Today's Verses
Genesis 8:1-10:32
Matthew 4:12-25
Psalm 4:1-8
Proverbs 1:20-23
FYI, touchy subjects below.
Mexican (or whatever Nationality) vs Hispanic
I have a problem with people calling the Hispanic population at my school/town "Mexicans." I know adults that do this all the time, and it's never with good intentions. But what irks me the most is when my students say this about their classmates. I overheard one of my students talking about their lunch tabel and how some students, who happen to be Hispanic, who don't normally sit with them, went over and sat to eat. This student was telling their side of the story and said "then these Mexicans came and sat down at our table and I was like, 'this isn't your tabel, go somewhere else Mexicans.'" Now I doubt my student actually had the balls (not an indication of gender) to say that to the other student's faces, but the fact that they referred to those students as Mexicans twice, really pushed my buttons. I made it known to that student and the group he/she was talking to that I do not appreciate or condone that type of language when talking about their fellow students. I said something to the effect of "I know I wouldn't here you call a white person "cracker" so why would you call them Mexicans. It's offensive because you don't know their heritage and it's racial profiling. They may be offended if their family was from South America or somewhere else and you called them Mexican because they are of Hispanic descent." I think they got that I was upset because they just stared at me.
What gets me is that this group of students I had to rake over the coals are very involved in church and I know a few of them are die hard conservative Christians. I know this because they are my students and they are very articulate with their opinions, whether I want to hear them or not. I had even heard this particular student say to another student earlier in the day something to the effect of, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain," (yes, they quoted it from the King James Version) because the other student had said a cuss word. WHAT ABOUT "LOVE THY NEIGHBOR! (that doesn't mean the person that lives beside you and hate everyone else) I can't get too upset with the kids, but I can be pretty angry with the parents. WHY DO YOU TEACH YOUR CHILD TO BE SO CLOSED MINDED!!!! I know we live in the South, and most people down here probably think that "Mexican" is in the bible (offensive?) but seriously, these parents allow their child (because they themselves probably use the same language) to condemn their friends for cursing but in the same breath, allow them to say something racist and it's okay? so frustrating.
Cursing and being Christian
I used to have conversations with a friend when I was in high school about whether or not it was a sin to curse. This friend of mine was much older than me and (I didn't know it at the time) a very conservative person (if you know me, I am not conservative...at all). He was not in favor of cursing, but we could always agree that it wasn't a sin. Rather, we agreed that we should try to live our lives as God would want us to live it and how Jesus would have lived his on Earth. I would always bring up that Jesus threw tables and got angry once. So I went to the interwebs (Bushism that was then somehow turned into the word I just used) to find a less than conservative point of view on cursing. I found this great article by a guy named Paul Burkhart called "WTFWJD? on Christian Cursing." You can read the entire article here, and I would highly suggest it, but I posted my three favorite (and interesting) paragraphs below.
But most interestingly, the Bible itself seems to have a lot of cursing in it. In Philippians, Paul uses the very strong slang curse word for “feces” (our contemporary “s-word”) when referring to the “rubbish” that he counts all things as compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ as Lord. Prophets often say curse-strength statements to God’s people. At the end of Nehemiah, he gathers some sinful fathers together and “he cursed them, beat them, and pulled out their hair.” This isn’t the squeaky clean, cookie-cutter, “holiness” modern American Christianity tries to espouse.
And here we reach my ultimate point. What God calls us to and desires in us, and what is most attractive to “non-Christians, is authenticity as He changes us. A recognition of who we are as needy people that have not yet arrived. He does not call us to be and act like unbroken people in a broken world. He calls us to be the needy, messy people we are as we live in a messy, broken world. I’m realizing more and more the Church has exalted a false distinction between sacred and secular, even in language. God desires truth (honesty/authenticity) in our inmost parts, and sometimes authentically speaking may mean saying “bad” words.I couldn't have said it any better (and I agree whole heartedly)! Some words for thought:
The word “profanity” literally means “outside the temple” and the word “obscenity” literally means “off stage”. We shouldn’t use coarse language to try and be “cool” or “provocative”. Those words (“profanity” and “obscenity”) imply that there may be a place for those things – not “in the temple” or “on the public stage”, but in more private conversation and thought and discourse.
So, in closing (on the cursing thing), what is important is how we live our life. Cursing just to curse shows nothing but ignorance (come on, use your big boy words). However (you'll see this in the article), cursing is part of our language and some would view it as an "authentic" expression of language. What calls us to be more authentic than anything; the Bible. Be authentic and use those big boy words unless other, dirtier words, are needed.
Until next time, dear readers...
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