This is Viewpoints for Sunday, May 8, 2016

Red light runners

Red light runners are not confined to Centerville and Warner Robins; running red lights seems to be the latest sport coupled with simultaneously texting. A few days ago I witnessed four, yep, four, red light runners in action at four consecutive traffic signals.

You guessed it. Not a cop to be found. How about a few unmarked monitors or, better yet, ticket the vehicle. Coupled with this is the inability of drivers to use their turn signals as it might wear them out.

Workforce valued?

So our congressional leadership recently hosted a military and local political elite breakfast on Capitol Hill on April 27, whose goal was to protect Robins Air Force Base from closure after a future BRAC. This breakfast included all of our local notables without disclosing who paid for their trip.

My question is why the base union president was never invited on this annual boondoggle of patriotic fervor?

The base union probably has 4,000 or so base civil servants as members out of 23,000 or so employees. Productivity of the base workforce is crucial to the survival of RAFB and a future BRAC. Yet the union president was not invited to this breakfast or on past visits to the Pentagon.

A future BRAC will take notice of the failures of local and base leadership to recognize our base workforce. The union president should be invited to the Pentagon annually with local leaders. This is a no-brainer that is counter-productive to the future of RAFB.

Pushing Ellis?

Why does The Telegraph print so many letters in the same month from or about C. Jack Ellis? I thought your rules were only one letter per month from anyone. The long article printed April 18 regarding Ellis running for tax commissioner was nearly a half page. It appears you are trying your best to push Ellis out to everyone.

I thought you were to give equal time to the other candidate Wade McCord. I feel he is the best candidate for tax commissioner, because he has been working in the tax office. You have not provided the public with any information regarding Ellis' qualifications to be tax commissioner.

You obviously missed the equally long piece by Commissioner Mallory Jones published April 28 promoting Wade McCord.

Cows will thank us

Today on Mother’s Day, many of us will celebrate the powerful bond between mother and child. Tragically, the worldwide symbols of motherhood — dairy cows — never get to see or nurture their babies. Newborn calves are torn from their mothers at birth so we can seize and drink the milk that mother cows produce for them. The powerless, distraught mothers bellow for days, hoping in vain for their babies’ return. The babies are kept alive elsewhere, to soon become veal cutlets.

Dairy cows spend their lives on a concrete floor, chained, with no outdoor access. To maintain their milk flow, they are artificially impregnated each year. Around four years of age, their milk production drops and they are turned into hamburgers. This Sunday, let’s honor motherhood and our natural compassion by refusing to subsidize cruelties of the dairy industry. Mother cows and our own bodies will thank us.

Spoon-fed history?

Between April 22-23, at least seven Confederate memorial services were held in the midstate. I am glad this liberty still exists. I have a birthright to do so. These services were not widely advertised because most who would attend knew how to obtain that information and virtually no one is interested in the media coming.

A friend confided “like it or not, right or wrong, voluntary or under duress, we live in the nation that defeated our ancestors. Whether we do so happily, or if we believe that our ancestors were coerced into subjugation remains. The United States and its political process has a direct bearing on our lives and our ability to honor our heritage.”

History contains examples of cultures eradicating one another. Northern passions to dominate the South have always been on this continent. I wonder at such rabid injustice. The conquest of lands is complete and the manipulation of Southern minds has been impacted by the media and public schools. What more could they want?

I don’t understand why virtually every other heritage is rightfully celebrated. Don’t trouble me with worn out lies about slavery. If that is all you know, it is because you have willfully been spoon-fed what to believe.

Make no mistake — some people value their Southern heritage and their faith in God more than their mortal existence.

A Christian?

In his April 1 column, Dr. Bill Cummings asks us, “Are you a Christian?” He concludes saying “So am I a Christian? Not really. I had rather say I am a follower of Christ.” In all his articles I have read, I am convinced he is not a Christian. If he is a follower of Christ, does he have a personal relationship with him? Is he obedient to Christ who says in Matt. 16:24, 25, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

Jesus said in his first preaching, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” All humanity is physically born with a sinful nature. Repentance of our sins, if we are sincere, gives ownership of our lives to God. We then become followers of Christ, seeking obedience to him in pursuit of his first and second commandments of “Loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.” Has Cummings repented of his sins and been redeemed by the blood of Christ?

Does Cummings have the assurance that he knows he has eternal life with God when his life is over? In the small Bible book of 1 John we are reminded 17 times that we can have this assurance of our eternal presence with God.

Cumming’s writings gives me deeper trustworthiness of the fundamentals of the gospel of Christ that reveals Jesus was the son of God, born of the virgin Mary and his miracles, his sacrifice upon the cross and his physical resurrection and eventual return. My prayers include Cummings that he will want to become a Christian proclaiming the gospel of Christ.

This story was originally published May 7, 2016 at 10:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Sunday, May 8, 2016."