Public Displays of Holy Protest

Please don't turn away from God, my friend. He loves you.

And so do I. I'll be praying for you.

All good things
Emmy

graceandpeace said:

The more we talk about our pain and disappointment with someone who can receive it with compassion, the less power it has over us and the more energy we can spend making the world a better place.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/teachi...-protest-moving-beyond-shame-and-false-unity/

Thoughts?

Obviously this is beyond liberal Christianity, but deals with the current political situation.

I've been agonizing over the election (though I'm not surprised by the result). I need to heal, but it's going to take time.

I have many supporters of the president-elect in my family, & I fear the holidays now. My plan is to avoid political conversation, to refuse to talk about it - because I'm not in a place to talk about my feelings without fear they will be dismissed, if not attacked. I've already had my faith attacked by one family member because I voted for Clinton. I'm just at a loss. I'm sad.

I don't know where to go from here. Seeing so many Christians be okay with the hateful rhetoric...it presents a challenge to my faith. I feel like quietly checking out, because atheism would be much easier right now.

Click to expand...

I think it's a great article that really articulates a lot of good points and concerns in this election. It's been over 10 days since the election, and I still just cannot believe the results and everything that's happened since is real.

I think another part of the problem is that we've lost our identity, and found in republican or democrat, liberal or conservative. I've had conversations with people who seem to genuinely distrust me or refused to listen to me simply because I was on the other side. That also goes back to the article, we've lost the ability to listen.

graceandpeace said:

The more we talk about our pain and disappointment with someone who can receive it with compassion, the less power it has over us and the more energy we can spend making the world a better place.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/teachi...-protest-moving-beyond-shame-and-false-unity/

Thoughts?

Obviously this is beyond liberal Christianity, but deals with the current political situation.

I've been agonizing over the election (though I'm not surprised by the result). I need to heal, but it's going to take time.

I have many supporters of the president-elect in my family, & I fear the holidays now. My plan is to avoid political conversation, to refuse to talk about it - because I'm not in a place to talk about my feelings without fear they will be dismissed, if not attacked. I've already had my faith attacked by one family member because I voted for Clinton. I'm just at a loss. I'm sad.

I don't know where to go from here. Seeing so many Christians be okay with the hateful rhetoric...it presents a challenge to my faith. I feel like quietly checking out, because atheism would be much easier right now.

Click to expand...

For me personally, I have never in my life been as convinced about being on the right side politically as I am now after seeing the direction where the conservatives are going.

What I find the most encouraging thing in the story is that as far as the values go, the left is intact, or at least in somewhat same shape as it was before the election. The same doesn't go for political conservatives or Evangelical Christians. They basically sold their soul.

I don't intend to belittle anyone's pain, I feel plenty of it myself here, but I'd still think it's good to remember that it's a much more blessed place to be recovering from a lost election than to be recovering from having compromised ones confessed principles and values publicly or having watched one's trusted leaders to do the same. The right might have won the election, but at least Evangelical Christians lost something very valuable in the process of gaining that victory.

"Good" ?
YHWH (GOD) is shaking everything.
Everyone will choose to turn to HIM, or to curse HIM.

Most all the world rejects HIM. And of course, they die for it.
(not just in this life, but eternally)

Y'SHUA did not bring peace, but a sword (HIS WORD; NOT a physical sword) HIS WORD to divide (to bring out and show publicly) the thoughts and the motives of the heart (of Everyone).

HE is the HEALER. HE IS THE SAVIOR.

Mankind is corrupt and lost. So don't trust mankind, obvious, right?

"hateful rhetoric" is a term used to describe what someone doesn't accept.
ALL politicians have been guilty of this for over one hundred years.
ALL parties and administrations, not just one or a few....

YHWH doesn't see things the way men do. (THANKFULLY ! ) .
Grace and Peace and Joy and Righteousness are HIS GIFTS along with Salvation.

Totally apart from politics of men. Totally apart from society.

HIS WAYS are so far above man's ways, as far as heaven is above the earth. (ALL of man's ways; ALL of man's politics and religion(s) ).

HIS WAY, JESUS MESSIAH SAVIOR, is the only way to be at peace.

NONE of man's ways are true, faithful, or right.

graceandpeace said:

I don't know where to go from here. Seeing so many Christians be okay with the hateful rhetoric...it presents a challenge to my faith. I feel like quietly checking out, because atheism would be much easier right now.

Click to expand...

A good article.

I've been working through a lot of post-election emotion too. It's helpful that my daughters and some of my friends at church are even more socially liberal than I am, so I've been able to vent my feelings in their company.

I identified pretty strongly with Hillary Clinton -- I'm a middle-aged feminist woman who works in a male-dominated field -- so I took her defeat rather personally.

As I've calmed down, I've had a couple of thoughts going forward.

One is that what's really important for the future is the values involved. I think it's very important to protect the civil rights of women, ethnic minorities, religious minorities, immigrants, and LGBT people. I think it's very important to make the country better for those who are poor/unemployed/underemployed (and some of these, in legitimate anger, voted for Trump). I can work for these things with or without my president's help.

Another is that, yes, we should work on healing our nation's divisions, but we shouldn't rush to unity without doing the hard work of reconciliation. If my government wants to hurt Muslims or women or African-Americans, that's not okay. There needs to be a change of heart on these issues before I'm willing to reconcile with my political opponents.