Estimated reading time: 5 minute(s)

I think I touched on the subject of foul language quite a ways back, and had some interesting comments and discussion via email on that. But it was just time to bring out the subject matter once more.

Recently I have noticed again that particularly my generation makes no effort to clean up their language anymore. It almost gives the impression that you are perhaps a bit more spiritual christian if you do swear. You’re not trying to hide behind false righteousness is at least one line of thinking. I mean, you’re thinking the words anyway, and everyone else talks like that at work… so, you can actually relate to everyone better if you don’t pretend to be holy by holding back the words you are already thinking. Right?

I don’t think everyone who is choosing to let the vulgarities fly these days has actually gone through that entire thought process. It could even be just a freedom thing. Freedom from the bonds of rules and regulations. Of earning our relationship with God by doing all the right stuff. When the pendulum swings too far one way, it usually swings just as far in the opposite direction.

And in general, I am in the same generational boat. Somehow, I do have control over my tongue in that area. (Not in all areas, as I think James points out quite well that none of us has absolute control over that monster!) I didn’t use to when I was a teen ager. I wasn’t conciously trying to be cool, but it was definitely the vocabulary of choice, and I did not excercise any sort of restraint.

Should we? As I said, in general, I am moving away from “restraint”. Obviously restraint is a good thing. I restrain my foot from pressing the gas pedal until my vehicle exceeds 90 mph because of other motorists, and it’s just not a smart thing to do. I restrain my spending because I have to pay my bills, and credit cards actually have to be paid off. (Who knew!??) 🙂 There are plenty of ways that restraining is good. But again, the pendulum… a life of rules leads the ruled to rebel. The law was not meant to make us clean, or holy… it was only to reveal that we can not do it ourselves. Only God can wash us clean. Yet we hang it over our own necks as a giant yoke that we can never stand up under, let alone plough the fields. (That was cool old spelling!)

And so, we swing the other way. We loose ourselves from the chains of regulations. From the fetters of ancient traditions that keep us from true freedom of living in God’s grace. We drink, we watch R-rated movies, we dance, we hang out with people we shouldn’t, we smoke, we cuss, we do all the stuff we we told we weren’t supposed to. All in the name of freedom, and being real. Being honest and just letting our true selves show in our open relationship with a loving God.

But maybe we are totally missing the point in our swinging pendulum. Maybe it’s neither of those extremes. Maybe it has nothing to do with performance, good or bad.

Maybe… the restraint we can show in some areas on our “old life” or our “flesh” or whatever you want to call it can benefit other people, or even more, ourselves.

I think most of the “commands” in scripture that are declared from pulpits and taught in Sunday Schools all over the world are really completely for our benefit. They keep us from stuff that will either hurt us, or other people around us. When God says to control our tongue, and not let rough language, coarse joking or harsh words (I forget some of the other things he calls them) come out of our mouths, he is saying it for our benefit, not to dampen our fun, or get us to be “made righteous” by our actions. HE KNOWS WE CAN’T. So, why would he put all these commands in scripture??!? He just wants us to get close, and try, and when we fail just be sorry about it and feel guilty and stuff??!

I don’t think so.

Personally, I try to watch my words and choose them carefully as I know that they are powerful. Both to the listener, and even to my heart as the speaker. I don’t drink at all because I know that it messes with my body and mind, and I want to steer clear of that. There are some areas of life where I have managed to steer clear somehow (most likely by God’s grace rather than my own amazing achievement). And that is to my benefit, not to my righteousness.

Righteousness only comes by faith, or trust. Faith gets lived out in actions, but the actions themselves can never get us on solid footing before God. We will always fail. Always.

I do not certainly condemn my brothers and sisters who choose to not restrain their tongue, but I do wish that the pendulum would swing again and perhaps their hearts could be freer if they could jump off of it. I know for sure that I am on a pendulum too, so I am not pointing fingers. I just know that what God says is bad, or that we shouldn’t do… is what we should at least try to stay away from. It will go better for us when we do.

And with his help, we can.

(Editor’s Note: This is going to be interpreted completely wrong, but I just needed to say it. There is a strange battle waging inside of me that longs from freedom from rule-keeping Christianity yet also yearns for the freedom of living life as God says it works best. How do the two mesh? I have not yet grasped such a concept. So, take the previous post however you’d like to interpret it.) 🙂