For the moment, the amount of content offered on it is light, but it has many features that improve upon those offered by our former sites. This site (www.maderatribuneredline.com) will soon became little more than a metaphorical sign pointing the way to our new free “home” on the Internet. The Red Line and other content previously posted here will soon be appearing on our reborn main site.

We have also changed the company that provides our premium online subscription service. More details on that soon on our main site.

Be sure to surf on over to our new site for an early bird peek, and happy new year!

Tony Treckeme,
Madera

God made no provision for same-sex unions of any kind, and throughout His Word He clearly stated that any form of homosexuality is sin and an affront to His holy nature. In the creation account of Genesis, which we take as literal truth, God first created man, then woman, bringing the woman to the man for completion through their relationship that included sexual union. God did not bring a man to a man, or a woman to a woman for such fulfillment.

Sodom and Gomorrah, literal cities in Old Testament times, were destroyed because of the sin of homosexuality. The Apostle Paul states in the New Testament book of Romans, chapter 1, that when mankind defies God and His Word, that God then gives them over to shameful lusts including homosexuality as they come under His wrath. Paul also includes homosexual offenders under the category of the wicked who will not inherit the kingdom of God in 1 Corinthians 6:9.

It should be noted that God does not isolate homosexuality from other sins, for all sin separates us from the glory of God and calls for repentant faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for man’s sins and sinfulness, and rose from the grave to give us eternal life in His name.

It must be understood that Christ demonstrated His love toward all sinners when He died in our place on the Cross. Thus His loving desire is for homosexuals to repent of their sin just like anybody else and to place their total (faith) in the Lord Jesus for salvation from sin.

With these thoughts stated, it is incumbent upon every Christian to reach out to the homosexual with the love of Christ without condoning their sin just as they would reach out to any other person lost in sin, separated from God.

Our desire as ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to call all people out of sin, and into a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We care for the homosexual, but do not condone his or her practice, as it is totally contrary to God’s nature and His Word.

Any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication or adultery are perversions of God’s gift of sexual intimacy. Thus, although the Legislature, court, or people may “legalize” such marriages and unions, this does not legitimize them in the eyes of God, who is our Creator, Redeemer and absolute Lord.

Pastor Randy Brannon,
president of the Madera Ministerial Association

What do you think about this shift in policy? Are you in favor of same-sex marriage or against? Or could you care less?

When I arrived at the Saturday sneak preview in Fresno’s Imax theater, I did not expect to be especially impressed by “Kung Fu Panda.” I feared it would simply be an uninspired, one-trick pony. In fact, it was a movie I intended to bypass in the cinemas and watch belatedly on DVD.

My spot right in front of a looming monster of a screen due to the family-packed seating didn’t reassure me that I’d have a good experience either. If nothing else I wondered if my eyes could focus on so much area only a dozen feet ahead of me.

But once the film began the engaging imagery, humor and story captivated me so that all else was forgotten. When the film ended I stayed for the ending credits, and a final secret scene, with that pleasant glow inside that in younger years was usually accompanied by the emphatic declaration, “That was cool!”

For the complete movie review of “Kung Fu Panda,” read The Madera Tribune on Thursday. For a movie clip in Quicktime format, click here. For the same clip in a format suitable for an iPod or iPhone, click here.

In reading this article, you expressed things that reflected a desire on your part to understand our son — you captured his experience going through this process, to a tee. I would say his best friends didn’t display this depth of understanding.

That’s why I’m compelled to write this to you. You repeatedly demonstrate your caring about our kids in this community to accurately represent them at these critical moments in their lives. If something is happening in a young person’s life that is newsworthy, then it must truly be a watershed moment in time for them. Think about it — an intimate and accurate portrayal in a newspaper is a way of forever stamping this event in the individual’s memory, and their family’s.

Your insight into Alec’s comments, and the time you took to get Coach Hirshcorn’s thoughts, and Coach Mac’s, were above and beyond the call, and will enable us to read this 20 years from now and immediately remember the entire experience as if it were yesterday. You’ve given our family a treasure for life.

My wife and I moved here 18 years ago to rear our kids in a great family environment. We were looking for some place that reminded us of where we grew up, without having to move back to where we grew up, if that makes sense. Reading the Tribune back then reinforced our move as a sound one. While the sports articles had their share of misspellings and questionable phraseology, there was never a doubt as to whether the kids of this community were loved. This told us we were in the right place.

Then this “new guy,” Paul Stanford, came on board, and I was a little nervous. I didn’t want to see our hometown paper lose its sense of intimacy. Needless to say, that hasn’t happened, and in fact the qualities that drew us here are abundantly evident every time I read something he has written. And where I used to amuse myself by circling outlandish errors in red (I am an educator after all), I don’t get to do that any more with your pieces. You’re just a d-mn good writer!

Thank you again Paul. Any paper in America would be blessed to have you as part of their team. I’m just so thankful that you’re on ours!

Randy Mehrten,
and echoed decisively by Tiffany, Alec, and Seth,
Madera

The national news media do not provide the voters with her past records of her hatred of the men and women in the military, her left-wing agendas and her antifamily voting records. Voters, you need to educate yourselves and not listen to what the media only want you to hear. They lie under the 1st Amendment because we do not make them accountable for distorting the truth.

I would like to see a woman in office, but Hillary Clinton is not that woman.

Pat D. Massetti,
Madera