Open Minded-ness

So, as you probably know, I love reading MckMama's blog.  I'm loving that her husband is now blogging on there, too.  He gives the rarely-seen, but badly-needed male perspective in the blogging community.  He's very open and honest in his blogging, which I love. 

Anyway, on her blog, she has a Blog Frog community that I had always seen the link to, but never really clicked on.  Usually, it shows the most recent two or three threads people have commented on.  Today, as I was reading her post, I saw that someone had started a thread about "The Evil of Pornography."  Of course, being the nosy person I am, I decided to click on it.  Because of the kind of person MckMama is, and therefore, the kind of readers she attracts,  I expected to see a thread of people largely agreeing with the original poster about porn and the problems it causes.  However, what I saw was kind of a knock-down, drag-out argument about whether or not pornography is evil or wrong.  When I first started eavesdropping on the convo, it was 12 pages long.  It's now up to a whopping 20!  There is much division within the group, and it can be noted that pretty much everyone who is a Christian thinks it's morally wrong, while the ones who aren't don't really see a major issue with it. 

Here's where I need to get honest: I seriously forget that not everyone has the same views I do!  Whether it's on pornography, abortion, gay marriage, whatever, it never occurs to me until someone tells me their view that someone might disagree with me on something! haha  As you can imagine, this thread was quite a shock to my system!  To see people on the opposite side try to explain their standpoint seemed totally foreign to me.  I couldn't really get my mind around it!  After thinking about it for awhile, I realized that the people on the other side probably feel the same way I do!  They see my opinion, or the opinions of other posters on "my" side of the argument, and they probably think it makes no sense at all!

Now, I'm fully aware everyone is entitled to their own opinion.  However, I am NOT one of those "whatever is right for you might not be right for me" people.  (There were a few posters who seemed to be preaching that mantra on the thread.)  I firmly believe in absolute truth.  I believe God DOES have a very strong opinion on a great many subjects that we, as humans, argue about.  Quite frankly, it's His opinion I'm interested in more than any others.  I also believe that we CAN know his opinions on something by getting to know Him.  The people who preach multiple truths in the name of "open mindedness" and "tolerance" are the very ones leading the most people astray and causing the most division.  Also, if you'll notice, they're the ones the most intolerant of those of us with very strong beliefs, even if we're sharing those beliefs in a non-threatening manner.

What gets to me is the people on either side of an argument who can't at least be civil to the people who think differently.  There are many people in my life who hold VERY different views than I do, yet I am still nice to them, even if we are talking about a sensitive subject.  It is possible to exchange opinions and beliefs without ostracizing the other person or generally berating them and the things for which they stand.  I have very little patience for the "Christians" who ruin their witness for Christ by being a poor sport in an argument or bowl over everyone else in their zeal to spread the "truth."  (E.G. People who blow up abortion clinics, or picket at the funeral of a homosexual, etc.)  Those "Christians" need to stop playing for my team!  They're no better than the non-Christians who do all they can do besmirch the name of God and His followers!

Basically, the high points of my rambling are:

• God DOES have an opinion on pretty much every subject that we argue about.
• Christians and non-Christians alike need to chillax and learn to debate without being a jerk.
• People need to stop the whole relative truth thing.
• Some "Christians" need to stop playing for my team!

This might not have made any sense at all.  If that's the case, I'm sorry.  Let me know if I'm just rambling! lol