Debate without implicit insult?

[agedman]

Notice 12 Strings, we are now discussing people and not principles.

Are we?

Or is this thread discussing how people's principles guide their posts and reading scheme/agenda?

 

[thomas15]

Notice 12 Strings, we are now discussing people and not principles.

Personally I find it hard to become offended when I have the Word on my side and I'm engaged in debate with goofballs!

 

[mont974x4]

One of the ones that really gets me is when someone assumes you arrived at your conclusion on a text or issue because you just didn't study it right. A classic one is the accusation that those of us against women as pastors are ignoring historical and cultural contexts and that "times they are a changing". The reality is many of us are actually pastors and spend a great deal of time studying and have reached our conclusions prayerfully and carefully.

If you want to ask if the other person has considered a passage, that is good.
If you want to address the original Greek or Hebrew and ask if the person understands (or has studied) the definitions, that is good.

These examples are good because they encourage us to really look at what God said, and not what we think He said or what our favorite preacher/writer said. This is a way to edify one another while discussing some hard issues.

I am a 5 pointer and my degree is from a Wesleyan school. Those were hard years but it forced me to really dig in and challenge my beliefs.