Praise or Profanity

By Rev. Tom Tuura

Pastor of United Lutheran Church

I don’t want to be the language police but I have a question.

Is it okay to use profane, or politely described as “colorful” language?

I’m not talking about taking the Lord’s name in vain. That is clearly forbidden in the second commandment, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain.”

It’s time for a discussion about the “bad” words, or profanity, that don’t involve Deity.

I’ll admit it, I’m affected, as I struggle with these words from time to time when I’m alone. And when it comes out of my own mouth, I’m sorry and feel bad. But I’m hearing it more and more in everyday conversation with no regret.

So for the purpose of this discussion, I am distinguishing between taking the Lord’s name in vain, and general profanity. There are three reasons we need to think about it in our communities, first is it is more and more common, it is getting worse, and children are learning it from their elders. I’ll never forget my first boss I had in a small meat market by the name of Jim. He was moody. When he was in a bad mood, which could set him off at any second, he was explosive, and what I remember most was his intense expletive filled rants as he walked down the hall—including the Lord’s name.

Profanity used to be forbidden by the FCC. So that meant that you didn’t hear it on TV. Hollywood movies used to throttle it back a bit except in R rated and worse films.

But then the question comes up about everyday conversation. It used to be “profanity”, which comes from the adjective, profane. But what used to be profane, is now common. More and more people are using these words in polite conversation.

Twenty-five or thirty years ago we heard a lot about the distinction between the secular and the sacred. And the lesson was that all of life is sacred, which is 100% true. We shouldn’t have any distinctions because all of life is sacred. If all of us lived that way, we’d all be better off. Nobody wants to admit it, but it seems that we’ve gone the other way, where more and more of life becomes secular.

This came up in Confirmation instruction. I was teaching the students in my religious classes about the altar in our churches. I remember telling them that they must be reverent in the front of the church, because it is ‘holy’, or we could say sacred. Is the church, the only place that is sacred? Do you have any place that is sacred, or holy?

As I was meditating while preparing a sermon the other day I came across the 3^rd commandment. It talks about keeping that day holy. What does that mean? Well the Bible makes us think doesn’t it. What does Luther say, “We should fear and love God so we do not despise His Word or the preaching of the same, but deem it holy and gladly hear and learn it.”

There is debate around how to honor the Sabbath day, in the New Testament the Lord’s Day, or Sunday, as the Apostle’s called it. What is permissible? Can you work on the Lord’s Day—plant, harvest, plow?

I wonder if the point isn’t in the end of the verse, to “keep it holy” The word keep means to preserve, or maintain. What if it’s no longer a holy day, a day just like any other? Then it’s pretty hard to keep it holy if it’s not holy to start with. Now I recognize Jesus deemphasized the specific day as prescribed in the Old Testament Law. But He wants us to keep everyday holy. Do we have anything that is holy? Why is it we say Holy sh***? Why do we say Holy Cow?

We could go on and on with this. Is it a indication of what is in our hearts?

Of course there is another thing that is holy. The words Holy Bible. Maybe if we increased a healthy holiness and sacred parts of our lives, it will help us in other ways too, including our words. As the Bible teaches can good water come from a bad well?

Another angle is the Bible’s binaries of the flesh verses the Spirit. So not only do we have secular/sacred, and profane/holy, we have the flesh verses the Spirit. We can thank the Apostle Paul for teaching us about that distinction. In Galatians chapter 5, he states, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” verses 19-21.

Could it be that life lived in the flesh is readjusts to less and less holiness and more and more profane=profanity? That would explain the increase in profanity we are hearing. Hence more and more people’s “colorful” or “salty” language. I can say that my own struggles with words that come out of my mouth are times when I’m impatient, frustrated, or angry. That is clearly what Paul is talking about above. We already can see the holy and profane parts of our world. How do the holy and profane corridors of our life compare? Which are predominant?

Keeping holiness is important isn’t it. Paul says above it’s serious enough to prevent inheriting the kingdom of God. We all must have holy places. We need those places in our lives. In fact wouldn’t it be right to increase those places? I mean to have more and more of our lives becoming holy?

We are losing the sense of sacred. Hence more and more things are becoming the opposite—profane. And it is affecting even our language—profanity.

Let’s give kids a good example to follow, Let’s meditate on Paul’s thoughts after the ones quoted above, verses 22-25, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-25

That’s my view two cents

Pastor Tom ###