Are Christians Permitted To Use Naughty Words?

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]Profanity, pejoratives, crude speech, and curses.

[00:00:06]These are the taboo aspects of language in polite company.

[00:00:11]Are Christians permitted to use naughty words? Find out on this episode of Ancient Egypt and the Bible.

[00:00:26]In this video, we are going to be discussing the differences and the moral weighing of taboo language.

[00:00:34]Now, this is going to be a nuanced discussion because it's not so black and white as some preachers or organizations out there suggest.

[00:00:45]First, I want to begin with a disclaimer.

[00:00:49]I use naughty words when I write fiction.

[00:00:52]And I even use naughty words when I write fiction with Christian themes.

[00:00:59]This generally precludes my fiction from being considered by most, say, Christian fiction awards or Christian publishers.

[00:01:08]No real loss there.

[00:01:11]The use of naughty words has garnered criticism of my work even though my books have also included disturbing topics like paternity fraud, super breeding, capital punishment, restricted breeding pools, genetic collapse, species-imposed ethics, prayer, substance dualism, divine intervention, mechanical pair bonding, manufactured slavery, liberation theology, post-modernity, segregation, racism, mandatory disarmament, and weapons of mass destruction.

[00:01:49]Despite all those controversial themes in my books, it's the naughty words that really raise eyebrows.

[00:01:57]Even though on a overall level, it's very, very mild.

[00:02:04]But this raises the question.

[00:02:07]Is the use of profanity and pejoratives permitted for the Christian?

[00:02:12]Now, there is a difference between profanity, which is swears and cuss words, pejoratives, which are slurs, crude speech, and curses.

[00:02:25]Even though these terms are often used interchangeably.

[00:02:29]Each class of language is different, and the Bible treats each differently.

[00:02:36]Profanity is shocking or crude language, generally of a religious or sexual nature. For example, the F-bomb.

[00:02:45]Conversely, pejoratives are derogatory terms. For example, the N-word.

[00:02:52]Pejoratives are generally meant to demean a person. However, within certain circles, even that is not always true.

[00:03:00]Listen to a little bit of rap music and you soon find out.

[00:03:05]On the other hand, profanity can serve a surprising range of linguistic purposes.

[00:03:11]Deprecation, hopelessness, indifference, desperation, surprise, awe, amplification, respect, admiration.

[00:03:22]For example, quote, "On the football field, that dude is an effing beast."

[00:03:28]End quote.

[00:03:30]Crude speech, on the other hand, is degrading speech that normally involves sexual innuendo or dirty jokes.

[00:03:40]Then we get to curses, and curses are something completely different.

[00:03:45]When the Bible talks about curses, and it does so frequently, the Bible is specifically talking about religious curses.

[00:03:55]Curses are not shocking or profane language, but religious magical spells designed to cause harm.

[00:04:04]An example of a curse would be, "May the Lord cause you to miss every top step." End quote.

[00:04:11]Now, we have to recognize that the use of profanity and pejoratives is culturally relative.

[00:04:17]What is deemed obscene in one culture might be considered very mild in another.

[00:04:24]For example, the word screw is very mild profanity in North America. Mild enough to be used in any corporate office.

[00:04:35]While in Australia, or at least at one time it was, thought to be extremely offensive.

[00:04:43]200 years ago, serious profanity was of a blasphemous religious nature. Well, sexual profanity was generally deemed mild.

[00:04:53]Today, those notions are reversed.

[00:04:58]While the Bible has a fair bit to say about unwholesome language like slander, gossip, lying, and crude jokes, it is relatively little to say about profanity and pejoratives.

[00:05:11]When the Bible talks about cursing, for example, in Exodus 22:28, the text is not talking about profanity or rude words, but magical curses.

[00:05:22]That is, a magic ritual, the purpose of which was to bring evil physical consequences to a person.

[00:05:31]So then, is it permissible to use profanity and pejoratives in fiction that is Christian?

[00:05:38]On this issue, I would side here with the Apostle Paul, who states, quote, "All is permissible, but not all is profitable." End quote.

[00:05:48]On one extreme, one can go overboard using profanity.

[00:05:53]Too much profanity can diminish its effects and weaken your speech.

[00:05:58]That said, one of the most effective sermons I ever heard was preached by a prison minister who used the F-bomb every sentence.

[00:06:08]It did have the little old ladies in the congregation clutching their pearls.

[00:06:13]But it was also one of the most theologically sound presentations of the gospel I have ever heard.

[00:06:21]But the opposite can happen, too, when Christians try too hard to avoid using profanity in writing and literature.

[00:06:29]Sometimes authors will use dialogue tags instead of profanity. For example, quote, the gangster cussed, end quote.

[00:06:39]This was ironically a favorite tactic of Susan E. Hinton when she wrote The Outsiders 1967.

[00:06:47]Hinton wrote at a time when young adult novels did not contain profanity.

[00:06:53]And she reserved her use of strong language for critical points in her novels to add the emphasis she wanted.

[00:07:01]Now, while this tactic of using dialogue tags can diminish profanity's direct use, it can also diminish it to nothing at all because readers see dialogue tags as invisible words.

[00:07:15]Another approach is to use neologisms and nonsense words.

[00:07:19]In Stephen King's book Misery, the villain of the novel is a psychopathic fan who takes a writer hostage.

[00:07:28]She hates profanity and uses nonsense language instead.

[00:07:33]Now, this one's interesting because King's use of nonsense profanity adds a creepy element by adding something that seems contradictory on the surface.

[00:07:44]I use this method with the Android society in my book All the Stars as Angels.

[00:07:49]In that, I have a society of Androids who hate pejoratives, where they are called kitchen appliances, toasters, microwaves, blenders, percolators, but they call each other pejoratives that are based upon mechanical concepts.

[00:08:06]Crankshafts, gimbals.

[00:08:09]They'll also use the crossover word screwed, as in bolts, nuts, screwed.

[00:08:14]Get it?

[00:08:17]However, one should use this method with caution.

[00:08:21]This method can be effective if done with purpose, but can also seem silly or distracting when done simply to avoid bad language.

[00:08:31]The final approach is to use profanity with moderation.

[00:08:36]Truth and fiction demands that our characters act and speak in accordance with their fictional world and theme.

[00:08:44]If all the characters in your novel are good Christians, then it is reasonable that profanity should never be a part of the dialogue.

[00:08:53]But what if all the characters are unbelievers?

[00:08:56]What if their background comes from a source where profanity is commonplace?

[00:09:02]For example, certain branches of military service.

[00:09:06]In my book Reliquary of the Dead, Alicia Stripes is a retired Marine who has seen the horrors of war.

[00:09:12]She has seen and done terrible things, and she has a potty mouth.

[00:09:19]All considering, the Bible doesn't give us a blanket prohibition against taboo language.

[00:09:26]The Bible deprecates pejorative language because it doesn't love one's neighbor as ourselves.

[00:09:34]Language that tears down other people is not compatible with the Christian mission.

[00:09:40]Similarly, curses are not compatible with Christian living because they invoke magic.

[00:09:47]Crude speech and jocular talk is also not compatible with standards concerning sexual purity.

[00:09:57]However, profanity is culturally relative.

[00:10:01]It's context-dependent.

[00:10:04]And the Bible doesn't speak to it directly.

[00:10:08]And while profanity might be a social sin, it's not deprecated by the Bible.

[00:10:14]So, at that point, one has to use your judgment.

[00:10:19]So, anyway, we hope you found that interesting and you learned something.

[00:10:23]Thank you so much for watching, and we'll see you next time on Ancient Egypt and the Bible.

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