Letter to a facebook "friend"

Hi, B----:

Thanks for being open to some comments. You can understand why I wasn't sure you would.

Was hopeful after your facebook response was civil and straightforward. But we naturally associate people with their facebook (re-) posts:
an implied "I'm (whoever), and I approved this message," like the tag on politicians' ads. Isn't that what we intend to say with our facebook re-postings ?

So I was glad you didn't respond in the spirit of that post. I'm not at all implying hypocrisy: I get that you despise President Obama, and you don't ever pretend otherwise. But neither do you seem filled with raging hatred like the writer of your post.

For all I know, the writer himself may actually be a decent person, and only using violent rhetoric to make his opinions more striking. Political views these days have to be pretty extreme (as you agreed his post is) to stand out from the negative chorus we've gotten used to. He may simply be trying for some kind of notoriety among the crowd.

It's otherwise hard to understand why a decent person would choose to strike a pose so much more evil than his actual character. You and I both know the scriptures, especially Christ's teachings. We both know the admonition to "put on Christ." Isn't spewing hatred putting on the contrary spirit ?

So where are you with that ? You're obviously not filled with malevolent violence like the writer is (or at least pretends to). How does your re-posting his rantings not imply your approval: and associate your own character with the spirit his post manifests ?

Those questions are meant as hostile only to that enemy spirit, and his deceiving the Church away from its Head. Between us Christians, they are questions of purposefully "putting on Christ."

Thanks for welcoming my thoughts, and I'll very much welcome yours.

In Jesus, Steve