Arguing is important

Hi all

I read this post by Jon Bloom from Desiring God, and was reminded of two things: the importance of arguing WELL for the sake of Christ, and the importance of arguing well for the sake of CHRIST (as opposed to, say, our own sakes, or for the sake of humanity, or for the sake of truth and knowledge, or personal holiness, etc).

The challenging thing is that the world is under a formidable delusion because of its own sin and the manipulation of powerful demonic forces. The message of Christianity is foolishness to them, because it approaches everything (in their eyes) from a completely alien knowledge and belief paradigm. Part of the reason for this site is to provide resources that God can use to break the delusion - possibly dramatically, but more likely in a subtle way by inspiring the consideration of radically different new paradigms. My challenge is not so much the arguing part ;) but making sure I keep my focus on Christ - the goal of it all.

Here's the text. Let me know your thoughts on this issue:

We Destroy Arguments

July 15, 2011 | by: Jon Bloom | Category: Commentary

"BELIEVE IN ME." (John 14:1)

Why is it so hard to just find some peace of mind?

Well, peace is hard to come by when you live in a warzone. And like it or not you are in a war—a very serious one. This war is cosmic in its proportions. It involves God, humans, angels, demons, principalities, powers, nations, and antichrists.

And do you know where the front of the battle is? It’s in your head.

Here is how Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5:

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

Where is the battle raging? Where your thoughts are. What are the strongholds that spiritually imprison people? Arguments and opinions.

And arguments are not merely strongholds, they are weapons of mass destruction. Adam and Eve (and all of us with them) fell because of an argument. They believed the serpent’s argument and stopped believing God.

That is the deadly essence of sin: not believing God. To not believe God is to ally with Satan, whom Jesus said is “a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth… for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

You don’t want Satan as an ally. He’s treacherous. He’s out to murder you with lies.

Watch your emotions. They are signals of arguments. Your emotions, which can land on you like vague impressions or moods, are usually responses to an argument. Moods don’t come out of nowhere. When we are angry, discouraged, depressed, anxious, self-pitying, fearful, or irritable, it is likely because we are believing something very specific.

To battle sin is to battle unbelief—or destroy arguments. And in order to battle unbelief effectively, we must press doubts and temptations into specific arguments. What specifically is being asserted or promised to us? Only then can we destroy the enemy’s false arguments with true ones.

The devil does not want us to think clearly about sin. He wants to keep things vague so he can imprison or disarm us. But Jesus wants us to think clearly. He wants us to know the truth because the truth brings freedom:

If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31-32)

So as freedom fighters let’s fight against “unbelieving hearts” by exhorting one another every day (Hebrews 3:12-13) to live in the freedom—and peace (John 16:33)—of the truth.

Because our most important battles are won and lost with arguments.