Sunday, December 28, 2014

Wise Behavior is Prudent!

Become a Prude - You Will be Glad You Did

Are You a Prude? Well, I Should Hope So!

Does bad language and graphic movie scenes cause you to cringe, turn your head away, turn off the television, and even tell people to go wash their mouth out with soap? Are you sick of people living like animals outside the bounds of marriage, and acting like they are doing nothing wrong? Are you sick of immoral and unethical business practices being excused or even condoned because of the profit such practices generate? Then you might be a prude!

If you are a prude, then thank the Lord. Being a prude is a very good thing. If you love the things of God, and seek to do His will above all else, then you very likely are a prude who engages in prudent behavior! Yipeen and good for you!

Dictionary.reference.com gives this as the history of the word prude.
Word History: Being called a prude is rarely considered a compliment, but if we dig into the history of the word prude, we find that it has a noble past. The change for the worse took place in French. French prude first had a good sense, "wise woman," but apparently a woman could be too wise or, in the eyes of some, too observant of decorum and propriety. Thus prude took on the sense in French that was brought into English along with the word, first recorded in 1704. The French word prude was a shortened form of prude femme (earlier in Old French prode femme), a word modeled on earlier preudomme, "a man of experience and integrity." The second part of this word is, of course, homme, "man." Old French prod, meaning "wise, prudent," is from Vulgar Latin prōdis with the same sense. Prōdis in turn comes from Late Latin prōde, "advantageous," derived from the verb prōdesse, "to be good." Despite this history filled with usefulness, profit, wisdom, and integrity, prude has become a term of reproach.

In short, the word 'prude' is from ‘prudent’. The world prudent can be used like this.
It is prudent to study before a test.
It is prudent to spend cautiously.
It is prudent to eat a balanced diet and exercise.
It is prudent to invest wisely.
It is prudent to watch what you say because someone might be listening!

The word gains a negative meaning when you say something like:
It is not prudent to have babies before you get married. Never mind the problems with raising children that single parents have. Never mind the economic hardships that one parent usually causes a family. You cannot call this imprudent or you might hurt someone’s feelings.
Or,
It is not prudent to avoid religious training for children because this will make it much harder for them to come to an understanding of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
It is not prudent to accept immoral behavior as ok just because ‘that is the way the world is now’, or some other equally ridiculous reason.

Currently the Vice President of the United States has demonstrated his gutter mouth by using the f-word in public.
People are defending him, saying that it was just an adult word in an adult situation. Then they use the overworked phrase, ‘we have more important things to worry about’.
No we don’t. There is a huge difference between ‘adult language’ and ‘gutter language’.
The f-word is so overused that a true moron could use the word in its proper context. Yet, the VP of the USA can come up with nothing better to say than that?

Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

A filthy mouth is a clue that the speaker has a filthy heart.
Immoral behavior gives us a clue that immorality is ruling the heart.

Business practices that put prophet above righteous behavior give us a clue that the business owner(s) love money more than they love God. They have gone after the error of Balaam, who encouraged the people in sin in order to gain money.

My mother in law says, ‘what’s in the well comes up in the bucket.’
What is in your heart is reflected in
what you say,
what you do in any situation,
how you treat others,
how accepting you are of immoral behavior – no matter how socially acceptable,
and everything that you do or say.

Prudish behavior is not the judgmental garbage that is portrayed in the media. To be a prude, or to be prudent, is to act wisely in all situations. That begins with being faithful to do the things Christ says to do; and, THAT begins with a cleaning the garbage out of your heart.

The prude and the vile person cannot coincide peacefully in a heart that is clean.