Clergyman Strikes Chord With Essay on Christ’s Love

* Re “Some Forget: Christ Taught Us to Love,” the On Faith column June 3 by the Rev. Fred Plumer:

Thirty years ago I searched for those who expressed the inner essence of Christ in their daily lives. Up and down Wilshire Boulevard I saw church-front signs announcing that they were inviting folks to an introduction to Jesus on the upcoming Sunday. They quoted verses from the four Gospels. I wanted to hear from those who were learning the growth in life that is expressed in the New Testament.

Plumer today told of his quest, which is not to simply follow a checklist of dos and don’ts.

This man speaks of a true inner love for all that is Christ and was created by him. Let’s hear more of these voices and less of the “my high school is better than your high school” type of alignment in religion.

RON ST. CLAIR

Costa Mesa

* The Rev. Fred Plumer’s column today was exceptionally good.

Most mainstream Christian pastors today believe as Plumer does, that the main message of the Holy Bible is one to guide parishioners to accept the way of Jesus, a message of brotherly love and brotherly respect.

But unfortunately there is a loud and powerful group of fundamentalist Christian sects in our country who claim Jesus as their savior but then blatantly ignore his teachings.

If one watches fundamentalist evangelists on TV, theirs is always a message of “them and us.” And they often pride themselves on being intolerant.

JAMES R. GALLAGHER

Huntington Beach

* Plumer finds reason to doubt that the Bible was inspired by God. And so why not pick and choose which parts of it to believe?

Religion to Plumer is thus purely a matter of personal faith because there are no religious absolutes such as the speed of light, gravity and the like, as in the physical world.

Suppose God inspired the writing of each and every word of the Bible. This would be proof that just as God had set up absolutes in the physical world, he had set up absolutes in the world of religion and what we should know and believe about him.

If there were a way to test scientifically whether or not the Bible was the word of God, would Plumer welcome such certainty with open arms only if the proof supported his position?

Plumer may be unaware that there are scientific tests of the Bible that give results of the highest certainty. Chuck Missler’s “Cosmic Codes” is a good starting point from a Christian perspective. Or Michael Drosnin’s “The Bible Code” from an agnostic’s perspective. And “Crack the Bible Codes” from a Jewish perspective.

RAYMOND J. ROSTAN

Orange