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What form of debate is acceptable for the Christian to engage in? Surely it isn't the form of debate listed here:
Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Rom 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
I have seen people in these forums that do not treat others as they want to be treated. Some are in a quarrel with others instead of looking for mutual edification. Move on if someone does NOT want to believe in what you believe. Spend you time with those that are seeking - not with those that believe they have already found. For you know the ones that don't have the Truth for they QUARREL, they desire to dispute rather then edify. I'm guilty myself. But let's begin some threads that talk about how a Christian is deal with those that are opposed to the Truth. How should we engage? Should we engage? What does God's Word say?
What form of debate is acceptable for the Christian to engage in? Surely it isn't the form of debate listed here:
Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Rom 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Contextually, this applied to the apostate Jews and Judaizers.
It can also apply to us as Christians.
Quote:
For you know the ones that don't have the Truth for they QUARREL,
I don't necessarily believe this is true.
Quote:
they desire to dispute rather then edify.
This is true.
Quote:
I'm guilty myself.
Ditto.
Quote:
But let's begin some threads that talk about how a Christian is deal with those that are opposed to the Truth. How should we engage? Should we engage? What does God's Word say?
Sounds good!
For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
What form of debate is acceptable for the Christian to engage in? Surely it isn't the form of debate listed here:
Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Rom 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
I have seen people in these forums that do not treat others as they want to be treated. Some are in a quarrel with others instead of looking for mutual edification. Move on if someone does NOT want to believe in what you believe. Spend you time with those that are seeking - not with those that believe they have already found. For you know the ones that don't have the Truth for they QUARREL, they desire to dispute rather then edify. I'm guilty myself. But let's begin some threads that talk about how a Christian is deal with those that are opposed to the Truth. How should we engage? Should we engage? What does God's Word say?
What a wonderful post! I seldom quote anything from the Book of Mormon since I know that people on this forum believe it to be false. In this case, though, I'm going to make an exception. These are the words of Jesus Christ, from the Book of Mormon...
For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.
I personally believe that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is very displeased with us when we argue among ourselves to the extent that we do on this forum. Obviously, we do not agree on all points of doctrine, but that doesn't mean we have to treat one another which such blatant disregard for each other's feelings as we often do. There is not one of us who can't learn something worthwhile from someone else on this forum. We're just all too busy trying to prove that we're right and everybody else is wrong.
I personally believe that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is very displeased with us when we argue among ourselves to the extent that we do on this forum. Obviously, we do not agree on all points of doctrine, but that doesn't mean we have to treat one another which such blatant disregard for each other's feelings as we often do. There is not one of us who can't learn something worthwhile from someone else on this forum. We're just all too busy trying to prove that we're right and everybody else is wrong.
I believe you're right Katzpur, and not one of us is innocent. I'll be the first to admit that I give it right back when it's given to me. Not the way to handle it, I know, but believe it or not I'm waaaaayy better than I used to be. It's a learning process and I'm definitely still learning how not to come across as argumentative and sarcastic. Although, sometimes the sarcasm is intentional. We've all got a lot of work to do here to clean up this forum.
But we're all still human after all. I think debating is a good thing, just not in the way we're all getting in trouble for. Maybe a 10 second rule (unwritten) should be in place before we actually hit "submit reply"....I think I'll start doing that. I think 10 seconds is enough time to decide whether or not one needs to re-work their post or not. We all definitely seem to be in agreement that something needs to change whether ET or UR or AN or ES.
Amen, Trettep. Great topic. It takes many years to grow out of the desire to be contentious. Though some people seem to stop growing in Christ almost right after they have received the ABC's of grace and for various reasons, (the world, the flesh, and the devil) cannot grow. I don't think it is in our power to change such people except through prayer and also by not debating which just feeds the desire of the flesh. We all struggle with these same enemies of our faith. Our battle is not against one another (or should not be, according to the scripture), but that seems to be the biggest snare that people fall into in this journey of faith.
p.s. Also, I just want to say that I get tired of people using the "debate" problem as a means to try to stifle others from sharing what they personally believe. Just because you disagree with someone's understanding is not an excuse for trying to silence them.
What a wonderful post! I seldom quote anything from the Book of Mormon since I know that people on this forum believe it to be false. In this case, though, I'm going to make an exception. These are the words of Jesus Christ, from the Book of Mormon...
For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.
I personally believe that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is very displeased with us when we argue among ourselves to the extent that we do on this forum. Obviously, we do not agree on all points of doctrine, but that doesn't mean we have to treat one another which such blatant disregard for each other's feelings as we often do. There is not one of us who can't learn something worthwhile from someone else on this forum. We're just all too busy trying to prove that we're right and everybody else is wrong.
Thank you for that quote, Katzpur! Truly a blessing for me!
(It wouldn't hurt to post things like that more often, ya know! )
What form of debate is acceptable for the Christian to engage in? Surely it isn't the form of debate listed here:
Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Rom 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
I have seen people in these forums that do not treat others as they want to be treated. Some are in a quarrel with others instead of looking for mutual edification. Move on if someone does NOT want to believe in what you believe. Spend you time with those that are seeking - not with those that believe they have already found. For you know the ones that don't have the Truth for they QUARREL, they desire to dispute rather then edify. I'm guilty myself. But let's begin some threads that talk about how a Christian is deal with those that are opposed to the Truth. How should we engage? Should we engage? What does God's Word say?
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