by Lev Humphries
I am prompted to write on this subject by the front page article in the Daily News this week. I noticed in the poll, 74 percent said they encountered profanity and 64 percent said they use profanity. One person quoted said, “That word doesn’t mean what it means anymore…it has just become part of the culture.” Of course, the problem with that is that it has not become part of the culture for many people like myself. One of those interviewed said, “Everybody is pretending they aren’t shocked…and gradually people won’t be shocked. And then those who want to be offensive will find another way.” What is hard to understand is that many parents are using foul language in normal conversation with their children. Not only that, but there is a constant barrage of profanity coming from the entertainment industry, through movies and music. Ditto, the sports world. Everywhere you turn there it is, and how can we be surprised when children under ten use it, not even knowing the meaning? Christian parents are more and more shocked when their children come in from play using new words of profanity learned in the neighborhood. This is a subject I have warned about for years.
What Does the Bible Say:
Romans 3:13-18 describes man at his worst, lost and unregenerate. “Their throat is an open sepulchre;…the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
Exodus 20:1, “And God spake all these words, saying…” V.7 “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” I have had a number of people tell me over the years, “Oh, I don’t mean anything by that. It’s just a figure of speech.” Listen, God does not see it that way.
James 3:1-18 should be read. Notice vs. 8-12 especially concerning the tongue: “It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison…and therewith curse we men…Out of the same mouth proceeded blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be….Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? Either a vine, figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.”
Look at Matthew 12:33-37 “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” According to these words of Jesus, we are justified or condemned by our words.
Your words will tell the world that you are lost or saved…”No fountain can both yield salt water and fresh.”
What comes from your fountain?
by Lev Humphries
Original article can be found at http://www.holybiblesays.org/articles.php?ID=259