeys. The paper also became the in- Continued on page 11 Continued on page 11 Continued on page 11 The Weekly by Alden Heuring Fourth follies, Part II Minority View by Walter E. Williams Our rules of the game: US Constitution Continued on page 11 Continued on page 11 Justice Anthony Kennedy's re- tirement, leading to President Donald Trump's nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, has thrown progressives, the Democratic Party and the news media into an out-and-out tizzy. The online magazine Slate declared, "Anthony Kennedy Just Destroyed His Legacy as a Gay Rights Hero." The New York Times' editorial board said about a second Trump court appointment, "It is a dark moment in the history of the court and the nation, and it's about to get a lot darker." It's indeed a "dark moment" for those who have for decades used the courts to accomplish what would have been impossible through federal and state legisla- tures — such as same-sex mar- riage, abortion and preferences with regard to race and sex. With this Supreme Court pick — and possibly another during his term — President Trump can return us to the Framers' vision of the judi- ciary — a vision that's held in con- tempt by many liberals and con- servatives. The U.S. Constitu- tion represents our "rules of the game." Supreme Court jus- tices should be seen as umpires or refer- ees, whose job is to en- force neutral rules. I'll give a somewhat trivi- al example of neutral rules from my youth; let's call it Mom's Rule. On occasion, my sister and I would have lunch in my mother's absence. She'd ask either me or my younger sister to divide a last piece of cake or pie. More often than not, an argument would ensue about the fairness of the cut. Those ar- guments ended when Mom came up with a rule: Whoever cuts the cake lets the other take the first piece. As if by magic or divine in- tervention, fairness emerged, and arguments ended. No matter who did the cutting, there was an even division. That's the kind of rule we need for our society — the kind where- by you'd be OK even if your worst enemy were in charge. By creating and enforc- ing neutral rules, we minimize conflict. Consider one area of ruthless competition where that's demon- strated — sports. The 52nd Super Bowl fea- tured the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patri- ots. A lot was at stake. Each play- er on the winning team would earn $112,000 ; losers would get half that. Plus, each winner would get a Super Bowl ring that might cost as much as $40,000. Despite a bitterly fought contest and all that was at stake, the game ended peaceably, and winners and losers were civil to one another. How is it that players with con- flicting interests can play a game, agree with the outcome and walk Why Brett Kavanaugh must be confirmed Heritage Viewpoint by Edwin J. Feulner It almost didn't matter who he nominated. Everyone knows the drill. The president nominates, the left pounces. It's that predictable. It wasn't always this way, hard as that may be to believe. There was a time, back when politics was se- rious but not a blood sport — i.e., when most people actually knew something about how our govern- ment was designed — when U.S. Supreme Court nominees were almost unanimously approved by Congress. Not anymore. It all changed 30 years ago when President Reagan nominated Judge Robert Bork to the High Court. The left went ber- serk, and so successfully vilified the man that his last name became a verb. Seriously — look up "bork" in Merriam-Webster's online diction- ary, and you'll read: "to attack or defeat (a nominee or candidate for public office) unfairly through an organized campaign of harsh pub- lic criticism." "Unfairly" indeed. Which brings us to Judge Ka- vanaugh, who is hoping to fill the seat of the man nominated by Mr. Reagan when Judge Bork's bid failed. But while it may be three decades lat- er, the left's playbook hasn't changed. And so we've all been told what an extremist he is, how untold mil- lions will die on his watch, and so on. To those of us who remember the Bork hearings, it's all a rerun. Only the level of out- rage is different. Somehow, it's been cranked to such a level that you have to wonder if the best way to make money these days is to in- vest in blood-pressure medica- tions. Judge Kavanaugh's record shows that the dire warnings be- ing sounded about him are vast- ly overstated. As Former Attor- ney General William Barr stated in 2006 when the nominee was being considered for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Judge Kavanaugh "has a keen intellect, exceptional analytical skills, and sound judgment." This confidence was well-placed. Ten years later, in 2016, legal ex- pert John Malcolm in- cluded him on a list of potential Supreme Court nominees, not- ing: "Since joining the bench, Kavanaugh has distinguished himself as a thoughtful, apo- litical jurist, who is not afraid to stake out bold positions on com- plex issues." One word in that sentence shows why the judge is being de- monized by the left: "apolitical." In their world, the judiciary is meant to be an unelected body of legisla- tors who find all kinds of hidden meanings in the plain text of the U.S. Constitution. Judge Kavanaugh, however, apparently doesn't subscribe to this view. And for that, we can be grateful. As former Attorney Gen- "Bless his heart," my second- grade teacher told my mom as I fidgeted at my desk in the empty classroom. But she was not, so far as I know, a prayer warrior. "Bless his heart" was Pike County code for "don't get your hopes up for this one." I just couldn't keep up with the kids from Winslow, Campbell- town, Arthur, Muren and Ayr- shire. My teacher was experi- enced. She knew how to teach. When she demonstrated penman- ship, phonics and arithmetic facts on the blackboard, heads nodded, faces lit up in recognition all over the classroom. Well, almost all over the class- room. Despite a pedigree of clever, educated people on both sides of my family—white privilege, they'd call it now—I had apparently got- ten skunked in the intellectual sweepstakes. What seemed per- fectly clear to my classmates was opaque to me. My head rarely nod- ded, my face seldom lit up. The more my teacher wrote on that blackboard, the dumber I got, relative to the Rothrocks, Man- nings and Newtons. But thank God for grandfathers. Mine sug- gested a trip to the optometrist and, sure enough, I was blind as a mole. I got glasses at age seven. Now THAT was a blessing! Mean boys used to make fun of kids with glasses back then. I'd seen them call other kids "four- eyes" and then wait for the pre- dictable tears to come. But it was water off a duck's back for me. I was so happy about being able to see that nobody could make me feel bad about it. And besides, my mom had talked me through the sticks-and-stones rhyme. I still remember that first sum- mer with glasses. I never suspect- ed that you could actually see indi- vidual leaves atop trees that were, heretofore, just green blobs of un- differentiated chlorophyll mol- ecules. I delighted in watching robins and cardinals flit about in the yard, and couldn't wait to get a Christmas BB gun so I could kill them. In my second summer with glasses, I either lost or broke mine, I forget which. They cost about double our home rent. My dad was a schoolteacher, and in those days teachers didn't have income in the summer. They had to hustle and find hourly season- al employment, and for men this sometimes meant painting and mowing at the schools. There was an unseemly role reversal as jan- itors had authority over teachers for the summer. My dad told me he couldn't re- place my glasses until the end of the summer. I would survive, I wouldn't run into trees without my glasses, even though we were new to Illinois. But there was the matter of Little League baseball. I learned to play right field by ear. I heard the crack of the bat, and then the ball ripping through the grass. I had a very strong arm, and I was a halfway decent right fielder if the ball was on the ground. But if it was a fly ball, I was in trouble—I couldn't see it, much less catch it. The first indication of a fly ball was the lack of any grass sounds after the crack of the bat. The first indication that the fly ball was hit into right field was a booming voice from the bench or bleach- ers: "Stinson, you idiot! " (That's what they say in Illinois instead of "bless his heart.") Followed short- ly thereafter by a loud thud on the ground somewhere in my vicin- ity. They didn't expect much out of their right fielders in our little town, but surely it wasn't too much to ask that we pay attention and catch a lazy pop fly once in a while. I got my second pair of glasses in time for fourth grade, and actu- ally developed into a pretty good baseball player over the years, a catcher. I never lost my glasses again, but my visual humiliation wasn't over yet. That's grist for a future column about Japanese Ar- my doctor Shinobu Ishihara, my grandfather Preston Potter and beloved Pike County mailman Er- nie Hume. As promised, here's another tale of youthful recklessness and ex- plosive amusements. Better late than never! The sun was sinking in the summer sky, and a group of us young hoodlums had just burned through all our sparklers, bottle rockets and firecrackers. It was time for the main event. With reverence, we pulled from a brown paper bag our ultimate offering of fire: a 16 -shot mortar pyrotechnic capable of producing explosions in the sky similar to, if somewhat smaller than, a profes- sional fireworks display. This was the big one. In our excitement and naiveté, we set it out in the coun- ty road, lit the fuse, and took up watching positions. This was go- ing to be great, we thought. Now, hindsight being 20/20, what we should have thought was: let's brace this $ 30 howitzer against something so it stays up- right. We soon saw the error of our ways. Shot One flew brilliantly into the sky and detonated into a cloud of golden sparks. It also knocked the mortar array on its side. Shot Two flew brilliantly down the surface of the county road, leaving a trail of soot and burnt asphalt... and set- ting the mortar spinning like a top. Shots Three and Four flew over our heads - and over our host's house - into a cornfield and the 12 shots after that were simple cha- os. My friend's mother screamed and ducked into cover, and we fol- lowed suit. I watched a turquoise fireball slam into the back bum- per of my car with a THUMP. An- other whizzed between two of my friends' heads and into the brick wall of the house. We curled up in- to balls on the ground, quivering and contemplating our sins until