How should we handle disagreement?

Be graceful.
Change takes time.
A discussion on a posting board is probably not going to change a persons view, short term,
...but it may act like a stone in a shoe.
Some may never change, live with it.
Focus on what you can change, yourself.

Rob

 

1. Stop thinking you need to change someone else' view.
2. Stop taking our own posts so seriously. That does not mean the issue being discussed is not important but that our chiming in on is not.
3. Work to have a discussion not have a debate. Debating means one is looking to win an argument. Get over yourself.

 

Good thread...I know i can be one of those "Passionate posters." ( I'm probably more unkind/ungracious than i'd actually admit). I think i would do well to note that i agree with people on certain points (maybe that will diffuse things a bit), and avoid using phrases like "You just don't get it."

and to be honest, some of the threads i engage myself in probably have little value--but it reveals how immature i really am.

 

Many, many years ago I managed a diverse group of employees in a section of a city hospital; an overt religious witness was not acceptable.
I was able to post a saying by Chuck Swindoll above my desk that expressed the idea that we should look at ourselves before condemning others.

ATTITUDE by Charles Swindoll​

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say or do.
It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.
It will make or break a company... a church... a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day.
We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.
We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude...
I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes”
​

My practice (not always followed very well), is if a thread get too hot for me its time to admit a character flaw and step out.

Rob

 

I think that we can agree to disagree here, as none of us are right in all things that we subscribe to, but we also should be willing to actually understand what the other party thinks that we are stating, as sometimes what we intend and what they are reading is not the same thing!
Also helps in we do not demonize the other viewpoint, not unless that position is clearly not per the scriptures!

 

Also,

be willing to grow and develop in our theology, as hopefully none of us see ourselves as having no more need to understand any

 

First of all I see very few on here changing their mind... I don't post to win an argument, that is not my intent but I post because other things should be considered... On some post I agree to disagree but am rarely adamant about it... I know others may have opposing views but I don't let that get under my skin... Many of us have been here a long time and the reason we are still here is we roll with the punches... Probably the C/A Forum is at times the most heated forum on here... You know the saying, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen... We are Christian brethren but be that as it is sometimes we just disagree... Brother Glen

 

I think beginning posts with accusations of ignorance is definitely not helpful.

 

“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” (Philippians 2:3) (KJV 1900)

 

I think if a person is able to accurately state the other person's position in any discussion, it goes a long way to calming the overall tone. I believe the Bible says "a fool desires nothing more than to make his own mind known." Most of the time we just talk past each other.

 

what happens around here is people state the other persons position with their own spin on it and in doing so misrepresents what they believe.

 

Yes, you do.

 

Jl.Dagg;
Any one who may desire to see a history of religious opinions, will not find it in this work.

Religion is an affair between every man and his God; and every man should seek to know the truth for himself, whatever may be the opinions of others respecting it.

It has been my aim to lead the mind of the reader directly to the sources of religious knowledge, and to incite him to investigate them for himself, without respect to human authority. He may learn, from the help which I am proffering him, what my views are, but I will here give the caution, once for all, not to adopt any opinion which I may advance, farther than it is well sustained by the word of God.

Had I wished him to fix his faith on human authority, I should have adduced quotations from writers of celebrity in support of my opinions; but I have chosen not to do so. It is my desire that the reader should see, in the doctrine here presented, so far as respects human authority, nothing but the mere opinion of a fallible worm;

but that so far as it is sustained by the word of God, he should receive it as the truth of God.

THE OBLIGATION. The study of religious truth ought to be undertaken and prosecuted from a sense of duty, and with a view to the improvement of the heart. When learned, it ought not to be laid on the shelf, as an object of speculation; but it should be deposited deep in the heart, where its sanctifying power ought to be felt.

To study theology, for the purpose of gratifying curiosity, or preparing for a profession, is an abuse and profanation of what ought to be regarded as most holy. To learn things pertaining to God, merely for the sake of amusement, or secular advantage, or to gratify the mere love of knowledge, is to treat the Most High with contempt.

 

I knew it was somewhere in the back. Thanks.

 

I let brethren believe what they believe and on some things I disagree but if their mind or mine is going to be changed, the Lord is going to have to do it!... Brother Glen

Great post!... Iconoclast!

 

Thumb wrestling!
We need a Virtual Thumb Wrestling app to settle disputes that get too personal for honest discussion.