"Are you ready to rumble....!"

Okay, not so fast. I posed the same question about strategies for not to being argumentative to our small group Tuesday evening. Here are some very helpful answers I received.

* Esteem others more highly than yourself. This includes esteeming their opinion more highly than your own.

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others" (Philippians 2:3-4).


* Remember your own history of being wrong in arguments.


* Wait until your emotions calm down to discuss the issue.


* Start praying sooner!


* Consider the other person's emotional make-up.


* Approach older men as fathers and younger men as brothers; approach older women as mothers and younger women as sisters.

"Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity" (I Timothy 5:1-2).


* Give the other person an "out" in the argument. No one likes it when you go for the jugular.


* Don't take up the offence; leave it lay.

"A man's discretion makes him slow to anger, And it is his glory to overlook a transgression" (Proverbs 19:11).

"Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins" (I Peter 4:8).


* Grant others the same leeway you grant yourself.

"In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12).


* LISTEN!!! LISTEN!!! LISTEN!!!

"This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger" (James 1:19).

Any other ideas or comments?

He started it...

Yesterday, as I was working in the lab, I was reflecting upon my tendency to be argumentative. I was thinking about what my dad used to say when I would try to explain to him that it was my brother's fault that we had gotten into a fight. He would say--and you've probably heard it too--"It takes two to fight." The flip side of that, which is what I was thinking about yesterday, is that "It only takes one not to fight" (someone has probably said that as well). I think that's the key; I need to choose not to argue, and then at least this form of conflict can be avoided.

Does anyone else find themselves being argumentative?

Will you pray for me?

Michael