Our society has freedom of speech in the United
States. I believe we abuse this right
because we go to the point of using it as an excuse to shut down others who do
not agree with us or who ask us politely to stop talking with vulgarity or
other unsavory words. We must remember
respect and love for others over the desire to simply blurt words.
I love the fact I can talk to people from around the
world via the internet. This leads to a
wonderful mix of cultures and beliefs easily rolled together via a common cause
or thing that pulls people together. The
internet is where you may easily share, but still be unknown at the same
time. So take all this cultural mixture
and the lessening of fear of real repercussions and some offense is bound to
happen. Now a lot of it is based on
ignorance, though that should not be an excuse; however, a lot of people will
use this to get away with more offensive behavior. It is not hard to figure out who simply
slipped up and who wants to be the troll. The troll wants a fight, not to back down to
admitting a wrong by apologizing.
Thankfully I know more people who simply make a mistake and apologize
than trolls in my online wanderings.
I know I slip up enough to know I still need to work on
how I say things and when I say them. I
used to be pretty bad and in the camp that did not care what others
thought. Then again, that led to lots of
anger management sessions and work probation.
So having this behind me, I’m an advocate for trying to be G-rated as
much as possible when talking on the internet or anywhere. I call people on it too, in a polite manner,
knowing what problems it caused me. I
have been called a party pooper and other things for wanting people to keep
things clean. I know just the other day
I called someone on it in the online gaming community I belong to for a nasty
reference used in a character name. They
did not like being called out for it and that I would have to report it. So I asked them, would you care to explain
that to my eight-year-old niece that can read it? She was not here, but I wanted to see what
this guy would answer. It made him back
down on his idea of what was cool, but I have seen some people not even care
that kids play games too and will be repeating these nasty things they see.
The words we say carry way more power than we realize. We
cannot just run around saying what we want because we are not the only ones on
earth. The Bible tells us a great deal
about the power of words. Most of us
know the difference from right and wrong, but sadly we tend to tilt towards
wrong rather than right without having things in writing. Even the gaming community I belong to has
rules in place to help keep things family friendly and those rules fit well
with what the Bible says.
Peter lays this out pretty good and he should be able
to. He said a great deal of right
things, but he was the impetuous fellow Jesus also had to rebuke several times
for what he blurted out. Peter sounds
like most of us and I can definitely relate.
He sums things up well in 1 Peter 3:9-13 (NIV): Do not
repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this
you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, "Whoever would love life and see
good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful
speech. He must turn from evil and do
good; he must seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive
to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do
evil." Who is going to harm you if
you are eager to do good? I love
this question.
If you are saying good things, no one is going to call
you on what you are saying. If you know
how to express disagreement in a courteous manner people will not harshly brush
off your opinion. Okay, they might brush
you off, but it tends to be done more quietly.
Healthy, understanding discussion cannot occur by force, but it will
occur by showing respect for the other person’s point of view. Common sense tells us this, right? The Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would want them to do
unto you.”
Now I want to take this a step further for those of us
who are professing to be Christians. Are
we really talking like we should? Are we
making people around us realize what we have that they do not have; that thing
that gives us hope where they see no hope?
Or are we going on and on about how this is wrong or gossiping about how
so-and-so messed up? I hope we are doing
the former not the latter. The latter
makes me cringe and I have cringed at myself slipping into that negative side
of things. Before I accepted Christ, I
easily blew off the Christians who gossiped and complained and never seemed
happy. Obviously, they had nothing
better than what I had already. Ouch!
Jesus is getting a bad reputation with the world when we go down this
path instead of showing the truth.
We Christians have a direct line to Jesus and the Holy
Spirit, our helper, is with us. The
world is not going to see this unless your words align with His and your faith
appears alive and active to them. In
Matthew 17:20 (NIV) Jesus answers his disciples after they ask why they failed
to expel a demon. He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the
truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this
mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be
impossible for you.” Is your faith
showing hope and moving mountains or are you just another complainer wondering
why the world is going to hell? Rather
blunt choices there, but if we are not speaking our faith, we cannot execute or
show our faith in the world.
Now the Bible says God spoke everything into existence in
Genesis chapter one. If words have the
power to create then they also have the power to destroy. I have seen people torn apart by words and
destroyed to the point of wishing they were dead. I have also seen kind words brighten
someone’s day and totally diffuse some of the worse fights. Are you tearing down or building up with your
words? Are you working for your own ends
at everyone else’s expense or are you trying to be a team member?
Our words come from what we think and what is truly in
our hearts. Mark 7:20-23 (NIV) says, He went on: "What comes out of a man is
what makes him 'unclean.' For from
within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft,
murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and
folly. All these evils come from inside
and make a man 'unclean.'" No matter
what we want people to think of us, in the end our mouth will always reveal
what we truly believe. Jesus makes this
clear by saying, “The way to identify a
tree or a person is by the kind of fruit that is produced.” Matthew 7:20 (NLT)
