Editor:
I doubt that Judith Sutherland is the victim of lying ancestors and her own gullibility as Kevin Sherlock states in his March 25 letter to the editor, Columnist perpetuates family lore, but it’s juts a myth.
Some of his statements are true but he should read some other history books.
One is Cross and Crown by J.T. Jones, copyright 1873. This rare book gives a historical sketch of the Vaudois church in Italy, the Huguenots in France and the persecutions they suffered under the popes.
The book gives a sketch of the English reformation and the battle true believers had to get the Bible published where a farm boy would know more than the popes.
Not hundreds but thousands would be burned at the stake and suffer other painful deaths rather than believe in transubstantiation. A large percentage of Roman Catholics today do not believe in that doctrine.
Another book, 50 Years in the Church of Rome, by Charles Chiniquy an eye opener and also tells the truth behind the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. I could list other books.
Passion ‘controversy.’ Now to really get into a controversy, the movie The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson.
Even Paul Harvey is deceived by him, in his story which was made into a movie, The Man Without a Face.
Mel Gibson has been up front about his motives, beliefs and objectives.
He used the “visions” of Catholic mystics as authoritative resources for his movie about Jesus. Even though their visions plainly contradict Scripture, he was doing nothing wrong, according to the dictates of his deeply held faith.
When asked if non-Catholic Christians can go to heaven apart from Rome, he replied that they cannot. He was only expressing his sincerest beliefs.
Quotable. The New Yorker, Sept. 15, 2003 edition, quoted Gibson thus, “There is no salvation for those outside the church (Roman Catholic).
“Put it this way, my wife is a saint. She’s a much better person than I am, (but) she’s Episcopalian. She believes in God, she knows Jesus and it’s just not fair if she doesn’t make it (to heaven); she’s better than I am.
“But there is a pronouncement from the chair (that she will not be saved). I go with it.”
‘In his eyes.’ When he believes in the blessing and efficacy or relics and selling “Jesus nails,” he is doing nothing wrong in his eyes.
When he says he is bound by the 16th century Catholic Council of Trent, which hurled 125 anathemas or curses at those who believed the Bible alone as the Word of God and that men are saved by grace alone, he is merely trying to be true to his religious faith.
When he prays to Mary, he thinks he is doing the right thing.
I believe he is deceived but may be more honest than Protestants who fawn over the movie like immature school girls over movie stars. Their religious faith is allegedly “Scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone.”
Russell May
Lowell, Ohio
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