Barrett Reiner, in his recent column (“Evangelism a selfishendeavor,” Nov. 11), misses Christianity’s foundational argument.

Reiner states, “The foundational argument for Christianity isbased on an individual sense of faith.” Christianity’s foundationalargument is not based on an individual’s sense of faith. OrthodoxChristian belief is based, and has been for 2,000 years, on aspecific proposition. The Apostle Paul records this proposition asfollows: “… Christ died for our sins in accordance with theScriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third dayin accordance with the Scriptures … ” This statement is either trueor it is false. If it is false, the Christian religion may beignored. If it is true, we are responsible for all the Christianreligion proposes.

Christian evangelism is not an act of selfishness but a joyfulresponse to God’s gracious mercy. The ultimate demonstration of thismercy is in the death, burial and resurrection of His Son.

– Tom Murphybusiness administrationpost-graduate

Reiner’s column a misguided attack on Christiandoctrine

In response to Barrett Reiner’s opinion (“Evangelism a selfishendeavor,” Nov. 11), I wonder what his true motivation is.

It seems to me it is nothing more than Christian bashing withsubtle remarks of racist contempt. First of all, the Christian faithis rooted in Jerusalem and then propagated to Europe, Asia andAfrica. If you don’t believe me, read the book of Acts, a NewTestament book in the Bible, to verify. Paul, a Roman citizeninfluenced by the Roman and the Greek culture and an expert in theJewish laws, traveled to Asia, Turkey, Italy, Macedonia, Malta and asfar out as Spain to spread the Christian faith. In his spare time, hecomposed many letters in Greek to European believers – letters thatwere compiled into a good portion of the New Testament.

This is contrasting to Mr. Reiner’s assumption that Christianevangelism wouldn’t hold water in Europe because the Europeans are of”developed nations,” and could “think for themselves, seek their ownexplanations,” and so on. Back in those days, Greek was the dominantlanguage and culture, and the Greeks loved to discuss philosophy andscience under the governing power of the Roman Empire. Christianitywas spread all over Greece and many simply became believers. TheGreeks could hardly be “less developed” and they certainly couldthink for themselves.

Mr. Reiner also suggests evangelism gains a foothold in acontinent like Africa because it is poverty-stricken and the peopleare desperate. What about the thousands of missionaries in China,Japan and South Korea, some of the most evangelized nations in theworld? Mr. Reiner’s logic implies these Asian nations must bepoverty-stricken and less developed than the Europeans, and thepeople who accept the Christian faith are desperate and lack theability to develop their “own culture,” and the Chinese, Japanese andKoreans therefore belong to the “desperate part of the world.”

I personally know many Asians and Africans who are well-educatedscholars and who strongly believe in the Christian faith because theycan think for themselves. Not everyone is as condescending as Mr.Reiner. If you don’t like missionaries and evangelists, just take awalk and leave them alone.

Christianity is not the most popular religion in the world. Thereare religions out there that simply will not tolerate unbelief.Anyone who doesn’t accept their faith as taught in their scripture isconsidered an infidel and must be destroyed. I see more of a problemwith that kind of faith – zealots committing suicidal acts thatdemolished many along the way in the name of their god – than withChristian missionaries who deliver aid along with a Christianmessage. Evangelists do not carry weapons with the intention to killin their missions, and they are alright by me.

– John Leecomputer science graduate

Rabinovich ‘refutes his own argument,’ is’laughable’

In response to Gregory Rabinovich’s most recent opinion (“Legalsystem based on moral laws,” Nov. 12), I really like how he refuteshis own argument.

In his column, he states, “The Ten Commandments provide us with alegal code based on absolute morality, not indoctrination, on whichour legal system operates.” A mere two sentences later, he asserts,”Furthermore, only three of the Ten Commandments are enforced in ourlegal system.” Tell me again how that qualifies as a basis for ourentire legal system?

He later makes the obvious statement, “Lying is not good.” OK, Ican deal with that, but maybe Mr. Rabinovich should pass that littlegem of information along to his favorite guy, President George”Dubya” Bush. His attempts at policy-making and diplomacy suggest hemight be in the dark.

As per usual, young Rabinovich’s column is completely laughable,and I mean this in the most literal sense. It’s good to see thatElliot Holt is not the lone humor columnist at The Daily Aztec.

– Rose Hammackhumanities senior

Reiner articulate, mistaken

Mr. Reiner, I commend you on a very well written article(“Evangelism a selfish endeavor,” Nov. 11); you’re right, the issueis “selfishness,” but the group you targeted is off by a long shot.Your target group should have been humankind and his or her selfishnature. Evangelism, by nature, is one of the most selfless acts aperson can partake of, when you consider the rejection and aggressiveopposition evangelism faces.

As I said before, your column was well written, but your logic isextremely flawed. This was evident by the fact that your imprecatorystatements were based upon something that struck you like a”lightning bolt;” this leads me to believe you haven’t really studiedthe history and true nature of Christ and those who “truly” followhim.

Furthermore, it’s not a person’s faith that is the issue, but his”will,” which you hinted at – the very gift that God gave him. Youknock evangelism as an arrogant attitude without looking at your ownarrogant attitude. You assume people do know the right thing to do,or the right way to go as human beings. If that were the case, I’mquite sure Jesus wouldn’t have said, “Go into all the world andpreach the gospel until I return.” It’s truly a pejorative state ofmind when someone looks at society and thinks we have all the answerswe need without any outside help. Now that’s arrogant! And if it weretrue we don’t need to be told what to do, or guided in our way(s) oflife to do things properly, then why do we have laws?

Lastly, Barrett, how can you, without being intellectuallydishonest, think God is going to subject himself to us and allow usto define Him and develop our own sense of Him? News flash: God isnot relative. The Bible is very clear on how you build a relationshipwith God. Obviously you do have a problem with Christians pursuingtheir faith, and their faith requires them to reach out – evangelize- in love. What kind of faith would it be for anybody if they didn’tdo what it required?

You really should allay your opinions on this subject until youhave done a truly in-depth study of it. If you ever want to do so, Iinvite you to come to our table at Aztec Center, Monday throughThursday from 11-2 p.m.; I won’t try to evangelize you, just teachyou, so you won’t calumniate and eviscerate the true nature ofChristianity any longer.

– Gino Mingocampus director,Victory Campus Fellowship

Limited funds should not be directed towardmascot issue

I am writing this letter to express my discontent with the wholemascot situation. As a senior at San Diego State, I realize thisdecision will ultimately have little effect on me, but I am stillangered by the fact that the university has consistently failed tolisten to the wishes of the students.

I recall the outcome of the student vote a few years back was tokeep our current mascot. Yet the university has continued to makethis an issue, wasting our time and resources. I am disappointed inthe administration for appointing an Aztec Identity Task Force toevaluate a situation that had already been decided b
y the studentswhom the situation affects. I’m just glad I’m graduating and won’thave to be here to listen to more nonsense on an issue that hasnothing to do with the academics of the university.

It’s a sad situation when a university that is having a hard timekeeping classes together is wasting time on a mascot situation thatwas already voted on. Why don’t we get back to what really mattersand focus on improving the academics on this campus?

– Cristalle Keedybiology senior

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