Swearing

I wouldn't claim to have the cleanest sense of humour, but I do have cleaner-than-average language. I try to avoid swearing whenever possible, and generally succeed. The reason for this when I was a child used to be simply "because I am a Christian" but this isn't actually a very clear reason so as an adult I eventually had a think about my choices with the language I use.

When I gave it some thought, I realised that the question of "Is it OK to swear?" isn't going to have a single answer because there are two different types of swearing, and I need to answer this question for each of them separately.




The first type of swearing I will mention is the Biblical one, which is also the simplest of the two types. The Bible says in the Old Testament that you should not misuse the name of God by, say, using it to express your anger at something. The first type of swearing is using God's name for something other than naming God.

The second type of swearing is purely cultural. The current culture has decided that certain words are rude words that are considered swearing and should not be used in a polite or professional setting. These words are always real words which have a meaning and you can name the same thing or item without swearing by using an alternative name for it.

When you compare these two types, there are some interesting contrasts.

Swearing using God's name is extremely common among the average population and is barely considered swearing at all. The phrase "Oh my God" is even used so frequently without thought that the average person will rarely even classify it as such. However a Christian can be very certain that the Bible classifies this as swearing and therefore something to avoid using.

Swearing using words defined as offensive by society is less frequent than using God's name and is also considered to be more serious. Despite the fact that these words are just nouns for actions or things, they are considered more offensive than abusing the name of the creator of the universe.

After looking at these two types, how should you respond?

If you are an atheist then your choice about what level of swearing you will use is purely dependant on where you decide to draw the line. There is no reason for you to avoid abusing God's name unless you want to avoid offending religious people, and what you consider OK out of the cultural swear words is up to your own taste and context. However, it might be worth considering an idea I have heard before that swearing lots in vocabulary is a sign of laziness with language, and laziness is universally recognized as an attribute of weakness of will.

If you are a Christian then obviously you will chose to avoid swearing using God's name because nobody ever wants to defile the name of someone they love. But whether you can use the cultural swear words or not is less clear. If these words do not blaspheme God directly then it could be argued that there is no reason not to use them. However, the Bible states that Christians should reflect pure and positive things such as love and self control, neither of which are displayed when you use cultural swear words.