Playing the Cooler - Part 2
Posted on February 24th, 2006 by catalyst into the About Us category
Be Cool. Be Cool.
While I really enjoy cruising the internet looking for hot pictures of Rachel Bilson, I can’t do this every week. I also recognize that when you allow people to comment anonymously, you are going to get a lot of comments that are borderline harrassment. And I also recognize that when you start a blog that is both funny and borderline harrassment, you are going to attract like-minded readers.
But please, if I could just ask our readers to try to keep the comments civil. Please no racial slurs or homophobic jokes. Please no threatening other readers with violence. You are welcome to make all the attacks on me that you want. I truly don’t care. And if you disagree with another person’s comment, feel free to air that disagreement, just try not to threaten their lives with physical harm. It makes life go smoother that way.
Lastly, please try to be funny. Please. Life is too short to be angry all the time. And thanks for reading. Most of your comments are great, and I really do appreciate the feeback.
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February 24th, 2006 at 6:58 am
Who is she wearing?
February 24th, 2006 at 7:05 am
It’s a new design by fashion icon, “OH MY GOD SHE’S SO HOT!!!”
February 24th, 2006 at 8:43 am
Ephesians 4:29
“No Unwholsome Word”
“Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
INTRODUCTION
In teaching us the specifics of the worthy walk, Paul has more to say about our speech than any other single area. We are to speak truth in 4:25, avoid unwholesome words in favor of edifying ones in 4:29, forego slander in 4:31, eschew filthiness and coarse jesting in 5:4, and be always giving thanks in 5:19-20, etc. And this should not be surprising, for the ability, yea, the drive to use language is at the very heart of our uniqueness, our identity as created in the image of the articulate God who spoke the world into existence and communicates with us through his Word. The tongue is a small organ, but a pivotal one (James 3:2-12). As often, Paul gives us in v. 29 three things: what not to do, what to do, why to do it.
I. WHAT NOT TO DO: UNWHOLESOME WORDS
Let us start with some Definitions. The word translated “unwholesome” is SAPROS, which means “rotten.” It is used of fruit or meat which has spoiled and of clothing that is patched or falling apart. “Word” is LOGOS, which means word, speech, or reason, the ordered expression of that which is within. So unwholesome words would be not nourishing, unhealthful or even poisonous, words indecently clothed or without decorum.
We can now proceed to Delineate some different kinds of words that could be unwholesome by this definition. One thing that comes to mind is words that are Off-Color, lewd, or lascivious. Most of the commentaries on this passage are interestingly focused here. My point is not that they are wrong but that they are imbalanced, neglecting other areas that are just as important. Are we as a movement perhaps a bit over-sensitive in this area? Sex is indeed a part of life, and Scripture is itself very frank about it. If it were not in the Bible, some of us would accuse the Song of Solomon of stepping over the line here! Well, even if Evangelical sensibilities are overdeveloped in this area to the neglect of others, that does not excuse real lewdness. Our language should indeed express a commitment to purity on our part that encourages others to purity.
A second area would be Vulgarity. As opposed to lewdness, which specifically has inappropriately suggestive sexual content, vulgarity is simply a reference to bodily parts or functions in general in ways that are considered impolite. Is this just a matter of taste? Is it really a moral issue? Yes, it is a moral issue in so far as vulgarity can be uncharitable to sensitive ears. Christians should not be up-tight, but they should remember that whenever they speak they are representing Christ. So they should hold themselves to a higher standard.
Third comes Profanity. This is language that is disrespectful to God. It is not an encouraging sign of clear thinking that we tend to conflate these first three forms of potentially unwholesome speech as if they were all the same thing. I am not recommending vulgarity, but think about it. If I as a pastor hit my thumb with a hammer and loudly requested God to consign the hammer to eternal perdition (profanity), people might be offended. But how much more offended would they be if I used the “F” word (vulgarity)? I am not suggesting that we should not be offended by such gross vulgarity, but are our values not somewhat reversed here? Biblically, taking the Lord’s name in vain is the much more serious problem. Yet we find it much easier to forgive. There is something drastically wrong with the set of sensitivities revealed by this fact.
And now we move on to forms of “rottenness” which most of us do not think of at all. The worst of these is Gossip. Nothing is more “rotten” in its effects on the Body of Christ. But as we have already dealt with it under v. 25, I will say no more about it here.
Yet another form of rotten speech is Complaining. Really? Really. It is one of God’s chief grievances against the Old-Testament Israelites, for it is not constructive but rather the evidence of a bad attitude toward God and his Providence.
Finally, we could mention Opinionated Pontification. I refer here not so much to the content as to the manner of what is said. What all these forms of rotten speech have in common is that they not only do not, they cannot build up the Body of Christ.
Having seen the Definition and the Delineation of rotten speech, we should also think for a moment about its Derivation. It comes from and is therefore evidence of a rottenness in the human heart. For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he; and out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. They may fool us for awhile, but sooner or later people will show us what they truly are in the way they use words–both the content and the manner of them. Therefore, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
II. WHAT TO DO: EDIFICATION
“Edification” is of course OIKODOME, which means “building up.” It was literally the word used for erecting buildings, for the process of construction. Because Paul presents the Church as a Temple, it is an obviously appropriate metaphor for the growth of the Body of Christ. But there is something curious about our use of the word. We almost always talk of edifying individuals, whereas Scripture almost always talks about edifying the Body. And even when Scripture does speak of edifying the individual, we usually think of encouraging him or shoring up his self worth, while Scripture is more likely speaking of enhancing his ability to serve the Lord and leading him to spiritual maturity.
In other words, we are to talk in such a way that the Church is edified, which means that the Temple to the glory of Jesus Christ consisting of believers as living stones is built. After we talk, people should be stronger, bolder, and more confident in faith, hope, and love, stronger to serve their fellow believers and witness to the truth of the Gospel. The ultimate end of our talk as of every aspect of our walking worthily is ultimately a stronger church. Everything we say should be evaluated in terms of its conduciveness to that. So it is not enough just to avoid rotten speech; everything we say should bring glory to our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are to do this “according to the need of the moment.” In other words, our speech must not only be courteous and true, it must also be appropriate. This means that the first step to edifying talk is good listening. What does this person need from us at this moment? As Prvb. 18:13 reminds us, “He who gives an answer before he hears, it is a folly and a shame to him.” Sermons, rebukes, advice, lectures, jokes, and stories are all good–at the right time. The question is, where is our focus? It is too easy for it to be on what I need to say instead of what my neighbor needs to hear.
III. WHY TO DO IT: GIVE GRACE TO THE HEARERS
This is the key to everything: Remember who you are! We are living stones in a Temple being built to the eternal glory of Jesus Christ. We are ambassadors of Christ, empowered to speak for him. Therefore, everything we do should bring glory to God and grace to others. And this is especially true of our speech.
CONCLUSION
Since in nothing do we more resemble our Creator than in our capacity for speech, and in nothing do we more clearly represent our Savior than in our speaking for him, let us therefore “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
Here endeth the lesson.
Dr. Donald T. Williams
February 24th, 2006 at 8:49 am
a bit long, but at least civil. So I thank you for that.
February 24th, 2006 at 8:55 am
In promulgating your esoteric cogitations or articulating your superficial sentimentalities and amicable philosophical or psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity.
Let your conversational communications possess a compacted conciseness, a clarified comprehensibility, a coalescent cogency and a concatenated consistency.
Eschew obfuscation and all conglomeration of flatulent garrulity, jejune babblement and asinine affectations.
Let your extemporaneous descants and unpremeditated expatiations have intelligibility and voracious vivacity without rodomontade or thrasonical bombast.
Sedulously avoid all polysyllabic profundity, pompous prolificacy and vain vapid verbosity.
If you are really interested to know, the above means: “Be brief and don’t use big words.”
February 24th, 2006 at 8:56 am
looks like her left tittee is slightly larger than the right tittee… and her hair has that “just been f*****” look, if you know what I mean…
and i do agree the color of that dress would look good on the floor.
carnal thoughts again… Dangit. when am I gonna get clean. Oh Lord Ive sinned.
Need to go wash up now.
February 24th, 2006 at 9:03 am
THE DIFFERENCE A LITTLE PUNCTUATION MAKES
Dear JP:
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we’re apart. I can be forever happy - will you let me be yours?
Gloria
Dear JP:
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being
useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we’re apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?
Yours,
Gloria
*My point is…let your words be truth but punctuated correctly or they may be misunderstood.
February 24th, 2006 at 10:22 am
envy is on the stump
“get over it!,” the crowd responds…
February 24th, 2006 at 10:45 am
Honestly, I expected to hear more about the details of the Trademark Incident, but you guys haven’t been very forthcoming. You’ve also failed to leverage this situation into more humorous posts. So far it’s just a fight we can’t really see. I think you’re missing your biggest opportunity ever to poke fun at CBC. You’re disappointing me.
Things to make fun of:
How many churches actually have a logo? Of those, how many trademark them? How much tithe money was spent on the logo? How much tithe money has been spent on the trademark? How much on the lawyers? How much salaried time was wasted by CBC employees poring over this blog looking for a reason to sue the Mortons? What about the idea that the CBC logo might actually be a poor ripoff of the NBC logo? The Kinko’s logo? The gay pride logo? (Yeah, there’s some irony for ya!) My little pony? Apple? Or anything else with a rainbow in it?
I think it was clever to beat them to punch on the trademark application, but win or lose, they can’t stop you from using it in a parody/satire. It’s done every single day in newspapers across America. Arnold Schwarznegger recently lost a suit that attempted to prevent someone from making a bobblehead doll of him as the Governator. You can buy Chuck Norris “facts” t-shirts online. You guys are safe. You’ve made your point - it’s funny. But don’t be assholes about it - then it stops being funny. Let them have their precious trademark, and keep on making fun of the logo by using it. The fact that they feel like they have to protect is just another reason to make fun of them.
Be funny!
February 24th, 2006 at 10:55 am
Well, to be honest, I haven’t heard anything regarding the logo from either the US Patent Office or CBC’s Lawyers. So there’s not much to share. Also, it’s not my logo, so the chance of my application being approved is slim to none. But it’s a real funny thought.
Lastly, if there was a way I could tie in those Chuck Norris facts with this blog I would have posted them last week.
FICM, see if you can come up with some Frank Damazio facts. That would be funny. Email them to me at citybusiness@gmail.com.
February 24th, 2006 at 12:51 pm
Oooh! A challenge! I accept! Excuse me while I think of some.
February 24th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
I think it would be amusing to have fictitious “interviews” with different members of the leadeship staff at CBC.
Nothing “bad”.. but just enough reality to make it fun. Like this, for a starter:
Interview with Doug Lassit, by Anon:
Anon: So Doug, would you care to share your “secrets of success” with us? How did you make it into the Big Leagues at CBC?
Doug: Well, to be honest, it was nothing more then a lot of hard work. I went through the school of “hard knocks” for many years, and then attended Portland Bible College for 4 years to obtain my [insert name of whatever it’s called that they give you after 4 years here]. I also have extensive teaching experience at PBC, and have co-authored several books about leadership to “the gen” generation. My success is 100% built on dedication to gogly principles, a high work ethic, and my incredible drive.
Anon: Wow. It sure sounds like you worked pretty hard for your position of leadership at CBC.
Doug: I sure have.
Anon: So ah… you’re married to Donna WAGAR, right? The daughter of Bob and Sharon, who are both highly valued members of the leadership staff at CBC?
Doug: Yes, but that has nothing to do with the fact that I went from being an outsider who people had never heard of, to an insider who got invited to all the right social events at Bible Temple, after starting to date Donna.
Anon: Ummm… ok.. so it was a coincidence?
Doug: Yes. Absolutely. It was by my own steam that I got my job. It had nothing to do with the fact that I married into the church leadership family.. er.. I mean married into the Wagar family.
Anon: Oh, I see. Ummm… so is it really true that you did not kiss Donna until you were married?
Doug: :: throws hot starbucks coffee at Anon and walks off muttering something about “that damn blog”…. ::
——————
I’d love to see interviews with other members of the church leadership.
February 24th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Yeah she’s hot…. but Peyton from One Tree Hill is wayyyy hotter.
February 26th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
I liked the fake interview. Very Funny.