I am Tired of arguing...

[Akita Suggagaki]

...tired of debate, tired of defending and critiquing.

Maybe it is time to practice a poverty of opinion.

There is always a good chance that I am misinformed, mistaken and in the wrong about most everything.

Mea culpa

 

[Rajni]

I've been at that point myself for a while. "I could be wrong" is my motto. Even if I know I'm right about something... Meh... whatever. It's all good.

 

[Jude1:3Contendforthefaith]

Sometimes indifference and apathy about certain topics can be a good thing.

 

[PsaltiChrysostom]

...tired of debate, tired of defending and critiquing.

Maybe it is time to practice a poverty of opinion.

There is always a good chance that I am misinformed, mistaken and in the wrong about most everything.

Mea culpa

That's why I've been limiting my time on CF and unfollowing a lot of threads. I enjoy a nice discussion but I'm also tired of arguing. If only we could do this over a beer or a glass of wine... c'est la vie.

 

[Occams Barber]

...tired of debate, tired of defending and critiquing.

Maybe it is time to practice a poverty of opinion.

There is always a good chance that I am misinformed, mistaken and in the wrong about most everything.

Mea culpa

As a general observation I find that Christians have a tendency towards being pedantic. It may have something to do with the concepts of absolute truth buried in Christian belief.

Whether the argument is about theology or science the use of modifiers like "possibly", "maybe", "perhaps" etc. seems to be interpreted as a concession or agreement. I've had Christians regularly complaining that science changes its mind without seeing that this is a strength rather than a weakness.

The other possibility I see is that always being right is an American thing and the combination of American infallibilty and Christian pedantry produces arguments which go nowhere.

OB

 

[SavedByGrace3]

...tired of debate, tired of defending and critiquing.

Maybe it is time to practice a poverty of opinion.

There is always a good chance that I am misinformed, mistaken and in the wrong about most everything.

Mea culpa

It is not good to debate with people who do not want to learn or change their mind. Especially those who are here for the sole reason to dissuade you from the faith.

2 Timothy 2:23-24 KJV
23. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.
24. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,

 

[SeventhFisherofMen]

...tired of debate, tired of defending and critiquing.

Maybe it is time to practice a poverty of opinion.

There is always a good chance that I am misinformed, mistaken and in the wrong about most everything.

Mea culpa

*insert counter argument here

 

[Bradskii]

There is always a good chance that I am misinformed, mistaken and in the wrong about most everything.

A good chance indeed. Same here. I wish more people on this forum would accept that position.

But you're not going to know you're wrong unless you put your arguments forward for whatever position you hold and allow them to be tested. Better to discover you are wrong than to always think you are right.

 

[trophy33]

But you're not going to know you're wrong unless you put your arguments forward for whatever position you hold and allow them to be tested. Better to discover you are wrong than to always think you are right.

Thats true. I began as a YEC, futurist and Arminian (then Calvinist and then away from it, at least in some aspects). All of that changed during years and I see many of my positions as just making the most sense (considering other options), but far from certainty.

I would say that the changes would not happen, at least not at such pace, if not for discussions or watching formal discussions of others (for example various Universities events on youtube).

Edit:
Well, thinking about it, I changed many more positions in time... leaving charismatic/pentecostal movement, literal reading of Genesis, view about inspiration, majority vs minority text etc.)

 

[trophy33]

Many of the written arguments here on CF may seem to be "between people who are 100% sure", but I take it only as a way how people test them. Saying "maybe, I do not know, probably" all the time is not effective, so sometimes we position ourselves more towards some specific side to test its strength and to experiment.

I guess that the vast majority of us are less argumentative and more open to alternatives in our real personal life.

 

[Occams Barber]

Many of the written arguments here on CF may seem to be "between people who are 100% sure", but I take it only as a way how people test them. Saying "maybe, I do not know, probably" all the time is not effective, so sometimes we position ourselves more towards some specific side to test its strength and to experiment.

I guess that the vast majority of us are less argumentative and more open to alternatives in our real personal life.

What happens often on CF is that people set out to win an argument as opposed to discover a truth or a solution. As I said earlier, I think a lot of this is cultural with 'winning' given excessive importance.

This extends to making statements without providing supporting info or links. I've seen instances where supporting info, provided by the poster, says the opposite of what the poster claims it says. I've also come across many instances where I strongly suspect the poster is lying. Posters will also deny or ignore facts put in front of them.

The local CF motto appears to be "Win at all costs". I've been surprised at the overall shortage of Christian ethics in a Christian Forum.
OB

 

[dzheremi]

I've greatly reduced the amount of time I've spent posting on CF because I'm tired of the arguing, too. I suspect there are many of us feeling this way.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

I am glad there are a few here who understand. Thanks.

Blessings and peace.

 

[Confused-by-christianity]

The other possibility I see is that always being right is an American thing and the combination of American infallibilty and Christian pedantry produces arguments which go nowhere.
OB

I think a lot of christians get taught that the penalty for being wrong is hell or hell on earth - so, the stakes of being wrong are pretty high for them. You can kind of understand why you might go to insane lengths in an argument.

 

[Confused-by-christianity]

I've greatly reduced the amount of time I've spent posting on CF because I'm tired of the arguing, too. I suspect there are many of us feeling this way.

Yes - I have drastically reduced my time on here too. It wasn't due to ordinary posters though.

A little scenario was set up where I was the nazi and the other was the courageous hero.

Someone else took over the conversation and i found them just confrontational.

I still browse a little but as for posting - i figure whats the point??

The treatment was pretty poor to be honest.

 

[Confused-by-christianity]

...tired of debate, tired of defending and critiquing.

Shall I bible cut/paste you about this sentence???

GNB - Proverbs 17:12 It is better to meet a mother bear robbed of her cubs than to meet some fool busy with a stupid project.
You have to find it in the GNB.
The NIV version is way less funny.
NIV - Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool bent on folly.
NIV Not as funny but sentiment same - it's not awesome to come across someone who is on some sort of mission to argue everything endlessly

Here's another that stuck with me ... 2 Timothy 2:23
Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.
don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights.
Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

Consider yourself cut/pasted

Maybe it is time to practice a poverty of opinion.

I find I like hearing peoples opinions and I'm always looking for someone really wise and trying to hear what they think about stuff.

There is always a good chance that I am misinformed, mistaken and in the wrong about most everything.

I always have this in my head. Always always. It's so easy to be certain of something and then find out you made the simplest error

 

[trophy33]

What happens often on CF is that people set out to win an argument as opposed to discover a truth or a solution. As I said earlier, I think a lot of this is cultural with 'winning' given excessive importance.

This extends to making statements without providing supporting info or links. I've seen instances where supporting info, provided by the poster, says the opposite of what the poster claims it says. I've also come across many instances where I strongly suspect the poster is lying. Posters will also deny or ignore facts put in front of them.

The local CF motto appears to be "Win at all costs". I've been surprised at the overall shortage of Christian ethics in a Christian Forum.
OB

I do not think it works in a way like "your specific argument makes me change my mind now". But it may be something one can register and put together with other things much later.

Also, somebody may think "I must win at all costs", but if he continuously feels that his own arguments are weak, it can also be something slowly changing his attitude.

So, I think even "head against head" discussions may be useful, even if they do not look so at the moment.

 

[PsaltiChrysostom]

I think the other thing is that 90% of the discussions are simply the same dead horse that has been beat to a pulp. In theology, it comes down to Faith vs. Works, Prayer to saints is necromancy, the role of Mary, Tradition vs Sola Scriptura etc. We could pretty much eliminate most threads because inevitably these just turn into the same arguments.

 

[trophy33]

I think the other thing is that 90% of the discussions are simply the same dead horse that has been beat to a pulp. In theology, it comes down to Faith vs. Works, Prayer to saints is necromancy, the role of Mary, Tradition vs Sola Scriptura etc. We could pretty much eliminate most threads because inevitably these just turn into the same arguments.

I doubt somebody thinks that these forums are for establishing some new Christian doctrine.

I think it serves for individual Christians to exercise their intellectual capacity, to test their knowledge and arguments, to spend their free time debating a topic that interests them. Nothing world changing.

If somebody takes it too personally, he may get exhausted very quickly. We do not argue here to change "those wrong people" to believe like we do. If it were the case, the result would be truly quite disappointing and pointless.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

I think the other thing is that 90% of the discussions are simply the same dead horse that has been beat to a pulp

Reminds me of the Elvis documentary I was watching last night. He was so sick of his movies with the same theme:
Boy meets girl
Boy meets girl's old boyfriend
Boy fights
Boy sings.