This is how you recognize religious– and other street–fighters
by Stephan Joubert
Religious suspicion–sowers abound. So also those atheistic brigades that make it their hobby to take out church–leaders. How do you recognise street–fighters in religious and non-religious ranks? Well, here are some guidelines:
They like to write under pseudonyms. People who are obsessed with pointing out how wrong everyone is who doesn’t believe as they do or not, are not fond of proclaiming their own identity.
They’re brutal. Refinement, compassion or the ability to hear and engage actively with others in a mature way lacks with them. The ability to hear or think in a nuanced way is also absent.
They crowd the moral high ground. The truth is on the side of these religious or atheistic street–fighters. They know exactly what it is and also everything that’s wrong with individuals or groups that are pointed out by them as enemies of the truth.
They find others guilty through association. In other words. If person A is wrong in their eyes, and person B quotes person A somewhere, then B is guilty by association with A.
They also use “thin slicing”. They quote one sentence out of context of what someone is saying. Or they distort a word or two of what others are saying. Or they use material that is a few years out of date. Or they don’t read everything that their so-called opponents write. Then they have a straw–doll that they can attack.
Paul wrote to his young friend Timothy to have nothing to do with such trouble–makers. Trying to argue with people who are fighting religious battles is like getting involved in a school’s gang fights. There are no winners. Rather keep yourself busy with things that are uplifting and bring honor to God. Get out of the way of religious street–fighters.