There are some people that are just more difficult to get along with in this world. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of good people too but, there are people who are set in their ways. Seemingly unchangeable, annoying, punks, who are enchanted with -1 to forgiving, and would never show mercy. (See below)
These are people (or space aliens) that cannot be
reasoned with-- the ones that no matter how much you do for them, they will
eventually hate you forever based off some arbitrary reason. This arbitrary
reason in their mind will be a violation of common sense. (I mean I am sure that everyone has done this sometime in their lifetime...This is not to say that Catholics don't do it too.) I think this eventually
happens to people who don’t realize that in order to love someone, it is
absolutely necessary for you to tolerate at least some parts of them that
irritate you.
Some base this off of scriptures,
saying we can judge others... But I have yet to have found scriptures that support that view.
"But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister
will be subject to judgment."
(Matthew 5:5-7)
You will be subject to judgement because in
your heart you have put them on the level of a thing, an object to be mad at...
Its just like what the United States did when we went to war with Germany.
Hamburgers were named after a city in Germany, but that was suspended and
named, for a time, Salisbury steak. Why? Dehumanization of an enemy. Last time I checked this is not (in
most scenarios anyways) a virtue.
Jesus
never responded to any conflict with an eye for an eye, or justice, solution. When Peter struck the guard
and cut off his ear, Jesus stopped him. Why? When Peter said that he would not
let anything happen to Jesus what happened? Jesus actually got angry with
Peter. He was stopping him from saving the world! When Judas betrayed Jesus,
did he even rebuke Judas? No, he rebuked Peter. Imagine that you are standing
by Jesus and you are watching as the guards strike at him… wouldn’t you attack
them? Wouldn’t you do all you could to protect Jesus? Isn’t that justice?
“ for God so loved the world, he gave his only son.” (John 3:16)
He loved the world and so he made a sacrifice. Why was the sacrifice necessary? Because of Sin. What is sin? Sin is evil. This is the legendary question, why does evil exist? God does not want to destroy evil but save it:
While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”(Mark 2:15-17)
When you add yeast to bread, the yeast makes the entire loaf rise. Or for food that might taste bland you would add salt to increase the flavor of the entire meal. Evil exists because God loves the world so much that he doesn’t want to destroy it, but instead convert it. So, how should we go about conflict resolution?
There is something about watching a
clear cut battle between good vs evil that sparks that "Aha!" moment within us where we can see good. We see a
tyrant besides a humble, life giving servant, then we can then see which is right and which is wrong. But then there comes the question, how do we approach conflict when it comes our way? Many of us today see another performing a, “evil” deed and then,
approach it with what some describe as righteous anger.
"Let every person be quick to hear, slow to
speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness
of God" (James 1:19–20, ESV)
If someone else hurts you, you shouldn’t try to hurt them
back. You should try to restore
their soul, or have we learned at all from Jesus’ example on the cross? I am
pretty sure, last time i checked anyways, that killing someone on a cross is something that should be punished by death…
but… ironically the opposite happened. Assuming that others should receive
justice for their sins and you should receive forgiveness for yours is a double
standard. We need to love the person, accept them for who they are, and love them despite the fact that there are some issues we might have with them.
I
just tried this hardcore, for the first time, because of my girlfriend. I am usually abit
of a, "if you’re doing something wrong I should immediately point it out to the
other person," type person. Abit judgemental I suppose. And, you know, it made
me realize something. What would saying any words possibly do? Has anyone every
persuaded another person with just words? No. Even Jesus taught by example, not
just words. We need to provide an example to the secular, moral relativistic society today and show them how to fight fire! Which is not with fire-- I mean that doesn't even make sense-- but with water. =)
