"But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:"
Matthew 5:34
I had my students read a short story today in class... we read it out loud, and I was surprised when we came to some words like "damn" and "hell" and one instance of taking the Lord's name in vain. I read the short story this last week and I hadn't noticed them at all. There, though, as the teacher, responsible for the corruption of 18 year old minds, I was more aware. :) I wonder, sincerely, why we feel that we need "swear" words ... especially ones stronger than those uttered in class today... to punctuate our speech. Whether it is really swearing... trying to call up the authority or power of something else to back up our words, or whether it is trying to emphasize what we are saying, or even when it is just filler, to fill up the voids in our conversation or thought processes, isn't most of it needless? I wonder what we would say if we took the time to control our speech a little more. It's like verse forms. If you put some restrictions on the poetry you write, instead of limiting what you can say, it usually makes you think more about it, and what comes out is more powerful than if you just let it tumble out. Maybe our day to day lives could be like that if we actually took the time to think about what we were saying. Our speech would not only be more artistic, but more deliberate... when we said something, people wouldn't need us to swear to back up what we were saying, or to fill in any gaps. We'd be communicating complete thoughts rather than tenuous opinions that change the more we think about them. :)
Matthew 5:34
I had my students read a short story today in class... we read it out loud, and I was surprised when we came to some words like "damn" and "hell" and one instance of taking the Lord's name in vain. I read the short story this last week and I hadn't noticed them at all. There, though, as the teacher, responsible for the corruption of 18 year old minds, I was more aware. :) I wonder, sincerely, why we feel that we need "swear" words ... especially ones stronger than those uttered in class today... to punctuate our speech. Whether it is really swearing... trying to call up the authority or power of something else to back up our words, or whether it is trying to emphasize what we are saying, or even when it is just filler, to fill up the voids in our conversation or thought processes, isn't most of it needless? I wonder what we would say if we took the time to control our speech a little more. It's like verse forms. If you put some restrictions on the poetry you write, instead of limiting what you can say, it usually makes you think more about it, and what comes out is more powerful than if you just let it tumble out. Maybe our day to day lives could be like that if we actually took the time to think about what we were saying. Our speech would not only be more artistic, but more deliberate... when we said something, people wouldn't need us to swear to back up what we were saying, or to fill in any gaps. We'd be communicating complete thoughts rather than tenuous opinions that change the more we think about them. :)
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