At what point must grace overtake intellectual and biblical integrity?

High Fidelity said:

I suppose we've all experienced it at one point or another, especially on CF given how broad it is, but there are so many subjective 'truths' spread by certain groups that are objectively wrong.

An example of this is tongues and, to a larger extent, spiritual gifts in general. I am mostly concerned with tongues in particular because that's usually the most common and focused upon, but when it gets to the point where people are claiming that salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is only apparent and evident when said person can and does speak tongues.

Not only is this unsupported in Scripture, it's a level of intellectual dishonesty perpetrated by a group of Christians whose faith mostly relies on experiential aspects that is difficult to ignore and simply walk away from and not, well, be incensed at.

I work with a woman and she was telling me how terrible she felt before she could 'speak tongues'. She felt like she wasn't saved, wasn't Christian, that God didn't love her or that there was just something she wasn't doing. It was awful, but she was also a very genuine and sincere person. I know in her heart that's what she felt was right and that she was pursuing God in the way she thought was right, so when I went through Scripture with her it was actually very fruitful.
Online, this is seldom the case. Discussing it typically only serves to entrench a person in their position that actively seeks out the opportunity to defend their position as opposed to considering it, scrutinising it and testing it.

So in your experience, what point do you consider the correct time to walk away? I don't think it's right to simply ignore and not at least try, but I also know it's fruitless beyond a certain point and I'm struggling to find that balance.

P.S. I posted this here and not Semper Reformanda because I still consider this home

Thanks!

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Hammster said:

Are you asking about walking away from the discussion altogether?

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High Fidelity said:

I suppose we've all experienced it at one point or another, especially on CF given how broad it is, but there are so many subjective 'truths' spread by certain groups that are objectively wrong.

An example of this is tongues and, to a larger extent, spiritual gifts in general. I am mostly concerned with tongues in particular because that's usually the most common and focused upon, but when it gets to the point where people are claiming that salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is only apparent and evident when said person can and does speak tongues.

Not only is this unsupported in Scripture, it's a level of intellectual dishonesty perpetrated by a group of Christians whose faith mostly relies on experiential aspects that is difficult to ignore and simply walk away from and not, well, be incensed at.

I work with a woman and she was telling me how terrible she felt before she could 'speak tongues'. She felt like she wasn't saved, wasn't Christian, that God didn't love her or that there was just something she wasn't doing. It was awful, but she was also a very genuine and sincere person. I know in her heart that's what she felt was right and that she was pursuing God in the way she thought was right, so when I went through Scripture with her it was actually very fruitful.
Online, this is seldom the case. Discussing it typically only serves to entrench a person in their position that actively seeks out the opportunity to defend their position as opposed to considering it, scrutinising it and testing it.

So in your experience, what point do you consider the correct time to walk away? I don't think it's right to simply ignore and not at least try, but I also know it's fruitless beyond a certain point and I'm struggling to find that balance.

P.S. I posted this here and not Semper Reformanda because I still consider this home

Thanks!

Click to expand...

High Fidelity said:

I suppose we've all experienced it at one point or another, especially on CF given how broad it is, but there are so many subjective 'truths' spread by certain groups that are objectively wrong.

An example of this is tongues and, to a larger extent, spiritual gifts in general. I am mostly concerned with tongues in particular because that's usually the most common and focused upon, but when it gets to the point where people are claiming that salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is only apparent and evident when said person can and does speak tongues.

Not only is this unsupported in Scripture, it's a level of intellectual dishonesty perpetrated by a group of Christians whose faith mostly relies on experiential aspects that is difficult to ignore and simply walk away from and not, well, be incensed at.

I work with a woman and she was telling me how terrible she felt before she could 'speak tongues'. She felt like she wasn't saved, wasn't Christian, that God didn't love her or that there was just something she wasn't doing. It was awful, but she was also a very genuine and sincere person. I know in her heart that's what she felt was right and that she was pursuing God in the way she thought was right, so when I went through Scripture with her it was actually very fruitful.
Online, this is seldom the case. Discussing it typically only serves to entrench a person in their position that actively seeks out the opportunity to defend their position as opposed to considering it, scrutinising it and testing it.

So in your experience, what point do you consider the correct time to walk away? I don't think it's right to simply ignore and not at least try, but I also know it's fruitless beyond a certain point and I'm struggling to find that balance.

P.S. I posted this here and not Semper Reformanda because I still consider this home

Thanks!

Click to expand...

High Fidelity said:

I guess so. After a while there's just no point discussing it because it won't produce anything, much less edifying.

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