Essays

Revisiting Vulgarity.

By Johnny Beloved ⋅ June 4, 2007 ⋅  forward to friend ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Last December, I wrote a post concerning the topic of vulgarity as it relates to Christianity. And while I still agree with many of the points I made, I think that in light of recent events, my views concerning the topic have shifted a little. Over the last week, the part of the blogosphere that I’m fascinated with (the religious part) blew up around some key events. Charles Swindoll was dropped by the VCY Christian Radio Network for using words like “balls” and a somewhat “graphic” retelling of his visit to the doctor about his prostate. Then there came the public commentary (which I commented on multiple times, letting my anger and frustration get the better of me). And then, today, I read Andrew’s post concerning the topic which surprisingly, caused me to sit back and breath a little easier.

Go Kiwi Yourself

I don’t know what it is about Andrew’s posts that make me go from a heated boil to a calm simmer. He has this way of taking any and all personality types, not to mention the most fervent and zealous and getting them to relax. Which, though I follow this practice in my everyday life (being the relaxed voice in most any group), I can’t seem to master this skill when it comes to talking about faith. With my wife, with getting things done, projects finished, in almost every situation, I am cool, calm and collected.

But I let myself go a little over this most recent debacle. And since my vocabulary is so much more poignant when I write as opposed to when I speak, I tend to get on a roll from which I can’t stop myself.

Self-Realization

When it comes to vulgarity in the church, the extremes which Ken and Ingrid take their points of view shouldn’t ruffle my feathers, and I’ve resolved from here on out to not let that happen ever again; but rather to approach all situations with ease and grace, even when I’m personally attacked. Because the bottom line is that these people have no idea concerning the status of my heart. And though they would like to set themselves up as “authorities in Christ,” my conscience is clear before God. And if it comes down to deciding who holds more weight — between what God is saying to my heart as opposed to what Ken or Ingrid might say — I’m going to side with God every time. And as much as Ken or Ingrid or whoever else would like to claim that what they’re saying IS the voice of God, or that their interpretation is THE interpretation of Scripture, the fact is, that is just not the case.

I have decided that from here in out, I will clothe myself in humility. Especially when it comes to dealing with matters of faith. And to be even more specific, I will be especially humble when it comes to the Emergent vs. Evangelical debate. In light of that, I want to discuss some realizations about my own dirty mouth.

Linguistic Idolatry?

I’m a word freak. I really am. I love words and the orchestration of their structure. The rhythm of sentences, the music of punctuation, the connotations implied, the nuance of metaphor, the poignant sanctuary of hyperbole. And though my vocabulary is rather extensive, I have developed a rather bad habit of wielding language as a weapon. Looking past into prior posts on this website, there are a lot of instances where my words are not seasoned with salt, or grace, but pure emotional bullets, backed by the AK-47 of my mouth.

I’m not going to get into my theories concerning “cuss words” or so-called “corrupt talk,” because I feel that to say that language, when appropriate, should not be watered down. However, I also realize that with anything, excess is to be watched and curbed when necessary. The Bible doesn’t say to avoid alcohol, but the excesses of alcohol. I feel that the same rule should apply in language. And I’m going to be honest and say that I’m guilty of language excesses in many areas of my life.

The way I feel about cuss words can be summed up with the following examples.

In CSS (a document styling language), if you write something like the following - p {font-weight: bold;} - then every paragraph in your document is going to be bold. However this rule can be overwritten like so - p.normal {font-weight:normal;} - so that when you have a paragraph with the “normal” class, the words contained therein will be a normal weight, not bold.

To apply this to language, we are capable, as humans, of easily making our point with grace (normal). Sometimes, we can up the intensity of our language (bold) without offense to any party. However, in CSS, there is also the “important!” keyword that overrides any competing rule. For example:

p {font-weight:normal;}
p {font-weight:bold important!;}

In this situation, will the paragraph be normal or bold? It will be bold, because of the important! keyword. Cuss words are inherently emphatic, or at least they should be; the equivalent (for me) to the CSS important! keyword. There are appropriate times to use them and more times to not use them. They should be an exception to the rule, not the rule. To illustrate, here is another example:

p {font-weight: normal important!;}
p {font-weight: bold important!;}

Which rule will win? Well, it comes down to specificity, which is a more abstract concept, but the point is, it’s redundant, and most of all pointless. If we litter our language with important! keywords in everyday life, they lose their value. Our language will therefore become useless, because we have inherently lost the value of emphasis. Are there people who believe the important! keyword is not really necessary, and therefore don’t use them at all? Of course there are. But to go to the opposite extreme and say these words are never needed (and therefore a sin in the eyes of God) is a matter of personal preference, not spiritual adequacy.

Steps I’m Taking

I’m guilty of losing the value of emphasis. My excess in language has become a sin for me. So in the spirit of repentance, (and this won’t happen overnight), I am going to watch my language so that in almost every matter, my yes will be yes and no will be no. Please note that I don’t think that cuss words are inherently sinful - they’re not. But the overuse (i.e. excess) of these words, do reflect in my opinion, the status of one’s heart. Especially in my case, when a more complete vocabulary is available to me. The excess of “cuss words” weakens my point in argument, and for many believers, presents what Paul calls a “stumbling block” to one’s view or interpretation concerning the legitimacy of my faith.

I’m not a pastor, nor a leader in the church, nor am I associated with any kind of leadership. I’m a normal layman within the body of Christ. Nothing more, nothing less. Jesus picked fishermen for disciples — men not known for their excellent, litter-free vocabulary — and changed them. After three years of being with Jesus, when Peter was caught denying Christ for the third time, he cursed to emphasize his lie. And yet God still used him, loved him and made him the rock of the Christian church. God has been dealing with me concerning this subject, and therefore, this lesson applies to me alone. But I wanted to share because some have been rather upset with me in the past, and I wanted to ask for forgiveness.

We are not perfect. None of us are. But God eventually comes for us all and this is my repentance.