This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for a while but never got around to doing. Tonight, however, I’ve been given my opportunity.That’s because I just had a discussion in #pros about profanity. I even managed to disagree with Dr. White himself on it :-)

In any case, allow me to now present my apology for profanity. First, however, I should note a couple of things. 1) I do not consider this specific issue to be a very important issue at all. I know that many people disagree. However, even if it is the case that profanity turns out to be a symptom of something worse, it is still that—the symptom and not the thing that is worse. 2) I do not mind if people disagree with me on this issue. I have my reasons (obviously, or I would not be writing this post) but because I believe in # 1 above, I’m not going to live or die on this issue. Frankly, it doesn’t mean that much to me. 3) I am not going to speak of blaspheming God in this as there are no exceptions to the sinfulness of blasphemy.

So with those caveats in place, allow me to begin by first giving a brief philosophy of language. This is important because it is necessary to define what a profane word is before we can decide if such a word ought to be used or not. Before we can discover that, the question is more general. How is any word defined?

Words are defined conventionally. That is, the way that a culture uses a word is how the word ends up being defined. There are no “magic” sounds that make certain words special or unique. In point of fact, one culture’s curse word could be another culture’s term of endearment. Often, we have seen foreign names, for instance, that have vulgarities in the midst of them–if they were English names instead of foreign names!

This is key to the entire discussion. If one cannot divorce oneself from the idea that specific sound combinations are not inherently good or evil, one will never truly understand the concepts involved. What is a profanity in English (sound wise) is not a profanity in Spanish, and vice versa.

So what is profane? This is slightly trickier to define because there is a mixture between conventionally defined profanity and objective, transcendent profanity. Unfortunately, it’s easier to explain by going through examples, so let me begin.

Let’s begin with the “crass” profanities. These largely deal with such things as natural bodily functions (typically involving some kind of bodily waste). Firstly, of course, it should be noted that these things are indeed natural and they do indeed have their right and proper place. These bodily functions happen to everyone on a fairly consistent basis. There are indeed appropriate times to talk about these things, and appropriate places.

However, most cultures deem talk about such things as fecal matter to be inappropriate and therefore “profane.” But this is not a necessary conclusion. That is, there is nothing inherently sinful in fecal matter; this is a matter of cultural taste as to whether it is appropriate to speak about it or not. A culture who did not find these sorts of things to be “profane” would not be offended by talk about them.

Going further, even sexual activity (which is often referenced in profanity) has a right and proper place; namely, the marriage bed. This is, in and of itself, amoral. That is, heterosexual sexual activity has no morality within itself (as opposed to homosexuality, which is condemned in all circumstances Biblically). Instead, the morality of the action of heterosexual sex is determined by the state of those engaging in the behavior. If they are married, it is moral; if they are not, it is immoral. Therefore, at times the behavior itself is moral; at other times it is immoral.

A final category of individual behavior that is in view refers to the salvific state of individuals. We speak of people going to “hell” or being “damned”—and this can be done in a correct manner, such as when I say: “Reprobates are damned and will spend eternity in hell.” However, it can also be used incorrectly and profanely such as when I curse someone and state that my desire is that they be damned and placed into hell.

Once again, however, we see that the term itself is only profane in certain contexts. It is appropriate in other contexts. In this case, the context is defined by my motivations and my actions.

These last two points (sexual activity and the concept of “damnation”) are the most important for this discussion, in my opinion. How do we determine if a referent to sexual activity is profane or not? How do we determine if it is sinful to say someone is damned or not?

For the first question, we have a couple of principles in play. If someone uses these terms in a manner that causes another person to sin, then we can judge that it is a sinful use (or at least it is using Christian freedoms to the detriment of one’s brother, which is also condemned). However, this does not require a specific vulgar term (such as the F-bomb) to be used for this to happen. Certain clinical texts may be more than sufficient to cause someone to stumble. On the other hand, many times the F-bomb is used the concept of sexual activity is the last thing on the person’s mind.

Remember that words are defined contextually. For instance, if I asked you to define “lead” you would need to know if I’m talking about a metal or a person who is motivating others forward. The sound is identical, but when someone speaks this sound he does not think the same thing in his mind.

Likewise, when it comes to metaphors, a person who uses a figure of speech does not literally think of that figure. In other words, one thinks of the meaning of the figure. So when I say, “It’s raining cats and dogs outside” I don’t think of felis or canis critters falling from the sky. I think of a downpour.

In the same manner, just because a specific term is used vulgarly to describe a sexual act does not mean that it automatically triggers that thought when it is used by a person. Indeed, most people who drop the F-bomb do so so frequently that the meaning of the term is lost completely. Contextually, they are not thinking of any illicit sexual activity at all.

So we see in such a case that clinical terms (ie “correct, non-vulgar terms”) can be used to cause someone to sin, while the “profanity” can be used without that concept of sin involved. Which of the two actually results in sinful action?

Let us look at the second case, that of the concept of “damning” someone. Again, most of the time this phrase is used, hell is not in view. Instead, it is an expression of anger. For that reason alone, it may very well still be sinful of course! However, the sin is the result of the anger, not necessarily the result of the words used.

On this point, however, I would urge more caution. If someone is really using this term in a proper manner toward another person, it is worse than the flippant use of people who divorce the term from its original meaning. That is, if you know the concept of the term and actually wish to send someone to hell forever, you are in essence saying that you wish you were God so that you could determine someone’s eternal status. You are, therefore, blaspheming God by presuming to take His role.

Ironically, then, it appears that this term is actually more harmful for those who use it properly (but in anger) than those who use it improperly (but in anger). Naturally, there is a third use—properly without anger—that is not sinful at all.

It should be clear by now, then, that profanity is A) dependent upon the context of the culture and B) dependent upon the context in which it is used individually.

With that in mind, I would therefore state the following. 1) Never use profanity in a place where you know someone else is going to be offended. This is a misuse of Christian liberty. 2) In order to communicate as clearly as possible without the possibility of meaning being lost, it is best to stick to culturally defined “proper” words. 3) However, on the same principle, you shouldn’t let other people say you’re sinning when you know you’re not.

Tomorrow, I will look at some specific Biblical texts that have been used against my position.