How can we navigate America’s great political divide?

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How can we navigate America's great political divide?

The discussion examines how Christians can navigate political divisions by reframing their questions and adopting a theological perspective. It encourages thoughtful engagement on whether our perceptions of political issues have become part of the problem, challenging believers to view these matters through the lens of faith. Participants are invited to consider questions that refocus attention on God’s sovereignty and the call to glorify Him amid societal polarization.#FaithInTheDivide #NavigatingDivision #BeyondPolitics #ChristianUnity #FaithAbovePolitics #GospelOverPolitics #BridgingTheDivide #StandFirmInFaith #UnitedInChrist #ChristianPerspective

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As we evaluate the political divisions and polarization in the United States, we need to consider whether we are asking the right questions.

Are we perceiving the problem in a way that has become part of the problem?

In what follows, I will suggest that we, as Christians, too often ask the wrong questions. The way we frame a problem has become part of the problem. For Christians, political positions are not logical but theological problems. They arise because our minds are shaped by politics rather than by Christian theology. So, how can we reorient ourselves? To adopt a new posture that will allow us to see the world with theological eyes, we need to consider at least the following three questions:

  1. Am I focused on living with an understanding based on the underlying dynamics of reality even when political arrangements shift and change?
  2. How do the political realm and its actors gesture toward and distort reality?
  3. Is my frustration over political matters prompting me to point to and glorify the Triune God?

Read the full article here: How Can We Navigate America’s Great Political Divide?

Summary

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Pretty simple: We can navigate the great political divide by …

  1. Not mindlessly aligning ourselves with either side of the great political divide as though it were a religious cult.

  2. Focusing on issues on an individual basis and attempting to arrive at an informed, rational position on each issue without regard to where that position fits on the political spectrum.

  3. Recognizing that other people may have different, but likewise informed and rational. positions and not demonizing them because they do.

One’s religious values will, of course, have a bearing on reaching one’s own positions, but one must also realize that those who hold different positons may also have different religious values (or no religious values).

Where most people go awry is at #1. They do indeed treat their political affiliation like a religious cult.

I happen to hold positions that are “far right” and others that are “far left.” I voted for Dubya once, Kerry once, Obama twice, Trump twice, and not at all this time. I am not a Republican or Democrat lemming.

With that, I believe I’m done.

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We have these things called “elections.”

When conducted fairly, and when the cheating is at least curtailed, the political divide is navigated through the electoral process.

As was once famously quipped-- elections have consequences.