Swearing

[Vidar]

Personally, I cuss all the time. I have a bit of an anger issue admittedly, so I do my best to vent my anger though words... Very colorful words lol.

 

[St_Worm2]

I wonder why we as Christians work so hard to extend a prohibition which is not found in Scripture.

Oh, I donno Brian, it seems to me that the Bible does have a bit to say on the subject. Here are a few examples:

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

There must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. Ephesians 5:4

You must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Colossians 3:8​

Yours and His,
David

 

[BornAgainBrian]

Oh, I donno Brian, it seems to me that the Bible does have a bit to say on the subject. Here are a few examples:

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

There must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. Ephesians 5:4

You must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Colossians 3:8
​

Yours and His,
David

You believe these verses support the existence of particular words which in and of themselves are always wrong to utter in nearly any context, whereas their synonyms are somehow perfectly acceptable? Help me out here...

 

[sunshine456]

Habitual influence that could very well be a part of the enemies scheme.

Stay vigilant in prayer and seek the TRUTH to set you free from it's buried bondage.

"Why am I repeating this issue?"

"Why can't I stop?"

"What are the triggers that cause it to inflame?"

"Who can help me rid myself of these compulsions?"

The truth will enable you to understand, and we are advise to not lean on our own understanding, but on the grace of GOD through his son JESUS CHRIST.

Praise be to GOD the heavenly father and his son lord JESUS CHRIST forever>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[FireDragon76]

Man-made legalism.

 

[St_Worm2]

You believe these verses support the existence of particular words which in and of themselves are always wrong to utter in nearly any context, whereas their synonyms are somehow perfectly acceptable? Help me out here...

Hi Brian, I'm afraid you're going to have to help me out first .. Where did I ever say that certain words have been deemed flat-out bad in any context, or say that using synonyms (I assume you mean something like "Gosh Darn") in the place of actual "cuss" words is acceptable ..

Rather, my post was in response to your statement that there was no Biblical prohibition against foul language in the Bible. I thought you were wrong about that so I posted several verses to demonstrate why I felt that way.

There are only a few words that I believe are wrong in almost any context, and those are words that are normally derogatory in nature and an affront to a particular nation, race, or gender. Of course, I'm never happy when I hear the "D" word added to the name "God" either, but that's about it .. All other words require context to be considered "bad".

Let me ask you a question about the verses I posited earlier (actually, I'll post them here too):

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

There must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. Ephesians 5:4

You must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Colossians 3:8​

When I read verses such as these I see bad language being referred to as a "no-no", IOW, something I should chose not to do whenever I am seeking to please the Lord (which .. hopefully .. is always .. ). How do you read them .. I mean, what else could the Bible be talking about when it mentions things like, "unwholesome words", "filthiness and silly talk", "course jesting" or "filthy language" ..

Thanks!

Yours and His,
David

 

[JustMeSee]

Dear All,

I have been a Christian for 10 years now, and swearing is a weakness. Many days I go without swearing, but when I am either ill, very run down, frightened or frustrated, it seems to happen. In particular, my mother really irritates me, much as I love her, by saying outrageous things such as 'you are in debt' when I am not, and continually nagging me about work, after i have literally got off an aeroplane after having a taxing work tour where I have worked so hard that I have become ill. I don't want to swear because God doesn't like it, but my mother and other situations make it hard for me, although I have a lot to be thankful for.

Yes, I have prayed loads about it, but every few months or weeks or days, the old habits come back. Have gaestroentoritus at present and so my patience is thinner than usual...Advice please!

Keep working on it. Reflexive utterances happen. Work on using clean words in less stressful situations.

 

[St_Worm2]

Man-made legalism.

It always is, but to what, specifically, are you referring in this case ..

Thanks!

--David

 

[Saricharity]

God has forbidden blasphemy, not all cussing.

Gosh darn, dang, sugar, Minnesota farmer, fudge, Judas priest, jamoke, frick and frack are all pretty common substitutes.

These would be considered minced oaths.

A minced oath is a euphemistic expression formed by misspelling, mispronouncing, or replacing a part of a profane, blasphemous, or taboo term to reduce the original term's objectionable characteristics. Some examples include gosh instead of god, darn or dang for damn, and heck for hell.

I would think swearing or inappropriate language becomes a habit over time. Any habit takes time and conscious concentration to break. I don't see it as being legalistic. I see it more as wanting to become more Christ-like. I strive to become more and more like Jesus in my walk. If I have habits that I feel convicted on ( which I think the OP is saying) then I need to find a way to break or overcome that habit.

Just a suggestion but perhaps come up with some code words you could use to replace curse words....they might be silly in the beginning but after time, you may find yourself not feeling like you need to use a curse word at all. Some of use silly ones I have used is rats Pajamas. Or jelly beans or purple people eaters....all silly and make me and others laugh. Keep it in prayer and good for you for trying to make a change according to your conviction.

 

[BornAgainBrian]

Hi Brian, I'm afraid you're going to have to help me out first .. Where did I ever say that certain words have been deemed flat-out bad in any context, or say that using synonyms (I assume you mean something like "Gosh Darn") in the place of actual "cuss" words is acceptable ..

Rather, my post was in response to your statement that there was no Biblical prohibition against foul language in the Bible. I thought you were wrong about that so I posted several verses to demonstrate why I felt that way.

There are only a few words that I believe are wrong in almost any context, and those are words that are normally derogatory in nature and an affront to a particular nation, race, or gender. Of course, I'm never happy when I hear the "D" word added to the name "God" either, but that's about it .. All other words require context to be considered "bad".

Let me ask you a question about the verses I posited earlier (actually, I'll post them here too):

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29
​

There must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. Ephesians 5:4

You must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Colossians 3:8
​

When I read verses such as these I see bad language being referred to as a "no-no", IOW, something I should chose not to do whenever I am seeking to please the Lord (which .. hopefully .. is always .. ). How do you read them .. I mean, what else could the Bible be talking about when it mentions things like, "unwholesome words", "filthiness and silly talk", "course jesting" or "filthy language" ..

Thanks!

Yours and His,
David

My point is that we as a Christian society further the idea that certain words are always wrong to say in any context. I can say "I've got to go number 2". But if I say the exact same thing using other words, it somehow becomes wrong. There is no logic to it, as I see it. What exactly makes the second taboo way of saying that sooooooo horrible and sooooooo much worse than the first way?

Isn't this just Christians making a bunch of extra-biblical rules so we can yell at kids when they violate them? There seems no real purpose to make certain words taboo while other words which mean the exact same thing are totally fine.

 

[Cearbhall]

My point is that we as a Christian society further the idea that certain words are always wrong to say in any context. I can say "I've got to go number 2". But if I say the exact same thing using other words, it somehow becomes wrong. There is no logic to it, as I see it. What exactly makes the second taboo way of saying that sooooooo horrible and sooooooo much worse than the first way?

Isn't this just Christians making a bunch of extra-biblical rules so we can yell at kids when they violate them? There seems no real purpose to make certain words taboo while other words which mean the exact same thing are totally fine.

For exactly this reason, the creation of "swear words" is one of the strangest cultural phenomena, in my opinion.

 

[BrokenWarrior]

Swearing in response to certain stimuli, especially things like discomfort or pain, is a very common coping mechanism.

Since it's used as a coping mechanism for many people, it can be very hard to break.

The only thing I can think of really just replaces the words, though. The inflection is still there, even though the word has gone from a "curse" word to an innocuous word. That might not be the solution you're looking for.

Kinda like he said, it's natural for a human to wanna swear under the right circumstances, but it's our duty as a Believer to try and refrain from all sin (including swearing) to the best of our abilities.

if you struggle with it, just like any other bad habits, pray to Christ to give you the strength to stop, ask for forgiveness not if but when you do fail, and try again. As long as your truly saved and sorry, and try to make an effort, "He is Faithfull and Just to forgive".

-The Lowest Servent

 

[BornAgainBrian]

Kinda like he said, it's natural for a human to wanna swear under the right circumstances, but it's our duty as a Believer to try and refrain from all sin (including swearing) to the best of our abilities.

if you struggle with it, just like any other bad habits, pray to Christ to give you the strength to stop, ask for forgiveness not if but when you do fail, and try again. As long as your truly saved and sorry, and try to make an effort, "He is Faithfull and Just to forgive".

-The Lowest Servent

My question is: what makes one word sinful and its synonym not?

 

[BrokenWarrior]

My question is: what makes one word sinful and its synonym not?

Hello Brian, I think my quote was a bit out of context, I meant that he was right in the sense that under the right circumstances it's natural and is an easy sin to fall into.

As to his bottom half of his post, I suppose in a human standpoint it might be better to replace words but from a Believers standpoint it really doesn't make too much a difference, since, one is still "cursing" in a sense. And by no means was I supporting that we should replace them and accept it as ok.

To break the habit I suppose replacing words is a good start, but I agree with you that eventually it would be idea to not even curse to begin with

-The Lowest Servant

 

[BornAgainBrian]

Hello Brian, I think my quote was a bit out of context, I meant that he was right in the sense that under the right circumstances it's natural and is an easy sin to fall into.

As to his bottom half of his post, I suppose in a human standpoint it might be better to replace words but from a Believers standpoint it really doesn't make too much a difference, since, one is still "cursing" in a sense. And by no means was I supporting that we should replace them and accept it as ok.

To break the habit I suppose replacing words is a good start, but I agree with you that eventually it would be idea to not even curse to begin with

-The Lowest Servant

I agree that replacing words makes no difference. But most of Christendom would prefer a more politically correct term for "number 2" and would accuse a man who used a certain 4-letter word of foul language.

Similarly, what a man does with his wife is allowed to be referred to by one word but not another.

What makes the one okay but the synonym always wrong?

 

[StephanieSomer]

Scripture doesn't indicate that any one word can be inherently wrong, however it does indicate that we should live according to modern laws and customs, assuming doing so is in line with God's word. If for some random our society decided to make a few words always wrong, even if just to give people an excuse to yell at others about something, I guess we ought to fall in line. That's why I choose not to swear, though I find the whole idea ridiculous.

There are quite a few Scriptures which use words, in king James language, that are considered impolite by today's standards.

1 Sam 25:22
1 Kings 16:11
Isa 36:12
2 Kings 18:27

And, I would add Paul's own statement in Phil 3:8,

"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ"

His use of the word translated "dung" was meant to express complete and total worthlessness. Yet, dung is NOT worthless, as any good gardener can tell you. We DO have such a word in English which DOES express the meaning of complete and total worthlessness. But, that word is not allowed here. However, I am convinced that if Paul were to express his idea in our own modern language he would indeed use that word.

 

[jacknife]

i tried to stop swearing once, i think i lasted 2 days.

 

[BornAgainBrian]

[staff clean up]

But why do Christians further the u biblical notion that this word is always bad, but dung is ok?

 

[BornAgainBrian]

Because of sin.

can you elaborate?

 

[BornAgainBrian]

It's a sin.

What makes it so? That's what I keep trying to find out...

Why is one word inherently sinful, wrong, naughty while its synonym is perfectly fine?