We spent a bit of time Sunday night talking about this. Seems that there are a number of Christians who feel that profane words are acceptable as an expression of speech.
James 1:26 gives us a starting point on this subject: If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
So what is unacceptable speech?
Col. 3:8 - "But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips."
“shameful speech” (aischrologia ) denotes “speech of a kind that is generally considered in poor taste, obscene speech, dirty talk.”
James 1:26 gives us a starting point on this subject: If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
So what is unacceptable speech?
Col. 3:8 - "But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips."
“shameful speech” (aischrologia ) denotes “speech of a kind that is generally considered in poor taste, obscene speech, dirty talk.”
Most Christians are aware of the story about well-known theologian and sociologist, Tony Campolo who began a speech by saying “I have three things to share with you today. First, I’d like to tell you that while you were sleeping last night 30,000 kids died because of starvation and diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t even give a ****. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said **** than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.”
I find that Mr. Campolo's reasoning is faulty at best. If I were to enter a room and make people aware that one of the local charities is in desperate need of funds, I certainly don't use profanity to awake them - I tell them the need. If I need to display the truth that a man lays dying in a hospital from cancer while nobody in the area has visited or seen to his needs, I paint the picture of the need, not curse or use vulgarities. My life has been built on writing, so maybe I'm a bit more picky about my use of the language. True, Mr. Campolo has written plenty of books, but I've read a few of them and I don't see that he holds the same convictions I do in the area of expression.
Here's my point about his speech : aischrologia denotes “speech of a kind that is generally considered in poor taste..." which sums up his wording. Maybe he wanted to draw attention to himself. Sadly, that seems to be the case. More comments were written about his cursing than the actual plight that was supposed to be the focus of the talk.
Note also: bebeloo is used twice is the Scripture (see Mt. 12:5; Acts 24:6) and is translated “profane” , meaning “to cause something highly revered to become identified with the commonplace, violate sanctity, desecrate, profane” (Danker, 173). We'll talk more about this.
Source for Greek translation: Baur, Danker, Arndt, Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon, Chicago: University of Chicago, 2000, p. 29, 74
