November 2016
By Seth Halpern, Editor By the time you read this article, you will either be getting ready to vote or anticipating the presidency of either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. In last month’s article, I wrote about our selection for the Presidential Election I mention that only to point out that our politics is one huge dividing point in our nation. However, it is not the only one. In fact, there are more points of division in our nation now than I can recall in several decades. We are more racially divided than I have seen in years. Even with an AfricanAmerican president, racial tension is worse than it has been in recent decades.
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Paula McBride “Soak & Savor”
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Police and citizens are now at odds with what appears to be a spike in officer involved shootings as well as violence against police. Immigration is another controversy with one side wanting to “build a wall” while others favor more “open borders” (please understand that these may be exaggerations of actual positions). Marijuana continues to become legal in more states, fueling the divide between growers/users and those who oppose it. LGBT rights also continues to be a source of conflict especially between the religious and non-religious communities. The fighting doesn’t end there but I don’t want to spend the entire article talking about the issues. We are well aware of them. So, where does the church come in?
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The Body of Christ should be influencing the culture and bringing our neighbors, friends and family to reconcile both with Christ AND with each other. I know that those in Christ have their citizenship in Heaven and are to be sojourners in the “World”. However, we are also called to be reconcilers and “salt and light”. It seems, though, that the church has taken on the face of the world in many of the same divisive issues. Within the church, there are those who are staunchly against “sinners” in their congregation, while others have more of a “seeker” mentality. This includes the issues of LGBT, as well as premarital sex, divorce and addiction. There are Christians and churches on both sides of the immigration issue and political adversaries. I recently posted
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on Facebook that I could not have a civil discussion with a person in church with whom I differed politically. In addition, Billy Graham once stated (and Martin Luther King famously repeated) “Eleven o’clock Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America,”. I believe it’s still true. I agree that Black Lives Matter. The Bible;’s most famous verse (John 3:16) says that ALL lives matter. I would include pre-born lives. The Abortion issue is still dividing families, churches and denominations. Not all divisions are as serious or violent, but there are some divisions specific to Christ’s Body: Spiritual Gifts, Baptism,
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