I’m happy to report that I’m horrified.

You may be scratching your head, asking why. I’ll tell you.

I still have sparks of sensitivity when it comes to the Holy Spirit.

In such a fast-paced world, where we often drown out His voice with otherworldly noise, I’m glad to know, relieved actually, I still can sense the prick of conviction.

I’ll give you two recent examples that revived this awareness.

First, I was having a quick dinner at McDonald’s one evening when I overheard a group of young people (teens or 20s, I couldn’t quite tell) cussing up a storm. They were dropping the f-bomb every other word. They were angry at some girl, whom they had choice names for, and weren’t ashamed to let the entire establishment know. I was uncomfortable by the behavior and finally finished my sandwich so I could leave.

Now I must admit I’m guilty of the same transgression from time to time. When I get frustrated, sometimes I will drop the f-bomb. Usually it is in the privacy of my own home to myself — not that that is any excuse. I know that shocks some of you and I apologize. It is a nasty habit I picked up along the way I haven’t had yet the discipline to break. Unfortunately, in today’s culture, I am exposed to it wherever I turn, whether at work, at the store, on TV and so on.

The “crude and rude” language, as my mom calls it, should offend us, but sadly, many of us have become desensitized to it. We dismiss it because “bad words” have become part of everyday syntax.

Paul in Ephesians 4:29-30 reminds us we are not to “let any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths ... and do not grieve the Holy Spirit.”

The second event that grieved my own spirit was watching a preview of “The Killer Inside Me.” You’ll remember this was the movie being filmed around Oklahoma last summer and allegedly features clips of Enid and Enid-area residents including the News & Eagle’s own Patsy Sorrels.

Based on what I understood about the movie’s plot, I expected it to be a shoot-em-up kind of western with a sheriff who hides behind the badge as he acts on his homicidal urges.

That is so not what I saw during the trailer. Instead I got visual overload of violent acts against women. The main actor physically abuses the two leading ladies, assaulting them and then killing them. I was not prepared for that. In fact, I was appalled.

I have zero tolerance for men who attack women and I am outraged — whether it is fiction or reality — when I witness such a scene.

Patsy kidded she would have to be “prayed up” before she saw the film. She later told me, she, too, cannot endorse the film’s content and has advised me and others to boycott it. And although I badly want to see if she and others are in the movie, I cannot. My spirit won’t let me.

When I served as summer missionary more than 15 years ago, the center’s director centered our daily Bible study on passages in Ephesians. I have never forgotten how Dorcas told us youngsters (my term, not hers) to speak “only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (Eph. 4:29) “Are my words and actions edifying?” she would ask.

I should have courage of conviction more often and I hope you do, too.



Replogle is a freelance writer and a News & Eagle editor. E-mail her at ruthannr@enidnews.com.