Letters for August 10, 2017

Green green

You know, now that smoking marihuana is legal, it’s just not fun anymore—the thrill is gone. (Kidding.)

Thank you, Nevada voters!

Craig Bergland

Reno

4. Should people make their own decisions?

Re “High profile: Another Schedule I drug?” (cover story, Nov. 24, 2016):

DEA criteria for schedule I seems to be as: 1. Is there any well-established medical use? No. 2. Does the chemical act strongly on the mesolimbic pathway? Yes.

This rubric defines what belongs in schedule I. The timing of inclusion will rest on the additional question: 3. Is this a current event that will serve the executive agenda? Yes. That determines why the DEA seeks to schedule drugs at particular times. DEA chemists are undoubtedly very good at their jobs but there is no direct way to translate their findings to policy.

Angela Macknize

Sante Fe Hills, Calif.

Reply

Re “Debating infanticide” (letters, July 13):

The Egyptian children’s deaths are not God’s fault. God is good; therefore, He is holy; therefore, His holiness demands justice, which demands punishment of evil. Egypt had many besides Pharaoh who murdered Jews and their babies. They received a like punishment from God (justice), though He would have preferred mercy—evidenced in His warnings/this punishment’s delay. Justice must be served to prevent further evil and to promote God’s good purposes (check Romans 9:14–24). We may not understand a heartrending punishment. That does not mean the punishment is unjust. The judge knows more of law and sound judgments than anyone else in the court room, even the jury. Who made us the jury anyway? Are any truly entitled to know every reason, or to question any action of God’s?

“Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?” (See the rest of Job 40.)

Furthermore, God owns each one of us, whether we accept that fact or not. It is His prerogative whether we live or die. That’s just part of being God. He alone possesses the right to give and to take life. Thankfully, He is long-suffering and merciful. What I know is: God loved these children enough to take them out of pain and to Heaven before they had any chance of sinning against Him, at which point they would have been condemned to death and the eternal Lake of Fire. As for the remaining Egyptians, they rejected undeserved mercy and received deserved punishment.

To answer questions of God’s trustworthiness, He gave His own Son to die in our place so we do not have to go to Hell when we repent and trust Jesus alone for forgiveness and salvation. Jesus voluntarily took all the world’s punishment. Imagine just how excruciating that was, and He knew of all the pain before taking it. That is love and trustworthiness. Do not now say that these Egyptians did not know of the true God or of salvation. Psalm 19:4 says in part: “Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” (Their = the triune God.) Finally, whether one agrees with God’s Words and methods or not, it is obvious what He did do—just examine those chariot wheels in the Red Sea. With that in mind, one should beware before committing an abortion.

Katriel J. Van Cleve

Reno