Do our words stay in the atmosphere forever?

Answer 1

No. Our words are "recorded in our own personal MEMORY FILES" - in the "spirit" or "intellect" that "God forms in each of us":

"…'This message is from the LORD, who… formed the spirit within humans…'" [see Zech.12 1 NLT New Living Translation].

"…there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them Understanding." (Job 32:8 KJV)

"…with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy Judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world WILL LEARN Righteousness." (Isa.26:9 KJV)

"…'O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh…'" (Num.16:22 KJV).

"The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly." (Prov.20:27 KJV)

Same verse - [NLT]: "The LORD's searchlight penetrates the human spirit, exposing every hidden motive."

"For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." (I Cor.2:11 KJV)

"Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, 'The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?" (James 4:5 KJV)

"…be renewed in the spirit of your mind…" (Eph.4:23 KJV).

The "spirit" that God forms within each of us is BLANK at birth… like a fresh blank "programmable computer disk" inserted into a computer; it's EMPTY, waiting to be programmed and burned into it.

Of course, the human spirit isn't composed of composite materials like a computer disk… but the analogy is there… with the "ROM" function of the human brain [our body's central processor] keeping the internal organs and systems [kidneys, liver, thyroid, heart rhythm, blood pressure and count, etc] running without us being conscious of it [unless something malfunctions]; while our mind, or intellect, or spirit [the "RAM" function in man] thinks, dreams, designs, plans, reasons, etc.; with a tiny spark of Godly creativity… stimulated from outside forces through the physical data sent to it by our five physical senses.

None of us "remembers" being born or the first one or two years of our lives because "we couldn't talk, yet!" We didn't know any "WORDS," yet, whereby our memories are stored.

The first images we saw… mommy's, daddy's, uncle Bert's and aunt Ethel's big faces smiling and staring down at us… delighted with how innocent and perfect we were… may be stored in our earliest memories [who knows -- possibly as our first frightening experience], but without knowing any "words" there was no way to express that memory, now, much less store it away.

But as our conscious spirit progressed and recorded more and more experiences and we began to string a few words together… generally around age two… life's experiences began to be collated and categorized and stored within us by those words. And all the other words that would increase our vocabulary in the course of our lives, started to feed and develop the character and personality that would become uniquely us… and they, too, were [and are] stored in and among our "human memory banks."

So, when Jesus tells us:

"…'that EVERY IDLE WORD that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment…" (Matt.12:36 KJV)

[NLT]: "…'that you must give an account on Judgment Day of every idle word you speak.'"

Those words won't be "plucked randomly out of the atmosphere" where some people believe the words of a ka-jillion other people throughout man's generations are supposedly hanging: where they would have to have been, no doubt, crashing into, and mixing in with, and possibly causing the partial or complete destruction of everyone else's words for the past six-thousand years or so [in which case; who could know, now, whose words are who's - not to mention, how many of those "eternally floating words" are still coherent?].

No, The Bible doesn't say anything about our words hanging in the atmosphere. On the Last Great Day of God's plan: Judgment Day - all of our "idle words" will be individually accessed by God, as each of us stands before Him for the Divine-assessment of our life's works [see Rev.20:12 & 22:12].

Our "idle" words will be extracted directly from our own "personal case files" stored within each of us… as the LORD has the access code to discern the "thoughts and intents of any heart."

"For the Word of God is quick [ALIVE], and Powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul [the mortal, living, breathing creature that we are] and spirit [that internal, invisible spark of godly intellect within each of us], and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb.4:12 KJV)

[NLT]: "For the Word of God is full of Living Power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are."

God has always been able to see and read our spirit. It's man, who has no such perception [yet], who must see whether someone is righteous or wicked by "their actions." To see whether that person is as "good as his word."

In a world fraught with "lying words" from lying people - we have to witness the works of the person in question, to know if his words are worthy:

"Yes, the way to IDENTIFY A TREE or a PERSON is by the kind of fruit that is produced." (Matt.7:20 NLT)

It's the nature of our words… either LIVING or STAGNATING within us [not floating in the atmosphere]… that produces the person we each become. Character and personality is developed, grown, and built from within. And "words" taken "internally" are key to that development.

"Words"… including the WORD of God [God's BREAD - see Matt.4:3-4]… GOOD words, BAD words, or IDLE words… feed THE SPIRIT WITHIN US; not the air around us [although sometimes you could swear you can cut the air with a knife for all the profanity].

But depending upon one's choice of "words"… they can be "nourishing" and healthy to the spirit - or just "junkfood."

"The [Holy] Spirit is what gives Life; the flesh is of no avail. The Words which I have been speaking to you, ARE SPIRIT and ARE LIFE." (John 6:63 MNTMontgomery New Testament)