Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. – Ephesians 4:29
When I was younger I wholeheartedly agreed with this verse. I thought that cursing was akin to blaspheming the Holy Spirit. I didn’t use curse words and I was shocked when people used them around me. Cursing wasn’t a part of my life when I was younger and even now I try to abide by the verse above. I try to keep unwholesome talk from coming out of my mouth but the same isn’t true for my games of Words with Friends.
Let’s just take a look at a collection of letters and their potential scores.
CUFK – 15 points
HTSI – 6 points
TCBIH – 13 points
SAS – 3 points
MDAN – 9 points
Some of those words would score a good number of points. Even some of the smaller words, with the right bonuses, wouldn’t be that bad either. Ephesians says to not let any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths but it doesn’t say anything about our thumbs. Should I allow my desire to win overpower my desire to follow Ephesians 4:29?
Probably not but I do like to win.
There’s a good chance, though, we probably wouldn’t even see the above words given the chance. If we make it a point to avoid unwholesome talk, then we’re probably not going to see unwholesome talk. Language shapes our reality which is why the Bible addresses the language and words we use. If unwholesome talk is always coming out of our mouths then there’s a good chance we’re always going to be thinking about unwholesome things – even when playing Words with Friends.
What would your Words with Friends words say about you?
I don’t think that any words are inherently unwholesome. Certain words, however, get a bad rap because they are often abused in an unwholesome way. For some reason the expletive, “Copulate you,” never caught on. If it did it would be no less (or more) unwholesome than the alternative. Conversely, when purposefully speaking of defecation, female dogs, buttocks, or donkeys the words we chose matter less then the purpose for which we are speaking of these things.
There are many people that don’t see things this way. We must therefore take care that we do not cause others to stumble by using words that they believe to be unwholesome. If one is with friends, however, there can be reasonable assurance that a few quarantined words will cause no harm if they are used non-abusively in accordance with their meaning, or in a game without context.
I think context plays a large role. I speak differently around my students than I do around my friends. Words are just words but when connected to deeper meanings, they have more power. Those deeper meanings are what we need to be aware of.
Very true. I should clarify that being jokingly abusive is still abusive (and thus unwholesome). I must confess that I have been on both sides of many situations where this kind of joking became much less funny and much more painful very fast.