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)