WARNING: Unless youre a super fast reader, this will most likely take more then a minute to read

and understand!!! This post does not contain arguments in an attempt to convince anyone of anything. Its more like realisations to help grow in our understanding of scripture. So take it or leave it, you may even have more and better suggestions then anything I say below. If thats the case dont hesitate to make those suggestions known. As always any; thoughts, questions, comments, rebukes etc will be most welcomed and appreciated :) Fruitful Conversations: Recently I was involved in a conversation with one of my housemates (lets call him Steve) about sex and marriage. To put it relatively blunt; there was tension. We both felt we were correct in our thoughts and we both thought we had theology to support our claims. We were both acting extremely stubborn and the conversation was uncomfortable and far from encouraging.
(Ephesians 4:15) Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 9 (Philippians 1:9) And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight
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From these verses we see that Steve and my conversation was an epic failure. We should have grown from this conversation. Our love should have abounded in our increase in knowledge. But instead, as a result, we felt deflated and irritable.

This particular conversation began with a realisation that we disagreed on a biblical matter. Should this have been something to get upset about? Not at all. This was an opportunity for both of us to grow in our understanding of the word of God. It was an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work in us and Increase our understanding of the bible, which should have led to an encouraging conclusion where we agreed on a clear biblical truth supported by scripture. This would have been followed with a hot tea and then maybe some table tennis in the garage. But Midway through the conversation I felt the topic in question was becoming less of a focus and proving the other person wrong became our goal. Steve (thats right, Im about to point out his flaws, but dont worry I get to mine in a second) started to pose obscure questions, sometimes with no clear logical or biblical answer, that werent necessarily constructive for the original discussion. And because I failed to answer them he won himself a point in proving me wrong. I became defensive of my ideas and began to retaliate by turning the questions back on him. Once or twice I even responded to his questions with an answer I didnt fully agree with. But it made me look good and also stumped him in his thoughts. Two points for me. He then would interrupt my precious rebuttal-thinking-time and ask multiple questions, fast and consecutively, not allowing me to answer any one of them. Another point to him. Our accurate theology turned in to poor interpretations of scripture, which turned

in to assumptions about scripture, followed by the removal of scripture from the conversation all together. Minus 100 points each. You know youve taken a wrong turn somewhere along the line when a light hearted discussion about sex and marriage turns into a heated debate about hypothetical situations such as should a couple get married in order to repopulate the world if they were the only two people left on earth, on an island, with a law book stating that they can only get married if they renounce their faith?. So where was the wrong turn? At what point did our conversation that had potential to be fruitful, turn into a messy slur of nonsensical propositions with no structure, encouragement or growth up into our precious saviour? We failed to acknowledge the similarities between certain things and majorly failed to differentiate between others. This left us in an uncomfortable Predicament. I think if we had known to completely separate the following three points whilst keeping them close together our conversation may have produced a more encouraging result. 1. Biblical truth 2. Individual understanding 3. Who we are

So what do these 3 terms mean and why are they important. 1. Biblical Truth: Our God is a true God:
(Isaiah 65:16) Whoever invokes a blessing in the land; will do so by the God of truth; he who takes an oath in the land; will swear by the God of truth; For the past troubles will be forgotten; and hidden from my eyes.
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The bible is Gods Word:

(2 Timothy 3:16) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness
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God is the God of truth and all scripture is God-breathed. Therefore I believe its a fair assumption to say that the bible was not intended to be open for interpretation. Within its writings is every truth well need to know and understand about God, the world, life, death and salvation. Basically what Im trying to say is, the bible has actual truths within it and although people may interpret scripture differently, there is only one intended interpretation. 2. Individual understanding: Whilst taking part in our quest to reveal actual biblical truths it is necessary to formulate our own ideas and theories from scripture. The purpose of this, I believe, is to have a base line; a starting point; something we can compare other passages to, that we come across. And as our knowledge of the bible increases, and as the spirit works in us, our interpretations become far more sculptured and may in the end lead to us discovering a biblical truth.

Heres a bit of Wisdom from dad about Individual understanding: Who we are in Christ expresses its faith in accordance with our understanding. This affects how we pray, feel, speak, act etc. In this sense every believer does theology whether they realise it or not because we are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Ro 12). I believe that doing theology is unavoidable. Even unbelievers who reject what God has revealed of himself in creation and who never read the bible; have just acted on their theology. Another point is that 1 Co 2 says that we have the mind of Christ. I believe that this means that when we finally reach the point of saying, thats exactly what I have been trying to say that we will find that our brother or sister is agreeing with us. We wont be in complete agreement on everything with any brother and sister until Jesus returns. As we engage in iron sharpening iron we help each other approach scriptural truth together asymptotically (Nice work dad: I believe we can all learn from maths). Often when we disagree it is because we are both agreeing on an assumption which is not true or else we are both asking the wrong question. Sometimes this wont be resolved until our whole culture has moved on and others can revisit the question, who dont share our (incorrect) assumptions. This may take years, even centuries! Back to me again :) 3. Who we are Who are we in Christ?
(Ephesians 2:10) For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. 12 (John 1:12) Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God 1 (Romans 5:1) Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
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We are Gods workmanship. We are have the right to become children of God. We are at peace with God. These are promises God has made to us. So why would these 3 points have been so important to remember while Steve and I were conversing? I would like to thank Rach Ainsworth and her Father Clint for handing me this bit of logic. Its quite good :) Whilst keeping these 3 points very close together, it is important to realise that they are very different things. For example; If a brother or sister disagrees with you on a biblical matter, they are most likely not attacking your character or claiming you dont believe the bibles truths, they are only voicing their understanding about what scripture says. If someones Biblical understanding leads them into sin, it does not change who they are; they are still children of God. If we make the assumption that peoples biblical

understanding are accurate reflections of who they are we are judging their heart by what their brains know and the two can be completely different things. If someone claims to know a biblical truth but you disagree with it, remember that it is just their understanding and not necessarily how the bible puts it. We will never have a perfect understanding of Scripture!!! So be open to other interpretations, be open to disagreements, grow from those disagreements, the bible has the answers in it that we need. Do not be offended by disagreements. If you come to realise your understanding may not be perfect, put your dignity to the side so you can thrive off your integrity. A misunderstanding does not change what Jesus has done for you. When conversing with a brother or sister; tackle the ball, not the player, be quick to listen but slow to speak, do not compromise the scriptures but, instead reformulate your own understanding based on them. Do not get caught in a rut of assumptions and traditions embedded so far into your understanding that it clouds these God breathed words. Society and people will constantly change, but the bible will not. If you need to completely reset your understanding and start again, why not do that. Yes it will mean going back to the beginning and yes, if we have been rebuking our brothers or sisters based on these understandings it will be hard, but its never too late. Do not let experience effect the way you read your bible. If you find outrageous claims in the bible that you feel cannot be right because youve never experienced those claims, youve either misunderstood what it is saying or more likely, it IS actually saying what you think its saying. Work together with your fellow brother or sister in Christ, do not argue the point but encourage an ulterior understanding. We are Gods workmanship, created for good works in Jesus Christ. So what was the result of Steves and my conversation? If I remember correctly, we left it as the question was being asked: should a couple get married in order to repopulate the world if they were the only two people left on earth, on an island, with a law book stating that they can only get married if they renounce their faith?. Answer: Stupid question. I personally disagree with using examples when trying to understand ideas in biblical disagreements anyway (but thats just me). Both Steve and I realised what we were doing and stopped for a breather. We came back together, and stated what we were arguing as simply as we could. We took it in turns to speak, we stopped being stubborn (mostly) we consulted scripture and we worked together, we found passages that agreed and disagreed with our points and in the end come up with an understanding that neither of us had considered before and one that I believe is a great leap forward from either of our previous understandings. A billion points each, 10 Billion to God :)