The overwhelming feeling I got from this week was, be kind to each other. We come from different backgrounds, cultures, religions, countries, beliefs, etc. We judge others based on these things. And as it says in the bible, we should judge righteously. Which doesn't mean we should judge to condemn, but that we should judge whether or not a situation or person is a good influence. That being said, as a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints, I know that the family is ordained of God. The family should be made up of a father and mother legally married and their children. As Brother Williams said, "The family relationship is not natural, it's divine." This week we talked about the family unit and not everyone agrees with this definition. That doesn't mean we are mean, and it doesn't mean that we should stop proclaiming what we believe. It is a difficult balance I think.
I don't know if that was just a confusing compilation of my thoughts or if it was coherent, but I would like to ask a question. How do we tell others what we know to be true without hurting feelings, or offending others?
And I just want to say again, be kind to each other. We don't know what others are experiencing just as they don't know everything about us. It isn't our place to judge, but to love.
I think the biggest thing we need to express when we are disagreeing with someone's life choices, is that while we may not love what the person is choosing to do, we love them as a person no matter what. It comes up in parenting, but also in friendships and in life in general. You can separate a person from their choices and decisions, usually. God sees each of us as we are, despite our choices, and loves each soul because we are His, not because we choose right. Of course He does prefer we choose righteously, but just because someone sins doesn't mean they are no longer worthy of God's love, nor does it mean He has ever stopped loving them. So should it be with us (though, as humans, it is often a failing among us). You can love the sinner, but not the sin. And that, is how we are to judge righteously without hurting feelings, or at least try to. If we say "hey, I don't feel so great about you doing this thing, but that doesnt mean you can't be my friend, or I don't care about you. It just means that I'm not a fan of this particular choice you've made. So long as you don't try and push me to join you in these things, I'm happy to keep going in our relationship/friendship,etc." that hopefully helps them understand we aren't judging them, but what they are doing. Separates the individual worth from the choice.
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