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- Written by EJ Sweeney
A couple of years ago, in the wake of the police involved shooting in Ferguson, I had a powerful experience that opened my eyes to some of my racial biases—biases I was sure I didn’t have. One Sunday, I happened to attend a mostly white, upper middleclass, suburban church. During the service, the pastor, who was white, had invited a good friend of his, who happened to be African American and the pastor of an inner-city church nearby, to have a dialogue about the incident. Members of this church were also in attendance.
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- Written by EJ Sweeney
Years ago, when John Stossel was one of the hosts of the ABC news show 20/20, he did a eye-opening report about race. Drawing upon scientific research, he argued that human beings—all of us—are inclined by nature to be “racist”. This doesn’t mean we are consciously and overtly racist, but that we have a deep, built-in awareness of “difference”, of “otherness”. We instinctively notice differences in others, one of which—especially since it’s so obvious—is race.
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- Written by EJ Sweeney
The brutal murder of George Floyd by a police officer is sickening. Why does this keep happening? In my head, I understand why this keeps happening. Systemic racism has plagued America from the beginning, and we have utterly failed to address it. But in my heart, I find it unbelievable how this can keep happening. Shocked, heartbroken, and infuriated, I just want to cry out: Why? Why!
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- Written by EJ Sweeney
In my humble opinion, one of the most important and yet neglected verses in all of Scripture is John 17:3. In this verse, Jesus actually defines what eternal life is. He says that eternal life is to know the One True God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. There are two key things Jesus says here that I think we usually miss when we think about eternal life, about heaven.
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- Written by EJ Sweeney
I recently received a comment someone wanted me to respond to. They’ve been learning that, in Jesus, God relates to us in a unique way as Savior, and that this is a uniquely Judeo-Christian concept. They wanted to know what I think about this.
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- Written by EJ Sweeney
One of the best ways I’ve found to keep my sanity during this crisis is by going to a small chapel down the street each day to pray. This daily “dose” of solitude has been absolutely amazing.
