Sample Principles
Below are a sample of principles from End the Stalemate by McDowell and Muehlhoff to help you end your next stalemate.
When reading the Scriptures, it doesn’t take long to discover the importance placed upon our heart with over 500 references made concerning it. Why is the heart so important? The heart “determines the course of your life” (Prov. 4:23). Keep in mind that when the Bible refers our hearts, it’s not just the seat of our emotions. Rather, it’s equally your intellect, volition, and personality. In short, it’s all of you! Just as water shows your reflection, our hearts reflect who we are (Prov. 27:19). How does the heart impact the three conversations we are about to consider? “For whatever is in your heart,” asserts Jesus, “determines what you say” (Mt. 12:34).
Bricolage is a French word roughly meaning do it yourself. The term was first made popular by anthropologists who were interested in how communities made life workable by using everyday materials and resources to solve problems and create a collective identity. The term has caught on and today is used by artists, communicators, psychologists, and business consultants. To read more, see End the Stalemate, pp. 133-136.
When recounting a person’s view, we can either offer a straw-man version (purposely sharing the weakest parts of a person’s argument), or steel-man arguments (purposely looking for the strongest parts of an argument). In today’s argument culture, we are encouraged to share the weakest points of a person’s view. Read more: End the Stalemate, pp. 154-158.