Americans & torture
In regard to your editorial on torture (May 18), I respectfully disagree with your definition.
My family has been in four wars—World War I, my father; World War II, my brother and I; the Korean War, my brother, who was killed in action; and the Vietnam War, my son.
In all of these, torture was described as bodily harm, such as the Jews were treated in Germany. I have not seen any bodily harm, such as breaking of limbs or other dismemberment of body functions, by the United States.
The methods have been used before by fraternities, along with depth perception and other hazing, which I don’t approve by inexperienced people.
Please review what you think consists of torture. Why does discomfort conform to torture?
Taylor Paul
Tyler
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Discussing if something is technically torture or not is like discussing any ethical issue. If you think something might be torture, it almost always is torture.
Waterboarding is drowning someone to the edge of them losing consciousness, then stopping and repeating the process.
Torture has been used for thousands of years. Torture is an effective way that Romans, nobles, the Catholic Church, New England Puritans, Nazis and Communists obtained confessions for political purposes. Perhaps all the Bush Administration was interested in was confessions, since the justification for the Iraq war proved false.
It is well-established that torture is not an effective way to gather intelligence information. If the prisoner actually knows nothing and is tortured, he/she will tell the interrogator anything to stop the torture. Then investigators will waste hundreds of hours following up on this bad information. Meanwhile, more traditional questioning methods yield better results.
Aside from the lack of effectiveness of torture, does any sane person believe it is OK to inflict pain and horror on another human being for any reason?
When we do this, the terrorists have won. They have succeeded in making us savage animals just like them.
Ray Atkinson
Dallas
Pure Pentecost
Randel Everett’s April 20 column concerned celebrating Pentecost Sunday. Many Christians do not know nor practice Jesus’ commandment found in Matthew 28:20. Most think the Great Commission starts and ends in Matthew 28:19. But verse 20 plainly states the disciples were to teach all new Christians Jesus’ commandments. Jesus was not talking about Old Testament commandments that teach us what God defines as “sin.” The New Testament teaches us that although we are under grace, we should know the Old Testament commandments so we will know what displeases God and live as nearly perfect as we can.
It appears the disciples were teaching the new Christians Jesus’ commandments and other important information about or from Jesus as well as practicing what they had been taught. I believe that is why the Holy Spirit was able to bring conviction on the masses during the Pentecostal period.
Any church that will teach new Christians the Old Testament commandments so that they will know what “sin” is and attempt to avoid it after repenting of past sins and teach Jesus’ commandments and obey them will experience a Pentecost harvest of souls for the kingdom.
Raymond D. Anderson
Texarkana
Praise for William J. Reynolds
I would like to add my words of praise for William J. Reynolds to those of Ragan Courtney (May 4). Dr. Reynolds presided over the Sunday School Board’s Church Music Department at a time when Southern Baptists became “somebody” in the world of evangelical musicians.
Bill successfully built on to the solid base that had been laid by those “pioneers” who preceeded him. We church musicians could say with a certain pride that “we were Southern Baptists.” We finally stood shoulder-to-shoulder with church musicians of other mainstream evangelical denominations.
Many are not aware that he was an encourager and source of help at a time when Southern Baptists had many missionaries who used music as a main thrust in their mission work. He helped many of us who served in Brazil, and he and T.W. Hunt led in a conference of “music missionaries” from all over Latin America.
On my furloughs, he honored me with invitations to attend the annual meetings of state music secretaries. These were so helpful to me, as I had been invited by Brazilian Baptists to organize their church music department, and my only experience had been that of a minister of music.
Bill was a personal friend to me as well as to my “music missionary” son, Carlos. We will miss him, his big booming voice, his inspirational song leading and his love of people and of the Lord.
Bill Ichter
Minden, La.
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