In the Book of Mormon, “disputations” are differences of opinion inside the church while “contentions” occur between traditional believers and nonbelievers who had espoused a non-Nephite (typically Nehorite) religion.
Jesus had commented on “disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine” (3 Ne. 11:28). He was speaking to Nephites in Bountiful who, by textual definition, were believers. Thus, these disputations were points of difference among the faithful on Christian (“my”) doctrine. The example he cited was lack of agreement on the church’s name (see commentary accompanying 3 Nephi 27:3): “And they said unto him: Lord, we will that thou wouldst tell us the name whereby we shall call this church; for there are disputations among the people concerning this matter” (3 Ne. 27:3).
This issue of internal dissension did not arise prior to the Messiah’s visit because the threat to the Nephite religion up to that point was primarily external. After the Savior’s visit, however, the church developed more structure and apparently greater independence from civic governance. The result was greater potential for disputations. Interestingly, when Mormon needs to describe the near-millennial period after the Savior’s arrival in the New World, one of the specific characterizations of that idyllic time is the absence of disputations (4 Ne. 1:2): “And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another.”
Although Mormon does not explicitly discuss the dissolution of Nephite religion from this perfect state of “no contentions and disputations” to the eventual existence of many disputations, it follows the same spiral of apostasy that he describes for Nephite society—the loss of the near-millennial peacefulness that he ascribed to almost two centuries after the Savior’s visitation.