So, Chuck Swindoll is in trouble for using potty language. Click here.
There's an interesting take on it here. Here's an excerpt from that blog:
"Interesting conversation going on this week at Monday Morning Insight. Charles Swindoll has been dropped from VCY radio station for using 'vulgar" language [including buns, heck, crap, balls] I think it was the "crap" word that got him in trouble. ...BTW - Chuck Swindoll was my pastor in the eighties when i lived in Orange County. My wife was a missionary sent from EFC in Fullerton and we were married in that church. He is a good man and if he says "crap", then i would assume that the era of crap being a swear word has ended and people need to get used to it. ..."
Even John Piper was in trouble recently for saying that God kicks our a**.
Just last week I was watching a preacher on TV with my folks. The man said "screw," "crap," and "golly" in the same five minute period. We couldn't beleive it! I said, "All we need now is a few hells and darns and we can say we've been to church!"
What do you think about this new(ish) Christian swearing? Is it a part of our culture we just need to get used to? Is it just for effect and shock value?
Is it a violation of some Biblical command or is it merely contextualization?
Tell us what you think.
Notice God's unutterable waste of saints, according to the judgment of the world. God plants His saints in the most useless places. We say - God intends me to be here because I am so useful. Jesus never estimated His life along the line of the greatest use. God puts His saints where they will glorify Him, and we are no judges at all of where that is. ~Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, August 10
2 comments:
I think John Piper addressed it best when asked why he did so:
“I think if I had it to do over, I would not say it. On the one hand, I don't like fanning the flames of those who think it is hip and cool to swear for Jesus. That, it seems to me, is immature. On the other hand, I want those hip people to listen to all I say and write, and I hope that the Lord may get a hold of them and draw them out of immaturity and into the fullness of holiness. But it backfires if one becomes unholy to make people holy. I SUSPECT THERE WAS TOO MUCH OF THE UNHOLY IN MY HEART AT THAT MOMENT.”
The author of the blog you mentioned doesn’t seem to have as good a grip on this as he seems to think. First of all, “foolish” in the Scriptures does not necessarily mean “stupid”. It means “unwise”. Big difference. I think it unwise to not develop enough of a command of your language that you need to resort to any type of offensive word – no matter to whom you are speaking.
I also do not think you can lump “cuss words” with “politically-incorrect language”. Using the word “girl” for woman is not politically correct. Using “crap” is just vulgar. Neither example is the same as using “Jesus” as a cuss word or degrading someone’s mother. Lumping all these types and categories of improper terms together is a huge generality of what is immoral or respectable.
If a word is a euphemism of Deity in any way, I do not believe you should use it. That seems plain enough to me.
If a word is used in a grammatically incorrect way, you should not use it if you want to at least appear intelligent. Saying, “What the hell?” means absolutely nothing.
If we use Philippians 4:8 as our guide, we will not use a whole horde of other words – whether calling someone “a name” or using a word that will conjure up other not-so-virtuous thoughts.
One of the biggest reasons, I believe, that a great many people either use profanity or are not bothered as much anymore with it is that we have acclimatized ourselves to it. We watch so many movies, listen to so many comics, and even listen to it in our musical lyrics that we are now used to it – quite comfortable, in fact. What’s the big deal, anyway?
The big deal? Being held accountable for EVERY IDLE word. (Matthew 12:36-37)
I think this might make me like Chuck Swindoll better.
It at least makes me like mainstream Christianity and the whole sub-culture a lot less.
These are the things that make my blood boil and as I'm about to open my big mouth, I realize that God probably would remind me that I have also been guilty of being too judgmental, hypocritical, etc, and there are a lot better ways I could spend my time (i.e, sharing the gospel) than criticizing other Christians...as tempting as it is.
This reminds me of something that happened to Derek Webb (a Christian guy who is also a singer/sonwriter):
"The second song that generated controversy was Saint and Sinner where Webb wrote" "I used to be a damned mess but now I look just fine, 'Cause you dressed me up and we drank the finest wine". The word damned was removed from the final version of the album, at the request of two major Christian retailers."
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