Introduction to Evangelical Diablog

Purpose of Evangelical Diablog

The mission of this blog is to promote understanding through highlighting thoughtful dialog in the blogosphere as Evangelical Christians engage others in respectful conversation. Hopefully this site will help Evangelical Christians understand the perspectives of others, help others understand the thinking of Evangelical Christians, and serve as a model of a higher level of discourse for all of us.

My Motivation

It is frustrating for me to read broad, condemning comments about Evangelical Christians that reveal a  deep misunderstanding of the way we think or reveal a deep-seated prejudice against us. What is even more frustrating is when I read Evangelical Christians engaging in the same sort of rhetoric against others. Let's face it, we don't bring honor to Christ or persuade anyone to change their minds by attacking them or their intentions. We can't answer their objections unless we first take the time to understand them. In fact, when we take the time to understand another point of view, we may actually find out they are right on some things where we are wrong or that we already agree on more than we expected. Likewise, we can't expect others to understand and relate to us unless we can winsomely express our point of view.

Finding two reasonable people discussing an issue in a thoughtful way is a glorious thing, and when I see that happening in the blogosphere, I want to highlight it here. I hope that doing so will not only be instructive as to the issues discussed, but also instructive on how we all (of every persuasion) can raise the level of our own discourse.

Policy and Procedure

This is all subject to revision, but this is how I see this working out right now:

When I find (or others alert me to) thoughtful, respectful dialog on or between blogs, I will link to it on this site or, if both parties agree, republish the conversation here. If both parties agree to allow me permission to republish the conversation, I will still link to the original posts and also one other post of their choice to promote their sites.

Alternatively, I will host the conversation or formal debates here, if two participants agree on a format and procedure. Email me to issue open discussion or debate invitations.

I encourage readers to alert me to good dialog in the blogosphere, whether on your site or on other people's blogs.

When possible, I will index the dialogs by beliefs/religion of participants and the topic of conversation. For example, Evangelical & Agnostic on The Existence of Evil; Evangelical & Roman Catholic on Church Authority; or Evangelical & Evangelical on Capital Punishment.

Biographical information about the participants will be included if they agree to it, and if I think it will be helpful to understand where people are coming from. (I will encourage, but not require participants to disclose their religion or philosophy as clearly as possible.)

I will introduce the dialogs with my own summary description.

What Dialogs Will Be Included in Evangelical Diablog

As site mistress, I reserve the right to decide what I want to include and whether or not I want to explain my choices. However, these are the things I will be considering as I decide:

• Is the conversation useful to those seeking to understand another person's point of view, rather than just entertain and rally those who already agree with them?
• Is the dialog thoughtful and respectful? I'm not going to reject a conversation because of one unfair comment, but name-calling, personal attacks, broad brush insults, such as, "All [fill in the group of your choice] are arrogant fools!" will definitely decrease the chances of the conversation being featured here. I will not edit pieces, I will simply form an opinion as to whether its value outweighs the problems. I often find that if one party is disciplined enough not to engage the other on any unfair or insulting comments that are made, a meaningful conversation can still take place. In fact, observing how such comments are handled--when they are handled well--can be helpful to all of us.
• Are the posts well-written and easily understandable?
• I will not link to anything that promotes a group, business, or mission--even if I think it's a good one.

I will not normally highlight conversations that do not involve at least one Evangelical Christian, though sometimes I might. There is nothing wrong with such conversations, and I find them interesting reading. They don't fit in with my purpose for this site, however.

My purpose here is not to make Evangelicals look good at the expense of others, so I am not going to reject dialogs in which a non-Evangelical participant does a better job making his case than the Evangelical participant.

The conversation need not be confrontational or based on a disagreement. Perhaps an Evangelical Christian is asking questions of an Orthodox Jew as he explains how his family celebrates the holy days. I'm not trying to promote disagreements, I'm trying to promote understanding.

I am using the term Evangelical Christian rather loosely for the purposes of this site. Basically, I am thinking about members of conservative denominations which hold to orthodox Biblical doctrine, and which regard the Scriptures as the inerrant, infallible, ultimately authoritative, Spirit-breathed Word of God, and who regard themselves as saved only by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, applied to them by the Spirit of God, because of the grace of God and not because of their own works, and through the means of a God-given faith.  I am distinguishing between such Christians from our brothers and sisters of mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, or Eastern Orthodox churches, and from members of such unorthodox groups as the Watchtower Society or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (By using the term in this way, I am not implying it can't be used any other way;-)

How Can You Participate?

You can let me know, by using the email link in my sidebar, when you come across or take part in meaningful dialog on the Web.

You can invite someone to debate or converse on a topic and I will consider hosting the debate or conversation here.

Continue the conversation by commenting on the posts. (Comments will remain closed on formal debates until the debates have been completed.)

Comment and TrackBack Policy

Offensive or inflammatory comments or trackbacks will be deleted.

Comments that slam other commenters will be deleted. I don't want people to be intimidated about conversing here.

Comments must be on topic.

Trackbacks must lead to an on-topic post on another site that contains a link back to the post that is trackedback.

Comments and trackbacks may not be used for advertising purposes, no matter how worthy the product or cause.

Folks who can't follow these rules will be banned from commenting or tracking back at my discretion.

Comments

[WordGirl]

Does this fit the bill?

http://www.moltenthought.com/2005/02/he-said-she-said-evangelism.html

Thanks!
WG

[Dory]

Yup! Thanks for the link, WordGirl.