I receive emails, on a regular basis, from people who have been to my website and have seen (and sometimes actually have read) various commentaries that I have written about Bible topics. The people who have read things I’ve written usually will comment specifically on certain points with which they agree or disagree. In those cases, accordingly, I will respond to their comments if and when I have the time. Occasionally, I will have brief, logical, rational discussions with people like that, although I do not have the time or interest in having lengthy exchanges with anyone.
When someone does not comment specifically on things I have written, but instead requests that I read opinions and commentaries that they or others have written, sometimes I will read what that person has written (or a portion of it, if it is quite lengthy, since I do not have the time or interest to read a great deal of unsolicited material). Then I will single out some points and indicate why I agree or disagree with them.
In many cases, when I disagree with a person’s viewpoints, that person will continue emailing me, attempting to convince me to adopt his/her viewpoints. What such a person rarely will do is to cite specific points in my writings and comment why he/she believes that I am in error. I have two things to say about this:
In any case, I sometimes will take the time to comment on material someone has written and has asked me to read, or else has made statements in an email about which he/she has requested that I make comments. However, if that person ignores the logic in my comments and continues to bombard me with continual reasons why I should adopt his/her views (especially when that person does not take the time to make constructive, rational comments on explicit points I have made in one of my commentaries or in an email response), I see no reason for our dialogue to continue.
As an example, I have compiled the 20 emails—and my responses to many of those emails—of someone who wrote me for about 3 months during 2006. (At that time, I had more time for back-and-forth dialogues with people, which no longer is the case.) He attempted to convince me that there is nothing in the Bible that speaks of a prophetic 70th Week (of 7 years) to occur in the future. He steadfastly believed, and adamantly wanted for me to believe as well, that there are only 3½ years (not 7 years) remaining to fulfill Daniel 9:26,27. In case you are interested in looking at an extremely lengthy example of what I have described above, click on the following link; I think you will understand why I have no interest in having fruitless, futile dialogues with people:
Since that word document is quite extensive and protracted (368 KB), it may take awhile to load if you have a slow internet connection. I have changed the names of people mentioned within the email exchange.
Ted
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