{"id":6199,"date":"2016-05-10T06:37:18","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T10:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6199"},"modified":"2016-05-10T06:51:47","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T10:51:47","slug":"deeply-divided","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6199","title":{"rendered":"deeply divided"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo-1422207049116-cfaf69531072\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s focus on a statement posed in a recent post. First, however, note the following current news reports\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a presidential election just six months away, Americans appear deeply divided over the role the United States should play in the world, according to an opinion survey by the Pew Research Center. \u2018Considerable apprehension and concern\u2019 are the words researchers used to describe the mood of the American public regarding how the country fits into the current world order.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Or this one\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of Chicago are deeply riven by race, class and neighborhood, distrustful of the police, fearful of the growing rate of violent crime and united chiefly in their disapproval of the mayor\u2019s performance and their conviction that the city is headed down the wrong track.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Or even notes taken from a scant scan of the headlines:<\/p>\n

\u201cParties Nearly Conquered \u2014 and Deeply\u00a0Divided”<\/em>
\n\u201cTexas Republicans Divided On Support For Trump\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cA Divided Democratic Party\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Fascinatingly, unfortunately, one word stands out: \u201cdivided.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fascinatingly, unfortunately, one phrase stands out: \u201cdeeply divided.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, the division is deep.<\/p>\n

So what do we do?<\/p>\n

Last week, the Intramuralist posed the idea that \u201cthe American political system will remain broken as long as there remain too many people who refuse to humble themselves, pray, and love their neighbor more than self.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let me edit that slightly for the purposes of today\u2019s post\u2026<\/p>\n

Americans<\/em> will remain deeply divided<\/em> as long as there remain too many people who refuse to humble themselves, pray, and love their neighbor more than self.<\/p>\n

Let me also be clear; each of those three steps is vital. We must one, humble ourselves; two, pray (acknowledging there exists a Divinity far greater than \u201cme\u201d);<\/em> and three, love our neighbor just as much or more than we love and look out for own interests and well being.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the problem: too many of us only do one or two of the three.<\/em><\/strong> For example, I may pray consistently and love my neighbor fairly empathetically, but if when it comes to humility, I only see the need for the humbling of another, then I really don\u2019t understand the step.<\/p>\n

Or when I pray, if I\u2019m always praying for the \u201cother guy\u201d to repent or finally come to his senses and my attention is focused upon the growth or sharpening that someone else desperately needs, well then, I wonder how God works with that. Each of us, friends, will always be in need of growth and sharpening.<\/p>\n

Humility and prayer are the ways we grow. Loving others well is a manifestation of that growth. That\u2019s why all three steps are necessary.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also why without each of the three steps, the deep division may not-so-fascinatingly, unfortunately, only increase.<\/p>\n

Respectfully\u2026
\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s focus on a statement posed in a recent post. First, however, note the following current news reports\u2026 \u201cWith a presidential election just six months away, Americans appear deeply divided over the role the United States should play in the world, according to an opinion survey by the Pew Research Center. \u2018Considerable apprehension and concern\u2019 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “deeply divided”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6199"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6204,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6199\/revisions\/6204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}