BC #15- Bible Verse

Some of you recall my blog about my religious views in which I stated that I am agnostic. I am very content with that, but have been exploring other religions that I am not familiar with. I'm branching out of Christianity and looking at what else is out there. Some influences are from friends, old and new, that have invited me to certain events in which I may have never sought out on my own. However, this blog is not about my current religious journey.

When I was eight years old, my sister and I went to church with our best friend, who lived across the street from us at the time. We attended Sunday school and the morning service at that amazingly gorgeous Presbyterian Church at 95th and Wornall. I received a Bible that year, which I guess is a rite of passage for kids that age. Anyway, in tradition of helping young children learn Bible verses, we did several games and activities. My sister got a cassette tape (a note: this was in the early 90's when cassettes were still actively sold in stores) of songs with a few random verses. There was one that stuck out to me, and I still think of it occasionally.



** Retrieves the Bible that was given to me 19 years ago (New International Version, published in 1984) **

Psalm 34:13 "Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies"


*** Retrieves my Dad's/Grandparents Bible (King James Version, published in 1976), sitting next to mine on my bookshelf ***

Psalm 34:13 "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile."



Okay, I had to do that... show the same verse from two different Bibles. One of my friends pointed out in my religion blog about how her church uses the King James version because it's supposedly the most accurate translation in print. I can believe that but I also know how people can alter words when going to print, which to me is a major flaw in the belief system. I'm getting off subject again...

This Bible verse is pretty self explanatory. Keep yourself from telling lies. It sounds pretty simple to do and for young children, it is an excellent example of a lesson in life. As I grew older and experience life outside my own little world, I have given this particular verse a lot of thought. I started questioning this verse.

I've told lies before (come on, we all have), but many of those lies were out of protection or to prevent someone from feeling hurt when it wasn't necessary. For example, if someone was showing off that they've lost weight but I can't notice anything different, I will say that they look amazing and are doing awesome. I do that to help give that person a boost and to keep their motivation up. Other than a random tiny lie like this one, I would rather be brutally honest and truthful.