This past week I’ve seen a lot of posts dealing with what I call “interior points of theology,” that is, points of argument within the body of believers over doctrinal issues not related to our public witness. Whether the topic is the age of the earth, or use of alcohol, or the proper form for the Lord’s Supper, ‘discussions’ tend to grow rather heated, and can quickly devolve into an ugly confrontation. There’s an urgency to get one’s point across at all costs that overrides our desire to treat each other as siblings in the faith. Paul did admonish us to “[Contend] earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints,” (Jude 1:3, NASB) but does ‘contend’ necessarily mean ’smack upside the head’?
Why should we want to smack people down if we’re going to spend eternity with them?
Al at After the Handbasket brings it home with a quote from Blaise Pascal on the subject of what should come out of our mouths:
“Cold words freeze people, and hot words scorch them, and bitter words make them bitter, and wrathful words make them wrathful. Kind words also produce their image on men’s souls; and a beautiful image it is. They smooth, and quiet, and comfort the hearer. They shame him out of his sour, morose, unkind feelings. We have not yet begun to use kind words in such abundance as they ought to be used.”
You tell it, math guy.
April 11th, 2008 09:28 am
[...] Michael Patton at Reclaiming the Mind is reading my mind. No sooner had I posted this piece yesterday when he posts this . It’s a great description of how we are to relate to one [...]
April 11th, 2008 20:41 pm
Hey, are you saying that I’m being confrontational? Because if you are then you’re nothing but a low down, dirty…..oh, sorry.
Love that Pascal quote. Thanks for sharing it. It seems that the math guys are often poets as well.
April 11th, 2008 22:37 pm
Thanks for the link!
God bless!
al sends
al’s last blog post..T4G08