Contention; How Is This Being A Good Neighbor?

by Wer62 (Ed)

Introduction:

It is a sad state of affairs when people attack others for their religious beliefs. I do not understand people who attack other people for having a differing opinion by derailing message threads instead of taking the opportunities to teach what you believe. Those that read this site and Rick Beaudin's site may be aware of some attacks against Rick and his beliefs. As well as comments I deleted on this site that tried to pit me against Rick by making it appear that Rick made comments about me. Like the scriptures instruct we are not to be quick to anger and this is a prime reason why we should keep cool during these situations.

Rick does not believe as I do and we oppose each other in what we have chosen in our religious beliefs. Rick is a member of a "non denominational / Evangelical" religious group. I of course belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or known to some as the Mormons.

I am writing this blog entry because honesty and communication always wins over those who would stir the contention of men by whatever means. What I mean is claiming to know the original author and their work and threaten that this person is going to sue Rick for copyright law when he has done nothing wrong in his publication. I may not agree with the article but that is the great thing about blogging is I can write a reasoned response and let the readers decide. The Lord did not give us license to "bear false witness when we do not agree with the message" or did I miss that part of the scriptures?

I have broken this blog entry into sections. Contention and Being a Good Neighbor. I will not pass judgment on my fellow man to say what religious denomination this person belongs to but only use scriptural values to show that no matter what group you belong to that a standard has been set that should be followed.

Contention is of the Devil:

Naturally we have some challenges when we work for the Lord in spreading his gospel, not the least of which were to keep our value system up front, to keep contention low, and to stifle foolishness, falseness, selfishness, fatigue, and delusions of grandeur. It is important that we remember why we are blogging. In my case I do it in the defense of my faith the one I believe to be authorized of the Lord and to educate those who will read my words with open-mindedness. I am not perfect, and I am sure Rick will tell you the same thing and he does what he does because he believes that the Lord wants him to witness to his fellow man. We are told to "go forth and teach all nations and to baptize them"[paraphrased]

So how do we tell those who are earnestly seeking the well being of others to save souls and those who just want to stir trouble. Jesus said in 3 Nephi 11:29, 'He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil.' That tells us something about who's behind an argument. This is backed up by Biblical principal as well.

(Proverbs 18:3-7.)
3 When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy eproach.
4 The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.
5 It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment.
6 A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes.
7 A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.

For those who seek to destroy and are not honest will always be caught by their own words. Honesty and communication will always win the day. Even the Early Church spoke on this subject stating:

You will render no real service to your gods by compelling us to sacrifice. For they can have no desire of offerings from the unwilling, unless they are animated by a spirit of contention, which is a thing altogether undivine.
(Tertullian, Ad Scapula)

The conclusion is that honesty is the best policy because when those that conspire to cause strife between parties may by the people looking bad in the end. If not in this life certainly will have to explain it at the Judgment.

Being a Good Neighbor:

We are taught in the LDS Church that we are to always be the good neighbor. We as LDS are people like everyone else and do not always achieve this goal but we like everyone else learns line by line precept by precept. David McKay stated the following:

"It is generally understood that every member of the Church should be a missionary. He is probably not authorized to go from house to house, but he is authorized, by virtue of his membership, to set a proper example as a good neighbor."

(David O. McKay, CR, October 1958, p. 93.)

So what is a good neighbor? Most people are familiar with the parable of the good Samaritan who felt compassion knelt down by the man's side and bound his wounds, poured in oil and wine and then proceeded to set him on his own beast. Through this parable the Lord taught that anyone who needs our love, compassion, and help becomes our neighbor, whether that person lives near us or not. He also taught that a good neighbor would never leave another stranded by the wayside in this case to continue to be attacked! Rick, consider me your good Samaritan.

I have attempted to call the number supplied, it says it is disconnected. Perhaps the person typed it in wrong as Sharon suggested in her e-mail to me. Either way, I wrote Sharon asking her if she knew this person and she did not seem to know them. I will be happy to participate in a 3 way call to get this issue resolved. Rick, while I do not agree Sharon's article you posted, I agree with your right to post it and to do so without being attacked. I know on my blog as with your blog reasoned responses are welcomed. Rick and I have e-mailed each other over the span of years. We have always been friendly toward one another and when we walk away from the debate we walk away friends and good neighbors. Just for the record, the same goes with Sharon we have always been friendly in our discussions and communications.

Last Item of Business: Sharon provided this to me:

Hi Ed,

Good to hear from you. Hope all is well with your family. As I told Rick, I do not know Steven Boswich, or at least his name is not familiar to me. Nobody (except Rick) has contacted me regarding Rick’s use of the article in question on his blog, and no one (except you and Rick) have contacted me regarding Mr. Boswich’s allegations regarding my identity and alleged future legal action. It was me that posted the comment on Mormonism Reviewed about having given Rick permission to use the “Guess Who?” article without identifying me as the author. Furthermore, given Mr. Boswich’s public statements about me (or that appear to be about me) I thought it might be a good idea for us to speak to one another. I called his office as he suggested in a comment he left on Mormonism Reviewed. I found that the number he gave was invalid. Perhaps he typed it in wrong. At any rate, to the best of my knowledge I have never communicated with Steven Boswich; I have definitely not communicated with Mr. Boswich regarding Rick’s blog.

Thank you for taking the time to check this out,
Ed. I really appreciate your integrity.

Sharon