Coarse Joking: Okay, or Not So Okay?
I discovered a new treasure in the Bible recently--clean talk. St. Paul in Ephesians condemns not only obscenities but also "coarse joking" (chapter 5:4 NIV version). Just as interesting is the reason why: because they, along with foolish talk, are "out of place."
As a wordsmith, I choose carefully each word I write or speak. Coarse jokes, to my mind, paint a rather ugly picture of those things that go into making up "the good life." They generally poke fun at private body parts, which despite our attitudes are beautiful because they are functioning parts of the bodies God created for us. Is it any surprise Adam and Eve in the Bible's creation story did not worry about covering their bodies until after they had disobeyed God and sinned?
Do coarse jokes harm anyone? Probably not, but they surely do diminish us because they smudge and distort clean and mentally healthy living. Why play in mud when clean sand is so much nicer? So, dear readers, my message for today is this:
Choose well. Choose God, choose the good way of life he shows us, and choose those words that will support it.
For inspiration, learning, love, and laughter, choose...
Margaret
As a wordsmith, I choose carefully each word I write or speak. Coarse jokes, to my mind, paint a rather ugly picture of those things that go into making up "the good life." They generally poke fun at private body parts, which despite our attitudes are beautiful because they are functioning parts of the bodies God created for us. Is it any surprise Adam and Eve in the Bible's creation story did not worry about covering their bodies until after they had disobeyed God and sinned?
Do coarse jokes harm anyone? Probably not, but they surely do diminish us because they smudge and distort clean and mentally healthy living. Why play in mud when clean sand is so much nicer? So, dear readers, my message for today is this:
Choose well. Choose God, choose the good way of life he shows us, and choose those words that will support it.
For inspiration, learning, love, and laughter, choose...
Margaret
