The Peter Principle
By Hal Haralson
Hal Haralson is a lawyer living in Austin and is a frequent contributor to Christian Ethics Today.
I`m trying to quit "cussin`."
That`s French for everything from barnyard slang to "taking God`s name in vain" which is rumored to be the unpardonable sin.
Don`t laugh. It`s not easy to break a 50 year old bad habit.
The first time I cussed, I was about ten years old.
My chore after school was to go bring the milk cow in from the pasture. She always went to the back side (about 1/2 mile) when she saw me coming. Poppa gave me strict instructions not to make her run because if she did she would sling all her milk out by the time she got to the barn.
I was in a hurry that day and pushed the old heifer a little too hard. She took off for the barn with the milk flying every which-a-way.
I let loose with a string of cuss words that surprised even me.
Fear came first, then heavy angst, and then guilt. What if I was struck dead by lightning? On the other hand, I reasoned, what harm was done if no one heard?
Bob Horton, my Sunday school teacher, told his class of ten-year-old boys that at the "Great White Throne Judgment" the books would be opened and an angel would read every word we had ever spoken. God, our parents, and every one in heaven would know, every word.
I quit cussin` for a whole week.
The incident that brought about my current crusade to clean up this old bad habit grew out of a recent conversation with an attorney`s secretary.
When there`s someone to hear, I mumble my cussin` under my breath so it can`t be heard.
This lawyer called me and chewed me out for cussin` his secretary.
I was indignant! I would never do that! Then he told me exactly what I had said.
I was stunned. I still didn`t believe I`d done this.
I told Judy, my wife of 40 years, and she pretty nearly broke up laughing.
"You are so deaf that mumbling under your breath is not heard by you but was quite audible to her."
She was right! I called the next day and apologized. Now I keep my mumbling to myself.
Now, Judy is about as near perfect as anyone I know. She enjoys telling people she was a Christian until she married me. (Christian was her maiden name.) But one Sunday, we pulled into the parking lot of First Baptist Church in Austin; and as Judy got out of the car she exclaimed, "Oh _____, I forgot the _______cookies."
Our two son`s and I were stunned. Cussin`? Mother? We didn`t say a word.
After church, David`s Sunday school teacher came up to Judy and asked, "What kind of cookies were they?" Someone always seems to hear and tell.
That brings me to Peter.
After three years with Jesus (Matthew 26) he cussed when asked if he was a follower of the Messiah.
He cussed loudly and said emphatically, "No!"
I`ve wondered how, what with all the translations, commentaries, and interminable talk about inerrancy, how that incident still got reported when they put the New Testament together.
Peter likely didn`t turn himself in. One of the other disciples must have heard him and made sure the writer let us know about the vaunted Brother Rock`s lapse. A little jealousy there?
Perhaps Peter`s cussin` incident was put in the Bible for a reason We are able to see that God still loved and continued to use Simon Peter, in spite of his cussin`.
That`s good news. Maybe I`ll make it.
