Does the Bible Really Say That?: Discovering Catholic Teaching in Scripture (4 page)

CHAPTER 7

Gossip, Slander and Judging People’s Hearts

Mark Twain once wrote, “It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you: the one to slander you, and the other to get the news to you.”
¹
How right he was.

There are few things in life more painful than being the target of mean-spirited comments. Most of us know from experience how devastating the weapon of an unbridled tongue can be. Whether one is on the giving end or the receiving end, we know how deeply gossip, slander and detraction can wound.

Not only are these wounding words the opposite of what we would want others to do to us (Matthew 7:12), they are in a certain sense violations of the fifth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” When you let fly words of gossip, unwarranted criticism or slander, you can inflict grievous injury to another’s reputation (and, it goes without saying, to their feelings), even to the point of character assassination—murdering that person’s good name through your words.

This is why the Bible warns us against these sins. Ponder these passages and ask yourself and the Lord if you don’t have some repair work to do for failing in charity towards your neighbor (or wife, husband, child, relative, coworker, friend or enemy).

Ecclesiastes 7:21
 “Do not give heed to all the things that men say, lest you hear your servant cursing you; your heart knows that many times you have yourself cursed others.”

Sirach 5:11–14
  “Be quick to hear, / and be deliberate in answering. / If you have understanding, answer your neighbor; / but if not, put your hand on your mouth. / Glory and dishonor come from speaking, / and a man’s tongue is his downfall. / Do not be called a slanderer, / and do not lie in ambush with your tongue; / for shame comes to the thief, / and severe condemnation to the double-tongued.”

Sirach 28:15–18
 “Slander has driven away courageous women, / and deprived them of the fruit of their toil. / Whoever pays heed to slander will not find rest, / nor will he settle down in peace. / The blow of a whip raises a welt, / but a blow of the tongue crushes the bones. / Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, / but not so many as have fallen because of the tongue.”

Psalm 15:1–3
  “O L
ord
, who shall sojourn in thy tent? / Who shall dwell on thy holy hill? / He who walks blamelessly, and does what is right, / and speaks truth from his heart; / who does not slander with his tongue, / and does no evil to his friend, / nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor.”

Matthew 5:21–22
  “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire.”

Matthew 15:17–20
  “Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man.”

James 4:11–12
  “Do not speak evil against one another, brethren. He that speaks evil against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you that you judge your neighbor?”

And finally, we do well to keep in mind the Lord’s warning about the power that our words have, for good and for evil, and what will await us as recompense for those words: “I tell you, on the day of judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36–37).

Further Reading:
Psalm 35:19–22 ;
Proverbs 10:16–20; Matthew 22:37–39; Luke 12:2–3; Romans 1:26–32; Colossians 3:5–10; Ephesians 4:30; 1 Timothy 3:1–9; 1 Peter 2:1–3

CCC
, 2465–2492

CHAPTER 8

Is Drinking Alcohol a Sin?

Comedian Henny Youngman once quipped, “When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.” His wisecrack reveals something about how people approach the question of whether or not drinking alcohol is a sin.

For some, including many evangelical Protestants, Scripture’s prohibitions against drunkenness are enough to convince them that drinking alcohol is itself forbidden. Others who enjoy getting drunk simply ignore the Bible’s warnings, imagining either that drunkenness isn’t really a big deal or that those warnings don’t apply to them.

Well, what the Bible actually says on this issue may surprise and disappoint people in both camps.

First, let’s be clear that intentional drunkenness is a mortal sin. (1 John 5:16–17; see also
CCC
1852, 2290). Galatians 5:19–21 tells us: “Now the works of the flesh are plain: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like.
I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God
” (emphasis added).

Saint Peter wrote, “Let the time that is past suffice for doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. They are surprised that you do not now join them in the same wild profligacy, and they abuse you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:3–5).

The Old Testament contains many warnings against drunkenness. Noah’s wine-bender in Genesis 9:20–27 was the first of a long line of examples. Lot’s experience with too much wine and the shocking sexual sins that ensued was, if you’ll forgive the pun, a sobering reminder about the dangers of drunkenness.

Proverbs 20:1 says, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; / and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”

Sirach 31:27–31 shows that getting drunk is sinful, but drinking itself is not:

Wine is like life to men, / if you drink it in moderation. / What is life to a man who is without wine? / It has been created to make men glad. / Wine drunk in season and temperately / is rejoicing of heart and gladness of soul. / Wine drunk to excess is bitterness of soul, / with provocation and stumbling. / Drunkenness increases the anger of a fool to his injury, / reducing his strength and adding wounds.

The Lord reminds us, however, that wine and strong drink can be a good thing when used correctly. “[B]ind up the money in your hand, and go the places which the Lord your God chooses, and spend the money for whatever you desire, oxen, or sheep, or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves; and you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household” (Deuteronomy 14:25–26). (Some translations render this last phrase more literally as “making merry before the Lord.”)

Wine played an integral role in both the old and new covenants. In Genesis 14:17–18 the covenant between Abraham and Melchizedek was enacted with an offering of bread and wine. Christ used bread and wine at the Last Supper to transubstan-tiate into his Body and Blood (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26).

Saint Paul didn’t say, “Don’t drink wine” (see Ephesians 5:18), which would have been a complete prohibition. Rather, he said, don’t to drink wine to excess.

The Catholic Church teaches, as common sense testifies, that drinking wine and other forms of alcohol, like food, sex, laughter and dancing, is good when enjoyed in its proper time and context. To abuse any good thing is a sin, but the thing abused does not itself become sinful. As Saint Paul said, “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be enslaved by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12).

Some who oppose drinking argue the kind of wine Christ approved of is the kind that doesn’t intoxicate. But “wine” without alcohol isn’t wine at all—it’s essentially grape juice.

The Lord drank wine (Luke 7:34)—often enough, apparently, that his detractors accused him of being a drunkard. His first recorded miracle was to turn water into wine (John 2:1–11). If the Lord had changed water into grape juice, why would the head waiter at the wedding at Cana have said, “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now” (John 2:10)?

Guzzle as much grape juice as you like, and you won’t get drunk. It won’t impair your ability to distinguish between “poor” and “good.” But drinking too much wine will.

Further Reading:
Genesis 14:18; Deuteronomy 7:12–16; Ecclesiastes 10:17, 19; Sirach 31:12–30; Tobit 4:14–15; Psalm 104:15; Proverbs 23:21; Habakkuk 2:15; Isaiah 5:11; Luke 21:34–36; Romans 13:12–14; 1 Timothy 5:23

CCC
, 1801, 1852, 1866, 2290

CHAPTER 9

Humility

In
The Gulag Archipelago
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote, “Pride grows in the human heart like lard on a pig.”
¹

Since all of us suffer in varying degrees from the ill effects of pride, we would do well to go on a spiritual diet and trim away some of the lard. Happily, the Lord has created a fast-acting secret ingredient to help us shed our pride. We call it humility. It’s the virtue that corrects this vice and Sacred Scripture contains a lot of information on how, with God’s grace, we can grow in humility and conquer our pride.

The word “humility” derives from the Latin word for dirt,
humus
. This tells us something about the quality of lowliness inherent in humility for what could be more lowly than the ground beneath one’s feet?

Humility is the virtue by which we acknowledge our own limitations and imperfections knowing that God, our loving Father, is the Creator and Author of all life. It allows us to freely submit ourselves to him without pride and in willing service to others.

We can see the first reminder of man’s need for humility in God’s words to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:19, “In the sweat of your face / you shall eat bread / till you return to the ground, / for out of it you were taken: / you are dust, / and to dust you shall return.” Every Ash Wednesday, the priest who traces the sign of the cross on your forehead with ashes repeats this ancient reminder. The ashes signify both the humility of repentance and penance (i.e., wearing sackcloth and ashes, cf. Isaiah 58:5, Daniel 9:3, Luke 10:13) as well as the fact that we will all, eventually, die and our bodies will return for a time to the lowly
humus
from which we were brought forth in Adam and Eve.

Here are just a few of the many Scriptural teachings on the beauty and importance of the virtue of humility:

Matthew 5:5
  “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

Matthew 11:29
  “[Christ said,] Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

1 Peter 5:5
 
“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”

Matthew 8:8
  “[T]he centurion answered him, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.’”

Zephaniah 2:3
  “Seek the
Lord
, all you humble of the land, / who do his commands; / seek righteousness, seek humility; / perhaps you may be hidden / on the day of the wrath of the
Lord.”

Psalm 149:4
 
“For the
Lord
takes pleasure in his people; / he adorns the humble with victory.”

Proverbs 11:2
 
“
When pride comes, then comes disgrace; / but with the humble is wisdom” (see also Proverbs 3:34).

Isaiah 57:15
 “For thus says the high and lofty One  /who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: / ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, / and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, / to revive the spirit of the humble, / and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”

Philippians 2:3–4
 “Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Colossians 3:12
  “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience....”

James 4:6, 10
  “
‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’... [therefore]
Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.”

Matthew 20:25–28
  “But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.
 
It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
and whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’”

Matthew 23:11–12
  “He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

John 13:3–9, 12–15
 
“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel. Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. He came to Simon Peter; and Peter said to him, ‘Lord, do you wash my feet?’
 
Jesus answered him, ‘What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no part in me.’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’... When he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and resumed his place, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.’”

1 Corinthians 1:26–31
 
“For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”

One final verse to ponder is Luke 18:13, which contains one of the most simple, heartfelt and humble statements of trust in the Lord: “God, be merciful to me a sinner!”

Further Reading:
Proverbs 22:4; Sirach 10:7–19; Luke 1:46–53; Ephesians 4:1–2