Anti-Social Media ~ No Dissenting Views

Greetings Dear Reader,

No one agrees with me concerning every issue.  In some areas I have close friends with whom I disagree fundamentally on many things.  We are still friends.  We do not argue over things that we know will not be changed by arguing.

I am not saying that I tolerate everything.  I believe that some things are inherently wrong.  I am not, however, convinced that rejecting someone because he or she disagrees with you is sound theology.  In truth, it is directly opposed to the idea of loving my enemies. 

The people with whom I disagree know that I disagree with them.  They also know that I am required not to judge, reject, or hate them.  In Social Media we often see people beaten down by those with dissenting views.  It seems that the more one disagrees the less one is tolerant of disagreement.  Instead of polite intellectual discussion there is a sea of vitriol and charter attack. 

We cannot have justice and freedom in a nation that shames you for disagreeing.  When we refuse to hear what others have to say we are violating the very spirit of true tolerance.  No matter what color you paint your political animal or what religious symbol you venerate, you cannot be honest and refuse to hear others.  One cannot have much faith in his or her position if one cannot withstand hearing the ideas of others. 

We must express our ideas with kind intelligence.  I must listen with love and patience.  I must value the person speaking no matter how wrong I may think him or her to be.  If I do not I cannot earn the right to be heard.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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