Regarding swear words...

Hello, guys!

I have been wondering... Having been raised in a Christian household, I have always been educated so as to avoid swear words, largely based on Ephesians 4:29, which reads, ‘Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.’

This is a strong verse. Do we always use words which ‘[build] others up’ and which ‘benefit those who listen’? No, we do not. And swearing does not help. I am convinced that swearing is bad for any Christian; we should strive to reflect Jesus in our actions, and this includes our words. Jesus said that ‘the things that come out a person's mouth come from the heart, and these defile them’ (Matthew 15:18). Basically, your mouth speaks what your heart is full of. Therefore, we should struggle to clean our hearts of any impurity, which includes the tendency to swear. We should not use such ugly words as those vulgar and obscene terms which refer to sexual and scatological concepts (there are much better scientific words for them).

However, I seem to have been noticing a growing tendency especially amongst younger people to banally use swear words with no problem — even amongst Christians (which is disconcerting). Personally, I have never had a problem with this — I have always been able to avoid swearing, and I cannot remember the last time I swore. You can, therefore, imagine that the growing trend in swearing has been a particularly disturbing aspect for me. I believe that greater emphasis should be given to teaching teenagers not to swear.

What are your thoughts in this aspect? Which other biblical verses would you like to quote? How often do you swear? Would you like to avoid it? What are you doing to do so? Which advice would you give to other Christian teenagers who want to avoid it as well? How does your going to school and engaging in social activities with non-Christians influence your ability to resist the temptation to swear and the frequency with which you swear? How great was the emphasis that your parents and your Sunday school teachers put in teaching you not to swear? How much greater should it have been? How serious is the aforementioned growing trend?

I would like to start a discussion here about the issue of swearing and how Christians should react to it. Please leave your comments!

By the way, it goes without saying that you are not allowed to swear in your comments (it is also against CF rules).

Teegan said:

I have been taught not to use any swear words. It makes me uncomfortable to hear them, let alone say them. I have thought of them in my head I guess. The kids I hang out with are mostly all Christians so they don't tend to swear. We have had some fun making up swear words...like we will say shazazzy or flutter butter or son of a purple people eater. Lol

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I agree with you in all those things. I too have been educated not to say them, and it is uncomfortable to hear them.

Yes, sometimes I think of them in my head, and I say them sometimes, when I am alone (I do not think I have ever pronounced them in the presence of anyone else).

One of the reasons why I do not hang out with my classmates very much is precisely that they cannot tame their tongues. I choose my friends (as well as films and TV shows that I watch) carefully — the reason being that I am aware that hearing them too much will eventually subconsciously influence me and cause me to say them as well.

I like to make up swear words too! I have tried ‘flush’, ‘fire’, ‘shire’, ‘micro-feather’... But these not as funny as your ‘shazazzy’ and ‘purple people eater’! Perhaps I shall start using these too! LOL. Thanks for your suggestions!

<Staff Edit>

Yes, you are not allowed to using swear words here on ChristianForums. If you want to imply a swear word, just use dashes (———), hyphens (----), asterisks (****), combinations of these or other signs (#$%&), or euphemisms.

Thrash Metalhead said:

I grew up in a family that likes to swear a lot. And boy, when I say a lot, I mean a LOT. Of course I picked up on that sort of language at an early age but now that I'm older I don't really like to use it because it doesn't feel right coming out of my mouth. Despite that though, I still do cuss a few times every day but more in a joking way and every now and then when I'm mad I'll let one slip out.

My ma on the other hand cusses like a sailor, ha ha. It's like she can't help it and it comes naturally for her.

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Hmm... I'm curious. How exactly is it that it doesn't feel right for you to swear, but you still do it a few times every day?

Butterfly99 said:

I've cussed a few times in my life but it's def. not a habit. I don't get all that bothered by ppl who do cuss unless it's obvious they're just trying to be rude. I think too much attn is put on profanity when that's not as huge of a deal as how your words affect other ppl. Cause gossiping, rudeness, meanness, all that can be done w/out cuss words but hurt much more.

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I agree with that. It is entirely possible for you to offend without swearing, and to swear without offending. Nevertheless, they are quite related, and emphasis should be given to both. They are two distinct, yet connected, problems, and they deserve two distinct, yet connected, approaches. This is what I think.

Balhu said:

[…] Swearing can help me to keep the illusion that I have some control of the situation.

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How exactly does it make you feel you have control?

Balhu said:

Not sure. I do know that I hate to have a dire/bad situation out of my control. Perhaps it becomes a way for me to vent my rage.

I dunno, I'm not a psychologist.

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And do you find it acceptable to swear in those circumstances? Do you not see a problem with it?

Lulav said:

View attachment 169610

That information is not correct. To avoid any possible violation please disregard the above post.

Our rules state:

Vulgarity and Profanity
Please do not post, or link to, violent, disturbing, graphic, or sexually explicit images or text.
Profanity or foul language is not allowed.
This includes using punctuation or acronyms to bypass the profanity filter and a few non-censored words found here.


So no bypassing by using 'implications'. It's really not necessary is it?​

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Hmm… The text of that rule looks ambiguous. When I read, ‘This includes using punctuation […]’, I assumed it meant using some obvious punctuation signs to replace letters — for example, writing the S-word, but with a hash to replace the H and/or an exclamation mark to replace the I; that would still visually look like the word, but it would go uncensored by the filter. I thought that is what you meant. I did not think it meant you could not use ‘———’ in place of a swear word. Furthermore, the text nowhere explicitly mentions ‘implications’ of swear words.

If that is what it really means, then, in my humble opinion, I find it kind of a ridiculous rule. I could use it to imply a swear word in a humoristic manner, for example, or to quote someone without writing the word. It is also ridiculous that I can use euphemisms (like ‘heck’, ‘darn’ and ‘shoot’), but not dashes or asterisks (which look a lot less like the actual words than those euphemisms).

So, I kindly suggest that you confirm with other moderators that your interpretation of the text is correct. Then, I suggest that you change it to make it clearer.

Lulav said:

Hi there,

We are at present working to make the rules more succinct. However at this time they are as I stated, they are not my interpretation of them, just copied and pasted here for your convenience from the Community Rules.

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I know. When I read your post, I immediately recognised the text from the community rules. But I was raising the question that perhaps your warning here could be the result of a faulty interpretation of the text, since I had interpreted it in a different manner, as I have explained, which I also consider valid, along with yours.

Lulav said:

The text doesn't say anything about implications, I mentioned that because you did.

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Surely. But my point was that, since it does not say anything about implications, perhaps you would be misinterpreting it in that sense.

Lulav said:

I will pass along your suggestions to our leadership. Thanks!

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Thank you so much! God bless you!

J. Elias said:

Regarding the OP, my personal opinion is that words are mere words. There seems to me nothing inherently wrong with swearing in that saying certain words is a sin. There would be nothing wrong with making a particular noise. In fact, we often laugh at little children when they mispronounce words in such a way.

However, from the standpoint of a Christian, when one is representing Christ, it should seem profane language is not representative of Christ. In fact, the associations made when one swears are that one is simply like everyone else. When one walks and talks in the ways of the world, they do not have the mark of a Christian. So it would seem swearing should be avoided.

Interestingly, Jesus also mentions that it is what comes out of a man that defiles him, i.e. his words. Out of the abundance of the heart a man speaks, and the speech of a man that is provocative, offensive, profane, or just crude seems at best unrepresentative of Christ and at worst is slandering His name.

In addition to all that, it's just bad form. If one doesn't have the vocabulary to express what they will, then they perhaps need to work on expanding it. In the case of an interjecting swear, such as a stubbed toe, I could see how it's understandable. But our standard isn't "understandable," our standard is holiness.

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I entirely agree with you. You have expressed my viewpoint in a way I doubt I could have done.