truth: ground rules for the debate
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TRUTH: GROUND RULES FOR THE DEBATE. GROUND RULES …. “ Christians believe that they have the absolute truth that everyone else has to believe – or else. That attitude endangers everyone’s freedom.” - Young Brooklyn artist. GROUND RULES …. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
T R U T H : G R O U N D R U L E S F O R T H E D E B AT E
G R O U N D R U L E S …
“Christians believe that they have the absolute truth that everyone else has to believe – or else. That attitude endangers everyone’s freedom.”
- Young Brooklyn artist
G R O U N D R U L E S …
“Christianity is the leveler of the human race, the breaker of man’s will to dare and to do … an iron net, a straight-jacket which does not let him expand or grow.”
- Social Activist Emma Goldman
T H E L O V E O F TA R G E T
• Competing Absolutes– Postmodern Argument:
“Personal experience & intuition determine truth and conduct for each person.”
T H E L O V E O F TA R G E T
• Competing Absolutes– Postmodern Argument:– Pluralism Argument:
“Religious belief is too culturally & historically conditioned to be truth.”
T H E L O V E O F TA R G E T
• Competing Absolutes– Postmodern Argument:– Pluralism Argument:– Power Argument:“History is written by the winners who write the history books – books which glorify their own cause.”
T H E L O V E O F TA R G E T
• Competing Absolutes• Christianity’s Adaptability
T H E L O V E O F TA R G E T
• Competing Absolutes• Christianity’s Adaptability“Cultural diversity was built into the Christian faith … in Acts 15, which declared that the new Gentile Christians didn’t have to enter Jewish culture … The converts had to work out a Hellenistic way of being a Christian.”
- Historian Andrew Walls
T H E L O V E O F TA R G E T
• Competing Absolutes• Christianity’s Adaptability• Christianity's Absolutes– Common Head– Common Hope
9 0 % I S I N D E L I V E RY
• Command for Gentleness• Command for Reverence“What community has beliefs that lead its members to treat persons with love and respect – to serve them and meet their needs?”
9 0 % I S I N D E L I V E RY
• Command for Gentleness• Command for Reverence“What community’s beliefs lead it to demonize and attack those who violate their boundaries rather than treating them with kindness and humility?”
T R U T H : G R O U N D R U L E S F O R T H E D E B AT E