RE: "Eight Principles" by John Piper
Here is the dialogue between Kyle and Jen on this article:

Jen:
Well, I am not sure how to express this, but I feel rather shocked by the article.

I think in all realms (political, social, etc) I am a relativist. I tend to be and let be. Though I do witness to others regarding my faith, I disagree that I should feel pain that they do not view the world through the same frame of reference. I am not so arrogant to believe that righteous people of other beliefs will be denied access to heaven. Though I know John clearly states that the only way to the Father is through the Son, I do not necessarily feel that I have a right to impose that school of thought on another.

This is just preliminary, and once I can digest more of it, I will say more.

Kyle:
I am not completely clear on why your are shocked by the article. I do need to read through the article again as well...as it has been a few days since I first ready it. I think a main purpose throughout this article is to show how tedious this task of relating to other faiths is. It really is such a tender issue that we must be oh so careful with. It is difficult to draw a line where we fall into being pluralistic. Can you see what I mean? Yes, we should accept someone's beliefs yet at the same time strive to show them the faults in it. BUT...how do we do that? It is so difficult and I struggle with how I should do this. That is why this article stuck out to me so much. And...a reason for why it is so difficult is due to our society and how relativism has been taught and prospers. So many people just want to live their lives and be left alone and in turn they treat others the same way. To an extent, I think we should live this way but I don't believe the Lord gives us the right to just "live as we want to".

Jen:
I think you and I are a bit different beliefs-wise. Not that this is a bad thing. I fully respect where you're coming from. I am just different with regard to pointing out error in thought. My father always taught me to lead by example with regard to my faith (and everything else). My base thought is that if I present as a Christian, I can lead people to Christ. I do not need to be militant and push people to challenge something they stand firm about. Not that I am implying that this article encouraged that. Bottom line--I love to dialogue, and I will anxiously await the forum of which you speak.

Kyle:
We may be a littel different in our beliefs and you are right in saying that it is not a bad thing because it's not. It's actually probably good because my beliefs will be stretched and challenged and so will yours. This helps each of us to further strengthen our beliefs and learn how to explain them. I agree that we should not be militant about expressing our beliefs or pushing them on others. I just feel that we must stand firm when challenged. ie...terror attacks by militant groups related to religions that encourage it...we should not have an acceptance attitude with these groups.





Kyle at 12:56 PM