As society becomes increasingly polarised, we’re tending to divide people up into two teams: my team, and the enemy team.
This is a problem because, in reality, a lot of our issues are more complex than having simply two teams, and such division can grieve the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians teaches us that the Holy Spirit is saddened by our disunity (Eph. 4:30), and in the context refers to unwholesome talk, bitterness, anger, slander and brawling (v.29, 31). Sadly we’ve seen plenty of this in the last year as people have bitterly argued over issues such as Brexit, BLM, and Covid-19, slandering and name-calling in the process. Whilst Christmas is known as the time for family arguments, 2020 might become known as the year for arguments!
It’s not just the manner in which we engage that is the problem, it is that each one of us assumes we are the right side. If we were aware enough of God’s presence in our debates, we might even presume to ask God, ‘Are you on our side or the other side?’, to which He would reply, ‘Neither!’ (Josh.5:13). And so the question becomes for us: ‘Are we on God’s side?’
How can we be on God’s side amidst all these debates? Firstly, I think we need to remove all bitterness and slander from the debate, and maintain the unity the Holy Spirit has given us (Eph. 4:3). Let’s do some soul searching to understand why the bitterness arises, and why we keep misrepresenting people and their views.
Secondly, let’s listen well, and avoid putting people into pigeonholes. Most of these debates contain more than two simple positions – Not everyone who supports the Black Lives Matter slogan supports the later-founded BLM organisation. Not everyone who is anti-racist is pro Critical Race Theory. Not everyone who voted for Brexit is racist. Not everyone who voted for Remain is not racist. Not everyone who thinks there is systemic injustice holds to Marxism or thinks we should ignore individual responsibility. Not everyone who thinks Covid-19 is a grave threat has the same solution. All these debates contain a variety of responses that don’t fit a two-team approach.
Thirdly, let’s learn what God’s view is on these issues. There’s so much more Scripture searching to be done on these issues. Our favourite secular commentators don’t take us far enough with either the problems or the solutions. So, let’s diligently search the Scriptures, and lead the way by humbly presenting Biblical answers to complex problems, in fear and trepidation that we’re not misrepresenting God or grieving the Holy Spirit and causing disunity.
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