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 “Third Way”: Seeing God’s Beauty in the Depth of Scripture’s Violent Portraits of God

A publishing house recently sent me an advance copy of a book written by a well known scholar on the topic of the non-violent God revealed in Jesus, asking me to endorse it. (Publishing protocol stipulates that endorsers not critique a book before it’s released, so I will not mention the name of the author…

Paul’s Blinding of Elymas: A Response to Paul Copan (#5)

In the first four posts in this “Response to Copan” series, I attempted to refute Copan’s claim that my non-violent understanding of love, as advocated in Crucifixion of the Warrior God (CWG) and Cross Vision (CV), conflicts with Paul’s quotation of violent Psalms, the praising of the faith of warriors in Hebrews 11:30-32, the longing…

What Do We Do About Violence That Is Already Here? That We Were Born Into?

In this episode Greg Talks About Becoming Non-Violent in a World Soaked in Violence. Episode 30 http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0030.mp3

The Cruciform Way of the Lamb

In this video, Greg offers insight into how to read the Bible with the cross at the center of the revelation of God, thereby reframing how we interpret the violent and nationalistic passages of the Old Testament. Travis Reed from The Work of the People did a series of interviews with Greg a while ago and…

Responding to Driscoll’s “Is God a Pacifist?” Part I

I’m sure many of you have read Mark Driscoll’s recent blog titled “Is God a Pacifist?” in which he argues against Christian pacifism. I’ve decided to address this in a series of three posts, not because I think Driscoll’s arguments are particularly noteworthy, but because it provides me with an opportunity to make a case against what I’ve…

Is Telling Christians to Avoid Politics Like Telling Them To Avoid Hospitals?

In this episode Greg clarifies how politics can be dangerous and why some people might want to avoid it. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0045.mp3