By Neil Earle
The media frenzy about the Florida pastor who proposed to burn 200 Korans seemed almost to epitomize the summer of 2010.
It’s not a season many of us might care to relive soon.
“The news is just awful,” one of my kindly deacons confessed to me back in June around the coffee pot. He was referring mainly to the ongoing crisis in the Gulf States attached to the BP oil rig and the ongoing depressing images of the effluence gushing out at will, an “underwater oil volcano” as someone called it. Before that we were treated on a cable network to a short but senseless hoo-haw over a Black Panther agitator in Philadelphia against whom charges had been dropped by the Bush Administration two years before! “What’s up with that?” as a Saturday Night Live comic intones. Then came the flap about the new immigration law in Arizona and the visceral debate back and forth with plenty of invective hurled by both sides. This, you remember, was only chased off the headlines by the BP disaster. More grist for the media mill.
Finally the fiasco in Florida.
It was the last of these that recalled for me the New Testament’s pithy quote in James 3:5, “Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.” It’s hard to know who to be more upset about – the man with a church of fifty members or the media for turning the story into yet another mindless spectacle. Imagine 50 people having the power to give a black eye to 310,000,000.
All this made me think of the Book of Proverbs and its almost countless warnings against the misuse of the tongue and how to negotiate through its misuses – both ours and others. Proverbs 4:7 says “wisdom is the principal thing” and that is so true when it comes to the machinations among us human beings. Wisdom here is often translated from the Hebrew "Hokma” and it means ultimately the kind of wisdom that only God can give, the special insight into life circumstances from the One who founded the earth, the sea and the sky.
Let’s start in Proverbs 10.
Proverbs 10:1 – “The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry.” Is this relevant to our concerns in 21st Century Canada and America? I’ll say. Historians and pundits alike know that in times of economic hardship it is then when immigrants begin to come under attack. “They’re taking our jibs” goes the cry and most fair-minded assessment say it is just the opposite – a growing pool of labor actually helps grow the economy. Three Presidents – Clinton, Bush and Obama – have said the same thing, that newcomers take jobs average Americans no longer want to do. And yet this Scripture points to Jesus’ great mandate in the Sermon on the Mount – “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear…Therefore do not worry about tomorrow.” The force of the “do not” here in the original Greek is the same as what we read in the sign “Don’t even think about parking here,” yet that kind of botheration is exactly what we all do – whether you’re a young warehouse worker just about to get married who is laid off or people my age (and sometimes me) worrying about retirement and the Social Security lockbox.
We all do it. Yet Jesus it most emphatic that we should not. Instead he counsels: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” There is a great antidote against the kind of contrived panic that makes us vulnerable to the hue and cry various figures in politics and pundit land use to keep us all stirred up so we’ll vote for them or boost their ratings. Don’t fall for it. Times of stress and strain are times when we need to keep a clear head.
Proverbs 10:6 follows closely on this – “Violence covers the mouth of the wicked.” There’s a sad saying in journalism: “If it bleeds it leads.” I’m afraid a certain amount of this emotional shock jockery is part of the price we pay for free speech. But if your favorite TV channel is getting you continually agitated “for one against the other” (1 Corinthians 4:6), try for a less glandular way to get the news – a newspaper can’t holler at you, a magazine can’t easily assail you so obviously and a well-researched book is still the best way to learn about something in depth. So stay balanced in your approach to the news. Remember, good people like to bring good news.
Proverbs 10:7 – the wise in heart accept commands. This tells us that we should be listening more than speaking anyway. The New Testament equivalent of Proverbs is the Book of James and he advises: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness life that God desires.” Some people love to push our hot buttons. One of our tasks in living a meaningful responsible life is to identify such people and avoid them. This is not easy in the day of 24/7 cable but is peace of mind worth it?
Proverbs 10:11 says “The mouth of the righteous is a well of life.” There’s the mouth again. This refers to the good usage of the tongue which ministers, politicians, news-anchors should highly prize. A well of life refers to depth. Look for programs or articles which reflect foreign correspondents and multiple views of subjects. Strive to brighten someone else’s day by the way we use our own tongue. Become known as the brightener upper of someone’s day, not the bad news bearer. This sounds oh so simple but such practices will make you a treasure to be around. This is actually one of the Bible’s recipes for a long and happy life. 1 Peter 3:10 says, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.”
Wow! Who would have thought the Bible would have put such stress on the power of the tongue. But one reason we are in such turmoil before this election season is because our tongues have run wild with very little respect for opposing arguments or other people who hold them. You and I don’t have to play that tired old game.
Proverbs 10:7 had said “the memory of the righteous will be a blessing.” What do you think of when you hear the name Benedict Arnold? What comes to mind when you hear the name Abraham Lincoln? See how it works? These are living principles in the Book of Proverbs and fearsome when violated. The orator at Gettysburg Cemetery in 1863 spoke two hours; Lincoln achieved immortality in a 2-3 minute speech. Proverbs 10:21 says “the lips of the righteous feed many.” There’s that incentive to positive use of the tongue again – it’s not all corrective in Proverbs though prolonged study of this book might send us all to our prayer closet with a sense of remorse for the things we too often say and do.
Proverbs 10:19 say “when words are many sin is not absent.” See I’ve dabbled in television a bit and I know that nothing eats up material quicker than TV or radio. It’s hard to fill a three hour slot on the airwaves so it’s easier to resort to questionable material or go on the attack. Johnny Carson was wise when he fought against going to 90 minutes on The Tonight Show. He was only lured out of retirement by a 60 minute stint. Lots of talking allows for lots of errors. No fact-checker in the world can keep up with some of the gratuitous exaggeration flooding over the air waves and blogs these days. “Blog” – ugh! What a demeaning title. “The Drudge Report, “Savage Nation,” “Jerry Springer” – these almost give away their spiritual orientation in their titles.
Finally, Proverbs 10:20, “The Tongue of the righteous is choice silver.” God not only corrects us in our misuse of the tongue such as seen in this burning the Koran spectacle but he also urges us to build people up rather than tear them down. Jesus gave a fearsome warning that most talk show hosts might laugh their heads off about I suspect but one day we all have to answer for our misuse of the power of the tongue. Jesus could be quite pointed. He warned: “I tell you that men will have to give account in the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37).
Here’s the problem with all this. Morris Dees, whose legal agency almost bankrupted the KKK, warned the Washington Press Club that “far-out statements by leading media figures (‘FEMA is setting up concentration camps’) fuel the frustration and rage that help trigger violent acts.” After his arrest Timothy McVeigh, who killed almost 168 people in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1994, was heard to say something like: “Doesn’t everybody hate the federal government?”
See how it works?
Toxic talk: There’s no place for it in the body of Christ or in our own homes or in our own lives. God help us to be ambassadors of peace instead.
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Addendum: Some good uses of the Tongue in 2010: