Theology III

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

Anyway, maybe that story was off-topic, but hey, look at my title! (Half-Elven Princess of Rabbit Trails) And even if it was off-topic, I think it teaches an important lesson - that the whole truth is important, and also that it matters a great deal WHO is holding the sharp knife.

That was a great story RÃ*an!

Originally Posted by Lief Erikson

Yeah. I've been warned by a college professor too that my views could easily get me into trouble if I broadcast them. Though that was actually because of his knowing my views on a different issue that I haven't ever gone into on Entmoot, because it has never come up, and my views there too are very non politically correct.

I'm still personally somewhat unclear as to when I should keep my mouth shut and when I should speak my mind. Doing the latter often gets me some abuse, which I'll accept to a degree, but sometimes doing the former is a better course. I'm not sure exactly how to draw the line between the two.

If I always kept my mouth shut on my non-politically correct views, I'd be allowing views I disagree with to freely proliferate, and I'd be failing in a major way to contribute to our democracy. That absolute silence, I know I'll never involve myself in.

But I know that sometimes keeping my mouth shut would be better. I currently try to only keep my mouth shut if I know that speaking will do no one any good, because the people involved are too set in their own ways to listen, and all I'll get is abuse by talking, with no one coming out of the situation the better for it. If it's lose-lose, I keep my mouth shut. Thankfully, that kind of situation is pretty rare.

Do you think, Jonathan, that that's the best time to remain silent, or are there other times also when one should?

It is a difficult question. I'll reply like this -
If you are aware that other people believe in different "truths" than you do and if you for just a second can step from your own beliefs and listen to the other people's arguments and identify how they think, you will be better at making the call whether you should speak or keep silent. And if you do speak, you will also be better at avoiding some of the abuse
(By "you" I mean people in general, not specifically you Lief )

If you are interested, this is how I see things -
We all have our own set of axioms - "truths" - on which we base our views and our sense of right and wrong. Since you Lief are Christian, many of your axioms come from the bible. As a consequence many non-Christians won't share your views.
If we peel away all the arguments behind a certain political view, what is left are our axioms. Few arguments could make an individual reject those axioms. For instance, wouldn't it be very, very hard for me to make you reject your religion simply by stating some arguments?

Important to note is also that arguments don't necessarily have the same meaning or "power" for people with different axioms. Our arguments will therefore rarely convince another person that they are wrong while you are right.

Since we only rarely can make people change their political views by using arguments and since we practically never can make them change their axioms, we resort to what we can do; pointing out the logical holes in their arguments. In my experience this is a very widespread form of debating on messageboards like this one.

I think we all believe in different truths, and your truth is just as real and true for you as is my truth for me. Everyone has their own "glasses" with which they observe the world. People forget this and think the world they see is the real and right one. So sometimes people fail to take in or respect the views of others. Then it might be better if they keep their mouths shut.