The Social Porcupine

Genesis 22  (NIV)   Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”  “Here I am,” he replied.  Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”  Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.  On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.  He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”  Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,  Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Ye...

We live in a culture that promotes self-idolizing and cutting out anything that is toxic for self, including and especially other fellow humans. A huge part of this culture thrives on Facebook, and their activities involve a lot of self-protective actions such as deleting or blocking or unfollowing anyone that disturbs their self-centered bubble. Of course, the way to guarantee one stays blocked is to usually let them know ;)  Not always, mind you, just often.  Because revenge is sweeter when the other person's face turns sour.  Some of you may be shocked to find out I have been part of the "toxic" rubbish that had to be deleted out of some people's bubbles. Others of you will be like, "Yeah, I'm not surprised. Actually, been thinking of deleting you myself." Thank you to both sides of that spectrum, because you all bring a smile to my face ... with the first type of people, I smile out of encouragement and joy, with the second I s...

I love to argue/debate. But I don't like to make enemies. For me it's about stretching my mind, or maybe helping the world see things better. It's rarely about me trying to be right – actually, that's not true. I do like to be right. Lol. Who doesn’t? But I like to have fun, too. I like peace. I don't want to make the other person mad (permanently). And for that reason I refrain from resorting to insults, and I laugh off the ones directed towards me. Or try to ;)  Trashy words of insignificance do no good. They only take the focus off the point. And when I'm arguing I like to stay on topic, not get personal . But a while back an insult directed towards me actually made me think. “You're just dogmatic.” We were talking proofs for God's existence. And that was the name I was called. Dogmatic. What all bad, hard willed, unrelenting Christians are called. I almost laughed it off, and continued on to my next point, but inst...

One of my great weaknesses is arguing. Sometimes I can hold my tongue. But a lot of the time... It's just that when people say such "stupid, false" things or when people or ideas are "unfairly mistreated" I MUST stand up for them. And sometimes I just look for something to argue/discuss about. :D It's just so fun. :) So, yeah. It has gotten me in trouble, but I've learned for the most part that I feel better if I speak my mind and what I believe is the truth and I can even have fun if I do it right :D I have done a lot of arguing with friends ;) Everyone knows that. And normally it's more of a sport than a fight. Like anything, stuff CAN get nasty. Thinking about it recently, I realized that when I do argue, my friends and I follow certain unspoken rules. I'm calling these the "Etiquette Rules of Arguing." 1. It's ok to argue :D Get excited, get into it! 2. Speak your mind. 3. Never use insults in the place...