What the Bible Actually Says About Profanity

While profanity is exploding in culture and society, it should never be excused by people of faith.

Your children are facing an onslaught of profanity through the media. Movies are one place where profanity reigns. One survey has been tracking profanity in movies from the first swear word on film (1939’s Gone With the Wind) to The Wolf of Wall Street, which holds the record with 798 swear words. There has been a 500 percent increase over these many decades.

The Parents Television Council has documented the fact that the number of expletives on television programs has doubled in just the last decade. Kids and adults use more profanity simply because they hear it more than ever before.

Let’s start with a definition. The word “profane” means: to treat something that is sacred with abuse or contempt. It means to desecrate. Something profane is unholy. It is certainly not a positive attribute. What does the Bible teach?

Paul says in Ephesians 4:29, “Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up, that it may give grace to the listeners.” Colossians 3:8 says, “But now you must also put away all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy language out of your mouth.”

Sometimes we hear young people say that it really doesn’t matter what you say; it’s only words. But words make a difference. Make a joke in public about hijacking a plane and see if words have consequences. Make a derisive comment about someone’s appearance to their face and see if they merely ignore it.

As believers, we should submit our vocabularies to the Lord. The world is watching us. First Peter 2:12 admonishes us to keep our “Live your lives honorably among the Gentiles, so that though they speak against you as evildoers, they shall see your good works and thereby glorify God in the day of visitation.” In a world awash in profanity, Christians should watch what they say. {eoa}

This article originally appeared on the American Family Association.