12 Principles for Debating Online
12 principles that are worth considering and praying over before you engage in online debate:
1) Do not respond hastily. Think and pray before you speak.
2) Be brief: You want to be clear—and to articulate your point without being pompous. Be direct. Stay on topic. Don’t lose yourself, or your readers, in overly wordy sentences or paragraphs.
3) Take the time to let people know you have understood their comments and concerns. Show respect to them by repeating their argument back in your own words and ask if you have understood them correctly.
4) Respect the opinions of others. When you need to disagree, do so respectfully and acknowledge valid points in other's arguments. While others are entitled to hold any perspective on an issue, be sure to point out their own inconsistencies, but with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).
5) Do not write anything that sounds angry or sarcastic. (James 1:19)
6) Never speak as if you are glad at the misfortune of another. Show care, concern or empathy.
7) When you reprove another, remember that you are not without sin, and are not beyond the capacity to sin. Always keep in mind that you are not saved because you are better or more deserving than others, but are saved by God's mercy alone. Any good character we may now have is only because of God's mercy. Don't forget that in your discussions.
8) Do not use reproachful language against others: curses, reviling or argumentum ad hominem: attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself.
Visitor: 4-point Calvinists like Bruce Ware affirm 'multiple intentions' for the atonement, all shared symmetrically within the Trinity. The Father employs election and preterition, the Son atones generally and redeems particularly, and the Spirit calls both effectually and non-effectually (or something to that effect). No disharmony in that economy.
Brothers and sisters, let's acknowledge reality: we are no longer on a slippery slope. We have already hit bottom and the edifices of the new order are already being erected there. But do not fret - it is not the end ... far from it. The gospel can flourish in any and all environments. In fact, that "plant" we call the gospel does best in the harshest of conditions. I have seen it with my own eyes. I lived in a communist country for 10 years where atheism was the official religion and Christianity suppressed, yet, in the midst of it, I witnessed one of the greatest revivals in history. Remember Paul, when in prison, said, "I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained." (2 Tim 2:9) And after saying this the gospel spread wildly through the then known world for the next 300 years under great persecution, tribulation and hardships. So do not view current events necessarily as evil things which make one lose hope. On the contrary view them as that which gives you hope and joy because you know it is carried out by the sovereign LORD, for the purposes of advancing His kingdom, though in ways out of the sight of man. God's power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:9)