Is "cussing" a sin?

[abadhaircut]

I'm not talking about taking the Lord's name in vain, I'm talking about words that for one reason or another society has deemed "cuss" words. Is it a sin to say them? Let's say we take context out of the question, because really, any word can be bad depending on how you use it. I ask this because I hear all the time people that propose this situation or one similar:

What if a Christian is standing on top of a ladder and he falls off, says a cuss word on the way down, and dies before he can ask for forgiveness. Will he still go to heaven?

I have my own opinion on this matter, but I would like to see what others think. So I ask, is cussing a sin?

 

[Thedictator]

Unholy speech is a sin. But because a Christian sins will NOT send him to Hell.

 

[AnthonyB]

Language varies from place to place, what may be in appropriate to one group of people is wrong for another. (eg "root" means to support a team in the US, in the right context in can be equivalent to the "f" word to Australians) However if at any time you speak in a way which you wouldn't do if God was present, then maybe you should remember the presence of the Holy Spirit with you and stop. Every word, act and thought is known by God, don't embrass your Father in Heaven but at all times aim to act like his son.

Salvation is a personal covenant, God for His part will not forsake it. He already died for you when you were alienated from Him, how much will he stand by you now you are his child. Albeit sometimes a child that blows it from time to time.

If your care enough about God to worry about losing your salvation, then you are an extreme distance from a wholehearted repudiation of your faith, which if you let unrestricted to rule your life, might (and only might since some of the verses deal with falling away deal with it as almost an impossibility) endanger your salvation.

 

[Jakihe]

Unholy speech is a sin. But because a Christian sins will NOT send him to Hell.

A Christian's sins will separate him from God and if we aren't repentant whenever we sin, we may not go to heaven.
Christians of all people don't have a license to sin.
We have standards to uphold, one of then striving to be holy.

I don't think one cuss word will do you in.
The issue here, is that our speech is a reflection of our heart.
I don't cuss and I would never want anyone hearing me say even one cuss word because I say I belong to Jesus; it's not a very good example to set.

 

[heapshake]

What if a Christian is standing on top of a ladder and he falls off, says a cuss word on the way down, and dies before he can ask for forgiveness. Will he still go to heaven?

Yes, I believe he will

So I ask, is cussing a sin?

I believe it is. The beginning of Ephesians 5 says

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

 

[Thedictator]

Both heapshake and Jakihe are wrong. It is this type of false belief and teaching that has done so much harm and damage to the Churches of Christ. It has led to cult like movements like the Boston Movement ( The idea of I must be perfect and work for my salvation)

Sin only separates a non christian from God. One can be lost by turning away from faith and belief in God and going back into a life of sin.

A Christian who has ( true ) faith in Jesus Christ will not be lost because of a sin here and their.

A Christian will only be lost unless he no longer wants to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

 

[abadhaircut]

Thanks for the responses guys! I agree that a Christian would want to be spotless in all the he does, including speech. I guess the thing I have a hard time understanding is how one word can be worse than another word, especially when you have 2 words with the exact same meaning? To me this has just kind of always seemed like one of those things that the Church has decided is wrong that I in my own personal studies have never seen in the Bible as being condemned, kind of like people who say you have to wear "sunday clothes" to church.

 

[Jakihe]

Thanks for the responses guys! I agree that a Christian would want to be spotless in all the he does, including speech. I guess the thing I have a hard time understanding is how one word can be worse than another word, especially when you have 2 words with the exact same meaning? To me this has just kind of always seemed like one of those things that the Church has decided is wrong that I in my own personal studies have never seen in the Bible as being condemned, kind of like people who say you have to wear "sunday clothes" to church.

Look at it this way.....would you want to hear your grandmother, or mother throw the F bomb? It would disappoint you, you know?
This is how God must feel when he looks at those who claim to be followers of His son. It isn't setting a very good example for others, especially those who need to understand that Jesus is Holy and does change us into new beings.
Blessings

 

[pchotrodder]

The bible says that it is not what goes into a man's mouth that makes him unclean, but what comes out of it. From that I would say that cussing is a sin in the eyes of the lord. As for cussing sending you to hell I don't think so. The bible also says that all sin and fall short of the glory of God. Our rightousness is as filthy rags to the Lord so no matter how perfect we try to be we will never reach perfection in the eyes of the Lord. God will judge each of us and he looks at our heart. That is what will decide our eternal destiny.

 

[abadhaircut]

Look at it this way.....would you want to hear your grandmother, or mother throw the F bomb? It would disappoint you, you know?
This is how God must feel when he looks at those who claim to be followers of His son. It isn't setting a very good example for others, especially those who need to understand that Jesus is Holy and does change us into new beings.
Blessings

Honestly? I don't think I would feel very disappointed to hear someone say any "cuss" word (excluding blaspheming the name of the Lord) because I do not see any word as being bad. I just cannot wrap my mind around how a combination of sounds that mean the same thing as another combination of sounds could be bad.

However, saying that, I am wise enough to know to not use certain words around certain people. Does this make me a hypocrite? Personally I do not believe so. It goes to the same thing of doing something that could cause a brother to stumble. Even if I know that what I'm doing may not be wrong, my brother (who may know less than me) might think differently than I do. Therefore, if he sees me doing something it could be detrimental to his faith. I don't know if I made that clear or not, I'm just kind of rambling here.

Oh and one last thing. In my initial post I did not mean for it to sound like I was asking whether or not saying a cuss word would send a Christian to hell. I know that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God, and that occasionally slipping up and doing something we shouldn't will not send us to eternal damnation. I'm kinda just trying to get some discussion going, see what other people's opinions are.

 

[heapshake]

Both heapshake and Jakihe are wrong.

That is strange because I don't agree with Jakihe. Jakihe said that not repenting might cause the man to be lost. I said I think the guy in question will go to heaven.

It is this type of false belief and teaching that has done so much harm and damage to the Churches of Christ. It has led to cult like movements like the Boston Movement ( The idea of I must be perfect and work for my salvation)

I'm not sure how you arrived at the idea that I was saying one must work for their salvation by my saying that the Christian on the ladder would still go to heaven.

Sin only separates a non christian from God. One can be lost by turning away from faith and belief in God and going back into a life of sin.

A Christian who has ( true ) faith in Jesus Christ will not be lost because of a sin here and their.

A Christian will only be lost unless he no longer wants to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

I agree with this. You've probably misunderstood what I was saying.

 

[heapshake]

I guess the thing I have a hard time understanding is how one word can be worse than another word, especially when you have 2 words with the exact same meaning? To me this has just kind of always seemed like one of those things that the Church has decided is wrong that I in my own personal studies have never seen in the Bible as being condemned, kind of like people who say you have to wear "sunday clothes" to church.

Instead of comparing it to "sunday clothes", I'd compare it to modest dress in general. In some cultures women go topless, but just because it isn't immodest there doesn't mean it is ok here. Some words that used to be fine are now considered offensive, and those that used to be offensive aren't today.

 

[abadhaircut]

Instead of comparing it to "sunday clothes", I'd compare it to modest dress in general. In some cultures women go topless, but just because it isn't immodest there doesn't mean it is ok here. Some words that used to be fine are now considered offensive, and those that used to be offensive aren't today.

Yes I suppose that would be a more fair comparison. So then, would you consider cussing something that would only be wrong under certain circumstances?

 

[Windlord]

I suppose it depends on the word and the context. Paul used the word Skubalon, which is pretty strong language. The most appropriate direct translation into American English would be a word that begins with an S and ends in a T.

 

[outOftheLoop]

I'm not talking about taking the Lord's name in vain, I'm talking about words that for one reason or another society has deemed "cuss" words. Is it a sin to say them? Let's say we take context out of the question, because really, any word can be bad depending on how you use it. I ask this because I hear all the time people that propose this situation or one similar:

What if a Christian is standing on top of a ladder and he falls off, says a cuss word on the way down, and dies before he can ask for forgiveness. Will he still go to heaven?

I have my own opinion on this matter, but I would like to see what others think. So I ask, is cussing a sin?

not in the case you site

and even if someone has a terrible habit of cussing when not startled or hurt, i say Big deal

the saints say that more people go to Hell over sexual sins than any other sin and i totally believe this because sex causes idolatry in us fallen humans. Sex is addictive, emotioanlly, physically, etc.. and so we worship that kind of thing instead of God. When we worship something other than God, we virtually forget about Him. In the OT God got angriest of all when idolatry was involved (& often wanted to annihilate people becaues of it. sometimes he did wipe them out), but when you think about it, ALL sin is idolatry, loving somehing/someone more than you love God

cussing doesn't mean you don't love God, unless you say Jesus as a swear word. I hate that... I say many cuss word when upset, but i NEVER say that... and i dont understand people acquiring tht kind of bad habit..

 

[NaLuvena]

What you term "cussing" is just a cultural thing. A previous poster used the work "root" as an example.

Cultures different. Where some cultures want to cover up complete, others are fine with the flimsiest bits of clothes.

What matters is the intent of the heart. You can say "You're a waste of my time" to someone and cause much more damage and show no love at all, when compared to say, uttering the F-word in awe or appreciation.

 

[Alive_Again]

Your words reflect the condition of your heart. I don't think that God is waiting for a reason to take you out of His book, although the Word clearly says that you can be taken out.

Anything you can't say in faith is sin. Sometimes I say "pooh!" I laugh because I deem it to be pretty tame. Also, you can pick up a "cursing spirit". Take care of that just like any other oppression. If you find that you can't stop, then that is most likely the cause.

We're accountable for our idle words. We want to please the Lord, so, I would suggest dealing with the problem. It takes away our witness in public. You don't find good fruit on bad trees. How is the fruit of your life?

This is something you can deal with successfully. The Lord says that the tongue can defile the whole body. I would take it seriously.

 

[do justly]

I'm not talking about taking the Lord's name in vain, I'm talking about words that for one reason or another society has deemed "cuss" words. Is it a sin to say them?

Cuss words come when you are inhabited by the demon of profanity, but that can only happen if you're inhabited by the demon of lies. Yeah, it's a sin. Before anyone gets any ideas about exorcism you should consider that can you can do more harm with it than good, the chapter in Matthew with the strong man parable is all about this.

God gave us conscience to discern the good from the bad, it's not necessarily the word as it is what use you put it to and the damage it does.

 

[BiblebelievingChristian]

Unholy speech is a sin. But because a Christian sins will NOT send him to Hell.

Are you saying that you believe Christians have a free pass to sin all they want and still get into Heaven?

 

[heapshake]

Are you saying that you believe Christians have a free pass to sin all they want and still get into Heaven?

I didn't get that message from what he wrote. Christians sin, but according to Romans 8:1 there is no condemnation for those in Christ.