Hajja Salesjana April June 2018

1 5 1. The Lying Tongue  – speaking false things with the intention to mislead The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy (Proverbs 12:22). 2. The Flattering Tongue -   exaggerating the good qualities of others in order to ingratiate ourselves to them, a form of lying. May the Lord silence all flattering lips and every boastful tongue  (Psalm 12:4). 3. The Proud Tongue  – There is a saying that a proud tongue comes with two closed ears. The proud tongue is boastful and overly certain of what it says. Those of proud tongue are not easily corrected and do not qualify or distinguish their remarks as they should. Those who say, ‘By our tongues we will prevail; our own lips will defend us—who can lord it over us?’  (Psalm 12:5) are condemned. 4. The Overused Tongue  – saying far too much, especially concerning things about which we know little. ‘… a fool’s voice [comes] along with a multitude of words’  (Ecclesiastes 5:2). 5. The Swift Tongue  – speaking before we should, before we even have all of the information. ‘Be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter anything before God’  (Ecclesiastes 5:1). Everyone should be swift to hear and slow to speak  (James 1:19). 6. The Backbiting Tongue  – talking about others behind their backs, the secretive injuring of a person’s good name. Calumny is outright lying about another person. Detraction is calling unnecessary attention to the faults of others so as to harm their reputations. ‘As surely as a north wind brings rain, so a gossiping tongue causes anger’ (Proverbs 25:23). 7. The Tale-bearing Tongue  – spreading unnecessary (often hurtful) information about others. Tale-bearers spread personal information about others that should not be shared. ‘He that goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets, therefore keep no company with one who opens his lips’ (Proverbs 20:19). ‘Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale- bearer among thy people’ ( Leviticus 19:16). 8. The Cursing Tongue  – wishing that harm come to others, usually that they be damned ‘He loved to pronounce a curse—may it come back on him. He found no pleasure in blessing—may it be far from him’  (Psalm 109:17). 9. The Piercing Tongue  – speaking with unnecessary harshness and severity ‘Proclaim the message; persist in it in season and out of season; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching’  (2 Timothy 4:2). ‘ Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity’ (1 Tim 5:1-2). 10. The Silent Tongue  – not speaking up when we ought to warn people of sin, call them to the Kingdom, and announce the Truth of Jesus Christ. In our age, the triumph of evil and bad behavior has been assisted by our silence as a