Religion and politics. We don't touch them. We form opinions on them, sometimes privately and cautiously, sometimes brazenly or obnoxiously. We form opinions and then we don't talk about them in polite company.
Yeah, I understand where we're all coming from. Of course - it's obvious. We don't want to offend people, don't want to get into arguments, don't want to place strain on relationships. Yep, perfectly valid reasons - if we're going to sit back and accept the sin of pride that is threatening to take over our hearts and minds.
Pride pushes, wheedles, digs, seeps into my conversations, makes me feel like backing down would be a cop-out. I find myself arguing religion and politics every once in a while, and every time the argument is over I wish I had avoided it. I wish I'd stood up to pride a little better.
Only it doesn't work that way, does it? Standing up to pride - it's more or less impossible. That's why, at some point, we need to just let go and fall back into grace. Grace - the concept that rarely makes it into conversations about religion and politics.
Standing up to pride is itself a prideful stance; falling back on grace is a blessed surrender. I want to learn to surrender a little more and argue a little less. I want to learn to infuse my opinions with grace and speak them in love. I want to drop my pride and realize that the end goal of everything in my life is God, and only in him do any of my arguments have legitimacy.
Soften my heart, God.
no no no fight on religion and politics! its fantastic. i am pretty sure most of lubbock tx thinks i am a Buddhist or a muslim due to how much i argue with Christians here defending them (cause they attack it with stupid reasons) As Amir Hussein said,
ReplyDelete"Dialogue is not about being nice, or about pretending we are all the same. It requires we recognize our real differences, relate to each other constructively, even when we are in opposition; and stand in solidarity with each other when one of us is attacked."
State your belief but be willing to defend another who doesn't share the totally same views/ideals.
I like religion. I avoid politics. I never could understand it. To me, politics is like reading one of Orson Scott Card's Ender series. It's serious, but often without sense. It destroys human relationships, and instead makes us greedy and obsessed. Truth be told, I hate politics so much that I never really read news about it. When I turn on CNN, I always hope it would be about something else other than Obama and his followers.
ReplyDeleteAnd with regards to conversations, pride and opinions: Eh, I think it's all just a cup of tea. To me, I can argue, wheedle and place myself at the top, or have someone combat me with his opposing views - as long as we're still friends, then it's good and it's beautiful.
I can handle any argument and I think that all of us have different opinions no matter what, even if a few people share the same views and you don't - well, your opinion still matters.
I think you can always differentiate people who debate or argue by how they treat you afterwards. If they block you or never speak to you again, it means they are immature - that they are willing to break up a friendship just coz they have differences in opinion. A mature person is able to understand and accept that some may not be able to grasp an issue as quickly as others. Or some people may have new things to contribute to the table, other than the ones presented.
I think that's how it should be.
And I like this: "State your belief but we willing to defend another who doesn't share totally same views/ideals.