using other words for profanity?

Hi
I don't know if this has been talked about before but I have a friend who is always using substitute swear words and thinks that is not big deal. He uses words like bloody(no he is not from the UK), he will substitute a word that starts with a "f" instead of using that word. To me its all a matter of the heart not just the word used, if your saying a word that starts with a "g" to replace the Lords name when your upset isn't that still the same as taking His name in vain. same thing with swearing isn't that the same as using profanity but just with other words? This young man has never really used bad language ever so I am not sure why he is doing this now but he thinks its funny to get a reaction out of people. I would like to share with him more about this any good teaching or thoughts anyone has about this?

your little sis in Him
Elizabeth

PS I hope this is not coming across as offensive, I wanted to get advice on this topic with out writing to many of the words out so as to be mindful of others when asking about this...

I have never thought of it like that.

I think you have a valid point so I will go away and contemplate.

Thank you

Does He know the Lord, profess faith in the Lord? Does the the aim of His life point to serving, pleasing, and delighting in God?

If yes, then ask him how this glorifies God and how does it bring men to Christ. Ask how does this keep younger Christians from stumbling and keep their fragile consciences pure. Another good question, is what would happen if everyone who professed to be a Christian behaved the way you are behaving in this matter. That is if everyone used this language, what would be the result? That question always gets me thinking about the true worth of the subject in question.

If no, then start with the Gospel for he has far more pressing matters than a potty mouth.

You are right in saying that he is cursing in his heart, but using substitute words to mitigate possible adverse reactions by those around him. It is a clear indication of lack of self-control when a person must blurt out such expletives in reaction to situations. It is a sign that the person has not fully given himself to the Lordship of Jesus and the leading of the Spirit.

[i]Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [b]gentleness and self-control[/b].[/i]

I thought I had given myself completely, but I still used substitute words rather than what I used to use.

This got me thinking, and then I remembered Sister Ginny's articles on rock music being addictive and Christian rock usually leading away from the Lord to more salacious forms of rock. If I use substitute words, I didn't consider it as a form of cursing from the heart in my case, but I always said that as a Christian, I am to set the example! Upon closer inspection, yes, it is cursing from the heart, no matter how "clean" it sounds! :-? What kind of example am I setting if I use substitute words, others hear it, and then they themselves use the substitutes which lead them to more salacious forms of language?

To Sister Elizabeth, thank you so much for posting this, because you showed me something I hadn't yet repented of. God bless you Sister.

DeepThinker wrote:
Dang, I've been found out! :-P

:-P 8-) :-D

Phil 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

I'm guilty, I thought it would be cute to substitute swear words, but why? so I could be like them but different in some way?
God is still working on me as I mature in him,
My wife really hated me doing it and pointed out this scripture to me, I had to humble myself on that.

Hey
thanks for sharing your thought and heart with me everyone. Yes the young man that I mentioned is a christian but for some reason he thinks its really funny to do this kind of thing. He is still pretty immature(only 16) not sure if he knows his behavior is a stumbling block to some. I am going to share this scripture that poet shared and some of the other things posted as well. I think when he realizes that we are being serious in wanting to talk this over with him, I think he will respond with a Christ like heart. He does like to goof around but some times I don't think he knows that he is going to far. He can be really funny but sometimes the sarcasm goes to far and some in the group don't understand his kind of humor. There has been hurt feelings. I want to share with him to that he wants to be careful of the example he is setting for the younger ones.

Anyway thanks again.

your little sis in Him
Elizabeth

Hello,

I shared this story a couple of times before, but I still get a laugh out of it.

When I was in high school, my pastor and his wife drove me and one other guy from our youth group to Christian youth camp. It was a long drive through the mountains, so the other guy and I spent the hours talking about nearly everything under the sun. The pastor's wife, a wonderful elderly woman, overheard me using the descriptive words, "wow," "cool," and "neat" (etc...).

During a lull in the conversation, she explained how, when she was a very young girl, she learned that such words were "ungodly" and even "blasphemous." She told us that ever since then, she had never uttered words like these.

My response?

"Wow!!!"

:-P

Hi ccchhhrrriiisss

Can I ask you when you answered back to her and said "Wow" were you trying to be mocking of her or was it a genuine response of "wow" I never heard of that before?

The young man that I am wanting to share with has a habit of trying to be funny with his peers as well people in authority over him, and there is a time and place for goofing off and having fun but he sometimes comes across as if he is mocking and that is not ok. There have been times when some have tried to tell him to not use certain kinds of language and he just kinds of makes a joke of it.

Anyway its actually harder then I thought it would be to explain because I want to be sensitive to others and the words I use in explaining this as well. Thanks though for your input.

your little sis in Him
Elizabeth

To Brother Ccchhhrrriiisss,

Can you teach us more about what the pastor's wife told you exactly about those words? I learned today that substitute swears are bad (and realized a parallel between that and what Sister Ginny said about CCM), but I didn't think "wow", "cool", and "neat" could be bad. Help me understand. :-) Is this the "vain babbling" that I Timothy 6:20 warns against?! :-?

I can't imagine how horrible Peter felt after the Matthew 26:74 denial, where he used profane language, denying the one and only Christ Himself! Talk about a moment of weakness.

Another thing we must remind ourselves is how powerful our tongues are. God's tongue is the most powerful force there is. He spake into existence [i]EVERYTHING[/i], and after Christ's Millennial reign, when Satan and the people foolish enough to choose him instead of Christ (who will be here IN PERSON) rise up against Him, Christ will destroy them all with His words! I guess "wow", "cool", and "neat" are vain babblings. I need to get even more sensitive to the Holy Spirit than I currently am. He explained to us the power of faith, that if we spoke to a mountain "go into the sea" and have no doubt, it can be done. Of course, I don't think He's talking about a literal mountain, no, rather, I believe He means to have A LOT of faith in Him and also a reference to how powerful our tongues are.

Now it's time for me to thank God for this revelation and pray hard that no idle word ever leaves my lips again! That's right, He said we'll be judged by every idle word that leaves our mouths. :-? God bless you Brothers and Sisters. :-)

Hi Elizabeth,

Can I ask you when you answered back to her and said "Wow" were you trying to be mocking of her or was it a genuine response of "wow" I never heard of that before?

I hope that makes sense.

I think that we should avoid profane speech. We should also be sensitive to the views of others. However, I think that we should also avoid feeling like we are in bondage to someone else's whims of rhetorical holiness. Come to think of it, I still use words like "wow," "cool" and "neat" every now and then.

:-)

Elizabeth, thanks for the topic. I believe that the language is the outwardly expressed symptom of what is going on in the heart. It is probably not so much that your friend has a language problem, but a heart problem. Sounds to me like his real problem is that he values the opinion of man more than he values God. How many of us have been there in one way or another? (I am raising my own hand on this one.)

I was raised to believe that darn is the same as d--n, that crap is the same as s--t, etc. I have never left that. I appreciate Christians who have a strong desire to let their yes be yes, their no be no, and not embelish their language with profanity of any kind. (Just a side thought that passed through my mind. Gossip, backbiting, and the like are profane are they not?)

Anyway, it sounded to me like the issue was so much deeper than simply substituting one word for another. Fear of man is a problem that will shut down what God wants to do in your life. It makes you serve man rather than God.

On the other hand, I do hope the post makes us pause for a minute and hear what we say rather than just saying it.

Col 3:7-10 [b]You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips[/b]. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Can you teach us more about what the pastor's wife told you exactly about those words? I learned today that substitute swears are bad (and realized a parallel between that and what Sister Ginny said about CCM), but I didn't think "wow", "cool", and "neat" could be bad. Help me understand. Is this the "vain babbling" that I Timothy 6:20 warns against?!

1 Tim 6:20 20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

21 Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.

Profane and vain babblings, were the teachings of Greek Philosophy, warned of also in Col 2:8.

Specifically those areas of Greek Philosophy that dealth with what we would call today "textual criticism". These were interpretive systems used on the "pagan" Greek scriptures, like Homer's Illiad and Odesey and other Greek Prophet (poets).

In Plato's republic it was called "theology" for the first time. And in Aristotles Metaphysics this same "theology" was called "the mother of sciences".

Paul said it was not a true science, but a science falsely so called. Which some "professing" or "practicing" on and applying to the scriptures had erred concerning the truth.

It is in reality mentioned all over the letters of Paul, when every world wisdom is referred to.

Christianity however did not take heed and adopted this same "theology" which originated in Greek pagan philosophy and has for 2000 years now taught it in all the schools as a viable means of scripture interpretation.

And this is why we are so "messed" up and constantly blown around with every wind of doctrine, through the theological systems of men who lie in wait to deceive us with their "Bible Study "helps", hermeneutics, and systematized theologies.

That is "vain babblins". Just find yourself some writings by any theologian, and there you have it. Vain and profain babblings and oppositions of science falsely so called.

And wow, cool and neat are not bad. That is NUTS, CRAZY, INSANE, religious control freak stuff. I can't believe someone would even think that....then again, yeah I can. I'm sure they'll come up with some systemized theological work to prove the Bible teaches that...somewhere.

Regards,

i am wondering something, in sweden, the devil has accomplished the thing of making some words that are biblical into prophane words. Just as your ordinary genital curse words, some words from scripture has the same "attitude" and force when spoken. So how do we approach this? for instance, the word hell in swedish is considered a curse word, just as the other common words people use to express their rage, dislike or whatever. Actually once i was sharing from scripture in a meeting, and afterwords the pastor came up and asked me not to use such words since they are considered to be "bad" by most people, i said well Jesus used that word?..... but since i take this approach, many are offended, its no is so much that it is biblical, i can offend for reading scripture, but it saddens me that it offends many older people, as somehow the view it as one is cursing when saying this word.

So even tho i dont think it is a sin to use the word hell, in its proper place, i have found that it is best to use many times other words, to not let this thing hinder the truth to come forth and the cultural thing becomes a stumbling block so to say. Mostly i would use "eternal destruction" , "damnation" etc.

But still i am quite grieved it has become so, that words used by our lord is becoming profanity, i remember that movie, "time changer" when he goes into the cinema with the church to catch a movie and he comes running out in chock and screams "stop the movie! they are blaspheming the Lords name! stop the movie!"

for the other christians it was not so a big thing.... i still remember that scene. How Christianity has changed....

that no idle word ever leaves my lips again! That's right, He said we'll be judged by every idle word that leaves our mouths

This alone should sober us into praying that the LORD would set a watch on my lips! Psalm 141:3.

ginnyrose