1. Music starts on slide 2
CLICK TO ADVANCE SLIDES
♫ Turn on your speakers!
THE ARGUMENT
“A soft answer turns away wrath.”
Proverb 15:1a
AGAINST ARGUMENTS
Something nice – to share..

2. A boy once asked his father, "Dad, how do wars begin?”
"Well, take the First World War," said his father. "That got started when
Germany invaded Belgium."
Turning her back upon him in a huff, the
wife stormed out the room and slammed the
door as hard as she could!
When the dishes stopped rattling in the
cupboard an uneasy silence followed,
broken at length by the boy:
"Daddy, you don't have to tell me how
wars begin; I KNOW now!"
HOW DO WARS BEGIN?
Immediately his wife interrupted him, "Tell the boy the truth! It began
because somebody was assassinated!”
The husband drew himself up with an air of superiority and snapped back,
"Are you answering the question or am I?"

3. Arguing!
We all do it sometimes!
We all know what it is to
walk away from an
argument with the mouth
dry, tummy in a knot,
head hot and spinning,
and heart sick--wishing
that it had never
happened, deeply
regretting the unkind
words that were said!
Believe it or not, more
homes are destroyed by
arguments than by fires
or funerals!

4. We all know that arguing for the sake of
arguing is a pointless waste of time!
We have absolutely NOTHING to gain -
only our time, energy and someone's
friendship is LOST!
It is said that the only people who really
LISTEN to an argument are the neighbours!
For others, arguing has
become a HABIT, an
automatic reaction of
saying something
contradictory to
whatever is being said!
Some people love to
argue, and will do
anything to prove
their point! They'd
rather lose a friend
than an argument!

5. A LESSON FROM
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
One compulsive arguer was the early American statesman,
philosopher and author, Benjamin Franklin. As a youth he
loved nothing more than a good argument until a close
friend took him aside and said,
"Ben, you are impossible! Your opinions have a slap in
them for everyone who differs with you! Your friends enjoy
themselves better when you are not around! You think you
KNOW so much that no one can TELL you anything.
Indeed, no one is going to try, for the effort would only lead
to discomfort and hard work!
So you are not likely ever to know any more than you
do now--which is actually very LITTLE!"

6. "If you argue and rankle and
contradict, you may achieve a
victory sometimes.
But it will be an empty victory,
because you will never get your
opponent's good will!"
Ben Franklin was BIG enough and WISE enough to
accept these stinging truths, and to realize that he was
headed for failure and social disaster! So he immediately
began to change his bigoted, argumentative ways!
He became one of the best loved, wisest and most
diplomatic men in American history, and was actually
remembered for saying:

7. NO ONE ever really wins an argument!
You can shout and scream and argue until you're blue
in the face, but people are not going to believe that you
are right unless they WANT to believe it!
And remember,
no amount of
logic or
argument will
make anyone
change his mind
if he doesn't
want to!
And even if they would LIKE to agree with you, your tone
may have put them so much on the defensive that it would
be like an utter humiliation, a defeat on the battlefield, for
them to confess you're right or even partly right!
Nine times out
of ten, an
argument ends
with each side
more firmly
convinced than
ever that he is
absolutely right!

8. Well, suppose you triumph over the other
person and shoot his argument full of holes
and prove that he's an absolute idiot.
You can't win an argument,
because if you lose it, you lose it!--
And if you WIN it, you still LOSE it!
Why?
"A man convinced against his"A man convinced against his
will, is of the same opinion still!"will, is of the same opinion still!"
Then what?Then what?
You'll feel fine, smug and satisfied. But what about
him? You'll have made him feel inferior. You've hurt
his pride. He may resent your triumph,
and…

9. "WHAT CAUSES FIGHTS AND QUARRELS
AMONG YOU?"
…. “Don't they come from your lusts and desires that battle within
you? You want something, but don't get it...so you quarrel and fight.”
--James 4:1-2.
So greediness and selfishness can be one of the root causes of
arguing, trying to get the things you selfishly want.
Other arguments are caused by PRIDE. Proverbs 13:10 says,
“Only by PRIDE come quarrels, but wisdom is found
in those who take advice.”
Also, as we've clearly seen, many arguments are
caused by SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.--Pushing your
point, thinking that you're so right, putting yourself up
and the other person down by contradicting them!

10. And what it all boils down
to is a lack of
LOVE!Arguing isn't the real problem, that's just a SYMPTOM!
--A LACK OF LOVE is the REAL
problem!
That's one of the major lessons that God wants us to learn--
how to LOVE people, how to work with them, how to treat them,
how to give the other person the advantage and the benefit of
the doubt, how to build them up unselfishly, instead of selfishly
tearing them down through contention and argument!
All this is a part of LEARNING TO LOVE,
to put ourselves in other people's shoes,
to
"do unto others as you would have them do unto you!”

11. You may want to share this with your friends…..feel free..
GOD can give you the solutions,
change your heart and spirit, fill
you with His Spirit of Love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control.--
GOD also can give you the
strength and grace to LOVE and
NOT argue!—
So stay close to GOD !!!
Love, Humility and Prayer solves all problems!