Christians and other religious groups could say the same thing about Muslims – who wants to serve a god that tells you to fly airplanes into buildings and kill thousands of people in one fell swoop? So it goes both ways.
That being said, the point of this thread is not to prove whose god is better than someone else’s. It’s to discuss a moral/social topic that happens to have some religious undertones. This topic transcends religions, and is pertinent to Christians, Muslims, Mormons, Jews and just about any other religion you can think of. Let’s not allow the thread to become a debate over which religion is better or right (or wrong), but rather let it be a discussion of how the subject of profanity fits into this community’s moral/social/religious mores and norms. Arguing over specific religions will do nothing but turn people off.
Your defintion of god is somehow better than everyone elses now huh? You were the only one in this world born with absolute knowledge of good, evil, and above all, god. Your religion is the only one that is right, despite the fact that i would be incredibly surprised if you have studied any other religion, or even better, the history of the origins of monotheism, at any great length.
As for cursing, they are words. Obviously you are shallow, as you choose to focus on words rather than deeper meaning. This is clearly demonstrated by your attitude towards god and others religion (but you don’t trully care about being a good moral person do you, so long as you are better than everyone else becuase you look down upon cursing, and that everyone else around you thinks you are holy?) Its all about social perception in your book, not morality.
What would be really ironic (coincidental?) is if an athiest said “GD”.
Guilty as charged, though I’ve been to Southern Baptist churches more times than I can count. My grandmother was actually the principal at a Christian private school. I decided when I was around 11 that I didn’t believe what they were saying but I’ll say “goddamnit!” or “Jesus H. Christ!” every once and a while.
Profanity, especially excessive profanity, reflects on the person using it in a negative way. (I have fond memories of my granny saying “pshaw”) I try to be good, but coming out of the locker room world where little, if anything, was sacred, I too often fail to curb my language. Especially when driving! To this day I remember my daughters piping up from the back seat “That was five bad words dad!” Hey dad, you’re up to ten words now!!!" So those of you with little ones - try to be good because my sweet babies swear like troopers today!
Is saying “Jesus H. Christ” a blasphemic loophole, since (to the best of my knowledge he didn’t have a middle name. Does the “H” stand for something or is it just “H” like Harry S. Truman’s “S”? Maybe the History Channel could air a special on “Christ’s secret middle name”?
A blasphemic loophole – I’m not sure I’ve ever heard that term before. While I have often wondered where said “H” came from, I don’t think that the “H” constitutes a blasphemic loophole of any kind. I may find myself fighting the urge to say any of the various obscenities discussed here at different times, but I try to be extra careful with the name of God.
I did not read every post in this string because there are a whole shitload of them. Oh, well I guess I just showed which side I take on the subject. At any rate, what really annoys me is those who think that by saying another word in place of the cuss word…then it’s alright. I have met several people, mostly Mormons, (and this is in now way a post that is anti-mormon or any other religion for that matter, I’ll save that for another thread) that think they can say words like “Frick” or “shoot” or they make up things like “Germutzle” (ok I don’t think I have ever heard that come out of someone’s mouth, but you catch my drift) and it’s ok, because it’s one of George Carlins words you aren’t supposed to say. The point is, what is really important is the INTENT of the word. If I say “Go frick yourself all the way to heck” or if I say “Go fuck yourself all the way to hell” It’s exactly the same thing. So I say, if someone/thing pisses you off, by all means go ahead and let one fly. If your co-worker/boss/student…pisses you off you should use some tact and berate that person without the expletives.
Amen, brother. You’re only a constanant and a vowel away, at most. God knows what you mean and will punish you accordingly, so you might as well get the full mileage out of it.
"What would be really ironic (coincidental?) is if an athiest said “GD”. "
It really sucks because we’re limited to the available curses. I mean honestly, only a god can really damn someone to hell, hades, or heck. Since if there isn’t a god how can there be a hell, hades, or heck. I have told co-workers “May Thor make your cows dry up.” or “May Poseidon carry you to Hades” but they just laugh and think I’m joking. I’d tell them the Fenris Wolf was coming to their door but they wouldn’t have a clue what I was talking about.
So those of you with little ones - try to be good because my sweet babies swear like troopers today!
Reminds me of one time when my daughter and I were driving. She was about 6 or 7. We started down a long, steep, hill, and right on cue she comes out with a perfectly timed, completely adult, “Oh, shit.”
Well the consensus seems to be that with the glaring exceptions of Christians taking the Lord’s name in vain, there doesn’t seem to be a hang up with deciphering between words like “shit” and “crap”. In other words, the letters are different but the meaning is the same.
We seem to choose the “lesser” of the vulgar terms due to what others might think … especially Christians.
Seems we all play the game to a certain degree, no matter how silly the game seems to be.
I hear students say things like “Shut the front door” instead of “shut the fuck up”. Everyone knows what they are representing but the phrase is halfway acceptable, the other will get you a referral and likely detentions or possibly a suspension.
I enjoy observing and discussing quirky human behavior, and this definately seems to be one of those situations where we make behavioral adjustments even though no one seems to really know why … other than “what others might think of us”.
Just a quick questions: Given the time and location of Christ’s life how in the heck can words coined in the West in the last several hundred years be un- Christian? Our language didn’t exist in Christ’s time! So…if Christ didn’t/couldn’t prohibit any of our language’s more colorful four letter words, which self-righteous prig decided which words were un-Christian? Hmmm?
I eluded to that earlier, some small group of church edlers or a small faction of a wealthy society decided that such words were not acceptable.
I’d really like to know who/when the words became “bad”. Surely with the amount of worthless information books (bathroom readers, et al) out there, someone has written about this.
