Back in July, a good friend and fellow pastor Dan DeWitt put up this quote from Dr. Mark Sandlin, and as our 2024 election approaches, it gives a fine reminder of the prime directive of all who follow Jesus. We often describe those on the opposite side of the fence as our enemy, and this comes from both sides. Dr. Mark Sandlin’s conclusion makes the issue pretty simple: people are either our neighbors or our enemies, but both are to be loved. Loving a person doesn’t mean…
Read MoreFake News
This post may be my most politically relevant and unyieldingly nonpartisan. Some time back, a commentator, who’s been around since Watergate, expressed that he is more concerned about the future of our country now than at any time in his life. Why? We can’t agree on truth. We don’t seek truth. Partisans, on both sides, decry as “Fake News” anything that doesn’t match what they already want to believe. We accept, as gospel, rumors with no evidence. The divide between left and right grows because…
Read MoreOur Aim May Be Off
Many Christians bemoan the direction of our country. Our long-lived moral values, resting mostly on the Judeo-Christian ethic, are disappearing like dust in the wind. To combat that, many followers work politically to pass laws and elect candidates to restore righteousness to our country, with righteous defined as right behavior. How is that working? First, with all this work going back decades, our culture shows little moral restoration. Second, our efforts often alienate…
Read MoreAnticipating Adversity
Toward the end of the often-disastrous 2020, social media got flooded with memes and posts and comments expressing joy that the crappy year would soon end with 2021. That may explain why I so liked the above meme put up by Jeff Boyer. 2021 won’t fully flush out 2020, and some of the crap will continue to need wiping away. The vaccine rollout has started, but slowly; the cases and hospitalizations have reached all time highs. Yes, we’ll likely beat it, but…
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image from stevenaitchison.co.uk
What Child is This: A Reconciler
Christmas “split time” in a sense—we date our years from Jesus’ birth. It sparked a worldwide faith. At the core of those changes, we find a Jesus who entered the world to be a reconciler. To bring often radically people together. That had to begin with…
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image from Nora Carol
Fake News
This post may be my most politically relevant and unyieldingly nonpartisan. A few weeks back a commentator, who’s been around since Watergate, expressed that he is more concerned about the future of our country now than at any time in his life. Why? We can’t agree on truth. We don’t seek truth. Partisans, on both sides, decry as “Fake News” anything that doesn’t match what they already want to believe. We accept, as gospel, rumors with no evidence. The divide between left and right grows. And I’m not sure electing more “people with our values” will help…
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image by cohesionart.com
No Facebook?
Two events recently combined to spark this post. A fellow author, let’s call him Max, wrote a thoughtful article about the effectiveness of engaging in Facebook discussions that often have a hostile, demeaning tone. At the same time, another Facebook friend cautioned her friends that if they “badmouthed” those politicians she favored, she would unfriend them. When asked to clarify bad mouthing, she strongly bad mouthed the other side. Yes, she claims Jesus as Savior and Lord, but missed seeing...
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Ballots or Bombs
Isn't this a great season, as the upcoming national election kicks off, almost two years early? The politicking brings out our best and worst, some thoughtful comments intended to persuade the marking of ballots, along with verbal bombs with asinine and degrading and insulting comments about the "other" side. Can't help but love it, right? Only if you're ...
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