As the title already warned you, this is a rant. If you don't like those, you don't have to read it. Bye.
Now that the only people left are people who like to read rants... let's get started. This is something that's been on my mind the past couple months. It's not my goal to be super critical or preachy, and if it comes across like that... sorry. But this is how I feel.
I remember back in the day when if I heard a bad word, it was either in a movie I was watching or from some person who didn't know any better. More recently however, I've started hearing people cuss more and more... and it's not because I am suddenly hanging out with a bad crowd. I'm hearing a lot of bad language coming from homeschoolers. Christian homeschoolers. That's not cool.
Before I keep going, I want to point out two things:
1) I understand that there are certain situations where swearing or whatever may be appropriate. For example: if something really terrible happens to you or if you're a soldier in war or something. But if someone is being a bad driver, or if your day isn't going 100% how you planned, that is not an acceptable reason to start throwing out f-bombs.
2) Don't get me wrong here... I'm not saying that if you swear regularly I think you're a terrible person and I won't ever talk to you again. That's not what I think. And also understand that I also don't always have the best choice of vocabulary, but I use bad words rarely and if I do use them, it's in private... like, to myself. Not to other people.
Ok, now let's keep going.
From my experience, and what I've seen in the past couple years, or even in the past months, it seems that most people take on the mindset of "if you swear, you're mature and cool". Let me get something straight here... swearing = immature. When I hear people cuss other people out, what DOESN'T pop into my mind is "oh wow, they're so mature and cool". Honestly, the first thing that comes to mind is, "Wow, they don't have enough class to know what's appropriate to say".
That leads me to my second point... swearing is not classy or respectable. It's just not. Get that in your head and let it stay there forever. If you want to have the respect of people, then it's not necessary to start swearing for no good reason at all.
It seems to me that another reason for people choosing to swear is because their parents don't want it and kids these days just like to be rebellious. Several times now, I've heard someone say a bad word, quickly followed up by "oh, don't tell my parents I said that." This is never said in a sorry way, like "oh no, I shouldn't have said that...", it's always more of a "I don't care about what I just said, just don't let my parents know." Whatever happened to having a bit of respect for what parents wanted?
One of the times when swearing disappoints me the most is in speech & debate. Now you would think that Christian homeschoolers who are in a Christian homeschooled league with a focus on communicating in a way that glorifies God would have learned by now how to communicate in such a way so as to get their point across in a loving manner. But apparently not. Now I know that debate rounds can be frustrating... I've been annoyed multiple times, but several times this year, I've had different people come up to me after their round and say something along the lines of, "Wow, that round was so bad... I just wanted to kill the other team. I got so mad during their last speech that I had to write f-bombs all over my flow pad." Um... really? You had to do that? I'm not impressed. At all. In fact, I find it embarrassing that that is what happens in a Christian, homeschooled debate league. That is not an acceptable reason to swear, no matter what you think, so get your act together. That seems to defeat the whole purpose of being in a speech & debate league, if the only thing you can think to do when you don't agree with someone is start cussing them out. Yeah, people make us mad... that's still not a reason to cuss them out, sorry. It's only a debate round, people.
Outside of speech & debate, I've heard this example a couple times too, "So I was with my friend, and we were walking, but there was this bad driver... so we gave him the middle finger and cussed him out." C'mon guys... really? I'm sure what the driver thought was "Wow, what nice Christian kids".... not. What if the driver was just having a really bad day? I'm sure you didn't make it any better. Maybe I'm the only one who does this... yeah, I probably am... but I always make it a point to smile at drivers like that... yes, they annoy me too sometimes, but who knows? Maybe they just need someone to be a little encouraging.
And finally...
>>>>if you read nothing else in this post, read this part<<<<
I'm pretty sure that God doesn't look down on his people when they throw out f-bombs and say, "Wow, them saying that is so honoring to me." Nooope. I'm pretty sure that God did not give you a mouth just so that you could cuss other people out.
I'm just gonna throw a couple verses out here:
Ephesians 4:29, "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."
Proverbs 15:2,4 "The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly... A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit."
Ephesians 5:4, "Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving."
I think you get the point. (btw, if you want more verses.... I have more, haha).
Anyways. Guys... when you swear for no good reason, that is not honoring to God. As I mentioned before, there may be some instances where swearing is acceptable.... like if you're a soldier in a battle. That's different because the soldier is fighting against extreme evil. But we're not soldiers, we're all homeschooled Christian high school students, and the other debate team in a debate round is not an extreme evil, no matter what you may think. The driver on the street is not extremely evil. You don't have a good reason to cuss them out, you just don't.
And now I'm going to pull out a C.S. Lewis quote... "Don't shine so that others can see you. Shine so that through you, others can see Him." Let me just say... especially when you swear in public, or around other people... people will not see God in you. I think that the words that we choose to say and write should be chosen in such a way so that other people can see God in us, and God is honored, especially if we're wanting and trying to live our lives as Christians. If we want other people to see God in us, then choosing the right words to say is important. Just a thought.
Ok, I'm done now. Rant = over. Again, I love you all to pieces, and I promise I don't hate any of you... and maybe I'm making too big of a deal out of this, it's just something that kinda bothers me. :)
Now that the only people left are people who like to read rants... let's get started. This is something that's been on my mind the past couple months. It's not my goal to be super critical or preachy, and if it comes across like that... sorry. But this is how I feel.
I remember back in the day when if I heard a bad word, it was either in a movie I was watching or from some person who didn't know any better. More recently however, I've started hearing people cuss more and more... and it's not because I am suddenly hanging out with a bad crowd. I'm hearing a lot of bad language coming from homeschoolers. Christian homeschoolers. That's not cool.
Before I keep going, I want to point out two things:
1) I understand that there are certain situations where swearing or whatever may be appropriate. For example: if something really terrible happens to you or if you're a soldier in war or something. But if someone is being a bad driver, or if your day isn't going 100% how you planned, that is not an acceptable reason to start throwing out f-bombs.
2) Don't get me wrong here... I'm not saying that if you swear regularly I think you're a terrible person and I won't ever talk to you again. That's not what I think. And also understand that I also don't always have the best choice of vocabulary, but I use bad words rarely and if I do use them, it's in private... like, to myself. Not to other people.
Ok, now let's keep going.
From my experience, and what I've seen in the past couple years, or even in the past months, it seems that most people take on the mindset of "if you swear, you're mature and cool". Let me get something straight here... swearing = immature. When I hear people cuss other people out, what DOESN'T pop into my mind is "oh wow, they're so mature and cool". Honestly, the first thing that comes to mind is, "Wow, they don't have enough class to know what's appropriate to say".
That leads me to my second point... swearing is not classy or respectable. It's just not. Get that in your head and let it stay there forever. If you want to have the respect of people, then it's not necessary to start swearing for no good reason at all.
It seems to me that another reason for people choosing to swear is because their parents don't want it and kids these days just like to be rebellious. Several times now, I've heard someone say a bad word, quickly followed up by "oh, don't tell my parents I said that." This is never said in a sorry way, like "oh no, I shouldn't have said that...", it's always more of a "I don't care about what I just said, just don't let my parents know." Whatever happened to having a bit of respect for what parents wanted?
One of the times when swearing disappoints me the most is in speech & debate. Now you would think that Christian homeschoolers who are in a Christian homeschooled league with a focus on communicating in a way that glorifies God would have learned by now how to communicate in such a way so as to get their point across in a loving manner. But apparently not. Now I know that debate rounds can be frustrating... I've been annoyed multiple times, but several times this year, I've had different people come up to me after their round and say something along the lines of, "Wow, that round was so bad... I just wanted to kill the other team. I got so mad during their last speech that I had to write f-bombs all over my flow pad." Um... really? You had to do that? I'm not impressed. At all. In fact, I find it embarrassing that that is what happens in a Christian, homeschooled debate league. That is not an acceptable reason to swear, no matter what you think, so get your act together. That seems to defeat the whole purpose of being in a speech & debate league, if the only thing you can think to do when you don't agree with someone is start cussing them out. Yeah, people make us mad... that's still not a reason to cuss them out, sorry. It's only a debate round, people.
Outside of speech & debate, I've heard this example a couple times too, "So I was with my friend, and we were walking, but there was this bad driver... so we gave him the middle finger and cussed him out." C'mon guys... really? I'm sure what the driver thought was "Wow, what nice Christian kids".... not. What if the driver was just having a really bad day? I'm sure you didn't make it any better. Maybe I'm the only one who does this... yeah, I probably am... but I always make it a point to smile at drivers like that... yes, they annoy me too sometimes, but who knows? Maybe they just need someone to be a little encouraging.
And finally...
>>>>if you read nothing else in this post, read this part<<<<
I'm pretty sure that God doesn't look down on his people when they throw out f-bombs and say, "Wow, them saying that is so honoring to me." Nooope. I'm pretty sure that God did not give you a mouth just so that you could cuss other people out.
I'm just gonna throw a couple verses out here:
Ephesians 4:29, "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."
Proverbs 15:2,4 "The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly... A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit."
Ephesians 5:4, "Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving."
I think you get the point. (btw, if you want more verses.... I have more, haha).
Anyways. Guys... when you swear for no good reason, that is not honoring to God. As I mentioned before, there may be some instances where swearing is acceptable.... like if you're a soldier in a battle. That's different because the soldier is fighting against extreme evil. But we're not soldiers, we're all homeschooled Christian high school students, and the other debate team in a debate round is not an extreme evil, no matter what you may think. The driver on the street is not extremely evil. You don't have a good reason to cuss them out, you just don't.
And now I'm going to pull out a C.S. Lewis quote... "Don't shine so that others can see you. Shine so that through you, others can see Him." Let me just say... especially when you swear in public, or around other people... people will not see God in you. I think that the words that we choose to say and write should be chosen in such a way so that other people can see God in us, and God is honored, especially if we're wanting and trying to live our lives as Christians. If we want other people to see God in us, then choosing the right words to say is important. Just a thought.
Ok, I'm done now. Rant = over. Again, I love you all to pieces, and I promise I don't hate any of you... and maybe I'm making too big of a deal out of this, it's just something that kinda bothers me. :)
The End.
