Untamed
mood: 
cranky
cranky—James 3:3-12
Though it's not explicitly Law, the old maxim "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" is at the very least a good idea. I'm struggling with it. Logic plays a part in holding me back— if I respond to careless speech with equally careless speech, everyone loses.
Why are we so careless with what we say? LiveJournal is one of the more ironic places to pose the question, as for many of us this is our journal, where we can throw out unvarnished thoughts and emotionally vomit until we feel better or don't care to type any longer. Forums like this are and should be "let the reader beware" zones, as I doubt anyone is forced to read a single word at pain of death. So I'm not sure my thoughts and frustrations are necessarily applicable to LJ; it's the bigger picture I'm wrestling with.
All that said, why? Don't we think? Most of us seem to just let loose, satisfied that we know what we mean and that should be enough. Communication is truly a lost art, as so many functionally believe the full responsibility for understanding their blather rests with the other party (if they care at all). But really, if all that matters is that I (the speaker) understand, why speak at all? Instead we huff and puff, and everywhere else I'm tempted to go with the analogy is crude and inappropriate.
Lots to do today and the clock is ticking. Just needed to vent my spleen a bit before I began madly duct taping people's mouths closed and inviting the entire world to have a tall, cold glass of Shut The Hell Up.
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Messed-up world, messed-up people.
Even though it's a journal and I treat it like one (I don't write for the reader in mind), I worry about what effect it has. I swear sometimes, I rant. blah blah.
It feels good to do. But is it ultimately good?
Probably not. I'm thinking about going private for a while until I sort that out in my head.
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Win in the End
Re: Win in the End
You are now added to my friends list. You are under no obligation to return the gesture, I just thought you might want to know ;)
Re: Win in the End
I miss Busey. Quite the little nutty-nut.
I think the truth is sometimes unpleasant but just because someone doesn't want to hear it, doesn't mean they don't need to and it doesn't mean you're not being 'nice' although you may sound unkind.
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It's fascinating to see how few opinions Jesus spouted. It really wasn't His thing, and He usually had to be pressed by others to give one at all. Now listen to the rest of us— it's practically all we do. I find that if I sit in a coffee shop and listen, the predominant tone of most of the conversations is righteous indigantion (Maybe I'm at the wrong coffee shop? Try it out...). These are the kinds of things which lead me to conclude many of us should consider just hushing up more often.
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But Scripture specifically calls us to be gentle and respectful with Truth, always realizing that we too could be tempted to do the same thing we are speaking up about.
And with regard to how Jesus communicated, His focus with communication seemed to be more creative than confrontive. There is the perhaps, 1% where he calls people out using the adjectives you referred to, but I wonder if he meant those to be applied so broadly, given how few of those types of exchanges are mentioned.
Instead, we have example after example where He often indirect, speaking in parables and story-telling. It seemed that the goal of his message was to be effective - not forceful.
I read in your journal where you couldn't disagree more with the 'say something nice or don't say anything at all' principle, and I suppose that I couldn't disagree more with your disagreement. If we put ourselves on the receiving end of behavior, it seems pretty safe to say that collectively, most of us respond a bit better to kindness rather than not.
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Of course, asking Him and listening to the Spirit is an even better way to go. Most of us struggle with holding our words for that long, which should tell us something.