with a gentle answer?
October 12, 2010 (Tuesday)
A recent email about “right” and “left” in politics got me to thinking about where and when the terms originated. So I looked it up in Wikipedia. Apparently, it has something to do with the French Revolution and where the people sat during the public proceedings.
More descriptive than “right” and “left” are the terms, “conservative” and “liberal.” Even these terms, however, are subjective in nature and their meanings within a discussion must be interpreted by the context.
If one goes to the extreme in his/her beliefs, the opposite poles seem to merge and produce the same drastic, tragic results. For instance, Hitler and Stalin were at opposite ends of the political spectrum with Fascism on the far right and Communism on the far left. The impact of their beliefs, however, resulted in imprisonment, torture and death for anyone who got in their way. The message for us seems to be to avoid the extreme viewpoints. The truth nearly always lies somewhere in between.
We live in an era of extreme viewpoints and polarization of the general populace. Almost any issue you can name will evoke an argument, with the people of the nation seemingly divided evenly.
Perhaps it’s a good time for us to remember the teachings of Scripture: “A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1 NASB).