From media to youth pastors to government leaders, swear words flow out of mouths without reservation. Christian teens and young adults are growing up in a culture that has normalized bad words, and sometimes it’s hard to know who’s influencing who when it comes to appropriate language. As a result, younger Christians who are being persuaded not to cuss may be unconvinced by the same arguments that worked for previous generations.

The Modern Perspective

If you try to correct contemporary believers for their colorful vocabulary, you may get some pushback such as:

• “It’s not that big of a deal.”
• “Everyone talks like that.”
• “It’s just part of the language of today.”
• “You’re just being old-fashioned.”
• “Don’t be uptight or legalistic.”
• “Speaking in their lingo helps me reach non-believers.”
• “It never occurred to me to evaluate the wrongness or rightness of it.”

What’s So Wrong With Swearing?

If you, or a loved one, have a casual perspective or even a positive belief around the use of swear words, there are at least two compelling reasons to reconsider your stance. The following two benefits of cleaning up your speech would be relevant to pray through, journal about, or use as a conversation starter with your loved ones.

One Benefit: Emotional Maturity

Those who refrain from using bad language can experience the satisfaction of growing in emotional maturity. But those with a foul mouth may be stunting their growth in emotional maturity. Consider the following contrasts:

• Using expletives can actually represent a lack of vocabulary, or reveal inadequate practice expressing feelings and facts.
• Strong emotions such as anger or frustration need more than a slew of bad words; they need a healthy outlet, and solutions to preserve the heart and to protect relationships. The more you can control and work through your emotions, the more emotionally mature you become. “…to knowledge, add self-control…” (2 Pet. 1:6)
• The temptation to move away from Biblical standards and use tasteless speech may be so strong you need to surrender to a purposeful, supernaturally-enabled-plan for overcoming. When you’re able to specifically express challenging feelings in a gentle tone, you and those around you can receive calm and comfort, which is another marker of emotional intelligence. “A soft answer turns away wrath.” (Prov. 15:1)

• Using bad words when you’re angry opens a door that makes you more vulnerable to “cussing someone out” rather than using the respectable skill of resolving conflict with self-control. For the sake of your relationships, you may want to seek accountability to help you replace foul words with words that carry more specific meaning or produce helpful dialogue.
• Negative language – even using trendy substitutions for bad words – can reveal internal, painful emotions that need tender, loving care rather than escalation. Studying the usage of “mouth” and “tongue” in Psalms and Proverbs will enable you to see the root causes and ramifications of harsh words. Train your feelings to follow the leading of Truth, and allow the Lord to minister to your negative emotions so He can heal what aches inside and adjust them to His feelings.

Another Benefit: Honor & Beauty

Regularly cussing and frequently listening to bad language from others, music, and movies takes the speaker/listener further away from the beautiful holiness of the one true, divine God who created and defines what beauty is and isn’t.

• Having a “trash mouth” fits in with the edgy, shock-and-awe, I-dare-you-not-to-accept-my-choices culture of today. Yet, Christians are called to seek God’s glory and to be made more into the image of Christ. The more you’re pursuing glory and honor, the less you’ll want to let bad words slip. “But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory…” (2 Cor. 3:18)
• Some believers feel helpless or morally compromised, and struggle to maintain the holiness they desire when others (including other Christians) establish a crass surrounding. You can make a difference in someone’s well-being by abstaining from bad language and purposefully speaking in a way that helps them stay on track.

• Reflecting the love of God to others is a powerful opportunity for you. Choosing words with care, responding to someone in a soothing, encouraging, and emotionally kind manner improves everyone’s mood, making you into a more attractive person.
• While the world reveres self and talking however filthily you feel at a given moment, Christians have an opportunity to speak much of their Savior, Jesus Christ. And nothing can make you more emotionally intelligent, beautiful, and honorable than using expressions of praising Christ and inviting others to join you.

Blessing & Prayer

“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29)