Man Can Tame Beasts Like The Dolphin Flipper, But ...

Man Can Tame Beasts like the Dolphin Flipper, but not the Tongue

The tongue is not only like an uncontrolled fire. It is also like an untamed beast. Every type or species of the four classifications of animals have been subdued or tamed by man. At creation man was given "dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth (Gen. 1:28)." This dominion has been retained by fallen man. James does not say that all the animals have been tamed for certainly no one ever tamed a rhinoceros or an alligator but that animals from all types have been tame, such as parrots, elephants, charmed snakes, and porpoises.

Do you remember Flipper? The famous porpoise starred in one of the most popular television series of the 1960’s. He was fictional, but Tuffy was real. Tuffy served as a member of the United States Navy’s program Sealab II, off the coast of San Diego during the summer of 1966. He carried the mail between the surface and the crew, 205 feet below. He transported tools and even served as a lifeguard when one of the crew pretended to be lost. Humankind has tamed the apparently untamable creatures of the sea. Yet, people never have learned to subdue their tongues.

From a sermon by Dennis Davidson, The Tameless Tongue, 11/15/2009