Is vulgarity a bad thing on a religious basis?

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§outh§tar

is feeling caustic
Registered Senior Member
Just how much does God care if his creation uses vulgar language?

After all when we slam our fingers in the doorway, our first instinct is to say the abominable "f" word or something similar..

I mean are the rules on vulgarity in Christianity based on moral opinions or are they something God specifically spoke against.

After all, what if instead of calling your mother "mom" or whatever, you called her "fuck" because that is the way it has always been since before you. It's just a word and if you don't necessarily use it on any one does it really matter? Or what if you were a Christian discussing vulgarity and you said "Saying words like fuck and shit are against God's will". Would that be considered hypocritical?

:confused:
 
No, of course God would never judge people based on some arbitrary semantic nonsense. He judges people on arbitrary religious nonsense.

Personally, I'm all for maintaining a small but vocal portion of society that denounces cursing as evil... because, after all, without them, phrases like "I hope you get ass raped by an eight-dicked Rottweiler, you shiteating ass pirate!" wouldn't be near as fun.

Josh
 
So you're saying because there are rules that say cursing is not allowed, (Scripture tells us: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse." (Ro 12:14)), cursing becomes rebelliousness or a showing of lawlessness as opposed to if everyone thought it was perfectly normal, in which case no one would be *guilty* of cursing..


Pretty good. Never thought of it that way..
 
Well, as you said, the letters F-U-C-K are completely arbitrary and could have been chosen to mean something else, so the perceived wrongness of it does not lie in the word itself, nor in its referent (the phrase "having sex" isn't considered cursing, for instance).

So the objection to a word like "fuck" must be societal. "Fuck" is a curse word for one reason alone: we say it is. The severity of curse words changes as well (consider the scandal "damn" might have caused on TV in the 50s). If we ever reach a time when curse words no longer offended, it would be necessary to invent something else--though it won't really be invented per se. It must emerge spontaneously, or else it would not have "street cred," so to speak. But if, say, "shit" was ever defanged, I think the notion of uttering shit as a sin would vanish as well.

It's like the irony of underground music or film. Part of their appeal lies in the fact that they are underground. The mediocre mainstream so maligned by indie fans is, in fact, crucial to maintaining the appeal of the underground because, without it, there is nothing to rebel against.

Josh
 
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Ephesians 4

29Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
30And do not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he is the one who has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.
31Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of malicious behavior. 32Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.


When the writer speaks of "harsh words", "foul or abusive language" he is speaking of the words society has deemed curse words since I don't recall God making a list of words humans are not allowed to say. So he is saying we should just go along with whatever society finds morally right, and these days it seems like cursing is the way to go, and select the words which are unclean.

Maybe we should trim our vocabulary of anything potentially offensive? And just how does he want us to get rid of anger?
 
JustARide said:
No, of course God would never judge people based on some arbitrary semantic nonsense. He judges people on arbitrary religious nonsense.

Personally, I'm all for maintaining a small but vocal portion of society that denounces cursing as evil... because, after all, without them, phrases like "I hope you get ass raped by an eight-dicked Rottweiler, you shiteating ass pirate!" wouldn't be near as fun.

Josh
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ROFLMAO :D :D Well said Josh I need to remember that to use at some future date.
Only the human mind can make any supreme being so petty as to give a shit about cussin'. The proof is in the doing of life not in the saying.
 
JustARide said:
Well, as you said, the letters F-U-C-K are completely arbitrary and could have been chosen to mean something else, so the perceived wrongness of it does not lie in the word itself, nor to its referent (the phrase "having sex" isn't considered cursing, for instance).

So the objection to a word like "fuck" must be societal. "Fuck" is a curse word for one reason alone: we say it is. The severity of curse words changes as well (consider the scandal "damn" might have caused on TV in the 50s). If we ever reach a time when curse words no longer offended, it would be necessary to invent something else--though it won't really be invented per se. It must emerge spontaneously, or else it would not have "street cred," so to speak. But if, say, "shit" was ever defanged, I think the notion of uttering shit as a sin would vanish as well.

It's like the irony of underground music or film. Part of their appeal lies in the fact that they are underground. The mediocre mainstream so maligned by indie fans is, in fact, crucial to maintaining the appeal of the underground because, without it, there is nothing to rebel against.

Josh
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*************
M*W: If I said, "Fuck you, Josh!" I would be using language of the early 18th century (or maybe even earlier). The origin of this word may have come to America from England. Saying, "fuck you, Josh," I would be accusing you of having premarital or adulterous sex with someone other than your wife. Most likely you would be put in stockades for your "crime" somewhere in the 13 colonies, most likely the Northeastern colonies, i.e. Massachusetts, and they would put a sign on you with the letters "F.U.C.K." which mean "for unlawful carnal knowledge." It wasn't a "bad word" in those days, but the act it stood for was. So we say it today when we hit our finger with a hammer or we stump our toe, so it has a different meaning today. But if you asked your best buddy if he's fucked his new girlfriend yet, essentially you'd be asking him if he's had carnal knowledge of er. By the way, it worked both ways for male and female. Sometimes they'd both be up there in stockades for their entire community to see their crime and throw wrotten fruit at them. More information about this practice was explained in the book The Scarlet Letter where Hester Prynne was accused of carnal knowledge and had to wear the red letter "A" on her clothing accusing her of adultry. Customs evolve, words evolve, language evolves.
 
Medicine Woman said:
*************
M*W: If I said, "Fuck you, Josh!" I would be using language of the early 18th century (or maybe even earlier). The origin of this word may have come to America from England. Saying, "fuck you, Josh," I would be accusing you of having premarital or adulterous sex with someone other than your wife. Most likely you would be put in stockades for your "crime" somewhere in the 13 colonies, most likely the Northeastern colonies, i.e. Massachusetts, and they would put a sign on you with the letters "F.U.C.K." which mean "for unlawful carnal knowledge." It wasn't a "bad word" in those days, but the act it stood for was. So we say it today when we hit our finger with a hammer or we stump our toe, so it has a different meaning today. But if you asked your best buddy if he's fucked his new girlfriend yet, essentially you'd be asking him if he's had carnal knowledge of er. By the way, it worked both ways for male and female. Sometimes they'd both be up there in stockades for their entire community to see their crime and throw wrotten fruit at them. More information about this practice was explained in the book The Scarlet Letter where Hester Prynne was accused of carnal knowledge and had to wear the red letter "A" on her clothing accusing her of adultry. Customs evolve, words evolve, language evolves.
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so if i decided to take "fuck" in the context you were saying, and say I did not accept the modern context as a valid definition, would I still be sinning in regards to Christianity?
 
§outh§tar said:
so if i decided to take "fuck" in the context you were saying, and say I did not accept the modern context as a valid definition, would I still be sinning in regards to Christianity?
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*************
M*W: The modern context is vulgar. Fortunately, we do not still live in early colonial America. "F.U.C.K." was not vulgar in those days because it wasn't a WORD in itself, it was an abbreviation of the first letters of four words which collectively meant something specific which I have already explained. To answer your question, in those days when the euphonism was used, they were devout Christians (you remember, the Christians who murdered thousands of women for alleged witchcraft) used this abbreviation without God's apparent Christian wrath. Even so today, I don't know of anyone who has used the word "fuck" and then being smote by the Christian God. Maybe he wasn't listening. Maybe he doesn't exist.
 
Jesus didn't curse did He?


If God has NEVER cursed, not even in other religions, shouldn't we follow His holy example?
 
Medicine Woman said:
*************
M*W: If I said, "Fuck you, Josh!" I would be using language of the early 18th century (or maybe even earlier). The origin of this word may have come to America from England. Saying, "fuck you, Josh," I would be accusing you of having premarital or adulterous sex with someone other than your wife. Most likely you would be put in stockades for your "crime" somewhere in the 13 colonies, most likely the Northeastern colonies, i.e. Massachusetts, and they would put a sign on you with the letters "F.U.C.K." which mean "for unlawful carnal knowledge." It wasn't a "bad word" in those days, but the act it stood for was. So we say it today when we hit our finger with a hammer or we stump our toe, so it has a different meaning today. But if you asked your best buddy if he's fucked his new girlfriend yet, essentially you'd be asking him if he's had carnal knowledge of er. By the way, it worked both ways for male and female. Sometimes they'd both be up there in stockades for their entire community to see their crime and throw wrotten fruit at them. More information about this practice was explained in the book The Scarlet Letter where Hester Prynne was accused of carnal knowledge and had to wear the red letter "A" on her clothing accusing her of adultry. Customs evolve, words evolve, language evolves.
Click to expand...

That's a very succinct explanation of... an urban legend. I refer you to:

http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/fuck.htm

As the alt.usage.english FAQ says, "Fuck" is likely a crossover from another language, possibly Germanic in origin. Not as fun, granted, but let's face it. Etymology is usually boring.

Josh
 
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