As part of an ongoing dialogue between Anonymous D and me, I leave here a challenge with a simple answer but which requires some serious thought and self-awareness if you are prepared. Some may just call it trite or silly religious babble. I lovingly call it hope because of my faith in Christ.
Many things constantly before us seem to be in irreconcilable conflict:
Political, social or philosophical Right versus Left or Conservative versus Liberal.
The religious concepts of Justice and Mercy, Grace and Works, and Good versus Evil.
All gaps in knowledge regarding Science and Religion.
The conflicts of the historical record particularly regarding Mormonism's foundational facts and beliefs. This last one was brought to my attention by D from something he read about LDS Historian Richard Bushman who said that the history of Joseph Smith is a series of irreconcilable facts seeking resolution.
D's idea, which struck a chord with me, is that the reconciliation only comes by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. An inexplicable miracle that resolves all those conflicts to bring us to a whole.
Mental health requires an acknowledgment of our true selves, warts and all along with all the good inside us sometimes beaten down literally or figuratively by the abuses of human life. Good political or religious health requires the same. The Atonement can make those reconciliations possible.
Think about it.
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