Maybe it is my imagination, but it seems like profanity is getting more and more common. Of course we hear it in the movies. But it seems to just permeate everything. I was pumping gas the other day here in town when somebody drove his truck up to the pump next to mine. His music was blaring loudly the entire time that he was pumping gas. The music was filled with profanity. Loud profanity.
We hear it at sporting events. In traffic. At the grocery store. It got so bad in public in Middleborough, Mass., that the town voted overwhelmingly to impose a $20 fine for cursing in public. I don’t know if that is the answer or not. But it does highlight the problem.
A survey was taken by a website called CareerBuilder.com. The survey revealed that 57 percent of employers made the claim that they would be less inclined to promote someone who curses. Sixty-four percent actually think less of an employee who routinely swears.
There is something about cursing that degrades and pollutes us. Many of us learned this lesson from our mother or father who used a bar of soap as the means of communication. I can still remember the taste of Ivory soap in my mouth!
Scripture encourages us, “But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips.” (Colossians 3:8)
I heard about some graffiti on the wall of a building that said simply, “Damn is not God’s last name.”