Minced Oaths

    This was a devotion I read years ago and have always kept it because it's so powerful. After reading and studying, I'm sure you too, will have a hard time forgetting the truth found in it. :)

"A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." -Matthew 12:35-37 (KJV)

 "Hi, Karen," said Susan when she opened the door to let her friend in. "I'm glad you came over today. It's more fun to work on our Sunday school lesson when we can do it together." 

"Yeah," agreed Karen, "especially since Miss Richards wants us to look up a whole list of words in the dictionary."

Soon the girls were busy at work. "I found 'gospel,'" said Susan, pointing to the word in the dictionary. "It means 'good story' or 'good news'." Karen wrote the definition on a sheet of paper. Then Susan pointed to another word on the same page. "Look at this! Here's the word 'gosh'. I didn't know it meant that!"

"Meant what?" asked Karen, moving closer so she could read from the dictionary, too. "Wow!" she said in surprise. "It says 'gosh' is a substitute for 'God'. I didn't know that, either." 

"I've said that word lots of times, but I had no idea it meant anything," said Susan. "Seems like I've heard somewhere that it's not good to use 'golly' or 'gee,' either, but I don't remember ever hearing why not. I wonder what they mean?" The girls decided to look up those words too, and they were surprised to find that they were derived from the names of God and Jesus. "Do you think it really matters if we use those?" asked Susan. "Almost everybody does. Besides, we don't mean anything by them."

"I don't know," said Karen slowly. "My mom always reminds me that things aren't right just because everybody does. Besides, we don't mean anything by them."

Susan shook her head. "I guess not." She frowned. "Do you think we should copy this information and share it with the whole class?" 

"Well....I don't think the kids would like it," said Karen. "Anyhow, we can't change the whole world."

"No," agreed Susan, "but we can start with ourselves. I'm going to stop using those words---I sure don't want to be guilty of using God's name in the wrong way." She wrote down the information and tucked the paper in her Bible. "It won't hurt to tell the other kids about it," she added. "What they do with it is their decision." 

Do you avoid using swear words? Good. How about words like "gosh" and "golly" and "gee"? How about "darn"? These words, called "minced oaths", are euphemisms. A euphemism is a shortcut for another word. Those mentioned above are shortcuts for names of God....except for "darn", which can mean "d---". The Bible says you'll be judged by the words you say as well as by the things you do, so make sure you know what you're saying.

  Wow, wasn't that great? Now, don't take this information from just this source....I encourage you to look up these words yourself in a dictionary---You'll be surprised what you find. And once we now know the truth, we will be accountable to God (Hebrews 10:26) for what we do/say.  

Be careful; think before you speak or react a certain way (James 1:19). 

Every idle word we will give account for.