Dear Prudence, what are your thoughts on cussing?
I have to admit, I have had a few choice words when I am upset. I have cursed everything from my laptop to my own idiocy when I forget something important. I am sure most of us, although I am making a conjecture, have at one time or another cursed out loud or in our minds. Let’s face it, we are surrounded by cuss words from movies to music — even advertisements. I’ve met some devout Christians who didn’t mind dropping a couple curse words.
The common arguments I’ve heard in favor of cursing Christians are phrases like, “They’re just words,” or “They help me express how I really feel,” or even “Peter cursed in the Bible.”
But are they really just words? Do they really help us express what we feel? Maybe they do, maybe they don’t.
I would never go so far as to say that cursing is a sin, but I think it calls something else into question. Who do we belong to? Who are we reflecting when we cuss, are we reflecting Jesus Christ or are we reflecting the world? Who are we glorifying? Sure, cussing may help you express how angry you feel that moment, but does it make you feel any better? What about the people around you, who are they going to see when you curse?
Now, I’m not trying to be some hard-nosed fundamentalist, but what I am saying has been said before by Paul himself. He writes to the church in Colossae, in Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”
Paul also tells in Ephesians 4:29, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”
No unwholesome words should be proceeding from our mouth, not for our benefit, but for the benefit of those around us. Sure we might want to be those cool Christians who listen to secular music and wear trendy clothes and say whatever we want. I am not trying make anyone feel badly, I am trying to help us remember of whom we are reflections.
Our society has become dominated with an individualistic mentality; we have the freedom to express ourselves as we wish. But we as Christians are a bit different, are we not? We have been bought with a price, we are no longer our own. So who are we going to conform to? The world or to Christ?
So go ahead. You don’t have to love the latest Christian band and wear screen-printed Christian tees, but just remember, even though we are at Biola, we still, no matter what, are a reflection of someone. Who are you going to reflect, the savior who took on your sins and suffered for your sake, or the world with its lustful enticements?
