let them hear you through me

Profanity bothers me.

But not in the way you may think.

So at the 2007 Passion Conference in Atlanta, John Piper made comment referring to pride and God kicking the arse of prideful servants. He did not use the British version of the word. At the time, I was truly taken aback. I couldn't believe he had said that in front of thousands of students at a Christian conference. It was naturally a hot topic of conversation and as we got on the van to head to wherever it was we were going, the guy in front of me turned around and stated "But the context in which he used it was absolutely beautiful and true."

That really hit me. Piper was saying some incredibly important things that so many, including myself, needed to hear, yet I missed the whole message because I was hung up on a word.

This brings two questions:
1. What is the intent behind banning certain words?
2. Is it the intent or the word that matters more?

Well, it actually raises 2 more questions, but I'll get to those momentarily.

First, the Bible:

Ephesians 5:4
Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Ephesians 4:29
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

James 3:5-12
Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Psalm 34:11-13
Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.

Proverbs 8:13
To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

Here is my deduction: I think it is far worse to use words like "worthless", "piece of crap", "stupid whore", "dead to me", "not good enough", "undeserving", etc, etc to tear people down than for someone to tell me I did a kick-arse job on a presentation. For me, it's so much more about the intent. I believe word choice is just that - a personal choice.

I personally try to avoid using those words at this point in my life because they can be offensive to so many people, even though they may not even have a reason why they are offended by them. However, I don't find the words in and of themselves to be wrong, and I never want anyone to feel uncomfortable or judged for saying those words around me. And I never want someone to feel I base their character off simple words. It's just silly. Words can reveal the heart, of course, but it's the message behind the words, not the words themselves.

So here is the second set of questions the Piper incident opened up for me.
1. Piper's word choice caused many students who may not have been listening to pay attention to what Piper was talking about. He made some feel unjudged and came across as someone who cared far more about saving souls and changing lives than following rules about word usage. Should words like that be deliberately used in certain audiences to reach them?
2. Piper's word choice caused me personally to become so hung up on the word that I missed the message. Is it better to refrain from the word in order to not alienate any of the audience, although you may not be reaching some or appearing as "real"?

This is where I am stuck. I feel as though words can get you labeled as "genuine" or a "hypocrite". Again, I find this utterly ridiculous because they are just words.

I guess I am an advocate of: Words don't hurt people. People hurt people. :P