Weight of Speech.

Tuesday, Feb 17, 2009. Is faith linked to daily life? Yes, it is. In the Jesus Network today the weight of speech is under discussion. How do people talk about each other? What do we say to the people around us. How do we criticize them? What do we say?

When we study the daily newspapers, we find a lot of loose talk, dismissive, negative, putting people down. The whole business of news seems to be mainly a business of excoriating people. It's gossip in the worst possible way. It seems to be entertaining, we buy it, we want news all the time. But it does not lead us anywhere. It is just not good, it is a big mess.

How can all this change? Jesus has a sincere and far reaching agenda ever since: to lead people to a new kind of relationship. This is extremely difficult: to speak the truth without putting people down. To be clear and at the same time putting full appreciation to the various things people have achieved. Let's put it as a personal task, to change our way to talk about others in our environment - private or public! [R.P., Reading, UK]

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