violence
My Lesson From the Orlando Shooting
Last Sunday a man went into a nightclub in Orlando and shot over one hundred people, murdering 49 and injuring 53. These mass killings that were once almost unheard of seem to have increased to a point of near horrific regularity and everyone responds to these situations in different ways.
Loving both Enemies & Neighbors in The Way of Jesus
Jesus tells us both to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44) and to love our neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40). I have spent a lot of years wrestling with what is the faithful thing to do when the two commands come into conflict. In violent confrontations is it right to use force to
A Christian Approach to Living in a Violent Society
Part 4 of 4 – Mixing Yellow & Blue (read Part 1 HERE) Yellow Team Christians and Blue Team Christians are each right about a lot of things when it comes to living out the Way of Jesus in a Violent Society – a passion for justice, valuing the sanctity
A Christian Approach to Living in a Violent Society
Part 3 of 4 – What the Blue Team is Missing (read Part 1 HERE) While the Blue Team does a great job of recognizing the role that moral agency or free will plays in the violence in our society, works to protect the sanctity of human life from those
A Christian Approach to Living in a Violent Society
Part 2 of 4 – What the Yellow Team is Missing (read Part 1 HERE) While the Yellow Team does a great job of recognizing and attempting to address the big picture, systemic, and historic factors that contribute to violence in our society, they often fail to give proper weight
A Christian Approach to Living in a Violent Society
Part 1 of 4 – Yellow & Blue I have had a statistically unusual amount of violent encounters in my adult life and I also minister to people who have been victims of violence and people who use or have used significant levels of violence in their lives (on both