I am not one who normally gets involved in “political” debates, as I often have neither the time nor inclination. However, in light of some recent articles appearing in the Daily, I feel compelled to speak.

The ignorant things people say amaze me. Do such statements reflect that the individual is ignorant or uninformed?

I choose to think the former applies in this case, because one shouldn’t speak publicly on issues they know nothing about. That is just common sense. I am now speaking publicly, so I hope my words are accurate.

The articles that compelled me to speak out misrepresented Christianity and the Bible. The most recent article I would like to comment on appeared in the Daily on Oct. 20, and was titled, “Not a religion suited for all people.”

Let me begin by agreeing with some of the author’s comments. The Bible is the law of Christians, and all of us Christians are law-breakers just the same. Also, I agree that Christians try to push their faith on to everyone else. Thus concludes my agreement with the author.

Now for the disagreements. What is all this talk about slaughtering bulls? Animal sacrifice was required in Old Testament times to be just that — a sacrifice. The necessity to take such actions to be cleansed of sin ended when God came to earth in the form of a man.

Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and yet was a man in every way but one. He was sinless. Jesus faced all the temptations we face (in different forms) from day to day. Jesus’ life was an example of how we should react to temptation.

Crucifixion was the most severe of punishments, reserved for the worst of criminals — and Jesus. With God’s omnipotence, He could have stopped Jesus’ death from taking place, but there was purpose in His death. Jesus’ method of teaching was that of using parables to make complex messages easier to comprehend.

In much the same way, Jesus’ death had symbolic meaning. Jesus carrying his cross up Calvary was symbolic of Him carrying the sins of the world. The giving of his life was the sacrifice that paid for those sins, thus forever ending the need for animal sacrifice.

Because of this gift of forgiveness, we need only confess our sins to God, and ask Him for forgiveness. This request is made in the name of Jesus Christ, who paid the price. Of course, this must be done with a sincere heart.

I would now like to respond to the statement that Christians push their faith onto everyone else. The self-righteous, hypocritical appearance of Christians is an unfortunate result of Christians not knowing how to share their faith in a “politically correct” way. Is there such a way? My faith tells me, “the wages of sin is death,” death being an eternity in Hell.

How does a Christian share that belief with a non-Christian and not offend them? The author of that article shunned the Christians who put their faith in everyone else’s face. I shun the ones who do not. Christians are called to be a witness.

To all those non-Christians out there, let me explain what it is like to be a Christian with non-Christian friends, family, associates, etc. Imagine you have the strongest premonition that someone close to you is going to die in a plane crash, but you do not know whom, and you do not know when. Assuming you do doubt your premonition, what will you do?

Will you annoy all those close to you with your belief and hope that they will heed your warning and avoid air travel, or will you keep your belief to yourself? Imagine you didn’t tell a soul, and your best friend died in a plane crash. You would suffer from the loss of your friend and the guilt of knowing you were in a position to prevent it, but did nothing.

Remember: you chose not to share your belief, because you feared people would react negatively. Did you make the right choice? Is offending a hundred people worth saving one life? What a dilemma.

No one should assume the right to judge, but only to educate and show concern. “Christians” who present themselves as sinless and worthy to judge are not Christians, because admission of sin is necessary for forgiveness. A Christian would know that.

Before I get off my soapbox, I want to comment on one other article appearing in the Daily. This one appeared on the front page of the Oct. 9 issue and was titled, “Rally kicks off National Coming Out Week on Iowa State campus.” In this article, a quote appeared stating, “As God is my witness, being gay or lesbian is not a sin.” I do not know where people get such information — perhaps the “Homosexual Bible,” or something equivalent. My Bible has the following to say on homosexuality:

“For this reason God gave them over to degrading passion for their women exchanged the natural for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.” (Romans 1:26-27)

There is also the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which God destroyed with fire and brimstone because of sin such as that above.

The latter article also contained the following statement: “Recently, catholic and protestant parents were given the approval of the church to love their gay and lesbian children.” No Christian religion has ever told parents not to love their children, for any reason! The Bible calls us to love one another regardless. That does not mean we have to approve of one another’s actions. The difference is clear, at least to most of us.

I am not politically correct. Homosexuality is not an acceptable form of human sexuality, and a woman does not have the right to have an abortion. I say this, and the masses respond, “You are a homophobe, a hate monger, a sexist!” Do not assume my stand has anything to do with the people who commit those sins.

We are all sinners, and we all must accept that. I drink too much. I swear too much. I am too impatient with people. That is a portion of my “sin list.” We will never be perfect, but we can try. We should not use our imperfection as an excuse to ignore God.

In conclusion, if you slaughtered a bull, enjoy the steak!

Celebrate the fact that you need not burn it to receive God’s forgiveness.

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Evan Jacobson

Graduate student

Mechanical engineering