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The teacher cuts off the plea which people make when they have hurt their neighbor by lies, that they “did not mean mischief,” that they were “only in fun.” Such jesting is like that of the madman flinging firebrands or arrows.
God's word condemns also the use of those meaningless phrases and expletives that border on profanity. It condemns the deceptive compliments, the evasions of truth, the exaggerations, the misrepresentations in trade, that are current in society and in the business world. “Let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: and whatsoever is more than these is of the evil one.” Matthew 5:37, R.V. Ed 236.1
“As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbor, and saith, Am not I in sport?” Proverbs 26:18, 19. Ed 236.2
Closely allied to gossip is the covert insinuation, the sly innuendo, by which the unclean in heart seek to insinuate the evil they dare not openly express. Every approach to these practices the youth should be taught to shun as they would shun the leprosy. Ed 236.3
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