{"id":29691,"date":"2022-11-29T08:25:25","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T16:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=29691"},"modified":"2022-11-29T08:25:25","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T16:25:25","slug":"jesus-is-the-answer-for-the-world-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/jesus-is-the-answer-for-the-world-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus is the answer for the world today."},"content":{"rendered":"

Steele\u2019s book Shame:<\/em> How America\u2019s Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country is well-written and thought-provoking; it has brought me to reflect on many issues in our global community today. As a person born right in the war zone, I continue to wonder about the role of those of faith in the political arena, but as I read and study more, I have found it to be much more complicated than I used to see it. Steele\u2019s Shame<\/em> was another great reminder of the complexity. \u201cSince the 1960s, America has had one overriding answer: to give America a new mission beyond freedom, to establish \u201cThe Good\u201d as a national mission on a par with freedom.\u201d[1]<\/a> at the core of Steele\u2019s argument is that in Shame<\/em> he says White America must stop and lay aside the heavy feeling of guilt and Shame which some left-wing liberals attempt so hard to put on them. Steele argues that racism and segregation are things of the past, and America has done more than enough to remedy its painful past.<\/p>\n

Liberalism has dominated American politics for the last 50 – 60 years simply because it took propriety over this terrible Shame. And said, we will save America from it. And we will end racism, and we will end sexism, and we will overcome all those things, and we will the people we hurt. We will have great societies and wars on poverty, and we will redeem them and bring them up to par with everyone else; we\u2019ll correct that, restoring our legitimacy as a free society.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

In the short time that I have worked in Arizona, I have come to know more of the chronic adversity that Native Americans continue to deal with today because of the atrocities perpetrated against them hundreds of years ago; Steele would probably bring up his lectures on personal responsibility as he does on the side of Black Americans. Still, he cannot underestimate the deep hurt and wounds caused by such atrocities.<\/p>\n

Where do we find hope?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, the question might be, why do I seek answers from Christians or people of faith? The reason is simple; Sin is the root cause. The question in the book of James comes to mind “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?” (James 4:1)<\/p>\n

As Steele correctly mentions in his book, \u201cThe idea is that America, arguably the greatest country in of history, also committed one of the greatest sins, perpetrated that sin over centuries, dehumanize the entire race of people relentlessly year in and year out for a very long time.\u201d[3]<\/a> Asked how he had decided to name his book Shame, the author answered that he had a challenge finding a name that could capture the theme but, with the help of his wife, came to agree on naming it Shame. Like other politicians on either side, Steele’s ideas help inspire some discussions. At the end of the argument, only God can see the heart and judge motives. In his other interviews, he is heard supporting President Trump and the great things he has done for America. While I don\u2019t expect politics to answer the evils of society, I believe there are a few ways that God has used and continue to use the few he has anointed to shine light on the darkness around us.<\/p>\n

America\u2019s Sin is evident, but her Love is more extraordinary.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was reminded of Jesus speaking of the woman whose many sins had been forgiven in the gospels \u201cTherefore I say to you, her sins, which\u00a0are<\/em>\u00a0many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven,\u00a0the same<\/em>\u00a0loves little.\u201d (Luke 4:47) and probably America\u2019s Sin having been too great is the reason there is also such greatness and Love pouring out of America. \u201cThe United States still tops the chat by far in terms of total missionaries, sending 127,000 in 2010 compared to the 34,000 sent by Number 2-ranked Brazil.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

I think it is nothing to do with conservatives and liberals in America; it is about the fight between good and evil; as the song goes, \u201cJesus is the answer for the world today.\u201d<\/p>\n

I continue to see so much Love, light, and goodness out of America to the whole world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Shelby Steele, Shame: How America\u2019s Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country<\/em> (New York: Basic Books, 2015).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> C-SPAN, \u201cShame: How America\u2019s Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country,\u201d August 27, 2017, accessed November 29, 2022, https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?431251-8\/shame.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Nairaland, \u201cTop Countries Sending and Receiving Christian Missionaries\u201d (November 5, 2017), accessed November 29, 2022, https:\/\/www.nairaland.com\/4158321\/top-countries-sending-receiving-christian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steele\u2019s book Shame: How America\u2019s Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country is well-written and thought-provoking; it has brought me to reflect on many issues in our global community today. As a person born right in the war zone, I continue to wonder about the role of those of faith in the political arena, but as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2003,1997],"class_list":["post-29691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-shelby-steele","tag-steele","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29691"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29692,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29691\/revisions\/29692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}