Tell me why I should buy the Leader

Dear Editor,

Well, I hardly know where to start on Tim Bryant’s editorial of April 10th. So I’ll start with the obvious.

All hail Zombie Jesus? Really?

I’m guessing this young man is trying to get a rise out of a community that he surely must know. To what end? Is that the purpose of an editorial? To poke and prod and mock just so that he can sit back and smugly think he’s done his job?

I’m a writer. I have 36 published books to my credit, and ten years worth of articles for your paper. In all my writing I have always strived to do three things. Know my audience, challenge my audience and respect my audience. I believe any good writer, worth their salary or advance does the same.

Tim does none of these with his editorial of April 10th. He is a confused man on a crusade that only he knows the purpose or end result of. He is also a good example of the very quote he uses from Shakespeare - “A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” His editorial is rambling and uneven. On the one hand he claims that he sees no problem with MLA’s being on a committee receiving $1,000.00 a month. Then a few paragraphs later he says that someone should have said something earlier. Why? He says he has no problem with this, so why should Someone have said Something. (And aren’t those the kind of words that stir men’s blood to fight for noble causes) After this opinionated meandering he then rails against Raj Sherman who paid the money back. Okay. So what is his editorial stance? I’m puzzled.

So we have this bewildering editorial veering from one side of the opinion spectrum to the other. Then come the piece de resistance; this complete non sequiter - All hail, Zombie Jesus. Wow. A controversial statement striking at the heart of a faith many hold dear. That has never happened to us Christians before. Or Jesus for that matter. Never been mocked. Never been looked upon as brainwashed individuals who don’t know what they do. Never been treated as unintelligent. Sorry Tim Bryant. You aren’t unique. You aren’t a pioneer blazing a trail against those ignorant Christians. You are just like every other person who has choked on the Lamb of God.

My biggest problem is not with Tim’s feeble remonstrances against a God who died for him as well. A God who cares about him whether Tim wants to acknowledge that or not. My problem is having to read this in a paper that we have subscribed to for the past thirty years. A paper that has and should be a reflection of our community. Makes me wonder why I should bother maintaining my subscription.

So my challenge to you, as publisher of this paper is this - give me a reason I should keep getting this paper. Give me a reason I should keep sending you my money so I can read this kind of mindless, meandering dreck ‘that signifies nothing’. If I don’t get a good enough reason, you’ll be getting a request to cancel my subscription and asking for a full refund of the renewal we sent you only a few weeks ago. I know who my Redeemer is. And Tim can rail against Him all he wants on his own dime and on his own time. Just not in a paper I pay money to get.

Carolyne Aarsen

Neerlandia