ianb321red

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Is it ok for Christians to swear?

Or are there some swear words that are 'ok', and others that aren't?

What do you think of Christians that blaspheme? For example, I had a conversation with another Christian and the first thing that she said was "Oh my God". Is this how a Christian should talk?

Or is this all completely trivial? Is the commandment to not take the Lord's name in vain only applicable to Yahweh (his personal name) or Jehovah rather than to God?
 
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Jul 23, 2011
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Is it ok for Christians to swear?

Or are there some swear words that are 'ok', and answers that aren't?

What do you think of Christians that blaspheme? For example, I had a conversation with another Christian and the first thing that she said was "Oh my God". Is this how a Christian should talk?

Or is this all completely trivial? Is the commandment to not take the Lord's name in vain only applicable to Yahweh (his personal name) or Jehovah rather than to God?

Our Lord tells us in the Gospels that the mouth is the overflow of the heart, that in itself should say it all!!!!!!!!!
 
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MikeBigg

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I thought there was something in one of the epistles about coarse language. I looked in the likely places, but didn't find it.

For me, I don't swear (much - sometimes it seems swear words are intended for some situations, like locking yourself out the house).

I'm not offended by people who swear or blaspheme - you have to get used to that if you have any contact at all with people outside the church lol
 
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Oafman

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Not only is it fine for anyone to swear, but I actively encourage it! Swearing enriches our language, and allows us to place additional emphasis, meaning and even comedy.

Stephen Fry puts it well:

Fry said:
Swearing is a really important part of one's life. It would be impossible to imagine going through life without swearing and without enjoying swearing... There used to be mad, silly, prissy people who used to say swearing was a sign of a poor vocabulary -such utter nonsense. The people I know who swear the most tend to have the widest vocabularies and the kind of person who says swearing is a sign of a poor vocabulary usually have a pretty poor vocabulary themselves... The sort of twee person who thinks swearing is in any way a sign of a lack of education or a lack of verbal interest or -is just a [bless and do not curse]ing lunatic... I haven't met anybody who's truly shocked at swearing, really, they're only shocked on behalf of other people. Well, you know, that's preposterous... or they say 'it's not necessary'. As if that should stop one doing it! It's not necessary to have coloured socks, it's not necessary for this cushion to be here, but is anyone going to write in and say 'I was shocked to see that cushion there, it really wasn't necessary'? No, things not being necessary is what makes life interesting -the little extras in life.
 
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David Brider

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I'm fairly broadminded about most things, but swearing still has the capacity to shock me. Generally speaking, it's something I try to avoid doing myself, and normally if my wife swears I'll politely ask her not to...
 
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All Englands Skies

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Not only is it fine for anyone to swear, but I actively encourage it! Swearing enriches our language, and allows us to place additional emphasis, meaning and even comedy.

Stephen Fry puts it well:

But if you swear all the time (activally encourage it) it ends up doing the opposite, making your language skills worse, someone who "every other word is a swear word", usually makes them selves look an idiot.

With certain timing, scenerio, place is can be rather funny.

Over using it, it ends up making you look like a "****head" :p
 
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Jul 23, 2011
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I thought there was something in one of the epistles about coarse language. I looked in the likely places, but didn't find it.

Colossians 3:8 (NIV)

"But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips." :thumbsup:
 
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tansy

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I think there's a difference between swearing as in taking the Lord's name in vain, and what some people call swearing which is vulgar or very rude language.

I have to admit I sometimes catch myself saying 'Oh my God' when surprised or shocked bya tragedy, or even something less tragic, but possibly harmful, happening to a person...or if something potentially awful is about to happen to me! But possibly I suppose you could say that was a form of prayer?

However, I hate certain crude or vulgar words being used..when you hear children repeating certain words and they don't even understand what they're saying (some adults probably don't even know what some words mean), I think it's horrible. Certainly when they're being used all the time.

Having said that, if I burn myself or hit my thumb with a hammer, I do tend to let out some expletive..as do many other people. 'Oh sugar' or suchlike just doesn't seem to cut it in those circumstances :(.

As for comedy I don't mind the odd not such nice word if it's for the sake of the humour..but I don't like it if the comedian is making constant use of bad language..it just takes away from the humour for me.

But as someone before said, one has to learn to live with these sorts of things..and comedians I don't like, I don't watch.
 
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King Mob

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Is it ok for Christians to swear?

Or are there some swear words that are 'ok', and others that aren't?

What do you think of Christians that blaspheme? For example, I had a conversation with another Christian and the first thing that she said was "Oh my God". Is this how a Christian should talk?

Or is this all completely trivial? Is the commandment to not take the Lord's name in vain only applicable to Yahweh (his personal name) or Jehovah rather than to God?

Subjective.
 
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GloryBe!

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I used to be one of those people who didn't swear at all. I could get along with anyone who did, and didn't care if they did, but it just wasn't for me. Then the real world happened. It's just one of the petty things that don't matter anymore. It was also a form of pride. I "swear" quite often now. "crap" "screwed" "shaft" "hoe" etc used to be swear words, our current words will, eventually,be downgraded to slang. Whether you use "manure," "crap", or "the s word" it all means the same thing, the only difference is emotion and context. Some things just can't be described or portrayed as emotionally accurate without certain words. The public has enough degrading problems without my having yet another reason to think less of them. I tend to think promiscuity, infidelity, extreme laziness, and lack of discipline are worse problems in this world than the broader use of English words.
 
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tansy

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I used to be one of those people who didn't swear at all. I could get along with anyone who did, and didn't care if they did, but it just wasn't for me. Then the real world happened. It's just one of the petty things that don't matter anymore. It was also a form of pride. I "swear" quite often now. "crap" "screwed" "shaft" "hoe" etc used to be swear words, our current words will, eventually,be downgraded to slang. Whether you use "manure," "crap", or "s*¡¥" it all means the same thing, the only difference is emotion and context. Some things just can't be described or portrayed as emotionally accurate without certain words. The public has enough degrading problems without my having yet another reason to think less of them. I tend to think promiscuity, infidelity, extreme laziness, and lack of discipline are worse problems in this world than the broader use of English words.

I wouldn't consider those swear words, rather perhaps crude ones. Crap I don't mind because it's descriptive..words like screw I'm not so sure about.
But there are other words which I wouldn't use such as bugger, because of what it means...and certainly wouldn't use a word like that asround children
 
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ianb321red

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Ok, so what do people think about Christians who blaspheme?

I have got less of a problem with non-Christians who blaspheme (although I don't really like it) than with Christians; because I think Christians should know better...

If I was at church having coffee after the sermon, and someone split their drink and exclaimed "JESUS H CHRIST" loudly then I would be offended by this....

My father in law says "Jesus wept" ALL the time

I even don't really like "OH MY GOD" or [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] to be honest...
 
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Robban

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There when I first became a "real" christian, one of the first things I did was stamp out saying "Oh my God" which was actually really hard for me, I used it all the time. It does still slip out every now and then, and I wince quite a bit when I do :p

Well that,s understandable Miser,if you have two worlds and One God.
But many have only one world but many gods.
So it follows they don,t feel it that way.
 
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Lotuspetal_uk

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Prior to becoming a Christian 15 years ago I could (and did) swear, curse and blaspheme with the rest of them, however on becoming a Christian (a disciple and follower of Lord Jesus Christ) that has departed :)
Like you, prior to becoming a Christian I worked in a predominately male environment and as such would swear quite a lot.

Alas I've had to be a work-in-progress since getting saved and I have to still exercise a lot of self control, mainly when I'm driving. My turning point has been the kids - HRH is my moral policewoman in the car. She pulls me up even when I call other drivers stupid.

But at least I'm thankfully down to calling white-van-man drivers "donkey chasms" whenever they misbehave on the road but she doesn't even like me calling them that due to the fact that she now understands that I'm substituting the phrase for an actual swear word. ^_^
 
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