Differences

Generous apologetics assumes that there are differences between people in belief and practice. There are several ways we could confront the differences between ourselves and others. The goal is to be able to address those differences in a meaningful yet loving fashion, so some ways are better than others.

One method to deal with differences would be to just dive right on in with the biggest point of contention. That would be like a Protestant coming up to a Roman Catholic and telling them the top ten reasons that praying to Mary is Satanic... needless to say that wouldn't go over so well. This method is great if you really love arguing with people. If, however, you'd rather work things out - possibly winning the other person over, or at least agreeably disagreeing - then you'd probably want something better.

Another method, one I think is more suited to mutual respect and working out issues, is to start not with the greatest point of contention, but instead start with what you can actually agree on and then work on that foundation towards the points of contention. In the example above, our Protestant and Catholic friends could start by agreeing that salvation is by faith in Christ, that God is actually as He presents Himself in the Bible, etc. They may just find that they have most important things in common. After that, agreeing to disagree on Mary's role in the church may be a lot easier to do, or at least they can do it respectfully. One major advantage of this method over the former is that if you start with contention, then the other people will likely shut their minds to whatever good you may have to say. But by starting on with you can agree on, perhaps they will remain open to hearing you out. And perhaps one of you may realize that their belief contradicts the foundation they've already agreed to, and hopefully then they would change.

My hope is that I will follow this latter method here. I hope to talk about several issues that are points of contention in the church today. I will try to start with common, agreeable ideas and then building on that foundation move on to the issue at hand. Hopefully then I won't alienate any readers that disagree with me. Maybe I will convince some people, maybe I won't. But if all I do is get people to really listen to the opposing side, then I will consider myself a success.

ybic (Your Brother In Christ)
KevinS

Generous Apologist in training