A house divided

            A few weeks ago I was reading a blog on how divided we have become. I wonder if it’s true. Maybe our thoughts have been brought out into the open. A friend asked if we are being racially influenced by the likes of Donald Trump in America. Are Donald’s statements racist or is he saying what many are thinking? For over 4000 years the Bible has said we have a heart problem. What I see today is the same old same old.

            It’s massively easy to say the likes of Donald Trump are racist. Is thinking minorities drive cabs racist? Is it bigotry to say women make the best mothers? Are all terrorists hateful? On and on I could go listing things we think, but never say. We all have had thoughts like “Move your fat ass or that political party are retards.” We use phrases and words in our minds that we would never say publically.

            Somehow we think it’s dirty when they are expressed in public. Maybe there are things you should never say, but we still think them. With that in mind, I think we over think things these days. I have never seen so much response to issues. I suppose that social media has helped and hurt the communication venue. What I’m leaning towards is a house divided. Maybe we have always been on different sides of the fence. It took Facebook and Twitter to expose it.

            I know many people who, I think, are great individuals. Through social media I have seen a side of them I never knew. They quite possibly have seen another side of me too. Before the invention of social media, we hid our inter opinionated side. It’s easy to say I think your opinion sucks on the inside. Who will know or care because they will never hear it. Through social media we have decided to express those inner thoughts in public. It’s made each of us, from time to time, look less than stellar.

            What does God think? Mark 3:25 says “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” Over and over, in the Bible, we have one person standing here and another there. Story after story tells of this side of the river and the other. We are in the promised land or not. I think that God knew we would pick sides. We would have feelings and opinions that divide us. Jesus stated in Matthew 10 “For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.” Isn’t that where we are today?

            In days gone by we were known by our family name or country we were born in. It was very community oriented. These days we are truly close to Jesus predictions. My opinion on government, sexuality, and immigration have had me blocked from those on social media who hold different views. Gone are the days of respecting one’s views. People are furious at other people’s thoughts. I have relatives that chastise and ridicule my thinking one issues. There is no healthy discussion as there once was.

            You are now known by your social tag. Are you gay, Asian, tolerant, or a racist, phobic, and conservative. No longer do we respect the space where people are. If you’re not for us, then your most certainly against us. Freedom of speech was not written out of the constitution, but obliterated from it years ago. The press has no freedom anymore. We say we are civilized but the Gestapo like mentality towards different views is killing us slowly like a sweet poison.

            Abraham Lincoln made a speech that reiterated “A house divided.” He added this insightful conclusion to it. He said that the nation will not be divided because it will go one way or the other. He also added that whatever way it goes it will go to the full extent. Genesis 15:16 says “In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."

At this time, we are divided. We hate what the other person thinks. Maybe social media has given us too much liberty with our inward voice. If the Bible and Lincoln are right this is far from over. The sins we foster will have to reach their limit. One side will crush the other. In the mean time we inch closer to pitting one friend against another just because deep down we hate what they stand for more than we love them.

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