Vain Jangling – Part 2

Yesterday, I wrote about how an excessive focus on controversial or speculative topics can distract us from the knowledge we need most. Another reason to avoid these peripheral topics is because they tend to create conflict. Consider these passages from Paul’s epistles to Timothy and Titus:

• “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith” (1 Timothy 1:4).
• “Doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, [and] perverse disputings” (1 Timothy 6:4-5).
• “But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men” (2 Timothy 2:23-24).
• “But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain” (Titus 3:9).

Why do speculative topics lead to contention? Maybe because there is a disconnect between how much we know about something and how confident we are in our knowledge. When we lack evidence and clarifying context, we tend to latch onto our favorite theory and defend it more forcefully than we really should. We become emotionally invested in our hypothesis, which makes it difficult to have a reasonable conversation on the subject.

Paul calls these topics “questions,” which can be confusing. After all, honest questions are good. Jesus said, “Ask, and ye shall receive” (John 16:24, 3 Nephi 27:29; see also Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9, 3 Nephi 14:7). James urged us to ask of God if we lack wisdom. (See James 1:5.) And Moroni invited readers of the Book of Mormon to ask in prayer if the book is true. (See Moroni 10:4.) Sincere and humble questions are a key to spiritual growth.

However, the Greek word translated “question” in these passages—zétésis (ζήτησις)—doesn’t refer to an objective inquiry. Many Bible translations render this word as “speculations,” “controversies,” “disputes,” or even “arguments.” (See, for example, 1 Timothy 1:4, 1 Timothy 6:4, 2 Timothy 2:23, and Titus 3:9 on biblehub.com.) So the “questions” Paul wants us to avoid do not represent a teachable attitude. Instead, they are calibrated to provoke discord, which is unlikely to achieve anything.

As President Russell M. Nelson reminded us earlier this year, “Anger never persuades. Hostility builds no one. Contention never leads to inspired solutions” (“Peacemakers Needed,” General Conference, April 2023).

Even important questions can be time-wasters when approached with a combative attitude. After Lehi taught his family things which were “hard to be understood” (1 Nephi 15:3), his son Nephi took a set of questions to God in prayer, with confidence that “he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost” (1 Nephi 10:19). In contrast, some of his brothers sought clarification by “disputing one with another” (1 Nephi 15:2). Nephi’s piercing question, “Have ye inquired of the Lord?” (1 Nephi 15:8) helped them adopt a more appropriate attitude, which allowed him to teach them. (See 1 Nephi 15:21-36.) In this case, it was not the content of the questions that was problematic, it was their approach to answering them.

This is not to say that we should never take a stand on an unpopular issue. Both Paul and Nephi testified boldly, even in the face of persecution. But there’s a difference between declaring truth and quibbling over questionable propositions. That’s Paul’s point. It’s hard enough to maintain peace in the face of genuine differences in background and belief. Don’t make it harder by raising frivolous topics that may lead to unnecessary battles.

Today, I will avoid “foolish questions” which “gender strifes.” I will focus my thoughts and conversations on important topics, remembering that speculation may lead to needless strife.