Peace Parley

 “A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, And contentions are like the bars of a castle. A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭18‬:‭19‬, ‭24‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Why is a brother offended harder to win than a strong city? It is probably the reason why the scriptures admonish against disputes over doubtful things (Romans 14:1). Brothers or brethren have more advantages over one another’s strength and weaknesses, compared to a complete stranger. In reality, contentions, strife, and wars are readily fought with the assistance of a compromised insider. Only a fool goes to war without the gathering of intelligent information from an insider. Unfortunately, most peace accords have failed because they are perceived by parties as another intelligent avenue for information gathering from an insider. Therefore, the scriptural recommendation is that “A man who has friends must himself be friendly”; which is always an impossible requirement to satisfy without sacrifice of personal conflict of interests. It implies that a reliable peace parley must involve at least a party who sincerely embrace the peace from God through our Lord Jesus - a friend closer than a brother.

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