Have you ever had a passionate debate? Not like lovey-dovey stuff, but an argument to where things became so heated that you honestly didn't know whether to be mad or start crying. Well, recently, I read an argument between two friends, who I'm not going to mention for sake of embarrassment, and they were literally at each others throats! I mean, it was so heated that if it were two chicks fighting, all that would remain would be hair follicles and blood trails; it was that bad. After the eruption had calmed, however, one of the arguers approached me and stated that he was sorry, thinking he was wrong and had made a mistake.
This is just a simple admission of guilt, not dealing with an issue of right and wrong. Most agree that opinions are widespread and are more contagious than the common cold, but we shouldn't try to argue over things. A lot of people get into these heated discussions because they love the other person, and just want to see them agree. Some just have fights for kicks. Some come from badmouthing. Whatever the case may be, we all have the same common goal; trying to get the other person to see our views eye to eye with theirs.
We, as people, christian or not, all need to realize that we can't always change the other person's mind, and seldom will. We could spend years and years arguing about meaningless stuff, and never accomplish a thing.
I have noticed this "I'm right, you're wrong!" trend spread throughout our churches and among other Christians. I'm sitting here, calling the kettle 'black' on this issue, as I have my own little 'christian debate buddy', who I seldom agree anything with when it comes to religion, but if we spent forever bickering about it, we aren't going to resolve anything. I have very recently heard about a small church, about 300 or so, who broke up over one of the dumbest things I have ever heard, and this is completely true. The church fell apart because the congregation couldn't agree on whether or not the carpet should be red or blue. Seriously. An entire flock of GOD's sheep split ways over color, and not even the color of people's skin, over the color of carpet.
I don't see how we, as GOD's children, can seriously fight over things so petty. And yes, I know, I do it too, but we are all human, no one is perfect, so don't beat yourself up over this.
The best way to kill a heated argument is to kill it with kindness.
Let's say, for example, me and you, the reader, are in a heated debate over whether or not toilet paper should be Charmin or Quilted Northern (I have actually read forums where there are arguments as silly as this). Now, let's say, hypothetically, I love Charmin! I love the price, love how it feels, love everything about it. You, as the opposition, feel the same way about Quilted Northern. Now, we can go about this multiple ways.
Yell at each other till we are blue in the face
Get a third opinion
Kill it with kindness
The best thing to do here is option 3. What does that mean exactly? Well, it's like I mentioned earlier, kill the arguement with kindness. If you, the reader, decide that Charmin is ok, and not that bad, BOOM! Argument is finished, no more tension, everyone is happy. We just solved a HUGE debate that could have turned ugly fast.
Well how does toilet paper blend with GOD? Well, its the same principle with GOD. We argue about stuff for so long about whether it is against the Bible or not, and we have this inner struggle we deal with of "GOD, if I do this, it won't be the worst thing ever. He's not going to send me to hell for it". You're right, he won't, but you have disobeyed your savior by going behind his word. We just need to realize that this is probably not the best thing in the world to do, I will just go with what GOD says and not fight about it.
See how simple things can be if we just think happy thoughts?
