"But, O my people, beware lest there shall arise contentions among you, and ye list to obey the evil spirit, which was spoken of by my father Mosiah."
Mosiah 2:32
If there were Book of Mormon action figures, I would definitely buy the King Benjamin one. He is so cool. :) This verse struck me today because it seems to directly link contention, or argument, with obeying the evil spirit. I think that is interesting. You don't usually think of an argument being something that throws you over into Satan's camp... but I guess if I think about it there is a lot that makes sense... some of that self-knowledge and self-control that we are supposed to learn goes out the window when we lose our tempers... and even if the argument isn't about something critically important, sometimes we hold our opinion so tightly that we can't allow ourselves to listen to the other side. I know that I have insisted adamantly and repeatedly that I was right before, and when I found out that I was wrong I had no way out because I had insisted so strenuously... what do you say after that? "oops?" :) Utter crawl-on-the-floor apologies are the only thing that have a chance of working at that point... and all because I couldn't even consider the other person's point of view. Scary... and I think I can see where contention and the evil spirit go hand in hand. It's one thing to believe in your own way and promote your own beliefs... it is quite another to slam what someone else says and value yourself and your opinion more than someone else's well-being and mental and emotional state. Hopefully, next time we are tempted to start or continue an argument, we'll consider the other person first, and why it is so important to us to promote our views over theirs.
Mosiah 2:32
If there were Book of Mormon action figures, I would definitely buy the King Benjamin one. He is so cool. :) This verse struck me today because it seems to directly link contention, or argument, with obeying the evil spirit. I think that is interesting. You don't usually think of an argument being something that throws you over into Satan's camp... but I guess if I think about it there is a lot that makes sense... some of that self-knowledge and self-control that we are supposed to learn goes out the window when we lose our tempers... and even if the argument isn't about something critically important, sometimes we hold our opinion so tightly that we can't allow ourselves to listen to the other side. I know that I have insisted adamantly and repeatedly that I was right before, and when I found out that I was wrong I had no way out because I had insisted so strenuously... what do you say after that? "oops?" :) Utter crawl-on-the-floor apologies are the only thing that have a chance of working at that point... and all because I couldn't even consider the other person's point of view. Scary... and I think I can see where contention and the evil spirit go hand in hand. It's one thing to believe in your own way and promote your own beliefs... it is quite another to slam what someone else says and value yourself and your opinion more than someone else's well-being and mental and emotional state. Hopefully, next time we are tempted to start or continue an argument, we'll consider the other person first, and why it is so important to us to promote our views over theirs.
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