Being friends with people who have very different political opinions is hard, and that is partly because ideas are personal.
Ideas are connected with our understanding, experience and framing of the world; a disagreement can feel like a disagreement or rejection of who we are, of the way we have understood or located ourselves.
I have been humbled by meeting truly wonderful people over the last few weeks, who are outside of the echo chamber that I have been in the past few years.
It has left me reflecting on the thought that it is very difficult to fight with someone who is not proud.
One of the things I want to learn this year is how to express my thoughts and opinions while holding them lightly enough that I am able to graciously learn from others.
After all, our growth is not correlated to doctrinal accuracy!
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” James 4:1
thejoyofrachel 
Rachel,
Justice, love, forgiveness and mercy without truth are in the eye of the beholder.
Christ says I am the way, the truth and the life. Those mentioned in my first sentence are not mentioned by Him, but are the natural result of the condition He sets for those who would follow Him. You are right it is not easy.
Two people can look at the same topic with differing views and both have reason and logic to do so. Yet only one can be right. If you believed that the earth revolves around the sun and I believed that the sun revolves around the earth, the physical forces would not act on us in any different way. With that being said there is still only one that can be true. The one who is correct is the one with the evidence…..the truth.
Agreeing to disagree only validates unsubstantiated beliefs to keep peace. But don’t roll over to someone else’s idea for the sake of peace. Christ said I come not to bring peace but discord for the sake of the truth. So one should never compromise one’s soul to keep the peace.
-Alan
LikeLike