Terms of Endearment, pt. II

In a recent item decrying the vacuous advocacy of sexual license, the writer chose to tar the subject of his ire with the epithet ‘Slut’. I found it a bit shocking, especially since I know that the writer was capable of making his case without derogatory commentary. Such language, I feel, belittles the target and is a reduction of their humanity. Even if the detraction is warranted, using such slurs only diminishes the moral weight of the argument.

As I have in the past, with writers utilizing ‘rump ranger’, ‘butt pirate’ and ‘faggot’, I decided to gently nudge the writer in the ribs about his choice of words. This is what I got in return:

You know what? I tend to think that the Lord who called his enemies, "you brood of vipers" would understand my use of the word "slut".

That may well be, let’s look at the specific episode invoked:

Matt 12:34-

33"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.
34"You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.
35" The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.
36"But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.
37"For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

Sounds like the Gospel can cut both ways. In every instance in which Jesus spoke on such a manner to His audience, the objects of his ire were the self-righteous who spent their time passing judgment on other sinners.

While we should be zealous in proclaiming the Truth, and denouncing that which is evil, we’d be better to leave the derogatory remarks to Fred Phelps and his friends down in Kansas.