Oh, I so agree dear Alamo-Girl!
To me, the most depressing thing about the current state of the culture is that everyone seems to be "at war" with everyone else these days. Even Christians attack each other. Whatever happened to the spirit of charity? It is a law of God.
Of course, to the extent that influential sectors in the culture are consciously, deliberately making war on God, and thus on His law, I suppose it is to be expected that peoples' expressions to one another will become increasingly self-referring, disordered, irrational, even vicious.
The way I explain this to myself is to say that under God, there is a common, shared ground of being and thus of discourse. The enemies of God and Western culture more generally know this, which explains the hostility towards God -- and towards man by implication.
But one would think that Christians, of all people, would not be prone to the descent into personal abuse of one another on the basis of doctrinal differences.
As you say, dear Alamo-Girl, we ought to be united in the Spirit of God, showing charity and good will towards one another rather than spite and personal abuse. IMHO, we can leave that sort of thing up to the U.S. Congress and the anti-God contingent: We must not forget that, for all our differences, we Christians (of whatever denomination) are equally members of the Body of Christ, and are called to conduct ourselves in such a way as to demonstrate God's love in this world.
If we don't "walk the talk" in this world, then who will?
Well, FWIW, just looking at the "big picture" here. I hope the foregoing makes sense (I'm confident it makes sense to you!). Thank you so much for your glorious essay/post, my dearest sister in Christ!
The way I explain this to myself is to say that under God, there is a common, shared ground of being and thus of discourse. The enemies of God and Western culture more generally know this, which explains the hostility towards God -- and towards man by implication.
But one would think that Christians, of all people, would not be prone to the descent into personal abuse of one another on the basis of doctrinal differences.
Thank God for you, dearest sister in Christ!