“He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me,”
said the Lord, “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 (3 Nephi
11:29).
I only ever recall once being told, by Mormon Missionaries, that I had the spirit of contention. I cannot remember exactly what our discussion entailed, but they were not happy with something I said, and so they threw the charge at me. But what do they mean when they say a person has a spirit of contention?
A
Christ-like attitude
Mormons
will often say that a person has the spirit of contention, when they feel that
their beliefs are in some way being undermined or ridiculed. A Christian
challenging them about what they believe can often find themselves labelled as
contentious. They may suggest that you are not exhibiting a ‘Christ-like
attitude’ in what you are saying or the way you are saying it. Jesus, who is
the one allegedly speaking in 3 Nephi 11:29, makes it clear: ‘“He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me…”.
Therefore,
if you they charge you with being contentious, they are likely accusing you of being
un-Christlike and acting more like the devil: “who is the father of
contention…”.
It
is possible that, in our zeal to reach Mormons, we do become argumentative and
combative in our discussions. When this happens, we do need to catch ourselves
and, where appropriate, apologise to them.
When
witnessing to Mormons with the good news of the gospel, we should strive to not
be contentious or mocking in any way. The Bible teaches us that we should
endeavour to ‘speak the truth in love’ (Ephesians 4:15); and exhibit the
fruit of the Spirit (and particularly in witnessing show self-control). Elsewhere,
Proverbs has much to say about the folly of contention:
Hatred stirs up strife, but love
covers all offenses. (10:12)
A fool's lips walk into a fight, and
his mouth invites a beating. (18:6)
A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong
city, and quarrelling is like the bars of a castle. (18:19)
As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so
is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. (26:21)
Also,
Paul warns young Timothy not to get involved in contention:
Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:23-26)
So,
it is clear from scripture that contention will not get us very far in our
effort to reach the lost. Therefore, we must strive to not be impolite and/or
insulting to our Mormon friends.
Turning
the Tables
It
is possible that as we remain self-controlled when sharing the gospel with
Mormons, that it is them who will lose their self-control. I have personally experienced
this. Sometimes Mormons will become a little irate and raise their voices. If
this happens, then we can turn the tables on them - in love of course.
We
can say something along the lines of we are not willing to continue with the
discussion if they are going to be argumentative and contentious. Upon hearing us
using the ‘c’ word against them – they will immediately calm down and possibly even
apologise to us. After all, they cannot be seen to be imitating the father of
contention. We can then proceed on with a friendly discussion about things of
eternal importance.
Sharing
the Truth in Love
Missionaries
are taught not to contend or argue:
There is no need to argue or contend with others
regarding our beliefs. There is no need to become defensive or belligerent. Our
position is solid; the Church is true. We simply need to have a conversation,
as friends in the same room would have, always guided by the prompting of the
Spirit and constantly remembering the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, which
reminds us of how precious are the children of our Father in Heaven.[1]
Though
we as Christians are also not to be contentious, the Bible says that there is
something for which we should contend:
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you
about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write
appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all
delivered to the saints. (Jude 3)
We
are told to contend for the faith. Here we find our reason for sharing the
truth with Mormons. Theirs is not the faith once and for all delivered to the
saints. They have a different gospel.
Perhaps
the following quote sums up how they might feel:
“Surely our Heavenly Father is saddened – and the devil laughs – when we contentiously debate doctrinal differences with our Christian neighbors.”[2]
I
would personally seek to re-write this quote to sum up our position:
“Surely our Heavenly Father is pleased – and the devil is angry – when we contend for doctrinal truth with our Mormon neighbors.”
There
is always the chance that a discussion with Mormons, particularly about our
doctrinal differences, will become a little heated, but this should not deter
us from sharing truth with them.
LDS
missionaries are taught to not strive in debate, but we are to contend for the
faith once for all delivered to the saints. As we do this their response may be
to just bear their testimony to the truth of what they believe. But we must bear
testimony to the truth that Jesus is enough.
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