In our last blog, we discussed some ideas to help us resolve conflict. Due to a presentation I am giving this month, I was able to do some research on this subject—so much so that I have enough data for another blog on conflict resolution.

Another popular conflict resolution method is the Interest Based Relational (IBR) approach to conflict management. Roger Fisher and William Ury developed the IBR approach and wrote about it in their book, Getting to Yes. They focus on resolving conflicts by separating people and their emotions from the problem. Their approach also focuses on building mutual respect and understanding. In this approach, there are five primary principles.

Later this month, I will be working with a ministry in the Jamaican Church to discuss conflict resolution in marriage. In doing the research on this presentation, I decided to write this blog to offer some data that may help us in resolving all kinds of conflict. Perhaps I will provide more data in my next blog.

There are a number of different books and theories on how to resolve conflict. In this blog I will cite a theory developed in the 1970s by Kenneth Thomas and Ralph Kilmann. These two men identified five main styles of dealing with conflict.

On January 7, two major fires began in the suburbs of Los Angeles. One of the fires began in Pacific Palisades, and later that day a second fire began to decimate Altadena. As I watched the reports on the news that night, I was amazed by what I was seeing. I saw a fire truck trying to shoot water at a building with a powerful hose, and the wind was blowing the water back to the fire truck. The primary reason these fires raged was because of the unusual power of the winds that night.

My home is in Fontana, California, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles. We are known for getting powerful winds through this area in late fall and winter. Those same Santa Anna winds can come through all over Southern California, but on this night some of those wind speeds were hurricane force. The wind blew embers for miles which was evidenced by many homes and businesses on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu burning to the ground despite the fact they were across a road on the ocean side of the iconic road.

In the Gospel of Matthew 5:19 we read this interesting verse: Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. The question I’d like to answer here is what is meant by “these least commandments.”

By answering this question, I believe this will also be a further proof of the opinion of this church and many other Church of God groups that God’s law is still in force, and we should still be obeying it—of course, with the understanding the New Testament provides in how to keep that Old Testament law.