WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE AND MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES. AS A MATTER OF FACT, IT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ANY AUDIENCE.
I am fully aware that we all experience life from different points of view. Even those who are followers of Christ have "lenses" of experiences and influences that make things appear different. So, sometimes I see things in ways that would be considered in the greatest of minority opinions. Here goes.
We all want our words to have power. To communicate effectively, we use adjectives, adverbs, and many kinds of colorful descriptors to paint word pictures for others to see. Many times when we feel our words are not being considered in the magnitude of our desire, we try and jolt our influence with...well...lets say...curse words. (In Aertvull we called them cuss words.)
Who invented curse words? Who assigned the vulgar meanings and then repeated them in a vulgar context long enough for a segment of culture to embrace the novelty? Why is one word considered swearing (even by pagans) and you can change one or two letters and be in the "crude but acceptable to Jesus" catagory? Strange isn't it.
In no way am I saying that I am above what I just described. While I have mastered the art of refusing to use the predefined list of cuss words, (at least the big ones) I am tempted to go to the list approved for Christian swearing. After all, nobody thinks anything about what are called "vulgarisms". I've heard the most devoted spiritualists eloquently spatter slightly altered curse words in streams of glorious frivolity without blinking a blackened eye. Cool.
The Bible is clear about such speech. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus says, "For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks." Oh no! Is it really true that your words reflect the real condition of your heart? In James, the Word says, "Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing? My brothers this should not be." I could go on to fill this page with other Scriptures describing the task of controlling our tongues by controlling our hearts. What am I trying to say? The indictment is easily on us all. What do we do?
Col. 3:8 "But now you must rid yourself of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips." Pretty clear that cursing does not show that a person has given control of his heart to the Holy Spirit. But by the Spirit's power, you can "rid" yourself of such things. "Rid"? Isn't that some kind of lice extermination medicine? Cursing is like lice in your hair. It lies just beneath the surface waiting to be scratched. The more you scratch it, the more it itches and it won't go away on its own.
My hypothesis is this: the same amount of filthy language we hear in the pagan world is said in the same frequency in the church. Ouch! Also, vulgarisms and curse words are the same thing.
One of the movies that was huge when I was growing up was Smokey and the Bandit. Buford T. Justice could rattle off a line of cussing poetry that would make Bill Clinton blush. It also made us laugh. I never saw the movie at the theatre but I did watch it on the tube. Hollywood censors substituted vulgarisms in the place of the real thing to make it acceptable for television viewing. Do they really think that by saying a vulgarism that your mind would not automatically go to the "real" dirty word? Hollywood has written the vulgarity script for the church. Don't believe me? Take the following test. (Then spend some time in prayer.)
Shoot __________________ Freakin' ________________ Dad Gum _____________________
Crap __________________ Sheesh __________________ Darn-it ________________________
Son of a Biscuit ________________ Snap __________________ Chad _________________________
Gall Darn _____________________ Oh Lordy _______________ and the list goes on beyond my ability to keep typing them. Maybe you have developed your own custom curse words.
This may seem very trivial to you. Through your lens of life it may even sound to legalistic to worry about such norms of society. But my prayer is that we try to better manage where our source of power in words comes from. We don't need the adjectives of the world to give weight to our words. We don't need some sort of expletive to portray the indescribable emotions of our hearts.
Please just try. Try to get "rid" of anything that undermines the true devotions of the heart. Cursing is one of the easiest things to stop doing. It's a choice just like anything else and its usually one of the first things to return to our vocabulary as our "fire" for God lessens.