Is It A Sin To Curse?

"living4thebigman... i know the truth and i am free.. i do not curse.. but i wont condem one that does... i can tell you are still a baby in the lord.. i have been saved for 18 yrs now.. there is no reason to call me legalism.. dont judge me. you are putting yourself in Gods shoes and that will not be tolerated by him.. thanks"
...well I'm just about done with this thread. Just like I said in the beginning..."I know that most people will disagree with me but thats ok, this is what I believe with all my heart and have come to after talking to several people and with prayer"

I'm just curious how you can say definitively that I am "still a baby in the Lord?"
May I also suggest that you be careful when you say "you are putting yourself in God's shoes and that will not be tolerated..." for, you do not know me or my heart.

Legalism divides.

christiangal522 said:

Legalism divides.

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It's curious that this term "legalism" can be used to promote lawlessness. Especially when God has gone to the effort of writing His laws in our hearts.

Hebrews 8:10 But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds so they will understand them, and I will write them on their hearts so they will obey them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

The only thing I can think of that might fit the term would be Phariseeism, where the Pharisees would "strain knats" and swallow camels, but they would break the greater laws of justice, faith, and mercy. Hypocrisy - pretending to be better than others.

Mt 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone.
24 Blind guides, straining out the gnat, but swallowing the camel!

Crying legalism to justify sin just doesn't really work when the law is supposed to be even more established by being in our hearts. The spiritual law of God will never be done away with because it is perfect and points us to love where it is fulfilled.

Matthew 5:17 "Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them.
18 I assure you, until heaven and earth disappear, even the smallest detail of God’s law will remain until its purpose is achieved.
19 So if you break the smallest commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Ro 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
(NLT) 31 Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.

Lu 16:17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

Ro 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Romans 12:14 : Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

James 3:9,10 : With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so.

Matthew 12:36,37 : I tell you, on the day of judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

I think the above scriptures explain clearly how a Christian ought to be with regard to the question posted.

forgiven..i was referring to you when I mentioned the term, legalism.

And to everyone else, I am done with this thread. Raphe, it seems that you are stuck on your decision that I am wrong and you are going a step further to say that I am promoting a Pharisaic type attitude, which is hardly the case. Feel free to judge me all you want. I would encourage you all to study this topic with an open mind and see what the Bible says regarding this topic. Do not read into the text with the presuppositions you already contain. Throw them out and study the truth that the Bible promotes. Only then will you be free.

As I stated before, feel free to judge me all you want, my conscience is clear before God, and that is what is important.

I BELIEVE:

The "law" of love is much more of a "law" worth living by than anything...if we don't have love, then nothing else really matters! If we put 'rules' and 'christian morality' above love, we've failed at our responsibilities as Christians.

In my young Christian years, I spent a lot of time trying to understand what "I Should" and "Should not" do...what's okay, what isn't, etc. it was actually a very stressing thing...now that i look back at it, I realize how much more stressful my Christian faith was....so much time was spent by mentors, leaders, church leaders, pastors, etc. teaching about the shoulds and shouldnts that love was lost. Now that I've grown up and have studied the Bible at length as well as spent time with great theologians and teachers, I realize how much time I wasted living like that. When I released my grip on my "christian morality" my faith grew ten times and love flowed more freely from my life. I have been able to reach out to more non-Christians and have attracted people that would have steered clear of me before (esp. nonbelievers or struggling believers). I was one of those Christians who'd tell people when they were behaving in a "unchristian" manner...yeah, really loving. Now I'm faced with people I'd never have been able to reach out to before...nor would I have associated with them because of my Christian Legalistic way of living. (I believe A LOT of Christians are this way...I go to school with a lot of them!!) When love is first, well, the "legalities"...they come naturally when you live from love. It's more natural to not do things that I "should" and "shouldn't" and it no longer because a checklist but a natural way of living.

I think too many people live this way. I'm not saying aany of you are... I just wanted to express that.

I think that some words are bad, like the F-bomb, but the others aren't unless you are calling someone a bad name.

Christiangal I whole heartedly agree with what you have said. I feel that you helped into summarizing what I was trying to communicate.

Forgivenmuch - I guess this is one area where the internet falls short, communication. It's hard to tell a person's tone and at times, who they are directing their comments too. My apologies, and I'll work harder on being better at that. I hope though through all of these discussions, that in some way, you've gained some insight and some thirst to study this topic on your own.

Despite everything, Thanks be to God for his grace.

livin4thebigman said:

forgiven..i was referring to you when I mentioned the term, legalism.

And to everyone else, I am done with this thread. Raphe, it seems that you are stuck on your decision that I am wrong and you are going a step further to say that I am promoting a Pharisaic type attitude, which is hardly the case. Feel free to judge me all you want. I would encourage you all to study this topic with an open mind and see what the Bible says regarding this topic. Do not read into the text with the presuppositions you already contain. Throw them out and study the truth that the Bible promotes. Only then will you be free.

As I stated before, feel free to judge me all you want, my conscience is clear before God, and that is what is important.

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I don't judge you and you misunderstood the reference to Pharisees. Nope you wouldn't be one of them, nor should you.

If you came to my house and cussed, I wouldn't ask you to leave, and if it was fairly mild, I'd probably slip right into a few right with you. I do not have virgin ears, but if I went out in front of other people as a witness and didn't know who they were, I would be careful to not misrepresent the Lord. Paul said that He became all things to all people in order to win a few, so that would mean that I would also be sensitive to not offending others with my foul language. Some cuss words are very expressive and hard to replace (for the coarse, like myself), but the Bible warns us to not use our freedom to offend others. Again, if you came to my house and cussed, I could handle it, but if you went to my parents house and purposely offended them, then you would be wrong to do so and impolite - having no regard for others than youself and your own freedom.

Romans 14:15 And if another Christian is distressed by what you eat [say?], you are not acting in love if you eat it. Don’t let your eating [language?] ruin someone for whom Christ died.

22 You may have the faith to believe that there is nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between yourself and God. Blessed are those who do not condemn themselves by doing something they know is all right.
23 But if people have doubts about whether they should eat something, they shouldn’t eat it. They would be condemned for not acting in faith before God. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.

1Co 10:23 You say, "I am allowed to do anything"—but not everything is helpful. You say, "I am allowed to do anything"—but not everything is beneficial.
33 That is the plan I follow, too. I try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what I like or what is best for me, but what is best for them so they may be saved.

Mat. 5:19 So if you break the smallest commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Freedom from sin - not freedom to sin. We are described as being in bondage, slavery to sin, and Jesus has come to set us free from sin and death - not be entangled in it again.

Joh 8:34 Jesus replied, "I assure you that everyone who sins is a slave of sin.
35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.

2Pe 2:20 And when people escape from the wicked ways of the world by learning about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up with sin and become its slave again, they are worse off than before.

There are so many things worse than a curse word or two that comes from the frustrations in life and lack of tongue control. Selfishness, greed, laziness, all these things that cause us to ignore the needs of others, the things Jesus asks about when He returns; they are more important than the knats that the Pharisees wanted to strain and pretend to be Holy with. Our love has to take action and not just be words (lip service), so a few cuss words won't make me feel condemned or under law. Nevertheless, I cannot ignore the conviction and truth that comes from God's Word to stive towards the goal of His Holiness. It all works together somehow - that God completely saves us from our sins and the power of sin through the work of Christ, yet we cannot ignore so great a salvation, but are told to work it out with fear and trembling - not taking the blood of Jesus lightly, but highly regarding His suffering for our sins.

JOHN 14:23 Jesus replied, " If anyone loves me, he will OBEY my
teaching. 21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who
loves me.

I JOHN 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down
his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but
has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children
let us not love in words or tongue but with ACTIONS and truth.

Heb 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

Php 2:12 Dearest friends, you were always so careful to follow my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away you must be even more careful to put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.

"If you came to my house and cussed, I wouldn't ask you to leave, and if it was fairly mild, I'd probably slip right into a few right with you. I do not have virgin ears, but if I went out in front of other people as a witness and didn't know who they were, I would be careful to not misrepresent the Lord. Paul said that He became all things to all people in order to win a few, so that would mean that I would also be sensitive to not offending others with my foul language. Some cuss words are very expressive and hard to replace (for the coarse, like myself), but the Bible warns us to not use our freedom to offend others. Again, if you came to my house and cussed, I could handle it, but if you went to my parents house and purposely offended them, then you would be wrong to do so and impolite - having no regard for others than youself and your own freedom."

Thank you for that clarification. this is exactly what I was saying earlier in this post. Once again, I guess this is a result of communicating via the internet. Intentions can get lost or twisted.

Thanks for clearing things up.

I swear a lot, but very rarely if ever do I do it towards or in relation to other people. Usually it's at myself, or in frustration at something I did... Or if I'm really angry (usually at my computer, or the buses running late at the most inappropriate of times)

Either way, it takes a lot to get me to swear... and I've tried to make substitutions, but often it doesn't convey the venom of the invective I would have otherwise used, and really, is it any better than using the non-substituted word?

vinc said:

Romans 12:14 : Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

James 3:9,10 : With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so.

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example of a blessing: may the Lord bless you richly (obviouse)
now for the opposite;a curse: may the Lord give you calamity and disaster. (ugh, i hate even typing that out as an example! a curse is a "ban" put on someones life that stops the flow of blessing and growth)

blessing: you are such a beautiful woman of God (build up)
curse: yah, yer behind is too big. when are you going to lose weight? (oh, that's nice - not. a curse/ban on the person with no "swear words" involved)

blessing: Lord these people have hurt me, please forgive them and help me not be bitter towards them (big time blessing on people who dont deserve it!)
cursing: the idiot. stupid jerk. (words usually considered benign but a definate ban on the person.)

blessing: you've had a s****** day, but God will give you strength to get through it (bad word, but used to express empathy with just how bad the day was, and then a encouragement/strengthening follows)
cursing: you've had a bad day? did you do something to make you deserve it? (note the lack of a "swear word" but it still puts a ban on someones life of doubt and confusion and fear)

etc etc etc

i've had a friend turn around and grin at me and say "you turd" or whatnot - with a big grin on her face after i poked fun at her. it's a blessing to be in honest fellowship and no offense is taken. i would find it much more of a curse for someone to say "you're brilliant" when they mean it venomously.

Matthew 12:36,37 : I tell you, on the day of judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

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i think this one goes well beyond swear words...

Lynn---
I believe your point is that those texts were taken out of context....that happens a lot. We try to use scripture and bend it to fit our arguments...sometimes it works sometimes it fails miserably. I agree with you...I do not believe those texts have anything to do with swearing-cursing.

before I got saved, I swore like a sailor almost all the time. I would often say bad words in front of people that I shouldn't have but I was almost deaf to my own use of bad language since it was such a deeply ingrained habit. But after I was born again, I developed a sensitivity to it and a conscience about it, so I prayed to God that he could help me stop swearing. And it turned out that this was one of the first victories I had in my new Christian life. One verse that comes to mind on the subject is when Jesus said that what corrupts a man is not what goes in his mouth, but what comes out of his mouth since that comes from the heart. I think one reason that people swear so much these days is the relaxing societal standards due to the movies and television becoming so much more "loose" and full of profanity. It seems to me that, therefore, the tendency to use a lot of foul language is a result of the worldly culture and it is something to be resisted. Also, it seems to me that if I restrain my foul language when I am around my Pastor but I swear around my friends from church, then I am being biased. Also, if I say I only swear when I know it doesn't offend other people, the question is, "How do I know who I am offending?" Because generally nice people feel too shy to say "Hey! Stop swearing!!!" something to consider.

"How do I know who I am offending?" Because generally nice people feel too shy to say "Hey! Stop swearing!!!" something to consider."

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I either ask people I'm around if it offends them, or I refrain from doing it because I don't know their stance on it.

"when I am around my Pastor but I swear around my friends from church, then I am being biased."

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I dont think "biased" is the right word. Are you trying to say that, that attitude is somewhat of a double standard? If that language offends someone, then don't use it. For instance "s**k" or c**p might offend your grandmother or someone like that yet it doesn't matter at all when you're around your friends. Therefore you don't say it around your grandmother yet its ok around your friends. I used to think this type of attitude is being deceitful, however, it's not being deceitful, but respectful.

Matt said:

Are you trying to say that, that attitude is somewhat of a double standard?

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Hi Matt,

Yes, I have to say that I think of it as a sort of double standard, or 2 different ways of acting. I want to treat everyone with the same level of consideration. It bothers me to think that I would behave more nicely around "authority figures" but let myself behave coarsely around people who I think will bear with me or tolerate my bad behavior. There's always another way to interpret it but I think it boils down to the fact that I believe the Bible teaches that speaking can be good or evil, and good speaking is everything that is pure and noble, lovely and edifying, and bad speaking is the opposite (impure, coarse, ignoble, ugly, destructive). None of us are perfect though. Isaiah was one of the greatest prophets but when he came close to God, he said he was a man with a corrupt mouth:

Isaiah 6:5-6"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

Saying swear words is just one of many unfortunate and destructive uses of the amazing gift of speech that God gave us. I personally feel more scared when I hear a Christian take God's name in vain. And gossip is worse too. Gossip and slander and the bitter root they come from are just about 5 million times worse than cursing. But, this is not to lessen the fact that swearing is wrong. I mean, it's always a bad thing in my opinion to try to justify behavior at the expense of trying to conform to what God values. I hope I haven't offended you. I am just telling you what I really think. I don't judge other people who swear and I don't try to tell them what to do. I have a couple friends at church who actually do swear around me, and although it burns my ears each and every time, I do not return the offense by criticizing or trying to control their behavior. Each of us is only really responsible for our behavior to God himself. We should each of us care more about what God thinks of us than what other people think. So I wish you all the best and maybe in the end you will be able to tell us in heaven that you were @*#$&*!!! right about this issue.