I read an article that got me thinking about a trend in our culture that is bleeding into the People of Jesus. A coarsening of language. “Swearing” is nothing even remotely new to the human condition and society. What is changing is our view and acceptance of it. How this has changed is less about some arbitrary behavioral standard or attempt to “act good” and much more an outward manifestation of our inward values, both as indivuals and as a culture.

There are a few different words in English that we use to describe “bad” words. Each one has a particular meaning, although in common usage, most people don’t diffentiate. For fun, let’s consider them though.

• Obscenity: This holds the idea of something repulsive, normally concerning things bodily or especially sexual. Many of our modern swear words come from this. Words describing body-parts/functions and sex-acts. No need to list them, I think we know what we’re talking about.
• Profanity: From profane which means to take something holy (special) and make it unholy (common). These stopped being considered overly taboo by the general culture a long time ago, but are still sometimes considered swearing by more conservative religious people. “Holy Cow!” “Heavens to Betsy!” etc, are no longer considered taboo by most in even our churches, but a subset of profanity, Blasphemy, the profaning of God Himself, taking His name in vain still has greater pushback. Using “God” or “Jesus” as exclamations, or linking them with other words (g-d–) is generally avoided by those seeking to follow Christ.

You used to not be able to say pretty much any of these things on TV, then not on TV except late at night. Then cable and satellite came along, and it became more normal. At the same time more language became ok for PG movies instead of getting you an “R” rating. Now, it is part of our discourse, or perhaps I should say discoarse. The president, and now many of the next presidential candidates feel free to not only use such language, but to feature it. This is not about just a shifting set of language norms, but a reflection something greater.

The reason words become Taboo is because we don’t like the misuse things we value. The way we treat the names of the things, show how much we value those things. Our culture as a whole stopped being worried about “holy” things quite a long time ago, and as a result, those words stopped being “bad.” Now in today’s culture, sexual and bodily things are no longer special but common and open to mockery. So, the words that go with those things are now fair game. At the same time, our culture has started to embrace what was formerly considered crude as now a mark of “authenticity” since watching your words and being careful, respectful, and pure are probably just acts that no one really does. If it is all an act, than being crude, sexual, edgy, must be a sign that you are real.

To a point that is probably true, because there have always been plenty of people whose purity and character was an act. However, that is not always the case, and the failures of character shouldn’t become the new rule. That is what the world has done, and too often people who call themselves Christians have conformed to this world on this point.

Jesus calls us to something else, something better. It is not about just “watching your mouth.” It is about letting your words have value and valuing what God values. There are implications that might make us as Christians uncomfortable.

• I don’t joke about mother-inlaws and how bad they are because I love and value my mother-inlaw.
• You will never hear me joke about my wife in a disrespectful way (“the old ball & chain”, “my old lady” etc.) because I love and value her and would never want to give a different impression.
• I don’t use either profane or obscene language, not because I’m trying to keep some rule, but because I love and value both my God, and human sexuality as given to us by God.

Your values WILL be reflected in your language, and people end up literally “telling” on themselves as they let loose. Jesus, in His Word, encouraged us to a different spirit that then will show up in our words. Let’s close our discussion with some words in red and take some time to consider what is proceeding out of our mouths.

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
(Matthew 15:18-19)

You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
(Matthew 12:34)

This is the article the sparked my thoughts today:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-uttered-what-many-supporters-consider-blasphemy-heres-why-most-will-probably-forgive-him/2019/09/13/685c0bce-d64f-11e9-9343-40db57cf6abd_story.html

Most all of us love Justice.  Its a love we developed in childhood.  Especially if we had siblings.  Having four kids now, I am deeply familiar with this.  “That’s not fair!” is a common refrain.  Who got more treat, less chores, or any other inJustice is a big deal.

Ever get pulled over and fumed because someone else passed you earlier going much faster than what you are now in trouble for?  Ever even try to tell the officer that?   When you’re late and in a hurry, you are hoping no police are around.  When the guy behind you is in the same hurry and finally blows by you on the straight-away, you are praying for a police car up ahead, and if you then go by the guy stopped, you cheer a little inside (at least!)

We love justice….when it benefits us.
But we also love mercy, when justice falls on us.

You want the cop to let you off with a warning, you are not upset that you got less chores or more ice cream then your sibling.

That is our problem, especially in today’s partisan and angry society.  Many scream for justice as long as that justice does not fall on them.

God gives us a very very different perspective that as Christians, especially in our current American society, we would do well to dwell on strongly.
You are a cosmic criminal, and God, rather than mete out Justice upon you, showered you with Mercy and then threw in Grace as well.
We know this theologically, but we tend to forget it on Tuesday when we are on Facebook or talking with friends.  Jesus was very clear that after He has been willing to deal with us through Mercy rather than Justice, allowing Himself to (very unfairly) take the hit for our wrongdoing, that we should never forget that by setting aside mercy and pounding on Justice for others.
In fact, His warnings against doing that are STARK.  He told a story of a person who after being shown great mercy and forgiveness, was not forgiving himself.  The story doesn’t end well for that person at all.  Also, there is this,

For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
(James 2:13)

As a result of our love for Justice, we will always readily for cry out for it when we are right and others are wrong.  Let’s not forget that while, on any one issue here on earth, you might be right,  in God’s eyes, you are a big pile of wrong and He was shown you mercy.  Let’s remember that each day.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
(John 3:17)

One of the things God has been teaching me in the last few years is a deeper understanding of what it means to be “Christ-like”.  To live and embody His heart, His actions and motivations.

That has caused me to think more about shoes.  The old expression of compassion and understanding encourages us to “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.”  This is what Jesus did and its an important, crucial part of our theology.  Jesus BECAME man.  His name becomes Immanuel, God WITH us.  The Bible makes it clear that this identification with us is part of why He can be our Savior.

  Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
(Hebrews 2:17-18)

Jesus doesn’t merely offer salvation and instructions for how we can get to heaven, He comes and lives our situation.  He wore our shoes.

As American Christians, we now can get pretty excised about how people live their lives, especially people who’s lives are SO different from us.  People from away.  And we find it easy to condemn them.

But have we tried to think about what life looks like in their shoes?

When we’ve made trips to the Dominican Republic, we’ve had situations where one of our team has held a baby for a minute only to find that the mother has left.  Why would she do such a terrible thing.  Obviously someone who is a terrible parent and doesn’t love her child.

Except that its the opposite.  Facing poverty, hunger, disease, and no hope for a change of status, these mothers hope beyond hope that this American will take their child and offer them hope, a life.

I can’t imagine giving my child away.  Why?  Because I am a superior human being?  No, but because I have never lived in abject poverty.  I have never lived in a country and situation where I have NO options, NO help, and NO real hope.  Most all of us sitting comfortably in America can’t fathom not having any way to improve our situation or keep our kids safe.

We have never stood in their shoes, and so we easily and proudly condemn desperate parents and judge them as inferior parents and human beings deserving of blame.

The issues facing our nation today are very complex and there are no easy answers.  There are also plenty of people who seek to exploit others.

But before we rush to condemn someone, let’s try on their shoes first and honestly consider what we would do in their shoes.

We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
(1 John 3:16-18)

What do you picture when you think of someone being far from God?  Sometimes we might feel far from God because we’ve been messing up big time.  Perhaps our life has just been full of sin.

Same with looking at others.  We might often think of the person on drugs, or deep in partying, or just living a wild or troubled life as being so very far from God.

Conversely, when you look at the person who has their life together, working hard, being responsible and a productive member of society, you might be less inclined to think of them as being far from God.

If they go to church, then they are definitely not too far from God.  From birth many of us have learned what it means to be a good person or a bad person.  We have learned what is acceptable and what is not.  If we were raised in a religious context, that standard got spiritualized and we are even more sure of what it means to be “good” or “bad” and what it means to be far from God.

Of course, if we have a Biblical theology, that tells us something a bit different.

If we have studied the life of Jesus, that tells us something different as well.

What does it mean to be far from God?  Is it found in behavior, or in reception to the love and forgiveness of Jesus?  We know from the Bible that the key to being close to God is to receive his love and forgiveness by repenting and turning to Him.  We do not have to clean ourselves up or make ourselves acceptable.  We need to admit that there is nothing we can do in ourselves to make ourselves presentable to Him.

When Jesus walked the earth, there were a lot of really “good” religious people who were busy being good and following the rules.  There were others who were successful in life and impressive members of society.  Few actually followed Jesus.  We may know of the rich young ruler who admitted that he kept all the commandments, but wouldn’t follow Jesus because he also wanted to keep all his money.  Then there were all the religious leaders who didn’t want to admit that they weren’t good enough.

They were really far from God.

Meanwhile the poor, the destitute, the sinners of the world, the outcasts who didn’t have a place in polite society had a great reaction to Jesus.  It even became a bit of a scandal, seeing who Jesus tended to hang out with for dinner.    He was friends with some really bad people.

They were much closer to God.  Having supper with Him.

In Revelation, one of the churches that is rebuked the strongest, Laodicea, has a problem with thinking they are really good when what they really need is the work of God.

Many very good polished people who even go to church are very far from God for the simple reason that they are good and polished people who think they do good things Humanly speaking, they are doing great things.

Being close to God is not a matter of behavior, but is a matter of grace and mercy.  If you are not fully aware each day that your closeness to God always rests in His grace, His mercy, His sacrifice on your behalf, on His work, then you miss what it means to be close to God.

Now to be sure, those who have been touched by the Amazing Grace and Mercy of God will be changed and will no longer live for themselves.  In other words, if you are close to God, you will live better, but living better does not earn you closeness.

Our theology teaches us this.  Let’s live it.   Make each day about His goodness, not your goodness.

With the warm and wet weather, we had some serious fog around here recently.  Driving in it was not a fun experience and several times I had to slow to a crawl as I could barely see the road at all.  Too much water vapor to be able to see clearly.   I was glad for the snowbanks that at least made it clear where the edge of the road was!

It got me thinking about navigating in our current culture as Christians.  It seems more than ever these days that there is a general fog at work in the American culture.  Cries of “fake news” and “alternate facts”, partisanship, and competing narratives.  If my Facebook feed is any indication, these cultural trends are strongly affecting the members of the Body of Christ, including pastors.

There’s a lot of moisture in the air.

When you’re in the fog, and unsure of the truth, bad things can happen.   A man, convinced by fake news about a child-sex ring connected to Hillary Clinton, tried to rescue the kids.   The only problem?  It wasn’t true.

How many well meaning people had posted that rumor, like a fake Facebook privacy warning, saying, “I don’t know if this is true, but better to be safe than sorry” ?

Like driving in Fog, we need to slow down and be clear.  We need to be sure of Truth and speak Truth.  We must not allow ourselves to perpetuate the fog.  Especially in our politically polarized times.

Jesus said of Himself, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No ones comes to the Father except through me.”

As people of the Way, as people who claim to follow the One called the Truth, I think we need to be much more careful about a fog of lies.  As we post on social media, as we interact with political leaders of any kind, as we attack or defend, we should be guided first and foremost by a strong stand for the truth.   Lies in the service of our political goals will have the unfortunate side effect of undercutting our witness to the One called Truth.

If we expect people to believe our witness, we need to be very careful that we are not peddling, approving of, or repeating falsehoods.

But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him–
(Colossians 3:8-10)

If you are a Christian, you have a great responsibility and opportunity to be a voice of truth, but make sure that is what you are speaking and celebrating, not a comforting falsehood that you want to believe because it fits your thoughts or confirms your ideas, but a real truth.

He who conceals hatred has lying lips, And he who spreads slander is a fool. When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise. The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver, The heart of the wicked is worth little. The lips of the righteous feed many, But fools die for lack of understanding.
(Proverbs 10:18-21)