FERGUSON: First of all, remember you hold to different doctrines and there are...it takes
two to tango or to tangle theologically. So, there are all kinds of biblical considerations
that first of all mean that you understand that, that you're speaking to another human being.
Second, that you remember you probably did not come to the doctrines you hold overnight,
so be very careful about treating as stupid
somebody who doesn't share them because you once were stupid. I think the third thing to say is
you need to discern the difference between people who are coming down the hill and
people who are going up the hill, and with people who are going down the hill you need
to think of ways of preventing them rolling down further. And people who are going up the hill,
you need to patiently help them up the hill because in these matters when we think of how
patient God has been with us before, suddenly it's clicked with us, "Oh, now I understand it!" Then I
think this is why Paul says to Timothy, you know, "When you're trying to instruct someone else, you
need to do it with great patience." So those are a few things I think are principles for me anyway.
PARSONS: Go ahead Derek.
THOMAS: No, I was just going to say that I'm trying to imagine Sinclair doing a tango and so.
FERGUSON: You are being cruel to animals now.
PARSONS: I think the emphasis on patience is very important and that we remember that we are not the
Holy Spirit in the lives of our friends and loved ones, that we really need to trust the Holy Spirit
to do the work that He's going to do, and that we need to spend time pointing them to Scripture.
Over the years when people have wanted to argue a point with me, I'll say,
"Let's spend some time in Scripture together, not just reading it, but really studying it
and getting some good commentaries." So, just be patient, trust the Spirit and pour over Scripture.
FERGUSON: Can I add something Nathan to what I said? Which is I have often felt with people,
in areas of doctrinal disagreement, one of the great keys that helps resolve the issue
is to ask the question, "What did Jesus believe about this?"
Because I think if you can get into that, it helps dissolve some of the emotional hang-ups
and distortions that often people have been taught simply by the tradition in which they've
been brought up by the books they have read, but the one thing you at least have in common is,
you know, as Christians we're supposed to believe whatever Jesus taught us,
but we have a tendency to go elsewhere other than to Jesus. So thinking about Jesus as the
master theologian and really knowing the Gospels and then understanding how the apostles were
teaching what Jesus had commanded them to teach is a great way to dissolve some of the emotional
angst and antagonism that can be created.
THOMAS: You know, this is a very important question because, you know, Paul seems to make the
point in Corinthians that there are some truths that are first of all. In other words, they're
primary truths and by implication, there are truths that are secondary and there are probably
truths that are tertiary. So, if the difference of opinion is over justification by faith alone
in Christ alone that's one thing, but if it's over the mode of baptism that's another thing,
so they're not all equal. And I think that our response to friends who have different opinions,
it also depends on what the doctrine about which we are deferring is as to how we respond.