would anyone comment if i asked for your opinion on swearing? i'm amazed at the varying degrees of swearing that i hear among christians. some think you can't ever swear at all or you don't love God, others are okay with dropping the f-bomb right after declaring their love for God. why? why such a broad range? what is it about rude language that bothers people or doesn't bother them?
honestly, this is a constant frustrating challenge for me, because your words and actions are an overflow of the heart, so really swearing would be indicative of nothing good. and yet, judging others' "level" of christianity or whatever by whether they swear or not seems horribly judgmental and legalistic.
words are powerful. God created the universe by speaking. we forge emotional bonds through vows of marriage, or even friendship. so what we say matters. on that principle, i will always try not to swear. but growing up, i tried so hard to do and not do all the right or wrong things and ended up neglecting BEING, from the inside. i ignored my heart and concentrated on behaving as a christian. so i often think, isn't it better to first align our hearts with God and THEN worry about correcting our behaviour?
i suppose it comes down to legalism vs. mysticism. happy balance, anyone?
4 comments:
James 1:26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives how own heart, this one's religion is useless. 3:10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
Proverbs 30:12 There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness.
Certainly, you need to first align your heart with Christ's but that begins the moment you declare Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. It's a continual process. As we glorify Him and give to Him because of what He did for us (love) our filthy mouths drop more and more of the junk it used to spout. If we keep spouting it we are essentially saying that Christ really is not worth the effort. He's not fooled, yet, He'll look after it, therefore, we don't even have to bother being judgemental. Sadly, one Christian discipline that is often missed in our teachings is "discipline!" So, this really has nothing to do with legalism, mysticism, balance etc. kind of words. God's Word is our guide. As we soak it in it pushes out the dirt, all taken care of.
From the preacheress, you know who!
I want to start this comment saying I don't swear. Why have I made this choice? Well... it doesn't feel right coming out of my mouth. I know words have power as you said; God created the world by speaking. Though I was thinking in the bible it says 'do not use the lords name in vain'. In the English language our swears (most of them anyways) don't have anything to do with God, so if the context isn't putting someone down such as "sh#*#$ I lost something" is that really wrong? Is that a sin in itself? Regardless of the answer to those two questions, I still choose to stay away from swearing. Why? Well, to me I know some people see it as bad and it may taint there view of God. As Christians we are called to be an example to other non-believers and believers alike. For me, I would rather not go near it, if it could cause some other Christians to stumble. I try to live by example and let God do his work and not judge or hold it against people. So there are my thoughts on the situation. I could be wrong, but that’s how I see it.
Hello...
Did this blog come up from the conversation we had last night about politely being mean?!!?
Love you
C
Good thoughts all around.
It is good to align our hearts with God . . . any alternative is not a good choice.
It is also good to make every effort to embrace good behavior . . . to choose any other behavior would be a bad choice.
So I beleive it is not either/or, but both/and.
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