sticks and stones

I remember being a child and saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." This phrase was usually repeated very quickly right before we turned around and ran home sobbing. Although words may not physically hurt, they sometimes can cause pain that is much worse than physical pain. Sure, it hurts a when child gets hit, but the pain goes away after a while and the child is able to move on. Hateful words, on the other had, can lead to years of emotional pain and suffering.

I don't understand how someone can claim to be a Christian and yet hate an entire group of people. Christ never hated anyone. We can disagree with how people behave, what they believe and the way they live their lives, but we do not have the right to hate them. I don't like guns, but I don't condemn people for having them in their homes where their children play. I enjoy eating meat, but it would be absurd if I got into a fight with each of my vegetarian friends every time we got together for lunch. So why do some people feel the need to completely disassociate from those who do not hold their same beliefs?

Growing up in a community that was predominantly of one faith, I was taught that I needed to have good friends and that good friends were those people who lived exactly the same way that I lived. The older I got, the more evident it became that although many of us were raised the same way, we did not all believe exactly the same things. Once I got to college, I found it interesting that many people vehemently followed one political party and felt that anyone who was not affiliated with that party were not being true to their beliefs. How could anyone say that when general authorities do not all have the same political beliefs? How can people have so much hatred in their hearts and then go to church and talk about loving their neighbors as themselves? As we are entering this holiday season, can we just try a little harder to focus a little more on fixing some of our own faults and spend a little less time pointing fingers at others?