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Okay, who hasn't at some point used a "colorful" word. I just slammed by thumb in a door - @#!&!. That $@#!$# driver just cut me off. This world is seriously !@$#!$ up. Whether in anger or through deliberate choice, just about everyone has let slip the unspeakable. Think of Ralphie in A Christmas Story, bar of soap firmly implanted in his mouth. Think Sarge or General Halftrack in the "Beatle Bailey" comics. We are taught that it is wrong, both by society and by parental advice. And yet, both society and parents act hypocritically and used the verboten words. At best, we grow up confused as to the appropriateness of certain words.

Of course, as Christians, we are called to be above this all. Paul implores us to let to "unwholesome talk" proceed from our mouths in Ephesians 4:29. The use of such foul language is more than socially inappropriate, it is sinful and disgraceful before God. But, there are multiple cases of rather frank descriptive words in the Bible. For example, Paul (half in jest, I think) wishes that those who demand circumcision would just go all the way and castrate themselves (Galatians 5:12). In Isaiah 64:6, our righteousness is described as "filthy rags" (NIV) or a "filthy garment" (NASB) as compared to God's righteousness - yet the accurate translation of this toned-down passage would be to say our righteousness is like a dirty Tampon (literally, a menstrual rag - yuck!).

What is the point of this meandering on vulgarity? I'm glad you asked. It so happens that, lately, it seems that every time I turn around I am hearing or seeing something about cussin' Christians. Whether it is President Bush letting it rip when he thinks he's off the air, the Christian artist peppering lyrics with harsh or vulgar language, or the brother or sister I know so well whose tongue is loosed, it has been a topic of conversation lately. There was even a recent article about this in Christianity Today's Music section. The bulk of contemporary Christian artists toe the line, and avoid controversy, by keeping their lyrics unobjectionable. Then you have a few like Derek Webb and Todd Agnew who incorporate words and phrases that, while not vulgar, are certainly considered impolite because of the frankness of their description. Christian stations avoided Webb's "Wedding Dress" (from She Must and Shall Go Free) because he described us - we sinful, frail people - as "whores" and "bastard" children. Todd Agnew's song "My Jesus" talks about how Jesus spent his time with "thieves and sluts and liars" and was passed over to avoid the controversy of one word. Both artists used the words as defined, and were truthful in the pictures they painted with these words; and yet, these are not the words of polite society, not the words we want to be used in description of ourselves, and not the words we want to hear from clean artists.

And then there are the Christian artists, both in CCM and in secular music, who intentionally (with the great thought and consideration that goes into the writing process) include vulgarities in their lyrics. An occasional f-bomb here, the s-word there, all used to punctuate their point. Artists such as Over the Rhine, U2, Bruce Cockburn (a founder of the Jesus music revolution in the 70s), and Pedro the Lion all profess their spirituality and devotion to Christ, fill their music with heavenly themes, and pop in the odd cuss word. What are we to make of these? What of their stated devotion to Christ if their well-honed words embrace the ways of the world?

The basic question for some comes down to what is a curse word. What is a vulgarity, if not something that is not used in society? So some will say that these words find such common use that they no long are tainted, dirty, but are simple words. The Christianity Today article gives results of an on-line poll they conducted asking the question of the appropriateness of profanities and found that "64 percent of voters feel that profanity is always inappropriate in the music they listen to, while 29 percent said it depends on the context, and another 6 percent are completely unfazed by profanity." So, it basically comes down to about a two-thirds split among (likely predominately Christian) voters believing that profanities can be appropriately used in music. And then their is the issue of "soft" profanities, such as that alternate word for either a donkey or your rear end or that female-dog word. These find much more common acceptance in both secular and Christian circles.

To make a case for the colorful artists, come would say that the have the right to express themselves in a way that most accurately conveys their thought. But I would ask, as professed Christians, who should they be expressing? The author of the Christianity Today article (Russ Breimeier) does take a stand in the end. He concludes that some words, such as the f-bomb and s-word, simply have no "correct" use, as in Webb's choice of "whore" and "bastard." Their definitions are widely known and are not "nice ones"; they are used for their shock value rather than description.

What are your thoughts on this? Feel free to argue with me, but I would concur with Breimeier that profanities have no place in Christian lives, much less in Christian music. I would also concur that the uses to which Derek Webb and Todd Agnew have used impolite words is warranted - this is stripping the veneer off of our white-washed tombs to let the dirt and filth be honestly seen. I would also say that the use of soft profanities is not the sign of a changing cultural acceptance but the misuse of words properly meaning something entirely different; thus the soft profanities should not proceed from the mouths and hearts of sons and daughters of Jehovah.

To conclude, I would like to present a skit that was often performed by my college group, the Aggies for Christ. In it, a father and young boy are sitting in a living room, with the child playing with his toy truck and the dad engrossed in the paper/work/TV/whatever. In his play, the child rams the truck into daddy's foot, to which the father responds "Blankety-blank blank cussword obscenity!" The scene continues with the child playing and again hitting dad with the truck. The response is the same; "Blankety-blank blank cussword obscenity! I've told you to be careful and don't do that!" The boy then goes on playing, ramming his own hand with the truck and exclaiming "Blankety-blank blank cussword obscenity!" The father is shocked and angry at hearing this from his son and tells him "Only a man can say those words." The son, with confusion and innocence on his face, asks his father "But, daddy, wasn't Jesus a man?"

Tags: Profanity, Vulgarity, Christianity, Christian Living, CCM, Christian Music, Jesus, Jehovah