I have found myself a bit grumpy these last few days, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. I had a good weekend, I've got a full yet fulfilling week ahead of me, both in and out of work, and yet I just couldn't seem to shake this gray feeling; this sort of tired blase` that I just couldn't get rid of, much to my wife's chagrin.
Well, today I figured it out. I don't know if it makes any sense at all, but I took a break from working on loans and started studying a scripture topic. The more wrapped up in this wonderfully written article about Christians and cursing (or cussing or swearing, however you prefer to say it) the happier I become and the more the gray blase` lifted off of me. So, I decided I was grumpy because I was not working on what I should have been working on at the moment. And with that, I would now like to share with you what I've found.
I read through this article about Christians and cussing; more specifically, good and bad reasons to refrain from using vulgar language and times when it is a sin and other times when it's not a sin, but rather just rude. The author actually likened swearing to cutting loose a big, loud, obnoxious fart in that it isn't necessarily a sin, but frowned upon in most social situations.
I'm not sure that I'm 100% convinced that swearing is not a sin. I have to do some further research into what the Bible means when it speaks of idle words and swearing. But the author definitely had a few very good points of interest that I'd like to highlight before I send you on your merry way to read the article for yourself.
The first and most inspiring thing the author said was regarding legalism. He defined it better and more eloquently than I have ever heard anyone do before. He said "My beef with legalism is its rigid and blind insistence on following a code for the sake of following a code, ignoring any other aspect of thinking and reasoning on the subject...daring anyone to challenge...it." Pure poetry. I couldn't in a million years think of a better definition. And because legalism, hypocrisy, pharisaicalism and willful ignorance of believers are the things that fire me up the most and are the things I've decided to battle against in ministry, I think this gentleman's definition is going to be an awesome tool in my toolbox.
Along with that, my whole life I've heard about "a standard." "You represent our church and you need to hold a standard." "Our youth are different from other churches because they have a standard." My reply to that for the longest time has been "Well, then what's the standard?" But in reading the author's definition of legalism I quoted above, I found that "standard" is simply a positive-spin word for "legalism." When people are saying "You represent the church and you need to hold a standard." what they are really saying is "You represent the church and you need to look, talk, think, act, and worship like I do because that's the way it's always been and any other way is wrong." If that isn't legalism, I don't know what is.
Another excellent point, and one that I often forget about, is taking God's name in vain. There are many ways to do that and it doesn't just mean god@mmit. Personally, I believe that by claiming to be a Christian and living any way that would reflect opposite of that is taking God's name in vain. The word "vain" in this instance means without power or authority, and when you claim to be child of God and live like God does not have authority in your life, you are taking his name in vain.
All that being said, speaking the name of "God" or "Jesus" in a way that renders those names meaningless is wrong. And sadly, it is something that is overlooked by many Christians, including myself. "Oh my God!" is a frequent expression of surprise, shock, or disgust in my vocabulary. I've heard very righteous, holy people say "Jesus" in much the same manner, and although they are still righteous and holy (in my opinion and as much as any sinner saved by grace can be) they are still in the wrong when they take God's name in vain.
It can be argued however that "God" is not taking God's name in vain. After all, what is God's name? I'm a man, and people often say to me "Hey, man!" but "man" is not my name. So, there's definitely some further studying that needs to be done on my part before I reach an absolute conclusion, but the principle remains the same regarding not taking God's name in vain; without power or authority.
In another article (which led me to the article I've mentioned above) I read about Evangelical speaker Tony Campolo who starts his speeches off by saying "I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a sh*t. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said sh*t than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night." Good point, huh? We Christians, in our legalistic minds, so often have a tendency to focus on the minor issues with an ant-in-the-magnifying-glass intensity, yet we overlook the whole reason we are here. We get so wrapped up in our "No drinking, no gambling, no swearing, no tattoos!" that we neglect the biggest commandment in the Bible, to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself.
While swearing isn't always a sin, it's definitely not always a good thing either. All things are permissible (except where expressly prohibited by God's word) but not everything is beneficial. A time when cussing is definitely a sin (in my opinion) are when it offends someone else or it turns someone else off to Christianity. On a sidenote to that, you cannot live your life according to someone else's convictions. That's a hard lesson I had to learn. Yes, Paul said that if eating meat offered to idol gods was a stumblingblock to his brother, or that it would offend his brother, he would refrain. But I've found in my own life that there are "professional offendees;" people who are offended over every little thing that they don't agree with. There is a very fine yet very real line between not offending your brother and you being a slave to what other people think. If you allow it, there are people out there who will subject you to their personal standards and convictions, and while those standards and convictions may work for them, they are not necessarily yours or mine. Seek out your own soul's salvation with reverence to God.
The article actually ends with the idea of living to your own personal convictions which come from God. Even though the scripture isn't necessarily cut and dry regarding cussing, alcohol, tattoos, or many other things, it needs to be remembered that whatever is not of faith is sin. That simply means that if you can't do it with a clear conscience, you are sinning. Now why you don't have a clear conscience about the matter needs to be sorted out before you can truly decide what is of faith and what is sin, because if you can't have the liberty to do something because of someone else's legalism, the matter might necessarily be a sin, but the fact that you are living in bondage under someone else might be.
Ah, the fine lines we must walk. The Bible says to be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. Sometimes I think it would be easier to not question the status quo and just blindly follow what I've always been taught. Ignorance is bliss, but curiosity and truth-seeking can bring true liberty.
You can read the articles I based much of this blog about at:
http://www.internetmonk.com/articles/C/cuss1.html
http://www.internetmonk.com/articles/C/cuss2.html
Cheers, and God bless!
Hoss
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment