Sermon 141 "Sharing Your Faith vs. Arguing Theology"

It was hard to come up with a good title for this lesson. 

At first, I thought of "Christians Should NEVER Argue". But I thought some might misinterpret that as "...NEVER contend for the faith with great enthusiasm". 

Then I thought of "Christians Should Not Argue in Anger". But that seemed a bit vague. 

So I settled upon "Sharing Faith vs. Arguing Theology".

I wanted to set our great commission of witnessing (evangelism) against the pointless waste of time that is theological debate.

I have seen some pretty bizarre side issues that Christians can get obsessed with. There are doctrines that can become huge stumbling blocks.

One is the King James Only or the Textus Receptus Only debate. At times, it seems like people are putting their faith in a Bible version, instead of in the person of Jesus Christ himself. 

Some believers think they can overpower atheists with Bible verses and logic. They think they can lead someone to conversion to faith by winning a debate about God.

The topics and teachings that Christians argue about is endless. I see them as good excercises in research and reason, but they can spin out of control and be weird delusions and distractions from the main things: leading others to Christ, prayer, struggling against sin in our souls, obeying God, imitating Jesus, loving and serving others.

Let's look at what the Bible says about discussions, debates, and arguments -- contending for the faith, but not aggressively striving with people and nitpicking obscurities.