HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

I hope you never experience such a scene

Thaksin is not exiled

Mr Robert Holiday (Bobby)

Apple and her observation

Sex on the beach

PhDs must be right

Thanks to Apple

In response to Observation by Apple

I hope you never experience such a scene

Editor;

Re: letter from John Arnone 19/2/10. I vividly recall at age 21 suffering from penicillin poisoning, being submitted to a remote English Midlands hospital which I eventually learned was the last resort for dying patients, mostly smokers, to spend their last days. One after another in this sputum coughing atmosphere, curtains would be drawn around beds where the next expiry was taking place. I wonder if John Arnone had had this experience, would he have written that absurd and irresponsible letter spouting his view on the drug that continues to kill and maim millions.

My father and youngest brother were among those taken prematurely and all of the smokers in my year class are either dead or crippled through tobacco use. These are not “unprovable” statistics, these are ‘provable’ facts unfortunately, and we all know that person who has beaten the odds after smoking 60 a day for 60 years which is exactly what hooked smokers want to hear for peace of mind. They have my sympathy because I admit to drinking over the recommended amount of alcohol. But I do not, as Mr Arnone, feel the need to fill almost half of the letters page with rumbled nonsense to virtually promote my weakness and give my views on smoking, the latter sadly resulting in scenes such as described above in hospitals world wide. I honestly hope Mr Arnone that you, or any smoker that is reassured by your misguiding rhetoric, never experiences such a scene.

Dorian Farmer

Thaksin is not exiled

Dear Editor;

Although I know that Thaksin constantly cries about living in exile, it’s starting to bother me that both your newspaper and other media refer to him with the same words.

Thaksin is NOT in exile. I would like to see journalists write the truth about him. Thaksin is convicted of breaking the law, sentenced to a 2-year jail time from which he fled. Thus, he is a fugitive from the law and his prison-sentence and if any exile at all is involved, it’s a self inflicted exile that he himself has chosen. If he was a man, he could choose to return (no-one is stopping him) and accept his sentence.

Robin,
Pattaya

Mr Robert Holiday (Bobby)

Dear Sir;

Through your excellent newspaper could you please publish this letter regarding the sad loss of Bobby.

On Tuesday 2nd March Pattaya lost another one of its characters, Mr Robert Holiday. Bobby will sadly be missed by friends, expats and many who met him in many of his usual watering holes.

Although in his 70s Bobby enjoyed life to the full, often seen with a Bacardi Coke in one hand and a lady on his other arm, but always with a smile on his face.

Everyone who met Bobby will have a tale to tell. Bobby will be sadly missed by all at Smiling Sam’s (Carlton Hotel).

God bless you Bobby.
The Gang

Apple and her observation

Editor;

Three cheers for Apple for telling it like it is. We have a spiritual guru in America that is on prime time TV healing so-called sick people; and he was exposed for taking his own people around the revivals and starting his healing service with them coming up on stage and getting the audience all worked up with his magic power that he was supposed to possess. This all came to the surface when this employee was fired and he went to the authorities.

It seems that when the person is not healed, they quickly say; “He didn’t have enough faith.” And we all know, from reading the Bible that Jesus healed some people that didn’t even have faith.

Again, quoting Apple; let them go up to the blind school and start there show up there.

P.S. Also, this ex employee said; “That once a healed person gets on the mailing list of the church, he is constantly asked to keep giving donations to continue God’s work. Upon further investigations from the authorities; this healing guru had a personal fortune of 12 million dollars and lives in three massive homes spread around the U.S. Does that sound like something God would endorse?
Beverly Protocoli,
Salt Lake City, Utah

Sex on the beach

Dear Editor,

It is obvious that Russian tourists enjoy having sex in public as has been reported repeatedly in your publication. As Thailand is actively attempting to attract more Russians, perhaps it is time that certain areas of Pattaya’s beaches be declared an “Adult Zone”. The Russians will be free to have sex on the beach and consenting voyeurs can watch to their hearts content. A win-win situation all around! The rest of Pattaya will remain Asia’s number one family vacation destination.

Regards,
Bill Turner
California

PhDs must be right

Editor;

I would imagine that the Pattaya Mail has tired of this debate, but just on the chance that they haven’t, I will offer an answer to Lawrence Remington.

I guess I owe you an apology Lawrence. How can anyone argue with the PhDs at Scientific American? It would seem that given the level of air pollution in the world’s cities, it would be pretty much impossible to determine if it were second hand cigarette smoke killing people or air pollution, but if Scientific American says that it is second hand smoke, then it must be.

Actually, I feel better knowing that now. I have been reading where the PhD economists that work for the American government are claiming that the recession is at the beginning of its end and that the housing market is going to improve and unemployment is getting better and the dollar is secure in its value and I have been skeptical. But when “experts” make statements on areas that are gray areas, if they are PhDs, they must be right. Thanks for teaching me that.
John Arnone
Yasothon

Thanks to Apple

Editor;

Thank you Apple for pointing out what has plagued me and (I’m sure) other readers for years about these so-call spiritual-faith healers. They only seem to be able to apply there techniques and heal certain types of people under circumstances they control. In the U.S where I come from; most of them have been exposed and some have gone to prison over their scams.

According to the Bible; there are many cases that reveal where Jesus healed people. Also, some of the disciples were given the power to heal. Christianity was in its infancy and it was important that Jesus and the disciples proved that their power came from God. But the scriptures plainly state: that after Jesus and the last of the disciples passed-on, that healing and the gift of tongues would cease. Read 1 Corinthians 13:8-11.

I have been a minister and spokesman of God for over 55 years and I have seen many false disciples come and go. And as the great-day of God Almighty approaches there will be even more that surface and hopefully exposed.

God bless you and Pattaya Mail for printing what people really feel.
Yours in Christ,
Rev. Eddie Lister
Retired, living in Chonburi

In response to Observation by Apple

Editor;

In response to the comment Apple made in regards to faith healing by the priest from the Philippines. The first question a person should ask: is faith healing approved by God? It seems that when one of these so called modern faith healers heals someone; a prerequisite is; that person has to have faith. But was that the case in Jesus’s day? Did Jesus demand that a sick person have faith before he would heal him? The answer is no. Faith was needed on the part of the healer but not necessarily on the part of the sick person. On one occasion Jesus’s disciples failed to cure an epileptic boy. Jesus healed the boy and afterward told the disciples why they had been unable to heal him. “He said to them: ‘Because of your little faith.’” - Matthew 17: 14-20.

According to Matthew 8:16, 17, Jesus “cured all who were faring badly.” True, these people had a measure of belief in Jesus that caused them to approach him. (Matthew 8:13, 9:22, 29) In most cases they had come and ask before he healed them. However, no confession of faith was required for the miracle to be performed. On one occasion Jesus healed a lame man who did not even know who Jesus was. (John 5:5-9, 13) On the night of his arrest, Jesus restored the severed ear of the high priest’s servant, even though this man was one of the groups of Jesus’s enemies who had come to arrest him. (Luke 22:50, 51) Indeed on occasion, Jesus even raised the dead! Luke 8:54, 55; John 11:43, 44.

How could Jesus perform such miracles? Because he relied on God’s holy spirit, or active force. This is what did the curing, not the faith of the sick individual. If you read the accounts in the Gospels, you will also notice that the healings by Jesus were performed with a minimum of ceremony. There was no exhibitionism or playing of emotions. Further, no matter what the disease, Jesus never failed. He was always successful, and he never took up a collection or charged a fee!
Have a blessed day.
Rev. James Bledsoe

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