PROBLEMS: Try love and respect

I’ve read much in the Coeur d’Alene Press about the multiple shootings in the Coeur d’Alene area recently. Along with that, I’ve read the articles related to the local ministers suggesting voting choices for the people in their congregations. Both trouble me.

It is my understanding that, according to the New Testament in the Bible, we are directed by Jesus to love God, love ourselves and love our neighbors as ourselves. From what I read, we are far from that standard. Some members of our police force seem to fear those they’ve been sworn to protect, and find using their guns the most effective method of control. I am under the impression that they have been trained to deal with situations without consistent “deadly force.”

Some of our church leaders are apparently concerned that their congregation is incapable of using individual wisdom to pick satisfactory elected officials. Why? God has promised to be with us always; to the end of time. It was never suggested that the world would devour itself through its own destructive ways.

Maybe it is time to shift the paradigm and follow the Christian directives we profess to honor. Law enforcement might consider other means of “control” and walk less aggressively. Clergy might respect the wisdom of their congregations and know that God will fill them with the necessary grace to think for themselves in matters of state (elections, officials, etc.). We seem to have forgotten the directives in the Bible that we are to walk with love and care for one another. I’m sure we’d all be happier with the results of walking with love rather than the fear we are coping with. Fear and negative thinking will only create more of the same. Love and respect will generate just that; a more loving, respectful and kind place to live and work. (Love: Consideration and concern for the ideas and well-being of another.)

BRONA GABRIEL

Hayden