Facing the Hard Questions

My heart has been so heavy these past few weeks with the way media, and Facebook in particular, has been so riddled with hate. Have you noticed this? I guess we have the political campaigns to blame for forcing people into camps, so to speak, but everyone seems to be picking sides... even when there weren't "sides" to begin with.

It seems you can't have an opinion without the implication being that you disregard the other perspective. And why is this? I think it's because often, this implication is true. If you stand for one thing, the insinuation is you don't tolerate others. But going back to my posts on postmodernist binaries a few weeks ago, I want to challenge us beyond this line of thinking. I fall into it a lot. I'm sure we all do. But these opposing "sides" are so often arbitrary, aren't they? How were they constructed in the first place, and how can we move beyond them, while at the same time, retaining a firm hold on the Truth?

For starters, I think we have to know what Truth really is, and to do that, we must be in relationship with God, feeding ourselves His Word. How easy it can be to slip into a lifestyle where we simply mimic what we think God would say rather than ever asking Him ourselves. We move toward information when we should be moving toward relationship.

And I guess that's where my position stands on all the debates that have arisen lately. I have thoughts on the issues, and some of them are strong. I won't back down from telling someone my perspective if asked. But when we get to the point that we're more concerned with being right than we are with engaging relationships, I think we are on dangerous ground.

Today I really want to hear from you. What are your thoughts on the ways hate and dissension have been spreading so rampantly through social media websites lately? How can we combat this while still keeping our feet set on a firm foundation? How would Jesus handle this if He were here now? I'd love to hear what you think and look forward to your thoughts!