While I'm looking back at my week I think this is the crux of my week. I have read many arguments on Facebook, been in arguments over board games, and even talked about conflict-resolution in premarital consoling. I have been around passive people whom are always trying to stop an argument. Passive-aggressive people who want to speak there voice but thats just "their opinion." Then there is a aggressive people who are always looking for an argument no matter what. This is the dynamic that we live in.
Should I argue or should I let things slide off my back? I have been seeing many Christians argue about theological differences. I heard a funny quote: "You are going to be bashed if you pastor a church called Mars Hill." Is it helpful for Christians to argue on the Internet? Does this hinder non-Christians view of the movement of God?
For me this argument has helped me converse with people at my work about Christians and the differing view points. If I didn't have people like Peter Enns and his honest discussion about the humanity of the Biblical text I would have never been able to relate to some of my friends who are distracted by the "errors" of the Bible. But on the other side of the spectrum I see families clinging to any pastor who explains the cohesiveness of the family.
We can see that on both of these ideas there are strong and passionate arguments against them. What is negative about this is when we see people bashing each other left and right. It is important to remember that no matter the argument you are still dealing with a person. Even if you say two nice things about them and then dig deep into that person no matter how dirty or mean they seem, it still is harmful. Some people do make statements that call you to argue and attack the statement, not the person.
I would love to see a more cohesive community of Christians. Where people are lifting each other up despite there different ideas. Rabbis in Jesus' time would have different ideas, they thought that the Bible was open ended and there was different ways of interpreting it. This would obviously bring up arguments. We can see this over and over again in Jesus' ministry, but he had John the Baptist to back up his new way of thinking. John was a respected rabbi in the Jewish community, so in turn this would make Jesus a respected rabbi. We can see that this would give him authority that all he would have to do is speak and people would follow. Jesus became a controversial man, that he needed to go through the "way of doing things" to get his point across. He is God and could have done it anyway but he chose to communicate this way.
Why am I explaining this?
We need to note Jesus' way of doing things and look at how he got his authority. Arguments are inevitable, especially if we are asking the right questions and trying to grow in our faith. Do you have the authority to bash other pastors or people to get your point across? Do you really know if the differing view is really a cult? Let's be honest and frank, but stop the name calling.
