Hi Oats;
Glad to see you're back and doing better. I (along with many others) had prayed for you during the last week or so while you were having problems.
Isn't it interesting that not that long ago "the N word" was just another insulting name? A few decades before that, it wasn't even considered insulting! It was during the Rodney King trials in Los Angeles that it became elevated to such high status. Now if I were to actually type it out in this forum I would probably get condemned for it! Yet, as you said, other words seem to be less feared and get used all the time. Even though some of those words can be really mild to some, to others they can cause serious pain. But we aren't forced by political correctness to refer to those words by only their first letter when using them in perfectly legitimate conversations such as this one.
If I told a story here of someone calling me a fool, would I have to type it as "the F word"? No. Yet the Bible says (Matt 5:22 in part) "...whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire." I don't think there is any other word used for name calling mentioned in the Bible that has a more dire consequence than the name "fool". Yet how many of us call people fools or refer to them as foolish without even a second thought?
It's almost as if "the N word" has been elevated to idol status. Not an idol in the way that we worship and adore it, but more of a feared idol that has such tremendous power over us that we dare not even mention it's name. It seems much the same as in Judaism, where out of respect, they will not type the word God, but instead substitute "G-D". Except this is done out of worshiping and idolizing God the Father (which is proper), not out of fear and respect for a false god such as the word nigger. (Not meaning to shock or show disrespect to anyone here by typing it out, but from this point on, I refuse to give it idol status in my life.) It's just a word. If in a particular situation I can't type it out or say it, then I probably shouldn't be using it at all.
How many times in scripture are we told to love one another, and to show the world God's love through our actions. How can we do that when we use such words out of hate, disrespect, or anger? (Even when used in fun, which may be ok, we must make sure the people around us, especially the one it is directed at, all understand that it is in fun only!) Beyond pointing out actual sin, such as calling the pharisees "hypocrites", Jesus didn't call anyone derogatory names, and as far as is possible, neither should we.
