{"id":611,"date":"2020-02-26T06:00:34","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T06:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/?p=611"},"modified":"2023-07-06T17:50:57","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T17:50:57","slug":"unfriended-can-we-have-a-civil-conversation-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/26\/unfriended-can-we-have-a-civil-conversation-please\/","title":{"rendered":"Unfriended…Can we have a conversation please?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unfriended<\/em><\/strong>.  My offense?  A political comment had been posted and the thread was going south quickly.  The potential for hurt feelings was very likely and the fallout could affect relationships.  I commented \u201cyou may want to consider where this thread is headed, the potential for divisiveness is high and there could be some badly hurt feelings\u201d.<\/p>\n

For the Christian, there is absolutely no place on social media for divisiveness of any kind.  The world is watching\u2026and often what they see is so un-Christian.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling, <\/em><\/p>\n

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,<\/em><\/p>\n

eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Ephesians 4:1-3<\/em><\/p>\n

Let me put a few thoughts out here before I go any further.  I am sixty years old, a Christ follower, wife of an elder at our church, mom, grandmother, teacher, friend, public speaker, blogger, business owner, facebook over-poster\u2026and other stuff.  With all that said, I also do not normally wade into the fray of politics unless I see the potential for damage to HIS KINGDOM.<\/p>\n

Right now, I\u2019m seeing a lot of potential for that damage.  WE HAVE GOT TO DO BETTER.  The world is watching us devour our own. It has got to stop. We are called to be better.  I do not believe we are to sit silently on the sidelines with no opinions and \u201cjust accept\u201d what happens to our country.  There are arguments on both sides as to how involved we are to be in government\u2026that is a blog for another day.<\/p>\n

Today\u2026let\u2019s just focus on behavior.  Specifically, how a Christian should behave on social media in regards to politics today.<\/p>\n

Two ground rules\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. If you do not vote\u2026do not complain, do not post, do not comment\u2026period. Why?  If you have not taken the time to study the candidates and their platforms, if you have not taken the time to go and vote\u2026you have not done your part to initiate change.  You give up your right to complain when you\u2019ve done nothing to prevent what has happened.<\/li>\n
  2. If you do not contribute time or money to help others\u2026do not complain\u2026period. Why?  Our responsibility as a Christian is to help one another and the world around us.  If we have chosen not to do that, we have not fulfilled our responsibility to our Father or our fellow man.  Expecting our government to take care of our responsibility is wrong.  They are in addition to\u2026not the total of.   If you are not helping others your right to complain has been forfeited.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So<\/em>\u2026Our behavior…How do WE as Christ followers act and react on social media?<\/p>\n

    Always act and react with…<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Knowledge…Study the issues, know what you stand for and why.  Do not follow others blindly because \u201cit sounds good\u201d.<\/li>\n
    2. Wisdom…Not every battle needs to be fought.  We will never agree with everything a candidate stands for.<\/li>\n
    3. Kindness…Understand not everyone is coming from the same place you are and therefore they will not see things through the same lens.  Take that into account<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Luke 6:31 \u201cDo unto others as you would have them do to you\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

      Do not act or react with\u2026<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Sarcasm.  What may sound cute and funny in your head does not always translate.  It is hard to decipher tone.<\/li>\n
      2. Lies…Do not repost anything that you have not sourced and found to be true. Ex. Bernie on taxes\/minimum wage.  If it is not true \u2013 it is a lie<\/li>\n
      3. Deceit…A half truth used to make a point is deceit\u2026it is wrong<\/li>\n
      4. Disrespect…Someone who believes differently will not be influenced for Christ by someone who rudely insults their thoughts and beliefs.<\/li>\n
      5. Pride…We are all in this together.  I may think differently than you but it absolutely does not mean I am better than you.<\/li>\n
      6. Rumors…Every candidate or politician has enough \u201cbad truth\u201d to use against them.  Do not go into unsubstantiated rumor and fuel the fire.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          \u201cWhoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue<\/em><\/p>\n

        from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

        1 Peter 3:10<\/em><\/p>\n

         <\/em>Watch out for\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Comments that could cause dissension.  While watching the state of the union and seeing Speaker Pelosi \u201cfidget\u201d, I made a quick comment on my facebook page about how I would hate to be sitting behind the President during a speech.  My honest thought was that it was a terrible position to be in.  Her actions would have half the country mad at her regardless of how she acted.  I ended up having to delete a couple of comments and then by the next day deleted the thread.  It had gone in a direction totally opposite of my original thought\u2026it had gone \u201cmean girl\u201d (and boyL).<\/p>\n

        Blanket Statements\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Don\u2019t make them.  It is so easy to lump everyone into a group.  \u201cLeft is Loony\u201d \u2013 \u201cRight is Repugnant\u201d \u2013 Hard Stop.  Every group is made up of individuals.  Each one of those individuals have their own thoughts, beliefs, hopes and dreams.  They each have different needs and desires.  They may be part of a group but they are still their own person. No one is evil because they voted for Trump\u2026or Obama. Did you like them before?  Were they evil before?  Were they ignorant before?<\/p>\n

        Questions to ask before posting or commenting:<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Is it factual?<\/li>\n
        2. Does this help the conversation?<\/li>\n
        3. Would I say this face to face?<\/li>\n
        4. Does my post\/comment reflect well on my example for Christ?<\/li>\n
        5. Will this post\/comment lead to discussion or am I slamming the door before inviting anyone in?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          \u201cLet each of you look not only to his own interests,<\/em><\/p>\n

          but also the interests of others.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

          Philippians 2:4<\/em><\/p>\n

          A few thoughts:  <\/strong><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. We are becoming a \u201cshallow-meme\u201d society. Is that what you want to be associated with?  Or, do you want to be known as someone who has convictions and can have an intelligent conversation?<\/li>\n
          2. Neither side \u2013 nor the middle \u2013 is completely right\u2026Accept that fact and move on. .<\/li>\n
          3. If you have an issue with a specific brother or sister\u2026go to them\u2026privately\u2026not on social media<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            The next generation of young Christians are watching us closely.  Our example is what they will be emulating in the future.  What are we teaching them?  Are we teaching them how to handle differences lovingly, with conviction AND grace?  Are we teaching them to make intelligent decisions based on facts rather than feelings?  Are we teaching them to respect our leaders positions regardless of how we may feel about them personally?  These are important questions we need to consider as we choose how we will present ourselves publicly.  What do you want your example to be?<\/p>\n

            \u201cRemind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient,<\/em><\/p>\n

            to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle,<\/em><\/p>\n

            and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

            Titus 3:1-2<\/em><\/p>\n

             <\/em>Listen to His Voice,<\/p>\n

            Lee Ann<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Unfriended.  My offense?  A political comment had been posted and the thread was going south quickly.  The potential for hurt feelings was very likely and the fallout could affect relationships.  I commented \u201cyou may want to consider where this thread is headed, the potential for divisiveness is high and there could be some badly hurt feelings\u201d. For the Christian, there is absolutely no place on social media for divisiveness of any kind.  The world is watching\u2026and often what they see is so un-Christian. \u201cI urge you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.\u201d Ephesians 4:1-3 Let me put a few thoughts out here before I go any further.  I am sixty years old, a Christ follower, wife of an elder at our church, mom, grandmother, teacher, friend, public speaker, blogger, business owner, facebook over-poster\u2026and other stuff.  With all that said, I also do not normally wade into the fray of politics unless I see the potential for damage to HIS KINGDOM. Right now, I\u2019m seeing a lot of potential for that damage.  […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[67,1],"tags":[93,137,101,235,238,234,68,237,172,236,239,136,97,69,30],"class_list":["post-611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-uncategorized","tag-anchoredinhim","tag-gracefilledhope","tag-liveloved","tag-politicalconversation","tag-politicalcorrectness","tag-politics","tag-shelteredingrace","tag-socialgraces","tag-storms","tag-unfriend","tag-unfriended","tag-wisdom","tag-friendship","tag-hope","tag-journey"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shelteredingrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/IMG_1247.jpg?fit=2048%2C2048&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1865,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions\/1865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}