What The Craig?!?

A few Sundays ago, I preached through the Ten Commandments and explained that taking the Lord’s name in vain was more than just saying one particular phrase; it is the use of God’s name in irreverent ways. To illustrate, I spoke of the absurdity of using my name in vain. I explained, “No one has ever hit their finger with a hammer and yelled, ‘CRAIG!'”

One of the elementary kids in our church was paying close attention, but he got his metaphors mixed up a bit. His takeaway from the sermon was that people should clean up their language by substituting my name for a curse word. He told a friend who got in trouble for using profanity at school that instead of using the forbidden phrase, he should say, “What the Craig!”

Maybe it will stick. I’m not sure.

Regardless, about the same time, I read a CNN article proclaiming Why swearing is a sign of intelligence, helps manage pain and more. As you might imagine this article extols the use of profanity. It is not surprising, since the use of profanity seems to have exploded in the public sphere in recent years.

Ethically, I do not believe that it is always wrong to use profanity, but normally it is not necessary or acceptable. Here are a few biblical reasons to avoid profanity:

1. Romans 12:2 urges us “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” The regular use of profanity does not separate us from the world, but helps us to be more closely conformed to it.
2. 1 Peter 3:10 reminds, “For  “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.”
3. Ephesians 4:29 instructs, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Cursing tears others down.
4. Paul warns in 2 Timothy 2:16-17 that irreverent speech is a gateway to more ungodliness, ” But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene.”
5. Cursing dishonors the Lord, “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:10).

We are commanded in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to “Take every thought captive to obey Christ.” In truth, many people cuss regularly not because they intend the words that come out of their mouth to be taken very seriously, but because they simply aren’t thinking about what they are saying. As Christians, we have to take thoughts captive, to think about what we are thinking and think about what we are saying.

Another aspect of taking these thoughts captive is to consider why we use the words we use. An article over at the Art of Manliness suggests that profanity is performative–it is done for the sake of others, to shock, impress, show toughness or to add emphasis. Do you cuss because it is appropriate, or do you cuss to impress those around you?

CNN says the use of profanity might suggest higher intelligence. But, if you will invest in learning or buy a thesaurus, you can develop a vocabulary that is not only robust and intelligent, but pure, holy, and G0d-honoring.

There are times where profanity is probably ethically acceptable–like if someone is shooting at you, for instance. But, those are going to be extreme cases…not when you hit your toe on the table or spill your La Croix.

Choose to have speech that honors Christ and builds up others.