"We confuse winning or fulfillment with someone who agrees with everything we say and stand for, whether they truly know the love of God or not. Oftentimes, we confuse a person’s acceptance of our will as evidence or not for their Christian faith."- great quote, especially the last part. Appreciate your thoughts!
Right from the beginning you strike a very important topic in that "if we actually liked to talk to one another". I think a problem with society is that we've been raised to never discuss certain topics at the dinner table. Religion, politics and finances. We've spent so much time avoiding these topics that no one knows how to respectfully disagree anymore and that's how we find ourselves in these polarizing echo chambers.
I wonder if we've ever been good at conversing over difficult issues? Regardless, it is going to take people modeling right behaviors, dying to self (Luke 9:23), and realizing that we can hold the disagreement at the same time as we hold respect for the other person. It will also require a lot of self-work and ownership in 1) how we are receiving feedback/communications in conversations, and 2) how we should be preferring a desired outcome in alignment with our spiritual direction and purpose. Are we ready for that kind of work?!
"We confuse winning or fulfillment with someone who agrees with everything we say and stand for, whether they truly know the love of God or not. Oftentimes, we confuse a person’s acceptance of our will as evidence or not for their Christian faith."- great quote, especially the last part. Appreciate your thoughts!
Right from the beginning you strike a very important topic in that "if we actually liked to talk to one another". I think a problem with society is that we've been raised to never discuss certain topics at the dinner table. Religion, politics and finances. We've spent so much time avoiding these topics that no one knows how to respectfully disagree anymore and that's how we find ourselves in these polarizing echo chambers.
I wonder if we've ever been good at conversing over difficult issues? Regardless, it is going to take people modeling right behaviors, dying to self (Luke 9:23), and realizing that we can hold the disagreement at the same time as we hold respect for the other person. It will also require a lot of self-work and ownership in 1) how we are receiving feedback/communications in conversations, and 2) how we should be preferring a desired outcome in alignment with our spiritual direction and purpose. Are we ready for that kind of work?!