To the editor:

I am writing this letter on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is the most solemn part of a 10-day period called the High Holy Days or the Days of Awe or Repentance. Repentance is an act of the will with strong feelings of sorrow for a life lived to self and not to God by a person and even a nation.

In the Amidah prayer, believing Jews say, “Bring us back, our Father, to Your Torah, and bring us near, our King, to Your service, and influence us to return in perfect repentance before you. Blessed are You, HASHEM, Who desires repentance.” John the Baptist and Jesus both opened their ministries with the words, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Jesus also said, referring to disasters resulting in death, “Unless you repent, you will likewise perish.” The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7:10, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”

We can ignore God’s call to repentance and choose to live lives filled with idolatry, covetousness, vengeance, sexual immorality and other sins. I believe America is choosing to abort God’s offer of salvation and living a life of death. No candidate can save us or the nation. Only God through Jesus Christ saves! We have a personal and corporate choice. What are we going to do?

Carl E. Burkhead,
Lawrence