Right, Wrong, or Neither?

John Walton, words worth careful and constant reading:

It is too easy for an individual, a local church or a denomination to decide that they have a corner on the market of interpretation and truth and that anyone who disagrees with them is wrong. This attitude exists despite the fact that the New Testament shows us a number of situations when people in the early church had disagreements about issues that were decided by allowing a range of possibilities (e.g., the Jerusalem Council). Consequently we get easily embroiled in debates. The problem with debates is that they are designed to explain in great detail why the other person is wrong. I have no objection to Christians explaining to each other why and how they have arrived at the conclusions they have, but I would not be so bold as to label my Christian brother or sister as wrong if they have practiced faithful interpretation. I may disagree with them or consider them misguided; I may believe that they have presuppositions that are unnecessary or that they have misjudged or neglected certain evidence. Discussion can be beneficial for both parties and for those who listen in. But debates among Christians “score points” at the other’s expense and insist on being right while the other is wrong. Does such a view honor the concept of “charity in all things?” I am not sure that it does. We should be slow to accuse another of discarding the authority of Scripture, and therefore denouncing them, just because they interpret Scripture differently than we do.

Where have you seen this right or wrong approach when it should have been neither?