Dear Editor

Different news commentators and others said that Vice President Gore believed in his heart of hearts that he got more votes than Bush in Florida. Every time I heard that I wondered what was the foundation for that faith. I suspect that he based that on the sample hand count or perhaps because he was told that by the lawyers and other interested parties.

Does faith simply believe something? Doesn’t faith have to have a ground? I know that sometimes people really believe something and believe it very strongly, simply because they refuse to believe the contrary. But that is not true faith.

This is a good time to consider the essence of faith. Peter said in I Peter 3:15, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." I wonder if Vice President gore could have given a reason for the hope, or faith, that was in him?

Did you celebrate Christmas? Do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was God incarnate? Do you believe that a virgin conceived a child? Do you believe that Child was the Son of God? Most of us would answer, yes. We believe because the Bible tells us so.

Now Vice President Gore subjected himself to ridicule because he believed that he had gotten more votes in Florida that Bush. We were told that he believed in his heart of hearts. How has your faith in the story of Christmas affected your life? Do you believe in your heart those truths?

Jesus never wrote a book: He never commanded a great army: He never traveled more than a few miles from home: He never won the noble peace prize. Yet, 2000 years after His birth, His birth is celebrated all over the earth.

We find a claim made about Him that is made of no one else. We must admit this babe whose birth we celebrate was singular. The same Bible that tells us of His birth speaks to us about faith. The bible says in Romans 10:9 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

Ah, here it is again, believe in the heart. The bible doesn’t even require believe in the heart of hearts, but simply in the heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." Believing in the heart affects the issues of life.

I think Vice President Gore’s actions in Florida reveals to us something of faith.

Yours for heart faith

charles j. arnett
Union Ohio
836-3272