How many of you have known couples or have friends who have had disagreements about religion, politics, even sports teams which resulted in them dissolving that relationship?
Really- how stupid is that?
No video today- just a simple thought.
But I still need to do the administrative stuff, so those who have always gone to video, this is what the readers get to see:
I had a friend through this ministry who had been following me for a few years, and even honored me by saying that I was her mentor. We even did a video call now and then and I really enjoyed her friendship.
Recently, though, she joined a group of people who state that Christmas and Easter are pagan holidays that no one who is a believer should celebrate. I have often opposed this belief on Facebook and through this ministry; the reasoning for my position is not relevant to today’s message. What is relevant is that she not only blocked me, but went on my Facebook group and told everyone to block me because I supported pagan holidays and wasn’t worthy to be listened to, or something to that effect.
Because of something so trivial, and it is– whether or not someone celebrates those holidays is not a salvation issue- I went from mentor to pariah. None of the many messages she told me she loved, telling me often how I have helped her spiritual growth, had any value anymore. Now that I disagreed with her on something that was not even a salvation issue, but because she was so adamant about what she chose to believe, our friendship was over.
I still can’t believe that after all the compliments, one disagreement was enough for her to totally swing to the other end of the pendulum.
I also had an argument, a political one, with someone I have had a very close relationship with for many years. I am conservative and she chooses to be liberal, not because of any real issues but, as so many Americans are, because she hates the man called Donald Trump.
Fortunately, our relationship IS more important to her than some guy who neither of us really know, who is important today and won’t be tomorrow, who we have known about for maybe 12 years but never knew before. I can’t tell you how glad I am that she came to her senses and realized that we have been together for nearly 30 years, and he is not even a part of our lives.
Who would throw away a relationship that has been lasting so long and been so wonderful and enlightening over someone who is not a part of our lives and will be uneventful in a few years from now?
This is what I cannot understand: why would anyone in a long and dedicated relationship destroy it over something that is a temporary situation? And over something that has not been anything more than a third party issue, not about anyone or anything that is an integral part of their lives, which hasn’t been or ever will be, yet people get so angry about something so unimportant that they turn their hatred of the thing to hatred of each other.
Marriages can be ruined by differences over how to raise the children, over money management, over addictions, over infidelity… but politics? but religious beliefs?
Okay, maybe religious beliefs can be one of the most difficult things to overcome because unevenly yoked is a biblical issue, but it isn’t a salvation issue. And Shaul (Paul) even says that in an unevenly yoked relationship, the believer should remain with the non-believer in the hope that they will save the other person’s soul through their example.
So, let’s all try to remember that interpersonal relationships are built, ultimately, on agreements about important issues, and sometimes it is just that people love each other for no reason at all- they just do. “Opposites attract” is a cute adage, but it is wrong- you need to have some foundational beliefs that are the same for a lasting and mutually agreeable relationship.
But as far as I am concerned, sports teams and politics are so fluidic, so constantly changing and untrustworthy that they should be absolutely irrelevant to a relationship. No one, and I mean NO ONE should ever let something as constantly changing as politics or sports ever come between their friendship or love, because if it does, then maybe that love or friendship wasn’t strong enough to begin with.
Likewise, our relationship with God and his messiah should be strong enough to withstand any disagreement, and we should be compassionate and patient enough to accept people who don’t agree. It is better for us to continue to accept unbelievers than to reject them; let them reject you, but you should never give up on them, even if it is just by being an example.
Thank you for being here and please comment or “like” these messages to help this ministry grow. Also, share them with everyone you know, even non-believers, Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.
That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!