God Wants Civility & Truth In Our Dialogues
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(16) “These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; (17) do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord.’ (Zechariah 8:16-17)
In today’s society, to speak the truth, or provide a counterpoint that is not of the majority’s narrative, often results in ‘cancellation’ – not only a repudiation of one’s counter-viewpoint but to be ‘cast out’ of society through the removal of one’s access to social media, ‘doxxing’ (the publication of one’s personal information to encourage the invasion of privacy and security through intimidation), and derogatory name-calling (traitor, right-wing extremist, domestic terrorist, white supremacist, Deplorable Neanderthal). We’ve seen this with those opposing or voicing concerns over the COVID origins and vaccine mandates, the results of the previous Presidential election and the stance taken on the one upcoming, why prices are going up, and the reasons behind the Ukrainian-Russian and Israeli-Hamas conflicts.
In the past, we would have civil dialogue, where we would bring our viewpoints together to discuss and determine Truth. As my Dad said, ‘my side’ and ‘your side’ could be debated and if possible the truth between the two viewpoints could be discovered; if not we could civilly ‘agree to disagree’ and move forward on another topic. Today, it is likely the viewpoints I may have on the above subjects would not be discussed or debated but dismissed, and many of the derogatory names enlisted against others would be employed against me. We are now in a phase of society where it is ‘you must have my viewpoint, or you are wrong’ even though that viewpoint may go against God and His precepts, as they are based on feelings and not facts.
What God says about this is in Zechariah 8:16-17; instead of dismissing each other’s viewpoints, we need to talk to each other, in civility and peace, and allow the Holy Spirit to provide to us what God’s Truth is. God’s answer may be ‘I’m not answering that’, and thus we can agree to disagree and move on. For years in American politics, Democrats and Republicans in great degree would debate opposing viewpoints, determine a middle-ground that while not satisfying to either side would bring consensus, and vote to either pass or reject the proposed bill.
We do not have that in Congress today, but instead gridlock as the take for both sides are ‘my way or the highway’. We see it in our relationships as well as public discourse, where the ‘winner’ of the debate is the one who can intimidate the other more into ‘cancellation’. The ‘truth’ is the majority can be wrong, but often attempts to shut down their mistakes through cancelling Godly Truth and principles. We cannot allow ourselves to be brought down to the level of derogatory name-calling but Christians must never waver from speaking Truth; it is better to walk away in mutual disagreement and try again later to share the Truth, than to ‘win’ the argument but lose the person’s ear for good (and perhaps the ability to share the Gospel again with them).
Christians need to be unafraid of sharing our viewpoints (and sharing Jesus!), and speak Truth. We should not condemn someone for an opposing viewpoint, but try to provide facts – true facts – to bolster our viewpoint to bring awareness to what the truth is. This goes back to having the facts – the Truth – brought out and rule over feelings, even if the Truth is unpopular. Remember the only popularity poll a Christian should seek is God’s popularity poll, and that you speak the Truth, perform His work through the Holy Spirit.
