{"id":47781,"date":"2016-03-30T20:59:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T01:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=47781"},"modified":"2022-05-27T21:00:29","modified_gmt":"2022-05-28T02:00:29","slug":"when-we-disagree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-we-disagree\/","title":{"rendered":"When We Disagree"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Doy Moyer<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Be generous.<\/strong>\u00a0Assume the best first. Don&#8217;t assign evil motives to other parties. They may have intended something else. Let the principles of love guide our discussions (I Cor 13:4-8).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be respectful.<\/strong>\u00a0Don&#8217;t begin a response by insulting and insinuating that the other parties are intellectually deficient. Just address the issue without resorting to ad hominem attacks. Kindness and respectfulness should mark all conversations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be willing.<\/strong>\u00a0It&#8217;s possible that we misunderstood something. Be willing to discuss and foster good communication through definition and clarification.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be open.<\/strong>\u00a0It&#8217;s possible that we are wrong ourselves and haven&#8217;t thought something through. Consider the other position and make sure that we understand it before rejecting it outright. If we are still sure that we disagree, then proceed with the other principles still in mind.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be direct.<\/strong>\u00a0Being generous and kind does not mean that we have to beat around the bush when we address the issue. State clearly the objection and the reasons for the disagreement.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be honorable.<\/strong>\u00a0We all make honest mistakes in our reasoning and conclusions, but if we purposefully twist or distort something in order to win an argument, we have crossed over into dishonesty. This is never honorable or right.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be committed.<\/strong>\u00a0First, be committed to the Lord and His truth. Then be committed to the well-being of others. Winning an argument is pointless just for its own sake.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be logical.<\/strong> It is one matter to just state, &#8220;I disagree,&#8221; or to just state a contrary proposition. It is another matter to state the disagreement along with reasons. Learn how to make actual arguments. If we want others to consider our positions, we need to be able to give the &#8220;because&#8221; for our positions. If we can&#8217;t state the &#8220;because,&#8221; then we don&#8217;t have adequate grounds for actual discussion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Doy Moyer Be generous.\u00a0Assume the best first. Don&#8217;t assign evil motives to other parties. They may have intended something else. Let the principles of love guide our discussions (I Cor 13:4-8). Be respectful.\u00a0Don&#8217;t begin a response by insulting and insinuating that the other parties are intellectually deficient. Just address the issue without resorting to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[794,1200,231],"class_list":["post-47781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-criticism","tag-disagreements","tag-strife"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68400,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ad-hominem-arguments\/","url_meta":{"origin":47781,"position":0},"title":"Ad Hominem Arguments","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer One of the most common logical fallacies is the ad hominem. It occurs when a person attacks the character of another rather than addressing the argument. There are many ways this happens, but one that I have seen several times is in questioning the honesty of one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68155,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-manifesto-for-myself-on-social-media\/","url_meta":{"origin":47781,"position":1},"title":"A Manifesto for Myself on Social Media","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Please note that these are thoughts I'm mulling over for my own growth and attitude as I think about culture. If you disagree with anything here, that's fine. I ask for respect and consideration, but you are also perfectly free to ignore this. This is in first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57460,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-intolerance-and-lies-of-open-mindedness\/","url_meta":{"origin":47781,"position":2},"title":"The Intolerance and Lies of Open-Mindedness","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer We've all heard it: we don't accept a particular viewpoint so, therefore, we are closed-minded bigots trapped inside some blind faith and hope fostered by an ancient, cultish superstition. Those who make such charges are, of course, open-minded, loving, tolerant, compassionate people who are willing to accept\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/Argue.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":35801,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-figure-out-the-truth-when-so-many-people-disagree\/","url_meta":{"origin":47781,"position":3},"title":"How can I figure out the truth when so many people disagree?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This is part of the problem I've been having: If something is part of the Old Law then why don't Jews today try to make homosexuality a death penalty in places like Florida, Israel, or anywhere there's a large Jewish population? It is this inconsistency between people and what's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":81519,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-men-disagree\/","url_meta":{"origin":47781,"position":4},"title":"When Men Disagree","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Adapted by Raymond Warfel From \"When We Disagree\" by Mike Willis Guardian of Truth, XL:9, p. 2, 2 May 1996 Brethren do disagree from time to time despite their desire to be united in the Spirit. We are not likely to remove all areas of disagreement any more than we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2317,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/it-is-written-reflections-on-authority-ceni-and-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":47781,"position":5},"title":"&#8220;It Is Written&#8221;: Reflections on Authority, CENI and Grace","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Those claiming to be Christians will make the claim on the basis of what they believe the Scriptures teach. This is so, regardless of how far right or left on the spectrum of thought they find themselves. This is not to say that all interpretations are correct\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}