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Corrupt Communication
“Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.” (Pro 4:24)
- Put away from thee a froward mouth,
- Froward adj. – 1. Disposed to go counter to what is demanded or what is reasonable; perverse, difficult to deal with, hard to please; refractory, ungovernable; †also, in a wider sense, bad, evilly-disposed, ‘naughty’. (The opposite of toward.)
- A man with a froward mouth is difficult to deal with.
- He is rebellious and refuses to obey reasonable rules or commands from a legitimate authority.
- He is implacable (cannot be appeased) (Rom 1:31).
- His mouth is ungovernable; his tongue cannot be tamed (Jam 3:8).
- A man like this should be avoided.
- His mouth is evilly-disposed and unreasonable, and we should pray that God would deliver our church from such evil men (2Th 3:2).
- God hates a froward mouth (Pro 8:13; Pro 3:32) and so should we, both in ourselves and in others.
- Those that have froward mouths are going to find that God will be froward toward them (Psa 18:26).
- A froward mouth needs to be put away from us.
- Put v. – put away. a. See simple senses and away. b. trans. To send away, dismiss, get rid of; to reject; spec. to divorce. c. To drive away, dispel; to do away with, abolish, put an end to. d. To part with, dispose of, sell
- We should rid ourselves personally of a froward mouth.
- The words of our mouths should be in righteousness and there should be no frowardness in them (Pro 8:8).
- We should also put away from our church (1Co 5:13) those with froward mouths (1Co 5:11; Psa 101:4).
- Railer – One who rails; a reviler.
- Rail v. – 1. a. intr. To utter abusive language.
- If we don’t, they will sow strife in the church and cause its destruction (Pro 16:28).
- and perverse lips put far from thee.
- Perverse adj. – 1. Turned away from the right way or from what is right or good; perverted; wicked. b. Not in accordance with the accepted standard or practice; incorrect; wrong. Obstinate or persistent in what is wrong; selfwilled or stubborn (in error). 3. Untoward, froward; disposed to go counter to what is reasonable or required; hence, wayward, petulant, cross-grained, ill-tempered, peevish.
- Corrupt communication should not proceed out of our mouths (Eph 4:29; Col 3:8).
- Corrupt adj. – 1. Changed from the naturally sound condition, esp. by decomposition or putrefaction developed or incipient; putrid, rotten or rotting; infected or defiled by that which causes decay. arch. Debased in character; infected with evil; depraved; perverted; evil, wicked.
- Corrupt communication is evil and wicked
- Filthy – 1. a. Full of filth; besmeared or defiled with filth; dirty, foul, nasty, unclean. 3. Morally foul or polluted; obscene. 1611 Bible Col. iii. 8 You also put off all these, anger+filthy communication out of your mouth.
- Something that is filthy is sinful (Psa 14:2-3).
- Filthy communication is sinful communication.
- God defines what is evil and wicked in His word (1Jo 3:4).
- We must not let this world define corrupt communication for us.
- Corrupt communication includes:
- Lying (Eph 4:25)
- Using the Lord’s name in vain (Exo 20:7)
- Blasphemy (Mat 15:19)
- Whispering and backbiting (2Co 12:20)
- Slander (Psa 101:5)
- Cursing men (Jam 3:9-10)
- Heresy (Gal 5:20)
- Foolish talking (Eph 5:4)
- Talking approvingly of sinful things
- Language that entices people to sin (Pro 7:14-21)
- Perverse lips and evil speaking should be put away from us (Eph 4:31).
III. But corrupt communication as the Bible defines it is not how most people define it.
- All cursing is not forbidden.
- The Levites were to curse sinners (Deut 27:14-26).
- Jesus cursed a fig tree (Mar 11:12-14 c/w Mar 11:20-21).
- Therefore, it’s not a sin to curse an inanimate object or an animal.
- You would not be sinning if a dog bit your daughter and you said “That damned dog bit my daughter.”
iii. The dog is cursed and needs to die, so what you said was perfectly acceptable.
- Damned – 1. a. Condemned, judicially sentenced. b. Condemned by publicly expressed disapproval, as a play, etc.
- But remember that our mouths are not to be full of cursing and bitterness like the wicked (Rom 3:14).
- Using what some delicate people consider to be “swear words” or “cuss words” is not necessarily wrong either depending on what words are used and when they are used.
- The Bible uses the word “dung” frequently.
- Paul said he counted his former religion as dung (Php 3:8).
- God called Israel’s corrupted religion dung and said that He would spread dung on their faces (Mal 2:3).
iii. God said He would take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam as a man takes away dung (1Ki 14:10).
- God said that the carcase of Jezebel would be as dung upon the face of the field (2Ki 9:37).
- The Lord inspired a prophet to record the words of the wicked Rabshakeh who said that the men of Israel would eat their own dung and drink their own piss (2Ki 18:27).
- God said that the slain Midianites would become as the dung of the earth (Psa 83:10).
vii. The Lord said His own people would die grievous deaths and would be as dung upon the face of the earth (Jer 9:22; Jer 16:4; Jer 25:33).
- Dung n. – 1. Excrementitious and decayed matter employed to fertilize the soil; manure. (As constituting the usual manure) The excrement or fæces of animals (rarely of human beings): as cow-dung, horse-dung, pig’s-dung, etc.
- Manure n. – 1. Dung or compost spread over or mixed with soil to fertilize it. Also, other substances, esp. various chemicals, used as fertilizers.
- Excrement n. – 1. That which remains after a process of sifting or refining; the dregs, lees, refuse. In quots. pl. only. Obs. 2. Phys. ‘That which is cast out of the animal body by any of the natural emunctories’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.); superfluous matter thrown off by the bodily organs; an excreted substance. Now rare in general sense. b. esp. ‘The alvine fæces or the waste matter discharged from the bowels’
- Faeces (feces) – 1. Sediment; dregs, lees, subsidence, refuse. 2. Waste matter that is discharged from the bowels; excrement.
- Poop n. – 1. A short blast in a hollow tube, as a wind instrument; a toot; a gulping sound. Also, the report of a gun. slang (orig. children’s). An act of breaking wind or of defecation; faeces.
- Crap – 7. a. coarse slang. Excrement; defecation. Also Comb., as crap-house, a privy. b. transf. Rubbish, nonsense; something (occas. someone) worthless, inferior or disgusting. slang.
- Shit n. – 1. a. Excrement from the bowels, dung. A contemptuous epithet applied to a person. c. In negative contexts: Anything. Phr. not to give a shit: not to care at all. d. transf. Rubbish, trash. e. fig. Misfortune, unpleasantness. Esp. in phr. to be in the shit: to be in trouble or difficulty. f. An intoxicating or euphoriant drug, spec. cannabis, heroin, or marijuana. g. In phrases up shit creek: in an unpleasant situation or awkward predicament (cf. up the creek s.v. creek n.1 2c); shit out of luck: (see quot. 1942); (when) the shit flies or hits the fan: alluding to a moment of crisis or its disastrous consequences; to beat, kick, or knock the shit out of (someone): to thrash or beat severely; to get one’s shit together (U.S.): to collect oneself, to manage one’s affairs.
- Shit v. – 1. intr. To void excrement. 2. trans. To void as excrement. lit. and fig. 3. a. To defile with excrement. Esp. in phr. to shit oneself: (a) to defile oneself with excrement; (b) fig., to be afraid. b. In slang phrases to shit (someone): to tease or attempt to deceive; to shit a brick:
viii.Before you condemn me for saying “shit”, you need to show me a Bible verse that says “Thou shalt not say shit”, or show me a Bible verse that says that “shit” is corrupt communication or that it is an evil word.
- As the definitions show, dung, manure, excrement, poop, crap, and shit all mean the same thing.
- They range from scientific to proper to slang, but they are all synonyms.
- Different words carry with them different connotations.
- We have technical words for scientific journals.
- We have technical words for legal documents.
- We have slang words that are used in informal speech.
- We have strong words that convey strong emotions.
(i) If you accidentally defecated on yourself five minutes prior to giving a speech, there would be nothing wrong with telling your wife that “I just shit my pants!”
(ii) You would not be sinning by doing so.
- There is nothing wrong with using strong language to describe something abhorrent, filthy, or disgusting.
(i) If you saw a “pride” parade, there would be nothing wrong with saying “Look at that shit!” in disgust.
(ii) You would not be sinning by doing so.
xii. Therefore, we should not make a man an offender for a word if he says “crap” or “shit” (Isa 29:21).
xiii.On the other hand, we should not use such language around people who find it offensive (Rom 14:13-14, 21-22; 1Co 10:32-33).
- The Bible, and God Himself, also use the word “piss” numerous times (1Sa 25:22; 1Ki 14:10; 1Ki 21:21; 2Ki 9:8).
- Piss – 1. Urine, ‘water’. Also, the action or an act of urinating.
- Piss – 1. a. intr. To discharge urine, urinate, make water.
iii. There are Christians out there who would never utter the word “piss” despite the fact that God Himself does so in His Holy Word.
- We must remember that we dare not try to be holier than God.
- The Bible calls people bastards (Deut 23:2; Zec 9:6; Heb 12:8).
- Bastard n. – 1. a. One begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate or natural child.
- If this word were used in our everyday speech to refer to children born out of wedlock there would be less of them.
- The Bible calls homosexuals sodomites (Deut 23:17; 1Ki 14:24).
- One does not have perverse lips who calls “gay” people sodomites.
- If queers were widely called sodomites today, we would have a lot less of them, or they would at least be back in the closet.
- There is harsh name-calling in the Bible.
- Jesus called the Pharisees serpents and vipers (Mat 23:33).
- Jesus called King Herod a fox (Luk 13:32).
- Jesus called unbelievers dogs and swine (Mat 7:6).
- Paul called unbelieving Jews dogs (Php 3:2).
- Paul called wicked people beasts (1Co 15:32).
- Peter and Jude also called the wicked brute beasts (stupid animals) (2Pe 2:12; Jud 1:10).
- Paul affirmed that the Cretians were liars, evil beasts, and slow bellies (Tit 1:12-13).
- God called sodomites dogs (Deut 23:18).
- These harsh names were used by the Son of God Himself and by holy men of God as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2Pe 1:21).
- Paul commanded us to be follows of him who was a follower of Christ (1Co 11:1).
- It is therefore not perverse speaking or corrupt communication to call wicked people derogatory names when it is justified.
- If we are to put away from us perverse lips and avoid using corrupt communication, we should speak as the scriptures do (1Pe 4:11).
- God’s words are pure (Pro 30:5) and there is nothing froward or perverse in them (Pro 8:8).
- If we use words and synonyms of words that the Bible does under the guidelines it gives, we will not be guilty of evil communication.
- If the Bible doesn’t condemn the use of a particular word in a particular context, then it is not sinful to use it (1Jo 3:4 c/w Rom 4:15).
- The word of God also tells us what kind of language to abstain from using.
- If we refrain from using it, we will be pleasing to God.