open-mindedness

I had my first Practical Reasoning class this evening. I knew that going into it, the class was going to be difficult. As Christians we have values, principles, and commands from God Himself that must be obeyed and cannot be contravened by man's reason. My first class was about the fair-minded, critical thinker. The instructor gave us an essay that he had written and that he uses as an introduction to his course.

There were many things in this essay that I could agree with, but most I have to hold at arms length and examine them in light of Scripture.

I hope that you will engage me in this topic that was very prevalent in Mr. Hilton's essay: Open-mindedness.

I simply want to ask some questions, and perhaps get some responses back.

Two of the essay's definitions of open-mindedness are
receptive to new ideas,
a willingness to be persuaded.

How receptive can a Christian be to new ideas? Or should I say, how receptive should a Christian be to the new philosophies of the World? How does one define receptivity? Is receptiveness an attitude of freely listening?

Should a Christian be willing to be persuaded in any argument? How do we draw the line? How do we discern which arguments we can be willing to be persuaded on and which we cannot before we hear the argument?

As you can see this is an interesting question. I hope you don't think I am floundering. I am not. "But in the multitude of counsellors there is safety" (Proverbs 11:14 KJV). So please ponder this and answer or ask more questions.

jmb