Dad attended Kiowa High, a small town high school on the plains of Colorado. At Dad’s 70th (!) class gathering, he got a standing ovation. He told the story of a man who had missed class reunions for decades. When he finally went, he wasn’t sure he would know anyone. But then, in the corner he spied a woman he thought he knew. He told her: “You look like Helen Brown.” Offended, she replied: “You don’t look so good in blue either!”
Dad grew up in community influenced by a careful code of speech. Chivalrous cowboys who spoke about a “bull” in the presence of a woman referred to the “bull” as “Mr. Cow.” Today, we still find euphemisms such as “@$#*%!” in the comics and “OMG” in textland. Such substitutes H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956) called “denaturized profanities – ‘darn,’ ‘doggone,’ ‘dadburned,’ ‘tarnation,’ ‘goldarn,’ ‘gee-whiz.’ There is simply no lift in them, no shock, no sis-boom-bah” (H.L. Mencken, “The American Language”).
When we choose to curse, we can experience the gratification of that “sis-boom-bah.” A curse may also escape our lips – apparently without giving warning (“Where did that come from?”). If our community still has a verbal code, cursing may bring with it awkward guilt. Where do we look for guidance in mastering our rowdy tongues?
Can we look to the common man? Not according to our word “vulgarity.” The Latin word, “vulgus” means “the common people, crowd, throng.” During college days, when I worked in construction or when I worked with “movers,” profanity was part of the air I breathed. Now it is the air we all breathe. The viral “F-bomb” has exploded.
Can we find help by somehow returning to the “good old days?” No. There we find expressions like “a tinker’s damn.” In the rough and tumble manufacturing that a tin worker did, he vented his frustrations by saying: “Damn!” And expressions of by-gone days tell us it was OK to swear “like a trooper,” or “like a sailor.”
What about the “educated?” As I matured, I discovered that coarse speech is a matter of the heart. It crosses educational levels – and barriers of age, class and gender. The Watergate tapes from the 70’s revealed a President whose vulgarities were replaced with “expletive deleted.” As a pastor I was once invited to speak to a study group at IBM. I asked these PhDs what they wanted me to talk about. Their answer: “Profanity at work.”
Perhaps we can find some help in the word “profanity” itself. “Pro” “fano” is “not admitted into the temple” – literally, “out in front of the temple,” from “pro” – “before” + “fano”, “temple.” Picture a gutter in the street in front of a temple – a gutter carrying trash, sewage – multiple kinds of biohazards. “Profanity” is literally “gutter” language.
Profanity is like littering. Some could care less who sees them litter – or who hears them utter profanity. Others are more discreet. They attempt to keep their littering and cursing private. Before a passerby littered, he looked all around. Seeing no one, he tossed his trash on the ground. However, a person had been watching. He commented: “That man looked every direction – but not up.” Likewise, “pro” “fano” expresses our normal way of living – we forget to look up to God.
Nevertheless, we always live in the “temple” – the presence of God. I asked an adult who recently had become a follower of Christ what the biggest change was for him. He answered: “Knowing that God is always with me. I never had that sense before.” So, profanity is much larger than coarse speech. It is our persistent attempt to deny the presence of the One who made language – and us.
Still, the Bible tells us God comes looking for sinners like us. And when we consciously move from attempting to live “outside the temple” – when we become aware of God’s presence – we find ourselves asking for mercy – for profanities we utter and for vulgarities we don’t. Holy God hears our words and our thoughts. We are embarrassed. We ask for forgiveness. Now, profanity that once increased distance between God and us draws us closer. Mercy, mercy.
Let’s salute “profanity.” What an advantage we gain from understanding the origin of “profanity.”
Still, how do we keep our lips from “uttering the gutter?” Shall we enlist gatekeepers – a spouse, a friend – who will censor us? Shall we retreat to euphemisms? When provoked to the point of indulging in profanity, at times, I make up my own language. How broken is that?! What shall you and I do?
Our lips speak from the overflow of our hearts. What about our hearts? The good news of the gospel speaks to our hearts. When we belong to Jesus, he makes us a temple inhabited by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Ghost haunts us. His work changes us from the inside out to treasure God’s person, his works, and our neighbors. In wrestling with our tongues, ours is not some self-righteous, anti-profanity crusade attempting to change others. No, we grieve at the abuse the gift of speech while being aware of new possibilities: “Let your speech always be with grace” (Colossians 4:6) and, “Speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). “Set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity” (1 Tim 4: 12).
In a real world, what does that sound like? “Jesus Christ” is our Redeemer. “Damn” is reserved for the One who can send us to hell. “Hell” is not trivialized or used to spice up a conversation. Last month (June!), I heard a man say it was “snowing like hell in Butte.” When we know Jesus, we treat “hell” with the dread that Jesus gave this awful place. And what do we say about bodily parts and functions given to us by our Creator? In “Desire of the Everlasting Hills,” Thomas Cahill translates Jesus as saying, “What don’t you get? Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean, since it doesn’t go into his heart but into his bowels, and then passes out into the shithole?” (Mark 7:18, 19). What?! Cahill comments: “The Greek word “is ‘aphedron,’ Macedonian slang that would have sounded barbarous to Greek ears. Jesus was not bashful about referring to bodily functions, even if His translators are.”
What Jesus does not tolerate is blasphemy and contempt. Even as Jesus strictly warns us not to blaspheme the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:29), he also emphatically warns us about speaking words of contempt to our neighbor. “Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hellfire” (Matthew 5:22).
We ask: “Whose lips – whose heart – is so pure?” We know the answer: “Not mine.”
Still, let’s call out with David: “Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Psalm 143:3).
The LORD to whom we call is “Jesus Christ,” the One who left heaven – who came to earth and worked construction – who must have hit his thumb – who on the cross was “damned” and endured the punishment of “hell.” Connect the dots. He willingly went “pro-fano” – “outside the Temple” – for us – all the way to the cross. What profound love. We are astonished that the holy God would go so far. But, he did. His “Profanity” is irresistible.
This article originally appeared in a local newspaper column in Helena, MT.
