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* Biblical Themes
• Conflict
° Narrative
- Genesis 37
- Numbers 16
- 2 Samuel 6
° Wisdom Literature
- Proverbs 16: 28, 17: 1
- Psalm 62
- Psalm 106
• Reconciliation
° Narrative
- Genesis 45
- Ruth 4
- Daniel 1
° Wisdom Literature
- Job 2
- Ecclesiastes 3
- Psalm 109
* Personal Lives
• Conflict
° Often a struggle for acknowledgment of our worldview, from the people in our lives
° Just about inevitable, and actually better for both parties to engage in openly, rather than letting harbor and exacerbate
° Can be driven by a chasm between the contents of those engaging’s hearts
• Reconciliation
° The acknowledgement and redemption of the causes of dispute between parties
° Is made possible by the capacity to put oneself in the other’s point of view; to reflect on and openly express specific or thematic wrongs done to someone or some group; and to take stock of our own thinking and motivations, and what drives them, and identify the actions taken or perspectives had that we are firm in, being able to hold our ground, communicate them, and explore the underlying sources of tension with another
° Significant obstacles are self-aggrandizement, and being yet to reach significant self-understanding or nuanced interpersonal perspective - outstanding conflicts, major or minor, that are yet to be reconciled come to be a barrier between people and their relationships with each other, until resolved
* Collective Communities
• Conflict
° Frequently, difficulty engaging successfully between groups emerges from a lack of a shared “language” of conduct and understandings of the world – then tends to escalate when the allocation or ownership of scarce resources comes into question
° This conflict between groups can exist and take place along several mediums and contexts – such as in person confrontation; coordinated, long-term initiatives for the benefit or detriment of another group; community-wide habitual and learned blaming of internally experiences problems on another group, while simultaneously relying on them for economic support as opposed to pursuing self-sufficiency; and, extensive identification of one’s own group or another group, by their external characteristics, as opposed to intellectual, ethical, or spiritual characteristics
° Collective community conflict is often incited and cultivated strategically by societal elites, as a mechanism for pitting dividable groups against each other as opponents and the causes of each other’s problems, functionally distracting large populations of people from the underlying activities being conducted, that overwhelmingly determine collective well being
• Reconciliation
° The disparity between communities of people can be conceptualized by consideration of a venn diagram, visualizing the degree to which each group of people acknowledges and validates other’s worldview and experience, as well as does not. The groups are better able to live in conjunction with each other, as the knowledge and understanding increases of the other’s worldview as well as the extent of the overlap in the groups’ shared worldview. ° ° The undertaking of this exploration of a shared experiential understanding is the responsibility of each individual community, and the communion that the groups have the potential to have with each other would develop at the place that this shared understanding is developed.
° The development of a shared understanding and a communion between groups depends on the effectiveness of two dynamics: proper leadership within the individual groups; and honest, collaborative communication within the groups and between each other.
* Godly Relationship
• Conflict
° As a function of inherent nature as humans, and corrupted beings, as well as of the righteous nature of the sovereign God who created us and has dominion over us – we unpreventably, commit wrong-doings at his expense, each occurrence of which, individually results in an incremental perversion of the world he created for us to live in
° God’s inherent nature is best demonstrated and visualized throughout the Old Testament –particularly the books of Genesis, Numbers, Joshua, and Job, and in Psalms 18, 29, 33, 104, & 105. The descriptive characteristics are best observed throughout those writings. Our inherent nature as humans – from the most righteous to the most corrupted – is displayed throughout the Old Testament as well, and can be observed within the books of Genesis, Numbers, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, and Ecclesiastes, and Psalms 12, 37, 101, 106, & 107
° The result of the interaction between God’s nature and our nature can be observed as two distinct outcomes. As we, and to the extent that we, make the personal effort to align ourselves to God’s heart he both tests us and protects us. The way I’ve concluded that this plays out is that as we gradually & deliberately re-constitute our hearts to resemble his, the instincts that we act on and are natural to us become that of righteousness; and consequently, as we develop a greater capacity to withstand the influence of corrupted states of heart around us, God actually presents himself and communicates with us more-so, however, the experience of this is that of God directing a portion of the burden of our corruption that he holds, onto us, which manifests to us as intense emotional, physical, and even interpersonal pain – which we are to shoulder and endure
- The second outcome of the interaction of God’s nature and ours is that of our base nature being held onto, and the resulting conflict playing out until to its conclusion. Paradoxically, the first-person experience of this posture of heart living in & engaging with the world, for potentially even a majority of its experience is that of pleasure or impunity. This is described in Psalm 73. Due to the long-suffering & forbearing elements of God’s nature those wholly given to wrong-doing will be allowed to continue & will seemingly be held unaccountable. However, the judgement that God exercises in response, in whatever form it takes, comes all at once, as a final “ruling” according to what is deserved
• Reconciliation
° The resolution of wrongs done on our part at God’s expense takes place in the form of a covenant – or a long term contractual relationship. These agreements exist as a “testament” to God’s intervention on our behalf – and comprise of the Israelite covenant, or The Law, which established an arbitrarily chosen family, and eventually group of people, as God’s “representatives” among people on earth; and the Messianic Atonement, in which the yearly Day of Atonement tradition of transferring the burden of the Israelite peoples’ sins onto a goat that was slaughtered as a “scapegoat”, was re-constructed with the sacrifice of a human instead, to conclusively bear the guilt for all people in perpetuity, and serves as the underlying story of Jesus (the) Christ’s life
° The outcome of this reconciliatory sacrifice having been made on our behalf is our acquittal of guilt from the wrong-doings we have and will commit at God’s expense – however the pleading to & receipt of forgiveness on our end, once invoked, does come with an obligation in return, and is recompensed by the understanding the life of, and the modeling of our lives afterward on, the man who relieved us of guilt from the wrong-doings we would deserve punishment for otherwise
° As we are re-constituted internally and re-develop the logic we think & operate based on, as well as our worldview – we incrementally un-socialize ourselves from the communities and patterns of logic that we all are initially introduced to & understand the world based on, with a seeming serendipity we find ourselves engaging with and eventually immersed in, according to whatever our individual scenarios are, the “Kingdom of God” as it exists around us.
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