• Response to Pastor Iannucci • Kaua‘i will react to civil unions vote • Homosexuality and the word of God • No one else like Larry • Golden opportunity Response to Pastor Iannucci I appreciate Pastor Iannucci’s response (“Same old
• Response to Pastor Iannucci • Kaua‘i will react to civil unions vote • Homosexuality and the word of God • No one else like Larry • Golden opportunity
Response to Pastor Iannucci
I appreciate Pastor Iannucci’s response (“Same old sin,” Letters, Jan. 28) to my letter (“New revelations, Jan. 27). His opposition to the title “reverend” I especially concurred with as I believe that were most to know its origin “The revered one” it would rarely if ever be use by those who know me well.
Pastor Iannucci says, “Mr. Rudinoff would like us to believe that over the years God has loosened up a bit.” You bet, if God hadn’t we would be stoning folk and exercising many punishments that most would not condone today.
It seems clear that Pastor Iannucci views homosexuality as sin, “Love for the sinner but not for the sin.” I’ve always thought this was a cheap phrase used to hide behind stern judgment allowing the person saying it to remain above the fray.
It is time to accept the diversity of creation and include homosexuality in that diversity (most scientific studies attest that sexual orientation is not a choice) and not some form of perversion that needs to be judged or eradicated. In the many sins of the Christian Church the condemnation, exclusion and denial of civil rights to those in the gay community must certainly rank high on the list.
Finally, the Power/Spirit/Force that we have labeled God finds definition by what we attribute to it. I attribute the diversity of all creation to this spirit and am awed by it. I am working on my arrogance in thinking it comprehensible.
Jan Rudinoff, Lihu‘e
Kaua‘i will react to civil unions vote
In The Garden Island on Jan. 23, Gary Hooser states that he is very pleased that 18 Hawai‘i senators voted in favor of the civil unions bill on Friday. I hope that Sen. Hooser and the other 17 senators who voted in favor of this bill are ready for the backlash from the voting public.
In the next election, I hope that the voters will remember that all of these 18 senators voted in favor of a bill that the majority of us do not support. We, the voting public, have the option of voting for whomever is running against them. Perhaps Gary and the other 17 missed what happened in Massachusetts last week.
Hopefully, the 18 senators who voted in favor of this bill will not mind being unemployed after the next election. Listen to the people! Good luck job hunting in this environment.
Kris Van Dahm, Kapa‘a
Homosexuality and the word of God
As a non-believer in the 21st Century, I would like to respond to Pastor Iannucci’s letter (“Same old sin,” Letters, Jan. 28).
First of all, pastor, not all of us think the Bible is the word of God, every word of which we must obey, and that is a good thing. It would certainly be a most horrid world if we all lived by that strange idea.
For an example, in Exodus, Chapter 22, Verse 18, in the King James version, it states quite clearly, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” King James, a homosexual English Monarch, introduced that horror of a phrase when he rewrote the book.
Most sane and intelligent human beings today do not believe in witches — broomsticks, magic spells, black cats and all. We know there are those who do and those who claim they are, but to our reasoning minds this is as silly a belief as any other.
But be that as it may, all of us would hope the laws of our country would not insist we take to the woods to find some and do them in because the biblical book of myths and legends told us to.
Burn them at the stake? Man in his juvenile past did that. Hopefully, today, we’ve outgrown such notions. That would be my human hope.
Further, as an intelligent human being in the 21st Century, I know that living things are often born homosexual. I have known homosexual horses. They did not make that choice, they were born that way.
And so Pastor Iannucci’s argument that, somehow, homosexuality is a choice is not a valid argument.
More than that, we do not know that His word remains true and does not change. We do not even know there is a He whose word remains true and does not change and neither does Pastor Iannucci.
He believes there is and it’s a free country, that’s his right, but the mind of the believer, to the non-believer, is a most interesting study.
A 21st Century humanistic study that certainly beats burning witches and vilifying people with other sexual needs.
Bettejo Dux, Kalaheo
No one else like Larry
We’ve been coming for the past 16 years to this island and we always take guests that visit us to Larry’s show.
He is Kaua‘i and a great legend. Why is he not at the Kaua‘i Beach Hotel anymore? There are several new hotels cropping up now that should sign on with him because their hotel will do so much better with Larry.
Larry is aloha: he has come to the bedside of our friend who was in a coma from a fatal scuba diving accident; we have been to his home; we have dined with him; we have all his CDs and we think he puts on a terrific show. There is no one else like him and he is featured in the Coco Palms book maybe 20 times. This island is making a big mistake if they think these legendary people should be replaced by the new talents. That is not the Hawaiian way, is it?
Shann and Les Anderson, Minnesota
Golden opportunity
It was great to read the article in Wednesday’s edition regarding Esaki’s Produce chartering Aloha Air Cargo to bring in an inbound shipment of fresh produce.
I assume that this cost more than the usual inter-island barge routine — but certainly would reduce any spoilage loss that could have occurred.
What a golden opportunity this would have been for the Superferry!
Joe Stoddard, Wailua Homesteads
