James 3:5

Dangers Of The Tongue

James 3:5 "So also the tongue is. small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold, how great. forest is set aflame by such. small fire!"So also the tongue" -Small, but very powerful and influential, just like. bit or. rudder. "yet it boasts of great things" -"but it can make huge claims" (NEB). Solomon said, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Proverbs 18:21). The tongue can boast that there is no God (Psalms 14:1), that man is the measure of all things. The Humanist Manifesto is. great example of the arrogance that can be displayed by the human tongue. "But we can discover no divine purpose or providence for the human species. While there is much that we do not know, humans are responsible for what we are or will become. No deity will save us; we must save ourselves" The same could be said of the boasts and claims of those who support the theory of Evolution.. remember. statement made by. famous personality who said that they would rather go to hell than heaven, because heaven doesn't present any challenges and in hell they can make things better! "Behold, how great. forest is set aflame by such. small fire?"These people would have understood this analogy because the barren, arid land of the desert was covered with scrub trees and brush. If. fire started, it would sweep across. whole mountainside before it could be stopped" (Draper p. 102). Forest fires were frequently mentioned by ancient writers. The tongue can start. small spark which can inflame and destroy families and entire congregations. In. matter of days or weeks,. tremendous amount of good can be destroyed by the misuse of the tongue. "Its capability of catastrophic destruction far outstrips its size" (Kent p. 120). See Galatians 5:15. "One has only to envision. small match,. spark…lighting. fire which may burn over. whole forest of possibly millions of acres to grasp the vividness of the illustration" (Roberts p. 128). Once again, we need to make the point that once we have said something, we can't control the extent of the comment, we can't control the damage. Like. forest fire,. bit of gossip or slander can get completely out of control.

The Old Testament often spoke of the damage caused by the tongue (Psalms 52:2; Psalms 64:3; Psalms 140:3; Proverbs 6:19; Proverbs 12:18; Proverbs 15:1; Proverbs 16:27 "a slanderer separates intimate friends"; James 26:20 "where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down"; James 26:28).