Stupid

That is the word I used on someones Facebook page recently. I disagreed and did not like their post. I felt it divided us as Americans along racial lines and said this is stupid. I really feel I should not have used that word. I do believe we need to stand up for what we believe.  More importantly, I think we need to use kind words and not tear others down with verbal exchanges. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.  Proverbs 18:21  A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. Matthew 12:35  I believe I can do better than I did on that post and I really want to try and stand for my beliefs but I want to do with loving and kind words. I want to voice my opinion in a way that encourages others and unifies rather than divide. I am not sure if I will be successful, but I can try. I have been blocked on Facebook before and unfriended and I also have unfriended several people during my time on face book. The latest was because I saw so much stuff that I disagreed with and I want to stand for my beliefs but perhaps it should not be in the comments on someones post in Facebook. But really what is the comment line for? Just to comment only when we agree? It appears Face book would agree, because they give us a like button and not a dislike button. Are we robots if we have to all think the same. Shouldn't we really be able to comment disagreement, hopefully without using words like stupid as I did and the words sent back to me, ignorant, uneducated, stupid, bigot, racist and many other things. Shut your pie hole. Are we so insecure that no one is allowed to disagree with us. IF it is not insecurity than what is it?  Why have we come so far down this negative slope that we cannot handle disagreements?  Isn't that a sign of immaturity when we cannot handle a criticism from a friend or loved one. I think what a boring place this world would be if we thought identical on every issue. We were not created by God to be robots. We were created in his image.  Perhaps even today, not being robots and programmed for every thing we say, we should be able to tolerate disagreement. I don't believe rioting is the answer but debate is OK. But if we do not allow someone to disagree with us are we much different in our hearts than the killers of recent days? Or doesn't it at least show immaturity? Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Do we speak life or death? Scripture says what we speak comes from the abundance of our heart. I do not want my heart to be full of stuff that would cause me to use the word stupid as I did that day.  I want to speak life.  I do try to look into my own heart. Even more than settling a dispute with words instead of actions,  should we be able to use kinds words? And not destroy others with our words. I am not sorry for speaking my mind, I am sorry for using the word stupid. When I look at past posts, I do not see a bunch of disagreement, mostly people pass on stuff they agree with. But on the occasion we see something we disagree with and feel compelled to reply, shouldn't we be able to express an opinion without being destroyed verbally? I don't see it much on my page and I suppose most of us choose our friends that think like us. Perhaps I am wrong to unfriend someone when I see myself disagreeing with them frequently. If I don't unfriend them I know I would comment sometimes  and it just seems in our world today many cannot handle disagreement.  Isn't that just a normal behavior to disagree and express that disagreement?  What is happening in our world today that we don't feel free to disagree? Have we lost the ability to talk civilly?  To use kind words, and as they say speak the truth in love. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Let us bless others with kind words and not lose our freedom to speak disagreement.  Help me God to be wise in my choice of words. I remember on the job a time when I investigated a change an fellow employee wanted to make on the routing of a wire bundle. As I looked into it, I understood why it would be easier for him but I also saw that the change would add 4 feet of wire to 24 wires in that bundle and not shorten any.  That would add a lot of weight  to the airplane. I said no and then proceeded to explain why. The man only heard no and did not hear my explanation. Just a pound of weight on an airplane is a big deal. If his change had been the other way where it reduced weight or had been even, I would gladly have initiated the change.  I learned to try and explain why before I said no. There is power in the tongue to promote life or death. I want to learn to use mine tongue to promote life. There are so many things in life we may find reason to disagree. Let us do it with kind words. God bless, LVZ.