We discuss wildly in society and the media, even in our Christian camps.
It's like a battlefield of words where people throw stones at each other from opposite trenches. A boxing ring where we throw ourselves in and beat up everyone who doesn't think exactly the same, completely without rules and sense. The strange thing is that no change happens, no one is persuaded or convinced to change their views, not anyone ever. So why are we arguing? To what benefit? It seems to only divide and destroy the peace, counteracting the Biblical commandment to keep peace with people.
Political elections are decided by the significantly smaller percentage of voters who are either first-time voters or by the small group of undecideds. The rest, the vast majority will vote right or left all their lives without the slightest tremor of the pen at the polling booth. What if in our fights of words on Facebook and newspaper sites, etc. many times there is no one to "convert"?
To see this in our Christian context. What are we unnecessarily arguing about today? Trump and Musk are a rather elusive topic of contention. It's really a question of politics, not theology, which Christians otherwise usually argue about, sometimes absolutely necessary, often not at all. Right or left, what does it matter at your deathbed? You will then think of God, nothing else. Yes, many people intertwine politics with the Bible, the talk of the Antichrist, the end times and the defense of Christian values. Which is relevant. But does this mean today's wildly rampant war of words where nothing meaningful is achieved? We just paint each other black, blue, brown and red, demonize and nazify like adults in a sandbox.
I look back on decades of functioning family ties and kinship. I have had both communists and capitalist among my relatives. We have met and had a good time, socialized easily and freely. No, few were actually saved, so it was not directly about the "fruit of the Spirit" of patience and self-control. By the way, why do these qualities shine with their absence among us Christians, in the hot waves of discussion? Well, so what was the secret
with my relatives? It's a good question because in Finland, my original homeland, the line of battle between the right wing and the communistic left is bloody sharp ever since the civil war where family members actually shot each other to death, not primarily with words but with real bullets. The answer is a silent and extremely serious agreement to avoid the subject. We placed politics in the unmentionable, a kind of censorship for survival, something the Finns have learned since the Soviet era.
To this day, I have a similar agreement even in my closest family. If the discussion gets overheated, the words starts to fall like missiles, we interrupt with "No politics!".
The content of this message is: Can we today, we who call ourselves Christians stop sharpening our swords and agree not to brawl and fight, renounce the "spirit of brawling" when we notice that it is still a dead race where no one changes their opinion? And then instead in peace, together devote ourselves to what Jesus wants, that is the Great Commission!
"But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness"(James 3:14-18).
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