As a christian I am more and more amazed how my opinion of things change. Growing up I was raised very straight line with strict rules on my behavior. Many of the reasons and principles behind the rules became easily apparent as I grew older.
Most the principles and morals I was raised with have not only stuck with me, but I have embraced them and explored deeper into the reasons and mindset behind them. Many things I have different views than my parents on is due to me being more extreme in my views than even they are. This mostly applies to politics and things such as limited government, being a libertarian, and personal responsibility apart from the systems our world is wrapped up in. For the most part my parents and I are really close in mindset.
One are where I am different from how I was raised is the mindset of "curse words." Four letter words that make moms cringe.
I personally try very hard to not use curse words because it offends some people. The heart behind not using curse words is trying to be positive and have a good attitude. The heart is what God is after not your words. If your heart is changed by God your words will change with time.
The problem I have is with christians who are offended by other christians or even the unsaved who use particular words they don't like. There is no difference in the heart from saying $h*t or shoot. So as christians we should know more than anyone that the heart is what God is after and we shouldn't even care about others expressions or exclamations. As christians we should be the last person on earth offended by anything especially words.
One particular disagreement is with people who believe saying, "oh god" is taking the Lords name in vain. (which is one of the ten commandments) The Lord of the Israelites of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's name was (As close as we can say it) "yahweh." The Israelites wouldn't even write the complete name out for fear of using it wrong. Now using "yahweh" in an expression or exclamation would be using the Lords name in vain. There are many "gods" in the world, money, greed, beauty, buddah, materialism, allah, etc. So using "god" is not using the Lords name in vain.
Now this does not mean I think we shouldn't try and strive for always having positive language and expressions,We are actually are told to speak of what is good, holy, and right, (paraphrasing)
but I do believe we need to think about what we believe and why we believe what we believe.
Christianity should never be a religion of rules. In fact christianity shouldn't be a religion, but a relationship with our heavenly father and with other people. So the next time you are shocked at a curse word you hear, check yourself and think about the meaning behind what the person is saying and how many times you've probably said the same thing that day just with a different spelling.
The Bantam Voice
"Freed people free people"
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