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Bill

At the end of the day we're all in it for the same thing ( Christ being magnified) and are all compelled by the same thing (the love of the truth). Even in years past when there were intensely personal exchanges, they were immensely helpful to my growth as there was, before it became unprofitable, a wealth of wisdom being passed on. Not just head knowledge but actual real world experience of ordinary people who met truth and followed Him. While I'm not advocating any sort of carnal exchanges and have not only respect but a deep gratitude to the moderators for their attentiveness and patience, when we are all at differing levels of maturity and have differing cultural backgrounds it's almost inevitable that our rough edges are gonna get knocked off when we're in a rock tumbler, tho what comes out is smooth stones.
I mean this respectfully, SermonIndex has been instrumental in my growth in Christ and what's more His growth in me, yes even and especially the sometimes heated exchanges as they've served to keep me out of the ditches of disobedience and deception more than once in my walk.
Seems that this life with Christ is bound to get messy at times, but He abides faithfully to the end and Praise be unto God for that!
If His faithfulness toward us was exclusively based on our faithfulness toward Him,...none would stand a chance.
Btw didn't Paul and John Mark have an incident that took quite a while to be reconciled?
I believe that if we were all together in the same room for fellowship and prayer there'd be more love, respect and humility than most had ever previously experienced, kinda like it's supposed to be.

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Fletcher

I like the balance you've spelled out here, JFW. I couldn't agree with you any more, what a great post! It's hard (for us all) to keep that balance, at least for myself. Of course I don't enjoy fighting and arguing either (except to get in a much-needed laugh!) but have always loved a healthy debate...that doesn't mean that makes it right or wrong; it's just part of my personality/preferences. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I've always had this thought that if Jesus or Paul or any assertive Biblical character lived on earth today, in our churches, we would think they're so intolerant the way they would hurt feelings and spare no punches...honestly, it can be uncomfortable to imagine myself in their shoes and having the guts to say what they said! ...Especially in love, in the Spirit.

That being said, I recognize the rules of this forum so I'm not going to debate this. :)

The purpose of any debate (discussion if you will) is to come to a knowledge of truth. Too often we debate in order to advance our own ideas and prove ourselves right and others wrong. But what fruit is there in that approach. I have had to seriously question some of the things I believe through discussions here on SI. I find that my perspective on the interpretation of many minor points of doctrine is constantly changing and, I hope, coming more into line with Biblical truth. But I am not there yet, nor will I ever totally arrive. I find the discussion helpful to me as it makes me take a closer look at doctrines. I have blind spots...plenty of them. I need other brothers to help me see those blind spots and to make me at least consider their perspectives. If we lose sight of this...well, we only have strife and debate rather than fruitful discussion.

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Travis

Could we make a list of what is 'non-essential'. Since, we can't agree on what is essential/non-essential.

I think details and clarity are important since these issues tend to continue to pop up.

In a few different threads people would be strongly convicted of their belief and they'd believe it so strongly, it was an essential to them.

I'll start by listing some non-essentials:

1. Sabbath day (which day, every day, one day, etc)
2. Pre/post Trib (and other end times related doctrines)

Those two were very heated, partly due to one or two people's perspective that they were non-negotiable, that everyone had to have their perspective.

Calvinism, Christian perfection, age of earth, bible versions. I could name another but I will forbear since it will get people riled.

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Todd