Profanity and Christianity January 22, 2006
Posted by JP in Parenting, Scripture, Uncategorized.trackback
Recently I have been involved with numerous discussions regarding the use of profanity, particularly by Christians – is it okay? Is it a sin? What is really wrong with it? etc, etc, etc.
The more the topic was discussed the more questions came about – is their firm scripture regulating the use of profanity? Is it a matter of personal choice? Is it conditionally acceptable depending on when and where it is used?
As I participated in these discussions I realized that my understanding of the theology of profanity was sorely limited. I know what I felt about it, and I had good passages of scripture which appeared to back me up, however, the arguments in favor of ‘cussing’ seemed equally strong. So what to do?
I have been studying the subject and am working on a ‘dissertation’ on the whole concept of Christians using profanity. I hope to begin posting the installments in the next few days. Stay tuned…
I’ve been asking the Lord about this myself…I believe God looks on our hearts and the motivation of our hearts…like if someone is crying out to God and are in pain from a loss and in their sincerity and pure heart before God they say “FATHER!!! I am f***ing hurting so bad!!!” Maybe (haveing been there myself many times) the only thing that the person feels that they could express their hearts to God i sthe “F” word I think we come to Him through Jesus Christ and we need Him every second of the day b/c we are flesh until we are in our glorified bodies in heaven…I know I need the Lord every day…I even pray for Him to help me love Him more. I think its a heart thing. I mean sh** just means poop…when I talk to the Lord even I use these words b/c sometimes it’s the only way I can express how I feel…guess what He still loves me and answers my prayers ALL OF THE TIME!!! I have asked the Lord to lead me to places in the word that would tell me to stop using profanity and I haven’t found any either but would like to know what they are if they exist. All I know is that Paul says to the Greek be Greek and to the Jew be Jew when sharing the Gospel and I do so without shame..I worship Him (Jesus) without shame I love Him so much and there have been times when I have been sharing the Lord with people who will never set foot into a church building b/c it’s so transparent and they can see the mask that the people are hiding behind…I on the other hand never pretent like I am perfect to anyone and have even used examples as a witness to others where I have cried out to God profanity and all and how I have an intimate relationship witrh Him and I tell Him like it is NO HOLD BARRED b/c He loves me that much!!! Now that they (the people who will never go to church as long as they live) can relate to the love of a Father who will receive them as they are “F” words and all and then work with them and refine them and better them along as they mature then they say maybe I can love this Jesus who can love a WRETCH LIKE ME!!! I believe legalism drives the lost sheep away (see Jer. 23)…there is no love in the church buildings these days – RIGHT JESUS?…I see a Matthew 23 church right now filled with WHITE WASHED TOMBS who pretend to be so perfect and sinless and sit in judgment of everyone…right now the church totally quenches the Holy Spirit for me church drains me instead of edifying me…sorry it’s true…I say all of these things and yet the Lord never fails to manifest Himself to me when I worship Him in my prayer closet time…He surrounds me with His glory EVERY single time I worship Him…I hope this helps…I know I cannot survive without Jesus for a second…He loves me unconditionally and I have not felt His Spirit press me when I use profanity the way I use it and I’m a woman!!!
Some denominations say women can only wear skirts to church but of course He doesn’t care about the skirt or pants He looks on the heart…the ONLY thing that makes a person righteous is the blod of Jesus Christ…if the church keeps ‘beating the crap out of people’ with their legallism then that whole WOE TO THOSE WHO SCATTER MY SHEEP STUFF that the Lord mentions in Jerimiah 23 will apply to those who did the scattering…God Bless…Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so!
What may be a sin for one is not necessarily a sin for another. One must be careful not to use the rough words near children or in “polite” company. Personally, I think people need to relax and express themselve comfortably for all. Generally, I’ve not seen the “F” word used in the context of sex in ages! It adds the emphasis sometimes desired and is often aimed at inanimate objects such as the “f” car wouldn’t start. Had the car started, the “f” word wouldn’t have been used.
I am struggling with profanity seriously for the first time in 54 years.
I feel a conviction to do so because my wife is a pastor. I fear I will damage her ministry with my crudeness. I hear it from other men all day and unless they are using the Lord’s name in vein it really doesn’t bother me and I don’t necessarily hold it against them in any way.
For me though, because of my circumstance I think it is inappropriate and often offensive. I also wonder if it has damaged my testimony at times. I am struggling to understand the reasons and circumstances in which I use profanity, hoping to at least take authority over it. I am a good father and grandfather, but it would kill me if I ever thought that I had taught one of my grandchildren to curse. I truly believe that explatives and adjectives can be found to adequately express ourselves without profanity. I also believe that I use profanity for deeper reasons which I am only beginnig to understand. I believe the main reason to absatin from cursing is not to offend others needlessly. Even though I am not offended by it, some people are, and that is enough of a reason if I am representing Christ to the world. That is also a great reason not to beat a non-believer or young christian over the head with my Bible. I do believe scripture is VERY clear re: avoidance of profanity, but the overiding and non-negotiable principle of Christ’s teaching as well as all the prophets is love. Can I love others enough to take control of my mouth while still loving and understanding those around me who don’t ?
Tim, I think the reasons you spoke about here are exactly why I wrote this post. I get the feeling that you are convicted by the spirit regarding the use of profanity,
If it were me (and believe me it is) I would turn it over to God, daily, and rely on Him to guide me and control my tongue.
JP, this was the best !@#$%!@$% post I’ve read in a long time. Good !@#%$! job.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. You knew someone was going to do it. Since Adam’s without a computer, it had to be me. lol
JP,
Do you use words like crap, shoot, darn, dang, shucks, blast, flippin’, freakin’, gosh, golly, geeze, or heck? If anybody condemns the use of words like S*** or F***, they must also condemn the use of these substitute words. The reason being that they are, in essence,…..exactly the same. They are synonymns: different words posessing the same meaning.
I happen to be trilinguil, which I believe gives me a unique insight into the use of profanity in different cultures. What one finds, if one were to take a closer look at the use of profanity in other socio-dialects, is that something profane in one language or culture is not profane in another when using the parallel explitive. Conversely, something seemingly harmless in one culture may be extremely offensive in another.
I humbly suggest that when one engages in the debate concerning the immorality of profanity, one must understand that things are not as black and white as they may seem. Language is merely the medium by which a thought is conveyed. What is important is the thought. For example: what is the difference if when I stubbed my toe I say ” S***! ” or I say ” Shoot! ” ? There is no difference. My meaning is the same.
I don’t believe that profanity is as big a deal to God as some make it out to be. There are certainly issues that are more pressing, namely, SALVATION! To that end however, a bit of discretion is probably the best way to get people in any culture to listen to the Message. “Know your operational environment” as some would say.
I do not advocate the use of profantity. I believe that profane language just makes intelligent people sound uneducated and crude. But remember, “Nothing is intrinsically good or evil. It is the manner in which it is used that makes it so.” So if abstaining from profane language makes one feel better about themself…..let them abstain.
If more people take interest in what a person says because that person has a good command of the the language as understood by the target audiance, good diction, and does not use offensive language, then good for that person.
But here is something to think about: what repels alot of people from coming to faith is the ignorance of some “Christians” in condemning those who use the words that the feel best expresses their meaning. It can be downright offensive. Just keep that in mind.
ps: i no i cant spel corecly
Johnny,
Did you actually read the opening post?
I have a problem with profanity and I HATE it. To me, there is NO way it should be tolerated in our lives as Christians. I pray that God will BURN it out of my system…
I look forward to reading what you’ve been working on. I read what you had previously posted on this topic and liked it a lot. I am a pastor, dealing with this very issue in our church. It’s with a specific individual who has played drums in our praise band for years. I’ve worked with him since he was a kid and now he’s decided to use Romans 14 as an argument to do pretty much whatever he wants since we “aren’t supposed to condemn each other.” He’s been posting on myspace and using profanity. There are many kids from our church that see these messages as well as some adults and they are greatly offended by it. I will be confronting him on this issue this week. Unfortunately, he’s going to have a decision to make as I cannot allow this attitude to continue in someone who is in somewhat of a leadership position. I appreciate what I’ve read on your site so far. Keep up the good work!
LOL. umm…i just noticed the date at the top of the page. Apparently, I read the dissertation already and this is what I liked so much! I’ll go look for that again now. Sorry about that!
Thanks David,
I’m working on a new post that may be of interest to you and hopefully be helpful as well.
I sincerely appreciate the time you’ve taken to read my blog and to be so encouraging and complimentary, it is a blessing to have a leader of a flock chime in from time to time and let me know if I am running true or completely off base.
Well, I happen to agree with what I’ve read so far. But does that mean that you are running true or that we are both off base?
It says in the bible that letting evil spill from your mouth is a sin, but since when is “swearing” a sin? I agree that if it is used in a derogatory manner then yes, it is wrong, but using words to add expression is not mentioned in the bible. And think about this. If I came up with another word for human feces, would it be considered swearing? We substitute other words for “bad” words, but those words should be considered just as sinful as the original word. God sees the heart.
I believe that GOD holds us responsible for not only the things that we say, but the things that we THINK and DO.
To me I am just as guilty before GOD if I >>> THINK IT ( such as a swear word ) even if I do not SAY IT. This would apply for SUBSTITUTE
WORDS. An example would be saying DARN instead of DAM, or DOG GONE IT instead of “GOD d— IT”. So I agree with previous post sating the same principle. If you are thinking the hard swear word but only speaking the soft substitute, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE ???
To me the “more worser” thing to do is THE DOING OF EVIL ACTS versus merely thought and speech. However if a Christians faith and witness is looked down on BECAUSE OF THE STREAM OF FILTH SPILLING FROM THEIR PIE HOLE, then I would suggest that a person THROTTLE THEIR THOUGHT AND WORDS for the sake of a LOST PERSON BEING SAVED FROM ETERNAL SEPARATION IN HELL !!!!!!!
Please say so if you disagree.
( To me SELFISHNESS ID THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL. )
>>>>>>><<<<<<>> JESUS.
JESUS bless you,
dave :’>
Everything started with the word of God it is very important to know,to say and live the word of God out.The scripture most be know in order to minister effectively to a unbeliever,please give reference for the use of profanity
I’m very happy that I found this discussion. This is an issue that I’ve been dealing with for almost all of 2008. I am an aspiring writer and filmmaker, and a big question I’ve asked myself is what language I should use in my writing, and college writing professors don’t offer any input from the spiritual side of things.
I’ve come to the conclusion recently (and I’m not entirely happy with it, but I had to do something other than sit and twiddle my thumbs) that profanity is a matter of context. The Bible says several times to avoid filthy talk, but what is filthy? I’m not sure if profanity is right, though I’ve used my fair share lately out of frustration, but the idea that I get from a lot of Christians today is that there is this list of 7 words that good girls and boys don’t say. I don’t believe that we can define filthy language with a list of words, like was said earlier. Filthy does vary from culture to culture, and I’ve even read a few Bible word studies that state some of Paul’s speech was considered profane for the day.
So back to context, I think that the words are okay to use in necessity. Like all other words from dude to “um,” if you use them too much they make you sound unintelligent. Profanity is certainly stronger language, and serves a specific function in vocabulary. When it comes to other people, I have discussions with my friends about how they feel about profanity, and I explain how I feel about it. If they don’t like it, I don’t use it around them as a matter of respect. The same goes for church, and around children (whose vocabularies are still developing and don’t need words that have meanings they can’t fully understand), etc. – its one of those “stumbling block” issues for me.
But I do get angry, and frustrated, and the Bible gives warnings about times like that. At those times sometimes the only thing I know to say is something profane. That’s why I talk about it with my friends, I need to know who I can vent to without hurting my witness.
I’m not offended at all by profanity, other than the Lord’s name in vain. This view that I just typed is where I am at the moment, and I’m not entirely sure about it, and it might change as I grow. As far as my writing is concerned, the jury is still out. I’ve read a lot of novels where authors refrain from profanity, and they are great, but they lack something in my opinion. I think because we’re so used to it in out society. I’m still struggling with this.
I do believe that God loves all equally and that Salvation is still the only requirement for eternity. I also believe that even those of us who have accepted Christ will stand in judgment and give an account for our lives-the right and the wrong. I’m sure that once we’re there we’ll find out a lot of the things we think so little about aren’t right. But genuine Salvation is permanent and mistaken or different opinions on how to walk the walk won’t undo what Christ has done in a heart through sincere repentance.
My biggest fear in embracing profanity full on isn’t my personal Spiritual well-being (though that is a concern). The biggest fear is that it will damage my witness and have an adverse effect on people that I as a Christian should be ministering to. What could be worse than knowing that my own disobedience or lack of understanding of God’s will could have negative eternal consequences for others that I care about?
Thanks a lot for the discussion, I need the outside input.
P.S.- Sorry for being so long winded
Mathew 5;33-37. Again you have heard what was said to those of old, You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord. But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your yes be yes, and your no be no. For whatever is more than these, is from the evil one. NKJV.
James 3;5-12. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles? And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creatures of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the similtude of God. OUT OF THE SAME MOUTH PROCEED BLESSINGS AND CURSING. MY BRETHERN, THESE THINGS OUGHT NOT BE. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethern, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both saltwater and fresh.