No Stone Throwing

It may have been a practice of stoning someone to death for violations of the Biblical law, but we do not stone folks to death anymore. I am thankful that we do not practice all the Bible’s prescriptions for some behaviors. We select which Biblical prescriptions we want to follow and which we want to ignore. In our contemporary world, we do not stone others to death, we kill with military purposed weapons which can be purchased by civilians. Unfortunately, we also throw verbal stones meant to destroy someone’s character or well-being. If you are not convinced that we do this type of stone-throwing, I would suggest that you watch the campaign advertisements. I would also suggest you listen to yourself when you talk about other people, particularly others with whom you are upset. We throw verbal stones at or about others which are meant to put them down or be-little them. Verbal stones usually have a “should” attached and are spoken or hurled with energy. Our verbal stones may not physically kill the other person, but they are meant to be destructive to the other’s character, motives, etc. I wish more of us were able to hear and feel the hurt when we hear anyone, or even ourselves, using stones or words such as “stupid,” “dumb,” “crazy,” “lazy,” etc.