Dear Editor, In a recent article in the Morgan Hill Times, it
was mentioned that the city of Morgan Hill will not be sending
protest letters to the Santa Clara Valley Water District for their
eight wells.
City should protest groundwater fees, not ask for reduction
Dear Editor,
In a recent article in the Morgan Hill Times, it was mentioned that the city of Morgan Hill will not be sending protest letters to the Santa Clara Valley Water District for their eight wells. It was said that “the city council will ask the water district to reduce the groundwater fees, but it’s not their intention to protest.”
The SCVWD is not an agency that listens to anyone. They do what they please. Most Morgan Hill residents are not aware of these groundwater fees (pump tax) as they are billed indirectly via the water bill, as opposed to well owners who are billed directly. These fees have risen considerably in recent years and the money used for many things other than recharging groundwater.
This is an agency that has been out of control in recent years without proper oversight from its elected Board. I think it is important for the city of Morgan Hill to file their protest along with other well owners in South County.
The confusing letter the water district recently sent shows they still aren’t able to deal honestly with their water users.
Richard L. Stone, Morgan Hill
The complexity of the universe and planet are evidence there is a creator
Dear Editor,
Marc Perkel sure seems to spend a lot of time thinking and writing about the God he doesn’t believe in! And that’s a good thing; he sounds like someone who is seeking the truth. I would like to address some of the issues he raised in his letter published on March 30 (“Catholic child sex scandals support atheism”).
Marc is correct that when a person becomes a born-again Christian, there should be a an observable transformation in that person’s life and behavior. God promises us in the Bible that He will give us a new heart and new desires. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
As just one example, the transformation in my own life since I became a born-again Christian is definitely “observable.” I used to be shy and self-centered; now I am an emboldened, Christ-centered evangelist. A friend told me that 10 years ago if anyone had told her I’d be an evangelist she would have fallen off her chair! And that is only one of the changes God has brought about in my life, attitudes, and behavior. It amazes me on a daily basis.
Marc said he and other atheists won’t listen to believers whose changes are not observable, so I hope that by pointing out that I do pass the “fruit test” that he said is required to get his attention, he will keep his part of the bargain and read on!
The issue of hypocrisy that Marc raises is a valid one.
As he puts it, a person who has a personal relationship with God would not be raping children, period. I agree. Jesus said in Matthew 18:6 “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”
The bottom line is that there are true converts and false converts. Someone who claims to be a Christian and yet continues in a lifestyle of willful, continual sin has not repented (turned from and forsaken sin). Jesus warned that those who do not repent will perish. He assures us that he will sort out the true converts from the hypocrites on the Day of Judgment.
Soldiers may commit atrocities in direct violation of orders, but that does not mean that their commander does not exist, nor does it mean that the entire regiment is corrupt. Individuals who are in rebellion to their commander’s standards will be held accountable for their crimes.
Marc is “reality-based” and wants evidence that God exists.
In addition to the transformations that God works in true converts, the incredible order, design, and complexity in the universe, our planet, and the human body is amazing evidence that we have a Creator.
I present three intriguing quotes from scientists that Marc and other atheists probably admire:
Charles Darwin said: “The impossibility of conceiving that this grand and wondrous universe, with our conscious selves, arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for the existence of God.”
Albert Einstein said: “I want to know how God created this world.”
Stephen Hawking said: “It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us.”
Jacqueline Perez, Morgan Hill
