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Cussing is actually a slang way to say ‘cursing’. Christians are called on to bless and not curse. Blessing is an expression of desire for God’s goodness and favor to be extended to someone. Cursing is a desire for God to be opposed to or against someone and treated as an enemy. Many cuss words or expressions started out as longer expressions or sentences that over time have been abbreviated to be single words. A sentence like, “May you be damned to hell! Or damn it to hell” May now just simply be ‘damn’. Christians should be in the blessing business and not the cursing business.
There are other words that society has deemed to be inappropriate. Every language has these words. When I lived in Japan I was told, be careful don’t say this or that, it is a bad word. This is because society has agreed amongst themselves that it is so. Human nature is such that people like to step across the line and test the limits. If a word is deemed wrong, then we certainly would like to use THAT word rather than any equivalent word not deemed ‘bad’. Young boys like to use the ‘bad’ alternative as a way to feel more ‘manly’ or grown up. Sometimes, using the ‘bad’ word is a way to communicate that we don’t care if it is bad, or what anyone thinks, we are defiant and rebellious-so there!
We all know that there are words that we can’t use on TV or radio or the FCC will yank the station’s license to broadcast. Society has dictated that THIS is in bounds and that is out of bounds. In some cases, Christian influence has helped to shape social thought on these words but there are many words considered ‘bad’ by society with no directly Christian morals or scruples behind them at all.
Jesus said to His followers, “You are the light of the world… and you are the salt of the earth.” They key idea behind these two statements is that the primary purpose of light is contrast to darkness and salt is contrast in flavor. In other words, there should be a difference. If there are two ways to say something and we know that our society has determined a phrase or word to be ‘off-color’ or ‘out-of bounds’ we will deliberately choose the more appropriate alternative word or phrase.
That does not always mean the least ‘offensive’ words. Sometimes choosing to NOT be rebellious or over the line or inappropriate will cause more trouble that fitting in and going with the crowd. We may cause even more offense by NOT cussing when we are with some groups or individuals.
As a follower of Christ, keep your choice of vocabulary above reproach. If there is a choice between a ‘good’ word and a ‘bad’ word, simply opt for the good one. Don’t make it a big religious deal. Just choose to intentionally want good. Choose movies where the ‘bad’ is not glorified. Get a V-chip or ‘cuss’ box on your TV that filters out the cuss words. By doing this, you communicate to your kids that you value good in your life and also expect the same from them. They will value the good if they see you do the same. If the story of the movie is good but the language is bad- turn it off anyway and put something else on instead.
If you do this yourself, you won’t have to fight so hard later with kids rationalizing and justifying other things down the road. They won’t be as apt to hit you with the ‘It’s not ‘SOOOO bad’ or not ‘THAAAAT bad’ stuff later on if you build that foundation.
Finally, the English language has a very wide assortment of ‘cuss’ words. We have cuss words for every occasion. We have cuss words to put down other races. We have cuss words of every conceivable sexual connotation. We have words cuss words for bodily functions. We have no lack of cuss words, so we absolutely positively DO NOT EVEN need to make our Lord and savior a cuss word!
When a person hits their thumb with a hammer, they don’t shout Buddha! Or Mohamed! They shout Jesus! The reason for this is a corruption of a tremendous promise. The Bible says that WHOSOEVER shall call on the name of the Lord (Jesus) shall be saved. People used to say, Lord Jesus, save me or save him or her. People then started simply saying Jesus. After a while saying Jesus was just a casual expletive or expression of pain, shock or outrage. (The 4th commandment says, “Do not take the name of the Lord in vain.”) Expressing the desire of something so serious as God damning something or someone to eternal hell is also a violation of this commandment.
Some people will say, “Oh, that’s just the way I talk, I don’t mean anything by it.” That may well be true. You probably don’t have any meaning behind the words. They are just mindless chatter with no thought! Then maybe it is time to start thinking about it and intentionally choose words that have meaning instead.
The Bible says our words should always have the intention of building up and strengthening. Even if you are being silly and playing with kids using ‘baby talk’ you are intentionally trying to bring about good for the kid you are having fun with. It may sound silly but it is full of purpose.
Avoid using questionable language. Also avoid language that is ‘put-down’ humor. Language is a huge gift and one of the greatest distinguishing traits of humans over animals. Don’t corrupt the gift of speech by bringing it down to the level of animals driven by mere instinct. Use your gift of language in a way that glorifies God and is a testament to the fact that you were created in the image of God.
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