Growing up I was taught that we did not say certain words
because they were bad words. That was
it. I was unaware what exactly made them bad words or who decided they were bad
words, they just were. I can remember thinking they were just bad words for a
little girl to say. All the adults said them, so maybe they were just grown up
words? At church I was taught these words were wrong and should not come out of
a Christian’s mouth. I got the message. I won’t say these words because they
are bad words and they should not
come out of a Christian’s mouth.

But why?

I have questioned a lot of what I was taught growing up. The
majority of my life I was not taught things in a Christian perspective so a lot
of concepts had to change for me. When I became a Christian I was told right
from wrong, but was never really told what made some things right and others
wrong.

Naturally, as I grew older and became more independent I
began to question why certain words were deemed wrong for a Christian to say. My
husband had some amazing thoughts on this topic. He pointed out that the Bible
does not clearly outline which words would be considered wrong. The Bible does
state no unwholesome talk should proceed out of our mouths, but what is
unwholesome talk? There are words that are deemed socially acceptable in other
countries that would not be viewed the same in America. Most words society has
labeled “bad words” were not created
with the intention of being wrong. Though, at some point in time they received
that title.

So today, we have a handful of words that are considered “bad words” to say. They are not usually
found in every day conversation. So where do we find ourselves as Christians?

We go back to the principle, “everything is permissible, but
not everything is beneficial.” We are called to be set apart from the world. We
want to be different from those around us. If society looks at these words as “bad words” then we do not want to allow
these words to proceed from our mouth. Allowing those words to be a part of our
life doesn’t set us apart from the world which can hinder the way we represent
Christ. Speaking these words does not benefit us or the people around us. We
want to represent Christ and His character the best we can.

To my dear children,
we have decided that cuss words will not be used in our home or in our family.
Not because we want to give you one more rule to follow. Not because these
words are dirty and just shouldn’t be said. We don’t want these words used in
our family because we believe it doesn’t benefit us as a family. We believe
that it doesn’t benefit us to speak words that society has deemed as curse
words. We believe it fails to set us apart from those around us, and as
Christians, as people who are representing Christ we want to be set apart. We
believe that it doesn’t build people up, and that is what we want to do with
the words we speak.

Ephesians 4:29

“Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything
you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to
those who hear them.”