There shall be no disputations among you.(Election chaos)

This is not a political post about any candidate but an observation about current political processes and about how we can protect ourselves from being swept away in the contentions that accompany them.

One of the first things Christ did after appearing in the America's is tell them that there should be no disputations among them. 

This may seem insignificant but if you consider that Christ is probably teaching the most important principles first, knowing the people would get weaker as the day wore on, then this takes on new meaning. Christ never seemed to do anything nonstrategically.

Christ telling his people not to be stirred up in anger against one another is also significant considering what he had just been through in the last few days, which were also the last days of his mortal life.

He was an innocent man, the most innocent of mankind, but became a political target to the Sanhedren.

The Jewish leaders stirred up the hearts of the people with terrible lies and strategy. Ultimately average people turned into ill-informed mobs who crucified their Savior and master. I wonder what he must have felt as he had just endured the pains of the atonement and looked down into to the faces of the angry crowd for whom he had just atoned. 

Even lynch mobs always, believe their cause is just, in the moment.

An angry crowd ill informed, with contention in their hearts is a powerful tool for Satan. An angry crowd that believes what they are doing is right, is dangerous when they act out of anger and ask questions later and act together. 

We are seeing this today with these mobs online. It is easy, actually human nature to be swept away in it. The anger, like the scripture says, begins to stir within our hearts. We feel as if it is our duty to stand up but there is a difference in standing and defaming. There is a difference in speaking up and tearing down. There is a great difference, and the greatest difference is not what happens to owr opponent but what happens to our own heart. 

It  is currently one week before the 2016 elections and it has been an ugly year. Again, this is not a political post about any candidate but an observation about the process and about how we aren't much different than the people in Christ's time at all.

I have watched the contention. I have even felt feelings of anger build in my chest as I have read discussions. I am reminded of the scripture below that Christ taught the Nephite people.

"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. Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away." (3 Nephi:29-30)

I understand the need for checks and balances. I understand the need for both sides. But the truth has become obsolete. What does it look like? Everything we read now has to be triple checked for facts and credibility because all sides are using trickery and then it should be put through a mental filter for bias "Do I think this is true because I want this to be true?"

Once you do speak kindly and turthfuly for right principles you can expect that not everyone will do the same back. 

I grew up with a hard working politically minded father who often held opinions that were different than those around him. I can't even begin to count the lectures I sat through as he taught me over and over again not to judge people. He believed strongly in people's rights and in their right to express opinions. He was passionate about allowing others to believe differently than he did.  How grateful I am for those lectures. I didn't realize that toxic environment he would prepare me against. 

I learned that although reputation may be tainted by enemies, character, which is much more valuable, is an inside job and can only by undone by our own actions. No matter what an opponent or opposing view says about us, our character will remain in tact if we remain true and upright to who we are.

If you for get who you are even for one discussion once the dust settles and the discussion passes, you may not have to live with the people you've burned but you will always have to live with yourself and the things you have said that were for perhaps "a good cause" but for a poor end.

• Triple check facts
• Mental filter for bias
• Be kind
• Be truthful
• And when all else fails and no one else does the same, be true to your own character. It is all you can control and it is all that matters.