LookingForAnswers

While YHWH hasn't given us a dictionary of words we shouldn't say; if you are using your body and words to offer testimony and a witness to the transformative grace of Christ, your message will be lost, because no one will see how Christ makes you any different from or better than them. I am no better than them, no Christian is. We are not saved by being better than anyone, we are saved despite ourselves. Why would any Christian think themselves better than a lost soul? Paul certainly did not, perhaps his would be a good example to follow.

No, it does not. Tell me... do you refer to women using the "B" word? Do you use profanity in your regular day-to-day conversation or when you are angry about something? Yes and when they are used according to their proper meaning, they are not profane. But how often are they ever used that way??? It that some people want to justify unwholesome behavior by muddying the water on the issue. If you want to cuss and swear and use profanity and call people by those ugly words, that is up to you. The Bible says not to, but you seem to think its okay. I am not going to help you justify your sin and tell you that words are just words and that profanity is in the eye of beholder. Those words are not not words that should come out of the mouth of a committed follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus said you will give an account before the Lord for every word that comes out of your mouth. and that by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. If you feel that it is the worth the price to pay for a lack of self-control and you don't mind having to explain to the Lord why you didn't think obeying His commandments about controling your tongue was all that important, that will be between you and the Lord. I will not be joining in you. I do not choose to use this sort of language as it was not part of my culture, to me it is profane. At the same time I do not feel comfortable judging others who were raised in a different culture than I. It seems that people wish to take their own personal opinions and use them to judge others instead of using the bible as their guide. You yourself have already admitted that profanity is in the eye of the beholder by stating that different things are obscene in different cultures. Perhaps we would be much better off if we left the judgement to God and focused on showing his love to the lost instead.

I would like to find a group of believers that care more about the lost than themselves. A group of believers that put reaching the lost above pot luck lunches. I would like to find a group of believers that do not fit this quote from Gandhi "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Does this not highlight that the words we choose to call profane are arbitrary? The "b" word is in the dictionary and has a non-profane meaning. There was a time when it was not viewed as profane or obscene. Same goes for another name for a donkey like pack animal. If profanity is defined by the culture, which it seems we all agree is the case, then it is an ever moving target and I am not sure it is something that we should cast stones over. Words we use today would have been profane 200 years ago.

Doesn't matter. If I were in a different culture and a certain word we use in the US was a profane word in that culture, I would honor Christ by not using that word. There are several words that are profane and profane for a reason. Profanity is not an arbitrarily assigned value. I would honor Christ by not using such words. I see what you are saying, would it not stand to reason that if different places have different profane words then profanity is an arbitrarily assigned value of the culture.

Jean, What is it that makes one word worse than another?

WOW, you guys(and gals if it fits) are quick. Would you agree that what fits those descriptions is dependent upon the culture? What I am saying is that words we find profane were not once and there are many words that were once profane that are no longer seen that way.

Is the use of profanity sinful? I am not speaking of the taking of the Lord's name in vain, but of the words that society has deemed as profane. I am having a discussion about this with a friend and would like to get some input from others. Thank you in advance.