01/30/21 SPEAK IN LOVE, WITH LOVING WORDS

01/30/21 SPEAK IN LOVE, WITH LOVING WORDS

This is a comment I saw on a friend's TIMELINE.

QUOTE
"Racist, white supremacist, misogynist, bigot, nationalist, and unenlightened person are common labels that progressive society uses to describe Evangelicals. Name-calling avoids the need to engage the other person in a conversation. In civil society, the one who resorts to name-calling forfeits credibility. For example, how would I sound if I called my ideological counterparts a sodomite loving brood of Christophobic baby killers who have sold their souls to Satan? Ouch. I don't like the sound of that. Let's avoid name-calling."

MY RESPONSE (DLG)
Though the subject is bigger than this comment, this comment does make a very important point.

Sometimes truth is lost in rhetoric.
Sometimes people can't handle any truth.

It is true that some names are inherently offensive (such as "Communist"). When we are dealing with specific subjects, naming names may be important, but attacking people rather than dealing with principles undermines rather than underlines your point. Christians should be throwing out a life ring rather than an anchor to those who are sinking. Even when we use an anchor it is not as a bludgeon or weapon.

Speaking the truth in love is not just an attitudinal issue, it is a terminology issues as well. I am not saying we will make everyone happy with our comments or observations in life, but we must be kind, compassionate, sensitive, loving. Remember, we are offering life, not death. If our judgments on sin are attacks against sinners we are aiming at the wrong target.

Warning the lost should not be an attack against those who are ensnared or an unwarranted offense to others. You may make a point and you may look witty, but you will be losing ground and losing your witness with others.

Sometimes, when we are addressing a particular situation (such as signing of Executive Orders) we can name people, but even then our words need to be carefully chosen. Don't use your liberty as a disguise for your rancor. There are plenty of sinners who are spewing diatribes. We can confront sin, but we must not lower ourselves to do it.