BY RUSSELL TURNER
A MEETING OF MINDS
I have found that a lot can be accomplished when two individuals take the time to sit down and exchange ideas on a subject that affects each of them. I have often wondered how many lives have been saved when a talented diplomat took the time to actually talk with their sworn enemy and come to a conclusion to prevent or stop an armed conflict. There is a lot of validity in the belief of walking in another man’s shoes; using logic and reason is always a better way to solve a dispute than the shedding of blood. Getting to know a person and having a different perspective is always beneficial, wouldn’t it be great to have a meeting of minds with the person whose birth we celebrate every December the 25th.
Some people wonder what kind of personality Jesus Christ would have. In my opinion all we have to do is to look into the mirror. According to our holy book the Bible we humans are created in the image of God; Jesus throughout his existence on the earth experienced all of the emotions that we have. We know that he experienced love, sympathy and even anger, the difference being he had the power and discipline to be an example to humanity for all of eternity. Many of us remember the story about Jesus driving the money changers from the temple, that one action was the beginning to his crucifixion. Jesus was a young man gaining in popularity who could have became part of the good old boy network; he could have slept in a soft bed and have eaten the best food, but he chose to take a stand for decency and righteousness.
When he talked about caring for the poor and sick he did not advocate giving that duty to any government, he placed that duty upon all of us as individuals. He also taught us to do unto others as we would have other do unto us. We who profess to call ourselves Christians need to be ever vigilant on the way we conduct our lives and adhere to his teachings.
We humans have a very bad tendency to turn a blind eye to wrong doing if it doesn’t affect us directly. There are some good programs to help the downtrodden individuals in our society, but sadly there are many that are mismanaged and completely corrupt. We have far too many politicians who, through the ego stroking process, are willing to waste taxpayer funds on programs that do little to eliminate the core problem. We also have a bad habit of destroying anyone who has the drive and courage to stand up and stop the corruption. Some in our society have forgotten the concept of doing unto others as we would have others do unto us. Far too often the attitude of hooray for me and the heck with you is prevalent. Sadly, we humans have not changed very much in the last 2000 years.
While we celebrate Christmas maybe we can imagine what it would be like to have a meeting of the minds with Jesus. We need to remember that our meeting of the minds must happen on an individual basis. It makes no difference what group you may belong to; in the end we are all responsible for ourselves. As we go through the New Year may we strive for a meeting of the minds.
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