Taran
New Member
Bad Language...
Words such as obscenity, pornography, vulgarity, and profanity each mean something completely different yet they can help us understand the various issues that deserve our scrutiny.
The word obscene can be thought of as meaning “out of the scene” or “offstage.” In Greek drama, certain actions could not be performed onstage (as such actions would violate social decorum and the appropriate aesthetic effect of the play). Specifically, Greek culture forbade presenting violence onstage (no fight scenes). When the plot of a tragedy demanded that a character commit suicide or murder, the violent action was never shown. Rather, the characters simply left the stage; later a messenger came to report the horrible news to the audience.
Why did they do that? The Greeks were hardly prudish or moralistic. Well, when the audience is enthralled by a dramatic action, involved in the characters and their dilemmas, the spectacle of overt violence literally breaks the aesthetic mood. For example, the audience may become totally involved with the suffering of Oedipus, but if the audience must witness the actor poking out his eyes, the reaction shifts from tragic pity and sorrow to shock and revulsion. The same principle is evident in contemporary movies. As the movie introduces characters and their situations, the suspense builds, until one character grabs a chainsaw and blood splatters. How does the audience react? Some viewers become grossed out, some cover their eyes, some try to figure out the special effects . . . but the aesthetic experience is finished. That is why violence could be considered “obscene” – that is, it should not have been shown on screen because it violates the aesthetic decorum.
The same is true for graphic sexual depictions. When writers begin to appeal to the readers’ sexual pleasure instead of the aesthetic pleasure, it becomes pornographic and only cheapens the work. Characters become coarsened and stereotyped. The result becomes superficial characterizations of one-dimension “cardboard” people that the audience doesn’t care about.
Yet these issues only address the aesthetic problem. The moral problem with obscenity is even more significant. We might think of the “obscene” in the Greek sense as portrayals of what should be kept off stage or private. Sexuality is for the private intimacy of marriage (not for public eyes). Striptease shows are obscene, not because nudity is wrong, but because nudity is private. To pay a woman to take her clothes off in front of crowds of ogling men is to violate her in a very brutal way. Public sex is obscene, not because sex is evil, but because sex is sacred. To quote William Kirk Kilpatrick, "Unless you understand that Christianity considers sexual love to be a sacred thing, you can never fully understand why it insists that sex be set about with exclusions and restrictions. All sacred things are. It is not that it thinks sex a bad thing, but a high thing."
The word pornography is derived from two Greek words which together literally mean “prostitute-writing.” Pornography is a type of obscenity consisting of graphical sexual descriptions designed to arouse the listener or reader with vicarious sexual experiences. It dislocates sexuality away from the personal relationship of marriage.
The vulgar is a much milder form of offensive language than obscenity. The term literally means “the common people.” Reflecting the ancient social hierarchies, the implication is that the lower classes exhibit behavior and conversation that cultivated people would avoid. Vulgar talk would include references that are embarrassing, rude, or inappropriate for the time, place, or company. Mild sexual innuendos, allusions, to having to go to the bathroom/toilet, and other “naughty” language (the sort of thing that children giggle at) are not necessarily obscene, but they are considered vulgar.
Notice that in the original sense of the word, vulgarity is embarrassing not so much to the hearers, but to the speaker. Someone who is vulgar reveals a poor education and subservient social position. Today, societies have changed; the upper classes are often just as foul-mouthed. Thus, vulgarity reveals a “low” sensibility, a dull wit, and an utter lack of taste regardless if they have money and social standing or not.
The most problematic for Christians, however, is usually profanity. This word comes from another Latin construction meaning “outside the temple.” If something were profane – that is, ceremonially unclean – it would not be allowed inside the Temple. Profane is the opposite of sacred. In the present context, profanity violates what is holy. Profanity uses religious language in a way that desecrates or trivializes its sacred meaning. While the Bible does offer a few condemnations of obscenity, pornography, and crude vulgarity, it robustly condemns profanity in the strongest terms:
• "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name” (Exodus 20:7).
• “Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37)
• “Above all, my brothers, do not swear — not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned” (James 5:12)
• “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be” (James 3:9-10).
To utter profanity that makes fun of God, trivializes Him (such as irreverent invocations of the name of God), swearing falsely (such as insincere promises), or cursing an object or our fellow human beings is a grave misuse of language. A Christian can never say, “those are just words,” implying that mere words have little importance. In the Christian consciousness, words are of staggering significance, underlying reality itself, defining personality, and enabling relationships to occur. Apparently God takes them very seriously even if we do not. Ironically, such expressions seem mild and inoffensive today. We might be shocked at crude, vulgar jokes or four-letter sexual obscenities, but not at an “oh God” or “go to Hell.” Clearly here, as so often happens, our worldly standards are turned upside down when compared to Scripture. What seems shocking to us may mean little to God and what seems minor to us may be a grave offense to God. The Scriptures clearly warn us against all “bad language” – in all of its manifestations:
“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient.
. . . Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.”
-- Ephesians 5:3-6; 11-12
Words such as obscenity, pornography, vulgarity, and profanity each mean something completely different yet they can help us understand the various issues that deserve our scrutiny.
The word obscene can be thought of as meaning “out of the scene” or “offstage.” In Greek drama, certain actions could not be performed onstage (as such actions would violate social decorum and the appropriate aesthetic effect of the play). Specifically, Greek culture forbade presenting violence onstage (no fight scenes). When the plot of a tragedy demanded that a character commit suicide or murder, the violent action was never shown. Rather, the characters simply left the stage; later a messenger came to report the horrible news to the audience.
Why did they do that? The Greeks were hardly prudish or moralistic. Well, when the audience is enthralled by a dramatic action, involved in the characters and their dilemmas, the spectacle of overt violence literally breaks the aesthetic mood. For example, the audience may become totally involved with the suffering of Oedipus, but if the audience must witness the actor poking out his eyes, the reaction shifts from tragic pity and sorrow to shock and revulsion. The same principle is evident in contemporary movies. As the movie introduces characters and their situations, the suspense builds, until one character grabs a chainsaw and blood splatters. How does the audience react? Some viewers become grossed out, some cover their eyes, some try to figure out the special effects . . . but the aesthetic experience is finished. That is why violence could be considered “obscene” – that is, it should not have been shown on screen because it violates the aesthetic decorum.
The same is true for graphic sexual depictions. When writers begin to appeal to the readers’ sexual pleasure instead of the aesthetic pleasure, it becomes pornographic and only cheapens the work. Characters become coarsened and stereotyped. The result becomes superficial characterizations of one-dimension “cardboard” people that the audience doesn’t care about.
Yet these issues only address the aesthetic problem. The moral problem with obscenity is even more significant. We might think of the “obscene” in the Greek sense as portrayals of what should be kept off stage or private. Sexuality is for the private intimacy of marriage (not for public eyes). Striptease shows are obscene, not because nudity is wrong, but because nudity is private. To pay a woman to take her clothes off in front of crowds of ogling men is to violate her in a very brutal way. Public sex is obscene, not because sex is evil, but because sex is sacred. To quote William Kirk Kilpatrick, "Unless you understand that Christianity considers sexual love to be a sacred thing, you can never fully understand why it insists that sex be set about with exclusions and restrictions. All sacred things are. It is not that it thinks sex a bad thing, but a high thing."
The word pornography is derived from two Greek words which together literally mean “prostitute-writing.” Pornography is a type of obscenity consisting of graphical sexual descriptions designed to arouse the listener or reader with vicarious sexual experiences. It dislocates sexuality away from the personal relationship of marriage.
The vulgar is a much milder form of offensive language than obscenity. The term literally means “the common people.” Reflecting the ancient social hierarchies, the implication is that the lower classes exhibit behavior and conversation that cultivated people would avoid. Vulgar talk would include references that are embarrassing, rude, or inappropriate for the time, place, or company. Mild sexual innuendos, allusions, to having to go to the bathroom/toilet, and other “naughty” language (the sort of thing that children giggle at) are not necessarily obscene, but they are considered vulgar.
Notice that in the original sense of the word, vulgarity is embarrassing not so much to the hearers, but to the speaker. Someone who is vulgar reveals a poor education and subservient social position. Today, societies have changed; the upper classes are often just as foul-mouthed. Thus, vulgarity reveals a “low” sensibility, a dull wit, and an utter lack of taste regardless if they have money and social standing or not.
The most problematic for Christians, however, is usually profanity. This word comes from another Latin construction meaning “outside the temple.” If something were profane – that is, ceremonially unclean – it would not be allowed inside the Temple. Profane is the opposite of sacred. In the present context, profanity violates what is holy. Profanity uses religious language in a way that desecrates or trivializes its sacred meaning. While the Bible does offer a few condemnations of obscenity, pornography, and crude vulgarity, it robustly condemns profanity in the strongest terms:
• "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name” (Exodus 20:7).
• “Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37)
• “Above all, my brothers, do not swear — not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned” (James 5:12)
• “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be” (James 3:9-10).
To utter profanity that makes fun of God, trivializes Him (such as irreverent invocations of the name of God), swearing falsely (such as insincere promises), or cursing an object or our fellow human beings is a grave misuse of language. A Christian can never say, “those are just words,” implying that mere words have little importance. In the Christian consciousness, words are of staggering significance, underlying reality itself, defining personality, and enabling relationships to occur. Apparently God takes them very seriously even if we do not. Ironically, such expressions seem mild and inoffensive today. We might be shocked at crude, vulgar jokes or four-letter sexual obscenities, but not at an “oh God” or “go to Hell.” Clearly here, as so often happens, our worldly standards are turned upside down when compared to Scripture. What seems shocking to us may mean little to God and what seems minor to us may be a grave offense to God. The Scriptures clearly warn us against all “bad language” – in all of its manifestations:
“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient.
. . . Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.”
-- Ephesians 5:3-6; 11-12
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