I leave you with a quote from a book called, “What’s so Amazing about Grace.”

“Author Tony Campolo, who makes a regular circuit as a chapel speaker on Christian college campuses, for a time used this provocation to make a point. ‘The United Nations reports that over ten thousand people starve to death each day, and most of you don’t give a shit. However, what is even more tragic is that most of you are more concerned about the fact that I just said a bad word than you are about the fact that ten thousand people are going to die today.’ The responses proved his point: in nearly every case Tony got a letter from the chaplain or president of the college protesting his foul language. The letters never mentioned world hunger.”

I don’t use profanity often, but I have more respect for people who do than those who don’t and judge others in their hearts, especially those who quote do so while hitting others over the head with a Bible.

Neil, the presence of the Holy Spirit in a Christian’s life will make us feel uncomfortable when somebody uses profanity. I track with what you are saying about Bono being straitforward about his faith, but if he is a Christian, he should have the understanding that curse words like that have no place in a Christian’s vocabulary. I understand that Christians who swear use Martin Luther as their example, but, we can surely agree and respect Luther’s theology without imitating his shortcomings. After all, Christ is the goal of our sanctification, not Martin Luther.

James 1:26 26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.

As a side note, I have been a U2 fan for decades. I’ve seen them many times in concert, got Bono’s autograph, and spent a lot of time and money collecting and listending to their songs. I became a fan during the release of their War album and was impressed and encouraged at the amount of Scripture that saturated their music. However, after the success of their Joshua Tree album, it seems that Bono began changing his persona in the media and really letting his curse words fly. He admits that he does not attend church services, believes that abortion is a woman’s right to choose, and that love is the greatest things, be it hetero- or homosexual love. Bono himself would tell you that he is not the model of what a Christian should be. I cannot say if he is a true Christian believer, only the Lord knows. I know that he has a made a profound profession of such and with that I will trust that God knows His elect.

John

Let’s take the two questions one at a time.

1. Does cursing prevent someone from going to heaven? Well, any sin can keep one from going to heaven. That’s the reason why Jesus came and Bono’s point about grace. Grace is grace. It covers all sin. So, no matter what the sin is…cursing, lust, greed, racism, anger, lack of self control, whatever… it all can keep you from heaven. It’s the gift of grace offered by God through Jesus that saves us from that sin and spiritual death. (Rom 6:23, Rom 5:8)

2. Where do we draw the line? Is “darn” a curse word? Obviously the Bible isn’t going to cover every vernacular in every language to tell mankind which words are curse words and which aren’t. What is sin is determinable in two ways: First, when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we inherited that knowledge. Meaning: we know right from wrong. Secondly, the Holy Spirit convicts us as we sin to help us understand when God isn’t happy with our actions and the need for repentance. This conviction isn’t to condemn (at least not now) as much as it is to keep us from leaving Him. He uses conviction to draw us closer to Him…not push us away. So, in a sense, we know what is sin and what isn’t. Just because the Bible doesn’t explicitly state it, doesn’t mean we don’t know it. Oh — and it doesn’t change per person. God’s laws are absolute and don’t change. What is sin for one, is sin for another. God’s judgment isn’t relative, otherwise, we would have no assurance of salvation.

Having said all of that, the question I hear most often in conjunction with Bono’s comments are, “why are we condemning him when he does so many good things? Shouldn’t we overlook his cursing for the good things he does?”. Well, God can no more overlook cursing than He can any other sin. But, living in grace doesn’t mean we are sinless. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. We are all sinners (Rom 3:23). But grace means that we are forgiven for that sin and still be assured of salvation. The gospel theology allows for people to condemn sin whenever/wherever it is, and at the same time, allow for salvation through grace. So I am able to recognize Bono’s cursing as sin…while at the same time recognizing he is clearly going to heaven. His actions are probably not dissimilar from my own, in that, I have sin too, and yet, still believe in Christ as my Savior. So, I can no more condemn Bono to Hell than I could anyone else who believes in Christ and has received grace. The cursing is simply one more sin that Bono will receive grace for when judgment day comes.

Now, does that mean that we shouldn’t feel bad about sinning and let grace increase? By no means! We should strive to be as blameless as possible so that God can see our commitment and love for him by keeping his commands…and…to help our fellow man see the love of God by living that love daily.

How do I receive this grace? Simply ask for it from God. If one confesses Jesus with their mouth and believe in their heart, they are saved. (Rom 10:9-13).

I more than likely went home that night, smoked pot, listened to Metalica, and cursed up a storm with the only friends I’d had at the time…all non-Christians.

And I remember later that week when I returned to the campus that I was saved and met with a group of fellow believers, more mature than I in the Lord. I couldn’t wait to tell them about the experience that I had with God. But instead of excitement, I was met with judgment. I was asked to leave because of my clothes and the music that they had heard coming from my car, and possibly from the language that I used. Right then and there I knew that the rejection that I felt from that group of Christians was NOT like the new found love from my Father that I now held so close to my heart. I knew that I needed to escape that judgment and hate before it devoured what had been so freely given the week before. I never went back to that campus, my life and actions DID change over time, and I did find a loving and patient group of Christians to grow up in. Thank God.

It is a matter of the heart, of yours and mine.

The bottom line is this - when we hurt ourselves - God doesn’t want us to yell a cussword for satisfaction - whatever the word may be - he wants us to hold our tounges so we can show others (as well as ourselves) that we have self control even under pain. It’s all about the loss of self-control. And when we use foul language - we lose it.

SECONDLY, is the need to consider what effect your actions have on others. This is still super important, but not as important as your heart.

Example: A man in our church was on a missions trip to Brazil (where a thumbs up is equivalent to our middle finger). He slipped up and gave someone a THUMBS UP to signify is approval of what they had told him. In his heart he was innocent. But this wasn’t a very good witness for Christ.

I say ’sucks’. some people may find that offensive. Should i stop saying ’sucks’ because one may find it offensive?

What about the word ‘gosh’, which some would argue is derived from ‘God’ and therefore is equal to using God’s name in vain.

What about saying ‘poop’ because it means the same thing as other offensive words?

what about other substitutes: shoot, jeez, golly, etc.

Where is the line?

Is it wrong to give the peace sign? is it wrong to give it in a different culture where the peace sign means naughty things? What’s the difference?