Sons of Thunderpuppies, Christians Cussing, and the Serrated Edge

Introduction
I occasionally write an article with a few extra jalapenos, perhaps several more jalapenos than some of my readers or audience think is helpful, necessary, or edifying. So for example, in my recent riposte to Jeremy Boreing and the DailyWire, some folks wondered if I was actually undermining my point by using words like “whore” or “breasts” or “damn.” I mean, if I’m trying to get Boreing to ease up on the cleavage, maybe I should clean up the language. If I’m objecting to 1950s secular masculine tropes, maybe I should wash my mouth out with a bar of soap. And first off, I don’t mind the question at all. The fact that some so-called “culture warriors” would sound off on Twitter with a blue streak of f-bombs in response to the question, would certainly indicate a son of thunderpuppy who doesn’t know what spirit he’s of. No, I have no use for cussing pastors and swearing Christian hipsters or “culturally relevant” filth spewers. But our standard is Scripture, not Hallmark, Hollywood, or Pureflix. We don’t want 18^th century Victorian prudery or 20^th century hypocrisy or 21^st century debauchery. We want to do our best to be Scriptural. We want our words to echo God’s Words. And that is what I was doing in the DailyWire post. Let me explain. 

Really Edifying
Ephesians 4-5 is actually a great place begin: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers… Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice… But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting… For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Eph. 4:29, 5:3-5). Therefore, all frivolous cursing or obscenities or filthy language are all out for Christians. Lots of Saturday Night Live, Comedy Central, and late night television is completely out. Broadly, the categories of filthy and unclean language fall under the headings of wrath and sexual perversion. Hatred and malice results in cursing and obscenities, and covetous sexuality results in foul, gutter mouths. Our language must be intentional and carefully crafted to edify and minister grace. So far so good?

Now we come to the challenge. Paul says that fornication and all uncleanness and covetousness, let it not even be named once among you, as becomes saints (Eph. 5:3). But follow me closely here: Paul had to name those things in order to identity what should not even be named among us. Therefore, clearly, Paul does not mean that certain sounds or syllables cannot ever be on our lips. There are certain words or sounds that refer to curses or obscenities in one language and mean nothing of the sort in another language. Telling your innocent eight year old son that “bitch” is not the best name for a cranky pet crawdad, since it’s a rather coarse term, does not mean that you have become coarse in uttering the sounds of a coarse word. Paul means that we must not partake in those sins in any way. We must not participate in malice and sexual perversion. ‘Let them not be named’ means those sins are not to in anyway be associated with us. And this is exactly what he goes on to say: “Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light… and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light” (Eph. 5:7-8, 11-13). 

But notice what Paul says: we are to be children of light. And what does that mean? It means our job is reprove the unfruitful works of darkness. It is a shame to even speak of their foul deeds done in secret, but when we reprove or correct their dark deeds, we do expose them. So this then is the biblical standard. We must not partake in the darkness, but we must rebuke and correct the darkness. And when we rebuke the darkness, the darkness will be exposed. It’s shameful to even speak of those things, but when those things are exposed by the light, it will be manifest by the light. This is the assignment of all those who love the Light of Christ. We must be truly edifying, really edifying, and that means mixing the mortar the way God says to mix it, not just according to the sensibilities of the elders’ wives. And this is precisely where Christians often fail. 

We fail in one of two directions. Broadly we have the cussers and the non-cussers. Among the cussers, we have the Christian frat boy problem, and this is just fat-headed, mindless cursing and swearing and then going to church on Sunday and not noticing, and we’re not sure if these guys are even regenerate. The other group of cussers are the gritty, so-called “realist” Christians who think cussing and swearing somehow makes them more real, more culturally savvy, often with matching tattoos and piercings, and somehow, dressed and sounding like a pagan, they think they will be light in the darkness. But it turns out when you’ve embraced that much darkness, the darkness can’t even tell you’re there. When you’re got one nostril above the sewage pond, no one notices, and no one cares. You have become a partaker with them, man, even if you can technically still get a PG-13 rating. But there is an opposite problem that thoughtful Christians must reckon with, and that is the problem of purist non-cussers. They think their job is to hide their light under a bushel, so as to not have it actually expose any darkness. But our job is not merely to avoid all participation in the darkness, but it is actually to expose the darkness. Our job is to drive back the darkness. But this means reproving, correcting, and rebuking that filth and muck and shame. This means naming the filth without getting any filth on you. This means exposing the shame without approving any of it. This is what I believe we find throughout Scripture, particularly in those more graphic descriptions of sin that are technically speaking intensely obscene or crass. 

Scripture is the Standard
So Scripture is the standard, and this means we must not participate in the darkness in the slightest, but we must expose the darkness. And exposing the darkness means naming it in a way to actually uncover its shame without getting covered in it. So in the same text in Ephesians 5, Paul calls one set of sinners “whoremongers” (Eph. 5:5), which is not the most delicate way to describe sexual deviants. Maybe a close modern translation would be “lust monkeys.” It’s derogatory, mocking, and descriptive. In Galatians, Paul says he wishes the Judaizers would emasculate themselves (Gal. 5:12). And while “emasculate” is certainly an accurate term, it is also very sterile (no pun intended). Perhaps the better translation would be neuter or castrate or mutilate. In fact, Paul calls them the “mutilators of the flesh” (Phil. 3:2). And don’t forget: Paul is using coarse, somewhat crass language to describe respectable theologians and seminary professors. In the same place in Philippians, he calls them “dogs” and a little further down says that their god is their belly (Phil. 3:20). He is accusing high brow theologians of being obsessed with carving up cocks, like a bunch of our modern tranny doctors and woke activists. In all of this Paul is exposing the gutter, without getting into it. He is exposing the sewage, without wading in. And that’s what we’re required to imitate, particularly Christian leaders. 

In my DailyWire article, I cited a few passages from Ezekiel that are particularly colorful and obscene. I didn’t even quote the most colorful portions, but some folks were concerned with my use of the word “whore.” However, a quick word search indicates that you can find some form of that word 76 times in the Bible, so unless you’re prepared to tell God to tone it down, I’m not sure what to tell you. But there’s more: “And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity” (Ez. 23:3). This is God’s way of describing the idolatry and unfaithfulness of Israel. And some of the church ladies will say that this was entirely uncalled for. They will say, ‘It was not necessary to describe Israel’s moral sin as them wanting to get their breasts grabbed and their nipples pinched black and blue.’ 

But this is the part that you really need to hear: yes, it was necessary. How do we know it was necessary? Because God put it in there for our edification. All of Scripture is inspired by God and useful… (2 Tim. 3:16). This language was crafted to edify and minister grace. How so? At the very least because it exposes the darkness. This is how light collides with darkness. There is nothing titillating about this language. There is nothing approving. This language is coarse, obscene, and crass, but it is not participating in the sin; it is reproving it and exposing it. Wait, there’s more. But in all seriousness, I’m getting to my own limit here, and I won’t quote the entirety of Ez. 23:20, but let me just say it includes women lusting over ejaculating donkeys. Now let’s be clear: that’s foul. That’s obscene. And that’s the point. The point is to create revulsion in the hearers and readers of the text. Sin is like that. Your unfaithfulness is like that. Was that really necessary? Yes, it was. And judging by the state of the modern evangelical church, yes, it still is. We are a church of whores. We lust over the approval of men, the approval of the world. And God has sent calamity after calamity, and we have the audacity to get back up on Sunday morning and keep uttering our blasphemies.   

A Word on Damnation 
One final thing for now, relating to the word “damn.” The word “damn” is also from the Bible, and it simply means “cursed to Hell,” which is exactly what the Bible says sexual promiscuity leads to: “Her house is the way to Hell, going down to the chambers of death” (Prov. 7:27). So all Christians should say, ‘let all sexual promiscuity be damned.’ When we say that, we are agreeing with God. In fact, when Israel was going into the promised land, God had the Levites (the pastors) announce damnation on a number of sinful acts, and the people were required to respond by saying “Amen!” The pastors would say: God damn those who pervert justice, and the people would reply, “Amen!” (Dt. 27:19) The pastor would announce: God damn anyone who has sex with an animal, and the people would say, “Amen!” (Dt. 27:21) Someone will look up these verses and say, my translation only says “cursed be…” Yes, but who is the one who will bring the curse? Is it not God? Paul says the same thing about those who preach any other gospel: “anathama” means “let him be damned” (Gal. 1:8-9). God damn anyone who preaches another gospel. 

Part of the problem we are facing in our land today is the fact that we have not reckoned with the full fury of God against our sin. Even Christians are shy and timid about saying they “hate” anything. But Christians are required to hate all evil. God hates sin, and God hates sinners. “The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth” (Ps. 11:5). The modern lie that many Christians have bought is that it is impossible to hate and love at the same time. We have bought the lie that hatred and love are always opposites. But they are not. God hates sinners, and He loves them. He hates their evil deeds, the violence of their words and actions, and He sent His only Son to die for a myriad of them. And we are required to imitate God in His loves and in His hates. 

“Ye that love the LORD, hate evil” (Psa. 97:10). “Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?” (Ps. 139:21). “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you…” (Mt. 5:43-44). There’s certainly a fleshly hatred and malice that must be repudiated; we must be able to love our enemies. But we must retain a godly hatred of all evil. Precisely because we hate evil, we seek to overcome evil with good, just like our Lord. We’ve just celebrated Good Friday and Easter, and one of the things we celebrated was the hatred of God for all of our sin, the hatred of God for sinners. And that perfect hatred was perfectly released on Jesus on the cross as the perfect display of perfect love. On the cross love and hate have met and kissed. On the Cross, God cursed His own Son in our place because of love. On the cross, God damned His own Son for sinners He chose to save. And all those who do not see themselves in that damned death will suffer God’s wrath for eternity in Hell. 

Given the reality of Hell and damnation, Christians must not use these terms lightly. The colloquial phrase “don’t give a damn” means not to care, but I don’t use it frivolously either, since Hell and damnation are real. But godly Christians should hate sin fiercely and be so certain of truth and righteousness, that they don’t care about the world threatening to curse us to Hell (for being losers or old fashioned or haters, or whatever). We are to be confident in Christ. We are absolutely safe in Him. And so there absolutely is a sense that when we are being obedient to God with all our hearts, we must not give a damn about what the world thinks or says. 

Conclusion
Let me be clear: I am not saying that just because you can find a verse in the Bible, you can say whatever it says any time you want. No, James says that our mouths are like flamethrowers. Our words are flammable, and they can set whole worlds ablaze. There are words that carry with them such a weight of hatred or filth, that Christians should be very reluctant to use them. I suppose there may be some perfect place for an f-bomb, but I would suggest that godly Christians can have one or two max for their lifetimes, but I’m not even really sure about that. So think about it carefully. Words are like firearms, and they need to be treated very carefully: never point a dangerous word at someone or something you aren’t willing to harm (Js. 3). And wisdom frequently tells our children, not yet. There are some words I want you to be older and wiser before you use them.  

But Scripture is our standard for what is edifying and ministers grace. If we are committed to reading and studying all of Scripture, we should want the power of language exemplified in Scripture, which is sometimes stronger or coarser than we might think is necessary. In our fight against sin, we want to appropriately mock and denounce and expose it, while not being tainted by it: “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 23).

But God’s Word is a sharp blade that cuts our sin, not a foam nerf sword that merely plays with it. This is why we need to recover the fullness of God’s Word. It must be recovered by pastors and elders first of all, and the whole blade needs to be brought to bear on our sin. We keep saying that our words need to be edifying, but if you look around and don’t see any edifice, any actual building, then maybe we should stop doing what we’re doing and do something else. Yes, we need to be full of the fruit of the Spirit, kindness included, all the way up to the brim. But that same Spirit inspired the whole Bible, and that Word is sturdy, firm, fierce, and fiery, and Christ intends for His bride to be washed in the water of that word. That Word is the only firm foundation for a house that will withstand the storms and winds and floods of the world. 

Suggested Reading: A Serrated Edge by Douglas Wilson

Suggested Conference: Lies, Propaganda, Storytelling, and the Serrated Edge

Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash