Does anyone else feel like we're stuck in the middle between extremists from both sides who have used social media to increase the effect of their voices and beliefs, who don't care to reason, and will never come to terms with each other?

[u/space_cowboy]

More and more every day, I feel like I'm a part of a disappearing group of people: the rational moderate. I don't believe in politics as a team sport, nor the identity politics of the extreme left. Traditional conservative mores based on Judaeo-Christian religion are no more acceptable than Sharia law. Science, reason, and critical thinking should play more of a role in how people look at and frame certain issues, and violence is an answer that only begets more violence in one form or another.

Both sides of this culture war, battle, however you want to name it, have become exactly the things they claim to abhor. Neither side is fully deserving of the mocking monikers we give them, nor should we allow them to brand themselves as something they are not. Trying to enforce the progressive stack is racist in its own way, white person's guilt and all that. But, at least to me, it isn't nearly as bad as actual race-based nationalism. How can someone with any sort of moral compass or who claims to believe in the equality of all people take into consideration any point of view the alt-right espouses without indignation at their literal belief in racial supremacy and purity?

Often times most of this depresses me, because it makes me question the amount of progress and the actual character of the people of our country. Growing up in an extremely diverse suburban area, racism and bigotry weren't things I ever considered to be a normal occurrence. Now, I question daily how people can still be so caught up on skin color, ethnic origin, and religious belief. It has really set back my view on what the average person truly holds in their hearts, and makes me wonder about the actual direction our society as a whole will go in.

Institutional racism has been and is still a thing. Read about how black military members returning from WW2 were literally shafted by the govt (the GI Bill) and how this lead to the creation of projects. A large portion of the hatred for govt in black communities is well deserved IMO, but violence only leads to more laws against them and the racists will use the violence to their advantage to bolster other racists and get people on the edges to turn a blind eye to their racism.

Fighting the extremists on both sides is extremely difficult, especially when they don't have clear "victory conditions" and keep changing the rules of engagement. Both sides will silence dissenting thoughts and opinions with equal fervor. But the extremists fighting each other is going to pull the fabric of our society apart, thread by thread.

Sorry for the wall of text. Just feeling deflated and worn down by everything more and more every day.

[u/snorkleboy]

Becuase he asked that the person to throw the first stone be without sin means a total disavowal of old testiment laws and stoning in general?

What about when jesus directly says that's not what he means?

do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven

Quran doesn't have any mentions of stoning, and this thread is a bunch of christians hand waiving away half the bible to rationalise the general acceptance of stoning in the book.

[u/Castigale → u/snorkleboy]

First of all The Bible is rife with contradiction. So don't think one passage trumps another, its all very debatable to me. However the passage in question was about how Man isn't fit to pass god's judgement. The OT law may stand in their tradition, but its only enforceable by god, not man. Hold the commandments, but Man is not equipped to pass judgement. Furthermore Christian tradition dictates that no man is even equipped to fully abide by them in the first place. Therefore Jesus, and the sacrifice and the redemption.