Featured The Great IMBALANCE on this board

Awesome truth this young man spoke. Love is the greatest command. Love cannot be learned or given from a strict adherence to a tweaked doctrine. Love never thinks evil, so let's not say this one or that one is a heretic bound for hell. Love always thinks the best, so when we disagree and neither gives way, give way.

 

What do you mean by "Give Way?" ..... do you mean give way in our beliefs? Would you expect me to give way to a Pelegian, to a Catholic, to a Jehovah Witless, to a Mormon? Then absolutely not.

 

When the debate goes back and forth with neither side convincing the other it gets nasty. Give way to your opponent and agree the debate will not be resolved. Walk away as gentlemen.

 

Not sure who this quote is attributed to (Augustine?) and I probably don't have it exactly right, but I think it a useful thought (and I believe it uses "charity" in the I Cor. 13 sense):

In the essentials, purity.
In the non-essentials, liberty.
In all things, charity.

 

Nope. It is Rupertus Meldenius, an unknown among churchmen but the author of a powerful tract (yes, they had them back then) written in 1627. He was, according to researchers at Georgetown University, " ... an orthodox Lutheran, who was far from the idea of ecclesiastical union, but anxious for the peace of the church and zealous for practical scriptural piety in place of the dry and barren scholasticism of his time."

The actual phrasing, according to Georgetown, in transliterated Latin, is "In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis (or, dubiis) libertas, in utrisque (or, omnibus) caritas."/I]. I believe you are right, in stating that caritas is used in the KJV practice of rendering the word "charity" in place of the actual word, which is "love."

 

The key is attitude, and as some have pointed out, "love."
All too often in a simple disagreement such as dispensationalism vs. covenant, dispensationalism was recently called heresy. Darby was labeled a heretic. So was Scofield. Is this accurate? Is it loving? Is it right to consider those who believe in dispensationalism, as believing in false and unbiblical doctrine? These are wrong attitudes. They are unloving.

How would you approach someone who posts and believes this:

Shoot him down as a heretic immediately!? Castigate him? Call him names?

The Bible says:
2 Timothy 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

Gentleness, patience, meekness, are not the qualities that are displayed here very often. And if they are not shown to this individual he will never give up his false doctrine.

 

lol, I'll start with apologizing to DHK for calling him a snake a few months ago.

 

Oh seriously...then what are you going to debate?

 

He probably thought you were complimenting him:tonofbricks:

 

Debate doesn't have to be nasty. It can be instructional instead.
Can you "teach" your opinion instead of YELLING it forth with all nastiness and name-calling included?

 

Maybe. "Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."

 

Well, looking at my calendar, I guess it is time to get the semi-annual "we need to be nicer to others" post.

Folks, it's a debate forum. In big capital letters it says DEBATE.

That means we will have different views. It means we will disagree. Some people will not have their points of view validated. Others will get their feelings hurt.

That's what happens in healthy debate.

Now, we don't need to be yelling at each other, name calling, and using ad hominems. But if you can't handle having ignorance called on the carpet, or having your point of view confronted, don't post here. Maybe you'd be better suited going and posting here.

We can remain civil and honorable, but I know I'm not tolerating fools or error laden posts. Besides, this is an online forum...it doesn't matter. It's all electrons that get aligned and spell out words. That somebody will delete from an old server in 20 years. It's just an online forum. It's not real life.

Get into a church, get busy, serve others, enjoy God's blessings, and speak His Gospel...that is the point of it all.

 

That is true enough. And sometimes they get emotional--too emotional.
As I posted earlier. This is an actual post, and it is recent:

How would you respond to it?

 

Snakes eat rats...and rats carry diseases. Thus, snakes are good.:smilewinkgrin:

 

Many thanks. I much prefer being able to correctly attribute any quotation I use.

The word "love" or "charity" in I Cor 13 is agape, "selfless love" (or "Christlike love"), but I'm confident you already know that.

 

PiJ, do you understand what a "debate" is? Not a knock-down, drag-out free-for-all, by any means. It isn't even a discussion of viewpoints that is necessarily aimed at changing anyone's mind. It is reasoned, civil discussion of an issue highlighted by the presentation of valid, supportable arguments for and against a particular issue.

No one will get their feelings hurt if no one attempts to hurt others' feelings, or, if they approach the debate as an intellectual discussion with no personal axes to grind.

No, what happens in a healthy debate is rational, courteous, respectful, informative discussion in which both parties come away better informed and more prepared to take action when the need arises.

What that means, essentially, is that there has never, ever been a "debate" on this or any other Internet forum. :laugh:

 

Pretty sure I've got my arms around that one. Thanks for checking.

Well part of the peculiarity of debates in an online forum is that they are moved along in light of our anonymity from each other. That means some people can be less loving on purpose.

I addressed the rest of your posts in my above post.

Rigorous conversations often can enflame passions. That's good. We need to keep our respect for each up front. I've been harassed, mocked, labeled, and libeled plenty around here. Doesn't bother me, because this stuff doesn't matter. It's a fun way to interact, blow off steam, and strengthen my resolve and arguments.

That said, I have little tolerance for fools and foolish thinking. I'll be plenty upfront about all of that too. We're adults, we can act like it.

Do be sure to read the rest of my above post.