Upfront April 25, 2011 Issue

A new perspective on progress

Jeff Ward-Bailey, Staff Editor

Progress can seem like a slippery idea, can’t it? For those watching and praying about recent political unfoldments in the Middle East and Africa, including Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and the Ivory Coast, the very concept of progress frequently seems to necessarily include elements of unstable, even violent upheaval. It often appears that citizens of these countries—and we, as prayerful participants—must make a choice between accepting repressive government for a semblance of peace, or pursuing political liberty at the cost of unrest and even bloodshed.

This issue of the Sentinel, however, shows that we don’t have to choose between progress and peace. By allowing God’s inspiration to guide our prayers and actions, we can see greater liberty and stability in our experience and that of others.

As our writers powerfully illustrate, true progress, seen through a spiritual lens, includes no element of danger or uncertainty. Tony Lobl writes in our cover section: “Focusing on the idea of freedom, prayer can refute the roller-coaster ride impression of liberty as a changing status, constantly at the mercy of material circumstances. Instead, the spiritual seeker can stand firm in the reasoning that God alone always governs, maintaining His universal creation in perpetual freedom” (p. 14). How true that is—if God is in control, then we have divine authority for insisting not only on humanity’s political and human rights, but on each person’s right to be free from violence, instability, fear, and deprivation.

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