Thursday, May 19, 2011

Unanswered Question #6: Swearing

One of my questions that even bugged me as a kid were swear/cuss words.

There were certain words you just didn't say. They were just seen as bad.

And one day in Awanas when i was still in elementary school I read
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Mark 16:16 King James Version

It really confused me to know that the Bible could say something that i was told was "wrong" to ever say.

Since then I have heard a pastor go so far as to say that Paul's emphasis in Phil 3:7 would seem to denote that "loss" would have more of the same emphasis of the "S" word to be correctly translated.

and as an amused kid, i found 1 Samuel 25:22 especially hysterical!
So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. King James Version

Please here me out. I do not want to throw the baby out with the bath water. I don't think that the words we call swear or cuss words rarely if ever stack up as appropriate in consideration of Ephesians 4:29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

There is a respect problem today. A lot of priests back in the day would not even say or write God's full name out and today we throw around and misuse things and people worthy of respect in a way that is sinful at times in my opinion.

The is also a legalism problem today. As a kid it was probably good i didn't go around slinging any word i wanted but it still does crack me up that i would have trouble saying a word out loud and also wonder what some other Christians might think around me, that i would freely be able to read in the Bible!

There will always be a little bit of this issue being subjective based on where you live and what is seen as inappropriate to say, but as a person who wants to represent Christ in what i believe he would say and do, i would always err on the side of keeping my language pure and Godfilled.

No one should seek their own good. but GOD and the good of others (my own addition)
If we chose our words in light of this idea in v 24, I think we would filter a lot of our words out of unselfishness.

23 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 24 No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. 1 Cor 10

There is a lot more here, but i just didn't want to dig into this issue to deeply. Just acknowledge another ongoing inner dilemma at times.

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