Is swearing a sin?

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silentbob

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I’m not talking about taking the Lord’s name in vein.
Is using four letter words bad? I was taught.by a christian brother who said true translations of the bible were littered with swearing.
 
silentbob said:
I’m not talking about taking the Lord’s name in vein.
Is using four letter words bad? I was taught.by a christian brother who said true translations of the bible were littered with swearing.
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I know of several Jesuits who have agreed with me that swearing is totally acceptable (in the right social context)!! it’s a linguistic expression of a normal and healthy feeling, comic or otherwise! but obviously you dont swear around( read offend) old ladies, you don’t swear at mass…etc. it’s about environment and context! i swear with GUSTO! lol but only when and where it’s “kosher”.
 
My amateur opinion - I know a saintly man who has done more things for more people, and done them all in the name of the Lord, than anyone I know. Despite all that, he has been known to let the occasional cuss word fly. In my opinion, and I won’t be the one judging him, it’s a small thing.

On the other hand, I don’t swear in the house, around my wife or around my children. I tell my youngsters that if people see them in Church, and they do, and then the same people hear them swearing on a street corner, then their actions have done God some degree of dishonor. It provides unnecessary stones to those who are always looking for stones to cast, as it might make them appear to be hypocrites.

For me, I’ve got many flaws to correct, and I have not gotten to the swearing one. For those who refrain, I think it is commendable. For those who don’t, I am not entirely convinced it is sinful.
 
I’ve never heard that there was profanity in the Bible before…

This is an edited post I made in another thread :

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. Maybe I’m scrupulous but If I was a religious I’d feel very guilty to find this habit causes others to do the same. I would confess it so to obtain the grace to keep from it.

Here are passages about the proper use of speech in the Bible, and I might add, it seems like every time I post it some one adds another which might tell you something. :

“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 :
Ephesians 5:1-5 (Douay Rheims)

1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as most dear children;

2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness.

3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not so much as be named among you, as becometh saints:

4 Or obscenity, or foolish talking, or scurrility, which is to no purpose; but rather giving of thanks.

5 For know you this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person (which is a serving of idols), hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

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.

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?”
 
I asked a priest about this and he told me it’s normally a venial sin.
 
. . . a little food for rumination perhaps:

James 3:1-13

** Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you realize that we will be judged more strictly,

for we all fall short in many respects. If anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body also.

If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide their whole bodies.

It is the same with ships: even though they are so large and driven by fierce winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot’s inclination wishes.

In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretensions. Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze.

The tongue is also a fire. It exists among our members as a world of malice, defiling the whole body and setting the entire course of our lives on fire, itself set on fire by Gehenna.

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species,

but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God.

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. This need not be so, my brothers.

Does a spring gush forth from the same opening both pure and brackish water?

Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives, or a grapevine figs? Neither can salt water yield fresh.

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show his works by a good life in the humility that comes from wisdom. **

🙂
 
No.
Profanity==vulgarity. Profanity is insulting something holy, and that is a sin.
Vulgarity is “low class” language, frowned upon in some circumstances, but certainly not sinful. I
 
TeenageConvert said:
No.
Profanity==vulgarity. Profanity is insulting something holy, and that is a sin.
Vulgarity is “low class” language, frowned upon in some circumstances, but certainly not sinful. I
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BINGO! you hit the nail on the head here!!!
 
silentbob said:
I’m not talking about taking the Lord’s name in vein.
Is using four letter words bad? I was taught.by a christian brother who said true translations of the bible were littered with swearing.
Click to expand...
It all depends on the Holy Spirit.

Just a thought.
 
TeenageConvert said:
No.
Profanity==vulgarity. Profanity is insulting something holy, and that is a sin.
Vulgarity is “low class” language, frowned upon in some circumstances, but certainly not sinful. I
Click to expand...
Except where it violates the teaching expressed in the Sacred Scripture passages quoted in posts #4 and #7.
 
TeenageConvert said:
No.
Profanity==vulgarity. Profanity is insulting something holy, and that is a sin.
Vulgarity is “low class” language, frowned upon in some circumstances, but certainly not sinful. I
Click to expand...
Films often use the warning word “profanity” to indicate the language. Those are words like fu… and sh…

They are not always “insulting something holy” in the film, just cursing “generically”… Based on your definitions they appear to be using the word “profanity” incorrectly. Using the vernacular, vulgarity and profanity seem interchangeable.
 
Sacred Scripture clearly states that we are indeed capable of sinning with our mouths by way of swearing, cursing, profanity, etc.

James 3:10 - From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening fresh water and brakish?

Mt 12: 36 - I tell you, on the day of judgement men will render account for every careless word they utter, for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned

Paul also warns his audiences to guard their toungues carefully in Eph 4:25, Col 3:8 and 2 Tim 2:16
 
I was taught a venial sin, and its a sin I need to work on myself. 😊
 
This has been a very helpful thread, as I was looking for this exact topic to apply to myself (I was brought up in south Jersey, where the F-word is as commonly used as “if, and, the” and other such necessary parts of speech 🙂

I have been trying to stop this very bad habit, but, knowing what’s right and good, and DOING what’s right and good, and stopping this habit, is proving very difficult.

So, I’m asking if anyone has ideas on how to curb this bad habit?

I had started carrying a notebook and writing down each time I used a particular vulgarity, but, remembering to write things down proves to be just as difficult as remembering to not use vulgarities to begin with! LOL

I keep praying for the grace to stop this habit. What more can I do? Ideas needed 🙂

Thanks
 
If you mean swearing as in cussing, then I would say it’s a sin. But if you mean swearing an oath, like as a witness in court swearing to “tell the truth, etc” then I don’t think it is.
 
I’m talking about vulgarity.

Swearing oaths is a particular sin against the commandment taking the Lord’s name in vain, etc, afaik.

I have been pretty good at avoiding blaspheming (which is a whole different, and grave sin!)
 
silentbob said:
I’m not talking about taking the Lord’s name in vein.
Is using four letter words bad? I was taught.by a christian brother who said true translations of the bible were littered with swearing.
Click to expand...
up tin cho ban, chuc ban thanh cong
 
As far as stopping, I was able to stop when my daughter was born so you could imagine to yourself that you have a child listening.
 
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