I recently came across a section of the Psalms that concerned me.\u00a0 Psalms 119:113 says in the KJV, “I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love.”\u00a0 Doing a Google search for the phrase “vain thoughts,” I came across a few articles, mostly from British writers of the eighteenth century, that asserted that “vain thoughts” meant even imaginations that go to no use because they either open up the mind to sinfulness or waste the thinking faculty.\u00a0 One even condemned the writing of fiction by Christians on this ground.\u00a0 Although I highly doubt that the passage condemns this sort of activity (most other translations talk about a certain sort of\u00a0person<\/em>, oddly enough), I just want to see what, if anything, you’ve read about this.<\/p>\n\t “I hate the double-minded, but I love Your law<\/em>” (Psalms 119:113).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Hebrew word behind “double-minded” in the New King James Version or “vain thoughts” in the King James Version is\u00a0ce’eph<\/em>, which refers to a person who is divided in his thoughts. James talks of the same thing, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways<\/em>” (James 1:6-8). A person who is plagued by doubts, who can never settle his mind on anything, will constantly be chasing after the latest fads in religion. The reason we grow and mature in Christ is “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting<\/em>” (Ephesians 4:14).<\/p>\n What you found is a common mistake. Every word in a language has a range of meanings. Ce’eph<\/em> was translated into a phrase that held a similar meaning in the 1600’s English. But words shift meaning in living languages. So by the 1700s people were looking only at the English translation and drawing the wrong conclusion — someone forgot to go back to the original Hebrew to make sure they were accurate. Generally, when an idea is being built off of one word, it is best to go back to the original to make sure you have the right shade of meaning. When you don’t, you get things like you found where people make all sorts of conclusions that get more and more fanciful as it builds upon itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I recently came across a section of the Psalms that concerned me.\u00a0 Psalms 119:113 says in the KJV, “I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love.”\u00a0 Doing a Google search for the phrase “vain thoughts,” I came across a few articles, mostly from British writers of the eighteenth century, that asserted that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1569,516,76],"class_list":["post-19438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-doubts","tag-psalms","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27029,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-explain-the-meaning-of-worthless-in-psalms-11937-and-psalms-1013\/","url_meta":{"origin":19438,"position":0},"title":"Can you explain the meaning of “worthless” in Psalms 119:37 and Psalms 101:3?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Psalms 119:37 the word \"worthless\" is used in the NKJV and the word \"vanity\" is used in the NASB. Also in Psalms 101:3, the NASB uses the word \"worthless\" and the NKJV uses \"wicked.\" Which is correct? Sometimes it seems wicked men are called worthless men, but could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26341,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/meditation\/","url_meta":{"origin":19438,"position":1},"title":"Meditation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Download Audio by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalms 119:145-152 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is one of those minor points brought out by the Bible; a seemingly incidental detail that you almost overlook - Genesis 24:63 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Isaac took a stroll in the evening in a field to meditate. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We are given a hint\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26995,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-idle-talk-and-idle-babblings\/","url_meta":{"origin":19438,"position":2},"title":"What is “idle talk” and “idle babblings?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read this\u00a0 answer a question: \"What does \"vain thoughts\" mean in Psalm 119:113?\"\u00a0Could you expand more on the subject for me? I like to have an imagination and to read fiction. I want to be more sure that it is not a sin. Also what about exactly is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40908,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/psalms-119\/","url_meta":{"origin":19438,"position":3},"title":"Psalms 119","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Proverb 4:10-17 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How do you learn? What do you need to learn? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The evil decay, but a child of God must learn - II Timothy 3:13-17 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is important for all aspects of life - II Peter 1:3 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Your parents have invested a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51258,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-be-in-the-moment-or-constantly-thinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":19438,"position":4},"title":"Should I be “in the moment” or constantly thinking?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How should a Christian think? I myself am a deep thinker and catch myself in my head thinking about eternity and thinking about heaven, and sometimes I am not present when talking to people -- I am a million miles away. I have heard all these eastern things about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86489,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/precious-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":19438,"position":5},"title":"Precious Things","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Leon Mauldin via Biblical Insights, Vol. 15 No. 2, February 2015 The Word of the Lord I Samuel 3:1 gives the setting for God's initial calling of young Samuel to the prophetic office: \"And the child Samuel ministered unto Jehovah before Eli. And the word of Jehovah was precious\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n