processing through outbursts

What is this thing about swearing? Whatever you call them--expletives, swear words, curse words, bad words, dirty words--they just come out. They come right out and bite you where it tingles--if you're like me and feel some kind of guilty conscience about yourself when they come out. Anyway, I attended a Bible study last night, in which someone started talking about how, as believers, we should be weird: "As Jesus was weird, so shall we be weird" (was not a verse from the Bible). Although I may have slightly misinterpreted what this guy was saying, it seemed as though he had decided that physical appearance falls into line with other possibilities for weirdness. For example, instead of cutting your hair like most everyone else in our society, you could decide not to ever cut your hair and when people ask you about it, your answer could be something about Jesus. What's that verse? "Always be prepared to share the reason for the hope that you have" -- 1 Peter 3:something. This, to me, seems ridiculous--should we stop showering because we believe that only Jesus really cleans us and we want people to ask us about it? I think it was Hegel--or some other German philosopher (Nietzsche???)--who argued once that even brilliant people like philosophers need to shower--and that they ought to make time for it, whether or not they feel advanced far beyond society's requirements for sanitation.

On the other hand, for women who care about their brothers' purity (seeing men as our brothers in Christ--or our potential brothers in Christ), dressing modestly will help protect our brothers from temptation and THIS kind of action, compared to what society dictates as acceptable and desirable, certainly is wierd. (We also covered a verse that talked about how women need not wear fancy jewelry or braid their hair, etc. to reflect their beauty, but rather beauty should come from a gentle and quiet spirit... -also in 1 Peter 3.) That's just one example, but an example which may subtly mark the difference between a believer and a non-believer; and it's not so much about the appearance as it is about behaving and thinking differently--thinking with the desire to encourage other people towards purer and more godly thinking. And, I think that the main point of the person whose argument I rashly took to refer (figuratively) to getting one's haircut and making ones' physical appearance look strange in order to stimulate the curiosity of others (which, I still disagree with), was actually striving to encourage believers to make such behavioral choices that would reflect the heart and the nature of Jesus--a nature that will undoubtedly stimulate peoples' curiosities.

There was some other thought I encountered recently as well, which involves positive/active thinking versus negative/passive thinking, and which values positive/active thinking for believers over the latter with regards to Christianity... Rather than negatively telling oneself that he/she should not gossip, for example, the positive/active way to treat such a situation would be to tell oneself that he/she can speak words that are edifying and helpful instead... This might be simple to think about, just let me actually do it and stop with all the talk.

Thanks for enduring these thought processes... I've been needing to think about such things, I guess--realizing again how I need to keep learning how to follow Jesus better--even if these seem like backsteps or circles or steps forward, however they may be percieved. Hmmm...