A great civil conversation

I’m having a great “civil” conversation on facebook with a friend of Matt’s who posted an objection to the claim that the US was founded as a Christian nation, that the Founding Fathers were “free-thinking” deists, not Christians.  The post is a great example of civil conversations.  This friend of Matt’s has spent the night at my home.  I have prayed like crazy for the young man and his family over the years.  I could have reacted negatively to his initial post and alienated him; or the conversation could have devolved into a nasty battle of name calling.  I don’t want that.  I have too much love and concern for this young man to make an enemy.  The only way we can have dialogue and ever convince anyone of Christ’s love for them is to show them patience, kindness, caring, and love.  We must hear them out and not put them down.  This is a reminder to all of us in all of our conversations, but especially in emails, facebook posts, twitter, etc.  It’s really too easy to be nasty when typing words.  And that’s not going to show Christ’s love to anyone.