Can Christians Curse?

CAN Christians curse?

Obviously, since they do it all the time.

Should they? According to the Bible, no.

Ex. 20:7, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain."

Matt. 12:36-37, "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be condemned."

Matt. 12:34, "O generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."
 
hehe, you said "Can". LOL, had to say that, couldn't resist.

The technically correct answer to your question is: Yes, we can swear. Open up your mouth and let it fly, its totaly within our realm of possible behavior. But, should we?

Jesus said that it is what comes out of a man (person) that defiles him (them). If all our actions, all our thoughts and all our words are to bring glory to God, how does using flammatory, deragatory, illicit and profane language do this? Participating in nagging doesn't help either.

In WoW, I've left groups that show simple discrepect towards people. Name calling, activating filters, just being a general annoying non-contributing team member. At some point, you have to take action. Asking somebody twice to mind their manners is fine but if they continue, what do you do? Start nagging or stand up and take a stand and take action?

As for a filter restricting free speech? Thats not an apppropriate arguement. Any CS server admin has heard that one. Free speech is protected from the government censors, not private company or private person censors. Filters are not there to give you the go ahead to swear so that it appears in private. Its there so people don't have to deal with it, report it and not worry about younger members of the family being exposed to it.
 
I think we CAN, meaning we have the ability to, but we SHOULDN'T, because

A) It isn't right
B) that doesn't set a good example and
C) if we go around swearing what will people think of our faith?
 
Absolutely, Christians can curse. Christians just can't offend. For instance: I was organizing a scrimmage with another UT clan, and we decided to use their server. They told me in IRC that their server password was the uncensored version of " ". Since this is a server password, and not directed at me or anybody else, I wasn't offended.

The real dilemma was, how am I going to tell my teammates (one of whom is a Christian himself) how to get into the scrim server without saying the profanity?

So when they asked for the password, I just said it. It sounded weird to me to hear myself say that-- I hadn't used such language in years-- but it wasn't offensive to any of them. Life continued as normal.

Cursing, and what is and is not appropriate, is a socially-determined value, and even varies from one social setting to the next. As Christians, we aren't to refrain from using a particular word or set of words; we are instead required to conduct ourselves always in a manner that is uplifting and does not seek to offend others. So if I am with a close friend that I know is not offended by a certain "curse word", it's perfectly acceptable to use it. However, if I am not 100% sure that something isn't going to offend someone, I shouldn't say it.
 
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Well, I obviously know anybody (including Christians) /can/ say anything ... so yes, I guess the correct topic would be "Is is right for Christians to curse/cuss?"

As a Christian, I believe it is NOT OK to curse/cuss even with a close friend that doesn't think anything of it or will not question your christianity otherwise. The reason why: #1. the 2nd scripture that Dark Virtue posted above, and #2. the scripture I posted in the link - says "Life and Death are in the power of the tongue" which really makes me stop and think about what is coming out of my mouth - to edify people or to tear them down <-- which most curse/cuss words are driven around, that and anger ... both of which are not a fruit of the spirit, therefore I stand against it.

I don't know if the above posters read the link I posted, but the 2nd and 3rd pages are the meat of what the discussion was about.
 
Yes Christians can curse. There is a differance between cursing and spouting off foul swear words.
Jesus Christ even cursed. Remember when He cursed the fig tree because he could not find any fruit on it and when they passed by it a little later it was dead.
There is a differance and I'm surprised no one new this here.
 
Sorry I forgot to back up reply with the Word of God.
So here it is: Mark 11:12-14,20-24.
Enjoy Gen and everyone.
 
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How interesting that you change your topic question Goose.
Now it's "Is is right for Christian to curse/cuss?
Now you have given a differance in your questions it would seem as well.

Like I said before there is a differance and your question now implies that curse/cuss are the same. It is qiute obvious that they are not the same.

I wil answer this question by saying "no it is not alright for Christians to curse and it is not alright for Christians to cuss.

Cussing is swearing and that is a perverted foul language used to hurt someone or when one is angry about something.

Curse = the reverse of "to bless".

Curse = On a human level, to wish harm or catastrophe on someone or something.

Curse = On the divine level, to impose judgement.

I will leave this scripture Luke 6:28 for you to look up for yourselves.
I'm done here, cya.
 
Jeshurun said:
Yes Christians can curse. There is a differance between cursing and spouting off foul swear words.
Jesus Christ even cursed. Remember when He cursed the fig tree because he could not find any fruit on it and when they passed by it a little later it was dead.
There is a differance and I'm surprised no one new this here.
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Your response though true has nothing to do with the topic at hand other than the word 'curse'.

The thread is about whether or not Christians should cuss and use foul language. When Christ cursed the fig tree he did not use foul language on it:)

Now for my two cents on the topic:

It is very easy to confuse freedom in Christ with conforming to a sinful world. No matter how you paint it, I can without a doubt say that though Jesus would associate with drunken sailors, He most assuredly would not join in their foul language. The argument that it does not affend the group you are with has nothing to do with whether you should join in yourself.

If I am with a group of abortionists I am not going to encourage my wife to have an abortion just because it is the in thing with that group. Who you are with has absolutely nothing to do with whether you should do what you know is right.

The problem we have today (I guess this problem is not really new today) is that many people have a tendency to try and twist scripture in a way that supports the worldly things they want to do.

"Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."
James 1:21-22

What will probably ensue now is an argument about what foul language is.

"What may be foul language to you is not to some"

While this is true, please do not try to use this defense. We could come up with a list of words that would be considered to be foul by the vast majority of Christians (and none believers as well). I don't want to go there.

As I mature in Christ, I keep adding words to the list that I do not use anymore. I am trying to weed out many words that most would not put on a cuss list but are substitutions for cussing.

"Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." James 3:4-6

Yes those verses have to do with more than mere cussing...but don't make lite of them in the area of cussing either.
 
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LOL Jeshu.

we mean in a different context... i mean not that KIND of curse, like a Boom you're dead curse, but like Swearing... :eek:

Same opinion as everyone else. But to add a little more to the discussion:

Can christians replace swear words? Like instead of swearing, we would say fudge or crap?

I do this alot, but i watch the attitude wit hwhat i ssay it. I believe it is okay, but it really depends on the attitude.
if you say it like crap! and it is obvious that you are just replacing a bad word, i believe it will lead to bad things... :p
 
This is a very interesting question, and many have brought up points that make sense. I, personally, don't like cussing. But can I back that up with scripture? In a way, yes...in a way, no. Many of the scriptures brought up here have brought up the idea of a foul mouth or tongue, but who defines what words are right and wrong? I believe that is where the society case could come into play. There are certain words that the majority of the people agree are cuss words, and others that sit on the border (i.e. crapp). In my case, I feel a sickening type of feeling when I hear someone say certain words (though for some reason I let it slide more when watching TV and movies than when someone in person says it). However, there are words that I say that some people can't believe I say, but I don't feel they are wrong.

I believe that several cuss words are pretty dirty, in their meaning (though going back to their origins might make more sense of them, and less dirty). That is why there are certain cuss words allowed on TV, and others not.

I can't honestly answer this question either way, but thought I would give my two or three cents.

As for the society issue, there are things that are spoken of in the New Testament that we don't always follow, only because the issue in that particular part of the Bible was a social issue that we don't have anymore. If I had time to go into this, I would. Maybe another time....
 
Let me also throw this point out for consideration....

Moving beyond what is and is not a bad word, I think that use of profanity demonstrates a lack of creativity in adequately expressing ones feelings or emotions. Out of all of the words that are available, choosing a profane word is a relatively easy out.

Gen
 
I don't think it's the word where the violation lies. I believe it's context and intent. Did you intend to use that word in a disparaging way?

Would calling someone of French nationality a "cheese eating surrender monkey" be any less worse then calling them a piece of (insert popular four letter word beginning with "s" and synonmous with feces here)? Sure, the two phrases denote entirely different meanings, but only the latter is considered a "swear word." Yet the former phrase is just as destructive in intent.

Now if someone drops an f-bomb in frustration, is that wrong? It's definition in this context typically represents disgust, just like the alternative to the less resisted four letter word that "dang" is usually substituted for. It does not reference sexual intercourse. I verified this through a Meriram-Webster dictionary.

I suppose the question then is does using a word like the f-bomb or even "less obscence" d-bomb in a moment of frustration a sin? If so, then doesn't the sin have to be found in the expression of frustration, because in this instance, niether the f-bomb or d-bomb represent their primary denotative meanings (sexual intercourse and condemnation, respectively).
 
Uhmmmm... Crap IS a bad word.
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:D

Ah, I really don't know where the line is drawn here. There are old testament prophets who used strong words to the equivelant of swearing in the old testament when warning Isreal or Jews of Babylon of the oncomming wrath of God due to blatant disobedience. I personally have swore one time in my whole life and its was for really no reason at all. Slipped out? I don't swear and I don't believe in bieng offensive. I guess its truely where your heart is?
 
Peter cursed/cussed as told. But also note it was his denial that raised an eyebrow not the curses... But I feel like Gen that responsible christains should glorify God with verbal skillz and at the same time b kwel doing it...
 
Eon said:
Uhmmmm... Crap IS a bad word.
Click to expand...

Again...it's all relative to the person. Some people think that it IS a bad word, but others take it as an OK substitute for another word that we won't say, here. Of course, I don't knock your opinion of the word. You have the right to your opinion. Also, saying it is a bad word may not mean it is a cuss word. Depends on what you mean by "bad word." I take it as cuss word, but some may differentiate the two.

But, leaning on the grace point, here's a little story. The associate pastor at my church called me, one day, to see if I could cut out some cuss words from a movie clip he wanted to use. I probably could have, had I more than two days to do it...and I had the movie clip. But, anyway, I made a joke about just leaving them in. He said he probably would if it didn't have GD in it. "If it was just s*** or h***, then I wouldn't care." That's about an exact quote (actually saying the words). I froze in my tracks when he said that. But, again, I have no viable case against him, and grace covers over it, anyway. Just thought I'd share that little story with everyone, because I thought it kind of funny.
 
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