Brandon W.

Cook
P.O. Box 681
Courtland, VA 23837

April 10, 2022

Brian Sixbey
P.O. Box 2820
Norfolk, VA 23501
letters@dailypress.com

Dear Editor:

I recently read an article titled "Faith & Values: The “Want-To” Principle” in your newspaper
titled The Virginia Gazette. In the article, author Brian Sixbey wrote, "If only I could make it
more compelling, more people would become disciples of Jesus.”. I cannot entirely agree with
the statement because he is making it sound as if a religious leader must learn the history or
theology of the religion they are preaching and must have a degree in sales or business to sell the
service he is providing. Suppose Mr. Sixbey has been making this career for more than 26
years. In that case, I will imagine he is a professional in his field and knows that when the
industry is moving in a different direction, one should either look at retiring or learn a new skill
instead of trying to find better ways to compel people to buy a service they do not want.

One reason I disagree is that Mr. Sixbey emphasizes the phrase "if only" a lot in his article. As
a reader, what that is telling me is that if only he could have prepared himself better early on in
his 26 years, he may have had a better result now. "If only" is a scapegoat to blame one's
problems on an imaginary belief or a "butterfly effect" in the physiology world of medicine.
Why does one have to "if only"? Why not see the problem, face it head-on or move to the side
and jump on the new train that is pushing into the future? For example, if a librarian started
his/her career 26 years ago and were adequately trained, they would have had a highly
demanding career. As time has gone on, our technology has evolved. If the librarian did not
evolve with it, then in the next five years or less, the librarian will be asking the same question
"if only," but they will be asking it from an empty table and no house because they do not have a
job anymore. A religious leader in the United States will be a little better off for longer because
we (US citizens) allow religion to be overlooked as a tax-paying organization or business but as
one that somehow helps the community. Now "if only” Mr. Sixbey were to move to another
country that still has strong ties to religion like India with the faith of Islam or the Catholics faith
primarily in Europe, he would not have to sell a service to people who do not want it.

Another reason I disagree that more people would become disciples of Jesus is that maybe more
people want to be disciples of their own demise and not have to live a life in the judgment of a
fictional book that was written over 2000 years ago and has been translated by many different
men through time for which may or may not have translated with pure accuracy.

Your readers should agree that instead of finding better ways to compel people to return to his
church, he should find better ways to compel himself to better his future career options. This is
important because religious leaders always get the final say and never do wrong in the eyes of
the mythical man named God, for which they push his name as if he is the creator of all things
and we have to obey his words. I feel your readers will be divided but primarily in non-
agreement or very aggressively violent towards my letter to you. I say that because, just like
the librarian, the newspaper is a dying business, and the only real readers are the elderly. It is
the elderly that still believe in the church and the compelling story that one has. The younger
generation, the upcoming leaders, and the future of our society will agree with what I have to
say.

Now all readers need to do to agree with me is continue living their lives as the church will
slowly but surely die off, and the compelling stories will be written in the books that our future
generations may or may not read. The only call to action that I ask of you is to please write
only the facts about what you see in the world; not fictional phrases that are taken from a book
that can be manipulated into whatever one wants it to say.

Sincerely,

Brandon W. Cook