Ben WulpiSentence Outline for Persuasive Speech IIDecember 9, 2009

Topic: SwearingGeneral Purpose: to persuadeSpecific Purpose: To persuade my audience that swearing is not a sin. Thesis: Swearing, as our society has defined it in calling certain words “bad words”, is not a sin, and although this should not give us license to use these words all the time, we as Christians should not be making a big deal out of something like swearing. Organizational Outline: Comparative Advantage

Introduction[attention-getter] Several years ago a friend of mine was working with the inner-city youth of Chicago at a Christian

day camp. At the end of the day, my friend gathered up his group of kids to pray together. When my friend asked one African-American boy to pray, he began by closing his eyes and clasping his hands, and prayed, “Jesus, you da’ shit!” To many, this may be shocking, that someone would actually swear during a prayer, let alone refer to the Lord Jesus with such a word as that. [topic orientation] But to me, this story exemplifies the phenomenon that is language, and the random nature of the words that we use. It is from this foundation that I hope to persuade you in the next few minutes that swearing, as our society has defined it in calling certain words “bad words,” is not a sin according to the Bible. And although this should not give us license to use these words all the time, we as Christians should not be making such a big deal out of something like swearing.

[Transition: But before we look at swearing, we must take a look at the formation of language in general]

BodyI. Language is socially constructed, and only carries the meaning that we give it. [Motivational appeal: inductive reasoning]

A. The way that language evolves sometimes seems completely random. 1. Most words have origins that go back a long ways, often derived from another language. The way that a word sneaks into a language is by jumping “the fence from another tongue, was spelled and pronounced a bit differently in its new home, and over time drifted into being a distinct word recognized by everyone.” [source: www.snopes.com]

B. Because our words are socially constructed and evolve from older forms, there are agreed-upon definitions, but it is the common use of the word that really shapes its meaning.

1. And it is possible that the meanings of words can be shaped so much that they end up meaning something completely different than they were originally.

a. For example, using the story I told at the beginning: How does the English word “shit” evolve from meaning “excrement” to an expletive to being used in various phrases (such as “I don’t give a sh—“) to, in this story, being used as a term of praise?

2. Words are shaped by their use. As users of the word, we can bend its meaning to whatever we want, and if it catches on, it might eventually be socially agreed upon. This is why teenagers in the 80s and 90s could use words like “bad” for good, or “wicked” for cool. 3. Shakespeare, who is famous for inventing over 1700 words of the English language, wrote the line in his iconic play “Romeo & Juliet” which said “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” [Motivational Appeal: Figurative Analogy]

a. This shows us that words by themselves have no meaning other than what we attach to them.b. Who remembers, back in our grade school days of standardized testing, the memory portions of the tests, where you had to match up the word with its meaning? “A lep is a ball.” “A korf is a tiger.” “A pillot is a shoe.” Those words were gibberish until they were given a definition, and those objects could then be identified by their new names. [Motivational appeal: literal analogy]c. Similarly, I can make up any word right now and give it a meaning, and start using it, and if it catches on and becomes socially acknowledged, I have just invented a new word and given it meaning.

[Transition: This same evolution and invention has happened with those words that society labels “bad words.”]

II. It is the meaning behind words that give them their value. The actual words in themselves are just symbols to express ideas. A. Society has seen certain words and decided that they should be labeled “bad words.” Who decided this? How did

a certain set of words come to be considered “bad”, while the rest are fine?a. It’s clear, from what we’ve seen already, that what really matters in a word is the meaning behind it. b. For example, oftentimes we have created substitutes for these “bad words” so we can express the same

meaning in a different, inoffensive form. “Shoot,” “dang,” “fudge,” and “freaking” are just a few examples of these.

i. Why are these words better than those that they replaced, even though they carry the exact same meaning? If “a rose by any other name is as sweet,” then shouldn’t “a cuss word, by any other name” be just as vulgar? [Motivational appeal: Causal Reasoning – hypothesis]

ii. If the meaning behind our words is what gives them their value, then we’ve got a lot more problems in our society to worry about than cuss words. Our society has lost the weight of the meaning of so many of our words.

1. So which is a worse sin, if I drop the f-bomb, or if I say “Jesus is my Lord” without really meaning it?

[Transition: Now let’s take a look at some sources from Scripture to see what the Word of God has to say about this issue.]

III. It is important for us to take a deeper look at Scripture in order to understand God’s will on this issue.A. Many people use certain Scriptures to say categorically that all cussing is wrong.

a. But a deeper reading of these Scriptures might show us something different. Let’s take a look at some passages:

i. Jesus says in Matthew 12:36-37 “…that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you are acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

ii. Ephesians 4:29 exhorts us, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

iii. Paul also says in Ephesians 5:4, “Nor should there be any obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.”

iv. Matthew 15:18 says “The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’”

v. And James, in chapter 3 of his letter, admonished believers for allowing both praise of God and cursing of men to come out of the same mouth. How can both fresh and salt water come from the same spring? This should not be so.

b. At first glance, these Scriptures seem to leave no room for cussing if you’re a Christian. i. But all of them are referring to language in general that is cursing, or using your words as

derogatory and aimed at someone else. 1. This goes far beyond what our society defines as “swearing.”

ii. Nowhere in these scriptures does it talk about specific words being sin, or “bad.” iii. So yes, the point that the Word of God is making is that the words that we say are extremely

important, but nowhere in Scripture can you find a basis for saying that certain words are in and of themselves sinful.

B. It is our society that has defined certain words as “bad” words, not Scripture. It is the meaning and purpose that comes from our heart and exists in the meanings behind the words that give them their moral worth.

a. Besides, even Paul himself swears. In Philippians 3, Paul is talking about all his earthly possessions and accomplishments, and how they mean nothing compared to knowing Christ. He says, “I consider [all things] rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him…”

b. The word that Paul uses for “rubbish,” in the original Greek, is a derogatory term, of which the closest English equivalent is the word “shit.”

c. If Paul has no problem using certain words considered by society to be derogatory in order to emphasize his point, then should we? [Motivational Appeal: Reasoning through Credibility - authority]

ConclusionOur society has defined a certain set of words to be “bad.” We as Christians striving to live for the Kingdom of God

(which so often comes in conflict with the values of this world), are freed from the patterns of this world. I’d like to read for you Colossians 2:20-23, which says, “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch! [Might I add, Do not cuss!]”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have the appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” We have freedom in Christ from the rules and values of this world. I submit to you that calling certain words, in and of themselves, sinful, is not only a value of this world, but it’s just plain silly. There is a large difference in yelling out an expletive in pain, and swearing directly at someone—and that difference lies in your heart and your intentions. If you swear in anger, your sin is not the word that you said, but the anger that you allowed to control you.

I submit to you that cussing is something that falls into Paul’s category from 1 Corinthians 10 of “permissible, but not beneficial.” When you use those words, they are not sin in and of themselves, but are they benefitting anyone? Are they building up the Body? I am not saying that we should feel free to go around using these words all the time, because frankly, to use them all the time is stupid and only displays a lack of good vocabulary in my eyes. But please, stop making swearing such a huge deal in the Church, and stop trying to label it a sin. We are getting the values of this world and the values of the Kingdom of God confused. The words we use do matter. But it is the meaning that we put behind the words that give them their worth. We need to make sure that we mean the things that we say, and that in all things, we glorify God, even if our praise contains a four-letter word.

WORKS CITED

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Lute, Alex. The story at the introduction was his experience.

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