For me, one of the highlights of Greg Koukl’s visit was a dinner on Saturday night that was followed by a lengthy Q&A session. Eric’s post on compatibilism reminded me that after dinner, Greg explicitly said he was a compatibilist. Specifically, he differentiated himself from J.P. Moreland inasmuch as Dr. Moreland is a libertarian.

For context’s sake, though, he made this statement while naming Dr. Moreland as the most influential person in his life. I find that kind of irenic spirit refreshing. While there’s a huge gap separating Greg and Dr. Moreland in this area, there’s not a ray of daylight between them when you consider their work to advance the Kingdom of Christ and defend the faith against the challenges of unbelief.

This is a good example of something else Greg says often (quoting Peter Kreeft): “Be egalitarian regarding persons. Be elitist regarding ideas.” In other words, we owe a debt of love to people, but a debt of criticism to their ideas — because truth matters, and love “rejoices with the truth.” But truth without love is, as Paul says, “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” — or worse.

Ronald Reagan once offered what he called the “Eleventh Commandment:” “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” Like Republicans, we Reformed types have been known to eat our own at times — I think we would do well to take a cue from the Gipper when it comes to our fellow laborers in the Kingdom.

We may have real differences on important issues, and those things are worth discussing with vigor and rigor. But if there’s one thing we don’t need in the spiritual war we find ourselves in, it’s battle damage from friendly fire. It hurts us, it hurts those around us, and it hurts our message.