In the U.S., there is a legal case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court on the First Amendment right of free speech. I don’t know many details–but it has something to do with a group of people who say they are Christians who are upset with something, so they chose to generate publicity for their cause by protesting outside funerals of U.S. soldiers who had been killed in Iraq or Afganistan. The legal case involves the group’s first amendment right of speech versus the families’ fourth amendment right to privacy.
I’m not commenting on that–exactly. But I’d like to take a teaching from my new best friend, James. I think he would agree with me (although they didn’t have many of these legal “rights” in his day) that just because you have the right to do something doesn’t mean you should do it. The word “responsibility” creeps in here. You need to combine doing things with responsibility. I guess when we protested for civil rights and against the war in VietNam in the 60s, we didn’t dream to what extent that idea would spread. Now we have protests arranged mostly to generate publicity all over the place. (Another good reason to turn off TV news.)
James told us to watch our tongues, because that is one organ that can surely send us to hell. He also said just after his teaching on the tongue that wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
I think that list is one we should compare ourselves to. When is our speech not up to God’s standards of wisdom? How can we bring ourselves back to these attributes? Remember this list. Watch for when you stray. Then revisit the list and bring yourself back into God’s way.
Tags: Christianity, Ethics, lifestyle, Wisdom
Faith Venture 
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