The Art of Debate and Why I Get no Where with It.

I finished a debate. It went nowhere quickly, but that's getting ahead of the story. So I once made a facebook post about a very minorly controversial topic, which proved to be very emotionally charged when discussing with a friend of our family who is a believer. In a series a responses to that post, a sparring debate was lit over whether or not preaching about sin in churches was condemnation without love. To me, the need to preach about sin was very obviously the correct view, but I soon learned that my friend was driven by much more than just logic, and as I later view this post, I see that I was too. After a few, yet quite lengthy rounds of argument (all publicly displayed, I might add), I became exceedingly frustrated that my friend did not see the same truth I did. I pulled out of the argument in a way that might seem like a cop-out. I just claimed that my ideas must not be understandable because my explanations are not always the clearest in writing. Anyways, here are a few lessons that I have learned about debating on Facebook from this experience:

1. When using theological terms, explain.: In this post I used the term "antinomianism." That is a belief that one can continue to sin without regard of the holiness of God thinking that grace will pardon their sin. However, I did not clearly explain this to my friend when I tried to show them how antinomianism quickly becomes legalism. My failure to explain left my fried at loss. I then become an arrogant person by showing off my great knowledge. This is obviously not what I want to display as a Christian because it is a very prideful action.
2. Read other posts carefully before re-posting: After reading this debate again in preparation for make this blog post I realized that I should have replied with a completely different argument. I originally chose to debate the purpose of the law, but upon review, I see that I should have gone a different route by saying that people don't like hearing about sin because they enjoy their sin and do not want to repent.
3. Do not get emotionaly attached to the need to win: It is not about winning the debate. As much as this debate dealt with sin, righteousness, and the gospel, my tactics should have been loving and I should have depended on the Holy Spirit to convict and bring repentance. I focused too much on logical arguments and tended not to let the Holy Spirit convict my friend.
4. The point is to glorify God: This debate all together felt like a failure to me and I believe the root cause was my lack of love. This must be the hardest to write because it deals directly with my sin: my failure to love and spur another Christian towards love and good deeds. I could be off base with this a little but I am pretty convicted about it. I guess I get emotionally worked up about arguments like this because they seem to be an attack on the gospel, which I love. However, my friend must also have been worked up about it because they were holding their ground. Though I may have been right, when the debate became emotional, I automatically lost.

I think that those 4 points explain pretty well why I did not get anywhere with this debate. At the end of the day, it just felt futile. This could have been because of my pride. I felt like I should have won  because I have the truth, based on the Word of God through a line of godly people that openly proclaimed it.Don't get me wrong, I still believe that we should contend for our faith, but let's just say I've learned a lot about how to contend in love. So ends this post.

Only by God's Sovereign Will

This past week has been one that only God could have orchestrated. I went to Capitol Hill Baptist Church (CHBC) in Washington D.C. for the morning service.  I got their at what I though was a good time and I was wrong. The only seats open were in the balcony and behind the pulpit. The service was amazing. There was lots of prayers and the songs were just Christ-centered. They were old hymns but there were some newer songs. The sermon was gospel-centered and the gospel was proclaimed. It was just a big encouragement to seat through.

After the service, the gentlemen seating next to me asked who I was. He saw my face and told me his name was Scott. I then said his full name and then he realized that we have meet before. We did meet the first time I was at CHBC in February. He asked if I had any plans for the day. I told him that my plans were to visit the National Mall and walk around (I thought about witnessing to people also). He invited me to lunch. We had lunch a the Eastern Market, which is only a couple of block from CHBC. We had a delightful time. We encouraged each other as I talked a little about what God had thought me through my deployment, especially James 4:6. We found out that we had lot in common with what we are dealing with in our lives.

After our talk, I would go on to the National Mall and he would meet with a member of CHBC. I would continue to think about the chat and the sermon. I would also attend the night service and be blessed with even more prayer and communion. It was just an amazing day in God's presence.

This happened because of God. CHBC is a larger church and I would have never seen Scott again unless God ordained the meeting, which he did. To God be all the glory.

What do we need more, A moral straight congress people or Biblical Preachers?

Answer the question at hand now. What do you like is more needed in the USA right now? This question is based of a conversation I had a friend. He wants to be a congressman. I think that he might be a good congressmen, I do not think he will be elected into a high office based on his worldview. We will face block because of people claiming separation of church and state. I believe that the only thing to be separated is state owning a church. The church should own the state, okay not really, just look at the Catholic Church.

So my answer to this question is that we need more Bible preaching pastors that will not itch the ears of the people. The state can not create morality but the church can lead people to God. God is the one you changed unmoral people to moral people. Look at what is happening in the state of California and Propositions 8. The immoral of a few is creating a big problem when the majority said yes to prop 8. Prop 8 does not band Homosexual marriage, it redefines that marriage is between 1 man and 1 female as described in Genesis 2.

SO we need pastors like R.C Spour, John Piper, C J Mahaney, John MacArthur, Paul Washer, Jeff Noblet. They do not need to be famous, just Biblical. Our goal is to get out a preach to the lost. Christians we are to seek the lost and teach them about Repentance and Trust. God " 'now he commands all people everywhere to repent,because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.' "(Acts 17:30-31)

I work like everyone to pray for people to share their faith in God.

SIDE NOTE: Look for a Bible study on Revelation 2:1-7 at my Bible Study Blog.

ALSO, Happy New Year.