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    R.M. Archer replied to the topic Friendly debates here! in the forum Fantasy Writers 4 years, 8 months ago

    Hey Archer, how’s life? 🙂

    Eh. Depends on the day. Today’s been pretty good, aside from the fact that most of my brain cells have been dead all evening.

    for now I’ll just say that I think there is a very big difference between a character explicitly using a strong sexually crude word or profanity, and a character using non-sexual, non-profane filler language or merely using the phrase “she cursed.” (which I am a big fan of)

    I agree with phrases like “so-and-so cursed,” or (as discussed earlier) fantasy world-specific curses. In the vast majority of situations, I’d say those are plenty sufficient. The only situation I’ve ever come across where an actual word might be necessary was one where a character would respond with only one word as a stronger alternative for “baloney.” Again, I think the situations in which it’s necessary are extremely rare. (And there are specific curses I don’t think are ever useful.) But I’m not sure those situations can never exist, either.

    Just so we’re on the same page, are you categorizing all curse words under profanity or just a particular subset?

    the question still remains is it edifying to others to have a stray curse word?

    That’s where considering the conscience of others comes in, and Ephesians 4:29. If it’s not edifying to the reader, it probably shouldn’t be there, which is part of the reason it should be such a careful and last-resort decision.

    Again, I bring up Colossians 3:5, 8. Paul talks about ‘putting to death sexual immorality, lust, impurity,’ etc, and then in verse 8 he says, “Now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. It seems unlikely that when he says we should ‘killing’ this sin, and ‘putting it away’ that he means to completely exterminate one, while use the other for edifying reasons. It wouldn’t make sense. While I see what you’re saying, I agree with Brian, and say there does not appear to be ‘edifying’ cursing in scripture. Indeed, even swearing an oath is held in a bad light.

    That’s a fair argument.

    There are a couple of things in there that I sort of puzzle over, since anger is not (even in scripture) an inherently negative thing. Sinning in anger is, but anger itself is not. God Himself gets angry, even wrathful, and God swears oaths. But that’s its own topic to work through. Which things are sins for us because we’re fallen humans that are not sin for a perfect God, and which we’re given more information on elsewhere as to when they are or are not sin, and which are just sin period…

    However, Christ was the most edifying, encouraging, God centered person who ever lived, and he told many stories and never found the need to curse.

    I think calling the Pharisees “whitewashed tombs” kinda toed the line. But I’m not going to throw out your whole argument over that.

    If one is going to use a swear word, it should be prayed over, indeed, if it is being used by a Christian writer, it should be only with a clean conscience that it is for a good purpose. If it is, is should be well prayed over, and that writer should give glory to God, so that it is apparent that this book is not centered around cursing; rather that the cursing brings one closer to the Creator.

    @noah-cochran What he said.

    Personally, if there is any sort of swearing that is okay to write in a book, then I don’t think it needs to be prayed over. The bible is God’s message of what is okay to say and do, and trying to get as close to the line what is sinful and what is not as possible by praying about it is not the point. The point is to flee temptation and run away from the line of sin. This is not to say that prayer isn’t important, prayer is of vast importance, but one should not be praying about how close to sin they can get. That is the wrong kind of prayer.

    Eh. While I can understand where you’re coming from, I think this is another “not laying a stumbling block” thing. If I’m not going to start cussing or get coarse words or ideas stuck in my head from using a word and my conscience is clear for myself but I don’t know if the word would be problematic for my audience, then I might not think it’s sinful to use the word but be praying over whether or not it’s helpful. Just because “all things” are lawful for me doesn’t mean that all things are helpful (for me or for my audience; with “all things” referring, again, to matters of conscience).

    Does that make sense? I don’t know if I communicated that very well. (Dead brain cells and all that. XP)

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