The Nature of Profanity
Bruce and Tom's comments on yesterday's post about the nature of profanity were excellent and can help us move toward a biblical understanding of this matter. We must see that we can and do have a profane heart before we ever have a profane mouth.
First of all, a profane heart is a heart that simply dwells on base, filthy, crude, vulgar, unlovely things. By the standard of Philippians 4:8, Ephesians 5:4, and 1 Corinthians 13:5 anything that is unlovely, dishonorable, crude, unworthy of praise, and/or rude (the Greek word for "rude" in 1 Cor. 13:5 speaks of that which is unbecoming or disgraceful) is simply not to occupy our minds or hearts, never mind our conversations.
In my view, this most basic form of heart profanity self-evidently rules out language that is crude or vulgar or unlovely. By this definition, it disallows scatological "potty mouthed" talk (bathroom humor, flippant references to human waste--whatever the choice of four, five, eight, ten letter words one might opt for--or crude bodily functions and sounds that everyone knows to be base, filthy, unlovely, rudely unbecoming). Every careless word we use about these should be put off so that something better can be put on.
This is not to say that bathroom functions and related matters can never be spoken of in a proper and appropriate way; they can and indeed at times must be. But it is to say that when Christians think and speak of such things commonly or crudely or flippantly, they are at least dabbling in the profane.
There are of course worse forms of profanity than this--such as when we treat and speak of holy, sacred, pure, awesome, and terrible (in a holy, fear-of-God sort of way) matters as if they are trite or trivial or base or common--about which we will think in further posts. But we can discern profanity at this starting point.
It is a sign of what John Piper calls a "minimalist ethic" when Christians argue that such bathroom humor is not really that bad; that it's morally neutral at worst. Folks, isn't that succombing to a minimalist approach to virtue; a settling for something that really isn't that bad instead of pursuing something that really is that good?
Shouldn't we be aiming at what is actually and positively pure, holy, lovely, and good? Does a Christian really want his mind and/or his mouth to live in the bathroom? I think not. In every thought, word, and deed, the Christian should be striving for what is excellent, lovely, and worthy of praise. I have my doubts that bathroom and gutter-talk qualify.
First of all, a profane heart is a heart that simply dwells on base, filthy, crude, vulgar, unlovely things. By the standard of Philippians 4:8, Ephesians 5:4, and 1 Corinthians 13:5 anything that is unlovely, dishonorable, crude, unworthy of praise, and/or rude (the Greek word for "rude" in 1 Cor. 13:5 speaks of that which is unbecoming or disgraceful) is simply not to occupy our minds or hearts, never mind our conversations.
In my view, this most basic form of heart profanity self-evidently rules out language that is crude or vulgar or unlovely. By this definition, it disallows scatological "potty mouthed" talk (bathroom humor, flippant references to human waste--whatever the choice of four, five, eight, ten letter words one might opt for--or crude bodily functions and sounds that everyone knows to be base, filthy, unlovely, rudely unbecoming). Every careless word we use about these should be put off so that something better can be put on.
This is not to say that bathroom functions and related matters can never be spoken of in a proper and appropriate way; they can and indeed at times must be. But it is to say that when Christians think and speak of such things commonly or crudely or flippantly, they are at least dabbling in the profane.
There are of course worse forms of profanity than this--such as when we treat and speak of holy, sacred, pure, awesome, and terrible (in a holy, fear-of-God sort of way) matters as if they are trite or trivial or base or common--about which we will think in further posts. But we can discern profanity at this starting point.
It is a sign of what John Piper calls a "minimalist ethic" when Christians argue that such bathroom humor is not really that bad; that it's morally neutral at worst. Folks, isn't that succombing to a minimalist approach to virtue; a settling for something that really isn't that bad instead of pursuing something that really is that good?
Shouldn't we be aiming at what is actually and positively pure, holy, lovely, and good? Does a Christian really want his mind and/or his mouth to live in the bathroom? I think not. In every thought, word, and deed, the Christian should be striving for what is excellent, lovely, and worthy of praise. I have my doubts that bathroom and gutter-talk qualify.
Labels: Sanctification, speech
posted by Tim Shorey at
10:22 AM
1 Comments:
Would Christ speak it?
Would Christ laugh about it?
Would Christ make that gesture?
Would Christ minimize that for which we died to remove and thus transform?
As Christians we never represent ourselves alone. We always represent Jesus Christ.
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