Swear words and Christians

[GreenPartyVoter]

Some Christians denounce cuss words as being offensive to God. They also believe that by not swearing they are standing out in the world as being and offering something different.

I know other Christians who will drop the f-bomb wherever they may be.

How do you feel about it?

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Words are only offensive because people choose to be offended.

The only scriptural prohibition on words is that are we not to use words to hurt or lie, nor are we to take oaths using God's name.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Well, some Christians read Eph 4:29, 5:4 and Colossians 3:8 and

consider swearing "dirty/unwholesome/foul/polluting" (choose your translation). I can see their line of thinking and how they arrived at that idea. :shrug: To be honest, I would be a bit shocked if my pastor started ranting about the effing this and the effing that from the pulpit, and I am pretty sure a lot of members would just plain pass out. LOL

As far as words being offensive simply because people choose to be offended, I don't know. I could never bring myself to call an African-American a n***** and I myself detest being called a c***. Some people think you can take away the power a word has, but I'm just not sure it can be done in a single lifetime. (Obviously the word dork, which is a penis, has lost its meaning over time so I am not saying it can never be done. Just that it would take a very, very long time.)

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. Ah,

but words like nigger and cunt are generally used solely to hurt, which is one of the things we're not supposed to use words for. They can still be used, e.g., "John called Martin a 'nigger'", in which case it's perfectly fine - it's conveying factual information. Much different than the dude that actually used it against Martin.

Words like fuck and shit and damn are, in general, fine - rude in a social context, sure, but that's only because our society is immature, not because the words are ipso facto rude or vulgar - but nothing morally or ethically wrong with any of them, unless one is using them to hurt, i.e., "You're a stupid fuck" or "Someone oughtta shit in your mouth", which sentences would still be offensive even without the fuck or the shit in them.

Using these so-called "swear words" is, alas, socially inappropriate - they really shouldn't be, but people years ago decided that those words are "offensive", and now they can't be used in public. I find it unfortunate, because there are times that one of them is just the right word to punctuate a thought, e.g., compare "Please, hie yourself elsewhere" versus "Fuck off!", or "this works really well" versus "This works like a motherfucker".

Eph 4:29 says

"Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear."

Notice the "evil" in there.

Ehp 5:4 says

"Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, and vulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving."

Swear words are, in a lot of cases (except when used creatively) a lower class form of speech, and thus vulgar. But notice the proscription here is only that such language is "out of place", not morally reprehensible, and also compares it versus thanksgiving - and so one can assume that Paul is talking here mostly about language that is 'obscene, silly, and vulgar' is language which is not language of thanksgiving - petty complaints, gossip, name-calling, and so forth. Again, not a prohibition of "shit".

Col 3:8 says

"But now you must get rid of all such things--anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth."

None of those modifiers say anything about "swear" words. Those are all forms of words spoken with the intent to hurt.

I don't think there is any phonetic combination that is offensive to God in and of itself. Heck, the Thai people have a word "Phuket" - are they blasphmening God by using it? Of course not.

What offends God, as I see it, is how we USE language.

I find it unfortunate that we even have phonetic combinations that we deem "profane" (which is a truly ridiculous notion if one actually knows the meaning of profane) or "obscene". If we would collectively decide that they aren't, they would lose their power, and we go on with the act of living and stop worry about how other people are living.

The whole "swear word"/"bad word" bullshit is solely asshole rich people and overly-pious-but-really-hypocritical-fuckwit assholes finding yet another theological justification for despising the lower classes.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. I find a lot of the overly pious are lower classes. It seems to me that

there is some correlation between the more dire the straits people are in to how rigid their religion is. (but those are thoughts for another thread, maybe?)

Thank you for your thoughts about swearing vs. hurtful language. I agree with much of it, but having been in a (poor) conservative charismatic Xn family for so long I've gotten used to their feelings about swearing. But when you serve a grumpy God of requirements I can understand why they feel the way they do. A lot of Christians I know are very uptight about how they look to other people. Hence the "how will they know us from worldly people if we swear". (I will confess to swearing sometimes solely because it freaks my husband out. In that particular case would it be deemed abusive or offensive because I did it strictly to push his buttons?)

I don't generally swear because it just doesn't sit well with my husband's family and because it doesn't fit me right. I feel like I am play-acting or trying on words like a little kid does. :) Then again I say "crap", "darn", and "frikkin" which are also a no-no words around here since they are stand ins for vulgarities. Ah well, they are good people and they mean well but for me their church denomination is too strict and imposing a lot of the time. Not so much about grace, although they think they are.

[swimboy]

5. I think there's a good reason we have those words

and I think there is a time and place for the use of a good expletive. There ARE words I will NOT say, however. Fuck is not one of them.

Time and place are important, not only for context, but whether or not one is in control of the swearing.

So although I will swear, I don't fully agree that "they are just words".

[Kajsa]

6. I agree, swimboy. Words are extremely powerful.

Words have the power to start ( and end) wars.

[shimmergal]

7. I think it's a matter of taste, rather than

in Christianity's domain.

That said, I really dislike some of the words I hear today. The acceptablility of words DOES change though, and not as slowly as we may think. When I was in college, the "n word" was unacceptable in polite company, but most people felt free to use it among their intimates. OTOH, "f*-" and "s*-" were _really_ unacceptable in polite company AND elsewhere. Kind of the reverse of the situation now. I think Norman Mailer started to legitimize the latter in his first WWII novel, (Naked and the Dead?) but even there he had to use phonetic near-equivalents in print.

About the "Taking the Lord's name in vain." That's a reasonable understanding of what it meant. I've always thought it meant "pulling rank" by saying God wants you to do this or that, when the idea is really the speaker's. But maybe this is too modern an interpretation.

Interesting discussion! And a good break from the internecine political squabbling!

[Patchuli]

8. I am most offended by the sadly but oft-heard

G'Damnit. Secondly, McCain's use of the c-word and anyone's use of it, for that matter.

[hendo]

9. I am also offended by the GD curse

Personally, I curse (although never GD) and I am disappointed in myself most of the time when I do it, unless I am quoting someone. For some reason I can justify that.

[Kat45]

10. Interesting, your comment about GD.

I curse like a sailor and really don't care, but the one thing I will not say is GD. I won't even say damn by itself because I feel that the Lord is the only one who can damn someone. I am also trying hard to not say 'Oh God' in an offhand way in starting a comment, and I find that a tougher one to avoid because it comes out too easily. :shrug:

[Divine Discontent]

11. I don't mind swears as long as Christ or God aren't in them. eom

[undeterred]

13. I hate that too.

I try not to use the fbomb, but when I am around people who do or I am very angry it slips out. I try not to use it posting at DU, and I can usually catch myself. The f word is pretty overused here.

[AspenRose]

12. James chapter 3

v. 8-12

But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.

Matthew 12: 33-37

Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten, because a tree is known by its fruit. You children of serpents! How can you say anything good when you are evil? **The mouth speaks about what overflows from the heart.** A good person brings good things out of a good treasure house, and an evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure house. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give an account for every thoughtless word they have uttered, because by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.

That said: Yes I do swear, though I try not to (especially since I have young children). I sometimes appreciate "coarse joking" even though I am convicted about it later. (Ephesians 5: 4)

And "GD" DEFINITELY offends me.

[Adsos Letter]

14. Ror awhile, many years ago, I worked with a carpenter who was about 25 years my senior...

he was a Christian, would never use actual swear words, but would substitute non-swear words; still, the emotion behind them was often the same.