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Judgments are imperative
Regarding Paul Graves’ “God’s ‘gotchas’ turn our tantrums into compassion (July 25)”:
Promotion of moral absolutes does not mean that compassion and love are in conflict. We can love the sinner but hate the sin. God’s laws promote the survival, health and happiness of humanity. Straying from them has an opposite effect. Even circumcision has a health benefit for males.
People need structure and guidance in their lives and, in fact, many crave it. If your church has lots of empty spaces in the pews on Sunday, perhaps this is an indication that your church lacks structure and guidance. Conversely, if the pews are full, there is a good chance the preacher is willing to say things that might deeply offend some people but need to be said anyway.
We do indeed make judgments all the time. We should judge actions according to what is right or wrong. If we were to throw out all judging, then why should we have laws, police forces, courts, judges and jails?
Craig Detmer
Spokane