I had an interesting discussion today regarding what the Bible has to say regarding profanity, and which words God considers profane. I was left with questions, and decided to do a little research. Google wasn't terribly helpful, but the lack of information helped me determine my own position on the matter. Further complicating the issue are the variations in different versions of the Bible.
Although this is a topic for another time, I would just like to say that my faith in God is unshakeable. This is thanks to my mother, who saw to it that I attended church every Sunday thoughout my childhood and teenage years, whether or not I wanted to. For that, I am and will be forever grateful, and do and will continue to ensure that my children receive the same. My faith in the Bible, however, is a different story. I long for someone to go back as far as possible to the earliest texts, translate them as faithfully as possible, and when interpretation is necessary for whatever reason, include the translated original text, exactly as it translates, whether comfortably readable or not. There may already be such a version, which I am unaware of; if so, please feel free to let me know. I guess I just want to ensure that I am doing my best to follow God's wishes, rather than those of the interpreter.
I would like some other Christian viewpoints, including references and sources, if available. My current position follows.
profane -- Biblical: outside the temple Modern: characterized by irreverence or contempt for God or sacred principles or things
In several places in the Bible, God specifically tells us not to use the Lord's name as an expletive, or as profanity.
Exodus 20:7/Deuteronomy 5:11--"You shall not take the name of the LORD your GOD in vain, for the Lord (your GOD) will not hold guiltless who takes His name in vain." Leviticus 18:21--"...neither shalt thou profane the name thy God: I am the Lord."
Since this is very clear, I have no questions here, and I take a firm stance with my family regarding the usage of the Lord's name, and the use of "OMG!", which really bugs me. It is interesting that the most straightforward edict on this topic also seems to be the one that is most often defied. In my own home, I unfortunately have frequent occasion to correct one child in particular. On the other hand, I found it intriguing--and heartening-- one day when I realized that one cable TV station playing a movie allowed most modern-day profanity to air unedited, but blanked out any mentions of the Lord's name when it was used as an expletive. I don't pay a lot of attention to the TV (I'm always doing something else while it's on), so I don't know if this is standard practice for all channels or not. But I did notice, and it did give me hope that at least one station had the courage and conviction to actively avoid violating this Commandment.
The Bible also tells us to be careful of what we say, that we will answer to Him regarding what we have said, and to avoid "evil speakings".
James 3:6: "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell."
James 3:8--"But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison."
Matthew 12:36-37--"I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
Ephesians 4:29 -- "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."
Additionally, 1 Thessalonians 5:22 tells us that we should "Abstain from all appearance of evil". If non-Christians observe Christians behaving in a manner that is largely considered "bad", it may make all Christians look hypocritical to that individual and anyone he chooses to share the anecdote with. Basically, it sets a bad example, and may make witnessing difficult. I know a Christian who enjoys a particular brand of root beer. Unfortunately, the root beer is packaged in a way that makes it appear very similar to alcoholic beer. As a teen, I was surprised at the store one day when she commented that she really wanted the root beer, then bypassed it. Curious, I wanted to know why she didn't put it in the cart after she had just said that she wanted it. She explained that she was afraid that people who knew her to be a Christian would see her buying the root beer and would believe that she was buying beer. She didn't want their mental image of Christians to be one in which the Christian was partaking in something the general population thinks incompatible with Christianity; she was avoiding even the appearance of evil. That's another lesson that has stuck with me over the years.
My questions lie with what God considers profane, and corrupt. Does modern-day profanity itself offend Him? Does it offend Him only when it is used in anger, or to make someone feel bad (the intention or emotion behind the act offending, rather than the words themselves)? Do we need to avoid uttering "bad" words not because God considers them bad, but because the world largely recognizes them as such?
I feel that other than the name of the Lord, "bad" words are just words. I feel that they are offensive to many, and should not be used in the presence of anyone known to take offense, or anyone whose opinion on the matter is unknown, or in public ever. Not because it's a sin, but just because it's a matter of respecting others who might not want to hear it. I feel that they shouldn't be used against someone else, or to describe yourself. But I'm not at all sure that I believe that just saying these words is a sin, or offensive to God.
My kids are getting older, and my oldest son will be a teenager this year. Two of my kids attend public school, and they hear these words everywhere, at school, on the bus, in the books they are required to read (which annoys me a bit; I don't believe in banning books, but I do feel that required reading could be vetted with a little care), even from the teachers (who also read portions of these books aloud in class, which creates great ado when they utter a "bad" word as written). They hear them from young adults in the grocery store, whose lessons on respect for others apparently didn't take. I know from my own experience as a teen that anything I was expressly forbidden to do, I immediately wanted to do. Therefore, my "bad" word policy is this: say them if you must (excepting terminology I've mentioned previously)and get it out of your system, but you can't say them where anyone else can hear you. I'd like to be sure that nothing in the Bible could be reasonably construed to mean that this is the wrong position for a Christian mom trying to raise Christian kids to take.
As I said, I would like to hear the opinions of other Christians. Actually, I'd like to know what people of all faiths think about this. If you'd like to respond, please include Biblical references and your other sources ( if possible and easily available to you), and state your particular faith (only if you're comfortable doing that). Thanks to all who weigh in on this for me. =)
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However, when you say "I just want to ensure that I am doing my best to follow God's wishes, rather than those of the interpreter" I wonder if you are supposing that God himself wrote the books? I was under the impression that they were written by men. The original exact words therefore, or, as re-written by an 'interpreter' are equally words of men.
When you say "she explained that she was afraid that people who knew her to be a Christian would see her buying the root beer and would believe that she was buying beer" I wonder... did God, or the men who wrote 'his word' say beer was a sin? They drank wine, correct? Turned water into wine even, right?
Sorry, not much to offer on the profanity questions.
To my knowledge--and I don't claim to be an expert, not by any means--the Bible doesn't say that alcohol is a sin. And yes, they drank wine. The church I grew up in is fundamental Baptist, and many things were off-limits: alcohol, cigarettes, dancing, etc. The explanation I got when I raised the question as a teen was that safe drinking water was a concern at that time; wine was safer [and supposedly weaker than it is today]. The Bible DOES say that our bodies are temples, and that we should treat them as such; that could be interpreted as a ban on anything that's not good for you [although there's so much of that on the edibles market that we don't even think about].
As it was explained to me, not taking the Lord's name in vain means literally what it says—don't ask God for things that are not going to be productive to ask for. In vain, meaning without success, and for good reason. So the point is that if you're mad at someone, and feel like damning someone, God's not really interested in being your personal servant to arrange that, so don't bother asking Him. In general, as it was explained to me, you should be about being kind to people and let God decide what He wants to be doing. Hence, the general tendancy to simply not mention Him a lot, other than simply descriptively. Even just the “Jesus!” kind of thing is sort of doing the “Hey, come look!” kind of thing and is a low-grade element of the same, I suppose, though most of what I was taught wasn't really organized around proscribed word-use but rather proscribed requests. And to me that made a lot of sense. Even as a human being, I don't particular like my name taken in vain, so if I actually believed still in a Supreme Being, I would easily understand said Being getting a little miffed at people constantly invoking His name in all kinds of random situations. In this light, by the way, if I were a Supreme Being, I would be seriously miffed at the kind of ownership and power-channeling that the Christian Right and its political lackey, the Neo-Conservative, seems to spout so often.
While I'm on the topic, there's a tightly related issue, which is the tendency of the alleged faithful (it always seems a faithless act to me) to want to “defend” God's way, to invade all kinds of ways things people do things, so that God isn't profaned. Personally, I think that were there a God, He'd be quite capable of defending Himself, and that He'd be again irritated to have people haughtily thinking it was within their gift to protect God. These people ought, it seems to me, spend more time worrying about making themselves worthy than meddling in the lives of others. That, in my view, is way more profane.
Just my opinion, and the opinion of my long-ago teachers to the extent it has stuck with me over so many years. Hope it's useful to you.
And I agree that there are far too many people invoking the Lord in an attempt to make an un-Christian position more defensible. I have serious issues in particular with some Christian Republicans and their attitude toward the poor. I posted a note yesterday on FB with some applicable Bible references; my favorite is Proverbs 29:7: "The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor; the wicked does not understand such concern." Another favorite, but too long to post: Matthew 25:31-46, which is basically Jesus saying that whatever we do to the poor, we do to Him and whatever we deny the poor, we deny to Him. Perfectly lays out what He wants the Christian position to be, but Christians aren't immune from convoluted explanations to gain wiggle room, either.