How did we get so polarized?

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Note: I first posted this article shortly after the 2020 U.S. presidential election. But with another election season in progress, I’d like to run it again with just a couple of small updates, because it still reflects my feelings about the polarization ripping apart our society. If anything, the situation has gotten worse.

Some blame the news media. Some blame our political leaders. Many blame folks on the other side of our Culture Wars divide. But my research shows that a variety of interrelated factors contribute to the extreme polarization in our society, including some influences that creep in beneath our conscious awareness:

Social media. If there’s one thing most people actually agree on, it is that social media can exacerbate polarization. Platforms such as Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter) provide the ideal forum for the moral grandstanding and flame-throwing that fuel our Culture Wars. Some folks love a good fight and make a hobby of keeping everyone stirred up through deliberate trolling. For more of us, the relative anonymity of a screen allows us to share sentiments we’d never dream of expressing out loud to someone in a face-to-face conversation. 

Ideological bubbles and echo chambers. In his book The Big Sort, journalist Bill Bishop describes a demographic trend in which Americans have segregated themselves into homogenous communities, choosing everything from cable news networks to civic organizations and church denominations compatible with their lifestyles and beliefs. We have even separated geographically from those who differ from us ideologically. The result, Bishop says, is “a country that has become so polarized, so ideologically inbred, the people don’t know and can’t understand those who live a few miles away.” Meanwhile, on the Internet, sophisticated algorithms create “echo chambers” that ensure we are exposed mostly to people and sites promoting our own worldview and shielded from conflicting ideas or viewpoints.

Manipulation. We are relentlessly manipulated, often without realizing it, by folks who profit handsomely from keeping us polarized. Social media advertisers know the most salacious headlines get the most clicks – and generate the most ad revenue. Politicians whip us into an us-versus-them frenzy to secure our votes. Cable news networks boost their ratings by keeping people angry and divided. Online businesses appeal to our partisan divisions with in-your-face merchandise – a Deplorable University coffee mug or Safe Spaces Are for Snowflakes bumper sticker for conservatives, a Jesus was Progressive car magnet or Democrats Cleaning Up Republican Messes Since 1933 dog sweater for progressives (or their pets). 

Groupthink and our need for belonging. Kids begin forming in-groups as early as kindergarten and our cliquish behavior unfortunately doesn’t end when we leave high school. “The human mind is exquisitely tuned to group affiliation and group difference,” says political analyst Ezra Klein in his book Why We’re Polarized. “It takes almost nothing for us to form a group identity, and once that happens, we naturally assume ourselves in competition with other groups.” The more we identify with a group, the more we feel pressured to agree with its dogma – a party line that seems to include 650 boxes which must all be checked or we risk rejection by our chosen peers. The deeper our commitment to an identity group, the more vulnerable we are to the effects of “group polarization” – the tendency for the group as a whole to adopt attitudes or actions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its individual members.

Projection and scapegoating. We humans have a distressing tendency to project our own less-than-admirable thoughts, behaviors and forbidden impulses onto others. Christians and non-Christians alike “are at times behaving horribly in the ways they engage in our political discourse,” says the Rev. Eugene Cho in his book Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk. “We want to preach to others, but we don’t preach to ourselves. We love to flip tables, but not our own. We love to expose the privilege in others, while rarely considering our own.” The concept of scapegoating first appears in Leviticus 16:8-10 – a goat would literally be cast into the desert to carry away the community’s sins – and the word “scapegoat” has since developed to indicate a person or group of people blamed and punished for the sins of others. Once we’ve blamed someone for all of society’s problems, it’s a short step toward demonizing and dehumanizing them.

Our soundbite culture. One problem that keeps us from discussing and resolving issues appropriately is our modern emphasis on brevity, which is often designed to accommodate our increasingly short attention spans. According to the Rev. Cho, our failure to engage issues more intelligently prevents us from fully understanding the “why” behind our convictions. (“Don’t just be a headline reader,” he urges us.) It is nearly impossible to give an issue the depth it deserves when we limit our communication to bumper stickers, 15-second sound bites and 280-character tweets.

Our inability to tolerate ambiguity or acknowledge moral complexity. Moral and ethical questions don’t always lend themselves to simplistic answers, and honest people can honestly disagree about the best way to resolve complex issues. An example of this dilemma has been our recent struggle over the best way to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning of the pandemic, we wrestled with the question, “How can we protect people who are more vulnerable to severe illness or death without destroying the jobs that allow other people to feed their families, keep a roof over their heads and afford basic health care?” When we didn’t have enough of a life-saving vaccine to go around, who got priority? As things have returned to normal, scientists’ changing understanding of the virus has made it difficult for public health experts to offer consistent advice on the need for continuing safety measures. But rather than remain open to new research, too many of us have chosen to dig in our heels and stick with whatever our identity group decrees to be “the truth.”

Our oppositional mindset. We often hear how it’s easier to unite Americans against something than to unite them for something. In her now-classic book The Argument Culture, linguistics professor Deborah Tannen describes “a pervasive warlike atmosphere that makes us approach public dialogue, and just about anything we need to accomplish, as if it were a fight.” She explains that our society constantly urges us to engage the world in an adversarial frame of mind: “The best way to discuss an idea is to set up a debate; the best way to cover news is to find spokespeople who express the most extreme, polarized views and present them as ‘both sides’; the best way to settle disputes is litigation that pits one party against the other; the best way to begin an essay is to attack someone; and the best way to show you’re really thinking is to criticize.” Our use of language reflects this mindset, she adds: “The war on drugs, the war on cancer … war metaphors pervade our talk and shape our thinking.” 

Relentless pressure to take sides. Our determination to pursue truth by setting up a fight between two sides leads us to believe every issue has two sides – no more and no less, Tannen says. But opposition “does not lead to truth when an issue is not composed of two opposing sides but is a crystal of many sides. Often the truth is in the complex middle, not the oversimplified extremes.” In other words, an issue may not actually have two sides, but rather, three or four or seventeen sides. Pressure to choose between the two sides presented to us keeps us from recognizing and remaining open to other options.

Negative partisanship and defining-by-opposition. Partisan behavior is often driven not by positive feelings toward the political party we support but by negative feelings toward the party we oppose, according to Klein. You might be guilty of negative partisanship, he says, “if you’ve ever voted in an election feeling a bit bleh about the candidate you backed, but fearful of the troglodyte or socialist running against her.” Charles C. Camosy describes “the politics of defining-by-opposition” in his book Resisting Throwaway Culture. “We almost always view the ideological communities to which we belong through the lens of a narrow progressive/conservative binary – a binary into which all issues, regardless of their complexity, are shoved and made to fit,” he explains. “We define ourselves by our opposition to ‘the other side’ well before we even engage their ideas and arguments.”

Logical fallacies. The dualistic, oppositional, either/or mindset outlined above is an example of a logical fallacy – a thinking error that distorts our perceptions and leads to inaccurate conclusions. Other logical fallacies that contribute to polarization include zero-sum thinking (we insist that one side’s gain must be the other side’s loss); fundamental attribution error (when bad things happen to other people, we believe they are personally at fault, but when bad things happen to us, we blame the situation and circumstances beyond our control); confirmation bias (we embrace information that supports our viewpoints, while ignoring information that doesn’t); and all-or-nothing thinking (if we change our mind about one issue, it will mean everything we’ve ever believed in is wrong, so we’ll be forced to change our entire worldview). 

Addiction to outrage and contempt. There certainly are plenty of issues to be legitimately angry about in our society right now. But face it, outrage and contempt can help us feel so superior to others that many of us are hopelessly addicted. We live in a culture of contempt, says Arthur C. Brooks in his book Love Your Enemies. Brooks variously defines contempt as “anger mixed with disgust,” “an enduring attitude of complete disdain,” and “the unsullied conviction of the worthlessness of another.” While most of us hate what unbridled outrage and contempt are doing to our society, he says many of us “compulsively consume the ideological equivalent of meth from elected officials, academics, entertainers and some of the news media.” 

Our sinful nature. Many Christians believe sin can ultimately be defined as separation. And what word would describe extreme polarization better than separation? Several “sins of separation” contribute to the polarization tearing our society apart. We commit idolatry when we turn the conservative/progressive movements into quasi-religions and place our loyalty to a political ideology or party ahead of our loyalty to God. We take God’s name in vain when we use it to promote hatred toward people or groups we oppose. We bear false witness against our neighbors when we deliberately twist their words and distort their positions on various issues so we can portray them as terrible people. We ignore the plank in our own eye while focusing obsessively on the speck in our perceived opponent’s eye. Most of all, we fail to love our neighbors as ourselves, especially if they voted for the wrong candidate in the last election.

Unfortunately, polarization can be self-reinforcing, creating an endless feedback loop, according to Klein. To appeal to a polarized public, political institutions, cable news networks and other public entities behave in more polarized ways. As the political institutions and other actors behave in more polarized ways, they further polarize the public. To appeal to a further polarized public, institutions must polarize even more. The cycle becomes a downward spiral.

If we want to stop this depressing cycle, a good first step might be paying attention to the ways we are pressured and manipulated to take sides in situations where taking sides may not be the best idea, as well as recognizing the logical fallacies that encourage polarized thinking and behavior. I’m also thinking those of us who identify as Christians may need to renew our commitment to follow the Lamb rather than the elephant or the donkey.

Questions for readers: What factors do you see leading to the extreme polarization in our society? What would help alleviate this? I’d love to hear your responses to these questions, as well as your comments on this article. Just hit “Leave a Reply” below. When responding, please keep in mind the guidelines I’ve outlined on my Rules of Engagement page (link HERE).

33 thoughts on “How did we get so polarized?”

  1. Clearly, I call myself a “prophet” on this blog, though many passing through here will question that. Less clear, but equally true, you call yourself a “Christian,” but as yet I am not convinced. Be that as it may, for the sake of argument (and blogging), let us indulge and accept one another at face value. Or more importantly, let us value one another in some sense approaching the value God has for each of us. Basically, let’s have a little respect and decency despite our differences.

    Shall we?

    Now for my eccentric side note:

    Those who know me, who really know me, also know that not only do I not vote, but I don’t pledge allegiance to the flag either. This is not the main thrust of my post, presently, but it is a little factoid which I expect could add a bit of color to, or a better viewpoint for, my presentation.

    Also, not central to my point, BUT I constantly feel constrained to explain myself carefully on these matters: I do not preach against the vote per se. No condemnation HERE if you do vote or did.

    Additionally (still only peripheral to my point), I do not believe the vote is a way to “make my voice heard.” If the people at the capitol in J6 had believed their voice was heard at the voting booth, they would not have resorted to “fight[ing] like hell” to be at the capitol that day. (I’m now stating the obvious, but of course, if you are American, you’d probably rather I didn’t.) (It’s the kind of thing prophets do.)

    And one more excentric observation going in: I happen to believe very strongly that I still maintain my first amendment right to free speech independent from my voting status. I complain, and you can’t stop me (basically).

    So… moving closer to the point of this post.

    My engagement with politics is reduced, by self-imposition, to prayer and nontraditional/spiritual measures. IF I could attract engagement in the comments, I am sure I could explore this a LOT more and with a lot better detail and answer questions these remarks surely raise, some of which I cannot anticipate. But if I could sum up my intentions in short, I would say this:

    Jesus takes the rightful, God-ordained crown of Israel’s king, having been chosen by God, installed there by God, and in spite of and despite God’s people or any of the usual political ploys. He comes in a mix of religion and politics, but he doesn’t play by any of the recognizable rules.

    He is killed, buried, and then raised from the dead.

    RAISED FROM THE DEAD!
    (Show me where that political agenda is on anyone’s ballot!)

    And then… for a while there, the only witnesses to his victory over death (his vindication of his claims and the implementation of his kingdom agendas) are lowly peasant women without enough clout to testify in any court in the world.

    Think about that.

    Women. Women back when they not only couldn’t have say over their own bodies, but they couldn’t vote or testify in court either one! But God trusts THEM first (before trusting men) with his GOOD NEWS!

    And their own men don’t believe them – the exact reverse of Adam vis-a-vis Eve at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil! (Go figure!)

    And even then, EVEN THEN, when those few men come to terms with the GOOD NEWS their women tell them, all you find there is these smelly, fishermen – peasants ill equipped to handle the smallest parcel the USPS handles. Not a one of them has a college degree or even a high school diploma! And these guys tell their friends and family who are all fellow peasants and bums too.

    Oh, and did I mention they are all very fearful too?

    Yeah. For many hours, days, and weeks, the most important edicts, decrees, commands, directives, comforts, encouragements, promises, and fulfillments of promises – in short, the GOOD NEWS – remains in these pitiful earthen vessels that most people wouldn’t listen to or pay heed. As the bums, beggars, and hangers-on around village after village begin to hear this GOOD NEWS and the hope of Heaven’s Politics circulate in these lowly places, the high councils, the governors, military tribunals, delegates, diplomats, kings, emperors, and rich white people are still not in the loop.

    Rich white people. Always the last to know!

    But in time, the world comes to know that when Pilate, Caiaphas, and Herod colluded to kill that one lowly peasant Jew during Passover, the principalities and powers just didn’t really know what they were doing, and God had already established his VICTORY in defeat.

    And if you are reading this far into this post, I expect you believe everything I have described here so far.

    No?

    Maybe I put some emPHASis on the syLABles you aren’t normally accustomed to, but the words all line up.

    Right?

    Somebody say, AMEN.

    Well, you see… I don’t vote. I do complain, but I don’t vote. I try to direct my complaints first and foremost to God. Sometimes a little slips out in conversations or blog posts. And I try not to actually HIDE my thoughts or feelings about candidates, parties, or policies, but I also try not to disparage them with contempt either. Thus, I aim more to say something like this: I never prayed for a president more than I prayed for Trump.

    That’s a less contentious way of putting the idea than if I said I think Trump is an awful president and a worse Christian.

    I also try to focus my attention specifically on the church vis-a-vis Trump or the election rather than just bag on Trump in general. There are, in fact, four votes for every vote, not one.

    Let’s count them the way heaven sees them. Consider this: On your ballot appears two names. You will circle only one of the names, but this is the distillation of numerous possibilities. If you circle Harris, clearly you are not voting for Trump, but is that really a vote FOR Harris? What if you don’t like Harris, but you like Trump even less? In that case when you circle Harris, you are not so much favoring her or her agendas, but you are saying NO to Trump in the strongest way a ballot can deliver.

    Hold that up to the mirror and you can say all the same stuff going the other direction. Many voters vote for Trump, not because they love him, but because they want even more not to support Harris.

    So, where is any mandate in any of that? How has your voice been heard? How can you call that “speaking truth to power”? Why do you think your voice matters anyway? What is God doing in this? Care to pray?

    Ahhh… politics through prayer.
    Yes. I endorse that! I preach that. Vote if you must, but you really must pray! The vote is optional, the prayer is not.

    See what I mean?

    But the politics don’t end on election night. The vote does, but not the politics and not the prayer.

    And the voting season, like the Christmas season, seems to come around sooner each cycle! And the candidates go to smearing each other… the electorate hates it but then joins in all the smearing despite ourselves… and it grows and grows until our election is more cancer than politics!

    And, by the way, my church has become highly politicized! And evangelicals are a voting bloc FOR TRUMP!

    Now I have a church problem, and the church problem has different “levels” too!

    Do I think the church should champion Harris?

    No.

    The church didn’t get a vote in Rome, and despite Rome’s policy differences regarding suffrage, neither St. Paul nor any of the other New Testament writers endorsed or championed Nero or Claudius or any other contenders for the top office. Not even dog catcher!

    But they did pray for their pagan, tyrant leaders. And they instructed us to submit to them too.

    Ouch!

    Man… that sounds like GOOD NEWS today if you like Trump! And I expect that is quite a point of confusion for many an evangelical today who has no idea about their own confusion on that matter … yet.

    But in the weeks and months leading up to this most recent election, I found numerous blogs, articles, and even pastors pointing away from Trump as a matter of Christian reasoning. And they certainly had my sympathies. Also, they had my relief! I was relieved to see fellow American Christians thinking outside this hype that has swept over the church for at least the last decade (though I was seeing it clearly more than two decades ago and beginning to recognize it more than three).

    Hmmm…

    Why am I saying all this stuff?

    Well, I hope it sets me up for the actual point of this post.

    There is more for us to do than simple prayer, and now that the election is over and conceded by Harris, we have to move to a new political strategy. If you are a Christian, a REAL Christian, and not just somebody wearing the tee shirt, then you have reconciliation on your mind today. How might we join Jesus in the reconciliation of all things today in America?

    Wow!

    And if you are one of those Christians who did not endorse Trump, who see him as ungodly and problematic, then I figure you are feeling the sting of defeat.

    No?

    Well, there is an upside to that.

    If you are among those feeling the sting of this election, then you are not one drunk on gloating today. You might be drunk on despair or wrath or something else, but you aren’t drunk on lording it over the others, and it shall not be so among you.

    Feel me yet?

    And rejoice in this trial! Just think how it would go if Trump lost and all those evangelicals taking the name of Jesus in vain chose a J6 2.0? It was only four years ago when they were feeling this pain, and they were some sore losers! But it shall not be so among you.

    Let us be about reconciliation. And we must be humble to have it.

    I don’t join Harris in saying the fight is not over. That’s just a liberal’s wordy version of J6. Face it. It’s just as vain and pitiful. It’s nothing like the GOOD NEWS those women found at the tomb of Jesus. It’s nothing like the entrusting of God’s treasure in bums and peasants.

    But we can pray for Trump. We can show our Trump following friends the victory in Jesus – a victory which will circulate among the peasants and bums a long time before those on top even notice.

    And for those Christians who did vote for Trump and who actually find something worthwhile in his victory, if you are really Christian and not just flying the flag, then you too have reconciliation on your mind today. You are not drunk on the victory of party politics, but you are humbly looking at your neighbors who lost and praying for them, reaching out to them, and seeking common ground where you can share faith.

    It is God’s victory, not ours. It isn’t won with a vote, but by the Spirit of God.

    Take heart and have hope.

    We are in a very strong position now having pulled ourselves up to our knees.

    Let us pray.

    Amen?

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    • Sorry if this post offended you. I agree with most of what you say here, even if my Christianity seems to be getting questioned. You have every right to vote or not vote in elections. I will point out, however, that many sincere Christians believe just as strongly in exercising our right to vote. People in the days when Jesus walked the earth did not have the right to vote. But that doesn’t make voting wrong. They didn’t have electricity or computers either, but that doesn’t mean I refuse to use those things. Personally I don’t choose to question people who say they are Christians. I figure that’s up to God, not me, to decide.

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      • Thanx for your response! Means a lot to me.

        I kinda figure most of what I say is really rather agreeable, and I am glad you find it that way too.

        As for offense, none taken. Nor is it my desire to offend, though I have given up hypersensitivity about that a while back. However, I do aim to challenge… to be challenging and to be challenged by others. Respectfully, of course.

        I don’t preach against the vote per se. And practically all of my family and friends vote. So, if I did, I’d clearly be alone. I do ask you to reconsider it, to think it through afresh. Genuinely, and not reflexively.

        The vote clearly is neither necessary nor sufficient for God’s creation. Suffrage has only been with us for a few centuries, and only in some parts of the world. My case here is not to shut it down but to defend NOT voting and to give the notion some oxygen.

        There are reasons not to vote. No one ever speaks of them or acknowledges them at all. Not ever. But they exist nonetheless, and some of them are important.

        But in post after post, in conversation after conversation, I try to take care and acknowledge that if you want to vote, I will not condemn you for it. If you must vote, you have my blessing, and I make that clear (I hope) every time I discuss this stuff.

        Lastly, I don’t doubt your Christian faith. Challenge it, but I don’t doubt it. Not really. I take your claim to be Christian at face value and seriously too. So, I hope you are not offended if I get you to think about it too.

        With that, I say thanx again. I appreciate your feedback. Again, it means a lot to me!

        God bless…

        X

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  2. “War metaphors pervade our talk and shape our thinking” … and “logical fallacies …”

    Thank you. And both of these are shaped by the way we teach ourselves, or not, to pay careful attention to the details and keep an open mind before reacting, as you pointed out in one or more of the earlier points. Very nice points, thank you for updating and reposting this article.

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  8. I think the key is spending time with people who are different from you and realizing that you like them. I have friends that are pretty extreme on the opposite side of the spectrum on all major issues. When I find myself asking how they could possibly have a particular belief, I remind myself of good times that we’ve had in the past that have nothing to do with those major issues. It’s possible to love people and enjoy their company even if they believe things that you find ridiculous!

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  9. I most certainly agree that as Christians, we are to be held to a higher standard of integrity. One portion of scripture that has recently drawn my attention is 2 Timothy 2:1-26 I stumbled upon these verses as I felt a tug to study Timothy and Paul’s argument and I think that the emphasis on humility would really serve us well.

    However, it’s also important to recognize that the Apostles were bold in their teachings, just as the prophets of old spoke bluntly and with unshakable confidence.

    We have a moral obligation as Christians to speak the truth in dark places. We are the salt and the light. Salt burns, but it promotes healing just as the truth hurts, but it sets us free.

    A few years ago, I was enthralled to study the tactics of government corruption in Lebanon.
    I found it interesting to see how the elected officials (who represented opposing sides) would fight and bicker rather than get anything done. It was strategic. This PsyOp seeked to control the opposition, taking the view off of the issue at hand and many times placing the blame on a person in parliament, causing civil unrest as money and assets were being shuffled around leaving the country in grave poverty and conditions only growing worse while the elites advanced in their incidious endeavors.

    To subdue the civil wars that would break out they would have “court hearings” in private and pretend to have drawn a conclusion, that is until the next government quarrel seeked to cause divisions amongst the people.

    The citizens would be left thinking that their voices were being heard, but both parties in government were actually working together to the demise of the people.

    Here is a link to just one paper that I have read on the topic. https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/06/breaking-curse-corruption-lebanon/04-combating-corruption-tools-and-barriers
    I highly encourage studying how governments become corrupt. I think that you are on to a really great start in recognizing what is going on in our great nation.

    I think that knowledge is power and that wisdom is a gift from God.

    The question that I have posed to myself as of late, in wake of recent events, is “if you truly believe that indoctrination processes are prevalent, then wouldn’t a level of empathy be required to reach the swayed and manipulated? Not only empathy but when people demand “proof” or otherwise seek to derail the point that you are making, would it be puffed up pride to deny them a rational argument in favor of the statement that you are trying to make?”

    Arrogant pride would give up and say “your an idiot, it’s obvious.”

    If we believe that we are witnessing mass public manipulation, then we should be prepared and able to articulate and to properly express what we are witnessing. Therefore, I have kept my mouth shut on a lot of things until I am able to articulate what I am seeing.

    It has taken much prayer and quiet time for me to humble myself, to take a back seat, and to really focus on logic rather than emotion because these are emotional topics. I also can not, in good consciousness, disassociate myself from the possibility of being indoctrinated on some level. While my morality may be intact in many regards, I have asked God Judge my heart. I think that one big thing for me is to deeply consider my own personal conduct and my own walk with Jesus, as you outlined in this post. I’ve had to remind myself that my walk with God is a testimony in and of itself, and without God, I would be just as far off as the best (or the worst) of them.

    Furthermore, the level of immorality would only specify the spiritual aspects of what we are seeing. We know that our minds are sealed by the word of God that is living within us, but that many whom we encounter do not possess this armor.

    Studying the Lebanese political theater really took my hope and trust off of any particular party but allowed me to see people as saved and unsaved, and that’s where the mission was really pressed upon my heart. The mission is to get people to Jesus and Jesus to people.

    I do believe that we are in a spiritual battle of good and evil.

    How it pans out, however, will be an indication of where we are on God’s prophetic timeline. Biblical eschatology would say that now would be the perfect time for global agenda 2030 to ensue. I strongly believe that the global agenda 2030 will make way for the beast system, as described throughout scripture.
    If this is the case, if the tribulation is at our doorstep, and we are seeing these things come to pass (such as Eziekiel 38-39, Mathew 24, psalm 81) wouldn’t that call us to an even higher level of integrity?

    I love this post. It’s thought-provoking, and it’s everything that people need to be considering right now.

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  11. Thanks, Debi Sue. So much wisdom here.

    The question we need to ask ourselves is, who benefits from our polarized mindset? While rage may energize and give the psychological impression of strength, it really makes us weaker and more easily controlled. So does fear. What I observed during the Covid crisis was how fear and rage were used to control the population. I suggest we ditch the rage and fear, go back to treating one another with kindness and respect, even (especially) when we disagree. As for fear, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.” (II Timothy 1:7)

    Blessings,

    Annie

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  14. “I’m on your side in this argument!”😂

    Seriously, your analysis is PhD worthy! However, I suspect the USA has passed a point of no return; Father’s judgment on America is coming. The only hope is for each individual to trust the Creator to get through the ‘fog of war’ that is about to envelop our nation. See Habakkuk 3 or my recent series, The Watershed Election.

    https://capost2k.wordpress.com/2024/09/28/

    Most of all, I’m going to ‘sound-bite’ your last sentence as a signature on occasional emails.

    ❤️&🙏, c.a.

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  15. I believe the major cause for the polarization of Christians is that we don’t seek God fervently enough to find out what He has to say realizing that His thoughts and ways are not ours.

    Another cause is that it seems to take a very long time to learn to speak the truth in love.

    And finally this verse of scripture needs to sink deeply into our hearts: “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” Luke 12: 51

    My precious sister, I am amazed at the thorough and excellent job in investigating this matter, but we are not going to have peace until Jesus comes. All of us want peace and unity but it’s impossible without the cross applied to each life.

    Until our Lord comes, may all of us who love Him pray, love our enemies and do whatever He tells us to do.

    I love your heart that wants peace and what’s good and right.

    🙏❤️✝️ Michele

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    • The need for learning to speak the truth in love is a major factor, I would definitely agree. Absolutely. We’ve forgotten how to do that. I sometimes worry that Luke 12:51 can get twisted by folks who use it as an excuse for name-calling and other less-than-Christian behaviors. (I’ve seen that happen several times.) To me, that verse reminds us that sometimes the mere act of standing up for what’s right can be labeled “divisive” and we shouldn’t let that deter us.

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      • I fully agree. The Lord says to honor all men, and He does mean ALL!! That’s hard to understand when we see great wickedness done, but when we realize we are not wrestling with flesh and blood, we can obey this command. Jesus said: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do, and that’s ALL of us.

        People get into great trouble when they judge others: Who would ever think King David was a man after God’s own heart knowing he had committed adultery and purposefully set up Bathsheba’s husband to be killed? That aught to activate the spirit of the fear of the Lord in us to stop our mouths, eh?
        We simply do not know Gods ways and thoughts UNTIL He shows us. Oh that we would seek Him!!

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