Language Warning
Some modern curse words/profanity will be written. This is in order to examine them in context.
Words are words. Why are certain arrangements of syllables and sound frequencies sinful while others are fine?
Break it down to the most simple elements. Are some elements of sound sinful and if so, who gets to decide which ones are evil?
This is the Thesis of the problem of cursing: The problem with cursing is NOT THE WORDS THEMSELVES, it is the hatred behind the words.
Curse words are the verbal manifestation of hatred towards our fellow humans. If love is concern for the well-being of someone else, then hate is indifference or the desire for evil to befall another person.
Curse words are simply that, words that manifests our desire for a curse to befall someone else. Seems obvious.
“F*** That guy” – Manifestation of negative emotion targeted at another human being. That’s all these words are, and they are good for nothing.
That is cursing with regards to mankind, but what about swearing out of frustration?
Most Christian arguments on curse words are weak. Which is why I’m not fully convinced of the sinful nature of words alone or what makes them sinful based on those arguments.
“Don’t say bad words sonny, they are bad” is the way most arguments go. That is a stupid argument. Christians, especially right-leaning conservatives, tend to focus on the words alone, rather than what is behind the words. They are always worried about the symptoms of sin, rarely ever do they track sin to the root.
Yes, taking heroine is bad, but what takes a person so deep into the abyss that they need heroine to begin with? Those are the questions conservatives miss out on. Yes, we are told to not use coarse jesting or language, but who decides what is sinful?
Yes we are not supposed to let any curse come out of our mouth. But how do we know what a curse is? Unfortunately, I don’t see where the Bible explicitly defines that for us. Besides some Old Testament examples where prophets were literally asked to curse people, such as in the case of Balaam.
Yes, we are not supposed to speak idle words, but what in the world is an idle word?
All these questions are difficult to answer, and I am not convinced they can be answered. At least without some level of personal opinion being injected into them. So I will not try to answer them for you.
You can’t say some curses are sinful, and then use some other unknown curse or euphemism that society has not decided is bad and say, “I have not sinned!”. If you are speaking hateful words to a brother then you are manifesting the same hatred towards him that you would if you were using a socially deemed curse word.
You do not have to use curse words to express hatred towards someone else. Speaking in an ungodly way towards a brother, that is the problem. You are manifesting hatred towards the mankind that God wants to be saved, that is the problem. When you use a word or euphemism or alternate curse word, it’s all the same as cursing if the intent behind the word is hatred.
Societal implication
The Christian argument against cursing that claims we align ourselves with the world when we use profanity. When we use profanity, we are in the world and of the world. Instead of in the world but NOT of the world. There is no distinction between us and the world when we curse. This is a problem. We are meant to be odd. Avoiding profanity is exceedingly odd in a modern day society.
Not to mention that profanity is simply socially unsavory. No one wants to be around the guy that swears like a sailor all day. It’s annoying. Don’t give me that nonsense of “Oh I’m a passionate person, I have to curse”. So what? I’m passionate. That doesn’t mean I go around having sex with with every woman I can find to express that “passion”.
When Peter was denying Christ, one of the things he did to show he could not possibly have been a disciple was to curse.
What better way to separate oneself from righteousness in the eyes of others than to use profanity. Cursing is verbal worldliness.
If some words are bad when used in frustration, then all are bad if used in surprise or frustration. It does not matter whether or not society deems them profane. Exclaiming “Rats” upon hearing bad news is just as sinful as exclaiming “Shit”. Maybe these are what constitute “idle words”. Words that are a waste of time. Ones that don’t serve any purpose. Words that are empty and fill nothing are as good as curse words and we will be held accountable for them.
Context Matters
How are words used? What are their context? This seems to be the defining characteristic between a curse word and just a regular word. A preacher states from the pulpit that, “Sin will damn you to hell”. To say that is fine, but to say to an actual person “damn you to hell” is wrong. The logic comes across as shaky. But it seems that the difference here is targeting curse words at another individual rather than making a statement.
*Most popular words society uses:
Fuck – Adj. To have sexual intercourse with
Shit – excrement
Ass – buttocks
Hell – home of the devil and his angels
Damn – to suggest that someone/something be sent to hell
Cunt/twat/Pussy – Vagina
Dick – Penis
Definitely not an exhaustive list, but what do these have in common?
Society has deemed them bad.
People use them to curse each other with.
Why are these words bad? Because society or the Church says so? It’s circular logic. You could argue that some of those are bad based on definition alone, but the others are only bad because of societal implications. I really think that it doesn’t matter what words you use. If you are using them with the intention to curse another man or manifest hate towards him, then you are cursing. Otherwise we can just change letters in these words and they are “okay”, as we have done with euphemisms.
This is the restated point: the problem with curse words is not the words themselves, but the hatred behind the words.
Hateful words targeted towards fellow humans are curse words. The secondary reason is that curse words cause us to be associated with the world, which we are not to be apart of.
At the end of the day, it’s safer to just avoid using these words all together. They are a waste of time, and using them reflects our lack of discipline over our mouth.
“The tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, filled with deadly poison” – James 3:8
