Watch Your Mouth Boy!

"You better watch what you say." This is a common phrase that, I think, everyone has heard a few times in their life. Most people don't think about the consequences of what comes out of their mouths, it's just words after all right? I feel that what we say, reflects a great deal of who we are. We choose to say what we say, so it must be important. We either want to sway some one's opinion, one way or another, boast or puff ourselves up, harm or show someone how much we love them, and so on. The words we say can affect any given situation with any given circumstance. What's odd is, I didn't think that it mattered either. If you got offended by my words, it was your own issue, not mine. I'm going to attempt to show you how I was wrong about that, and why it does matter.

Lying. There are obvious and more insidious reasons for lying. For one reason or another, we all lie. Why? I think about the type of this behavior I engage in on a daily basis. It usually is some type of exaggeration that didn't need to occur, but for some reason I felt the need to embellish a story. In example,  I may have saw two cows in the road on the way home from work, but I instead tell my wife that there was "like fifteen cows in the road, babe." I believe that, in this case, we use lying as a tool to make ourselves look better. Just because I tell a seemingly more interesting story, I am somehow made to look more awesome to other people. This applies to gossiping as well. If I'm the one to tell the story about someone else, I somehow gain cool points with everyone involved. This is a pride issue, and even though it seems harmless, it's dishonesty at the cost of your own integrity. Little lies lead to big lies and people remember that. You may be deemed a gossiper or someone who cannot be trusted, which will hurt you in multiple ways. You can lose friends, and from a Christian stand point, you can hurt your witness. In most other cases, people lie because they want to deceive someone or cover up a previous transgression. This is obviously wrong, and I won't elaborate too much further. If you are purposely leading people in the wrong direction, there is a greater issue in your heart that needs sorting out.
Swearing. This is kind of a tough one for me. I do it, and I'm a hypocrite. I honestly don't feel that swearing at it's core is wrong. Words do not have any true power, but the intent behind them is what the issue is. What people seem to fail to understand is that their substitute words they use to replace swear words, don't make any difference if there is still an intent to harm or hurt someone. Think of it this way: "No one gives a shit about what you think" / "No one gives a crap about what you think." Both of these are wrong, regardless of what your idea of a swear word is. The intent is to hurt some one's feelings, which is why it's wrong. I could substitute the swear word with "white fluffy kitten" and it's still not a good thing to say to someone. This all comes back to loving everyone...See previous posts on that subject. If I were to say: "This piece of furniture is hard as hell to put together," that is not wrong. There is no intent to hurt or harm, therefore, the word holds no negative connotation. This is all about what people have made out of words. I've done some research, and contrary to what most Christians think, the Bible is not clear on this. It's all about the way someone has interpreted a certain verse, and without fail, every denomination and Christian thinks they are right. In fact, most of the common verses used to condemn swear words, can be used to show that intent is the main cause for concern, not the word itself. Most Christians, as sad as it is, do as they are told and spit out the same stuff that someone tells them on Sunday mornings. I'm just as qualified to interpret the Bible as anybody else is, that is what makes these things complicated. Here is where I make a strong dividing line, and where I have found it difficult to be consistent.  Swearing, even if I don't think it's wrong, is seen as incorrect by the public. I don't like it when I have my children out somewhere and someone is swearing constantly. I try my best not to swear in front of my children as well. Why? Like it or not,  the stigma that swearing is wrong and an uneducated way of speaking is prominent in today's society. I have tried my best to not swear because of the aforementioned reasons, but it does continue to be a struggle for me. The finale issue can be seen as becoming a stumbling block for others. Whether I feel that it is wrong or right, others may see it as wrong, which means that I have to consider the consequences of my actions. If someone is looking at me as a great Christian influence, then hears me swear, it may send up red flags to them and hurt my testimony in the process. Others that are not Christian may see me as a fake, therefore associating my belief in God as nothing but a show. This isn't good, and another reason why I have to evaluate what I say and to whom I am saying it to.  To summarize a rather lengthy point, I do not think swearing is inherently wrong, but because of the common stigma associated with it, the potential stumbling blocks it creates, and the damage to my witness, I have attempted to stop doing it and hope to cease doing it at all.
We can use our words to accomplish so much in this world. I recently just wrote a post trying to explain how much I love my wife. My entire intent was just to make her happy, and to show her how much she means to me. I'm not sure what the fascination with speaking with hate is, or why people want to constantly bring each other down with their mouth, but it seems to point to the same root cause: people are filled with anger, impatience, and hate, and vocalizing it is the easiest and most efficient way to vent it out. This leads to people committing suicide due to bullying, people losing faith in their Christian brothers and sisters, divorce and etc.
When we get our heart right with the Lord, the hate and the anger should decrease. As He increases in our life, we must decrease. This speaks to our worldly flesh, things like hate and the like which are venom to our relationship with God. The closer we are to God, the more love and kindness can be seen through our words and actions.

Sent By Ravens- "We're All Liars", off the album "Mean What You say"