Contention

From Sean's Gospel Topical Guide
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Contend thou, therefore, morning by morning; and day after day let thy warning voice go forth; and when the night cometh let not the inhabitants of the earth slumber, because of thy speech.
For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.
Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.
A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes.
A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.
Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.
29) Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30) They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
  • Narda Stephens Tims, "An Honored and Invited Guest", Ensign, June 2007
How the spirit of contention almost destroyed her marriage and how her family was saved.
  • Joseph Smith, compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith, "Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith", pp. 40-41
When preaching the gospel, "avoid contentions and vain disputes with men of corrupt minds, who do not desire to know the truth."

Notes

3 Nephi 11:29 is probably the strongest condemnation of contention in the scriptures, although we are, at times, admonished to contend. The idea of struggling against someone, more generically, or even against God (wrestling with God), is often a righteous cause. What then, is this contention that is condemned.

Many references tie the contention that is so often condemned to anger or hate. This kind of contention is linked to pride in Proverbs 13:10. Proverbs 22:10 identifies the scorner as the cause of contention. In that way, I would be inclined to connect the idea of contention to "contempt". In my experience, when a discussion is injected with mocking and name-calling, then it seems a sure sign that they quality and value of the discussion has become negative. These become highly emotional fights rather than struggles with God for the truth.

Contempt, as a related phenomena is interesting, as it has been my observation that contempt is often the mechanism by which people sever their connections with other people, after they have already come to be irritated by the connection. There is no willingness to reason or understand in contempt. eg. Contempt has been identified as a precursor to divorce, and much work is done in therapy to address the issue of contempt, but I think this is misguided. I think that, while contempt does hasten the divorce, it emanates from a more fundamental urge to end the connection, which will still exist, even if the contemptuous behavior is addressed. Perhaps it is still of value to address the contempt, but the source of that desire to sever the connection will still need to be dealt with, and is of more fundamental importance.

Cross-References