"Quest Or Quarrel, Which?"
Benjamin Franklin once said, "When religious people quarrel about religion, or hungry people about their victuals, it looks as if they had not much of either among them." The reader will notice that Franklin said, "quarrel"; there is a vast difference between honorable discussion in controversy and a quarrel. Intelligent debate of issues to determine truth is good and necessary. But a quarrel is harmful and beneath the dignity of Christians. Moreover, it is displeasing to God.
Very little Christianity is evident in some material in religious periodicals published among us; characteristics of the quarrel are all too evident. Writers would do well to ask themselves whether their literary efforts are the result of desire to discern truth and present it for edification, or whether they simply have a quarrel with those who disagree with them. Some, perhaps, are unaware that such is the case with them. A Bible precedent needs be applied: "Lord, is it I"? An honest answer, properly acted upon, could remedy much among a troubled people.
Brethren, we could benefit from some diligent meditation upon Franklin's truism. Which is it ... quest for truth or quarrel? Let all things be done unto edifying. There is an adage: A Word to the Wise is Sufficient.