A friend of mine was sitting in a University class the other day when a hot topic was brought to the discussion floor... My friend is a very kind person and to my knowledge has quite a few friends in the class, however during this discussion people were saying things about a certain "sort of people." How they don't deserve to go to University because they have no mind of their own anyway... How they know nothing about the real world... How that group of people discriminates against another group and they should be stopped with whatever force necessary. My friend sat through that class with people all around putting her down because she belongs to a "certain sort" of people, no they didn't direct their comments directly at her but they knew she was there, they knew she was part of that group... They meant it for her ears and heart. The sad part is, they kind of succeeded, it hurt her, she was angry and felt she was alone and couldn't or shouldn't speak up. The quote above isn't exactly realistic, don't get upset... Ummm, hello? We're human and upset will happen! But My friend didn't give a reaction and no matter the reason, that was a good thing.
I know all the air is probably sucked out of the room you're in right about now but hear me out... It wasn't the right decision not to react because she shouldn't stand up for herself, but because the fight wasn't fair. First of all you're talking about taking human rights away from one to give to another, second of all both on the part of my friend and on the part of the "attackers" there was way to high emotion levels to even attempt a rational and respectful sharing of views. So I agree, biting her tongue, in this instance and for now, was appropriate. My friend picked not to have the argument right then and that was good, but the battle must be fought...
I get it, we don't agree with everyone all the time (not even among ourselves) and that is normal, it's part of being human, Christian or not... But, as Christians we need to be respectful! There is no reason to step all over someone with verbal abuse just because they are part of a "certain sort" that we don't agree with... Just because a "certain sort" has been abusive with you in the past doesn't mean every person in a group is abusive and doesn't mean you have the right to abuse every person you meet from that group in the future! Listen, Jesus didn't agree with a ton of people (including you and I sometimes I'm sure), His words were often controversial but He was never abusive, even when He was being abused. So basically, if you're a Christian and you're not speaking like one, shame on you! You are a white washed tomb, filled with dead, brittle bones and you need to get back to God's heartbeat to reach!
One thing I didn't mention... My friend who was being discriminated against was the Christian in the room. It wasn't that she was bashing a group of others, no, they were saying those things about her "sort." First, allow me to apologize if you're on the other side of the argument, I'm so sorry if you've been abused verbally or otherwise by any so called Christian, that is not what we are here for and that's not how the majority of us feel, we may not agree with you but you are just as valuable of a human being as any one else and we love you... That being said, just as I came down on the Christians with tongues like vipers and brittle hearts, you must not allow yourself to become venomous either... I know it's a hard place to be when you're the one being "picked on" so to speak but you must remember that because one person in a group acted a certain way doesn't mean all of the others will OR that all of the others agree with the one. We cannot ask of others to respect us and our views, regardless of agreement, if we cannot first respect them. We must be respectful on both sides on any argument if we are to make any progress, we cannot think or act rationally if we allow ourselves to be judgmental of people as a whole because of a past infringement on our sensibilities. Please remember, people are dumb and they do and say dumb things (thanks to R. Woodward for that quote.) we don't mean to but we've all fell short in the "words of wisdom and kindness" category at some point in our lives and we must give others as much room for improvement as we would give ourselves.
All in all, as usual, you can and should have your own opinions and yes, for goodness sake express them! Use that beautiful freedom called speech that we have but please do it respectfully. No, we don't have to all agree or approve of the choices of everyone else and yes we can stand up for things we feel are right regardless of which side we are on, but we must do so with integrity, honesty and respect.
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