HEART’s letters page provides a forum for Christian opinion. Only concise letters of up to 100 words giving your name and town are likely to be printed. Longer letters are usually abbreviated.
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Deadline for the Dec/Jan letters page is 29 October 2018.
Email: letters@heartpublications.co.uk
Vegging’s out
Coral Raven’s abhorrence of a chicken on the dinner table (Aug/Sept) doesn’t appear to have much support from God.
After the flood, God told Noah and his family to eat meat (Genesis 9:3). Some of the sacrifices of the Levitical code required the penitent or the priest to eat the meat (see Leviticus 7).
Jesus fed 5,000 and 4,000 people with fish; twice he directed his disciples when they were fishing to help them find their catch (Luke 5, John 21). In Acts 10 Peter is advised in a vision to “kill and eat” unclean animals, making it clear that meat eating was permitted.
Please Coral, by all means be a vegetarian but don’t tell us it’s God’s diet.
Neil Porter
New Ash Green, Kent
Meat was good enough for Jesus
The Mosaic law required every Jewish male to celebrate Passover each year in Jerusalem, which included a lamb being killed. Jesus ate his last Passover meal the night he was arrested (see Mark 14:12 and Luke 22:7).
If meat was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for us.
John Oxborough
Worthing, West Sussex
Reasons to be vegetarian
Further to my article on why I think God didn’t intend us to eat meat (Aug/Sept), there are many verses saying God detested the practice of animal sacrifice and saw it as an abomination (see Isaiah 1:11 and 66:3).
Acts 10 is often misinterpreted. Peter’s vision is clearly explained in Acts 10:28; it is about the Jew associating with the Gentile and is merely saying that no man is impure or unclean!
Happily, there is a rapidly growing interest and awareness of the health benefits of a plant-based diet and eating less meat.
Coral Raven
Chichester, West Sussex
Falling out of love
Regarding the “love” preached by Bishop Curry at the royal wedding (Aug/Sept), we rejoice when a couple fall in love and reflect something of the glow of God’s creation. But John Lennon’s “All you need is love” soon falls apart, as it did with the Beatles themselves.
English has one word for love, while Greek has four. In the New Testament ‘agape’ is often used for the highest form of love, demonstrated by Jesus’ death. Jesus did not teach that love can solve all our problems here and now, but pointed to God’s kingdom which we can enter because of his love and sacrifice.
Our love constantly needs replenishing by God’s life-giving love which comes through his Son and by his outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Rev Paul James
Church Stretton, Shropshire
Home for the hols
Churches nationwide are offering a ‘Holiday at Home’ for a few days each summer. Older people go along for arts and crafts, singing, tasty food, table games and sometimes an outing. I understand that there is some Christian content.
The helpers use their creativity and one idea is gentle movement and dance (standing or sitting) to joyful Christian praise songs. One group were treated to a dance display by children from a local dance school. Participants say that they found it a welcome break.
Ann Wills
Ruislip, Middlesex
Para-church prophets
Clifford Hill asks where the prophets are in the Church today (Aug/Sept). What would be the point of God raising up a prophetic ministry, only to have it shouted down by theologically compromised leaders? Perhaps the para-church organisations such as Dr Hill’s Issachar Ministries are currently the only avenue open for prophetic messages.
The side which defines the terms of the debate always has the advantage; we need to challenge terms like ‘marriage equality’ and ‘transphobia’. Living Out are on the right track when they use the neutral phrase ‘same sex attraction’ instead of the loaded ‘homosexual orientation’.
Maybe HEART should provide a platform for new voices that can speak prophetically and imaginatively for God in the nation?
Colin Newton
Southend-on-Sea, Essex
Positively serious
I always look forward to the next issue of HEART and love how the paper presents even serious issues from a positive point of view.
Name and address supplied
Atheism in RE
The recent suggestion that schools should teach atheism alongside monotheistic religions is mind-boggling.
Atheism is not a belief system. The teachings of Christianity, the Qu’ran, the Bahai faith and others holding to monotheistic principles are designed to improve human character. Casting doubt in the same mix will simply add confusion.
I’m sure the Catholic Education Secretary has more sense than to adopt this unwise proposition, which clearly violates the desire for truth. Otherwise RE teaching will result in a further denial of a Supreme Creator, leaving humanity to flounder without the protection of higher thought.
William Doyle
Worthing, West Sussex
HEART of the library
After I approached Hastings Library with a copy of HEART, they agreed to add it to their stiff binder of other newspapers.
Richard Spencer
Bexhill, East Sussex
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