Opinion

Israel and Gaza have the responsibility to do what may seem incomprehensible and take the first steps to address barriers to respect.

When people view others as fellow human beings and seek to understand them, stereotypes are broken down.

Several Midwesterners have helped shape changes in the national Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Attendees at the 2014 CBF General Assembly saw and felt a good bit of enthusiasm as the organization moves forward with more of its structure in place for ongoing work.

Evangelism, heritage, discussion and a little bit of debate are constants when Southern Baptists get together each June for their meeting.

It is encouraging to see churches helping members become better educated about mental disorders and working to defuse the stigma of mental illness. Dealing with this issue requires high levels of sensitivity and respect. In today's world, mental illness is not a rarity -- if it ever was.

The brilliant composer and musician Mozart once said, “I can tell a good musician by the way he plays the rests.” What an amazing insight. Mozart knew that the rests are what give the composition structure. The rests give us the space to enjoy the delightful sounds of the musical selection. Perhaps this is true for all of life. Maybe we are all known by how well we play the rests.

Many people with mental illnesses don’t exactly know how to relate to others or whom to trust, but everyone needs friends and people who care for them. Such a friendship can be like any other and includes sharing of personal information by both parties and, as the friendship develops, a sharing of feeling, hurts and whatever. A mental health condition need not be the focal point of the relationship. After all, none of us is perfect. We all have our “disorders.”

Jesus identified mourning as a blessing because when we mourn the death of our loved one, God will make sure we are comforted. God uses fellow believers as comforters to those who are mourning.

When I read that ethicist Glen Stassen had died, I immediately thought: "A mighty oak has fallen." But Stassen's work will continue to inform Christian ethics and, subsequently, the world. Now it is time for those rigorously schooled by him to continue his influence and do what he did -- pass along the passion for tackling the tough issues and do the hard work that even Christians often avoid.

The only cure for hate is a changed heart. That doesn’t necessarily happen in a court of law or behind bars. In the case of Frazier Glenn Cross, deeply embedded hate at a young age has resulted in a wasted life and flowered into a premeditated rage. For him, hate finally grew to its logical conclusion. A person rarely controls hate. Rather, hate controls that person.