The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Tweet Others the Way You Want to be Tweeted

Episode Date: June 28, 2019

If social media existed when the Scriptures were written, what would they say about it? Jeff revises verses from the Bible about speech to answer this question. Snippet from the Show “Rash tweets are like sword thrusts, but the tweet of the wise brings healing.” Check out today's shownotes (including every scripture verse from this episode) at ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow or email us at [e-mail]

You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show, episode 122. Tweet Others the way you want to be tweeted. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavans. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven Show.

Hey, welcome to the show. Glad you could join me again. And as always, we're talking about. talking about things that really relate to being a disciple of Jesus and walking with the Lord, what it means to put our faith into practice. And I do hope that you are reading the word of God. By the way, as I speak, at this moment, the Great Adventure Catholic Bible is number one on Amazon. Yay, I love it. It's been for several days now. That's not just Catholic Bibles, but that is Protestant Bibles and Catholic Bibles.

It's number one in the world. And a big shout out to Ascension Press for all the work they've done and putting that together. I'm so thrilled with this Bible, and I think it says something. You know, being number one right now, and it fluctuates, granted, but being number one right now means a couple things. It means number one that Catholics are buying Bibles, I believe, as well as Protestants. They're looking for good Bibles that teach you how to read. the Bible, which the great adventure has baked right into it. But an important point is that Catholics

are studying the Bible in record numbers now, and this is very, very exciting what is happening. And the fact that this is happening is a great comfort to me and a great joy to me to know how many people are buying Bibles, underlining, writing notes, doing Lexio-Devina, putting on Bible studies in their parish. All of this is so very, very exciting. So you can go to Amazon or you can go to ascensionpress.com and get your Bible. It has a beautiful alpha leather blue cover. And on the side of the Bible, it actually is color-coded. So you know in the 14 narrative books, where you're at all times, what period you're in, you'll never get lost. And we teach you in there how to interpret the Bible and how to pray the Bible. It's just a great

thing. So I'm really excited about that. It's God's Word. It's God's Word to you. It's God's word to me. And God's Word is very important because God's word conveys not only who he is, but his plan, you know, his heart and his plan. So words are very important, and it's words that God chose to disclose himself. That's the word of God that we study. And that's the word. And that's what we're talking about today is we're talking about the words that we use, specifically social media, and I'm just narrowing it down for the fun of it so that you understand. It's tweeting, and the name of the show is tweet others the way you want to be tweeted. And that's kind of the golden rule, isn't it?

But as I go onto social media, and I look at what Catholics are tweeting these days, I got to tell you, it's discouraging at times to see what. people are tweeting about and who they're tweeting about and the attitude in which they tweet. And I can't help but think that they wouldn't want to be tweeted the way they're tweeting other people. And I'm just shouting out today kind of a call to, hey, we got to watch what we say in social media, the way we treat each other, even the way we treat those that don't know the Lord. If our message as Christians on social media is nothing but pointing out the scandals and pointing out the problems, everywhere we look, is this really the good news of Jesus

Christ that we need to be focused on and sharing with others in a time when people are desperately looking for hope and desperately looking for joy in their life? I remember the old days where we had memos. You know, people at work would have memos, or you would leave a phone message to someone that you want to get, you know, something across. You want to get a message across to them. But I really remember the ancient tweeting method back in grade school, which was what? Passing notes. I remember sitting in class and you could see that the kids were passing notes to each other. And if the teacher caught them, she'd walk over there with her handout saying, you know, give it up. Give me the note. Give me the note. And I guess some teachers would just throw

them away, but other teachers would read them. And of course, you worried about whether someone was passing notes about you, you know. And one of the worst things that could happen is that the note would get intercepted. And all of a sudden, you open it up and you see that John told Brian Kavens is a loser, you know, and think, oh, wow, that feels good. And that's kind of the ancient form of tweeting. And I'm seeing this a lot now and just not encouraging. It's kind of airing dirty laundry, producing streams of controversy and scandal. And that's not really what we're called to do, is it? And you have to ask yourself, do you really feel better when you tweet that kind of stuff,

when you put that on Instagram, when you post things on Facebook? These marvelous technological tools can be used for good, but they can also be used for bad. And what I would like to do is I would like to, is kind of, do a little experiment here. The tweet stands in the place of a tongue these days. I can say things about you. I can gossip about you. I can commit calumny. We'll talk about that. All of these things with my tongue. But I think we sometimes think that a tweet is less than the tongue. But I'm going to substitute tweet for tongue and speech in all the scriptures I use today and all of the examples I use. when I run into a scripture on speech or the tongue, I'm going to put tweet and just see what

it sounds like. And you see what it sounds like, too, because a tweet is as deadly as the tongue. And so I want you to listen to it and what it sounds like. It's really amazing when you do that. It really is. Now, let me start off with James Chapter 3, because James Chapter 3 versus 2 through 10, and I'll put this in the show notes, really talks about the danger of a tweet. I got you right there, didn't I? You know it's not mentioning tweets, but I'm talking about the tongue, and I'm going to start substituting. It says in James chapter three, for we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, also able to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their

whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also is the tweet. The tweet is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small tweet, huh? And the tweet is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tweet is set among our members staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life and set on fire by hell, for every kind of beast and bird or of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tweet. It is a restless evil full of deadly passion. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are

made in the likeness of God. From the same tweet comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Can you imagine that? That's James, by the way, James Chapter 3 versus 2 through 10. Can you imagine if Paul had a Twitter account today or an Instagram account, would he write something like that rather than using the word tongue or word or mouth? You see that there's a seriousness, the seriousness of a tweet slash tongue. For one, Proverbs 1821 says that life and death are in the power.

power of the tweet. Now, you know what I'm doing, right? Don't call me in and say, oh, you're changing scripture. No, I'm trying to make a point. Life and death are in the power of the tweet. They're in the power of the tongue. Matthew 12, verses 33 through 37, says that we'll give an account for what? We'll give an account for every tweet. We'll give an account for everything we say, says Matthew. That's Jesus. Matthew chapter 12. And he who keeps his tweet keeps his himself out of trouble, Proverbs 2123. Wow, we could save ourselves a lot of headaches and a lot of embarrassment and trouble if we just control our tweet. Control our Instagram account. If we would tweet others the way we want to be tweeted. Now, one of the things that we do is we tear down other

people and we can't do that. This is just a kind of a warning, you know, that don't, don't tear down other people as a Christian as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. Proverbs 10 and verse 18 says land slandering puts you in the fool category. You could say slanderous tweets puts you in the fool category. Proverbs 25, 28, a man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. If your tweets are without control, self-control, you're like a broken, you're like a city that's been broken into. You're left without walls, without protection. Proverbs 119 says don't tear down neighbors. And social media isn't the place to lecture people or to discipline people or to out people. It's just not. That's not what we are about as representatives

of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just imagine the Lord 2,000 years ago with a Twitter account just outing people and constantly tearing down people and exposing those things that should remain quiet. I don't think we'd be where we are today. The scripture says there's six things the Lord hates. This comes from Proverbs 6 in verses 16 through 19. Listen to the six things the Lord hates. There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him, haughty eyes, a lying tweet, tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked tweets, feet that make haste to run to evil a false tweet, a false witness who breathes out lies and one who tweets discord among brothers. Wow, six things, seven he even goes up to, that the Lord hates,

not that he dislikes, not that he blocks, not that he ignores, he hates these kinds of things. Now, one of the, one of the things that we get into, which is very unfortunate, is is Columnie. And I'm going to talk about just a couple things here, columnie and detraction, then go into after the break a little bit about building up. But Columny is very serious these days, and I see this happening more times than I care to mention, where one brother or one sister will destroy the reputation of another with just a hint, or bringing up something that they have no business bringing up in social media. It says in paragraph 2477 of the Catechism talks about the reputation of another. It says of columnie who by remarks, this is what

columny is, who by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others, and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them. You see, our reputation is something that we have a right to. It's a sin against judge. justice. When we do, when we walk in Columny, everybody has a right to their reputation, and Columny is making remarks that are contrary to the truth. You might think it's the truth, you're not sure, but you make comments or you hint at someone's reputation or a company or a ministry's reputation. And what happens then? False judgments concerning that ministry or that person or that church or that priest or that bishop or whoever it is will come their

way. And that's not right. That's not right to do that. Paragraph 2479, speaking of Columnies, speaks of a detraction, rather. It says, a detraction in Columny destroy the reputation and honor of one's neighbor. Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detractions. and columny, detraction and columnny, offend against the virtues of justice and charities, I said a moment ago. And so there needs to be a real warning on that. Detraction, here's what it says in paragraph 2477, of detraction who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another's faults and failings to persons who did not know them. Wow.

you start disclosing another person's faults and failings with tweets, with Instagram, with Facebook, Snapchat, to others who didn't even know that's detraction. That's a sin against justice. And if you've done that, you need to take responsibility for it and go to confession. Repeating a matter separates friends, says Proverbs 179. Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separate. separates close friends. And this is what happens so often. So I'm going to put this in the show notes about columnie and detraction. Columnie is remarks contrary to the truth. Detraction is when we disclose and others' faults and failings to persons who, they didn't know anything about it.

But now they have to hold this. Now they have to make a judgment. Now they have to walk with this information, and it's not fair to the person that we tweet about. Remember, tweet others the way you want to be tweeted. And that's really the golden rule of Twitter, isn't it? Tweet others the way you want to be tweeted. I'm going to take a break here. When we come back, I want to talk about a few ways to build up people with your tweets and to think about before you tweet, before you post something to Instagram or on Facebook. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Every one of us is made in the image of God. We are unique, worthy of love, and called to greatness. In this world, though, we can be distracted from that truth and begin to doubt God's love is real. You see, we live in a

world that tells us we are not smart, attractive, thin, or rich enough. It is easy to focus on the ways we fall short of worldly perfection and forget that we are already made perfect. We are already enough. I'm Danielle Bean, author of You Are Enough, what women of the Bible teach you about your mission and worth. You Are Enough dives into the stories of women in the Bible so that you can fully see God's plan for your life. To order, visit ascensionpress.com or Amazon. And welcome back. We're talking about tweeting others the way we want to be tweeted. And that's something that we all need to be reminded of. The idea came for the show from a friend of mine who said they saw this great big billboard with this on there. And I thought

it was a tremendous title for a podcast, something that we'd all remember. We talked a little bit about columny and detraction, but I want to talk just a little bit about building up and how we build up other people with our tweets, tweeting others the way we want to be tweeted. Before I mention that. Just a quick reminder, Father Mike Schmitz and I are going to be going to Israel this coming June with young adults that's up to around 30 years of age. And we're expecting a lot of them to go to Israel with us on a special pilgrimage where we're going to look at the rest of our lives and discern. And we've got three amazing singers, Taylor Tripodi and Ali Ali, Leah, Brother Isaiah, and some other great priests. It's going to be great. You can get your place in line now,

share this with someone else at jeffcavens.com. You can go ahead and at least get your place in line there. It's going to be really, really good. A few places are still open for coming January, and I think there's four places this coming September for Poland. This is 2019, if you're listening years into the future. Building up with your tweets, tweet others the way you want to be tweeted. Number one, let no evil tweet come out of your computer or your smartphone. This is Ephesians 420. But only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who read. Okay? So I'm just taking the words and changing him a little bit.

It actually says, let no evil talk come out of your mouths. Well, I say, let no evil tweet come out of your smartphone. But only such as is good for edifying as fits the occasion, right? Number two, Proverbs 1218, there is one who tweets rashly. like the thrusts of a sword, but the tweet of the wise brings healing. That's right. The tongue of the wise brings healing, and the tweet of the wise brings healing as well. Your tweets and your social media can be used for really edifying things. There's people who are facing very negative information from the news media, and then we come along and then we just verify.

it and bring out more. You know, we can use our social media to build up and to talk about the truth and what is the truth, not just reinforce the lie and reinforce the garbage and the sewer information, but we can offer solutions. Do we have solutions? Do you have solutions? I know you do, and I know we do. And so there's one who tweets rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tweet of the wise brings healing. Number three, the wise fingers tweet justice. Justice is when the person you are tweeting about gets what is coming to them in a good way. It's Psalm 37 in verse 3 talks about justice.

When you tweet something out or you put something on Instagram, you have to ask yourself, is the person that I'm talking about or the ministry that I'm talking about, whether it's something I'm saying or something I'm purposely withholding in an obvious way, is this justice? Do you really know everything about that person or that ministry or whatever it might be, that diocese? We've got to be so careful about this. Remember what we talked about at the top of the show. Jesus said we're going to be judged by every tweet. Everything we say, every word, we're going to be judged one day. I like this one from Colossians 4 in verse 6. Paul talks about tweeting, and he says, let your tweets be seasoned with

salt and grace. Now, you know, he's really saying, let your speech. But that's the way we speak today, isn't it? Let your tweets be seasoned with salt and graciousness. What's salt? Well, salt is a preserver. It's a life preserver. That's the way you would salt meat. It's necessary for your body. And when we speak, we speak with our speech is seasoned with salt. We preserve. and graciousness. Graciousness is an amazing gift that when we talk to people, we're gracious. And we're not judgmental. And we're not, you know, harsh.

We're gentle. Our tweets are gentle. Our tweets are filled with graciousness. We only have so much speech available in our life. We only have so many tweets in the future. Let's make them count, right? Let's make them count. The fifth way of building up and tweeting others the way we want to be tweeted,

if you are in the company of troublemakers, put a muzzle on your tweets. That's right. Put a muzzle on your mouth is what the scripture says, on your speech, on your lips. Psalm 391. If you are in the company of troublemakers, put a muzzle on your tweets. Stop taking pictures and passing them on and spreading the crud. Crud is Greek for junk. And number six, Job 27 of verse 4, all in the show notes, My tweet will not utter falsehood. I don't know how many times a day Job checked his Twitter account,

but he did conclude that my tweet will not utter falsehood. We've really got to take responsibility for this. There's a way to hide behind the Internet and social media where we can say things that we normally would never say in person. We would never talk about anybody like that, but suddenly we are emboldened. You know, we're strong and courageous. We're macho. We got, you know, we got wisdom and we're going to show it off by doing what? Tweeting? What is false? Or what we're not sure of? And Job says, my tweet will not utter falsehood, Job 27.4. So I want you to think for a moment, you know,

about some other thoughts about tweeting others as the way you'd want to be tweeted. It says in Proverbs 1528 that we should ponder how we're going to answer someone. And that is really important. We need to think about how we're going to answer someone and not just suddenly respond quickly or pass that, retweet something so quickly, and then afterwards think, oh, man, I probably shouldn't have done that. Well, there's a permanence to the Internet that we have to pay attention to as Christians. It says in James chapter 1, verses 19 and 20, it says that we need to be, listen to this.

Now, this is good. Know this, my beloved brothers. Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to tweet, slow to anger. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. If you're angry about something, you need to determine whether that is something that you are personally bothered by, or is it something that God is calling you to do something about. and even if he's calling you to do something about it, you still cannot walk in calumny or detraction. You need to be quick to hear, slow to tweet.

When you hear something about somebody, be slow to tweet. Be slow to tweet. Anger doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God. Stop, think, are you supposed to correct something, or let it go? Or let it go. It says in Psalm 141 in verse 3, set a guard. over my tweet, O Lord. Keep watch over the door of my smartphone. Wow, if you just took that, Psalm 141 verse 3, and you use that as a filter before you would tweet out something or post something on any social media platform, that would be an amazing thing. Set a guard over my tweet, O Lord, keep watch over the door of my smartphone. Psalm 141 3. Proverbs 151, a soft tweet turns away wrath, but a tweet that is a harsh tweet, it stirs up anger. A harsh tweet stirs up anger.

Proverbs 151. Proverbs 1019, don't tweet a lot, tweet enough. It's really, it starts coming alive, doesn't it? You know, when you just substitute your speech, talk for tweet? Don't tweet a lot. Don't talk a lot. Talk enough. Don't tweet a lot. Tweet enough. It says in Exodus 144, The Lord will tweet for you if you would be silent. Sometimes you don't need to say anything. You don't need to say anything. The Lord's going to take care of things for you. And you're not responsible for tweeting out everything. And then finally, here's another little suggestion out of Proverbs 17. Have a cool spirit. He who has a cool spirit, you know, it's going to have peace in their life. When it comes to tweeting, have a cool spirit about you.

Don't just respond and just retweet, garbage that's out there. And then a couple more, as long as I've got a few minutes here, let me share this with you. It comes out of James 126. James talks about worthless religion. He says this, and this is really important. He says, if you can't control your tweets, your religion, religion is worthless. Oh, man. Now what does it actually say there? It says if you can't control your tongue. If you can't control your tongue, if you can't control your speech, your religion is worthless.

That's how important speaking is as Christians in what we say, what we, you know, pass on to other people. So if you can't control your tweets, your religion is worthless. Let's start at that level, shall we? let's start at the level of tweets and Instagram and Facebook and realize this is an extension of my speech and my heart, my tongue. It really, really is. First Peter 310, do you want to see good days and have a good life? Control your tweets. Now, I know, because I'm hearing this with you. I know this is hitting you. I know it is. If you're involved in social media, this can't help it really hit you. 1-Peter 3-10. Do you want to see good days? And I know you do. I want to see good days. You want to see good days? You want to have a good life? Well, okay, control your tweets.

It's that simple. Control your tweets. Control your posts. Control your tongue. So you see, your tweets can build up. Your tweets can correct in a loving, loving way. Your tweets can comfort and your tweets can encourage. Give God control. of your social media today. Just a little message I wanted to share with you this week to just to remind you that the things we tweet are not, they're not innocent, they're not behind a curtain that it's less than something. You know, it's, it doesn't matter as much as actually talking.

In today's world, it really does. It can be a source of great blessing to the world and to friends and family, or it can be an embarrassment and can be a point of shame and scandal and tear down people and hurt. And oftentimes it's permanent. You know, there's a great rabbinic story that I think I've shared with you before. And I'm reminded of it because I'm sitting here in the deep in the woods of Minnesota. And cottonwood is flying off the trees like it literally looks like it's snowing. You know, there's these great big pieces of cotton that are flying all over the lake and the docks and the shoreline. And it looks like we have received snow, but it's the cottonwood tree releasing the cotton.

You probably have seen this. If you're living somewhere where they don't have cottonwood trees, then you can Google it. You'll see what I mean, or go on YouTube, and you can see what I mean. But it reminds me this beautiful cotton. It reminds me. It reminds me of a rabbinic tale of a young rabbi student. A rabbi's student is a young man, and he loved his rabbi, and he was learning from his rabbi. And then one day he got into gossip, and he started telling everybody and telling some things that weren't true. He was tweeting out some stuff. He was tweeting out some stuff that just was wrong. And his rabbi was hurt by it. And I think maybe five, six weeks went by after there had been, you know, dozens of tweets. And

The young man came to his senses, and he met up with his rabbi, and he said, Rabbi, he said, I am so sorry. I am so sorry. I've been tweeting out things that I shouldn't have. He said, I've been saying things that I shouldn't have around the village. He said, please forgive me. I want our relationship to be as it was before. Can it be as it was before? And the rabbi said to that young student, he said, go get a feather pillow. The young man went and got the the feather pillow and he brought it back to the rabbi and the rabbi said to the young man come with me and he took him to the very top of a tall building and they were on the flat roof and it was a breezy day and the rabbi took the pillow he took a knife and he cut it open and he began to shake the feathers from the pillow and they went all over the village everywhere and some even went to neighboring towns and eventually countries. And the rabbi said to the young man, now go and get all the feathers.

And the young man said, well, I couldn't do that. There's too many feathers. They have blown everywhere now. I can't do that. And the rabbi said, and neither can our relationship ever be exactly like it was before. For what you have said has now spread, and there's no way to get it all back.

And that's what, calumny and detraction and gossip, oh, gossip's terrible. That's what it does in our relationships. And so I want to leave you with this. When it comes to other ministries, do not gossip. Do not commit calumny. Do not commit detraction. You might not know everything. When it comes to relationships and a friend or a family member, again, you might not know

everything. And even if you did, it's not your responsibility to bring about justice on this social, you know, map. Or if it's something else you see in the news, let our words be sprinkled with salt and graciousness and always try to build up and always try to bring people to God. That's our role. We are ambassadors for Christ. Let us bring reconciliation to people rather than be a part of this treacherous.

tweeting atmosphere that is so destructive and social media. Remember this. Tweet others the way you want to be tweeted. Let me pray for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I thank you today. I thank you, oh God, for my brother, for my sister. I also thank you for social media and technology that has sprung up from being part of being created in your image and likeness, the genius on earth. But Lord, we ask you to help us to harness social media in such a way that it would bring glory to you and expand your kingdom and would protect the human soul and the dignity of the person. May we be a breed of new people who tweet others the way we want to be tweeted. Lord, help us, I pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen. I love you. I love you and ask you to pray for me. God bless you.