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James 3:6 "And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell."

 

So many times in the Bible we are warned of the dangers of the tongue (see, for example, Sirach 5:13-14, Proverbs 10:19, Ecclesiastes 5:6) yet, speaking for myself, I continue to get myself in trouble with it. Talking is just so easy, it is very difficult to take the time to think carefully about what we are saying in conversation, or what comes out of our mouths when we are upset or aggravated by someone or something. Our tongues get us into trouble even in "innocent" ways. Comedian Brian Regan talks about approaching a group at a party and finding out they are talking about art, so he says, for some reason, "I love art!" when he actually knows nothing about it. He instantly regrets his words, miming trying to grab them as they come out of his mouth, while members of the group begin asking him about his favorite museum, and he lies further to cover up his first lie!

 

It's easy to laugh at ourselves or put all of this down to our human frailties, but James' words remind us of how dangerous these tendencies really are to our souls. Our tongues are fire, he says, a fire set by hell! What comes out of our mouths can stain our whole body, and even set fire to "the cycle of nature"! It really is not a laughing matter, our tongues can lead us to hell! Once we say something, we are, in a way, held to it. Our words testify to us, they reveal our hearts, and they affect other people, even reality itself. If we say a hurtful thing, we have to try to make amends. If we speak a lie, we have to tell the truth. Even if what we say is just a mistake, we should try to correct ourselves as soon as we realize we were mistaken. Otherwise, our words remain out there, continuing to affect "the cycle of nature"; continuing to hurt, or lie, or be mistaken, on our behalf.

 

But we often do not want to "fix" the things we've said for fear of losing face, and our words become almost a prison for us. We try to avoid what we said and hope others will forget it; or we dig a deeper and deeper hole for ourselves as we try to stick with a lie (as Brian Regan did); or we justify ourselves, telling ourselves that we were provoked into hurting someone else, so they don't deserve an apology.

 

Even though it is not our tongue, per se, I think we can see a lot of the danger of our speech in social media. The mechanics of social media are more like talking than writing (which we tend to take more time to think through and get right). On social media, much like in conversation, we fire off opinions and replies based on emotion, or on the flimsiest of evidence, or on no evidence of all. We parrot what we hear others say without looking into their authenticity or accuracy. Much like our spoken words, once we post something, it remains there, testifying to us, unless we recant or correct it. I think this all plays a large role in the division and mean-spiritedness we see all around us. It also has led many governments to want to restrict free speech in a misguided effort to quell hurtful words or "misinformation." The answer, of course, is not for external forces to control our speech, but for us to control our own tongues.

 

The problems we are creating with our words really come from us. Fixing these problems comes down to knowing how we are to behave, including in our speech, and holding ourselves to that standard, and apologizing and correcting when we fall short. If we speak with civility and honesty, and talk less and listen more, we can begin to be the change. We also will go a long way to preserving the state of our souls.