Defriended by a Democrat

Only one more day and all the election hoopla will be over. And as an old Southern Baptist preacher would say, "And all God's people said?" Amen!

No more political battles on Facebook or Twitter. News media can go back to covering disturbing local news. The loudest people will concede with a "Fine have it your way. Our country is going to hell in a hand basket, you just wait and see" posts. And then life as we know will return back to normal. We can start watching commercials aimed at depression, men problems (that you can't watch with your mom), and bladder issues. Facebook will once again be used for sports and television news.

But something that amazes me is just how angry we get about our politics.

This has especially revealed itself on Facebook. People go on rants and start defriending people. Now it is no shocker that Facebook is full of shallow friendships, but it has split real friendships up as well.

I try to poke fun at both candidates equally, even though one of them has my support.

I don't think that you are stupid if you vote differently from me. I would never devalue you because of who you vote for or even your stance on political issues. Let's be honest, we all love our country and want what's best.

Because of this I stay out of political arguments, especially on social media.

However, on Facebook I noticed that a friend of mine who always has political commentary wasn't being vocal about anything. So I searched them. Guess what? I had been defriended. My wife found where he had gotten into a political argument and thought it best to defriend anyone who might disagree with him.

This hurt...a lot.

This hadn't been a shallow friendship. It was a friendship where we walked together in some of the darkest places. A friendship that at one time was full of respect, generosity, and love. I tried to text and e-mail my friend. He never responded. We weren't as close as we were, but I would have thought that I could call on this person for anything for the rest of my life. And still believe that I probably could (as long as they answered their phone).

It's frightening to think about how politically polar some of us are. We blame our dysfunctional government for our problems, but guess what our government looks like? Just like us! Since we disagree, all we can do is argue or not talk at all. It's sickening!

Whether you are conservative or liberal in your politics that doesn't mean that you can't value the other.

I don't believe that Democrats and left-wing liberals are evil or that they are the problem with our country. Democrats are great, because where the church has failed to love and take care of the poor and powerless, they have stepped up. But Democrats and political liberals please understand that Republicans and conservatives aren't greedy old racist men who want to make it difficult on unwed mothers and homosexuals. They too just want to make our country a better place.

Christian, if you are more politically charged than you are spiritually charged, then you have a problem. 

When political issues overpower Christ mandated laws to love one another you have a huge problem. Not only do you have a huge problem, but you are part of the problem.

So Christians with Decision 2012 almost over, let's do something more revolutionary than voting and a bazillion times more important than being American. Let's love one another, even when we disagree.