Proverbs 29

If a wise man disputes with a fool,
he may rage or laugh but can have no peace. ~ Proverbs 29:9

This verse made me think of all the different debates going on in American society right now, particularly the gay marriage vs matrimony and pro-life vs pro-choice debate. For some reason, I took "wise man" and "fool" to be from the perspective of the "wise man."

For example, a "wise" Christian disputing with a relativistic pro-gay marriage and/or pro-choice believer might consider them to be a fool because how can they not see God's greatness and goodness? On the flip side, a "wise" post-modern, liberal, and enlightened person disputing a blind faith, religion enforcing yes-on-prop-8 and pro-life monotheistic believer might consider them to be a fool as well because their religion is clouding their ability to see clearly and being able to act on the inclusion they so loudly tout.

Without getting into the debates, I find it to be my experience that if a "wise man" is in the act of disputing AND if he sees the one he is disputing with as a fool, there is no peace to be had. Regardless of which side you're on, I find that it is easy to rage against the other side ("How can they not see what we believe?? ARGHHHH!") or to just laugh ("Ha Ha. They're so stupid that they think they know everything when really they don't!"). Either way, at the end of the day there's no peace.

Something seems so wrong about that. How do you approach these disputes such that at the end of the day, you can walk away with peace? Where does Jesus fit in with all of that?