Monday, November 2, 2009

Washing their mouths out with soap



When I was little, the only bad words that I knew about were "dumb," "stupid," "shut-up," "darn" and "heck".  Hearing someone say any of these words were enough for me to gasp, and urgently whisper to my mother, "She said a bad word!"  Once when a boy in 4th grade thought he would educate me in the REAL bad words, and I laughed at the silly sounds he made.  I told him that my mom had taught me all the bad words there were and if there were other ones, she surely would have told me!

Thank goodness my mom left me in a world of innocence for as long as she could when it came to cursing, and until today I feel a bit guilty using any of those five originally "forbidden" words and rarely do, if at all.  But life today is different, even in Christian homes.  TV permits a lot of swearing and filthy language, even children's films boost their ratings to PG by adding a few expletives, and parents in general feel that keeping their kid's mouths clean is a losing battle, so let them say what they want.  Parents can't resist letting one slip every now and then, so why should they enforce something they can't even follow?

What's wrong with filthy language, and who says it's filthy in the first place?  The Bible says there should be no obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, (Eph 5:4) and that an immoral person is the same as an idolater, meaning they are worshipping what is evil.  That's pretty heavy stuff considering how common these words have become.  That means that if we allow ourselves, and our children to speak in this manner, we are opening them up to a very evil spiritual world.

Telling your kids not to say bad words just because they are bad or rude, is not enough.  Parents first have to understand how destructive evil speech can be to their entire home.  There is a spirit behind all we say and confess, and we have to be the guardians of that entryway.

I have a no-tolerance policy for my kids when it comes to profanity, and I know they will never hear me use it myself.  When they first heard the words on television as toddlers and repeated them, I strongly told them that they were unacceptable and they would be spanked (I know, call CPS...) if they ever repeated them again.  Of course they had to test the boundaries and did repeat them and got a swift and painful reminder that they were NEVER to say that!  It didn't take long before the whole issue was settled, and I never had a problem with them again.

I can just hear the complaints, "You're so mean!"  If you call aggressively protecting my family from a spirit of rebelliousness, hatred and curses as being mean, then I guess I am - mean against spiritual forces that would love to tear us apart.  There are many ways that evil can infiltrate our homes and lives, and being vigilant in this area, is just one way to block the harm it wants to do.

Curses are not just medieval superstition, but are making their way into families every day, by the choices we make to ignore God's Word.  We can so easily replace them with encouraging, positive words, but that's another blog post!

17 comments:

Unknown said...

A good spanking never did ME any harm, even when I hadn't even done anything wrong! :-) It's a serious issue and needs to be dealt with seriously.

Unknown said...

I agree with Mrs. Chris. I'm actually very greatful for my mother disciplining me with a firm hand and a leather belt. It taught me about consequence before I could actually mentally understand what it meant. As a child, consequence meant a good spanking, and I absolutely did not enjoy it. Now, looking back, I learned from that experience to consider every possible consequence before making a choice.

jessica a said...

i think you should have like little meetings with us teenage moms : ) we havent been in mother hood for long, and we just left the rebelious stage, your blogs are very understandable,and helpful. now i know how to deal with alan if he wants to come say the forbidden words.

Lily Torneros said...

I always did ask myself what made bad words, actual, "bad words." Thanks to your blog I now understand. I used to curse A LOT. And I only did it to be "cool," but when I did curse, I always had this feeling inside that just began to make me angry and curse even more. But thanks to God I have eliminated that bad habit from my life and feel way better to know not to express myself throughthos words.

Evelyn Higginbotham said...

Thanks for the comments girls!

Sandra Tiseira said...

Sometimes I think if my mom had given me some spanking the would of helped. But thank God I found him and I destroyed all that out of my life.

Marites,Manila,Philippines said...

hi mrs.Evelyn!
thanks for this blog it's really a helpful message,i remember when i was a child i used to say a really bad word,but i realized that was wrong,
i'm really thankful for this blog it helps me a lot to grow more and learn more..

thanks a lot Mrs.Evelyn!

Marites,Manila,Philippines

lovely said...

Hi Mrs Evelyn,
Its really helpful,Thank you so much for this blog,
I am very thankful to God because He give a opportunity to find him..I am very very Blessed coz i found him..

lovely rose
Manila Philippines

PHA,ELA JOY--UCKG PHILIPPINES said...

hellow mrs. evelyn,
i absolutely agree on this blog..
im so thankful to GOD that HE gave me the chance to change what is wrong to me..(attitudes)
it really helps me a lot..
thank you so much,,
GODBLESS..
__PHAMELA JOY--UCKG PHILIPPINES

PHAMELA JOY--UCKG PHILIPPINES said...

hellow mrs. evelyn,
i absolutely agree on this blog..
im so thankful to GOD that HE gave me the chance to change what is wrong to me..(attitudes)
it really helps me a lot..
thank you so much,,
GODBLESS..
__PHAMELA JOY--UCKG PHILIPPINES

berlita said...

Hi Mrs. Evelyn,

Thank you for this blog, I realize that my mother discipline me in a good way because when I heard those bad word and I adopt and my mother heard it She quickly explain to me that it is bad. I thank god that I grow up in a good family.

Princess Erika - Philippines said...

Hi Mrs. Evelyn,

Thank you so muxh for sharing this to us Ma'am! It is very helpful to us.

I used to say so many bad words before that I didn't know that it was wrong coz nobody explain to me. But I am so thankful to GOD coz HE love me so much that HE never allow me to go too deep in the trap of the devil. GOD got me from darkness.
HE used someone to explain to me that all the bad words that I said was totally wrong! So wrong!
Thank you JESUS!

Maria Theresa said...

Mrs. Evelyn,
I could say that sometimes when i was a child i remember that i speak some words that are bad and my mother get angry with me and told me that i should not be saying those words because its not good to hear. She even said that if she hear that word again she will slap my face and my mouth. From what she said i get afraid and learned until today that hearing and saying those words is not really good.
And again reading your blog reminds me of everything that happened to me before. It's a good reminder again. Thank you Mrs. Evelyn.

jhoy said...

Hi.Mrs.Evelyn
thank you Jesus,because He gave me a mother who will discipline in a good way,because she is very strict to us.,but before sometimes I'm not follow to her,i always say a very bad word in my friend and my sister..and i realize everything when i came in the Church..Thank you Jesus because He change me..
This post is very true..

thank you because i learn a lot..

GODBLESS YOU ABUNDANTLY..

JHOY FROM PHILIPPINES

Liza said...

Hi Mrs. Evelyn!

This posts was very interesting for the whole family. I really agree that parents first have to understand how destructive evil speech can be to their entire home. There is a spirit behind all the parents say and confess, and the parents need to be the guardians of that entryway.

I really learn in this posts! thank you!

Diana said...

Hi mrs. evelyn.

I just want to thank you for this message because it's true that nowadays those words that we aren't to say became so used and normal in many people sometimes even if it's just a joke people send curse to other people, we should always watch in every words that comes out from our mouth.. as the bible says.. that in our mouth comes out life or death. Recently here in our country a son of one famous actor killed himself just because his girlfriend fight him, and it so strange because they were just fighting over the phone, the devil find a way to destroy this life in just words.


so let's all be vigilant on this matter.

God bless us all

Diana from philippines

RED said...

Good Day Mrs. Evelyn.

I agree with you, Ma'am. It is really true that we should take good care of the things that comes out to our mouth. We have the power to bless and curse. To bring life and death. So as a children of God, what should come from us is only the things that brings life to others.
Thanks Mrs. Evelyn.

From: Aica, Manila-Philippines