Lowlife Popularity: Pimped and Pimped Out

The words pimp and pimped out have become mainstream terms in American. What is wrong with this picture? There was a time when lowlife terms and the life and actions of people in this lifestyle was frowned upon. It was not part of the mainstream.

As films began to involve pimps and prostitutes and then rappers began to use these words in their material, the gutter words gained prominence in the consciousness of the country. Now little children are exposed to these words. This is indeed a bad picture.

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word pimper (infinitive) is a 16^th century French word, and it means dressing elegantly. The French word pimpant (present participle) means dressing in a seductive manner. In the English language, the word became pimp and it was introduced in a book by Thomas Middleton entitled Your Five Gallants. It was published in 1607. Pimp was first written as a verb in the book The Bashful Lover by Massinger published in 1636.

During the feudal times in England a pimp was a tenure that allowed a tenant to utilize property owned by a lord. The renter paid the lord with a service, which was usually supplying young women for sex, according to the Law Encyclopedia.

Pimped Out
The phrase pimped out has arrived and its definition from Dictionary.com is “very gaudily decorated or customized; flashy. Gaudy is a long way from elegant, isn't it? The etymology of pimped out dates it from 1988.

The Online Slang Dictionary pimp meaning is: very good, excellent; cool, awesome,  also pimping.

Pimp It Up

Pimp it up is a popular phrase meaning having a good time, sort of taking charge of how wonderful that experience is going to be. ..according to The Online Slang Dictionary.

Language in a culture is indicative of attitudes, the direction the culture is headed, what people think about, and the moral state of that society. When phrases or words become popular it shows what many people in that society will accept as normal and it becomes normative.

Watch out when lowlife words are elevated and pimp costumes and pimp my ride games and pimp street games are in vogue.

Is this what the United States has come to that these words words descriptive of this degradation are popular and have gained the status of general usage in this country? Where does the shame really belong?

Are people going to continued to be steeped in this lowlife verbal boil like the proverbial frog that got boiled in the pot because someone turned the heat up slowly? He didn't get out because of the slowness of the attack. The attack on moral concepts isn't slow in America anymore because it doesn't have to be slow. The attack can be fast because so much of the moral fiber has been boiled away. That is something to think about.

One of Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony, Overeating,

Clipart from clker.com

Gluttony is a vice. This is a hard statement for overeaters. In the United States there are many all-you-can-eat restaurants and large portion fast food joints. Many people don't acknowledge that gluttony is a sin.

Why is gluttony a sin? There is a correlation between controlling our physical appetites and controlling our minds and our mouth. If we aren't regulating our eating, we may not regulate what we say or what we think. When people tend to overindulge their bodies, they aren't usually concerned with spiritual matters.

"One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, 'Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons"(Titus 1:12). 

The bible associates overeating with lying, being evil and lazy. We need to get away from these negative habits and character traits.

 "Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags." (Proverbs 23:20-21).

The bible associates this vice with drunkenness, being poor, and sleeping too much. Again, time to repent of this deadly sin. Lust, weakness, and greed are synonyms for gluttony.

Saint Thomas Aquinas said that gluttony is an inordinate desire. That means it is unreasonable. He said it is contrary to virtue.

Physical appetites are a metaphor depicting our self-control or lack of it.

Seven Deadly Sins 

Moral Deterioration in the United States

Morality is rapidly declining in the United States. But it wasn't always a moral wasteland. What happened? First, it was never a perfect society. There never was such a society.

There was the Garden of Eden, but sin ruined paradise. It's ruining the U.S. now more than ever. Since Eden, people have searched for a utopia. Not enough have turned to Jesus and seen his perfection. Utopia, but not in human terms. Many people deny that. They don't want to see it. They don't want to give up their sins.

Christians fight sin. They ask for forgiveness and try to do better. It's not a matter of being holier than thou as some people might see it. It's about humbling yourself before God.

What? Giving up sin? Yes, releasing control of their lives to Jesus. It's the struggle between spirit and flesh that started when sin began.

Some people think this is a simplistic answer. There are major problems in the United States and the world. Sin can't be the reason, they say. There is no such thing as sin, they say. But they struggle to find the answers to the huge difficulties in the world. They try to find secular solutions for high crime, broken homes, divorce, abuse, drug abuse, and so on.

Admittedly, counseling, the police, and so on help to resolve some problems and conflicts, but real change in people comes from the inside, and that changes society too. The main change needed is a renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2).

When the mind is renewed then a person can see more clearly what is right and what is wrong. The renewing is an ongoing process.

As previously stated, there was never a perfect society in the U.S.A. But there was less divorce, pornography, drug use, adultery, and fewer broken homes in earlier times than now. Going to church was the habit of most people and they prayed.

When people turn to Jesus and accept him into their lives he will help them repair their lives, and a part of our nation will be repaired each time someone does that.

Religious Freedom and D.C. Laws

Religious freedom is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. These days many people do not respect this freedom. A case in point are two new D.C. laws: the Human Rights Amendment of 2014 and the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act of 2014.

The first law compels religious schools to acknowledge and allow the use of their facilities for clubs, societies, and individuals whose purpose and philosophy conflicts with the schools stated mission.

Obviously, a religious school doesn't want to promote anything immoral. They will be forced to if the bill becomes law on 04/17/15.

The second law  requires organizations and businesses to act inconsistent with their mission. It would require a pro-life employer to provide insurance coverage for contraception and abortion. It would force them to go against their principles. It seems that the writers of this bill are mixed up concerning discrimination.

These laws discriminate against religious schools, businesses, and organizations. This is a growing harassment in the U.S.A. It needs to stop now.

The first amendment outlaws religious discrimination by the government. It prohibits the government from regulating religious beliefs. It prohibits infringement by the civil authority. Although sometimes these rights aren't upheld because of "interpretation" governmental infringement is still wrong.

In the instances considered in this article, upholding the religious schools rights and the employers doesn't stop individuals or groups from doing what they want. It prohibits them from doing this on the property of a religious school and from working for an organization and going against its mission.