Opposing Views.

When there is a great debate over social events that involve race, justice, religion, and other matters that people take pride in, I see that many of my Facebook say that they will delete Facebook friends that say anything ignorant, or “opposing to their views.” I can understand deleting FB friends that post the utmost ignorant status updates, or are always rude when replying to your statuses, but if someone simply has a different view than yours, then that isn’t a necessary basis to delete someone from your friends list.

Sometimes I feel like I have more FB friends with opposing views because I’ll get more conflicting comments than likes. Still, I appreciate having friends with opposing views because it helps me make my opinions stronger, and sometimes I change my mind. I have seen FB friends lose their composure because someone disagreed with what they said. It had nothing to do with how they said it or much of what they said, but only because they did not agree with their opinion.

If all my FB friends agreed with everything I said, then I would think that I’m the smartest person on earth. I would also have no filter on how I say things because no matter how vulgar I can say it I know that no one will get offended. By knowing that some of my FB friends will not agree with my opinion or possibly get offended, it causes me to analyze how I word something before I post it. I want to be honest with how I feel, but I also want to be conscious to how what I say will make someone feel.

Some people lose close friends that they hang out with on the regular over an opinion that they posted on FB. I understand how important people’s opinions can be. Words hurt, but you have the power to control how sharp your words sound by how you write them. I read many posts that look like the person wrote it in the heat of the moment while they were fired up with anger with no respect for how they will make other people feel. Some posts I read sound like their goal wasn’t to state their opinion but to deliberately get people to unfriend them. Facebook is a great social tool to share your opinion and all things that you care about, but it should never be used to attack others verbally, make others feel less valued, or to see how many harsh words does it take to lose some friends.

With the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. James 3:9.