How do you draw the line between getting over our differences as a species, as humans, and honestly conveying the very real consequences of acting on our "little differences"?

Do you know what terrifies me? That a single person has the power to sell our entire species in exchange for their own instant gratification.

Think I'm wrong? Consider the tower of babel. Who was that first person to promote the idea that men could surpass God?

It's within our nature to believe that we can counterbalance the actions of one person. So if one man damns the world, surely a single man can save it. But that's not true. Selfishness, vanity, greed - these traits are so easy to amplify. They reproduce at and unimaginable rate. Meanwhile, compassion, trust, honesty, modesty, charity - these traits are tenacious, shining through in those darkest moments...but in the dull light of an overcast afternoon where nothing is going quite right but nothing is going too terribly wrong, then where are these shining merits of the human soul? Hidden. Submerged in the undertow of oceans upon oceans of man's less noble features.

One man cannot redeem our whole race. It took a God to redeem us all.

So in my day to day, I get lost in the slights others give me, in my pride, in my despair, in my abject terror of what the world has the potential to become. And then I get one moment, just a glimmer, where I see a greater threat to us all than who you sleep with, what you lie about, and your views on hard work and socialism. In the situation I envision for that moment in time, we are all so completely past caring because the threat to us surpasses the threat we pose to one another. In that moment, I wonder if such is not the reason for great catastrophes - to give mortal men the opportunity to prove that they can, if motivated in the most vile of ways, finally see past their own agendas and help their fellow brethren even at the expense of their own comfort.

Many would argue that this perspective should promote wide-reaching tolerance of an individual's right to do whatever they wish and it harm none. Perhaps. I must return then to the Christian tenet that you cannot judge those who have not submitted to your judgement. If you didn't confess Christ and forge your personal relationship with Him, then I can't tell you how you're screwing it up BECAUSE THERE IS NO "IT" FOR YOU. Oh I believe there is an "it" even if you don't recognize it, but I can't go whipping you on "its" account. Even when you are permitted to explain to a fellow believer the error of their ways, you should be LOATHE to do it. I absolutely hate it. Why? Well, because I learned a long time ago that if I asked God for justice I'd soon find myself in the flames as well. So I don't want to tell you that you're jeopardizing your walk with God...if I do, I would really hope I'm being as unpretentious as is possible given the inherent superiority that such a situation just smacks of.

But in my mind, whether you confess it or not, you do have a relationship with God. That is the intent of your existence. And you are jeopardizing it. So how do I reconcile my conviction to save those that I can with my realization that no one saves anyone else, we only save ourselves by the Grace of God if we choose to see it? Well, enter my favorite parable: The Sower.

I may not be able to comment on your life and your choices, but I can certainly comment on my own. In this way, I have the opportunity to tell you a story about yourself, that is actually about me...because we are remarkably like creatures, humans. We tend to screw up in a fairly consistent manner.

I want to be able to say I have resolved my cognitive dissonance here, but I have not. Because whether I actively contribute to the perpetuity of the human race, I still feel an obligation to leave our successors with a decent world in which to attempt to survive. So then my dilemma is not quite so finite as what you do behind closed doors is your business and what I do there is mine...it's also our children's.

This cycle of logic feels like a nautilus shell of a rabbit hole. I don't have an answer. So I'm leaving my quandary out here for you to chew on as well.