What’s the Big Deal about Swearing?

by    15th February 2002    0 responses

When I was young, I was taught that certain things were right and wrong. My parents instilled into me a series of values which, for most of my life up to this point – and into the future – I will hold to. My parents taught me that it was wrong to be ‘naughty’, and I very quickly found out what this meant (especially after a certain couple of incidents with some hi-fi equipment). Saying certain words was a definite no-no – impossible to avoid hearing at school, but you must never say them.

It’s only up until recently (I guess you could call me fairly slow) that I’ve really begun to think about this. Swearing, in general, takes two forms – blasphemy and using ‘naughty words’. Here I’ll look at both of them – why are they both so wrong?

Blasphemy

This is definitely the more obvious one; the Bible makes no bones about it:

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)
One of the Ten Commandments! This is food for thought – God won’t hold anyone guiltless if they are guilty of using his name in vain. Every time someone says “Oh God” or “For God’s Sake” in a way that is wrong, they are violating one of our primary commandments. Of course, it’s not just the saying of a certain phrase.

Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong? (James 2:6-7)
The Authorised Version actually uses the word blaspheme, although the meaning is made quite clear. To blaspheme is basically something which is said or done deliberately against God (see the ‘unforgiveable sin’, Matthew 12:31)

This is something that just isn’t to be done: we should not blaspheme under any circumstances. Anything that ‘slanders the noble name of God’ is wrong, period.

Naughty Words

When I was younger, I used to think that it was the physical act of saying a word that was the problem. Merely saying one of the “Forbidden Words” would get you into BIG trouble with God. Now, this way of teaching me was so effective that it lasted a long while. However, what my parents didn’t explain was WHY: they’re explanation was that – it just shouldn’t be done. So I’m going to try and explain why people swear:

After conducting extensive research for many years on the subject of swearing (that is, being educated in a state school from an early age) I can conclude that it is something people do to express an emotion. Usually that emotion is frustration, anger, hate – you don’t need me to run through them all, but you’ll notice that they are all negative emotions. People occasionally swear to express something positive (for example, “that was brilliant” – substitute in your own word(s) of choice) or purely out of habit, but these occasions are negligible compared with the negative elements.

Side Note

Before we go any further here, I’d just like to say that – although you don’t have to think of every swearword you know – they usually refer to bodily functions, sex, etc. In other words, derogatory or ‘rude’ words. Since they have come into practice as part of many people’s standard vocabulary (although of course not making it right) they pretty much refer to the same thing… it’s a matter of personal preference whether you choose to use slang or ‘medically correct’ terms. Just something to think about…

I pose you the question: do you think that we, as Christians, should need to swear because we cannot control those emotions? And secondly, is saying “Oh, sugar” in the same way and for the same reasons as you would swear any better than swearing itself? After all, they’re just words – it’s what is inside that counts (clichéd, but nevertheless true).

One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is self-control (see Galatians 5:22) – perhaps we shouldn’t be letting ourselves get to the state where we feel we have to express ourselves like that. What about calling somebody by a nasty name? We are commanded to love our neighbours… is this demonstrating that love?

Now, depending on your interpretation of this passage, this could be the most important thing: reading through Matthew 5:33-37, Jesus says: “But I tell you, Do not swear at all” I believe that Jesus here is referring to swearing as in, “For God’s Sake”, “For Heaven’s Sake”, “I swear on the Bible” etc – hence 5:37 (“Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and your ‘No’, ‘No’”) But it’s certainly food for thought – every time you say, “For goodness’ sake” or an equivalent expression – is that not another way of saying “For God’s Sake”? This goes back to blasphemy, but it’s the same kind of thing: Jesus says explicitly that we shouldn’t swear at all – certainly a very challenging thing to say.

These are all tough questions; but I’m going to stop now and not labour the point.

God bless.

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