See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, and Part 8. Secondary Considerations: Romans 14:16 I began this series with the intention of sticking to Scripture for my main defense. That’s because Scripture is sufficient for every area of life (2 Peter 1:3)—I truly believe that. If something is just my opinion, I could be wrong. But God is never wrong. So what He says must be our foundation—our absolute—for all behavior. Though I’ve listed various Scriptures during our discussion, I recently realized I had left out a few key verses, and I would be remiss not to mention the important principles they teach in the context of our discussion. Let’s take a look at the first one. “So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil” (Rom. 14:16 ESV). As a theologian friend recently reminded me, “Context is king.” So let’s look at…
See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, and Part 8. What Is Unclean Speech? This past August, Kaitlin Nootbaar, a high school valedictorian in Oklahoma, realized she’d made a big mistake. During her May graduation speech, she’d used a curse word inspired by one of the Twilight movies. Now, because of this infraction, the school was withholding her diploma. According to the high school superintendent, Kaitlin had “used language that was inappropriate for a graduation exercise.” Why do I bring up this surprising story? Because it shows that even the world sometimes reveals a collective conscience, at least when it comes to bad language in certain contexts. I’ve observed this in my own experience. During my brief stint at FedEx in 2006, I heard language that would curl your hair. But once fellow employees learned I’d worked at a Bible college for a decade, they cleaned up their act in a…
See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, and Part 8. The Relativism of Words Some may read my heading and wonder, Huh? Relativism? I thought this guy was going to argue against bad language using absolutes. Yes, absolutes are certainly what drive my engine in this discussion, but I would be remiss not to acknowledge that words can be relative in certain contexts. So before I get to the meat, let’s get certain distractions out of the way. First, what do I mean by “relativism in words”? When weighing the use of certain words, we must remember that their meaning and appropriateness can vary based on culture, time, and social context. Let me illustrate. Context of Culture My mom was born in Canada, and I remember my family visiting relatives in Ontario when I was a child. I recall being puzzled when a great-aunt (speaking with a strong English accent) referred…
I’ve edited more novels this year than ever before. What I’ve observed (without pointing fingers at anyone in particular) is that a lot of inexperienced story writers make the same mistakes. One area of particular challenge is point of view. What is it? The term “point of view” pertains to the filter through which readers experience any particular scene in a story. Point of view occurs through the filter of the five senses and includes thoughts, memories, and really anything that can go on in a character’s head. One common rule of fiction writing today (which definitely wasn’t true one hundred years ago) is that point of view must remain consistent from the beginning of a scene (a slice of action in a story) to its end. What’s wrong with it? Readers want to experience story while “in the skin” not of the author but of one story character per scene…
