This is Viewpoints for Tuesday, March 27, 2018

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Bibb County elected officials, stop blaming others (Republicans in the General Assembly) for the county’s financial disaster, a creation by most of you who see a participant in the mirror.

You are entering the phase which I call “unintended consequences” (known as collateral damage in war) of your attempt to level some societal financial variances within the community by governmental action with inadequate financial resources available.

It could be said that your heart was in the right place, but your hands were in other citizen’s financial (taxes & fees) pockets without permission, which is unethical if nothing else.

You join the Bibb District BOE as it continues to flounder with the “unintended consequences” of the Dallemand era debacle compounded by the involved scoundrels and thieves. Your poor judgment and lack of financial acumen will come to roost with county services and many individuals with no involvement other than that they were, or are, employed by the county.

I am further concerned about the prospects of a reasonable and successful recovery led by those who “drove us into this ditch.”

MISINTERPRETING PAUL’S LETTER

In his recent article "Was St. Paul a Liar?" Bill Cummings challenges the apostleship of Paul based on his misinterpretation of the second chapter of Paul's letter to the Galatians pertaining to the Jerusalem Council. Luke also provides an account of the Jerusalem Council meeting in Chapter 15 of Acts. Neither Paul's nor Luke's account describes an "angry fight" between Paul and the apostles James, Peter and John. While some of the sect of the Pharisees called for the council to command Gentile Christians to keep the law of Moses, Peter and James disagreed with them, siding with Paul. James, speaking for the council, pronounced the decision that the Gentile Christians are not under the law but would abstain from four practices. The council then sent a letter to the brethren at Antioch to inform them of their decision. In it, they wrote "...our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 15:25,26)

In his second epistle, Peter refers to Paul as "our beloved brother Paul." (2 Peter 3:15) So there is no reason to doubt the respect that James and Peter had for Paul, nor Paul's statement that they gave him and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship. Luke also records the words of Jesus Christ in Acts 9:15: "...for he (Paul) is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel."

Do I believe the Apostle Paul? Absolutely, and I pray that all will heed Paul's words in Romans 2:16: "...God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel." If you are not already familiar with it, please study Paul's Gospel at 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.

FACEBOOK AND ERICKSON

Please thank Erick Erickson for the explanation of the tangled web of Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and all the political “outrage” surrounding them lately. I am glad to know I am a valued product. I plan to be more purposeful in my Facebook postings in the future.

I wish all your letters to the editor were as clearly understood.

MARCH SHOWED INCONSISTENCY, HYPOCRISY

Wonder how many people besides me noticed an inconsistency in the young people’s march for gun control. They carried signs that said, "There is no such thing as a good guy with a gun," while all the time being protected and guarded by men holding those "evil" assault weapons that nobody has any need nor right to own. By the way, I used the word "inconsistency," but there is another word that applies: hypocrisy. Liberal mainstream media tried to avoid showing those men, but I'm glad there were plenty of them, which makes sense; an open-air public assembly of thousands of young people made a tempting target for some insane person, using whatever weapon would achieve their evil, insane purpose .. vehicle, bomb, chemical, nerve gas, whichever would kill the most people in the shortest time. This illustrates that the problem is not guns, but evil people.

Thankfully, nothing happened, but nobody has to wonder what the liberal media's reaction would have been if a tragedy had occurred. “See! We told you so!” — completely ignoring that the media set up the potential target in the first place). Need to protect schools like the marchers were protected....with good guys with guns.

BASE PARKING: HERE WE GO AGAIN

Well, here we go again. Just about every five years someone has the audacity to write in complaining about parking on Robins AFB. First of all, jobs on the base pay much, much better than the equivalent jobs in the private sector. Secondly, these jobs come with benefits most people only dream of: 30 days paid vacation, 14 paid federal holidays, two weeks sick leave and many other sweet perks such as the Base Commander throwing a free picnic twice a year because everyone is doing such a "wonderful job." People actually get paid to go work out at a very top-of-the-line gym, although very few do because we are a fat and lazy country.

Along comes Charles Johnson whining about parking. I will bet my house that on any given day I can show you several hundred spots that are never used. The parking lot at building 905 is never full. There are many spots at the flight line that are never used. The lots behind buildings 300 and 301 are never full.

I suspect the issue is that Johnson can't find a spot right next to the front door. Again I would bet my house that Mr. Johnson could use some exercise. If you think this is a case of sour grapes you should know that I've worked on the base for 23 years and I always park at the far end of the lot. Maybe he should ride a bike to work. Problem solved.

This story was originally published March 27, 2018 at 8:38 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Tuesday, March 27, 2018."