A Facebook friend likes "IF YOU WANT TO BURN OUR AMERICAN FLAG, PLEASE WRAP YOURSELF UP IN IT FIRST." Really? Is that what a pro-life person says? Does a person expressing an objectionable opinion deserve death? Should we ever advocate suicide, or any kind of violence? Please, let's think about what we're saying.
This is just one more example of of hate speech that I am determined to fight. (See earlier comments on With 'pro-lifers' like these, who needs pro-choicers?') Quite often, when I speak up, I'm told I should learn how to take a joke, as when I rebuked another person on Facebook who advocated a French Revolution-style purging of political opponents.
But consider Proverbs 26:18-19: "Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death, is the man who deceives his neighbor, and says, 'I was only joking.'" When we loosely express hateful thoughts -- even when we don't mean to advocate violence -- we deceive our neighbors and risk setting a wildfire or destroying people. Take care with what you say!
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