As I look around at the way the country and world are at this time, I have to stop and wonder how we have gotten to such a hate-filled state. In the news we see every day where citizens are going beyond protesting and attacking Federal Officers and threatening their families. The thoughts I have on the subject are based on a Book of Mormon scripture:
29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.
As I ponder this scripture I have to recognize the voices I hear, whether they be good or evil. There are leaders within this country that will say it's time to tone down the rhetoric and then in the next breath call those they disagree with the most insulting and nasty names they can think of. If they were peace makers as they would have us all believe, then all their words would bring calm and inspire people to do good rather than acts of violence. What we have are so called leaders making horrible claims about their political opponents and then refusing all responsibility for their words.
It reminds me of what Jesus Christ said, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (Matthew 7:20). If the fruit of a person's words is anger and violence then they are as far from God as one can be.
It all makes me wonder if all the people speaking and spreading words that cause hate and anger thought that Satan was laughing at them if they would change what they are doing.
Every time I turn around I see or hear something that sounds so ridiculous I can't believe it's true. It seems that there is so much vile propaganda and lies constantly circulated that a large portion of society doesn't have the ability to reason out both sides of a disagreement anymore. People are so full of hate that they assume any awful or terrible thing said about a person or group they disagree with must be true. They never stop to wonder if they've been deceived because they never really consider the other side of an argument.
What I see are a bunch of ignorant people doing the work of the devil without knowing that is exactly what they are doing. How do you combat ignorance and falsehood when people no longer believe in absolute, eternal truth? People act as if their opinion and the truth are the same. People are so willing to believe a lie because they want it to be true or are afraid that it is.
If you can't understand opposing viewpoints, or only live in an echo chamber where all the voices you hear say the same things, then how can you know what is right and what is wrong. I believe that if you don't experience falsehood or evil, you can't know the good. If you spend everyday filled with hate and anger, I don't see how you can ever experience real joy and happiness. I feel real pity for everyone that chooses to live in such misery.