― Thomas Ligotti
Ligotti’s statement may or may not be true, but there is something to be said for people who live consistently.
Those who have become disillusioned by the behavior of Christians are among the most intensely disillusioned people I have
ever met. How do you initiate any kind of dialogue with someone completely convinced
he has taken the measure of your faith and found it wanting?
A Tree of Life
Solomon speaks of the peculiar repulsiveness of evil that catches you by surprise:
“A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”
Ouch. A gentle tongue is a mode of speech
that is wholesome, soothing or healing. It is speech that promotes health. Like
the other qualities Solomon praises, it is a characteristic that brings
blessing, unity, harmony, peace and joy. It is speech that has a refreshing quality;
that nourishes you rather than eats away at your conscience whenever you recall
having been party to it.
It is, in its way, a little foretaste of heaven.
Drunks, Tramps and Politicians
There’s nothing particularly shocking or disturbing about a foul mouth on a drunk slobbering at the bar. It is precisely
what you expect to find. There’s little offence taken nowadays when a
politician fabricates rubbish. It is anticipated and even applauded in some
quarters. And no man ever had his faith in humanity destroyed by the revelation
that the tramp on the street corner wasn’t initiating conversation with him out
of sheer benevolent goodwill.
In all these situations, a person’s speech may be perverse, deceitful, immoderate, untrustworthy, undependable,
duplicitous, dishonest or crooked and nobody bats an eyelash, because what they
hear is precisely what one would expect to hear, given the source.
A Gold Ring in a Pig’s Snout
But a duplicitous statement, a blatant lie, an intimation of betrayal or a bit of dirt or gossip about you from a trusted
friend, a parent, a partner or a loved one, a Bible teacher, an authority
figure — anyone for whom such a thing was previously unthinkable? That gets a
reaction, and not a reaction that is easily forgotten. As Solomon says
elsewhere, “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.”
It’s the incongruity that causes outrage, and the sense of having been betrayed. Of having trusted and been let down.
THAT’s what breaks the spirit.
Spirits Broken
Picture the messengers sent by David to the house of Uriah the Hittite tasked with bringing Bathsheba to the king’s bed. How banal and shoddy David must have suddenly appeared to those poor
servants sneaking another man’s wife into his palace — the wife of a faithful
soldier willing to risk his own life fighting David’s war for him while the
king idled at home. Such things cannot be kept private by royalty. I’m sure his
servants knew David wasn’t perfect, but this would have been a stunning
betrayal, don’t you think?
Here was the man who wrote “The Lord is my shepherd” reduced to dispensing instructions about things such as which gate to
bring Uriah’s wife in by, perhaps, and making sure anyone in the know was told
to be discreet. That conversation itself was an act of perversity, let alone
the events that followed. To those who knew David well and saw him every day, the
sheer dissonance must have been heartbreaking.
Talk about a perverse tongue that breaks the spirit. I’m sure those servants never saw David the same way again.
No one gives up on something until it turns on them, but when it does, watch out.
There is great value in living for the Lord and practicing the principles he taught. There is greater value in doing it
consistently.
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