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How to find peace in a hurtful world

Christians are weirdos.

For example, take a look at this article that was featured on CNN a few months ago: Unplugged Christians living off the grid. The first thing you’ll see when you load the article is a guy holding a sign that says “Abortion is homicide”. This is an interesting choice for an image to use, because the article itself doesn’t mention abortion even once. Likely this image was chosen to get a “rise” out of the average reader and incite controversy.

The person depicted is a member of “Christian Exodus,” a group who says that the government is an idol which “stands in the way of Christian sanctification.” They argue that the government “shouldn’t have any role at all” in people’s lives. This sort of ideology is described by the CNN writer at the beginning of the article as a “wider movement of conservative Christians who are choosing to live their lives on the edge of society, unplugged from civilization as much as they can.”

But is this really a “wider movement”? In 2004 the group had a total of 1,500 members according to the article. Let’s do some quick math: According to Adherents.com there are approximately 2.1 billion Christians in the world. Let’s say that since 2004 the number of members in this sect has doubled to 3,000. This means that followers of Christian Exodus represent 0.00015% of the world Christian population. Hardly a huge movement!

Unfortunately what we rarely read about in the media are the Christians that are tirelessly working all over the world to alleviate poverty, building wells for clean water, providing AIDS education, and food for the hungry. What we hear about on the news are pedophile priests, not about pastors that honorably and tirelessly work long hours serving their congregations. (Nevermind that sexual abuse by schoolteachers may be even more prevalent than by clergy.)

This is a reminder that Christian individuals have a difficult task ahead of us: We need to overcome the stereotypes presented in the media and be good ambassadors for the One who lives in us and whose light shines through us. I’m not suggesting that Christians merely try to blend into the world. Not at all! But rather that we try to always, as the apostle Paul said, “not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” and “Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.” (Romans 12:21, 14:16)

Which stereotypes of Christians have you noticed in the media? Are these stereotypes sometimes (unfortunately) accurate? How can we seek to respond in grace to such challenges?

Keep focused on Jesus during your daily work, school, and home life by reading or subscribing to our daily devotionals: Daily devotional for men, and Daily devotional for women Read and add your comments daily!

Christopher Hitchens, best known for many years as a journalist and author, achieved notoriety for his book God is not Great: How Religion Poisions Everything.

Hitchens has engaged in many debates with Christian scholars, including Douglas Wilson, William Lane Craig (our post about this debate can be read here), and even his brother Peter Hitchens (who is a committed Christian).

Recently Christopher Hitchens announced that he has oesophageal cancer. Many Christians responded by encouraging one another to pray for him, both for his recovery as well as a change in his mind and heart. Today CNN released an interview with Hitchens where he was asked what he thought about people praying for him. He says that, regarding people’s prayers, “if it makes you feel better, then you have my blessing [to pray]” but he himself refuses to engage in prayer; a dismissal as irrelevant rather than a condemnation.

The interview also reveals details of Hitchens’ life that I was unaware of, such as the fact that his father died of the same cancer he now battles, and about his mother’s suicide. It was a poignant reminder that, despite the vitriol a person may espouse and our negative reaction to the hurtful and untruthful things that they say, it is still coming from a real person made in God’s image (as defaced as that has become) whose seemingly intellectual arguments are not divorced from his life experiences.

Can you commit to pray for him? Even if he has no belief in the power of prayer, if we truly believe that prayer is actually effective, why would we not pray for those who seem furthest from knowing God? How do you think we can best pray for Mr Hitchens, and others that you know who have a similar mindset?

“The details remain to be determined. However, Canada’s contribution will not include funding of abortions.”

This was one of International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda’s statements regarding the Canadian government’s recent decision to not include abortion funding along with other G8 funding for things such as family planning and the use of contraceptive methods. This decision (at odds with the other G8 countries) has again sparked the abortion debate.

One of the things that is most frustrating about this debate is how little actual discussion occurs. What flies back and forth is usually rhetoric that ignores the most central questions and does little to bridge divides or change minds.

For example, Mark Fried of Oxfam Canada commented that “imposing Canada’s ideological beliefs is ridiculous.” (MetroNews) But this seems to me to be meaningless rhetoric. At the face of it, Mr Fried is decrying imposing of ideological beliefs while simultaneously doing exactly that. It’s like saying “You shouldn’t tell people what to do!” If people shouldn’t do it, why are you doing it? And note carefully the unwritten assumption behind Mr Fried’s remarks: Taking an anti-abortion stance is “imposing Canada’s ideological beliefs”, but taking a pro-abortion stance would not be. This however is wrong. Either way, Canada would be taking an ideological stance on the issue. The question is whether or not it is the correct stance, and name-calling one stance “ridiculous” does little to further constructive discussion.

Elsewhere in the same article, Paul McPhun, operations director for Doctors Without Borders, decries at one moment excluding abortion in a “black and white way”, and the next moment says that “If you want to reduce maternal mortality, you can’t do it in half measures.” It sounds like Mr McPhun does indeed favor treating abortion in a “black and white way”, except that he favors abortion for all instead of abortion for none.

All of these rhetorical flourishes and tangents ignore what seems to me to be the central question in the abortion issue: Is the unborn a human being? If not, then go ahead and kill it. But if it is, we necessarily must be very careful about any talk of killing it at all! Of course we should be concerned and compassionate towards needs of fellow human beings, especially women in third-world countries, but this compassion should not come at the expense of the lives of other human beings. And so we return to the “central question” above: What is the unborn? For a thoughtful exploration of this issue, please pay a visit to Scott Klusendorf’s CaseforLife.com.

If you are considering getting an abortion, or have had an abortion and are dealing with your decision and/or post abortion syndrome, or just need someone to talk with, please feel free to contact an online mentor confidentially to talk privately via email.

Were the airplanes unfairly grounded?

It’s estimated that the decision resulted in about $1billion in losses. And now some are suggesting that it was a mistake to keep the planes out of the air.

Six days after ash from Iceland’s volcano paralyzed European airspace, aviation experts and academics are arguing over whether the entire mess could have been avoided.

[The] grounding of flights drew a sharp rebuke from Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), who argued that the entire mess could have been avoided had the airlines focused on facts and figures on actual damage caused to jet engines by volcanic ash … Unsurprisingly, the European Union’s transit officials have replied that they’re not willing to compromise on passenger safety. (CBSNews)

One of the commenters on the article says that “The people whose lives were at stake, are better off to be inconvenienced, than killed.” This is true, but assumes that there was a real risk in flying the planes, which is the very point of debate!

However, the debate highlights a common mindset, that people are willing to risk their safety if it means that they will avoid inconvenience. Why do we sacrifice our safety just to avoid inconvenience? How often have you witnessed someone driving around a barrier, or circumventing a security measure, or ignoring a safety warning, because paying attention to it would make them late or cause them to go out of their way? Is it partially due to the pace of modern society that people feel such pressure towards efficiency at all costs and eventually burn out from the stress?

If you were inconvenienced by the flight groundings, please share your experiences! How did you get through it? And if not, have you noticed this tendency to value efficiency above safety, either at your job or in your personal life?

When you find yourself struggling with issues of stress and burnout, in work, marriage, or elsewhere, please consider contacting an online mentor about it. Your conversations will happen through email and will be kept strictly confidential.

Upcoming online chats: Join us for daily online chats! One of our features will be “Don’t Give Up” on April 29 at 10:30 pm EDT Please join us to get tips on how to never give up!

News media is always looking for the next big story.

The death toll is now nearing 200,000. Of those, at least 11 are Canadians who were working or visiting Haiti at the time. Although almost 1,000 Canadians have already been evacuated, 859 are still missing and unaccounted for. (Source: Globe & Mail)

Some of those 1,000 Canadian evacuees are a group of 17 students and their chaperones from Vancouver, who had arrived in Haiti only hours before the earthquake to help set up a goat farm. They arrived back safely in BC. Other groups, such as a humanitarian team from Ontario, sent by Glen Acres Baptist Church to work with the Sauble Christian Fellowship just north of Port-au-Prince, will be coming home soon after working tirelessly for several days “non-stop at a medical clinic, helping with patient care and repairs at the mission” (Source: Toronto Star)

These personal stories makes the tragedy hit much closer to home. I hope that, even in the midst of an economic recession, that the kindness of those of us who live in relatively prosperous western nations will not be limited by geographical borders, but will extend to whoever is in need.

• See videos taken by our humanitarian organization Global Aid Network on the ground in Haiti: GAiN Haiti videos
• If you would like to contribute to the relief work going on in Haiti, please visit our Haiti relief donation page to give safely.
• Read our article on the Haiti earthquake.

Have you or someone you know been personally affected by the Haiti earthquake? Please feel free to share in the comments, or contact us privately if you prefer to talk to someone confidentially via email.

“ I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone.”

His words create a media frenzy.  Some think he needs to confess all, others ask for the media to give him his privacy.

Are we really that naïve that we expect all celebrities to live perfect lives? What is it about the transgressions of this sports star that results in the report of 30,000 men being sent to war going nearly unnoticed? Every news channel goes into a speculative discussion which is really nothing more than juicy gossip. There is talk about how he handled it and then further speculation on how he should handle it.

People around the world are making mistakes in relationships everyday. Yet, we place certain ones on a pedestal and have expectations of them to be perfect. Or maybe we put them there so we can wait and watch for the moment they reveal they’re human.

So, why then are we attracted to scandal? If we are really honest, we love a scandal because it proves that celebrities are no better at getting what we want – intimacy – than the rest of us.

Read this article for more on Tiger Woods and other celebrity sex scandals.

*Image by Keith Allison used under Creative Commons license

Gary’s Story: Surviving a Bomb
On Saturday November 8th, 2008 my world blew apart – literally. I was carrying a package I thought was gift when it exploded in my hands. We had recently sold our cozy townhouse and were excited to move into a larger home with yard for our daughters. As I went to retrieve the BBQ cover from the back yard I discovered an unexpected package sitting directly in front of my the back door. Read my story, recently featured on CTV news, and how I was able to respond afterward. Read more

Take action: Having to give up some of the things we cherish can be difficult. Gain valuable perspective by trying our interactive online study Struggling with Contentment.

You said it: This week, Rick commented on the article Gorging on Chocolate Love, saying “i liked your analogy of chocolate versus real food in explaining “eros” love versus “agape” love.” Read the article and add your own thoughts: Read more

Blog: Are You Still Interested In Each Other?
So now that you’re married, are you still interested or are you … bored? Read more

Feature: Choosing to Simplify
In this In Other Words video, Senior Editor Claire talks about different perspectives on cutting back in a tough economy. Read more

Coming up next week: One of the topics of our upcoming online chats is “Empowering Relationships” Join us in the chat room November 22nd 2009 @ 9:00pm EST for this chat, and check our full chat calendar for other upcoming topics.

The shooting began at about 1330 (1930 GMT) on Thursday at a personnel and medical centre at Fort Hood – the largest US military base in the world, home to about 40,000 troops.

The commander of the base, Lt Gen Robert Cone, told NBC News that, according to eyewitnesses, Mr Hasan had shouted the Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar!” [God is great] before opening fire.

He was shot four times during the attack and is currently being treated in hospital under armed guard.

Reports suggested that he had been increasingly unhappy in the military and that his work at his previous post – Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC – had been the subject of concern.

The New York Times said the FBI had been investigating internet postings by a man called Nidal Hasan that appeared to back suicide bombings – but said it was not clear whether it was the suspect.

How can we respond to such acts of terrible violence? Recently, Gary, a young man with a family living in Canada, faced an attack of his own: A package bomb left on the back steps of his home. Not knowing what the package was, he picked it up, and it exploded in his hands. Read Gary’s story of his survival, and how he was able to respond to an act of senseless violence.

If you are grieving or dealing with disappointment or despair, please contact us today to talk about it, we’re always here to listen.

Image credit: Daniel Greene, used with permission, Creative Commons 2.0 License.