Partisanship

Another observation about my recent interaction with my "facebook friend."

His response seemed civil and rational, so I'd like to talk further (in more than the bumper-sticker or postcard-sized "thoughts" facebook promotes); but I'm rather hesitant to approach him. People striking belligerent poses invariably perceive any approach as hostile. Picknickers in Ukraine are well-advised these days to not stroll through fields near a military outpost, even if it's manned by "our side." Whatever ordinary or innocent purpose may be in your heart, or even if you're on the same "side," partisans can only see, and react to, everyone else in terms of their violent mania.

And it is very much "mania," the madness of sin's self-ishness, to operate as if the world entirely and actually conforms to one's personal world-view. A person who attacks others with a knife in the belief that everyone is trying to kill him, we deem criminally insane. Acting out the sin of partisanship (Galatians 5:20) is the same kind of madness: and produces the same raging spirit of murder.