I am writing in response to the article entitled “Student wants truth shared.” I think Alain Hoffman was sorely mistaken. The last paragraph quoted Hoffman saying, “Companionship with God should be brought on by personal faith, not because of someone else’s death.” I’m most positive that my faith as a Christian is based on Jesus Christ who lived a life with utmost companionship to everyone that he encountered. And personal faith is brought out by someone else’s death, the death of Jesus Christ.

Rachel Scott knew this and did not, and could not, fill Jesus’ place in dying for other people. I am pretty sure she was prosecuted because of her belief in God. It doesn’t matter how many times she got shot and if the killers talked to her. What matters is all the signs that pointed to the fact that Rachel knew she was going to be used by God in a huge way.

This way was huge in that it brought 2,300 college students to hear her life story and be, in some way, affected by it. Rachel Scott had faith that was acted out through trusting Jesus and had to be shown to other people because she felt God’s love so much, she could not keep it all to herself. Her father’s mission when he came to Ames was not to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ; it was to show how a person’s care for others could be effective.

It was effective because Rachel had done it with the help of Jesus Christ. Rachel wrote in her diary, “I won’t be labeled as average.” So, when Alain Hoffman says that Rachel was a “normal girl,” she wasn’t recollecting the impact Rachel had on so many lives.

James Ryan Becker

Freshman

Psychology