President Russell M. Nelson wrote:
Some months ago my esteemed colleague Elder Carlos E. Asay and I stood atop Mount Nebo, where Moses once stood. (See Deut. 34:1-4.) We saw what he saw. In the distance to our right was the sea of Galilee. The river Jordan flowed from there to the Dead Sea on our left. Ahead was the promised land into which Joshua led the Israelite faithful so long ago.
Later we were permitted to do what Moses could not. We were escorted from the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan to its western border with Israel. From there, we and our associates walked over the Allenby Bridge. We felt the tension as armed soldiers near by guarded both sides of the international boundary.
After safely enduring this experience, I thought of the irony of it all. Here in the land made holy by the Prince of Peace, contention has existed almost continuously from that day to this.
Prior to His ascension from the Holy Land, the Savior pronounced a unique blessing: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” (John 14:27.)
His peace is not necessarily political; His peace is personal. But the spirit of inner peace is driven away by contention. Contention does not usually begin as strife between countries. More often, it starts with an individual, for we can contend within ourselves over simple matters of right and wrong. From there, contention can infect neighbors and nations like a spreading sore.
As we dread any disease that undermines the health of the body, so should we deplore contention. . . . which is a corroding canker of the spirit. I appreciate the counsel of Abraham Lincoln, who said:
“Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spend time for personal contention. . . . Better give your path to a dog than to be bitten by him.” (Letter to J.M. Cutts, 26 Oct. 1863, in Concise Lincoln Dictionary of Thoughts and Statement, comp. and arr. Ralph B. Winn [New York: New York Philosophical Library, 1959], p. 107.)
President Ezra Taft Benson described contention as “another face of pride.”
My concern is that contention is becoming accepted as a way of life. From what we see in the media, the classroom, and the workplace, all are now infected to some degree with contention. How easy it is, yet how wrong it is, to allow habits of contention to pervade matters of spiritual significance, because contention is forbidden by divine decree: “The Lord hath commanded that men should not murder; that they should not lie; that they should not steal; that they should not take the name of the Lord their God in vain; that they should not envy; that they should not have malice; that they should not contend one with another.” (2 Nephi 26:32) ~from the book ‘Peace, Essays of Hope and Encouragement’, multiple authors, (Deseret Book, 1998) p. 85-86 Continued, see The Creator of Contention
