T H I N K Matthew 12:35-37

<font color="purple"> A good person produces good words from a good heart, and an evilperson produces evil words from an evil heart.

And I tell you this, that you must give an account on judgment day of every idle word you speak.

The words you say now reflect your fate then, either you will be justified by them or you will be condemned.</font>

(If we have not "spoken" our acceptance of Christ's payment on the cross, we will be condemned...)

The verse preceding this text says, "For whatever is in your heart determines what you say." Your speech mirrors the condition of your heart. Your heart represents your innermost thoughts, desires, and emotions. If your heart is filled with bitterness, your speech will be taited by it. If it is filled with the love of God, your words will also express that love.

If we take seriously Jesus' warning about being held accountable for our idle words, then we should not only weigh our words, but we shoud also examine our hearts---the source of our speech. Here is a good rule to applly before you speak: THINK.

<ul type="square">[*]T --- Is it true?
[*]H --- Is it helpful?
[*]I --- Is it inspiring?
[*]N --- Is it necessary?
[*]K --- Is it kind?[/list]

Well, you gave me food for thought as far as idle words go. Your language standards a little higher than mine because I don't see swear words as being condemable. To me, they are just a low class way of expression. Other words that are questionable to me are the "names" people are called. Those are as judgemental as calling someone a "fool" which the Bible warns us against. "Jerk" is as judgemental as "fool" but not considered a swear word. I'm just gonna have to give this a whole lot of thinking and pay more attention to the names I call people!

As for Matt 12:34, I prefer the Kings James version better and use it quite often; "for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

Yes, well I haven't ever spoken the Queen's English.

A literal translation of the Greek here would be:

The good man out of the good treasure puts forth good things, and the evil man out of the evil treasure, puts forth evil things. But I tell you that every word idle which will speak men, they will render concerning it account in [the] day of judgment; for of [by] the words of thee thou wilt be justified, and of [by] the words of thee thou wilt be condemned.

See? I still like the King James version better.

I liked your post . Although I believe in a more loving God and don't like to use the word "condemn" when I discuss him..........(please people don't bombard me with scripture regarding this)....

I do wholeheartedly agree that people need to THINK ,(I loved your wording), before they speak/post.

In a community like this we are our words, good and bad. I hope that we all can be good role models for each other by practicing your THINK method!

Thanks Sky and take care everyone!

Thanks Danialla. Yes after I posted I realized it could apply to any post/forum, not just Spirituality.

after all, we are our words..............

I wish we saw more of this by everyone. I am a member of a christian site and you will not see negative things being said to....by or in pm to another poster. No snipes...no snarky comments and in part that is due to the fact that they act on their/our faith and do not try to CONTROL what others say or feel or post or such..they leave that to God

Bless you all

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
PasDeDeux said:
I wish we saw more of this by everyone. I am a member of a christian site and you will not see negative things being said to....by or in pm to another poster. No snipes...no snarky comments and in part that is due to the fact that they act on their/our faith and do not try to CONTROL what others say or feel or post or such..they leave that to God

Bless you all

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

Good post!

Thank you all...it's just nice to all get along as God would want and I don't think we can do that if we don't just work on ourself and leave our neighbor to fix themself...or God to help them. It has much to do with that plank on one's eye....I am just trying to work on me and THAT is a huge job

I'm glad to see you around PasDeDeux FaithisAlive

((Faith)) same here and thank you