Somewhere out in the big, wide world of Blogland, in someone else’s blog, I ran across a post entitled, “Why do We Swear?”, discoursing on whether or not it is acceptable for Christians to curse. Some commentors responded with yes, some with no. Some said that words are only words and don't matter; some said that God's grace covers all sins, even cursing; some that how we speak has nothing to do with loving Christ.
My thoughts on the matter are as follows:
Words do matter. Words do have meaning. And words can hurt. Even worse than sticks and stones. Ask an abused person if words are just words. Ask an abused child if it didn't hurt him when his parents cursed at him. Ask an abused wife if it didn't hurt her when her husband cursed at her.
II. Peter 2:11-12 and 3:15-16 tell us that as Christians, we represent Christ on earth.
Titus 2:6-8 tells us to exercise self-control, and specifially mentions "sound speech."
James 3:5-14 tells us how destructive words can be, and that cursing does not come from a pure heart.
Ephesians 4:29 tells us that our speech should be for building others up and giving grace to those who hear us.
In Matthew 12:35-37, Jesus himself warns us that our words come directly from what's in our hearts. And that we will be accountable to God for every word that we speak.
I. Corinthians 10:31 reminds us to glorify God in everything we do.
When I think about whether or not swearing/cursing/cussing/whatever-you-want-to-call-it is right for a Christian, I have to ask myself this:
Do I show self-control if I curse?
Am I building others up if I curse?
Do I want to stand before God one day and give account for every bad or negative or discouraging word that I have ever spoken?
Will nonbelievers glorify God because of me, if I curse in front of them?
Am I glorifying God if I curse?
Being a Christian is a process of spiritual growth. I pray for wisdom, that God will change my heart, so that I will not even curse in my thoughts. With God's help, I eradicated cursing from my speech a long time ago, but it's still in my thoughts sometimes. I know that God forgives me for these sins...but I still pray for his guidance and his wisdom, so that I can allow his Holy Spirit to change me fully into the kind of person he wants me to become.
The kind of person who glorifies him in every deed and every thought.
According to God's Word, it is not okay for a Christian to curse. But according to God's Word, he forgives us our sins, and he will help us to wipe them out. If we stop willfully sinning (Heb. 10:26); if we stop using God's grace as an excuse to do what we want; and if we make up our minds to submit to his will and let him change us.
10 comments:
So even though I don't leave too many comments, you've left so many on mind I feel some sense of obligation. Although I am quite curious, how did you link to my blog and is there any connection between us?
Court, I completely agree with you on the subject of swearing/cursing/cussing/using foul language and so on... I couldn't have said it better and I think you summed it up when you said, God's grace covers our sins, but we can't just keep sinning knowingly against God and except His continued forgiveness! Thanks for sharing this!! love ya,
Blake: I left a comment on your blog, explaining the long saga of how I turned up there. ;o) Thanks for following your sense of obligation...my comment-deficient blog appreciates it. ;o)
Smiley One: Thanks for commenting on this one--I very much appreciate the support. :o) Love you too!
I totally agree and have, in fact been thinking about the same thing frequently. There are a lot of "Christians" here you know, but I think our words and actions speek volumes about our respect for God, others and ourselves. I'm bored at work and will, most likely be reading much more of blogs...so don't dissapoint me! :)
Laura Brown
Laura, I'm so glad you visited! I promise, I will endeavor to do my best to keep you entertained. If you will voice your support via many comments, I won't disappoint you with the quantity and quality of my posts. ;o)
So do you separate cursing at someone or toward someone and cursing for emphasis into separate categories or are they equally as wrong?
Good question, Matt :)
Matt and Bri: That is definitely a good question. For me personally (assuming I understand correctly what you mean by "cursing for emphasis"), the answer is simple:
Would Jesus curse in order to emphasize something? I can't picture the Son of God finding that necessary or glorifying to his Father. The New Testament records only one "curse" spoken by Jesus, and that was when he told the fig tree to wither in Mark 11. In speaking that curse, he didn't use foul language. According to the scriptures, he didn't even use foul language or cursing in driving the animals and money-changers from the temple. The word of God was the only word he used to emphasize his point.
Applying this to myself, I find that if Jesus's hypothetical cursing for emphasis doesn't glorify God, then my cursing for emphasis certainly won't glorify him.
Now, as stated, this is what I believe personally. I wouldn't presume to demand that others agree with me. :o)
However, just for the sake of discussion, I'm curious as to whether or not anyone could explain how cursing in any situation brings glory to the Lord.
Comments and thoughts are welcome! :o)
I really need to think on this. Of course I was raised to never say a cuss word at all, and I still don't use cuss words, I just don't always see how using four letter words is always bad. I just can't get to the point of absolutes. I can't think of any great example offhand and I could be completely wrong of course. I'll get back to you....
I'm looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts. I think I understand what you mean about absolutes....but I try to keep in mind that God does deal in absolutes. Maybe not all of the time...but I don't want to be in the position of deciding what he considers an absolute and what he doesn't. For me, that comes a bit too close to "putting words in God's mouth," if that makes any sense.
I just keep coming back to this point: Even if God's resriction on foul language weren't an absolute...in what situation could a Christian's use of four-letter words (or their equivalents) conceivably bring praise and glory to the Creator of the universe? Can you imagine someone saying, "Thank you, God, that this Christian cursed in front of me. This cursing has shown me more of what a glorious God you are"? Believe me, I'm not trying to be sarcastic or patronizing. I just can't reasonably imagine such a scenario.
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