Healing Our Divides

Answering the Savior’s Call to be Peacemakers

Rooted in principles of religious discipleship and moral integrity, Healing Our Divides addresses the urgent need to confront societal division and hostility with love and understanding. Ostler delves into four major themes, including understanding today's divisions, learning practical approaches to reduce contention, recognizing peacemaking as a vital aspect of religious discipleship, and mastering the art of deep and meaningful discussions. With insightful thought boxes prompting self-reflection and engagement, as well as discussion questions for group study, he invites readers to join in the communal effort of healing divides and fostering unity. This book serves as a poignant reminder of our collective responsibility to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and work towards creating a more peaceful and harmonious world, one interaction at a time.

“A deeply Christian book that calls upon us all to seek understanding and minister to the wounded.”

—Terryl Givens

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Praises for Healing Our Divides

“Healing Our Divides is the perfect book for our current moment. There is an urgent need for Latter-day Saint Christians to become better peacemakers—in our homes, workplaces, congregations, communities, and nations. David Ostler teaches correct principles and then offers concrete tools and examples that will empower readers not just to believe in peace but to embody and practice it as well.”

— Patrick Mason

“Father Lehi taught the principle that there must needs be opposition in all things, with our mortal experience purposely designed to create constant conflict. In Healing our Divides, David Ostler masterfully explores how we can embrace disagreement while reducing or eliminating contention. Ostler builds upon his first book Bridges by providing practical advice and techniques in how to communicate effectively by broadening our ‘in-group’ to include all of God’s children, and he demonstrates how we can maintain our standards, understand our biases, and discover how to love those whose views differ from our own. The renowned scientist and Jesuit Priest Pierre Chardi said, ‘Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.’ Ostler’s book gives us the blueprint in how we can do this.”

— Richard Ferguson

“At present, the United States is becoming irreparably divided, a nation that will not stand or survive unless as citizens we choose to start listening to, reaching out to, and loving those on the other side of our personal and national divides. David Ostler’s Healing Our Divides: Answering the Savior’s Call to Be Peacemakers is an inspired call and practical guide for doing just that. Using the words of scriptures, sages, and modern prophets, as well as the wisdom of our common humanity, Ostler makes a compelling case for the kind of sacrifice, humility, faith, and courage necessary for us to come together. The American Dream will remain a dream as long as there are deep divisions among us. As Ostler says, “Nothing gets better until enough of us decide we want to make it so.” Get this book. Follow its wisdom. Become a uniter. The dream awaits!”

— Robert A. Rees

“The focus ofHealing Our Divides: Answering the Savior’s Call to Be Peacemakersis perhaps the greatest danger facing American democracy and, indeed, democracies throughout the world: the disintegration of civilized discourse and behavior into cultural wars that threaten to shred the very fabric of democratic society. David Ostler boldly steps into the fray with a book that instructs how to move back to the Christ-centered society that is—or was—central to the Latter-day Saint concept of a gathered Zion composed of the pure in heart, with all living in harmony and none excluded. Ostler is not the preacher on a high platform who is scolding the congregation, but rather, a thoughtful teacher who guides us through his syllabus gently and informatively, and along the way continually inserts suggestions for further thought and action. In doing so, he has cast a wide net to pull in references to support his guidance, evidenced by over 250 footnotes that, while paying homage to Latter-day Saint Church leaders, go well beyond the LDS literature. He first lays the groundwork for understanding human psychology, and then builds upon that foundation to instruct the reader on practical measures to build peacemaking skills individually and collectively.”

— Gregory Prince

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