"Col 3:8 - But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth."
I had a friend while I was in school who I considered to be more spiritual than I was. He was the kind of person people looked up to. If the Bible didn't enjoin us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling I would say that I would have loved to be like him. There was however something about him I didn't like or understand. He, like quite a lot of other Christians I have met since then, thought it was okay to swear.
You'll have to forgive me but I have never been too impressed by the desire to be cool or belong. The Bible says we should be different. I have therefore never understood how Christians think it is cool to swear or use the "F" word. The interesting thing was that my friend felt he had a ministry calling. That used to give me a funny feeling. Not that I didn't think he wouldn't make a great pastor, I was afraid of what he might say in the process of operating in his ministry. Whenever I think of the topic, I think of a scenario where a pastor is preaching to his congregation and he tells them, "Jesus "f-----g" died for you, that's the message of the gospel" or something like that. I have told myself if something like that were to happen, I would get up and walk out of that church.
I believe that there is a place for big open door outreaches where a great number of souls who are hungry for Jesus can come to and meet with him. However I think we are too fascinated with numbers. The Bible tells us that heaven rejoices over one sinner that repents but we want to see as many as possible repent at once. A thousand people become saved at the outreach and we rejoice. The person leading them in the prayer of salvation tells them to lead new, holy lives but we don't really tell them how. No one is there to model the new life for them so they wing it. They live the life they want to live or feel they should live not knowing the life God wants them to live in the Word by the help of the Holy Spirit.
Because society has become inured to the meaning of a word or it's root does not take away the meaning. Also because it acceptable in normal society doesn't mean it's acceptable in Christianity. When a rappers's CD is labelled, "Explicit Lyrics, Parental Discretion Advised", it not only relates to the content explaining what they want to do with the Uzi, it's also about the swear words used. It is believed that the words are not proper for children to know or hear. Jesus told us that in this new life that we have, we should be like little children. I wonder, how many of us who are parents would love it if our or our neighbour's four year old daughter walked up tp us and asked "Who the f--- are you?"
Exactly.
I had a friend while I was in school who I considered to be more spiritual than I was. He was the kind of person people looked up to. If the Bible didn't enjoin us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling I would say that I would have loved to be like him. There was however something about him I didn't like or understand. He, like quite a lot of other Christians I have met since then, thought it was okay to swear.
You'll have to forgive me but I have never been too impressed by the desire to be cool or belong. The Bible says we should be different. I have therefore never understood how Christians think it is cool to swear or use the "F" word. The interesting thing was that my friend felt he had a ministry calling. That used to give me a funny feeling. Not that I didn't think he wouldn't make a great pastor, I was afraid of what he might say in the process of operating in his ministry. Whenever I think of the topic, I think of a scenario where a pastor is preaching to his congregation and he tells them, "Jesus "f-----g" died for you, that's the message of the gospel" or something like that. I have told myself if something like that were to happen, I would get up and walk out of that church.
I believe that there is a place for big open door outreaches where a great number of souls who are hungry for Jesus can come to and meet with him. However I think we are too fascinated with numbers. The Bible tells us that heaven rejoices over one sinner that repents but we want to see as many as possible repent at once. A thousand people become saved at the outreach and we rejoice. The person leading them in the prayer of salvation tells them to lead new, holy lives but we don't really tell them how. No one is there to model the new life for them so they wing it. They live the life they want to live or feel they should live not knowing the life God wants them to live in the Word by the help of the Holy Spirit.
Because society has become inured to the meaning of a word or it's root does not take away the meaning. Also because it acceptable in normal society doesn't mean it's acceptable in Christianity. When a rappers's CD is labelled, "Explicit Lyrics, Parental Discretion Advised", it not only relates to the content explaining what they want to do with the Uzi, it's also about the swear words used. It is believed that the words are not proper for children to know or hear. Jesus told us that in this new life that we have, we should be like little children. I wonder, how many of us who are parents would love it if our or our neighbour's four year old daughter walked up tp us and asked "Who the f--- are you?"
Exactly.
JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by
WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.
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