Christians That Curse on Social Networking Sites
I’m trying to understand some of the Christians that post updates on social media sites like facebook and Twitter. Hopefully you can help me out. There are many different types of Christians I could target. Today, I want to discuss those Christians that choose to use profanity on social networking sites.
I’m trying to understand how someone can boldly profess the name of the Lord on Monday and then they are using profanity on their facebook status on Tuesday. These are the same people that freely use four letter words on Wednesday, but want to tell everyone what “thus sayeth the Lord” on Thursday. When I see this kind of behavior, I can’t help but to shake my head. How am I or anyone else really supposed to take these people seriously?
I completely understand that nobody is perfect. I definitely do not claim to have lived a perfect life. I like many other people, have had some less than desirable moments that I wish I could take back. This is all part of being human. Often times, people use profanity out of anger or even accidentally. I’m not referring to mistakes. There is a difference between something being part of your normal behavior and something being a mistake.
There are times in our lives when our behaviors and habits need some serious adjustments. The things we say and do out of habit, just do not please God. I don’t think that those are the times when we should be on our Christian soap boxes quoting scripture and trying to “encourage” others. When we boldly confess our Christianity to the world, we represent God. How can we effectively represent Him when our words and actions don’t line up with His?
When I see this type of behavior I try to say something to the person. You just never know what someone can be going through. There could be a greater problem behind the scenes and we only see a small piece of it on facebook, Twitter or MySpace. I don’t get too spiritual or preachy. I just check to make sure that they are OK and encourage them to try to find other ways to express themselves.
EVERYBODY has the right to praise God and tell the world of his goodness. However, if we have a true heart to represent God, then we need to make conscious decisions regarding our behavior. We really do not do God any favors when we swear one day and quote scripture the next day.
Our goal as believers should be to live a life that pleases the Lord. Sometimes we need to ask God to show us the things in our lives that do not please him. Once he shows us something, we must move quickly to correct it.
Have you experienced anything like this? Let me know your thoughts.
Themocracy
Cliff,
I think you are missing a few things. For one it is a misnomer that Christians are fully Saved. We are Being saved, we don’t have full salvation until Jesus comes back and gives us new bodies and renewed minds. Therefore we are prone to not only make mistakes but live a confessing life wrought with misunderstanding and error. Until Christ comes we have a security deposit not full salvation. You also might be confusing some people’s confession of being a Christian with their understanding of what a Christ follower is. Many confessing Christians confess to be followers as if it is a club membership or social acceptance remark -in that they want to be associated as to being on the “good” team and not the bad drunkards team. Not that if some confessing Christian who continues to curse is not a believer, but there is all sorts of chaff in the wheat.
Also, we are saved by Grace not by works. It was impossible to please God before we converted and it is impossible to please God after being converted. Your comment about a true heart and pleasing God is a works based faith, you cannot please God anymore than you could before you are saved. Asking and Trusting in Jesus in what he said is all that is required. He takes care of the rest. You can’t repay through works, in any form.
I would also say that we are called to judge on another based on our actions, and for me cursing Christians simply means they have not matured quite yet to a better control and understanding of their tongue. The cursing is an easier mess to clean up than a confessing Christian who murders, slanders, steals, lies, etc. Those are the ones we need to keep on the outs.
Besides, it is not the words that are the issue, it is the heart. I could say “Dang!” instead of “Damn” and still have the same attitude and viciousness behind it. The word is not at issue. Christians focus too much on cleaning the outside so we can show God (or our fellow Christians) how clean we are and how holy we are. God knows how unclean we are. And I think Christians should remember that first. We’d be a lot less judgmental in the eyes of those that need to be saved.
…so that’s my quick two cents in brief Cliff Notes.
interesting article and interesting response Gary. I’ve met a few questions who’ve muttered curses once in a while, but they always feel bad after (what?) I do have a question– when a Christian reads WTF do they say ‘w-t-f’ or ‘what the f***’. I think you know what I mean. If anyone could tell me, that’d be great. thanks.
That is a very true thought, Cliff. The same mouth cannot praise God and utter profanities at the same time. But as Gary says – not all christians are believers – some, by their ignorance, do not discern the problem with profanities. Some are into habitual sinning where the spirit is not with them. As believers we should pray for them when we hear them swear – or chastise them if the spirit should so lead us.
I haven’t experienced anything like this but I have heard of Driscoll who uses profane language during preaching. now that’s more weird, you think? Christians must be blessings and examples to what’s right as far as what the Bible is saying. The Bible says let us tame our tongues and let our tongues be filled with words that would build other people and not destroy them.
For me, there are two things I see. Probably these people are not Christians at all or these are people that haven’t grown in the Lord yet and it is our role now to rebuke and correct them as brothers.
Blessings to you!
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Ghostmoney,
I like that. Great thought.
I catch myself mentally when I see the WTF or OMG and the like, but I also catch myself mentally saying the word too -generally when it is being tagged onto something humorous.
I see this all the time, and it is really sad that they profess to be Christians. The verse that comes to mind is James 3:9-11, where James is saying that blessing and cursing should not come out of the same mouth. He then goes on to state in verse 11 that a fountain can’t bring forth both sweet and bitter water. More importantly what comes out of a person’s mouth is an indicator of how that person’s spiritual walk is since out of the abundance of heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34; 15:17-19). People can say they are Christians all day, but the evidence is in what they do. You know a tree by the fruit it bears (Matthew 12:33). Jesus even came across people that professed to love him, but he knew their heart (Matthew 15:8). Now I rarely pay attention to what people say, but I pay more attention to what they do. I try the spirit by the Holy Spirit and see if there is any truth to what they say.