Ridiculous tax plans

To the Editor:

With the Minnesota House Democratic majority having unveiled all of its budget bills for the next two years, I have analyzed how these plans could impact Minnesota taxpayers.

The answer is staggering: $12 billion in tax increases over the next four years.

I think it’s really ridiculous when you consider what they’re trying to accomplish. I don’t think the people in my district or in Greater Minnesota can afford that.

The Democrats tax increase plans would make health care, gasoline, and other everyday goods and services more expensive.

The costly proposals are especially disappointing considering Minnesota has a $1 billion surplus.

We have to do something to bring reality back to government. A $12 billion increase over four years is outrageous and I won’t stand for it.

State Rep. Bob Gunther,

R-Fairmont

What is truth?

To the Editor:

In our present world, it seems truth is whatever you believe at any given moment. Why is this so? Are we all so wise that we are the only ones who know it all? Is our decision-making so flawless that we should be the one who determines what is truth for everyone else? Or in reality, is it that we have become so petty and self-centered we no longer want the truth; we just want to believe what we want to believe? (Ezekiel 13:1-9, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31)

This attitude is really nothing new, as shown to us in the Gospels. Not even Jesus, while in his human state, can change our beliefs when we set our agenda away from God. John 18 is a good example of Jesus standing for the truth in God’s word and everyone else believing in the false truths they had created in their own minds, for their own agenda. Even Pilate, after hearing all these “truths” from others, clearly doesn’t give the truth Jesus is telling him any more weight than the other false truths he had been listening to that day.

As a Christian, it is always hard to hear that we are too often like the people of that day or even a “Pilate” but so often we would rather go with the false truths in our own mind even when we know they are false and against Christ’s teachings.

While it is so much easier to follow the world’s false teachings, poor ethics and changing truths, God’s way is always better for us.

We are in what many consider the great information age, where everything you need to know is at our fingertips. The problem is that our sinful nature controls those fingertips so they often lead us to information that is far from God’s truths. They lead us to believe our way is best and anyone who disagrees is blocked, deleted or fired. With no basis for the truths, we are following, we easily fall for the latest Snapchat or tweet, believing that is truth now.

The Devil is said to be the father of lies and manipulation, so if we continue to wander through this world not basing truth on a solid foundation, from one greater than ourselves, we are following where the Devil wants us to go. (John 8:42-47)

The truth in which to build our lives in a more positive and God-pleasing way can only be found in the Bible. Following God’s truth is not an easier way but a better way for everyone in this world to live and the only way to eternal salvation.

Anthony Scheff

Fairmont