In Response to October & November articles

Jones joins Falwell?

Editor,
In your October 2001 issue, the Reverend Ron Jones joined Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell in calling the 9/11 sneak attack on America God’s payback for Americans’ sin and lack of devotion. He likens America to Israel of the Old Testament where sin has caused God to cast off that “hedge of protection” that apparently Mr. Jones thinks was our historical blessing 9/11. America is not ancient Israel, however, and the Old Testament has been amended by the New.

Other than those who take an extensive view of religion, I don’t think many Americans believe that God gives us a special protection that others, including the many Christians of other countries, do not receive. Nor do we sin any more than the rest of humanity. And certainly we did enough sinning historically with slavery and ethnic cleansing of the Indians to have lost any special protection many years ago; at the same time our sins have expiated by the great American creeds of democracy, human rights, and the sharing of our bounty with the rest of the world.

America is not a Christian nation, as the state is a separate entity from faith, at least in the non-Islamic world. But America has many good Christians and that is all any country can hope for.

A bad result of the warped theology of Falwell and company is that sensible, intelligent people are driven away from Christianity by “literalists” who interpret the Bible with their great abstractions stating such opinions as America is a modern Israel whose Covenant with God has been broken. But what is most hurtful for me is that the deaths of 5,000 innocents are erroneously judged as God’s retribution.

Very truly yours,
Charles W. Peraino
Richmond

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He thinks not
Dear Janet,

I have struggled mightily with what to say and it would take a long time do it justice so let me respond with the following:

We all have the freedom, thanks to the First Amendment, to say what we believe to be true. As a minister, based on my religious understandings, I look at all the scriptures. I stand by the belief that the citizenry of the United States has by and large fallen away from God. God is always seeking to redeem us as is true about God in relation to all people on earth. My statement was reflecting on my effort to make some sense of what happened on September 11th her in America.

My critic is welcome to his point of view and he makes some valid points. However, he wants to lump me together with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson which I resent. Yet it is my belief that Christianity as expressed in the universal church does represent the New Israel and the covenant is still in effect. Living in disobedience to the covenant does bring judgment. If September 11 caused us to turn back to God, which it seems to have done by and large for the time being, then all the sadness we experienced ultimately has brought us to some positive spiritual gains. We just do not like to acknowledge this truth.

I stand on what, in the October issue of this magazine, was a quick response realizing that some people would not agree with me. Call me a literalist if you must, but as a graduate of Duke Divinity School, Class of '78, I cannot ignore God's word, all of it.

Rev. Ron Jones
White Stone

Ed note: Because Chesapeake Style is an eleven month publication, and because the next issue will be February 2002, we gave Rev. Ron Jones an opportunity to respond.

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My Blue Herons made the front cover!!!

Hi, Jan! This e-mail is from Lydia's breeder, Cindy Lastauckas. I had sent the link to Chesapeake Style [website] to everybody I knew and this is her reply to me. She mentions a subscription for her husband and I don't know if you offer subscriptions. If so,would you forward the info to me and I will send it on to her.

Thanks! Kathy Juron
Black Stump Stained Glass, White Stone

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Hi Kathy,

Congratulations on having your stained glass work "Two Blue Herons" chosen as the cover art for Chesapeake Style magazine. Having dabbled in the art of stained glass I can appreciate the amount of work that goes into such a beautiful piece. "Two Blue Herons" made me homesick. I love my old stone farmhouse in the Oley hills of Pennsylvania, but I look forward to the day that we at least have a cottage back in the Old Dominion! I believe a subscription to Chesapeake Style would make a perfect Christmas gift to my husband...a true Bay boy! 

Give Lydia a big hug!

Cindy

Ed note: Yes, we offer subscriptions..