discussion ender

A few years ago, I had a friend who also worked on our church staff for a while. He was a strong individual, with lots of personality. He had a favorite phrase that he pulled out frequently in the middle of an especially heated debate. After making a definitive statement on a particular subject, he would announce, “end of discussion!” And you know what? He was usually right. Once people hear that their input is no longer needed, most of them will oblige – and quit talking about it. The problem with my friend was, there were times when the discussion shouldn’t have ended. There was more dialogue required. There was more than one important opinion. People were left divided when an agreement could have been reached. And his premature pronunciation of the conclusion of the talk was really counterproductive. That is unless he didn’t really care what anyone else had to say.

And that’s my point in this post.

If you want to shut down healthy discussion, adopt the following philosophy:

“To disagree with me is to disagree with God!”

But if you want to work through issues and learn and grow and understand healthy compromise, avoid this approach at all costs.

This is one of the most effective discussion killers known to humankind. After all, how can one argue with God? This discussion ender is usually utilized by well meaning but narrow minded people.  They assume that their opinions and God’s opinions are always the same.  Guess what? They’re probably not!

Once someone plays this trump card, whether or not they are right or wrong, they effectively eliminate the need for anyone else to contribute. The way I see it, there is only one person who can speak for God and that’s Him. And He does so quite effectively without our help.

Read His Word – He tells us everything we need to know in explicit detail.

And if you disagree with this post, talk to God about it – ‘cause He always agrees with me!