Family Home Evening Lesson #16: FOR THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH--LANGUAGE

1. Opening Prayer

2. Sing "Let Us Oft Speak Kind Words" Hymns pg. 232

3. Read Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

4. Read and discuss the following from "For the Strength of Youth"

How you speak says much about who you are. Clean and intelligent language is evidence of a bright and wholesome mind. Use language that uplifts, encourages, and compliments others. Do not insult others or put them down, even in joking. Speak kindly and positively about others so you can fulfill the Lord’s commandment to love one another. When you use good language, you invite the Spirit to be with you.

Always use the names of God and Jesus Christ with reverence and respect. Misusing their names is a sin. Profane, vulgar, or crude language or gestures, as well as jokes about immoral actions, are offensive to the Lord and to others. Foul language harms your spirit and degrades you. Do not let others influence you to use it.

Choose friends who use good language. Help others around you use clean language by your example and by good-naturedly encouraging them to choose other words. Politely walk away or change the subject when others around you use bad language.

If you have developed the habit of swearing, you can break it. Begin by making a decision to change. Pray for help. If you start to use words you know are wrong, keep quiet or say what you have to say in a different way.

Then discuss the following from Boyd K. Packer:

Profanity is more than just untidy language, for when we profane we relate to low and vulgar words the most sacred of all names. I wince when I hear the name of the Lord so used, called upon in anger, in frustration, in hatred.

This is more than just a name we deal with. This relates to spiritual authority and power and lies at the very center of Christian doctrine. The Lord said, “Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name.”

In the church that Jesus Christ established, all things are done in His name: prayers are said, children are blessed, testimonies borne, sermons preached, ordinances performed, sacrament administered, the infirm anointed, and graves are dedicated. What a mockery it then becomes when we use that sacred name profanely.

If you need some feeling for the seriousness of the offense, next time you hear such an expression or you are tempted to use one yourself, substitute the name of your mother or your father or your child or your own name. Perhaps then the insulting and degrading implications will be borne into you, to have a name you revere so used. Perhaps then you will understand the fourth commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7)

5. Closing Prayer

Additional Resourcs: Profanity (FHE Resource Manual)