“These six Jehovah hates; yea, seven are hateful to his soul: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that plots wicked plans, feet hurrying to run to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and he who causes fighting among brothers.”
Proverbs 6:16-19, MKJV
Loose lips sink ships. This phrase was coined as a slogan during WWII as part of the US Office of War Information’s attempt to limit the possibility of people inadvertently giving useful information to enemy spies. The slogan was actually ‘Loose Lips Might Sink Ships‘. This was one of several similar slogans which all came under the campaign’s basic message ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives‘. (The Phrase Finder)
Even though we are way past World War 2, I still see the damage caused because of the words spoken either carelessly, with no thought about their effect, or intentionally, with the purpose of bringing harm.
From voices who stir up mobs of people to riot, to elected officials who attempt to destroy their opponent’s character for political gain, to Christians who spread false rumors to justify their evil thoughts about others in the church, to husbands and wives speaking hurtful words to each other in an attempt to gain their own personal desires… We seem to be surrounded by so much anger and hate that I wonder how long before God says “Enough” and brings judgment on our world, starting with the church.
“For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begins at us, what shall the end be of those that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
1 Peter 4:17-18