Looking back over this week I again think of some of the things I have read as much as the things I have done. I have been reading about a number of the Apostles and leaders in our Church and likewise about some of the authors that have stood out over the years. Two authors, B.H.Roberts and Hugh Nibley both caught my attention this week. Roberts was discussing the idea in a book I was reading that was taken from the scriptures that "there must be an opposition in all things" as really something that is a blessing. Of course that opposition is often between good and evil but it is also a little basic to everything. That opposition helps us learn. Pleasure and Pain are in opposition and both can serve good ends as well as not so good ends. We learn from opposition. All of it isn't about good and evil of course. Opposition exists "in all things" is the point.
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Then Nibley in a book was discussing "Contention". His point was that contention is not a good thing. People get mad at each other over points of view and differences (opposition) and then it ends in "contention". His point was that we should listen to others points of view without a spirit of contention.
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It seems to me that the goal to avoid contention is often in opposition to the reality that there is opposition in all things. Galatians got it right in it's definition of Gentleness.
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