Cursing Is More than "Just" words

 I had an encounter with one of my cousins recently and it had me thinking.... 

I have a degree in English language and Literature sooo I'm always critiquing and/or thinking about the English language. In seminary, I just finished a course learning Hebrew. We talked about the origin and how the original Bible is in Hebrew and how important it is to study Hebrew words to get full context of scripture.

Back to the encounter with my cousin... she had gotten excited about something and said... "b*****tch yaaassss". Afterward, she quickly gathered herself an apologized to me. Now, because I know her, I didn't take offense but at the same time I appreciated her acknowledgement of my preferences and her apology as a demonstration of respect.

Stay with me...

This moment came back to mind this morning in my studies. I asked myself... the Bible says do not let unwholesome words proceed from out of the mouth but only such a words as is good for edification according to the need of the moment" Eph 4:29. But what if what "we" consider to be curse words aren't exactly or the full scope of what God sees as curse words? 

Now for me, because of who I am, this word is offensive and improper in casual conversation when speaking to me. (SN: please don't ever address me that way lol) but for soooo many it is a term of endearment. It means, "friend", "sis", "giiiiirl", etc. Then, the denotation of the term in the English language, it is an alternative noun to identify an animal, a female dog. Now this same word can be viewed as harmful and harmless depending on how it is used. 

Stay with me....

But the Bible is specific in what it says regarding the words we use. So when we deep dive into the forms of the word we see that (for some people) this same word that is typically viewed, culturally as a "curse word" is viewed as a term of endearment or acceptance. For others, it's simply an animal. 

But the same people who say "oh no, I don't cuss (curse) are the same ones who gossip, slander, backbite, pessimistic (negative Nancy), speaking ill on/over everything and everyone, etc. All of which are only viewed as NEGATIVE. There is no positive way or edifying way to slander, gossip, backbite, etc.

What if cursing isn't so much the words we choose to label as curse words as it is the gossip, the slander, the pessimism, etc.?? 

Some cultures train young children that "lie" is a curse word, but in the same breath they are lying to their child(ren) and those around them and not teaching them the exact thing God instructs us to teach our children which is that "liars will not inherit the Kingdom" (Revelation 21:8)

(SN: to teach against that word as some negative, conjugate by definition is also to teach that the Bible should not be read in it's academic explication of spiritual deficiency)

The point I'm getting at is this.... cursing (cussing) is not limited to the words that we as a culture have deemed or designated to be curse words. I don't have to list them, we all know what they are. Rather, we curse when we speak anything that is not edifying (or encouraging and uplifting) one another and the church. God says we will take an account for every careless word we speak (Matt 12:36)

"There's an interconnectedness to our words, and how we use them, and the body itself..."

So choose wisely, speak words that have meaningful purpose & uplift others. Know that cursing is far more than one word culture has designated but anything spoken out of an ill heart.