The Christian And The Cage Fighter

I am pretty prone to missing the boat, and discovering some hot-topic just as it's gone tepid. Maybe I subconsciously avoid heated debates because I don't like arguing.

But anyway, a week or two ago, my friend Craig Schwarze wrote a post about cage fighting on the Sydney Anglican website, which stirred up a lot of comments and controversy. I just skimmed through all 255 of them!

Another blogger Al Bain subsequently wrote a post about it, and most of the comments followed a similar thread of disapproval.

I don't know much about this sport, and actually have a greyish, undecided opinion on it all, but a few things sprung to mind as I read over all this stuff. Here's my thoughts in point form-

* Christians will never agree on everything, and what one persons' conscience genuinely is at peace with, another will genuinely find abhorrent. But neither is necessarily right or wrong.

* Issues like this are rarely black and white, so arguing right vs. wrong is not really the appropriate argument. Motives, personal conviction and context need to be carefully considered.

* The Bible is not about a bunch of rules and restrictions, and using one or two verses to back up an argument does not make it the final word on a subject.

* A lot of care and thought should be taken before one person condemns another's interests. If you write off one thing, you need to be prepared to scour your own life and interests first.

* Disputable matters are just that.

* The perceived 'weaker brother' is to be beared with (born?) and/or lovingly rebuked, not shot down for having a different set of convictions.

* It's good to discuss disputable matters, but it's pretty understandable to see why people don't do it more. Who wants to be pounced on and judged?

* The question, 'What Would Jesus Do?' gets thrown around too flippantly.