Holy SH**

TIMEOUT! Before you shut off your computer and deem me a heathen, I wanted to take a chance to talk about another one of those things that don't necessarily get talked about in todays church circles all to often... swearing. (or cussin' if you're from the south.)

I want to talk about a famous sermon from Tony Campolo. Throughout my journey around the country last summer with Christ in Youth, I was around many Bible College students. Many of these students asked me what college I went to, and I proceeded to tell them Eastern University. My school if definately famous for being very liberal, and being the home of Tony Campolo. You can imagine the impact his sermons may have in the conservative Bible Belt of America. His Sermon went as followed:

Walks on stage...

Alright ladies and gentleman, I have three simple points for you all today...

1) The first fact is that 25,000 children will die today from starvation.

2) My second fact is that you people just don't give a shit.

3) And my third fact is that almost all of you in this room care more that I said 'shit' in fact two, than you care about fact one....

Walks off stage...

You have to admit, he had a bit of a point there. I mean, I think we have turned swearing into one of those "super sins." And you know what I'm talking about. Drinking alcohol, dancing, missing a week of church, swearing... I'm talking about those things you can do around your non-christian friends and not think twice. However if you do them in your Christian circle... you have all eyes on you!

I want to turn to the Bible, but then I wan't to really ask ourselves what it is saying.

James 3:7-10 says:

7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

So those are some pretty strong words. The first thing that catches my eye is the power of an "untamed tongue." It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. Hey I want you to think of that next time you french kiss someone.

Hey baby... so... do you wanna run our untamed tongues fill of restless evil and deadly poison.?

Let me know how that one goes for you.

So anyway... It also tells us that we do good with our tongue, and we also do bad. "Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing." A lot of times when we read that we're like. OH YEAH. We do worship, and then we go home and say the infamous "F" word (DUN DUN DUN). Well... I don't think that is necessarily what it's saying. Like I said, when you are with your Christian friends, and you drop the F bomb, everyone is just in awe. But answer me this...

Why do we not have the same reaction when we are in that same circle and somone in gossiping about someone else? Why do we not have the same reaction when someone is talking about something that dishonors God. How come when we do these things we don't have the whole group looking at us in disbelief, and there is a whole line of people ready to call you out.

I feel like at times the traditional church can steer us into the wrong direction when picking what battles we pick to fight. Note that I am not saying swearing is okay. How others see you is important when you are a man or woman in faith. They want to see you striving to be holy, and some people who may not understand can quickly write you off if you have a foul mouth. On that same spectrum, I know a good friend of mine who ministers to so many troubled people that I never could. She has a bad mouth, but connects with people in such an incredible way. These people would never think that she is sinful with her words because she is constantly lifting people up.

So I leave you with this... Next time you are about to call someone out for cursing. Think twise about it and ask some of these questions. Are you calling out the other sins in their life that are actually destructive in nature? If two people are having a conversation, and one is gossiping, and the other uses swear words, who is really in the wrong? Is swearing wrong if it is in a positive connotation? There is technically nothing negative about it right? (ex. Hell yeah!)Are you looking for the speck in a friends eye, when you have a plank in your own?

What do you think about swearing?