Dear Newsweek,

This letter is in regards to the magazine that has somehow, some way ended up in my mailbox unsolicited for the past few weeks.  I am a Midwestern stay-at-home mom and small business owner.  I am a  Bible-believing Christian and refuse to be labeled by political stigmas and choose to base my beliefs first on Biblical Truths.  In the past few weeks there have been two specific instances to which I have been offended by the content in your magazine. 

The first instance in which I take issue is when Ms. Brown of Newsweek  labeled Grand Rapids, Michigan a “Dying City”.  I believe the letter from Mayor George Heartwell speaks volumes to which most West Michiganders agree.  We are thriving here in West Michigan and the City of Grand Rapids where I was born and grew up is doing quite well.  As Mayor Heartwell indicated the $1.4 billion worth of downtown construction, the new major medical university and a nationally acclaimed art competition are just a few of the many reasons why Grand Rapid is not, as you call it, “dying”.  Please, please I beg you, do not fill my mailbox unrequested with this nonsense.

The second issue to which I am offended is that your magazine seems to think it has found what the Bible “really says” about sex.  Today you sent me a claim that stated the only absolutely Truth I have for my life, the Holy Bible, contradicts itself.  Instead of pick apart every single detail I find to be completely false, I am going to say one thing.  The Bible does not ever become “divided against itself”.  God says in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.  God also says in 2 Timothy 3:16 that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”.  And, in Daniel 9:14 we find that “the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth.” God is holy and righteous and therefore He cannot contradict Himself.  It seems to me that the very reason the authors of the books you speak of that seem to know what the Bible “really says” about sex don’t want to believe that human beings should be held accountable for their own sins to which God clearly condemns in His Word. 

I am one of the presumed one-third of Americans according to your article who actually read their bibles to which apparently some theological expert you found thinks I am not “qualified”.  I also read it to my children every night.  When I have a question about life, that is where I turn.  When I have a problem, that is where I turn.  When I don’t know what to do, that is where I turn.  I pray that others who do not define themselves not as “conservative” but instead simply Bible-believing Christians do what I do when I receive your unsolicited publication in the mail…throw it in the trash and open their B-I-B-L-E.

Sincerely,

Jennifer