In response to the editorial in the April 24 edition of the Penticton Western News titled Trying to rebuild history.
It is easy to criticize the spending of money on something you care nothing about.
Why is it that the money dedicated to the things of God is always the one that is criticized?
Christian churches around the world are (and have always been), engaged in charitable works, in health care, education, in helping victims of human trafficking, refugees, the homeless, prisoners, and so on.
Our churches are places where we gather together to worship God as a community, and where we can socialize and come together to plan our charitable works.
The editorial asks: “Which do you think your god would prefer, another expensive building raised up in their honour or 100,000 people off the streets, fed, clothed and on their way to a better life?”
For the answer to the question you might look to the gospels.
In Mark’s gospel we read that one day Jesus was sitting near the treasury of the temple and a poor widow came and put in two small coins. Jesus praised her for giving all that she had, neither did he condemn the rich for putting in large sums of money.
Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is not only a house of worship, but an architectural gem. It has stood for 800 years, a tribute not only to God, but to the history of France and to the faith of our ancestors.
When it was built over a period of two hundred years, it provided work for stone masons, carpenters, labourers, and artists in wood, stone and glass. Over the years it has been an inspiration to many.
There is much more money spent on far less worthy things to criticize, than the rebuilding of Notre Dame.
Elizabeth Borhi
Penticton