In Word or Deed

Photo by Zoltan Kovacs on Unsplash I've seen quite a few posts on social media lately insinuating that any Christian who has anything to say against illegal immigration is being hypocritical. They point out that the Bible tells us to care for the homeless and those in need and so we are guilty of ignoring what we claim to believe. Some even go so far as to claim that this behavior is a telltale sign of our inherent racism and selfishness, that all of our so called righteousness is nothing more than a now crumbling facade. While I don't doubt that there are plenty of people to whom this rightfully does apply, allow me a brief defense of my own position on this particular topic if you don't mind. I would say that the issue of immigration, illegal or otherwise, as well as the whole refugee issue comes down to two distinct levels of responsibility; the individual and the national. Let's talk about the personal responsibility first. As an indivi...

Recently, the news media has been all abuzz about the coming peace talks with North Korea. Some arguing that U.S. President Donald Trump should be praised for the achievement, others pointing out that a peace has been in the works for years thanks to various members of the South Korean government, and others going in countless other directions with their various perspectives and agendas. I personally find this development quite interesting and I am rather curious to see what all comes out of it in the end. That being said, there is a problem here. North and South Korea are two countries that have been in a state of war for many years, more than a generation, and the reason goes beyond the scope of a simple border dispute and well beyond the scope of little blog like mine. Really it points to an issue that is larger than this particular war and this particular peace talk. You see, there is a problem with peace. The problem is this: long term, ongoing war or oppos...

Fractured. A word that could easily and justifiably be used to describe America today. We are a melting pot that has grown steadily colder, congealing into a mass of disparate ingredients that want virtually nothing to do with each other. Worse still, we see each other as enemies. A bunch of scary shadowy groups of people that are...different. Didn't we used to be one country? Didn't we used to be unified? Didn't there used to be a generally understood consensus of right and wrong? In a word, no. Well, not 'no' exactly but not 'yes' either. The United States of American has always been a place where wildly different groups of people have coexisted with varying degrees of success. Pilgrims and Native Americans, Exiles and Indentured Servants, French and English, Irish and Italian, Black and White, Liberal and Conservative; the groups have changed and multiplied over time but the issue remains the same: how can people who are so very d...