Alma 30

There will always be those who try to convince you other than what you believe or to contend with you.

It’s normal for people to have different views, and there are times when we need to stand up in the face of opposition for what we believe. But we need to state our positions in a positive and factual way without becoming angry, bitter, or insulting.

Alma chapters 30-31 in the Book of Mormon discusses people and ideas opposed to Jesus Christ. Korihor sought to destroy the faith of the Nephite people with lies and half truths. The same type of philosophies and arguments exist today to try to shake the faithful.

 

Joseph Smith taught “Avoid contentions and vain disputes with men of corrupt minds, who do not desire to know the truth.”

 

It fascinates me about how so many people base their beliefs and actions on so little information, lies, or no information at all. They also will profess to have knowledge when in reality they have little or none.

"Truths" some tell themselves are merely fragments of the truth and sometimes they are not really the truth at all.

 

This is a great quote from Dieter F Uchdorf; "The 'truths' we cling to shape the quality of our societies as well as our individual characteristics. All too often these 'truths' are based on incomplete and inaccurate evidence and at times they serve very selfish motives."

 

It is apparent to me that the great deceiver is making great strides to spread lies, mistruth and to divide people at every opportunity - and I am referring to the one mentioned in the scriptures, not in Washington.

 

 

To better understand the evils of lying, Robert J. Matthews, a former dean of religion at BYU, explained that “the seriousness of lying is not measured only in injury or pain inflicted on the one deceived. Lying has a devastating effect also on the perpetrator. It robs the liar of self-respect, and deadens his ability to recognize the difference between truth and error. When a lie is told often enough, even the one who knowingly spread it may begin to believe it. This was the case with the antichrist Korihor in the Book of Mormon (see Alma 30:52–53)”


Remember that the truth as we know it is not always the truth. The reality is that the truth is true even if nobody believes it.

So how do we avoid contentious conflict?

You’ve probably heard we can “disagree without being disagreeable.” Avoiding contention begins with your motives and desires. The scriptures say that “only by pride cometh contention” (Proverbs 13:10). If you care more about “winning an argument” or “being right,” a spirit of contention is almost certain to follow.

 

Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught some ways to avoid contention: (1) “show compassionate concern for others”; (2) “bridle the passion to speak or write contentiously for personal gain or glory”; and (3) “in humble submissiveness, truly [love] God.”¹ Then we can have the Spirit of the Lord with us, not the spirit of contention.

 

 

Elder Marvin J. Ashton related this true experience:

When he visited one mission, the elders asked him how they could best respond to some anti-Mormon publications in their area. He answered: “We do nothing. We have no time for contention. We only have time to be about our Father’s business.” (In Conference Report, Apr. 1978, p. 9; or Ensign, May 1978, p. 7.)