I have always been under the impression that Christians aren't allowed to swear. It's just not something we do. It is universally understood among us that there are naughty words that we absolutely cannot say. How scandalous would it be if the pastor's wife walked up to a member of the congregation one day and said "What an ass that man is." Or "This damn heat is killing me."
I can answer that for you: It'd be pretty scandalous.
In fact, I'm not even sure if the pastor's wife is allowed to say the word "sucks" or "screwed". I know growing up I wasn't even supposed to say "shut up".
In high school, of course, I was exposed to a variety of bad language. From the graphic to the crude to the racially insensitive to the very, very explicit, I've heard it all. And to be honest, I've probably used most of it too.
It's fair to say that my level of profanity usually fluctuates with my spirituality on any given day. If I'm feeling really close to God, going to church a lot, praying, being all convicted, then I'm going to be trying to keep my language pretty clean. If I'm in a slump and I've decided I just can't even try anymore, those days of deep discouragement...you're apt to hear an f-bomb or two escape my lips.
The odd thing is though, that sometimes, even when I'm feeling really close to God, even when I've been reading my Bible and really consciously trying to live the right way, swear words still abound in my life. Now I'm a writer so obviously I have a pretty varied vocabulary (or at least, I ought to). There are so many words in this world I could use, and no one is more aware of that fact than me. So why do I resort to vulgarity?
Because sometimes, it's just necessary.
I have experienced great inner turmoil regarding this subject for years, and it's something I'm still debating now. Should we, as Christians, use swear words? I just don't know. See, I've met Christians, great Christian people, and even moreso since coming to college, who use some pretty colorful language. Maybe not even colorful. Maybe they don't run around saying "fuck this shit" all the time, but their language isn't necessarily all sweet and mild-mannered either. They'll say ass or damnit or what a bitch! Often the people I respect the most, both as humans and as God-fearing Christians, use some questionable language. And it's confusing. What's the deal?
Here's the conclusion I've reached right now. I'm eighteen years old, living in America. I grew up in Massachusetts; I now live in New York. I went to a public school all my life and I'm a writer. Though I attend a Christian college, I'm very much in the secular world.
I hear swear words. I listen to music with swear words (and for this, I don't feel that guilty. Perhaps I should, perhaps the Lord will convict me. But for now, I don't really have an issue with it, unless it crosses a line), I watch movies with swear words. I have friends at home who swear and as a writer, my characters often need to swear, because they're real people and that's how real people talk. Some of the people I think are funny, some of the people I talk to and respect, they swear. I read a lot of literature, not even for pleasure, just as a part of my major, that uses swear words.
I know a lot of Christians, some that are very very close to me, that won't let a word even mildly profane cross their lips. And I guess that's their personal feeling about it. But my feeling is, I live in the world. I may be attempting, as the Bible says, to live in it and not be of it, but the fact remains that I am in it. Very much so. And it's real and it's here. And I don't want to be one of those prissy little holier-than-thou types who frowns down at those who use language that's a bit more, spicy, shall we say.* I think there's a line, of course. I don't think Christians need to go out and string a bunch of bad words together and scream them at the world. I don't think that's how Christ should be represented and I don't think that's mature, or necessary. But a little mild language once in a while, in the appropriate setting? I think there are worse things to worry about, greater issues that we need to battle, bigger fights we need to fight. I think that sometimes, bad language is just honest. Just as graphic, sometimes vulgar, not-nice descriptions are honest. That's real life people. It's not all sunshine and rainbows. Yes I'm a Christian, I go to church and Sunday School when I'm home and chapel three times a week. I went to youth group all through my adolescence, I do VBS every year, nursery one Sunday a month and I volunteered for Awana my whole senior year.** And I love it all, just like I love God. But I also know what a penis is and I'm not afraid to say that word. So that's how I feel about it.
Also. Sex.
*Wow I sound really judgmental. I know it's just furthering the cycle when people judge the judgers. But I don't feel like censoring myself right now.
**I mention those things, not because they make me a Christian. Obviously they don't. But they do make me a "church" person I guess, and those "church" people are the ones (and here you'll have to allow me to generalize) that are most easily scandelized by inappropriate language.
No comments:
Post a Comment