A coarseness that diminishes. . .

Life is hard.  There is no denying it.  Life can also be demeaning.  Sadly, we often add to that which diminishes us as people and makes even less than common our noble humanity.  One of my pet peeves is the coarseness of our language and the hardness of our speech.  We seem to have presumed that if we have nothing to say, expletives will give the emptiness of our words force and eloquence.  We are sadly mistaken.  Our coarse and vulgar speech has done nothing to elevate us and everything to steal whatever nobility that might have been claimed for us and our humanity.

In today’s culture, bad language has become normal and nobody winces anymore at sound of it.  It is all around us -- in movies, in music, on TV, in the workplace, in the home, at sports events, and everywhere a person goes.  The foul sound has become so normal it no longer demands much notice from us.  I would think it impossible for just about anyone to get through a day without hearing some fort of profanity -- whether you are in preschool or high school, at a church event or digging a ditch, it is all around us.  SWe have defiled ourselves so abundantly with the coarse and vulgar character of our conversation, that we are utterly desensitized to it.  It seems to cost us nothing to be profane.  We use our foul language in the public square and behind closed doors with nary a cost to pray for our coarseness.  In fact, few even call it a problem.  

Quite apart from religion, our use of and acceptance of vulgarity, profanity, or obscenity is still a big deal. The obscenities that flow from our lips either by habit or slip of the tongue or with malice against others has helped to create the climate of intolerance, bitterness, selfishness, and violence we lament today.  If we cannot control our tongues, why would we expect to control guns or knives or any other weapon.  That is the point.  We are using words as weapons, agents of malice that not only hurt others but diminish us as well.  How much of the gift of communication is squandered by the use of language designed to draw attention but which has become normal to our ears?  By letting vulgarity, profanity, and obscenity define our conversation, we have allowed the baser and cruder side of our humanity dominate everything we are and everything we hope to be. 

The Bible warns us against this.  In Matthew 5:10-11, Jesus insists that “it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Earlier in the very same Gospel, Christ warns “on the Day of Judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”  In the letters of St. Paul this is reinforced.  Ephesians repeats our Lord's words of warning, reminding God's people to “let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”  The book of Proverbs says that 'Death and life are in the power of the tongue.'  James warns us of the tongue and its shamefulness in one moment while used to praise God in the next.

For a religion of the Word made flesh who speaks in His Word (the Scriptures), we are not simply reducing our credibility but making a mockery of the means by which God addresses us with the voice of life and we share that voice with others.  How do we expect to be taken seriously when we succumb to the power of vulgarity in our speech and conversation?  While the commandment is clear about the use of God's name, the rest of our vulgarity and profanity that does not quite fit under this prohibition is no less vile and defamatory.  While this is worse in the world around us, it is a problem in the Church and for the people of God.  Though some may suggest we are being honest or earthy in our conversation, it is the hardest side of our humanity and in this climate virtue and nobility seem to have been banished in favor of a profanity that honors no one and accomplishes nothing.  For the world this is a problem.  For the Christian this is a crisis.

It is no laughing matter.  It is not a joke to hear a small child mimic parents or other adults in the use of such vulgarities.  In fact, we have created for our children a climate in which they have become utterly desensitized to obscene and offensive language.  This is not simply about the profanity but about the difficulty we have created for honest communication in general.  If we cannot make a point without being crude, how do we expect to build relationships, unite the disparate, and forge unity in any meaningful way?  If we are resorting to such talk inside the church, how can we expect Christians to stand up and apart for the sake of the baptismal name of Christ placed on them in water by the Word?  I wish we learned to be as offended by such coarseness as we seem to be over the trifle of a person misgendered or whose pronouns have not been honored.  Yet that is the point.  We no longer notice how coarse and ugly we have become in our poverty of language that uses profanity where wisdom and cleverness once made the point.