Little white lies.....

I saw an article yesterday which reminded me of the question, "are little white lies a sin"? I thought it would be a great topic for a bible study because ultimately it doesn't matter one little bit what any of us think about the subject. The only thing that matters is what God thinks about the subject.

I know many Christians are going to see this story and think it's wonderful but that one little part really bothers me and I have to wonder how many others will see it, and if they do, how many will consider it a lie? Here is a link to that thread for any who haven't seen it yet:

Jesus saves Broward storekeeper from a robbery (is it OK to lie?)

I remember my first experience on a Christian message board. It was several years before I started FH. Someone on the board was asking for advice about what she should tell her mother about something. Now this was an adult, a married woman, asking for the advice. She didn't live with her parents anymore either. What she wanted to do was tell them a lie. In her opinion it was a "little white lie" and she didn't really think God would mind... I was totally shocked at the responses she got from fellow Christians! It was quite a long thread already, with well over 30 replies and every single one of them agreed that it was perfectly OK to tell a little white lie. (which is what this woman in the story said could be referred to as)

I just couldn't believe it. So I posted and tried to say in as gentle a manner as I could that lying was never an option for a Christian and tried to explain why. Boy, talk about being flamed! There was nothing left of me but ash when those folks were done with me! I prayed about it and never posted on that thread again. I felt I had said what the Lord had wanted and it was up to them to each deal with it they way they wanted to. That experience though so profoundly affected me that I never forgot about it and it's one of the reasons I started FH.

So let's begin by looking to see just what God's Word has to say about this subject:

Colossians 3:9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices

Leviticus 19:11 .... ‘Do not lie. “ ‘Do not deceive one another.

Psalm 34:13 keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.

Ephesians 4:25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

1 Peter 3:10 For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.

We can easily see from all of the above that we are not to lie, that's obvious. What about little white lies though? I remember when I asked someone about this myself when I was a teen. Their reply to me was to go back through my bible and see if i could find any "if"s, "and"s or "but"s in those verses. In other words, no where in God's Word do we see the Lord saying, "don't lie "unless it's to prevent hurting another persons feelings". Or don't lie "unless you have to in order to save your life". Or, "don't lie "unless you have to save someone else's life".

Those are usually the 3 big excuses we come up with to excuse our lies. We often even believe that we're doing the right thing when we do that and can even come up with verses such as to do all things in love etc that kind of back it up. Let's look then and see what else we can find out about lying, falsehood, and the truth to see just where we should draw the line.
John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

This seems to make it plain that any lie since there are no qualifiers in that verse, is a sin and is therefore coming from our sin nature and under the province of Satan.

Revelation 21:8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Again there are no qualifiers here. This doesn't say, "except for people who just tell little white lies". So this too shows us that lying is of Satan, it is a sin and is something we're not to do under any circumstance.

Psalm 119:30 I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws.

This is just one of many but I wanted to post it to remind us that God's way is often called the "way of truth". Do you really think that the way of truth includes little white lies?

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Not only are God's ways called the way of truth, but God is truth, just as Jesus Himself said in the verse above.

3 John 11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.

Ephesians 5:1-2 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

In the above verses we're told not to imitate the things of Satan and we've already seen that he is the father of lies, so we can be pretty sure that even little white lies come under this.

Ephesians 5:8-11 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

John 8:32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Again we're reminded that we need to put off our old selves and put on our new selves. We are to live in the truth and speak only the truth. One of the characterizations of truth is that it sets the person free, while darkness (lies) puts chains on a person. The Lord will always honor us when we are obedient and speak the truth even if it might cost us our own lives or the life of someone we love. He knows how hard it is for us to trust Him so when we are obedient and choose to trust Him and speak the truth anyway, He will never let us down!

Did you catch that? That's the root of the sin when we lie to save someone's life, even our own, what we're doing is saying that we don't trust God to handle the situation unless we are disobedient. We're saying that God's ways aren't good, aren't trustworthy and don't work! Where is our trust and our faith? We're putting it in ourselves instead of in God and looking mostly to "luck" as well! That doesn't sound at all like the way God wants us to live!

Then there's the story of Ananias and his wife Sapphira when they lied to Peter about how much they sold their property for. They wanted to keep some of the money for themselves instead of giving all of it to the apostles to be used for everyone. There was noting wrong with their desire to do so and if they had told simply told the truth, that they were keeping some for themselves and giving X to the church there would have been no problem. To some this too could have been considered a little white lie. It cost them their lives though so I don't think God thought of it that way!

Acts 5:3-4 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”

The words translated "filled" in "filled your heart" means "controlled or influenced" so we see again that lies are from Satan and not of God at all, no matter what kind of lie it is.

Ananias sinned against the Holy Spirit of God by lying. The sin was not one of being stingy; Ananias and his wife simply wanted to appear more generous than they were, possibly as generous as Barnabas who had sold some land and brought the proceeds to the apostles (4:36, 37). Sudden death for both husband and wife, within three hours of each other, seems to some to be harsh judgment for their “little white lies.” Believer's Study Bible.

In many places besides the above story the bible teaches us that when we sin, it is God we are rally sinning against and not other people:

Psalm 51:3-4 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.

Considering all of these things, I really don't think it's wise to be telling even "little white lies"!

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Re: End Times Health Problems

I think I've come across something that might shed some light on the problems we're often faced with these days health wise. I've been studying the old testament a lot lately and recently came across this passage:

2 Chronicles 16:12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians.

Asa wasn't following the Lord but instead was relying on other people so the Lord disciplined Him with wars and other things, even sending prophets to tell him that was why these things were happening. Finally the Lord afflicted him with this disease, but even that didn't cause him to turn to the Lord. When I read this, it reminded me of what God says in Revelation, how no matter how severe the judgments are that still the people don't repent and turn to Him.

If you look back through history, before the medical profession became so big and before it became easy for most people to seek a doctor for health care, whenever people were sick, they turned to God for help. Then doctors came along and little by little as that profession grew, people stopped turning to God and instead just like Asa, often only sought help only from the doctors.

Notice that the Lord is not condemning doctors or the medical community, but rather condemning those who do not seek His help as well.

I know that even today in the so called "less civilized" third world countries, where doctors aren't easy to find or see, the people there still seek God and when missionaries go there, we still see miracles just like those in the Bible. I remember when some folks from my church went to a place in Africa. They came back so excited and had lots of audio and video and we saw the miracles, it wasn't fake. They told us about one man who's legs were all shriveled up and atrophied from cerebral palsy (I'm very familiar with that since my youngest daughter has it). They witnessed to him and he was thrilled and asked Jesus to be his savior. They prayed for him and right before their eyes, his legs straightened out, bones, muscles, tendons, everything! Where he could never have walked or even stood before, he stood up and praised the Lord!!! My pastor's daughter, Amy who was 17 at the time was the one leading the prayer over this man and it affected her so deeply that she hasn't been the same since. She's a full time missionary there now.

The point is that God wants us to rely on Him and not on our selves or other people. He doesn't mind us going to to the doctor, that's fine, but He does mind if that's all we're doing. Just as with Asa, it wasn't that he sought a doctor, but that he "only" sought help from the doctors and not from the Lord as well. The Lord tells us:

Jeremiah 17:5 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

Remember, one of the apostles was a doctor so we know the Lord doesn't mind us seeing them:

Colossians 4:14 Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings.

Now when we read some of the descriptions of the times we live in, such as in 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Romans 1:28-32 ; and 2 Peter 2:10; even when we just look around us it's pretty obvious that most people have turned from God. Even when people are living in really difficult times such as right now, where do they turn? Do you see them rushing to church, or perhaps in the bookstores buying Bibles? I see them in book stores looking for books in the "Self help" aisle, or perhaps looking for advice from other men who are "experts" in economics, finances, medicine, etc. Those that have already tried those books tend to be looking in the aisles for alternative medicine, and eastern mystical religious practices such as yoga, holistic health, meditation, visualization etc. Their next step when even that hasn't changed anything isn't to turn to to God but to go deeper yet and get involved in psychics, witchcraft, pagan or eastern religions and things like that.

Yes, just like Asa and so many others in the bible, they turn only to men instead of God, which is what He will soon be sending judgments down on them for.

Revelation 9:20-21 The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Revelation 16:9 They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.

I had never quite thought of it this way before, but we have turned other people and even ourselves into our "gods". We have become every bit as idolatrous as Israel was when they worshiped Baal going directly against God's command:

Deuteronomy 5:7 “You shall have no other gods before me.

Think of the main phrase that the bible uses to describe people during these times: "lovers of themselves" and yet the Lord tells us:

Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Do you see anything at all in there about loving yourself? I sure don't! In fact loving yourself is a lie from hell that the world has been shoving down people's throats for a long time now, especially using worldly psychology to do so. The world, including us unfortunately, is now reaping the awards for what it has sown by teaching that, for indeed people are now very much "lovers of themselves", so much so that their love for others including God, has turned cold just as God said it would.

God tells us that He will discipline those He loves, so when we, like Asa, forget to seek the Lord first and foremost when we're having a problem in any area of our life, (from our health, to our finances to our emotions, or whatever it might be) we can expect His discipline.

Hebrews 12:5-6 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

Revelation 3:19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.

Unfortunately though the vast majority of the world and of our own society are not born again and they are not going to repent even if they finally figure out what's going on. We know that from Revelation. So I'm afraid that the discipline is going to continue. I think the seeming increase in illness, disease, pain and disability is the Lord calling people to turn to Him as well as doctors. God does give us a promise though. Returning to what started this line of thinking, read with me what happened with Asa. Since it's not too long, I'm going to post it all in context for us. See if you spot His promise to us:

2 Chronicles 16:7-13 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.” Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people. The events of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his fathers.

Did you see it? Well of course you did LOL I underlined it! Isn't that neat though how the Lord hides His promises right in the midst of something like that? Let me post it separately for us to reflect on:

2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

This has already gotten longer then I meant it too but when you have time read 2 Chronicles 15:1-2 Chronicles 16:14. Very interesting look at how the Lord deals with us and with nations as well.

related posts:

Developing Biblical Self-Esteem

Christian Psychology

End Times Health Problems

End Times Health Problems

Because so many of us have been so very sick lately it just seemed very unnatural to me so I asked the Lord if this was something that was part of the signs of the end times. I've been asking Him about it for some time now, but of course being sick I wasn't really able to search His Word for answers until lately. Well yesterday He gave me a clue so I had a place to start and I think I've found the beginnings of the answer to the question of why so many of us are getting sick.

Once I've done the study I will post it in the bible study forum but since it affects us personally right now I figured I'd share what I was learning as I was learning it.

Not all my notes and stuff but just the basics so you'll have an idea of where to look if you want to study this as well.

Please feel free to add your thoughts or anything the Lord has told you about this too ok? That way we can learn from each other too.

OK the clue He gave me when I asked Him again the other day was to look at "plagues". Since I'm currently reading the OT and had just read about some curses, at first I thought that was what He meant. But when I was cross referencing some of them, I kept being sent to Mat 24 which is where Jesus tells us the signs of the end time! I was thrilled! But also confused LOL

So after some study I discovered this tid bit:

Matthew 24:7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. (NIV)

nothing in there about it though so I thought maybe it was lost in the translation and began looking at others and came to this:

Matthew 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. (NKJV)

So I looked up "pestilence" to see what it said about it:

pes•ti•lence \ˈpes-tə-lən(t)s\ n

1 : a contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating

Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary..

The words “pestilence” (Jer. 21:6) and “plague” (Num. 11:33) seem to refer to contagious diseases of epidemic proportions that God sent occasionally as instruments of judgment upon His people, as well as upon the pagan nations of the ancient world.
Nelson's new illustrated Bible dictionary.

Pestilence - Precedes the Lord’s coming Hab. 3:5

Nelson's quick reference topical Bible index.

Habakkuk 3:5 Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps.

Here's other cross references:

Deuteronomy 32:24 I will send wasting famine against them, consuming pestilence and deadly plague; I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts, the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.
I also learned that burning coals can refer to burning diseases

interestingly some of the references had to do with judgments sent by God due to the nation coming against Israel.... just as our nation is now doing more and more...
End Times Health Problems

Give diligence

— 2 Peter 1:5-7 For this very reason, giving all diligence, to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

If thou wouldest enjoy the eminent grace of the full assurance of faith, under the blessed Spirit’s influence, and assistance, do what the Scripture tells thee, “Give diligence.” Take care that thy faith is of the right kind—that it is not a mere belief of doctrine, but a simple faith, depending on Christ, and on Christ alone. Give diligent heed to thy courage. Plead with God that he would give thee the face of a lion, that thou mayest, with a consciousness of right, go on boldly. Study well the Scriptures, and get knowledge; for a knowledge of doctrine will tend very much to confirm faith. Try to understand God’s Word; let it dwell in thy heart richly.

When thou hast done this, “Add to thy knowledge temperance.” Take heed to thy body: be temperate without. Take heed to thy soul: be temperate within. Get temperance (self-control) of lip, life, heart, and thought. Add to this, by God’s Holy Spirit, patience; ask him to give thee that patience which endureth affliction, which, when it is tried, shall come forth as gold. Array yourself with patience, that you may not murmur nor be depressed in your afflictions. When that grace is won look to godliness. Godliness is something more than religion. Make God’s glory your object in life; live in his sight; dwell close to him; seek for fellowship with him; and thou hast “godliness”; and to that add brotherly love. Have a love to all the saints: and add to that a charity, which openeth its arms to all men, and loves their souls. When you are adorned with these jewels, and just in proportion as you practise these heavenly virtues, will you come to know by clearest evidence “your calling and election.” “Give diligence,” if you would get assurance, for lukewarmness and doubting very naturally go hand in hand.

Spurgeon, C. H. (2006). Morning and evening : Daily readings

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

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Re: what is your take on swearing (bible study thread)

The reason the term rebellion lit up like a Christmas tree for me is because God uses that term a lot to describe sin so I wanted to check and see what I might be able to find out about it, for it surely must be linked to swearing as Steve pointed out. This is actually the first verse that it brought to my mind as it may have yours:

1 Samuel 15:23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.

Proverbs 17:11 An evil man is bent only on rebellion; a merciless official will be sent against him.

An evil man seeketh only rebellion. He wants only to do his thing. Nothing galls him more than the attempted restraint of authorities. His unrestrainable rebelliousness mandates that he be severely dealt with. Encountering him is like encountering a bear robbed of her whelps. He is like an enraged animal when confronted in his rebellion, and a mighty messenger will be sent against him by Yahweh. Verse 13 expresses once again the principle of retribution. This evil man reaps what he has sown. He has dispensed evil, and evil shall not depart from his house. KJV Bible commentary

Isaiah 63:10 Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.

Interesting...the above verse is cross referenced with this one which we've seen over and over again: (looks like we're onto something for sure!)

Ephesians 4:29-32 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

That's the end of chapter 4 and Paul picks it up again immediately in chapter 5:

Ephesians 5:1-4 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

Continuing to look under the heading of rebellion, I was directed to these verses:

Proverbs 12:13-14 An evil man is trapped by his sinful talk, but a righteous man escapes trouble. From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him.

That one sounds a lot like what Jesus said doesn't it? And then I was directed to this verse which is similar to the one I was talking about:

Mark 7:20-23 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.’ ”

And that one led me here:

Proverbs 4:23-24 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.

Of course I'm not listing all the scriptures I got or we'd be here all day lol but these are the main one. What I got out of all of them was that as we already know we should guard our hearts and mind carefully, which means being careful about what we allow into them to stay. When we sin, we're allowing sin into our hearts and minds and that's obviously not good. Since we already have a sin nature, God also reminds us over and over that our hearts (feelings) cannot be trusted, so we should always look to God and His Word to discover the truth, not to our feelings.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”

These verses about guarding our hearts and minds always remind me of the children's song, "Be careful little eyes what you see". I think there's more wisdom packed into that one little song then we realize. Remember one of the verses is, "be careful little mouth what you say"!

Yes, after having looked through the many references, I think it could be said that any sin is rebellion against God, which of course means that swearing is too. Rebellion also seems to be linked with arrogance which is linked to pride; which makes sense when you think about it. So we're getting deeper into the roots of swearing now and the roots are looking pretty ugly to me. I can only imagine what they must look like to the Lord. I've noticed over the years as I've repented from one sin after another and tried to live my life for the Lord that the root of many of the sins was/is pride of some sort or another.

When I entered the word pride in my bible's search engine, I came to this psalm:

Proverbs 8:13 To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

And I'm sure you all remember these verses:

Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

So in conclusion it seems as though this sin of cussing has it's roots in rebellion, arrogance and pride. No wonder it's not an easy sin to be rid of! This is going to require a lot of work if we're going to pull this out by the roots! Praise God we know we can count on Him to help us once we've confessed our sin and repented of it. I just love this verse because it shows that the Lord not only forgives us, but He purifies us:

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

So it looks like we have our work cut out for us now, for as the scriptures say, we've been taught to say no to ungodliness and to be eager to do what is good while we wait for our Lord to return for us.

Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

 

what is your take on swearing (bible study thread)

Re: what is your take on swearing (bible study thread)

I don't think there's anything wrong with just saying you're upset, but swearing allows us to supposedly express ourselves without saying what's really wrong. If we don't swear and don't replace those words with something else, then we have to actually start thinking about why we're feeling what we're feeling. And I have a sneaking suspicion that once we do start doing that, that things won't sneak up on us all of a sudden and burst out when we accidentally sill the milk, if you know what I mean.

This is the list I made for myself to start with

• anger
• frustration
• sudden and unexpected pain,
• sudden unexpected fright,
• fright in general
• hurt-hurt feelings
• habit
• for shock effect

but I'm going to change it a little bit:

• anger
• frustration
• hurt-hurt feelings

For now I think the above three are the most important ones for me to focus on. I know for me that sometimes those three things actually combine into one angry lump. I think that perhaps I'm using the swearing as a way to hide my feelings on the one hand and yet on the other hand when others aren't able to decode and understand my feelings, even though I haven't said anything, that makes me more upset. Really brilliant of me isn't it? LOL

• sudden and unexpected pain,
• sudden unexpected fright,

These next two, I'm not real sure yet how to deal with, so I'll need to reflect on what God's Word says and how it applies to this for awhile first. Plus I think i should probably add another one of just plain old "surprise" to it as that kind of fits there and I know I've heard others swear when they're surprised, even pleasantly.... (if others do it, then I probably would too)

• fright in general
• habit
• for shock effect

These last three will each have to be dealt with separately I think and again I'm going to need to reflect on God's Word about these too.

Very good points! The only thing I might disagree with is this:

Quote:

If people were relaxed and calm, would they cuss? Maybe if they hit their finger with a hammer..... And if someone gives you a big scare, I think the s word is quite normal and very few people can control this reaction.....

Whether or not I disagree would depend on how you're using the word "normal" in this sentence. If you mean it's normal for a worldly person, someone who is not born again, then yes it probably is; but only because they've been conditioned by the world to swear at times like this.

I would imagine that centuries ago before swearing became the "norm", that when people hit their finger with a hammer or were scared suddenly, that they probably screamed rather then swore. That would be the body's "natural" reaction to something like that because of the "flight or fight" response" we all have built into us. Satan has perverted that though and turned our response from screaming to swearing/cussing/ whatever you want to call it, which is ungodly.

Quote:

You've expressed your rebellion in a way that gives you momentary control by "staring down" a situation through what in effect a cursing of what bad has happened.

another very important point regardless of whether or not we're actually cursing someone/something or just saying a vulgar word. It is a form of rebellion. The world would have us believe back in the 60's and 70's that we were rebelling against the older generation, the government, the "establishment", but in fact what everyone was rebelling against was God! This isn't what I say, it's what scripture says.

Thanks so much for pointing that out as I hadn't even thought of that! I'd like to continue with more about this tomorrow.

 

what is your take on swearing (bible study thread)

Re: what is your take on swearing

I still do it too Bek, which is why the Lord convicted me of it and why I've decided to completely stop. Years ago I did what you're talking about--replacing the bad words with other words, and that seemed to me to be ok then. Then recently as I said, I caught myself using the bad words again at times, while at other times I would still use the ones I'd replace them with. When the Lord convicted me of it, it caused me to start thinking that perhaps it isn't just the words themselves that are bad, but what's behind the words we're saying. If that's true, then that would seem to me to mean that we should not only work on not saying the words, but in taking care of the attitude/emotions etc that cause us to say them in the first place. Am I making any sense? (I'm still kind of out of it this morning lol)

I think this might be the verse you're referring to though:

Matthew 12:33-37 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”


But if you read that in context you see that the words said, come from what's inside us. That isn't a very comforting thought--at least not to me; that even after many years of doing my best to make sure that I only listened to godly music, of studying His Word daily, and spending time with Him daily, that all of that couldn't "erase" the many more years of sinful living that were stored inside of me. Of course, I know that won't be entirely wiped out until we get our new bodies, but that doesn't mean we should sit around waiting and doing nothing to correct it as much as possible now. Jesus actually talked about this a great deal--(about it being what's on the inside of us that is important, and that's what needs to be cleaned up.)

So what I'm saying is that if it's what's inside of us that's the cause of these "words", then we actually have to attack this on two fronts: First the obvious front which is the words themselves, by stopping to use them; and the Second is by looking inside with the Lord's help to discover what it is inside us that we need to work on with His help.

Here's one place where the Lord talks about this that I think we're all familiar with; it shows that it's not so much the looking that's wrong, it's what is causing him to look--what's inside him:

Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Here's another one where He's talking to the pharisees and telling them too that it's not just what you do that the world sees that's important, it's what's in your heart, what's inside you that's important:

Matthew 23:25-26 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

When He tells them to first clean the inside of the cup and dish, He's of course speaking of them cleaning up what's inside themselves first, because if they do that, then they will no longer have to worry about what the world sees, since they will be clean and will therefore automatically bring forth good fruit.

So if we just stop swearing and using bad words, or just change which words we use when we want to swear, we would be trying to make ourselves look good on the outside, just like the pharisees did. We don't want to do that, we want to be real, be ourselves, but not our "old selves". We want to be the people that the Lord saved us to be. Remember, He gave us a new nature, a new "self", so that's the self we want to bring out for the world to see. Paul tells us:

Ephesians 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

He then gives us a number of examples of how our new self is different from our old self and among those examples is this:

Ephesians 4:29-30 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Whenever we do things from our flesh or sinful nature it grieves the Holy Spirit because we're not listening to Him. His job is to teach us and guide us so we can grow and become more and more like Jesus. So when we don't listen to Him, it grieves Him. (upsets Him) After telling us all of this, Paul then shows us again the differences between our new selves and our old selves, telling us that we shouldn't allow ourselves to continue to do these type of things.

Ephesians 5:1-4 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

So to make a long story at least a little shorter, that's why I'm trying to list the things that cause me to swear, so that with the Lord's help I can work see what it is inside me that I need to work on so that the "inside" will be clean too.

I sure hope all that made sense!

 

what is your take on swearing (bible study thread)

Re: Speaking of the world today, what is your take on swearing?

One thing I was thinking more on was what caused me to cuss. I had already mentioned anger and frustration which seems to be the main thing. Thinking about it more though I came up with, sudden and unexpected pain, sudden unexpected fright, and even fright in general. Then in thinking back on the "anger and frustration" one, I had to include feeling hurt because often under the anger is hurt feelings. Finally the last one kind of shocked me although in my past it probably would have been the very first thing I would have mentioned, and that's "habit". The reason it shocked me was because I thought I'd ended that decades ago, even before I was saved. But the Lord pointed out to me, while it was happening, who it was that I was hearing it from constantly this past year which is part of why I've picked it up again. I was really surprised because as you all know I try very hard to be aware of my thoughts and to stay in control of them. Finally the last one I thought of was "for shock effect".

That too has taught me a lesson though. The lesson is that we can't let our guard down even when we think we've got something licked. Hopefully I won't make that mistake again!

Actually come to think of it, it showed me two lessons because it also showed me just how desensitized the world has gotten us toward this. We're so used to hearing it and reading it on everything from signs to t-shirts and of course in books and hearing it from everyone around us as well as on TV and in movies and even video games that it just goes from one ear right through the other and never stops to register. That's why God tells us to guard our hearts and minds:

Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

The word translated "heart" in this verse could probably be better translated, "heart and mind" because it encompasses both since it means more then just mental and emotional capacity but also your values etc. And notice how the Lord says we're to do this "above all else"? That's just how important this is!

Now the reason I wanted to know what usually precipitated cussing for me was so I could be even more on guard against it when I was experiencing those things. So I'm going to list them here again so they're easy to see. Plus that way I can later use them to look up more about them just as I already did for "anger".

• anger
• frustration
• sudden and unexpected pain,
• sudden unexpected fright,
• fright in general
• hurt-hurt feelings
• habit
• for shock effect

If anyone can think of anything else that causes it, please let me know ok?

Finally, after showing me the verse that tells us what NOT to do yesterday, (I'm going to post these in context so we can think about the context and look at it further next time)

Ephesians 5:1-7 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.

the Lord led me to one that shows us what we are to do:

Colossians 4:5-6 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

This also reminded me of a verse that jumped out at me the other day too, which reminds us again of how important it is to be in control of our thoughts and words:

2 Peter 3:1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.

Ok, that's all I can remember for now. I'll be gone tomorrow so I'll have to pick this up on Sunday. Feel free to add to this yourselves though!

what is your take on swearing (bible study thread)

Re: Speaking of the world today, what is your take on swearing?

True Barbara, and all of that is covered in this verse which should have been the first one I thought of:

Ephesians 5:3-4 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

I would like to add one other thing that hit me last night when I was thinking about this. I actually thought of a whole bunch of things last night, but will write about that in a bit. But it suddenly hit me about 'calling a godly person" to find out about something. While there's nothing wrong with listening to what a godly person has to say, and we certainly should, we should never, ever, consider that their word is the final authority of whether or not something is right or wrong or is what God says about something. I certainly hope no one ever says that about the stuff I say here in the bible study forum or anywhere else for that matter. God and only God should be our final authority. When we want to know "for sure" what God thinks about something, the only place we should to go is to Him in prayer as we search His Word. When we ask others, all we're getting are other people's opinions and that includes me as well.

That's why I started this thread/bible study in the first place. First I thought it would be an interesting subject to see what others had to say. (like calling a friend to see what they think) It wasn't because I disagreed with others that I then copied the thread and turned it into a bible study, it was because even though finding out what others think is interesting and fun, it doesn't do anything toward discovering what's important and that's what God thinks about it. The only way I could determine what God thinks about this was to ask Him and do a bible study on it, so I changed this to a bible study thread and began posting the passages He gave me as I got them.

Whenever I do a bible study here I always post the scriptures and try to post them in context so that others who are reading can follow my train of thought and so they can see for themselves what the scriptures say in context. I no longer post all the scriptures I find in my bible studies (and haven't for years) because I've been told that it's just way too much info by most people. So I try to just post the most relevant ones. On average however, I generally have at the very least double the number of scriptures as the ones I've posted in any study. That's mainly because I like to be very thorough and not leave any stone unturned on whatever subject I'm studying. I guess I'm just naturally curious and have a tendency to want to know everything about everything lol The point is though, that no one should ever assume that because I've posted 8 scriptures that that is all there is about it in the bible. Trust me, there's a LOT more about any topic I've done a study on, then what I've posted. It's there for you to find if you pray and dig, looking for His treasure in His Word.

The other point I wanted to make though was that I'm no better then anyone else here. I'm just a fellow believer searching out God's Will and trusting Him to teach me and guide me in all His ways. I may know the bible a little better then some here, but then there are others that know it better then I do. And while I may know a lot in one area, someone else may know more in another area. That's how we learn and grow together. The very last thing I want to do is appear "self righteous" or "holier then thou". Even in this subject matter I've admitted that I sin in this area and it was the Lord convicting me of that sin that caused me to begin this whole thing. All I want is to learn what the Lord has to say about things so I can do my best to live the way He wants me to. So whatever it is I'm learning from the Lord about, I share with others here so that anyone else that's interested can join in too.

Anyway, I'll post more about what all I got last night a little later.

what is your take on swearing (bible study thread)

Speaking of the world today, what is your take on swearing?

This is one of the verses I have listed as "example to follow" for it's how I want the Lord to be able to view me someday (I hope)

Malachi 2:6-7 True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin. “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction—because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.

I didn't realize you had posted in this thread and was just coming here to post about something else I just read that made me think of this. I'm going to continue to post what I find for myself and any others who are convicted about it. I'm not trying to convict anyone myself, that's for the Holy Spirit to do, but since He has convicted me, I do want to continue what I've started. So please don't take offense. That's why I copied the post to the bible study forum.

I'd appreciate it if those of you who disagree would keep your posts on the other thread in end times chat though so that it doesn't disrupt the study portion here ok? As I said, I'm not trying to argue, debate or convict anyone in this thread, I'm just doing what I do with all my studies and sharing what I've learned.

OK, this is part of what I was reading:
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The word slanderers reminded me of what Jesus said:

Matthew 5:22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

(Raca means "you fool") This is another area that shows us that it's not just cursing people such as telling them to go to hell that is considered wrong. My commentary says this about it:

Furthermore, becoming angry and assuming a position of superiority over another by calling him a derogatory name (such as the Aram. Raca or You fool!) demonstrates sinfulness of the heart. The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures

In searching for more information in God's Word about that, I was led to this verse, and having seen it now, I'm ashamed that I didn't think of it right away:

Ephesians 5:3-4 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

The self-centered vices in conduct and speech (vv. 3-4) are the opposite of the self-sacrificing love spoken of in verses 1-2. Since these vices portray selfishness and unconcern for others, a believer should not have even a hint of these sins in his life

Improprieties in speech—obscenity (aischrotēs, “shameless talk and conduct”), foolish talk (mōrologia, lit., “stupid words”), and coarse jesting (eutrapelia, “vulgar, frivolous wit”)—are out of place for Jesus’ followers, because such vices often harm (cf. 4:29),

The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures

The apostle not only cautions against the gross acts of sin, but against what some may be apt to make light of, and think to be excusable. Neither filthiness (v. 4), by which may be understood all wanton and unseemly gestures and behaviour; nor foolish talking, obscene and lewd discourse, or, more generally, such vain discourse as betrays much folly and indiscretion, and is far from edifying the hearers; nor jesting. The Greek word eutrapelia is the same which Aristotle, in his Ethics, makes a virtue: pleasantness of conversation. And there is no doubt an innocent and inoffensive jesting, which we cannot suppose the apostle here forbids. Some understand him of such scurrilous and abusive reflections as tend to expose others and to make them appear ridiculous. This is bad enough: but the context seems to restrain it to such pleasantry of discourse as is filthy and obscene, which he may also design by that corrupt, or putrid and rotten, communication that he speaks of, ch. 4:29. Of these things he says, They are not convenient. Indeed there is more than inconvenience, even a great deal of mischief, in them. They are so far from being profitable that they pollute and poison the hearers. But the meaning is, Those things do not become Christians, and are very unsuitable to their profession and character. Christians are allowed to be cheerful and pleasant; but they must be merry and wise. The apostle adds, But rather giving of thanks: so far let the Christian’s way of mirth be from that of obscene and profane wit, that he may delight his mind, and make himself cheerful, by a grateful remembrance of God’s goodness and mercy to him, and by blessing and praising him on account of these. Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible

As I said earlier, the things that usually cause me to cuss are when I'm really angry and or frustrated. So I'm going to list some verses about that to think about and I want to think too about what else causes me to cuss....

Ephesians 4:31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

Psalm 4:4 In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.

Proverbs 29:11 A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.

Proverbs 22:24-25 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared.

Ephesians 4:26-27 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Proverbs 15:1-4 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly. The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good. The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.

James 1:19-20 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

what is your take on swearing (bible study thread)

Re: Things we "should" be thinking about

Let's see, we could think about nature and how beautiful it is and maybe try and imagine (if we can lol) what heaven might be like--how beautiful it will be etc.

Speaking of imaginations, it seems someone brought that up in the other thread too because unfortunately our imaginations are often sinful or can be. Especially if we use them to imagine ourselves doing or succeeding in something the Lord has forbidden.

We could imagine ourselves in all kinds of normal earthly situations (kind of like a "what if" scenario, only imagine how we would handle various things if we were to do so in a Godly way. Like what if a co worker brought up the subject of sin, how would we handle it--and imagine ourselves doing it in such a way that it would make the Lord proud of us.

Thinking and imagining things isn't bad, as long as were doing it in a godly manner. If you think about it, in the parable of the prodigal son, the son imagines what he will say to his father to try and get his father to take him back. God gave us our minds and our imaginations but sin has corrupted them. We just need to be careful to use them in the manner and for the purpose God intended them to be used in.

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

So using our imaginations for good, to think and work out ways in which we could speak or act in a godly way in various situations would be a good use of our imagination.

Another good use for them would be to imagine ourselves becoming very knowledgeable and wise about God's ways and sharing it with others; or perhaps seeing ourselves overcome various problems or sins in our lives and imagining how that might happen. Imagining ourselves being a godly wife or husband, child or spouse etc. would be other ways to use our imaginations for good.

We might imagine ourselves doing something we really love and enjoy and having that as our job and imagine how we would grow spiritually while doing it; or just imagine ourselves growing spiritually as we do whatever our job is now.

There are millions of things we could imagine that would be godly ways of using our imaginations.

Something Barbara said on another thread reminded me of something that's always good to think about, dwell on, imagine about and even pray about:



And that reminds me of a story about my oldest granddaughter when she was two years old. It was Thanksgiving Day and my daughter was having her first Thanksgiving Dinner at her house so it was very special. We were all sitting at the table and the food smelled wonderful. My daughter began to say the blessing over the meal and Cassandra piped up saying she wanted to say the prayer lol, so Michelle told her she could.

So Cassandra began praying:

Dear God, thank you for our house, for our kitchen and our table and our sink to wash the dishes in, thank you for our dishes and the silverware too; thank you for our couch and for my rocking chair; thank you for my toys (she then named quite a few of them!) thank you for our toilet and the bathtub and the sink and our toothbrushes; thank you for soap and toilet paper and for my mommy's hair brush; thank you for my barrettes,thank you for my hair, and thank you for water to drink and water to wash in; thank you for my daddy's coffee; thank you for my mommy, daddy, grandpa, grandma (and that list went on quite awhile too) and thank you for the vacuum and the broom and sponges to clean up messes; thank you for the TV and the stereo and for music; thank you for clean sheets and pillows and blankets to keep us warn; thank you for our car and the phone and mommy and daddy's jobs, and for our money, and the trees outside; the sun and the beach, the moon and stars at night, the sand, the grass and flowers, for our curtains, our beds, our kitty, and the kitty's food, .....

That little one continued on like this for at least a full five minutes before Michelle tried to stop her and let her know that the food was getting cold! She said she'd be done soon so Michelle let her continue. and continue she did for another full five minutes!

Finally Michelle told her she had to stop lol and she ended her prayer, "In Jesus' Name, Amen!" We all were laughing at first but I had tears in my eyes by the end of it because I had learned more that thanksgiving day from my two year old granddaughter then I ever would have suspected! That little one truly understood what being thankful was all about and understood that all those things she named really were blessings from the Lord. It made me think of these verses right away:

Psalm 8:2 From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise

Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

Matthew 18:2-4 He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

I vowed that day to never forget the lesson she taught me. In fact this past Thanksgiving Michelle again had Thanksgiving Dinner at her house with the whole family. Cassandra was 12 then and after Michelle led us in prayer, I reminded Cassandra of her first real Thanksgiving dinner and her prayer that day. I thanked her for all she taught me and told her that I have shared the story with many people since then so really she has taught many about thankfulness and counting our blessings. I pray it's something she will never forget, and that it's something that will help many including me to remember to be thankful for everything we have, because really, we have so much!



I think I'll go count my blessings right now! Being so much older then Cassandra was, I should be able to count them for a very long time!!! (and each and every one of you are a blessing to me!)

 

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Things we "should" be thinking about

In our bible study on Stress,worry,fear etc & the Christian We were looking at some verses where we are told what kinds of things we should be thinking on instead of worrying and having fearful or depressing thoughts. Barbara suggested that we should have a thread where we could list the good things we could think about to replace the sinful thoughts.

In preparing to start this thread I started reading what the commentaries said about Philippians 4:8 and was shocked to find that they say exactly what we've been talking about in our study! So to help us think up "good thoughts" I'm including these commentaries since they break it down more and that can give us more ideas. Plus they'll show you that I'm not the only one that has realized that this is God's prescription to living in peace and joy

First though, here is the main passage we're working from:

Philippians 4:4-8 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Here are what a few of the commentaries had to say about this:

Character and conduct begin in the mind. Our actions are affected by the things we dwell on in our thoughts. Paul cautions his readers to concentrate on things that will result in right living and in God’s peace Spirit filled life study Bible.

Finally. In conclusion.
Whatsoever. Whatsoever introduced six adjectives picturing old-fashioned Christian ideas.
True.Resting on reality and aiming at reality.
Honest. Honorable, dignified, worthy of reverence, the combination of gravity and dignity.
Just. Righteous relations between man and man, and man and God. Pure. Stainless, chaste, unsullied.
Lovely. Lovable, endearing, amiable, gracious, charming, pleasing, winsome.
Of good report. Attractive, fair speaking.
If there be any virtue. Mental, moral, and physical excellence.
If there be any praise. Anything praiseworthy, deemed worthy of praise.
Think on these things. Meditate on them with careful reflection, not casually and superficially, but constantly and logically. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov 23:7). Noble thinking produces noble living; high thinking produces high living; and holy thinking produces holy living. All these noble qualities were exemplified in Christ and are produced by the Holy Spirit. KJV Bible commentary.

Right Thinking (Phil. 4:8)

Peace involves the heart and the mind.“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee” (Isa. 26:3). Wrong thinking leads to wrong feeling, and before long the heart and mind are pulled apart and we are strangled by worry. We must realize that thoughts are real and powerful, even though they cannot be seen, weighed, or measured. We must bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).

“Sow a thought, reap an action.

Sow an action, reap a habit.

Sow a habit, reap a character.

Sow a character, reap a destiny!”

Paul spells out in detail the things we ought to think about as Christians.

Whatever is true.Dr. Walter Cavert reported a survey on worry that indicated that only 8 percent of the things people worried about were legitimate matters of concern! The other 92 percent were either imaginary, never happened, or involved matters over which the people had no control anyway. Satan is the liar (John 8:44), and he wants to corrupt our minds with his lies (2 Cor. 11:3). “Yea, hath God said?” is the way he approaches us, just as he approached Eve (Gen. 3:1ff). The Holy Spirit controls our minds through truth (John 17:17; 1 John 5:6), but the devil tries to control them through lies. Whenever we believe a lie, Satan takes over!

Whatever is honest and just. This means “worthy of respect and right.” There are many things that are not respectable, and Christians should not think about these things. This does not mean we hide our heads in the sand and avoid what is unpleasant and displeasing, but it does mean we do not focus our attention on dishonorable things and permit them to control our thoughts.

Whatever is pure, lovely, and of good report. “Pure” probably refers to moral purity, since the people then, as now, were constantly attacked by temptations to sexual impurity (Eph. 4:17–24; 5:8–12). “Lovely” means “beautiful, attractive.” “Of good report” means “worth talking about, appealing.” The believer must major on the high and noble thoughts, not the base thoughts of this corrupt world.

Whatever possesses virtue and praise. If it has virtue, it will motivate us to do better; and if it has praise, it is worth commending to others. No Christian can afford to waste “mind power” on thoughts that tear him down or that would tear others down if these thoughts were shared.

If you will compare this list to David’s description of the Word of God in Psalm 19:7–9, you will see a parallel. The Christian who fills his heart and mind with God’s Word will have a “built-in radar” for detecting wrong thoughts. “Great peace have they which love Thy Law” (Ps. 119:165). Right thinking is the result of daily meditation on the Word of God.

The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"

So, now that you have an idea of what we're talking about, what are some of the things you think we could dwell on that would meet the requirements of what Paul tells us in that passage in Philippians?

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