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“Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” James 3:13
In the classic Christmas movie, “A Christmas Story”, the father is known for his incessant cursing of everything from the worn out furnace to the neighbor’s dogs. The four letter words are mumbled so as to keep the movie “kid friendly”. The narrator comments that the father’s curse words are still out there in space somewhere or words to that effect.
According to the Biblical writer James, one who is wise and intelligent chooses to express himself in ways that don’t offend but do promote a general tone of courtesy, civility, and integrity. Note that James said one who is “wise and intelligent”. One can be intelligent and have a great deal of knowledge about a myriad amount of subjects, but not possess a great deal of wisdom, while there are some who are very wise, yet perhaps do not have the educational background that others have. It has been said by some that wisdom is knowing how to properly use the knowledge that we possess. I heard recently on a Christian radio program a really simple but profound explanation of the difference between knowledge and wisdom: “Knowledge is being aware that a tomato is classified as a fruit and not a vegetable; wisdom is knowing not to put a tomato in a fruit salad!”
To express oneself in vulgarity shows a lack of judgment and a lack of developing a good vocabulary. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus said that what comes out of your mouth is what is really in your heart. He went on to say “that every idle” (worthless, empty) “word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment”. I guess one could say that our idle and unnecessary expletives are circling around out there in space with those of Ralphie’s father just awaiting the day of reckoning.