BAD MOUTHING

Thomas Watson (1515-1584) a Catholic Bishop in England wrote:

“The scorpion carries his poison in his tail; the slanderer in his tongue.”  

It matters how we get stung. The poison from the scorpion’s tail usually only stings once. The sting of an unruly and toxic tongue can sting many times… times many times if it is not controlled.

Jesus said, “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” (Matthew 15:18-20) I find it interesting that in this heavy-duty sin list, the Lord adds lying and slander at the end.

Slander: the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations, which defame and damage another’s reputation, or a false and defamatory oral statement about a person. (Dictionary) It is what we might call simply to ‘bad-mouth’ others and constantly nag about what’s wrong with a person, program, a church, system or government…or anything else. A scorpion would be welcome here almost any day over the tongue. Negative Bad-mouthing comes out of our hearts.

“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Jesus