Josh Benner

Tag: Trump

  • Is the media making truth harder to know?

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    With major news stories, does anyone else ever feel like it can be incredibly hard to even know what’s true?
     
    All of the media outlets have agenda, the spin that comes from both parties, facts getting twisted, intellectual dishonesty. I believe that truth is inherently worth knowing and pursuing and I feel like they make it so hard. I’ve read multiple articles on the border situation everyday this week. 
     
    It’s complicated. There’s a lot of context to these situations. 
     
    But it’s made so much more complicated to understand because of coverage. And I see it with stories all the time. 
     
    Every major media outlet does things that undermine their own credibility. Not saying they’re wrong on everything, but they’ve all been guilty of things to where I feel they can’t be trusted on everything. Some of the photos that are being shared aren’t even recent. Most noteworthy among them is the one of the little girl who’s crying. The one Time put on the cover. It’s not even true. She was never even separated from her mother. 
    There is no media outlet that has the credibility where they deserve to be implicitly trusted based on reputation alone.
     
    You hear different statistics and then conflicting statistics. 
     
    There are questions about what did or did not happen during the Obama administration. What Trump can or cannot do in regards to the border. 
     
    I also feel like a lot of things hinge on which side of the political aisle someone is on. Some people will just automatically assume it’s bad and wrong if Trump does it (same when Obama was president, same when George W. Bush was president). Others will generally be inclined to agree with the president if he’s in their party. But it’s shortsighted to think one president is always right or always wrong, and I feel like that biases how we interpret events in the world. 
     
    It’s so hard for there to be civility in arguments. There’s so much venom and vitriol. So much judgment and condemnation with those who respectfully disagree. So many assumptions we make about people’s character and intelligence based purely on if they agree or disagree with us. 
     
    We assume that people who disagree have their heads in the sand. 
     
    It’s hard to know what’s true! 
     
    For every statement, there is an opposite statement that someone will make where they also have a link to something that agrees with their point. 
     
    And it goes round and round. 
    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

  • President Trump meets with Kim Jong-un: let’s see what happens

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    Yesterday, President Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
    Some are mocking this, others are celebrating it as a great political and diplomatic victory.
    At this point, it’s too early to tell of any longterm success in this meeting. Regardless of what Kim Jong-un has agreed to, the North Korean leadership has a history of not living up to agreements that they make.
    Time will tell.
    But regardless of a person’s politics, regardless of if someone likes or dislikes President Trump, we should all hope and pray that this meeting will lead to diplomatic success. For the sake of the North Korean people who are suffering under an iron fisted tyranny, for the security of the region, and for the overall safety of the world, we should all want this meeting to lead to good results.
    The welfare of the Korean people who are kept in abject poverty, who are fed propaganda and not food, who are kept in Soviet style gulags by the tens of thousands, needs to improve. And we need to see North Korea finally honor their commitments to dismantle their nuclear program. If those things don’t happen, the photo op, the political goodwill, it’s all meaningless.
    If this meeting doesn’t help lead to significant change, the photos will be infamous of a sitting president and a dictator. Sound bites of the president complimenting Kim for his leadership will forever be to Trump’s mockery.
    As others have pointed out, there is no middle ground in this deal. It will be a success or a total failure.
    Time will tell. Prayers for North Korea.


    Josh Benner     is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

  • American pastor is a hostage of the Turkish government

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    Credit: Facebook
    In 2016, there was a coup attempt against the Turkish government and their president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.  Factions of their military launched uprisings in several cities.
    The coup failed.
    The Turkish government believes that one of the intellectual leaders of the coup was Fethullah Gulen, a writer and former cleric who currently resides in Pennsylvania.
    Andrew Brunson is an American pastor who has been serving in Turkey for over 20 years.
    In the aftermath of the coup, Brunson was taken into custody for allegedly being involved in the failed coup.
    The evidence against him comes from anonymous sources. But the 50 year old pastor faces 35 years in prison for his alleged involvement.
    Turkey has expressed intreat in swapping Brunson for Gulen, whom the United States will not extradite.

    These are trumped up charges. Brunson is a hostage being imprisoned by the Turkish government for them to try to negotiate for someone they want.
    President Trump addressed the situation via Twitter this week. The Turkish government has not accommodated requests from the United States.
    Andrew Brunson is a man who has dedicated his life to spreading the gospel in another part of the world. We need to pray for Pastor Brunson, for his family, and for our diplomats and politicians who are working to get this man freed.

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    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

     

  • The next president is not a savior

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    Photo credit: Zach Rudisin

    The political division is incredible. The name calling. The condescension. The assumptions we make about the people who support the other candidate. It’s unfortunate. (more…)