Letters February 20, 2012 Issue

Letters

Debbie Bermel, Carolyn Hill, Joan Mikkelsen

I am so grateful for the insights shared by Lois Carlson in her Sentinel chat called “A spiritual defense against bullying” [January 9, “Facing down bullies in your life”]. She explains how to best approach bullying: not by disrespecting bullies, but by remembering their spiritual nature as God’s children. And that all of us, including those who seem to bully, “exist to make God known.” It was also very insightful to read about standing up to “the mental tendencies in our own thought to put ourselves down.” I have at times felt quite dominated by various “bullies” in my thought: anxiety, sorrow, fear, lack, and so on. I was inspired by Ms. Carlson’s assurance that because we are each endowed with dominion, “just like God said in the first chapter of Genesis, we are endowed with the authority to face down the opposition to our own life purpose.”

Actually, the entire Sentinel was wonderful and has led me to really pray about bullying. 

As I prayed, it occurred to me that Pilate was the biggest bully ever! I was able to pull out another pertinent Sentinel article: “The Pilate Assumption,” written in 1981 by Nathan Talbot. I highly recommend this article. When Jesus faced Pilate who was threatening to either kill him or save him, Jesus’ answer was the best response of all to bullying: “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above” (John 19:11). Pilate assumed that he had power to stop the life purpose of Jesus—his resurrection and eventual ascension. But Pilate in actuality had no power at all, because God’s governing presence was supreme.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Upfront

Pray it with a song