Cursing

Some words ONLY use is vile or wicked. Some are words perfectly fine untill used in an angry or abusive way. Thats why Jesus said it wasn't what proceeded into the mouth that defiled the body...but what proceeds out.
When I was lost I cussed every other word. The day I was saved that vanished, even after I got out of church it was two years before the first cuss word ever parted from my lips.
Since my gracious acceptance back to serving the Lord It still hadn't been around.... untill the last few months, to my shame. Not foulmouthed , no way. But I have slipped up in anger a couple of times. I thank the Lord there was no one around, but it doesn't excuse it.
You know...Be angry and sin not!!

 

Good day in the Lord to you Joseph!

Cursing? Hmmmm.....
I can only share my past experience with cursing.
For the majority of my life I cursed. I had an extremely filthy mouth, but so did everyone I hung out with. I mean I said everything from Mother*....., the F word....to using God's name in vain. After all, I was justified and free to express how I felt just like anyone else.
THEN, three years ago the Lord came into my heart and life. One of the desires He took away from me was the desire to talk dirty or take His name in vain. I didn't even have to make any concious effort to stop talking filthy- I just stopped as I saw it unpleasing to the Lord.
I no longer have ANY desire to curse or use dirty language or swear.I love the Lord and He took the desire to do those things away.
In the area of cursing I no longer act like my old father the devil, but instead have begun to have characteristics of my new heavenly Father.
Now,to hear someone say anything filthy makes me sick to my stomache. And when they use the Lord's name in vain- OH! it almost tears me apart inside.
BUT...since I was in the HABIT of cursing all of my life I still have small traces that seem to sneak up on me just out of the blue.
I may get a little miffed about something and I hear my mind saying, "Oh, F%*#!!" Then I think, "Well, where in the world did that come from?!!!"
It is a small reminder to me of where I once was and who I once was- and where I am now, my position in Christ. Why, I am a dawter of the King! And dawter's of the Most High do not cuss!"
I think one of the factors in the equation of whether a person curses or not depends on how they were raised also. Some Christians see nothing wrong with saying "crap" or "butt" or "darn" or some of the seemingly gentle curse words.
But using the Lord's name in vain is absolutely forbidden!
On some of the other words I think it's a matter of conviction. If the Lord is persuading you that using a certain word isn't a good thing to do, then you'd better heed His conviction.
Then we have to realize, the world curses. And if I curse I may look like I belong to the world.
But I shall not condemn anyone who is wanting to do God's will, His good and pleasing will but sometimes fails. Just having the desire to follow Him is good enough for me (I hope I said that right.)
Thanks for letting me speak.
Dawter

 

Guilty!
It was so commonplace in my life I never really thought twice about it until I had kids. Then I didn't want it around the kids and had to start with me. Then when saved said some words involving His name once and realized how horrible that was and quit using those words, but the others were hard to root out and when talking I still have to catch myself more often than I'd like to admit.
I find myself getting embarassed by the meanings of some of the words now though, which is a good thing. There's some things people should have a little decency about and not throw out there for everyone to hear, especially in a derogatory fashion!
Gina

 

I was in church at two weeks old and every time the door was open. We were not allowed to say Shucks, Darn, Drat, Gosh, Jimminie Christmas, Holy Cow, Heck........ so no, I never learned to cuss. Those words were supposedly 'intent to cuss' which was just as bad in the 1950's.

However, I have, when frightened, said 'Oh My God' which I feel is God's name in vain.

Sitting at the dentist this past Thursday, a young man in his mid 20's got a call on his cell phone. In front of 3 children, 2 adult women and an older man he used the F-word but not in anger! I GLARED at him and he got up and went outside to finish his call but he did not apologize.

Diane

 

I went on an all day canoe trip/camp out with a singles Sunday school class. It was pretty calm until the water got a little choppy. I heard the SS teacher screaming out "7,7,7,..5757575". We all got up with each other at the end of the 1st leg.

I asked his son if his dad always called out football plays when he got in a tight spot. He said he wasn't calling out football plays. He said that his dad had taught them to replace cus words with numbers, so not to offend others? I said that doesn't make sense. You are still thinking the "word", you have just camouflaged it. I remember him saying, what people don't know, won't hurt them.

 

For years - in my secular job - I've worked with men who curse and swear constantly. Some of these men have wives who would not tolerate such language in the home. I've often wondered - after using such language all day long - how can they turn it off when they are at home?

The truth is - euphemistic cursing by Christians - bothers me more that the actual cursing of the unsaved.

Christians are indwelt by the Spirit of God - and should know better than to use such language. The unsaved are indwelt by Satan and the vile old nature (I'm aware that believers are still bothered by the old nature - but thank God we have the new nature to combat [with the help of the Holy Spirit] the old nature) and do not know any better than to curse and swear.

 

They are cultural and they're also contextual.

For instance, in some contexts, "b****" simply means a female, breeding dog or to complain. In others, it's a mild profanity.

"A**" is a perfectly acceptable word for a donkey or mule, yet it's a mild profanity at other times.

The Bible even uses the word several times.

"Jack***" is a similar one. Fine when talking about a mule or donkey, but profane when describing the behavior of another.

"B******" is another one. It may be politically incorrect now but, up until fairly recently, it simply meant an illegitimate child.

Nowadays, "niggardly" is becoming taboo for no other reason than that it's two letters off from the "n" word. Never mind that the two have nothing to do with one another.

The "p" word you mentioned originally came from a New York sportswriter around the turn of the century describing a boxer as "harmless as a pussycat". Thus, atheletes (particularly baseball players) who weren't producing were often called "p******". To call someone a "p" didn't come to be considered profane or pick up a sexual connotation until many years later.

It all depends on the context a word is used in or, more importantly, the bias of the listener.

By the way, I don't believe that these, in the context that I've used them, are profane. I only abbreviated them because there are some here who would make that the issue rather than Joseph's question.

 

Oh, OK. In that case, I don't think that's a profane word, but I do think it's an inappropriate one to use in certain company.

 

Where I come from it is called "cussin" and when I was in high school it was not only common for us boys but, it sometimes got to the point where we were having contests to see who could cuss the most and the worst. I have been saved for 30 years and still, to this day, cannot get those words out of my mind.

Many, many of our cuss words are cultural and they pretty much all are at least English culture.

Matt 5:22 ...but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Do you think Jesus was just warning us against using this particular word or warning us about using a style of language which is harmful, negative, vain, or what we think of as cursing?

Matt 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. 36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

If Jesus considered the words we use to be important then shouldn't we use words that are reflective of His nature and not our old nature. We should be trying to say as little as we can get by with and not trying to push the envelope and say as much as we can rationalize and get by with.

I remember a similar discussion a few months ago about what "word" we used to express strong emotion. My old pastor would say "GARBAGE" when he was upset. Mine was, "Oh, Man" said with different tones and emphasis. But, the one I will never forget was the fellow on here that said his was, "Mittens" (but he had to be really angry).

 

Oh, OK. In that case, I don't think that's a profane word, but I do think it's an inappropriate one to use in certain company. </font>[/QUOTE]I remember clearly 27 years ago when I first got saved and we decided, as a family, that we would read through the entire Bible every year. The first time I saw the "P" word in the Bible in the book of Kings I almost choked.

I agree that it has become an unsavory word. I guess we thought it was odd because we had ALWAYS thought it was an unsavory word and couldn't believe it was in the Bible. BTW, it means the same thing today that it did in the Bible.

I use to have a very bad mouth, but after I got saved when I would hit my thumb with a hammer or something similar that caused pain; I just started saying, "Praise the Lord". How bad the pain was determined how many times I repeated it and how LOUD I said it!


Sue

 

This thread makes me think of a quote from Kurt Vonnegut's Hocus Pocus (one of my favorite books)

Aside from the morality of using curse words, I think that heavy reliance on their use reflects a lack of depth of one's vocabulary and an inability to express one's emotions. I've been the victim of many cursing latedly from the doctors I've been working with and rather than getting upset it usually makes me laugh (inside) about their lack of creativity.

I'll be one of the first to admit that I occasionally use words that I shouldn't. I grew up in a family where the use of curse words was rather limited and I've always strived to keep these words out of my vocabulary. Rather than automatically letting out an expletive I try to find a more descriptive but nonobscene way to express my frustration.

 

I think that Paul nailed it on the head when he said that we should not say anything that does not build another person up. So, by our usage of any words, are we building someone up or tearing them down?

 

[ June 26, 2003, 06:11 PM: Message edited by: WisdomSeeker ]

 

If I had to admit one great fault, It would be this. I am trying my best to overcome it. So far, I've gotten better verbally, but the words still rush into my mind.
It's the main thing I ask for forgiveness and help with, everytime I pray.
Christine

 

The day before yesterday, I cut myself pretty good on the top of my head and let out a string of explitives that would have peeled the paint off the walls.

I thought that was a habit I'd crucified but I guess I need to work at that one a little more.

What made it even worse was that I did it right in front of my mom.

Once the bleeding and pain stopped, I was really embarrassed.

 

Just about a month ago I was visiting my son and granddaughter. I was telling Katie how proud I was of her and what a lovely sweet girl she was, then I told her of this other girl who was in trouble all the time ,doing such mean things and talking with a potty mouth and before I was done I was so wrapped up in my story I said one of the words this child had said ( the B word, female dog)

I thought Katie's eyes were going to pop out of her head. I tried as best I could to get out of this but she wouldn't let me. Finally I just took responsibility and said I am sorry I shouldn't have said that and also made an apology to the Lord in her presence. I also told her that even though I am a christian , I still do things wrong but the Lord forgives me.

Whether that was cursing or not I shouldn't have said it and it seems everytime I mess up it's in front of someone who watches my life. MK

 

guilty of saying things that are definately defiling.

 

My parents taught me that it is not okay to be offensive...but the idea of "bad words" is a subjective one. They also used a tactic with this that always worked well...portraying the objectional behavior to be something an ignorant person would do. Now...I don't know about you...but doing something that anyone thinks would be what an ignorant person would do...was enough of a deterant. Mom and Dad used to say things like "A smart person can find other ways to communicate, an ignorant person uses profanity"

So...yes, I can relate to being so upset that I wanted to use a profane word. But I can tell you that if I did, it wouldn't make me feel better, it would make me feel much worse. Kind of like when you allow yourself to lose your temper. You think it's going to make you feel better just to go with it...but it never does.

And yes I can be honest and say that when I was much younger I wasn't as controlled in this area as I am now. And yes, I can say that when one of my children brakes something of value in my house or makes a terribly destructive mess that I have to clean up when I'm tired at night...the words pop into my head. But that's as far as it goes and even that is too much for me. I usually release the tention by crying. And crying usually does what cussing never can...it's an expression of pain, and a release of tension.

Well...that's my thoughts on the subject.