In the Scoffers thread, we were talking about how differently we think and view things then unbelievers do and it reminded me of what I was thinking about yesterday as I was painting.
I was having a real hard time "staying in the lines"
and I kept using a bad word that I hate. (It starts with s and ends in t 
) I quickly realized it and asked the Lord to forgive me and changed it to "shoot". I continued talking to the Lord about it as I painted and asked Him if it was OK to use the word "shoot" instead. The verses that came to my mind then were these
James 5:12 Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, or you will be condemned.
Matthew 5:37 Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
I never take the Lord's Name in vain or anything like that, and normally I don't even say things like "shoot", but for some reason it seems as though I've been hearing an awful lot of swearing lately, both in "real life" as well as from the TV when Bruce is watching it. I guess that's rubbed off on me without my being aware of it.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that everyone seemed to be swearing more and even those that didn't normally swear (at least not in front of me) were doing so now. I guess it's because of all the stress unbelievers and "young" Christians are under these days.
To me there's several "levels" of swearing:
The worst would be using God's Name in vain, and then would be calling other people by swear words and then using swear words when you've accidentally hurt yourself or something like that, and finally is when you substitute other common words for the swear word, like what I did when I was saying "shoot".
I've also come to the realization that not everyone considers the same words as "swear words". I remember hearing it explained as anything you wouldn't say to God was a swear word. I liked that because I know some people say it's anything you wouldn't say to your mother, but today kids say things to their mothers that would have gotten my kids slapped! (and still would!)
Anyway, I wanted to ask you guys what your take was on swearing. What, if anything is "OK" and when, and what isn't? Yesterday I came to the conclusion that even saying "shoot" wasn't acceptable so I've decided to really be careful from now on and train myself to quite literally not swear in any way shape or form, but simply let my yes be yes and my no be no. So next time I "go out of the lines" painting, I'll have to train myself to simply say, "Oh no!". (actually I already started training myself to do that yesterday LOL)
I was having a real hard time "staying in the lines"
and I kept using a bad word that I hate. (It starts with s and ends in t ) I quickly realized it and asked the Lord to forgive me and changed it to "shoot". I continued talking to the Lord about it as I painted and asked Him if it was OK to use the word "shoot" instead. The verses that came to my mind then were these James 5:12 Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, or you will be condemned.
Matthew 5:37 Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
I never take the Lord's Name in vain or anything like that, and normally I don't even say things like "shoot", but for some reason it seems as though I've been hearing an awful lot of swearing lately, both in "real life" as well as from the TV when Bruce is watching it. I guess that's rubbed off on me without my being aware of it.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that everyone seemed to be swearing more and even those that didn't normally swear (at least not in front of me) were doing so now. I guess it's because of all the stress unbelievers and "young" Christians are under these days.
To me there's several "levels" of swearing:
The worst would be using God's Name in vain, and then would be calling other people by swear words and then using swear words when you've accidentally hurt yourself or something like that, and finally is when you substitute other common words for the swear word, like what I did when I was saying "shoot".
I've also come to the realization that not everyone considers the same words as "swear words". I remember hearing it explained as anything you wouldn't say to God was a swear word. I liked that because I know some people say it's anything you wouldn't say to your mother, but today kids say things to their mothers that would have gotten my kids slapped! (and still would!)
Anyway, I wanted to ask you guys what your take was on swearing. What, if anything is "OK" and when, and what isn't? Yesterday I came to the conclusion that even saying "shoot" wasn't acceptable so I've decided to really be careful from now on and train myself to quite literally not swear in any way shape or form, but simply let my yes be yes and my no be no. So next time I "go out of the lines" painting, I'll have to train myself to simply say, "Oh no!". (actually I already started training myself to do that yesterday LOL)
