Is It Sinful to Use Profanity?

Is It Sinful to Use Profanity?

What differentiates one word from another—making one word a profane word while another is considered normative? Why is one “four letter word” different from another one? It’s not always based on the precise definition of a word. Instead, it’s based on how that word has been used in the culture.

Profanity Abuses Vocabulary

Grammar matters. How we employ vocabulary is important in spoken word conversations, social media conversations and in more formal written forms. The use of profanity often involves ripping a word out of its context and intended usage. For instance, it’s possible to take a word intended to convey a really dark and horrid meaning and use it for something that’s far less worse than its original context. This happens when people use the word hell in the improper manner. When people say, “I had a hell of a time last night at the party,” they’re intending to mean that they had a really good time. We can be sure of one thing, hell will not be a fun or delightful place for anyone to find themselves.

To be damned is a really horrible thing. To consider what it means to be damned by God is a bit overwhelming just by looking at the vocabulary words often associated with the judgment of God in Scripture (agony, darkness, fire, smoke, punishment, torment, weeping, gnashing of teeth, pain and more). To be damned by God is to be cut off and sentenced to the eternal flames of hell where a sovereign God unleashes His holy wrath upon guilty sinners. Therefore, to use the word damn in a slang manner in response to accidentally spilling your glass of water at the supper table is to completely miss the true meaning of the word. This misuse takes something like the damnation of sinners, which is so woefully beyond comprehension, and raises it up to the level of spilling a glass of water at the supper table.

One additional example would be the way in which people use the name of God in vain through common everyday conversations. This is a common error that occurs when a person takes the name of God and flips it so that it’s used in a negative manner. People do this often with the name of God. When someone is frightened and they exclaim, “O Jesus, that scared the life out of me”—that individual is usually speaking to someone other than Jesus when making that statement. In other words, when one friend makes that statement while speaking to another friend, the name of our Lord (a glorious name that’s above every name—Acts 4:12) is being improperly substituted as a slang term. This same type of thing can show up in the use of text messages where people use OMG to refer to something really bad or really funny, when that certainly isn’t the proper usage of God’s name (Ex. 20:7).

Whatever your opinion is regarding the use of profanity, it’s clear that profane words often distort the proper definition and intended use of a word. It would be wise to make sure we’re using vocabulary properly in order to preserve the true meaning of such words.

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Dr. Josh Buice serves as the pastor of Pray's Mill Baptist Church in Douglasville, Georgia — just west of Atlanta. He is the founding director of the G3 Conference, the author of a theology blog (DeliveredByGrace.com) and is passionate about expository preaching, biblical theology, and the local church. Josh studied at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where he earned his M.Div. and D.Min. in expository preaching. With a passion for sound biblical theology and ecclesiology, Pastor Buice spends much of his time preaching, writing, and talking about these important issues. He is married to his wife Kari and together they have four children (Karis, John Mark, Kalli, and Judson). When away from the office, Josh enjoys spending his time with his family, hunting, running, and a good cup of coffee.