Is cussing a mortal sin?

[Dnorris707]

If you do it every once in a while a you usually catch yourself right after, is it mortal? Also is thinking a cuss word mortal, same pretenses as the previous example?

 

[debgab]

I don’t know for sure but I haven’t been taking communion because of it.

 

[Blenderx]

I don’t think cussing is usually grave matter. Unless a curse is maliciously directed at someone, or blasphemy is involved. Also, if its done without sufficient forethought, as an immediate reaction when you, say, stub your toe or lock yourself out of your car, you can be sure it isn’t mortal, either.

 

[Kontrak]

I don’t know for sure but I haven’t been taking communion because of it.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

This is a rule I as someone with scruples am trying to obey : If you don’t know it’s mortal then it can’t be mortal. I don’t know your situation but sometimes receiving is the answer. Jesus wants to deliver you from the vice of cursing.

Using the Lord’s name or holy things as a curse is blasphemous and gravely evil. I’ve been thought that cursing is venial but I think it depends on the situation or the malice intended. It is an ugly thing you don’t want innocence like children to repeat and a hard habit to break. I would confess it so I may obtain the grace to keep from it.

“The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

Saint Paul on the use of speech : [BIBLEDRB]Ephesians 5:1-5[/BIBLEDRB]

and our Lord :

"Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow.’

But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne;

nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black.

Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.

Matthew 5:22
(KJV) But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Col 3:8
But now put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk with your mouth.

sirach 23:7-15

Instruction about the mouth

7 Listen, my children, to instruction about your mouth; whoever follows my instruction will

never succumb to it. 8 The lips of sinners will seize them and make abusers and the

arrogant stumble. 9 Don’t let your mouth get used to making solemn pledges, and don’t

get accustomed to saying the name of the holy one. 10 Just as a household slave who is

constantly examined won’t be lacking bruises, so also the person who always swears and

speaks the Lord’s name will never be cleansed from sin. 11 People who make many

solemn pledges will be full of lawlessness, and a scourge won’t depart from their house. If

they break their solemn pledges, their sin is on them, and if they disregard it, they sin

doubly, and if they swear falsely, they won’t be justified, but their houses will be full of

misery. 12 There is a way of speaking that’s comparable to death; don’t let it be found

among Jacob’s descendants. All these things will stay far away from the godly, and they

will not wallow in their sins. 13 Don’t grow accustomed to saying coarse things, because

to do so is to engage in sinful speech. 14 Remember your father and mother, because you

sit in the council among officials. This way, you won’t forget yourself in front of them and

act foolishly out of habit— then you’d wish that you hadn’t been born, and you’d curse the

day of your birth. 15 People who are accustomed to reproachful words will never learn

anything their whole life.

 

[edwest2]

Jame 3:9

“With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God. 10. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. This need not be so, my brothers. 11. Does a spring gush forth from the same opening both pure and brackish water?”

From the NAB Bible

Talk to your priest if you’re concerned.

Peace,
Ed

 

[IrishRush]

I heard a priest say once that while cursing, when not using the Lord’s name, is rather classless it is not a mortal sin. However, when you take the Lord’s name in vain, that changes things entirely.
Like the other poster said, discuss your details with your priest. He will advise you best.

 

[mytruepower2]

No it’s not. Moral sins are defined by the ten commandments. There is no commandment among the ten against cursing, unless you do it to your father, mother or God.

 

[Qoeleth]

The social context needs to be considered. There are many people who would find bad language to be simply ‘normal language’. So, it can hardly be considered a sin in such cases.

But a lot of swear words are violent and indecent. So, it is not consistent for a Christian to be saying most swear words (many of which have degrading sexual meanings). Also, it is an act of anger.

So, try to stop it.

 

[smith500]

Do you think it would be wildly wrong to pass a law that persons be put tortured and put to death for cussing?

If you think that would be unjust, then it would be probably be unjust for God to condemn you to eternal torture for cussing. His just punishment will probably be something else.

I hope people don’t think it is an endorsement of sin if I think that a certain sin deserves a penalty of something less than eternal damnation

 

[mytruepower2]

Do you think it would be wildly wrong to pass a law that persons be put tortured and put to death for cussing?

If you think that would be unjust, then it would be probably be unjust for God to condemn you to eternal torture for cussing.

Unfortunately, this is not a good way of thinking about it, for a couple of reasons.

1. Most people would agree thst passing a law that people “must be tortured and put to death” at all is barbaric. I’m not saying they’re right about that, but we can’t depend on people’s common sense to work this way. To be honest, even murderers shouldn’t have to face that.
2. God’s punishment isn’t just for sins, but for -impenitence.- A single mortal sin can get you into Hell, but only if you’re not sincerely sorry for what you did.
3. Those who suffer torments in Hell do so, not because the sins they committed in this life were sufficient to merit those torments, but because, by deliberately choosing sin over God, they’ve committed to sinning for eternity, and therefore, to being punished eternally for it.
4. These sins must be grave ones in order to merit even that, and the church defines “grave matter” quite specifically.

 

[Bezant]

If you do it every once in a while a you usually catch yourself right after, is it mortal? Also is thinking a cuss word mortal, same pretenses as the previous example?

The problem with swearing isn’t whether it’s sinful to swear. The issue is that it’s crass. If you’ve something worth saying, you don’t need to swear.

 

[EmeraldWings]

cursing or using vulgar language is not in itself mortally sinful, and even if used at someone in anger, the vulgar language itself is still not the serious sin committed, but the anger is(depending on how angry and other things, not all anger directed at others is mortally sinful),

i have read, in one of my catechism books, i can’t remember which, that while using vulgar language is not a serious sin, it is still unfitting of a Christian, and a bad example to others of what a good Christian should be.
so to answer your question, no it’s not a mortal sin, but it is still bad, and i would recommend training yourself to stop.

 

[bilop]

I heard a priest say once that while cursing, when not using the Lord’s name, is rather classless it is not a mortal sin. However, when you take the Lord’s name in vain, that changes things entirely.
Like the other poster said, discuss your details with your priest. He will advise you best.

Correct. The Commandment is “Thous shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain”.

Non-blasphemeous cursing is not sinful, per se. It could become sinful if directed at someone in a hurtful manner, but cursing a blue streak because you go a flat tire in the pouring rain, for example, isn’t sinful.

God Bless

 

[Jaypeeto4]

A lot of good advice here.
I have a cussing habit. It developed due to the horrific PTSD I have now for the past
couple of years. It is much easier to cuss now (( I don’t worry about words like hell,
damn, b***rd, etc., but the really viler ones like the “F” word I try to avoid though not always successfully, but I’m working on stopping the other ones too.

Also, you can be sure that the Command against
taking the name of LORD in vain was not referring to statements of surprise,
like, 'Oh my god! or “for god’s sake!!”, though out of respect we should try to eradicate
those too, without feeling like blasphemous monsters if we catch ourselves saying them.

Taking the name of the LORD in vain has a meaning that we Christians of European (largely) descent and cultural descent, fail often to grasp. At least, this meaning is a BIG part of it. The Name of the LORD being referred to here, is the Tetragrammaton, the Divine Name, YHWH, often pronounced, though no one is 100% sure anymore, as
“Yahweh,” and even most Jewish folks will tell you that they aren’t sure for certain anymore how to pronounce it. The reason is that they considered that name so sacred that it came to be only Actually PRONOUNCED once a year, on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, when the Priest would emerge from the Holy of Holies after offering the animal blood, and would step outside, pronounce the Name, (( the only time that entire year )) and the people would drop to their knees in worship of the Almighty out of reverence for that Name.

(( Which is why many of us are baffled as to why, in John’s Gospel,
the Jewish Temple Police who had come to arrest Jesus, drew back and fell
to the ground, after he asked them who they were looking for. They said,
We are looking for Jesus of Nazareth ((whom Judas had just kissed, so they now
KNEW already that this was him)). They didn’t believe in Jesus and were NOT
scared of him, which makes their reaction baffling to Western readers, for he said,
simply, I AM, and they drew back and dropped to the ground.
There was a reason for that. They were NOT scared of Jesus. After all, they were
there for the very purpose of arresting him and were armed and not afraid to do so.
They dropped to the ground not out of reverence for this man standing in front of them,
nor out of dread of him, but because in saying I AM, and this goes right past us readers,
but in saying THAT, THAT WAY, he pronounced the Divine Name, which no Israelite would fail to immediately show a sign of respect for. I AM = EGO EIMI,
which is
the Greek way of saying the name of the great I AM or YHWH))

But we Westerners think that taking the NAME of the LORD in vain refers to using any old word that people use to refer to God, such as Oh Lord, or O my god, or whatever.
In it’s most literal sense, it does not. It refers to irreverent use of the Unique and Unpronouncable Divine Name, the YHWH, the Tetragram. For pete’s sake, we should know that, because all human beings, even the most pagan, who never worshiped HaShem or YHWH, and never heard of this God of Israel, always used words like Lord and God, these are NOT the Divine Name.

 

[N2Church]

I was taught that cursing is asking God to damn someone. That is His privledge and not ours to ask.
The rest of the “bad words” like, the “s” word, the “b” word, and the rest are just vulgar and show poor taste and lack of vocabulary.

 

[pigzig]

I don’t know if its a mortal sin but it is disgusting.

 

[norvet]

I was always told that cussing is a venial sin. I was also told that the reason we have Holy Water Fonts at the entrance to the Church, is not just to bless ourselves, but is there to erase venial sins if you ask and are sincere when using the Holy Water.

 

[cat3gs]

I had it explained to me this way…the word, though crass, isnt the problem. Its the emotion behind it. If you are angry at some one and cussing them out, it doesnt matter if you say **** or sh**. Heck or hell, son of a gun or son of a bi***. You get the picture. Its your thoughts and point behind the cussing.

And also, it was explained, that in the Bible its cursing, not cussing. IE–A pox on you, dam* you to hell, etc Thats what you arent supposed to do, not just saying sh**.

I always try to tell any young person I meet not to start. Its a hard habit to break. Ive explained it that I am bi-lingual, cussing is my other language( all relatively clean cussing).I especially try to tell young girls that it is so ugly to hear those words come out of their mouths. A lady wouldnt say those things( especially here in the South )

 

[Holly3278]

Unfortunately, this is not a good way of thinking about it, for a couple of reasons.

1. Most people would agree thst passing a law that people “must be tortured and put to death” at all is barbaric. I’m not saying they’re right about that, but we can’t depend on people’s common sense to work this way. To be honest, even murderers shouldn’t have to face that.
2. God’s punishment isn’t just for sins, but for -impenitence.- A single mortal sin can get you into Hell, but only if you’re not sincerely sorry for what you did.
3. Those who suffer torments in Hell do so, not because the sins they committed in this life were sufficient to merit those torments, but because, by deliberately choosing sin over God, they’ve committed to sinning for eternity, and therefore, to being punished eternally for it.
4. These sins must be grave ones in order to merit even that, and the church defines “grave matter” quite specifically.

I would add one more reason and that is that God’s judgment is infinitely more perfect and just than our own judgment. Therefore, even if someone would say that it would be unjust to condemn someone to Hell for cussing that does not mean that God thinks the same. However, I am going to agree with everyone else who has said the cussing is a venial sin unless you are blaspheming God or cursing against your parents.

 

[Jaypeeto4]

I hope cussing is not a mortal sin,
because I just let loose with a string of filthy expletives, at the top of my lungs,
(not involving the name God, Lord, or anything like that),
when My plate full of dinner went unexpectedly flying out of my hand
and ravioili, sauce, and vegetables went flying everywhere all
over everything in the room. I was infuriated and, right now, I still am.