Title: Forming Patterns (24)
Series: Ephesians
Text: Ephesians 4:29-32
Author: Stephen Whitney
The story is told that author Edgar Allen Poe, the famous writer of fiction stories such as: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, The Pit and the Pendulum, died in 1849 in a drunken stupor while lying in a Baltimore gutter. But a new look at the medical evidence from his last days shows that the writer was not drunk, but suffering from rabies. Furthermore, he did not die on the street, but in a hospital.
So how did the false story get started? It may have been concocted by Poe's doctor who was a strong advocate against drinking. He might have wanted to turn the writer's death into a propaganda lesson about the evils of alcoholism.
Whatever Edgar Allen Poe's personal shortcomings were, it appears that his reputation has suffered from more than a century of slander. It's a classic case. Like most slander, the story contains a kernel of truth. Poe was seen in a bar acting strangely shortly before his death, and he did drink occasionally. But these facts did not contribute to his death. Nonetheless, the slanderous account of his death has endured for over one hundred years.
Slander has no purpose but to tear down the character and reputation of another person. It is often built on just enough truth to make it believable, especially to those who like gossip.
Chuck Swindoll calls corrupt speech "verbal pollution," passed around by grumblers, complainers, and criticizers.
He wrote, "The poison of pessimism creates an atmosphere of wholesale negativism where nothing but the bad side of everything is emphasized."
Paul says that one thing believers need to change from their past is the way they now talk to others. Their conversation should be uplift others instead of putting them down.
UPLIFTING SPEECH :29-30
Negative Command :29a
Man has not only invented ways of doing evil, he has also invented ways of saying things wh ...
Series: Ephesians
Text: Ephesians 4:29-32
Author: Stephen Whitney
The story is told that author Edgar Allen Poe, the famous writer of fiction stories such as: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, The Pit and the Pendulum, died in 1849 in a drunken stupor while lying in a Baltimore gutter. But a new look at the medical evidence from his last days shows that the writer was not drunk, but suffering from rabies. Furthermore, he did not die on the street, but in a hospital.
So how did the false story get started? It may have been concocted by Poe's doctor who was a strong advocate against drinking. He might have wanted to turn the writer's death into a propaganda lesson about the evils of alcoholism.
Whatever Edgar Allen Poe's personal shortcomings were, it appears that his reputation has suffered from more than a century of slander. It's a classic case. Like most slander, the story contains a kernel of truth. Poe was seen in a bar acting strangely shortly before his death, and he did drink occasionally. But these facts did not contribute to his death. Nonetheless, the slanderous account of his death has endured for over one hundred years.
Slander has no purpose but to tear down the character and reputation of another person. It is often built on just enough truth to make it believable, especially to those who like gossip.
Chuck Swindoll calls corrupt speech "verbal pollution," passed around by grumblers, complainers, and criticizers.
He wrote, "The poison of pessimism creates an atmosphere of wholesale negativism where nothing but the bad side of everything is emphasized."
Paul says that one thing believers need to change from their past is the way they now talk to others. Their conversation should be uplift others instead of putting them down.
UPLIFTING SPEECH :29-30
Negative Command :29a
Man has not only invented ways of doing evil, he has also invented ways of saying things wh ...
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