Is it OK to cuss?

Is it OK to cuss?

Don’t you love grey areas in the bible?

Warning—I will pose a second question before I answer the question in the title.

I used to think the bible was pretty black and white. And then I came up against the new testament verses about women needing to cover their heads and not braid their hair, etc…  For a while, I struggled with this and I actually tried to take it literally (by not wearing jewelry and not braiding my hair, etc…). It was disturbing to me to think that there were things in the bible that could be gently put to the side, so I wanted all of it to be taken at face value. But maybe my understanding was a bit simple.

I love studying the bible so much because no matter how many times I read a certain passage or story, it always comes alive with a new, fresh message—not one that contradicts the truth, but a new thought. For some, perhaps this is a stumbling block. Sometimes we try to make the bible fit into whatever life crisis we are going through, and answer our questions in the way that we desire. This is not what I am talking about. I am talking about a deeper understanding of something that has always been there, that has always been true. I’m talking about something that is so much bigger than we are, that the more we grow, the more we see the “big-ness”. We get bigger, and it, He, YHWY, gets bigger too. For an atheist, perhaps this seems inconsistent.

But there is a big difference between being inconsistent and being an eternal student of life and of the word of God.

In my job, am I an inconsistent teacher if I realize that occasionally, I am wrong and change the way I present certain material? Or if a student points something out and I accept their explanation? Growing and changing are essential to our faith.

So what about biblical views that evolve in society that we don’t agree with? I’ll be brutally honest here, I still believe that abortion is wrong, and I believe that homosexuality is wrong too…. Having said this, I have known people who have struggled with both of these sins, and this knowledge DOES NOT MAKE ME LOVE THEM OR RESPECT THEM ANY LESS. As a matter of fact, there are times that knowing something like this makes me love them more…

In the bible, I have come to understand that certain passages might have been written in response to certain cultural settings of the time (going back to my example of head dresses and braided hair).

How do we know what is meant for a specific cultural setting ? And why do I feel the way I so openly stated in the previous paragraph if I can honestly question what is cultural and what is not?

GREAT QUESTION.

I was tempted to end the blog there. Haha. The truth is that I don’t have a great answer and so I want to leave some blank space to represent my large mental pause.

Answer attempt #1: I humbly admit that I am not at all sure that I have certain things as figured out as it may appear to you (consider your bubble busted if you thought I had a straight answer for you).

Answer attempt #2: I believe that there are certain truths that will never change no matter what. The main one being that Jesus Christ is the son of God, He died and rose again and thanks to Him we have the hope of living with God.

There is a third part of the trinity that encompasses Answer attempt #3: I have God’s spirit inside of me urging me occasionally to stop watching certain things, or to be sensitive to a hurting person, or to initiate friendship with someone who might need it, or to KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT. I believe that this same Holy Spirit guides us into truths about God’s word when we struggle to understand relativity in our culture. Is there a deeper message that we could gain from verses that seem irrelevant to us at first read? Again, going back to my braided hair thing: what was the issue Paul was addressing here? Was it not modesty? Is modesty still sometimes an issue in our churches today? Gulp…

If we are willing to listen to that still, small voice, He still wants to speak to us today. But we have to put forth the effort. We have to dust off the filth from our minds, the clutter, the pre-conceived notions. I need to always be willing to go to God’s word ready for Him to blow my mind. Maybe I am wrong about the two issues I brought up before. I think our job is to read God’s word, maybe not just looking up verses that deal with “that sin” that we want to learn more about or about “that lifestyle” or “that decision” that we want to justify. Let God speak through his word. Don’t try to pull words out of Him. We will never be able to force God to say anything. He is the Lord. The sooner we recognize that, the more knowledge and wisdom we will gain. God says in his word that He will give wisdom to he who asks (James 1:5) and that “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).

Answer attempt #4: Deep study and prayer. This goes hand in hand with #3, but I believe it is different too. I LOVE that my husband went to seminary. He often is able to share with me what he has studied about certain passages and what the original Greek text says. Sometimes, reading what someone else has studied (even through a commentary) can be EXTEMELY enlightening. I used to think it was wrong to go here. I used to think that God should just open my mind with myself and His word. (I also thought that I would naturally know how to nurse my babies without any help from the lactation consultant. Hahahaha!!)

I used to think that if someone uses commentaries and bible studies, then they are using a crutch and are not learning correctly. Jesus is available to all: even the illiterate in Africa (why do we always pick “Africa” lol). If Jesus’ message is a simple one, made to be understood by even the simplest of people, then why would we need scholars to help us understand certain passages?

But what if the LORD can be understood deeply on multiple levels? What if He can answer the questions of the simple minded, and also speak to the scholars and challenge their intelligence? Jesus says “knock, and the door shall be opened to you; seek and you shall find”? Do you think He was only talking to new believers? Don’t you think that He longs to reveal truth after truth to us? He is so deep, deeper than the ocean. He wants us to swim deeply, and often, inside the vastness of Himself.

Scientists say that we only use a small percentage of our brains. I tend to think that we only reach a small percentage of our full potential with Christ because we don’t go deep enough with Him. He has so much in store (Jeremiah 29:11).

So is it OK to cuss? What do you mean by “OK”? and what do you mean by cuss?

Are you going to hell for it? I would not say that, no. What does the bible say? You can do a google search, but I’m not sure you will find exactly what you are looking for.

Here is a link to more verses that pop up with an internet search: https://www.openbible.info/topics/using_profanity

Have I ever cussed before? Do I have to answer that question on this open blog? Well, since I am writing: no, no I do not. J

Did Jesus ever cuss? We know He was tempted in every way… I have heard it said that in the Greek, Paul may have at least once in the New Testament.

Maybe “cussing” is like so many other things that we realize are not “promoted” in the bible. Maybe we are asking the wrong question.

Ephesians 4:29 says: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Maybe the better question is “how can I honor Jesus here?”

The bible also says “in your anger, do not sin”. (Ephesians 4:26).

Jesus always goes straight to the heart. In the sermon on the mount, He addressed sins, but he always went deeper. He went past where the Pharisees had gone (rule following), and straight the heart of the matter: where sin is born. Our hearts are to be guarded above all things (proverbs 4:23).

I have two friends whom I love and respect deeply. Both are convicted that they never want to let a cuss word escape their mouths. For one of them, it has to do with something that she went through as a child. I respect them so much for this. They both inspire me. They are not condemning or accusatory when they hear someone else utter a choice word. They just don’t do it themselves. I love this about them so much. It is the quietest form of leading by example. It is not “in your face”, it is not hypocritical. It is pure and honest, and I can absolutely respect that.

Let us let God lead our hearts, and then follow that lead.

Happy searching.

Poop in the brownies

“Have you lost your mind?”

“No Ma’am, but you ‘bout to.”

One of my favorite movie scenes is when Hilly asks this question to her maid, Minny. What Hilly doesn’t know, and the reason Milly responds the way she does, is that Minny has put poop in the chocolate cake that Hilly has just eaten. The movie, “The Help”, is based off a book, a political commentary on racism. Trust me, Hilly got what was coming to her.

It disgusts us to think about eating poop. And it should.

Yet, we do something as disgusting as this to our souls. We allow impurities to enter into our minds. And worse: it doesn’t even gross us out anymore.

Many years ago, my father preached a sermon on purity and talked about the kinds of movies we watch. He observed that when people discuss movies, in an effort to justify viewing certain films, they often will say that there’s “X” amount of bad words, or maybe that there is a particular sex scene but that’s the only one so it’s OK, etc. Dad’s point is that if you think of bad scenes in movies as “poop in the brownies”, then you won’t see the movie at all. After all, who wants even just a “tiny bit of poop in their brownie”?. That is a very radical way of viewing things. But Jesus was radical too. Jesus demands absolute purity. 

As I have gotten older, I am finding myself more tolerant. I am finding that there really are some movies that I view as “diamonds in the rough”. Take “Shawshank Redemption” for example. I don’t think that I would ever really like to watch that movie all the way through. But I have seen enough of it to see that it sends a very powerful message. Ironically, the man has to crawl through poop to reach freedom. Really and truly, it feels like we wade through miles of poop in life to get to the other side of our misery.

To watch or not? is a gray area that the bible does not address directly. Jesus does say “if the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness” Matthew 6:23 (thanks Mom!).

Much of the interpretation is left to us, as we pray, study, and listen to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will prick our spirits when we are watching something that we shouldn’t. But of course, being pricked by the Holy Spirit requires us to be in tune to It.

Is it possible that something that I used to not feel OK about watching is now OK? What is OK? What is not OK? What does it mean if I change my mind? Am I not as in tune to the Holy Spirit as I used to be? Am I more in tune?...

How do we know? And will the answer look the same for me as for someone else? Thankfully, that is not our problem. We are supposed to walk out our walk with the LORD and strive not to be a stumbling block to others.

What would Jesus watch on TV if Mary and Joseph had had one? Would M and J have let Jesus play Assassin’s creed? Would they have resisted screen time altogether?

I know this: God wants us to come to him with the things that bother us, with the things that we are anxious about. So since we cannot answer many questions posed in this post, at least I can urge all readers to sincerely inquire of the LORD. King David, for all his flaws (and they were many), talked to the LORD about his sins, he asked the LORD questions. Did the LORD answer? I believe He did, although I’m sure David would say sometimes it felt like He was just silent. David trusted in the LORD no matter what.

Whenever we pray and come to Him seeking what HE wants: THAT is the kind of prayer God wants to answer. It might not be in an audible voice, and it might not be at the time we choose, but we are doing the right thing by coming to Him and seeking purity.

The key is to come ready to hear ANYTHING that He reveals (perhaps through His word, a thought, a voice, another person, or life circumstances). If He reveals to us that we are to stop watching that new favorite show we have found, are we willing to give it up? If not, then we might squash the message that He is trying to reveal to us in whatever way he chooses. We may end up being blind to it. What if He calls us to give up quite a number of things? Do we trust Him to fill our lives with fulfillment of a different kind?  Jesus teaches that the Father wants to fill that hole that we have in our lives. If we just empty ourselves from sinful behavior out of obedience but do not allow God to fill that hole, then we are doomed to fall back into temptation. And before we know it, we might end up eating poop.