The call to reconciliation

It was during our time living in Jerusalem, alongside Jewish people and Arabs (Christian and Muslim, Israeli and Palestinian), that I gained a deep concern for reconciliation. In fact it was a sense of obligation to further reconciliation.

 My first priority is to encourage reconciliation between human beings and God through Jesus Christ. That will always be the most important reconciliation. I see reconciliation, appropriately, as cross-shaped. Through the cross of Christ, God was seeking to bring about a cross-shaped reconciliation: “vertical” reconciliation between people and God and “horizontal” reconciliation between human beings.  It is the “horizontal” reconciliation about which I am writing in this paper. Why emphasize reconciliation? Does the Bible show any interest in reconciliation other than in the context of churchmembership? Is the Bible is only interested in reconciliation in Christ?

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