After being in the youth group for just a short time I was appalled by the language some of the youth were using. I began to listen to the adults in our church and even some of them used inappropriate language from time to time. I began to pray and ask God, “Why do these words that are used by the youth and some adults bother me?” Not long after I began praying this God showed me Ephesians 5: 10 I like the way The Message puts it “Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.” The NIV says, “And find out what pleases the Lord.” I know another version said, “Seek what acceptable to the Lord”. I believe that Ephesians 5: 10 also deals with our vocabulary not just our actions.
I began talking with my students about the use of Christian cuss words. The first thing they wanted was a list of words that they should not say. I was not going to fall into that trap of legalism.
So what is a cuss word? A cuss word is profanity. It is an adjective and the dictionary describes it as the following: 1. Characterized by irreverence or contempt for God or sacred principles for things irreligious. 2. Not devoted to holy religious purposes; or the last thing you said was, common or vulgar.
The next thing we looked at was euphemisms. A euphemism by definition is; the substitution of a mild, indirect, vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt. For example; “To pass away” is a euphemism for “to die”.
As the youth group met we learned that when you replace a profanity/cuss word with something that is less offensive you just turned that less offensive word into a profanity/cuss word. For example one of the favorite words used by Christians today and even some non-Christians is the word “frickin'” in place of the “F bomb.” I shared with my youth group my Christian cuss word is crap. When I asked them if they knew the word I was replacing it with they all nodded and smiled.
One of things that I discovered through the discussion of “Christian cuss words are they acceptable?” was that they do not like it when their parents or adults use euphemisms because they know the words that they are replacing them for, and they thought they should just go ahead and say the word if they are going to use that style of language.
Since this lesson a year ago this month the use of Christian cuss words have dramatically decreased and it is very rare that I hear any of those terms from my students. When someone new comes in and uses words like that I have heard them tell the new students that they are using a euphemism for a cuss word and we don't use them in our group.
I am not trying to tell you or anyone else how to speak. I am trying to provoke some thought and conversation about the language that we use. Ephesians 5:10; “Figure out what will please Christ and then do it.”
