We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

6329770277_4b0f962789_z

“I’m Angry, Too”

A reader (thanks, Jen!) sent us this blog post by Rachel Pieh Jones, an ex-pat from Minnesota living in Djibouti. She has some incredibly insightful and sad thoughts about the hateful responses to the recent protests and threats going on in other countries (and our own). We hope that as Christians we can contribute thoughtful and loving voices to all of this hate.

From her blog:

I’m not going to make a movie. I’m not going to kill anyone.

 

I’m going to ask my Muslim friends how they feel about the film and current events. I’m going to apologize on behalf of a man with whom I share nationality, if nothing else. This might sound foolish but yesterday one of my husband’s friends apologized for the murder of Ambassador Stevens. Another American living in the Middle East was at a store when the shopkeeper apologized for the burning of the US embassy in Egypt. It isn’t foolish. It is humble and that’s a good thing, its humbling and that’s also a good thing.

 

I’m going to pray and I’m going to hope and I’m going to trust and I’m going to pursue the path of peace.
Image by John S. Quarterman.  Sourced via Flickr

Related Reading

The Cruciform Center Part 4: How Revelation Reveals a Cruciform God

I’ve been arguing that, while everything Jesus did and taught revealed God, the character of the God he reveals is most perfectly expressed by his loving sacrifice on the cross.  Our theology and our reading of Scripture should therefore not merely be “Christocentric”: it should be “crucicentric.” My claim, which I will attempt to demonstrate…

Kingdom Reconciliation is Not About Politics (But it is Political)

In the broader culture, the social and political discussions about racial reconciliation are usually focused on people’s rights and privileges as a means of making the world a fairer place. The criteria such efforts at reconciliation appeal to are common decency, fairness and reason. The enterprise is certainly necessary, and all decent, fair minded, rational…

From Boston, With Love

We posted some of T. C. Moore’s reflections on the Open 2013 conference earlier this week. T. C. lives in Boston and was deeply moved by the violence and terror that came to his city. Now we want to share his most recent blog post Oz and the Cross: Reflections on God’s Love and the…

How Revelation Uses Violent Images in an Anti-Violent Way

All the violent scenes in Revelation are symbols for the battle of truth and deception.  They never involve literal violence. In fact, they symbolize ANTI-VIOLENCE. The ingenious way John helps us get free of deception of trust in violent power is by taking a standard violent symbol and juxtaposing it with a symbol that undermines…

The Bible, Government and Christian Anarchy

This “essay” contains my informal reflections on biblical texts that I believe support what some call “Christian Anarchy.” Consider it a very rough draft of a future project. I’ll argue that Kingdom people are called to pledge their allegiance to God alone, not to any nation, government, political party or ideology. Because Kingdom people are…

Q&A: When Confronting Unambiguous Evil

Q: I read your post on Abortion. I found it compelling and am considering moving toward that kind of a position on the matter. I am also reading “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” for the first time and wonder if Boyd’s response to slavery (were it currently an issue as abortion is today) would be a similar approach…