In this episode, Ken Shuman speaks of how easy it is to throw diverse groups of people into one category, which results in polarization. You hear people in the US say or imply that "ALL conservatives are evil" or "ALL liberals are evil," and so forth. Lumping people together and labeling them comes too easily in our world. It is far too easy to get sucked into the anxiety out there and to take many things personally. Instead, Ken invites us - as we grow in emotional maturity - to quit labeling people and allow them to define themselves.

Ken then digs into the actual meaning of the word "evil," which may be surprising to some. And where the Bible speaks of evil, he says, it is about behavior - not the intrinsic value of people - and clearly evil behavior is demonstrated on both sides of the political aisle. Labels shame people at the level of their identity, whereas Scripture convicts us with regard to evil (destructive, injurious , malicious) behavior. For this, and for behavior leading to life, Isaiah 58 is instructive, and so Ken digs into this passage with the group.

Ken concludes by inviting us to align ourselves with the way of Jesus over any group, so that we might show up differently in the midst of the polarizing forces in our world.

This episode was recorded on September 19th, 2025.