More than six million lives have been lost to violence in the last thirty years (worst since WW II) in the African Great Lakes region. Open Theism can begin to provide a theodicy for the past and a framework for future hope.
If the God you worship is violent, then violence will seem to you to be an acceptable way to resolve conflicts. The gravitational pull of God’s love draws open theists towards Jesus-centrism. Jesus modeled and taught nonviolence. Love works for reconciliation. I’m going to show video that illustrates what reconciliation can look like in the DR Congo.
I’ve heard, “Congo has no prophet.” Open theism—with its emphasis on a future that has many possibilities—can see a future where violence is renounced, where there is labor toward reconciliation and economic justice, and mutual thriving becomes what people are striving for in the power of the Holy Spirit.