A deadly weapon...

The recent shooting in Arizona reiterates in a horrific way what the Bible means when it talks about the danger of the tongue. Over and over, we see prophets, apostles, and Christ Himself emphasizing the sharpness of the tongue, the pain and evil that careless words can cause, and the evil that can result from the tongue if we are not careful.

I really believe that many people are pushed towards dangerous action because of angry words they hear. In most cases, this action doesn’t end in tragedy. But sometimes it does. And the "sometimes" scenarios are too horrendous to risk.

that is why we must, as God warns us, guard our tongues, for it is a "double-edged sword." Angry political rhetoric leads those who are easily influenced to think that the only way to solve a problem is to shoot someone who disagrees with them. And they think they are justified in doing this - our rhetoric has become so angry, so divisive, that it leads some to think killing is a [possible course of action.

When this becomes the case, we need to change how we speak. We need to watch the words that come out of our mouths, for our tongue is a weapon more powerful than we realize. We need to seriously think about and definitely change how we discourse with one another, especially on points of disagreement, or there will be many more scenes like the one in Arizona to come.

We as Christians should be leading the way in godly discourse, not joining in full force in the angry dialogue. Because we are passionate does not mean our words should contribute to the anger and violence. We should follow Christ’s example and communicate wisely and with cunning, but in gentleness and love. In disagreement, our words should not promote violence, but only speak truth. Following Christ’s example, we can speak boldly and powerfully without causing people to draw their swords (or their guns).Current events of the day challenge us to think more about what we are saying and how we are saying it, instead of carelessly joining in the debate.