Can a christian say Oh My God

Here's a good video I think you'll like, considering the current conversation…

Hmmm. He does have a point. Like he say words are just words, but they're 'all we have'. :P so I would say that the words themselves aren't 'evil' it's really what society labels them as. I didn't really understand what the heck the 'fluentness' of how you say 'bad words' had do do with the point he was trying to make but he's blimey cow so nothing he does really makes a lot of sense. :P lol jk. But actually seriously. However I do NOT believe that that we should say 'bad word' just because they are four letter (or whatever #) of letters strung together. Society/culture likes to create new 'bad words' like honestly 5 year ago you would barely hear anyone say 'freaking' but now it's like the most popular 'modification' of the the F word. Personally I'm against it just cause it's so…… Bad sounding. But then again we get into what he was saying, is there a scale of 'badness' for the word we use?? Or should we just avoid them altogether?? But then how how far do we go? Do we not say 'Heck' and 'gosh' and 'goodness'? But if we say 'what in the world?' instead of say 'what the heck' are we creating more 'modifications' for 'bad words'? And if we eliminate them all together and don't even say 'what in the world?' We have limited how we express ourselves and therefore limit our ability communicate. So something falls on the floor or we get startled or something and would say 'oh my goodness' we say nothing?? Or do we say 'oh my goodness' because it's not that bad once again rateing the 'badness' of words. Or do we say it because it's not really bad at all!! As long as we don't take God's name in vain.. Which is what it's supposedly a 'modification' for. Or we just take the word as it is and see what society has made it so we don't have 'the appearance of evil' and what the Bible says on it?

eyes widen Wow, Danielle! I think that breaks the record for your longest comment! :D Anyway, you had some great thoughts on this topic! :)

Lol :)

CAN a Christian say "oh my God"? Yes! SHOULD a Christian say that? NO!!!

Perhaps a better question would be why are some christens convicted of there language and others don't seem to be?

So what would you say about using words like "dang" or "darn", or "freaking"?

We're all at different points in our walk with Christ.

Read Matthew 12:36-37. I would say what the Bible says. Our speech is to be SOUND. EVERY idle word! We also know we're judged by our heart, and cheap cussing (gosh, darn, dang, et al), is just as bad as actually using the word.

But what if that's not your intent? What if u just say them as a way of expressing yourself?
Don't be misled I think it's wrong to say 'Oh my God!' And I can't stand when people say 'freaking' and 'frick'. But I find no harm in dang, darn, oh my word etc. as long as we r not useing then as a simple replacement of swearing.

You are going to give account for every word you use on the day of judgment. Would God want you to use those words as Christians. Those are used as swearing by other people.

"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man." ~ Colossians 4:16

Are those graceful words seasoned with salt?

Very good post BibleBee. Danielle has a good point about one's intent however. But I would like to respond to that by noting that most everyone who uses cheap cussing actually will eventually get in the habit of real cussing overtime. Spend some time with someone who uses dang or darn, and let me me know what word they uses when the drop something really heavy on their toe. Sin will always. take you farther then you want to go.

@C4C on your last post, Amen.
@PC & C4C Some things are sin for everyone all the time, and some things are sin for some people some of the time, however just because somthing is a sin for a certain person, dosn't necessarialy mean that it is a sin for others. 1 Corinthians 8 then says that we should be careful on those things, considering others consciences

Hmmm…could you give an example of something that could be sin for someone but not someone else? I'm not sure that's the correct meaning of that passage…

I’m not sure I understand what your saying either. 1 Corinthians 8 seemed to be talking about food… It seems a bit of a stretch to make it apply to people’s language. Are you saying we shouldn’t be “offended” when other people swear and take Gods name in vain?

As an example of what may be a sin for someone and not for others: The drinking of alcohol can be sin for some while not for others. Those in biblical times, including Jesus did, however they were not getting drunk (those I am citeing as persons who drank without sin). However for others it may be a sin for them to drink any.
Using the Lord's name in a vain way cannot be anything but sin, the conversation however, had (I thought) turned to the use of other words.
My use of the 1 Corinthians 8 passage was; even though it may not be sin for you to do somthing if it causes your brother to stumble or sin, then it is a sin for you to do it in that situation (in front of the brother, or with his knowledge).

Thanks for the clatification, makes sense, I see what you're saying now.
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I don't think the fact thay cussing is wrong has anything to do with being offended.

My comment regarding the Biblical truth of people being at diffetent points in their walk with Christ wasn't to meant to be used as an excuse for me, or anyone for that matter. What I mean by that is we don't expect a depraved sinner to ever be perfect, let alone overnight, and some are less mature believers than others
I doesn't mean some are Holier than others, I'm simply stating that qe all have different areas we need to grow in, and if I have a brother or sister in Christ who shows swears, for example, I am not going to have a a "holier than thou" attitude towards them. Another example for instance could be if someone showed immaturity in their posts on memverse, turning any subject into a personal insult, making comments that have less to do with the threa d or the Bible then nuclear physics. If that ever were to happen I would not return those snide comments, but respond in brotherly love, understanding that we are all at different points in our walk with Christ.

The way I understand 1 Corinthians 8 is this:
Let's say that one person thinks that a little bit of swearing is not wrong (let's call him Fred) but another person thinks that any swearing at all is wrong (we'll call him Mike). If Fred swears in front of Mike it causes Mike to be offended. Therefore even though Fred doesn't see anything wrong with it it is still sin because it offends another believer. Hope that makes sense.

That's not how I understand that passage. Fred is wrong no matter who he's around. When my muslIm friend thinks it right to murder, but he's wrong murdering no matter who's around. My aithiest friend might think lying is okay, so he lies when he's around his friends, but not around me. Well, it ain't gonna matter what he or Fred thinks, or whose around when they sin–it wrong even if no one EVER sees them.

@biblebee: Yes, that is what I meant by offended in my last post…. thanks.

Biblebee, are you saying that swearing is not ALWAYS wrong, or just using that asvan example? Thanks…just trying to get some clarification.

@PC: I would rather not.

Okay, so we're pretty much all on the same page agreeing that cussing is a sin, but PC has just brought up sarcasm. I tend to think that not all sarcasm is inheritly evil, but what do you all think?

I agree with PC that one's past can cause misunderstanding of some Biblical concepts, or misunderstanding of another's position on something. Having been raised in Bible-beliving Churches, and having always been surrounded by sound Bible teachers, I haven't had that much exposure to some of the theories I see on MemVerse, and I find myself misunderstanding people's positions at times and I apologize for that. Recently I have been trying to adk for clarification before I respond. I think that's a good idea for any of us.

"C4C: Did it take you a long time to think up your post? :D"

I find the last half of your post ironic, because the above post seems to be a prime example of sarcasm, which is in effect what you are condemning. However, I am in no way saying it was sarcasm used ill–I hold to the position that sarcasm is not always wrong–I am just pointing out that you used it in the very same post that ypu condemned it it.

@C4C: Sorry, I should have said this in my post. I think swearing is wrong…all the time. I was trying to say that if there is dispute over something (one person thinks its okay and another thinks it is wrong) and the Bible doesn't make it clear if it is right or not. The thing in question should not be done because it will offend someone. Hope that makes sense.

Hmm… Well I didn't think it was sarcastic when I posted it… but maybe it did seem that way. Sorry.

"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" 2 Cor. 10:5

Thanks for the clarification, BibleBee. I totally agree with your last post, thanks for posting!

Sure. Sorry I didn't make it clear in my first post :D

Swearing is wrong. The Bible makes that very clear and I don't think anyone here would not agree with that. :) but then comes the question of what u call, 'cheap cussing'…..

Cheap cussing is wrong.

What about a civil oath?

What's a civil oath?

I looked this up, and what has been used for centuries as part of our culture, seems to be unbiblical. Matthew 5:37 and James 5:12 teaches on this topic. I also found a short article which directly adresses this issue. http://metrolutheran.org/2013/01/the-bible-is-for-reading-not-swearing/

like swearing in court. I.e. "I swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God."

I believe that civil oaths are often necessary in today's society. If you are in court, and you refuse to take the oath, people aren't going to trust what you say; probably not even if you say "I am telling you the truth." So, I don't think that civil oaths are necessarily wrong.

You can always affirm. If you swear to tell the truth, it is like saying I don't always tell the truth but this time you can trust me that I am telling the truth. We as Christians should always tell the truth. Right?

Absolutely. The problem is, not everyone is going to believe us on that. :P

What do you guys think about when people say "holy ……"?

as in like "holy cow" ?

Yes.

I guess it is kinda sacrilegious……..i guess I should stop doing it…..yeah…..

Is it okay for a chirstian to say Oh my God, Oh my goodness, Oh my gosh, oh may Word, Discuss

You just said it. well not *just said it, but they get us*

I don't do it… I guess, yeah, like you said, Stefani, it is sort of sacrilegious. No one really associates it with truly meaning "holy" nowadays, but it still does contradict the meaning of the word "holy!"

I don't really say any of those, I just say "Oh my!" :)
Though I occasionally use "oh my goodness"

Exactly - me too. :) (Of course, how realistic is it to say 'oh my goodness,' considering that none of us have any goodness in us?? :D)

as in like "holy cow" ?

I say stuff like that all the time.. lol

What do you guys think about when people say "holy ......"?

I don't like it and I don't like when other people say it.

So, why do you or don't you think it's okay?