Spencer W. Kimball once said that, “Profanity is the effort of a feeble brain to express itself forcibly." If that is the case, we’re producing more morons than ever before in history. Watch any movie rated PG, PG-13 or R and you are going to hear a lot more offensive language than ever recorded.
Now why is that? A famous actor and comedian named Bob Hope saw the rise in vulgarity twenty years ago and quipped: “With today's movies, if we took out all the bad language, we'd go back to silent films.”
Bu why this explosion of profanity, especially with teenagers and young adults today? Truly, I have never heard so much vulgarity and offensive language, in my life, as I have been hearing over the past couple of years now that my sons are teenagers.
But it’s not just the common “cuss words” that I hear lately, but the really “dirty” words associated with sex or derogatory words for a woman, etc. It’s common to hear words that cannot be printed from movie stars, professional athletes, even from high school coaches. I suppose the mentality among the masses are, "Let us swear while we may, for in heaven it will not be allowed.”(Mark Twain). And of course, that’s true. It’s not proper to use profanity if you are child of God, while you walk this earth, and it sure won’t be a part of the resurrected life!
I appreciate that fact that youth are forcibly exposed to profanity in a way my generation was not. As I grew up around my uncles, aunts, siblings and cousins, we often heard the legend of how my older cousin, Dougie, who once said a cuss word in front of my mom, and how she immediately washed his mouth out with soap! This little story was told for years and years, and it’s one reason I never used bad language.
The truth is, I did hear my mom used the “d __ __ n” word once, and I was sure the rapture would soon follow. If we pushed my dad’s button, my dad might say “h__ __l” or “d__ __n”, but never beyond that. It was considered crude and beneath their dignity, at that time. And I suppose that’s what separated my parents’ generation, and my generation, from the present one.
We understood that “will”, minus intellect, constitutes vulgarity. Anyone can say nasty words, but a smarter young man or woman does not have to. People that use vulgar words often do so because they assume it elevates them in the conversation. They desire to be heard and desperately need to “right”, so they assume that cursing somehow proves them right. But the need to be always right is the sign of a vulgar mind—it leads to vulgar speech.
We’re told this in the Bible: “Let no filthy talk be heard from your mouths, but only what is good for building up people and meeting the need of the moment. This way you will administer grace to those who hear you. “(Ephesians 4:29, (IV)
Young people: you may have the power to speak profanely, but the rest of us have the power not to listen to you. So please choose to watch what you say, as if God Himself were listening—-because, of course, He is.
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