{Full disclosure: this will not be an easy one to read or accept}
“I’m going to wash your mouth out with soap.”
Man, could those words be used multiple times per day. Especially now. Vulgarity and profanity-from the top of the food chain to the bottom-is rampant. It’s not just the “innocent” ones like “d**n” or “h**l.” Oh no! One can’t hardly hear or read a conversation without having our ears polluted by the “f” word or “g*d***n” or “b***h” or other disgusting words. The crudeness and perversity behind the “f” word used to be relegated to private conversations and mostly used by men. Not any more! It’s out there being used multiple times in interviews and some of the biggest users are women. One word comes to mind when I hear it: disgusting. And another word: demeaning.
One of the classic scenes in A Christmas Story is when Ralphie is helping his dad change the tire and the hubcaps holding the lug nuts gets knocked out of his hand and they go flying. His first words were, “Oh f-u-u-u-dge” only that is not what he said. It is implied until the father tells the mother, she screams, and in the next scene we see Ralphie sitting with a bar of soap in his mouth. (I may or may not have that same scenario at some time in my past. 🙂 ). Well, there sure are plenty of people who need their potty mouths washed out with soap! I’m not a prude by any stretch. But C’MON PEOPLE!
I guess what really fries me are those who claim to be followers of Christ, make public declarations of that, but then sound no different and talk no different than their heathen counterparts. Somewhere there has to be a line of demarcation. Somewhere the speech of a follower of Christ needs to be different from one who doesn’t follow Him.
Proverbs 15 is filled with references to our lips/speech.
“The tongue of the wise makes knowledge appealing, but the mouth of a fool belches out foolishness.” (v.2)
“Gentle words are a tree of life; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.” (v.4)
“The lips of the wise give good advice; the heart of a fool has none to give.” (v.7)
“The heart of the godly thinks carefully before speaking; the mouth of the wicked overflows with evil words.” (v.28)
Let’s clean it up my friends.
All the “bleeps” we now hear when news is being covered on the TV testify to that, indeed, Bill. It’s as if people think they’ll appear tough if their mouths talk tough. It only makes them appear more sad and desperate. What’s worse, filthy words betray a filthy heart. Thanks for reminding us to guard our tongues.
Blessings!
It has been so long since I have watched live TV I forgot about the bleeps. Thanks for reminding me. You state what I didn’t: filthy words reveal a filthy heart.
I couldn’t agree with you more Bill. I absolutely hate it, when someone says pardon my french, I tell them, that was just plain filthy english no french in that at all. What really is heart breaking is christians or people claiming to be christians, that write music that has vulgar language or no moral values in it what so ever. Christians words, actions, and behaviors should be modeled after Christ. Jesus told us, do not conform to this world, set yourself apart, this is not your home.
I’m with you on all of this Gail. Since I love music I am pretty picky what I listen to. I have deleted songs from a playlist because of its language or insinuation. I don’t need to feed my mind with that garbage.
Soap bar needed here:
I don’t usually spout out any of those words, not even in public, not even when I am angry. It’s usually when I do something wrong, like put up a shelf and it all comes crashing down, or when smoke starts coming out of my computer.
And what’s really strange is that I am usually not talkative at all.
So I guess you could say that it’s only when I speak that the wrong words come out.
But still, I have to agree I don’t like all the words. And what bothers me is when people call women degrading words. Nothing else gets my blood boiling.
Sometimes silence speaks volumes…
You are correct, Ed, and Proverbs would agree that the best thing is to keep our mouth shut at times.