baptist DEBATE forums

Luke, just a thought. We are using the word authority/tative, but wouldn't it be better to use the word confidently?

IF we speak with confidence, we are less like to offend than if we speak with an authority that we don't hold over another.

See, like this: You can say with confidence that it is cloudy at your house, but you don't have the authority to say the same about my house. And if you do and the sun is shining over here, I'm going to wonder about the size of your ego.

 

This response is a good example.

In one post the writer is using clouds and sunshine as an example. The responder, responds by changing to gravity, as an example, without acknowledgment of the writer's example. Then closes by asking how he could make this understood by some one with a weak palate (ability to understand).

The responder could be going the wrong way. It is not who he is talking to that has the weak palate, but maybe he should develop his own palate to be stronger so he can continue to converse at the same level.

 

Dear family members - the Christian family - may I inject a thought? Well, I am going to anyway.

Most arguments here are not over "the Word." They are over how we each want to interpret the Word.

As soon as I imply that one of you interprets the word incorrectly, you may choose to feel insulted. However, if I claim that your view is foolish or garbage, I have insulted you in a backhanded fashion.

While a person who subscribes to Cafeteria Christianity may actually be proud of a method of feeling good while living in sin, for anyone to suggest that I do that is hurtful. The one who says it may not know that it insults me while the person who unknowingly does that just doesn't understand what the big deal is about.

For those who throw rocks at "Fundi's," they can insult me merely because their view of the label is not the same as my view of it. That is the problem with labels - which we really should not use. They are too easily misunderstood and interpeted to mean one thing to this person and a different thing to someone else.

Some of these threads have gotten so juvenile that I quit reading them. That is NOT how we should treat each other.

I might think that one of you is just not reading and comprehending scripture, but who here is not going to be hurt when I suggest that? How can I suggest that without hurting any feelings?

Perhaps we should ask ourselves questions like that BEFORE we post.

I can speak with conviction of what I know to be true, but presenting it to someone else should not come from my prideful self - but from my loving self.

(I listened to a sermon on the way to work early this week. The speaker claimed that man's biggest downfall in this world is pride. A lot of sin and inability to do the work of God stems from pride. Perhaps our feeling hurt in a debate/discussion is because of it as well.)

 

Finally worked my way thru the arguements in this thread :smilewinkgrin:

I know I am different, but I didn't come to the board to argue or debate. I came for ideas and fellowship. Maybe that's why I have been spending less time here and commenting even less. This is not to say anything against those who enjoy that kind of interaction. But it's just not for me.

People have been arguing and debating most of these issues for 100's of years and good people differ, so I am not going to add to the noise level on either side because I tend to get defensive and harsh. And i don't want to do that.

 

We need more like you here, Tom.

I don't mind the debates so much as all the personal attacks. There are some here who cannot debate the ISSUE, but must debate/attack/condemn/insult the PERSON. There is a difference. Lately I find less actual healthy debate here and more of the other. It makes me spend more time in the fellowship forums.

 

How far can you extend that? What if there were no balls in China? How is gravity affected if one moves from earth to space. Gravity is a universal fact, but it is affected still, by location.

The only problem with that is your location. Your perspective on what God says "clearly" may not be as clear from my perspective.

And thus, I choose doctors and lawyers that I am confident have actual knowledge and wisdom and refuse those whose views/perspectives differ from mine. Just like I get to chose whose view/perspective of the Bible meshes with mine. Decisions like these are why we have the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

 

Actually it's not universal since the gravity that works here does not work on the moon, the sun, etc. Gravity therefore is also relative.

 

:applause:

Sadly I found out that this site was not very edifying for me at all, like I had first hoped it would be. It is interesting at times, and I have been informed of things which can been helpful, but rarely much more. Much too often it is less about the exchange of ideas, and growing in knowledge, but instead the exchange of barbs, insults. Sadly it often feels like many come here rather than for a thirst for knowledge, but instead for the thirst to be right.

 

Gravity is still relative even on earth. Gravity is different under water than it is above, different for a person free falling as opposed to having a parachute, being in a plane, etc.

 

I wasn't speaking with authority, I was giving an opinion. I wasn't trying to persuade anyone.