I’ve noticed a new trend lately, something I’ve never really noticed much in the past — cussing Christians. I don’t get it.
Why would people who are called to be “pure in spirit” want to pollute themselves and others with profanity? Why would people who are called to bless others choose to speak curses to them instead?
Cussing is intimidating language, but people who like to intimidate others are bullies. So why would Christians want to bully people when we are supposed to love them?
Cussing is chaotic and disrespectful. It reveals a disregard (even disdain) for others and a lack of self-control. It broadcasts the message; “I’m doing what I want to do and everybody else can get out of my way.”
My wife and I worked in inner city for more than 10 years and in all that time we only heard a hand full of cuss words, even though we never asked anybody not to cuss. It was amazing how nice and respectful people there were to us. (And lots of them were not Christians.)
I was the chaplain and counselor in an 86-bed, alcohol and drug rehabilitation center for 5 1/2 years. I frequently met with the men one on one and hung out with them in groups (both formal and informal) for many hours every week. They became my friends. However, in all that time, I heard fewer than 10 cuss words. It was amazing how respectful those guys were.
However, several times, lately, I’ve had Christians in my home who slung some cuss words into the conversation. I didn’t like it and was even offended. I had to battle to get their profanity out of my mind. But I didn’t dare say anything because I was afraid of offending them, my guests, even though they didn’t mind a bit offending me.
So how do you handle cussing Christians? Just walk away from them? Ask them nicely not to cuss? Ignore them? Rebuke them in the name of Jesus? Seriously, I’m looking for advice.
And if you are a cussing Christian, you have a right to choose to use vulgarity. But I’d really appreciate it if you would respect me as a brother in Christ who is seeking to obey Philippians 4:8 (think on noble things).
It’s generational. Just as some generations couldn’t conceive of a woman wearing pants or having short hair, and other generations see that as purely innocent —
The amount to which curse words are considered inappropriate and vulgar has changed. Generation X on down considers curse words a more “normal” part of speech and not shocking or even evil.
Language changes over time. Words in the English language that were unspeakable a hundred years ago are now normal.
This is sort of an “eating meat sacrificed to idols” sort of question. Some Christians (mostly over 45) consider profanity to be, well, profane. People under 45 tend to consider it useful and colorful language and would even use it in their prayers, with a completely clean conscience.
This article might be helpful:
https://newrepublic.com/article/63921/what-the-f
Out of the heart…