Thursday, March 16, 2006

God's Grace and Swearing








Well, I must say that there were interesting comments in youth ministry last night.... Even though we talked about God's love and how that's our first motivation to love others, the comments about swearing interested me. So, here are my questions....
1. What are your thoughts on swearing?
2. How does swearing go against God's grace?
3. Could it ever be okay to swear? (meaning: could it ever promote God's grace?)
In answering these questions, think about this verse.... Tell me what you think it means.
"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear" (Eph. 4:29).

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64 comments:

Anonymous said...

isn't swearing part of'anger' in your heart? we get frustrated( probably out of lots of our sins, selfishness, impatience, wanting OUR way) and we curse. can we evercurse with a RIGHT heart?
no- then we wouldn't 'need' to do it uh? -K

Anonymous said...

I think that it might be ok to swear while having a rigteuos anger?
~Anonymous

Anonymous said...

A- that is funny- righteous anger means you are angry at what God is angry at. I don't think Jesus swore in the temple, at the money changers!!
BUT I will say Its OK to say 'crap" w hen a bottle of shave cream falls on your toe, whichis what happened tonight! OUCH.
see how i justify sin????
-K

AgapeTheologian said...

Anonymous,


I do disagree with you. Let NO corrupt talk come out of your mouth.What did it say? NO Corrupt. Not some but NONE! God gets angry at sin! We can not have a righteous anger like God, he is perfect and we are helpless...

We need to be differemt from the world. Rom 12:2

If the world classifies it as *bad* why should we talk as the world if they saw swearing is bad.In our culture,Swearing is sin.

I even looked at the greek definition of corrupt, iteven means not to think anything corrupt, so don't thinkof any swearing in your mind!

You wouldn't be shining for God if you swear...Any questions...

AgapeTheologian said...

Why should we even say crap? It's sland for the 4 letter word!

Anonymous said...

nicely put B.R.D.
-K

Anonymous said...

ya i disagree too.
if your lil girl (bailee) hurts herself and says crap, i think she would proble get in troble

Anonymous said...

therefor i dont think we need to say crap or eny thing beond that.b/c if some one were 2 ask u y did you say crap insted of ouch what would your respons b ???

Pastor Timothy said...

These are interesting comments. I'm glad you're talking on this. But, how is it gracious to not swear? OR, could it ever be gracious to swear?

Anonymous said...

i dont get what your saying but i know that swearing is not gracious.
how could it be???

Pastor Timothy said...

Let me ask it another way. What if you swear and you're not angry? Is it okay then to swear?

Anonymous said...

yes, you can say a swear word and NOT be angry.. like when you quote one.( why you don't say 'blank" instead,but oh well)
but I could say OUCH with a bad heart atttiude too! which would be wrong and out of anger. right? and ouch isn't a swear word, but it could be used as one, YET the word ouch isn't offensive.. and people prefer OUCH insteadof ----

Anonymous said...

I think that we canot even say holy..... whatever, because it takes gods name in vein because he is holy. please comment on this

Anonymous said...

Is it ok to say words that are in pur common languge that people would not consider swear word, but they are to some people. You get what I mean?

Anonymous said...

Is it even ok to swear?
~Anonymous

Anonymous said...

stephen,
i agree with u i dont think that we should say holy enything. thougth i must edmit that it can be hard not to say eny thing like that b/c a ton of people use Gods name in vain.
~brittany

Anonymous said...

anonymous,
i don't think it's ok to swear but i will try to find a pasege in the bible to prove my point

Anonymous said...

i don't see the big deal i mean it's one thing outta anger but ya i dunno theirs always been swearing around my house so im kinda used to it i guess.
~anonymous

Anonymous said...
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Pastor Timothy said...

Brittany and Anonymous,

The question, "Is it okay to swear" is a good one. However, I just want you to look at that passage again in Matthew. It's not talking about cussing. It's talking about making promises (vows and oaths) that you can't keep. Just want to make sure you know what that passage is talking about. TTYL

Anonymous said...

so i guss the big deal is that the bible said not to swear and if you belive that the bible is true i think we should try no to swear.
~ britt

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Anonymous said...

pt2,
but dose that pasege not say do not swear??

Anonymous said...

Back in Bible times there weren't swear words like we have swear words!! I agree with PT it was about vows-swearing things were true! you know?
we have made words become bad, any word can be 'bad' it has to dowith our tone and heart attitude.
A- I am sorry your family swears, but that doens't make it right, Sounds like GOd is making your heart senstive to those words! PRAISE HIM, and hopefully by not swearing you can set an examplle for your family!

Pastor Timothy said...

Brittany,

What I was trying to say was that the word "swear" means something like "promise"; so, that verse is saying, "Do not promise by heaven...." What that means is don't make a vow or promise on things that you don't own. It's not talking about swear words.

Also, k, I think there probably were swear words back then. The Bible says there's nothing new under the sun; so, I'm sure they had them back then.

ONE THING I WANT PEOPLE TO NOTE: I think it was in the 2nd or 3rd century (I could be off by a few hundred years), the word "crux" was a swear word. Because it was referring to the cross. The death was so painful that even to say "crux" (which meant cross) was swearing. Now, we don't think that saying the word "crux" or even "cross" is swearing. Would it have been bad to say that word back then? If so, when would it have been bad? When would it be okay?

Anonymous said...

stephen,
here is a vrs and i think proves that Gods is holy leviticus 11:44-45.
so i know he is holy. does eny one think we can say holy... whatever?

Anonymous said...

no like you thought God was not holy.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

pt2,
ok i get what you are talking about now.
boy do i feel shepish

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

when you swear, why is it we use words that everone uses. And they are no the big words, they are just little ones, and we think nothin of it.
~Anonymous

Pastor Timothy said...

Anonymous,

I'm not sure of what you're saying in the second question. You can e-mail me if you want to though.

Also, about the "swearing" that the Bible is talking about, it's NOT talking about cussing. It's talking about swearing (meaning: making bad promises). SO, the "swearing" used in the Bible has NOTHING to do with cussing.

Anonymous said...

Eph 4:29- let NO unwholesome talk come out of your mouth!
and over here in US, certain words are considered unwholesome, maybe in another culture or language they( the words)could mean something else, who knows. but for right here and now we must control ourselves, minds, hearts!

Anonymous said...

yes i have to agree with you mrs.field

Anonymous said...

pt,
I am tring to say is when people say crap or heck or the word that is s* that is used in our common languge.
~Anonymous

Pastor Timothy said...

Oh, I see what you're saying....

Well, I'll ask you the question back first.

What do you think about someone using those words? Is it offensive to you?

Anonymous said...

it's affensive to me. and i think it might be affensive to God.

Tim St. Clair II said...

Hey everyone! I just started looking at this blog and think that it is a great way for all of you to ask questions and have discussions. Just remember that everything must come back to the Bible! Specualtion and discussion is fine, but make sure our discussion is based on the Word. I look forward to reading and talking more.

- T St. Clair

Anonymous said...

I think it comesback to the HEART< which is what GOd cares about.. that is how we ofend HIM, James is agreat book toread about the tongue!

Pastor Timothy said...

Interestingly enough, NO ONE has mentioned one of my main points in this section. WHAT ABOUT GRACE? HOW SHOUlD WE BE COMMUNICATING GRACE? What is grace? Can we communicate grace with our words?

I want you to really come to conclusions based on grace. So, is a word like "heck" wrong? Well, don't just tell me you think it's wrong. Tell me (based on grace) why it is wrong or why it's okay.

In everything we should be pointing to Christ. So, in this topic, point me to Him....

Get what I'm saying?

Anonymous said...

I ODn't know if I get what your saying about grace..
but because of our free gift of grace, out of gratitude we should use our mouths as well as our whole body, for the LORD< since its HIS anyways..thus< NO MORE GLUTNY either! get the point?

Anonymous said...

when you find out the meaning behind the words you just donot say them. Please comment.
~Anonymous

Pastor Timothy said...

Anonymous, not sure what you're saying....

Are you saying, "Should we not say the words when we find out what they mean (if it's bad)?"

Also, K, what I'm saying is that everything needs to point us and others towards grace.

Pastor Timothy said...

CONCLUSION!

To bring this thread to a close, I am going to give you my thoughts (agree or disagree, that's fine).

I would have to say that we need to focus on grace in our words more than anything. We need to realize what can communicate and lead others towards grace....

So, for example, could I say to someone "You'll spend forever being damned if you don't accept the gift of Christ"? I think I could use that word in that context. If it would help that person to really see their need for Christ.

Also, what if a word in another area is not a swear word, but it is one here? I think you could technically use it AS LONG AS IT LEADS SOMEONE TOWARDS THE GRACE AND TRUTH OF CHRIST!!! So, that requirement limits and enables us to fully display Christ.

Another comment, what if you swear and it's NOT in anger? Well, if it's definitely considered swearing (by the world's standards), be different. Don't let your own words ruin your testimony for Christ.

I think the best thing to say about our (America's) swear words is that it is overall WRONG, but not necessarily TOTALLY wrong (depending on where you are and when you speak it, and what context you're in). Does that make sense?

One final note about euphemisms (heck, darn, etc) - I personally don't use them. I think they're almost like Christian "swear" words. Also, just to get you to think - I don't even say "word" in "Oh my...." Do you know why? The Bible says to not take the Lord's name in vain. One name of Jesus is "the Word" in John 1. So, I won't say it. Instead, I say something else. It took me a while to not say it, but I don't. BUT, am I saying that if you say "word" like that then you're sinning? NO. That's a personal preference. In the same way, it's my preference not to say euphemisms. But other people think it's okay. I personally don't like them, but I don't think a person is necessarily sinning when they say them.

Well, I hope that answers most questions. Keep thinking and focus your attention on grace in ALL things.

Anonymous said...

pt, I am saying that we should never use words like crap or heck, since they mean very bad things, even tho7ugh they are in our every day language.
~Anonymous(original)

Anonymous said...

pt, I have caught you saying heck and stuff like that.

Pastor Timothy said...

Stephen,

You have NEVER EVER NEVER EVER NEVER caught me saying that word. (Unless I was MAYBE quoting someone - which wouuld be RARE). You are totally mistaken, my friend.

Anonymous said...

I have heard you say heck no, in power plus.

AgapeTheologian said...

STephen, trust me. You must have mis heard. I'm trying to cut back on my language and PT2 is a great example in this field...

Pastor Timothy said...

Stephen,

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I MIGHT have said that once. Either way, I'm not going to argue about it.

Overall, I don't want to use those words. I want to be consistent to what I stated earlier in my thoughts about cussing and euphemisms. I think, for the most part, I do - by the grace of God.

Anonymous said...

by the way why do we say that we swear on this or that but we swear regulary?
~Anonymous(original)

AgapeTheologian said...

what do you mean anonymous???

Anonymous said...

i mean why do we use swear word in our everday language even if we are a christian, we still use them.
~Anonymous(orirginal)

Pastor Timothy said...

Anonymous,

I still don't know what you're saying....

Who uses swear words in their everyday language? Christians? Which ones?

If they do, then I don't think they're right because they're not communicating grace. If they're euphemisms, I don't agree with them, but I don't necessarily think they're swearing....

Anonymous said...

HEY! I'm PT's bro-in-law so I figured I'd chyme in here. Swearing(cussing, cursing, whatever ya wanna call it) is wrong but the actual words considered to be swear words i beleive are dictated by society. For example our society has deemed certain 4 letter words to be unacceptable. And in other countries such as England the words 'bloody' and 'bird' are unacceptable. In both societies however words like 'crap' and 'shoot' are generally accepted. And even in this case, where the words are dictated by society, different types of society can exist in one country. It all depends on how the people were raised. For some different 'society types' in America, what we would consider swear words are just part of regular speech. Some people use these word randomly in the middle of senteces like ,"I'm Effin gonna go do some math S***" and the reason they do that is thats how they were raised. those words havnt been deemed unacceptable theyre deemed normal speech. so i think the words themselves vary on society and culture. But i believe its the chosen context of the word that makes it unacceptable in God's eyes or not. If someone is speaking these words out of hate or anger or something like that then i do believe its wrong.

Another thing with swearing is that since in our mainstream culture swearing is basically still taboo, swearing can easy ruin a Christian's testimony. I know that my first thought when i hear someone swearing isnt "Hmmm, I wonder what church they go to?" its usually , " I wish they would go to church".

But for the question "Can swearing ever promote God's grace?" I believe yes but it depends on the audience. If I'm hangin out with someone who has been raised to think that our swear word are jsut part of regular speech then if I were to use those words in a conversation it could help break the ice and form a stronger relationship with them. but also Romans talks about not do anything that would cause another brother to stumble and that could also easily happen with a touchy topic like swearing.
well, theres my 2 cents
God bless lovexwins

Pastor Timothy said...

Ethan,

Thanks for your comments!! Good to see you here....

Anonymous said...

pt,
i am talking about the little ones like crap and heck, those type of words, that we never think about, we just use them.
~Anonymous(original)

Anonymous said...

i don't think that there are eny "little" swear words.
i think all swear words are =.
you get what i'm saying?

Pastor Timothy said...

Anonymous,

I already answered your questions above....

Brittany,

Good answer!

Anonymous said...

why do some people view that it is not wrong to say crap or heck?
~Anonymous(original)

Anonymous said...

OK, first off, I'm glad we're talking about this. This is the biggest issue that I have w/ public school. Just the last couple of days I have heard more words, "big" bad words, than I have probably in the last year. I can't stand it. Also, is it really wrong to say words like "crap," "heck," and maybe even "gosh?" You know, everyday curse words accepted by virtually everbody. Why? Also, I think the only time it's okay to say them in their curse meaning is to make a point. It should be fine to use them in their original meaning, right?

Pastor Timothy said...

Woody,

Good questions. Look up 17 posts to my comment called "CONCLUSION." I try to give people my thoughts on swearing. Let me know if it helps....

AgapeTheologian said...

Is woody 'little' woody or 'big' woody?