Nature: It's what the doctor orders

The power of nature is fascinating.  I am not referring to hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis or anything of that sort.  Nature has an uncanny ability to revitalize and rejuvinate the body, mind, and soul.

Today I spent far too many consecutive hours in my apartment. The fact that I wasn't very productive with my homework or work added to the lethargy of the day. The back starts to ache, you get restless, you find yourself eating only cereal because making real food would be too much work, and you start rationalizing yourself away from doing the more important things in life. You know those moments that I am talking about. This happens to me far too often.

I live in Provo for heaven sakes. I could be in nature in minutes. So I took off into the mountains for an hour. Oh it was glorious.  The silence with only the sound of the trail crunching underneath your feet. The glow of the moon illuminating your way. It's just...wonderful. There is a reason why so many buildings incorporate nature into their designs.  Now this time I did something that contradicts a true natural experience and I took my phone, which I used to read some uplifting material. Normally I would recommend completely cutting yourself off from communication and technology in order to escape the pollution of information that bombards us everyday but if you can control yourself to something beneficial than go ahead.

I really don't know what I am trying to get at but as I was walking around by myself in the mountains a mere hour ago, I just felt so much better about life. Heck it inspired to write this blogpost. So when you can (not if) take an hour to go out into the woods, up into the mountains or wherever it may be and just enjoy being alone and taking in your surroundings.  It's quite incredible. Also to the couple who drove off once I got up to the parking lot, I am sorry for ruining your evening.  haha

LOVER OF TRUTH

This blog post will be directed mainly at an audience of LDS readers but I will try to incorporate a broader audience as well.  I will try to succintly approach this topic of truth and revelation in the simplest way possible.  This topic has been one that I have thought about off and on for the past 5-6 years and it is one that touches upon one of my greatest and deepest concerns.  My main purpose in writing this is to express some thoughts I have and to hopefully get you to review your  testimony and hopefully have a positive experience.

Book of Mormon Challenge

At the end of the book of mormon there is a challenge and a promise made by the Prophet Moroni.  This challenge and promise is issued to every member and investigator of the church.  Typically members and investigators read the Book of Mormon or at least read pamphlets the missionaries provide before taking the challenge.  The challenge and promise leads members and investigators to testimony gaining experiences by which they may glean further faith and testimony throughout the rest of their lives.  The challenge and promise is provided below

 3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, [the Bookf of Mormon] if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

When we do ask about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon there are three qualifiers in order for the truth to be made manifest unto us.  These are:

1.       Ask with a sincere heart

2.       Ask with real intent

3.       Ask having faith in Christ

If one of these elements is missing while asking God, do you think He will give you an answer?  The answer is probably no.  Many people have personally taken this challenge and received an answer. Many have also taken this challenge and recieved a negative answer (the Book of Mormon is not true).  What accounts for these differences in results?  It’s probably due to a difference in asking, specifically in regards to the three qualifiers.

Asking with a sincere heart

To me asking with a sincere heart means that you truly want to know whether the Book of Mormon is true.  It is not enough to have a passing whim of desire to know the veracity of the book or not.  It has to be somethign that you are truly and deeply concerned about to the degree where true sincerity is present.  Do you really want to know or not?

Having Faith in Christ

I don’t know whether a testimony of the divinity of Christ is quite necessary but I beleive that believing that you can and will recieve an answer through divine means is necessary.  Faith is action and taking the action of asking God with every expectation of recieving an answer seems to me to satisfy this qualifier.  If you don’t beleive that you even can receive an answer, then God possibly will not give you an answer. 

Real Intent

This part of the scripture is the part that sticks out to me the most.  What does it mean to have real intent?  To me it means that you have the intent to follow God in whatever answer he gives you.  Yes, I do mean whatever answer He gives you.  It means being willing to act upon the revelation given.  If one is not willing to accept the Book of Mormon due to whatever reason while asking God if it is true, would God really give that person an answer?  I would say no.  Contrastly, if one is not willing to denounce the Book of Mormon if given the answer that is was false, would God give that person an answer?  Again I would say no.

These three qualifiers, I beleive, aren’t stictly held to questions about the Book of Mormon but I feel they hold true to questions about the Church in general, the divinity of Christ, Joseph Smith, and etc.  A member of the church needs to gain a testimony of a lot of different facets of the LDS church.

Lover of Truth

One of my favorite quotes of all time and one that inspired the title of my blog says that, “The man who has a certain religious belief and fears to discuss it, lest it may be proved wrong, is not loyal to his belief; but has but a coward’s faithfulnessto his prejudices.  If he were a lover of truth, he would be willing at any moment to surrender to his belief for a higher, better, and truer faith.”

So the question is, are you as a member of the LDS church or as a believer in any faith really a lover of truth that you would be willing at any moment to surrender your belief for a higher, better, and truer faith?  Many have taken the challenge presented by Moroni and asked God if the Book of Mormon is true and whether the Church is true.  They have garnished a testimony from those experiences and believe that they are true.  However, many have recieved opposite responses.  Do both of these groups fully meet the qualifiers in order to receive an answer?  Speaking hypothetically, if the Book of Mormon, the church, and everything else about the gospel were not to be true, would you really want to know?  Are you sincere about knowing that?  If it were not true, would you be willing to lay down your faith and search for a higher truth? 

My brother in an email to me on my mission said it very eloquently. 

“Members and missionaries place so much emphasis on trying to get others to reexamine their own faith and consider ours.  To actually contemplate whether the faith or non-faith that they follow is actually right.  Have we done that ourselves.  When obtaining a testimony, was the consideration that the church could not be true even a possibility.  I believe for many, the social and family pressures don't allow this consideration.  And yet many others can't change the religion of their family and culture for the same family and social reasons.  Studies show that the majority of people stay in the religion that they were raised in.  Well, were you lucky enough to be born into the right religion?”

So in conclusion do you truly want to know whether your belief system is true and are you willing to follow or discontinue following that?  Is there anything that would prevent you from truly asking God with a sincere heart, real intent, and faith about the veracity of your religion and belief system?  All of these questions are very hard to truly ask ourselves and to honestly answer but I feel they are good questions to ask and can lead us in positive directions, whichever direction that is. 

Your True Self

Tonight I was listening to a talk where the speaker talked about not going about life with a mask on.  He referenced the KKK and how most of the members of that organization were normal people who would not normally do some of the acts by themselves.  However, when they were adorned in their respective garb and with a large group, they did a lot of things out of their typical character.  From my limited understanding of psychology, this is how the use of roles affects our actions.  Stanford University did a very controversial experiment about how the role of roles (pun intended) affects our actions.  They gathered multiple students to play out a prison scenario.  Some students acted as guards and others acted as prisoners.  After about a week the experiment had to be shut down because the “guards” were subjecting the “prisoners” rather harsh conditions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment 

How could such normal students and members of society do such heinous actions?  Somehow when we take on the role of another person and are involved in a group, we can diffuse ourselves of responsibility.  It’s amazing how these situations can affect our lives.

Also findings show that people, who have an anonymous identity, are much more likely to display vitriolic behavior.

So the question is who is your real self?  Are you playing any roles? Are the actions of a person who is anonymous their real self?  How is the true self supposed to be found and how can it maintain it’s true status if external influences such as culture, family, friends, and etc influence it?

I am not sure at what I am trying to get at.  I feel as if too many people are too scared to say what they truly think and feel because it goes against the social norm.  This prevention can be to our detriment and benefit.  However, I do feel that who your true self is should also be the self you display to the public.  People can’t wear masks, especially if the masks are mutually exclusive and display opposing values. 

Along this vein, I think people sometimes are too afraid to find admit to themselves who their true self is.  They are scared of their true feelings and end up lying to themselves. 

I don’t know who my true self is or if it is even possible to discern the true self.  The true-self could be static or dynamic.  If it is dynamic, there is no way to pin point it down.  But nevertheless, I hope to find my true self and not be afraid to have that true self be the same self I display to the world.

Downtime

Have you ever found yourself with some downtime and didn't quite know what to do with yourself?  Do you end up finding yourself watching a few hours of TV, playing multiple levels of angry birds, getting annoyed there is nothing new to see on fb, or doing some other mindless drivel?  I certainly do.

It's just so easy to play a game on my phone and be completely distracted from the world than to seriously think about something important.  I have tons of books in my room filled with fascinating ideas but I rarely get around to reading them because they simply don't seem quite as appealing as checking my fb page.  Yet I know from experience that when I do take time to write important thoughts in my journal, read old journal entries (i highly recommend it), read that econ textbook I kept to read instead of selling back, read the scriptures, or read a novel that I feel so much more satisfaction afterwards.  It's refreshing to be focused on one thing and achieve novel insights into life itself.  

Yet here you find yourself skimming a blog post only to move onto another window on your screen and divert your attention to some other activity.  Do we ever think to close the virtual screen for a while and simply just ponder and review what we have read, seen, heard, experienced, or done?  We fill ourselves with limitless information to only have it mean nothing.  And then even when we do take that precious time to review our lives, thoughts, feelings, and actions and write them down we never go back and look at them.  

I really wish I was more self-willed to take serious time to learn (just because you're cramming for a test to only forget everything you learned the next day doesn't mean you're learning), to ponder, to write, and to grow.  I wish I was more sensitive to my life and the lives of others.  I wish I was more articulate in my thoughts.  

Sometimes I relish the time I spend taking the bus home on the occasional weekends.  It can be really peaceful and enlightening to sit in relative silence for over an hour.  

Don't be afraid to lie in bed staring at the ceiling thinking, or to take a long stop on your hike to simply enjoy the moment of nature, or dust off that old journal you struggled to write as a high school student. Now to go forgo everything I just wrote about to play yet another game of freecell.  

Media Distractions

Wake up to the alarm on my cell phone, open my computer to check facebook and my email, get ready for the day while watching TV, drive to work while checking my words with friends, get to work and open my work email, sit at a computer all day while listening to music and podcasts on my phone, check my facebook and email on my phone during my lunch break, get home and get on my personal computer and check facebook and my email, spend a good majority of the night watching TV whilst reading articles online, watching YouTube videos, and chatting online.  Oh did I mention that I was texting during this whole process too.

Do you see a pattern in here?  The whole day I am constantly barraged with multiple sources of entertainment, media, information, distractions.  It’s hard to find a moment when I am not connected to at least one source of digital media and for at many times I am connected to multiple sources of digital media.  Does this sound at all slightly familiar to your life?  To some degree it probably does. 

When do we find time to digest and process all of this information?  I find myself knowing a little bit about everything but knowing little about anything.  Most topics in the news I can at least acknowledge that I have heard or read something about it but yet I find myself unable to articulate intelligent thoughts about those topics.  I feel our society has grown too attached to digital media.  I find myself and others checking our phones when we know there is nothing to check but yet we flip through the screens falsely deceiving ourselves and others around us that we are busy and productive.   Why do we do this? 

I have heard the counsel many times from church leaders and others that we need to unplug ourselves from the media.  I believe it was Gordon B Hinckley who encouraged us to take a few hours to simply ponder and do nothing else.  I have understood this principle but yet I have fallen trapped to the snare of digital media and have found myself with little time to ponder.  Detaching ourselves from media gives us time to process the information we have already received.  That helps us to gain a more deeper and intimate understanding of that information and it helps us to more clearly articulate that information to others.  Also taking time to ponder helps us understand what is important to us in life, it helps us sort out our goals and emotions, thoughts, and ideas. 

The times when I read a book, read an article, listen to a talk, or whatever and then take some time afterwards to go over what I had just received, the ideas and information become clearer and I am able to understand, recall, and articulate that information more effectively.   It’s a refreshing and great experience unlike the hundreds of news flashes and facebook posts I go through in a day, which I usually end up not internalizing or remembering.  It makes me want to do a Walden Pond type retreat like Thoreau. 

I encourage all of you to take some time each day to turn off the TV, cell phone, and computer and sit down and just think about life, think about something you learned that day, think about how you feel in your current situation, and think about the lives of others around you.  

Occupy Wall Street

Sorry but I wrote this kind of quickly but hopefully it has some coherency.

This is still a relatively young movement but that is growing popularity.  Although they have no concrete purpose or resolution, some of the ideas that they have brought up inspire some interesting questions and it also inspired my Halloween costume for this year. 

Many people are frustrated with the lack of jobs, poverty, and income inequality prevelant in America today. A big part of the cause for the recent recession was due to practices occurring at banks and wall street.  The same banks that “failed” were so called “too big to fail” and received government bailout money, while many hardworking Americans had to suffer the blunt force of the recession through lower wages, longer hours, losing their jobs, and struggling to find work.  So while big corporations are paying their top executives millions of dollars, many hardworking Americans struggle to feed their family. 

I understand the frustration and their reason to direct at wall street but I don’t support their cause, mainly because I still don’t know what it is and frankly neither do they.  Do they want income redistribution, higher taxes on the rich, to let banks fail, lower CEO salaries, a job, higher wages, lower student debt, a gov’t check, and etc?  They probably want all of it.  I think though they want to have a purpose and right now their purpose is fighting what they see as inequality and injustice. 

Yes, CEO’s get paid a lot of money but don’t they deserve that after going through many years of school at top programs and paying their dues in order to get to that level?  I am currently surrounded by people who strive to work for wall street and do investment banking, knowing all the hoops they have to jump through to get there and all the long hours they will have to put in to do it.  I know people who fly out to NY and SF just to get to know the people at the banks so they have a better chance of landing an internship.  They meticulously edit their resume and cover letters and spend hundreds and thousands of dollars just to network so they can get on wall street.  Once they get to wall street, they average 90+ hours a week, which is more than two normal full time jobs, doing technical and stressful work.  Do they deserve to get paid so much money?  Well considering the fact they essentially work twice as much as anyone else, they should get paid at the very least twice as much.

The other day I saw another movement pop up in opposition to the occupy wall street protest, which also go by the 99%.  This movement is called, “we are the 53%”  based off records that show only 53% of Americans actually pay taxes.  They view the 99% group as lazy people who just want a free ride.  The 53% express the hard work, long hours, early mornings, budget cuts, and many personal sacrifices they have to make in order to make ends meet and provide for themselves and their families.  The 99% respond saying that is no life to essentially enslave yourself to a paycheck. 

I support the 53% and their hard work ethic but I sympathize with the 99% who think that life shouldn’t be that way.  Are we really slaves to these big corporations.  We spend the majority of our life working for them.  Is this really the American dream where the husband and wife work full time and part time jobs to send their kids to day care, pay off the mortgage for an expensive home, pay insurance, pay phone bills, and etc.?  Is it really the American dream to work so much and slave away that we don’t have time to spend with our families?  Yes hard work is a valued quality but has it gone too extreme with some of these 53%ers?  Is it really a society worth living in where we spend the majority of our lives doing something we hate just for the sake of getting by?  Is this really the American dream?  Also has it become for some people that the American dream is where we have our food, housing, jobs, and decisions given to us by the government?  Has money become too much of a driver in our decisions in life?

Thoughts on Swearing

These last few weeks I have not felt too thoughtful as to produce a blog worthy of sharing and so I will share something I wrote about a year ago.  Enjoy.

Forward: This essay was originally written for a different audience but this version has been formatted for a more general audience.  It is still written with a Mormon audience in mind since it was originally written for someone with that background.  I originally wrote this to a friend to give a clarified statement as to my view on swearing.  So here is my attempt at making my official statement on swearing.  In order to give my official statement a few things need to be clarified.  The following topics will include:

·         What Swearing Is

·         The Social influences of Swearing

·          The LDS Viewpoint

·          What the Scriptures Say

·          Address an Argument I have heard

Hopefully after expounding upon these topics one will understand why I consider swearing as something completely subjective to the culture and time in which one lives, with the exception words or phrases relating to God and sacred things.  Swearing is only wrong if the speaker and audience consider it a swear word, to be profanity, or disgraceful. In general though, one should use speech that is edifying and representative of the ideals they value.

What is Swearing?

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word swear as “to use profane or obscene language.”  Profane is defined as “to treat (something sacred) with abuse, irreverence, or contempt” and “to debase by a wrong, unworthy, or vulgar use.”

Wikipedia defines profanity to mean “a word, expression, gesture, or other social behavior which is socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, desecrating, or showing disrespect.”  So we see from this definition that social conceptions determine what is rude, vulgar, and etc. 

According to a 2006 study the most common used swear words were the F, S, H, D, and B words with other variations (the abbreviations of these words are used to for the purpose of protecting those eyes who find them offensive).  Also the word “suck” was one of the most common swear words which I find interesting since most people I know would not consider it to be a “swear” word and I know many in the LDS community who use it often. 

Others feel that the words fart, piss, crap, butt, and etc. would be swear words too but many in society would disagree.  Also words such as nigger, douche bag, slut, faggot, and etc. would be considered offensive but yet they wouldn’t be considered “swear” words.  There are many words that are just as offensive as the typical swear words but people use them because they are not considered to be one of the classic swear words. 

Are the F, S, H, D, and B inherently bad?  Is it an inherent sin to say them or even write them?  They are just abstract sounds that convey certain abstract meanings to the hearers.  I don’t think there is anything inherently evil about the use of these words, but the social influences of today make them obscene to use in many public venues.

The Social Influences of Swearing

The notion that social customs influence the definition of swearing is obvious in the fact that many words are considered profane in one culture and time and not in another.  For example, bloody is deemed a swear word in England but it is not in the U.S.  Also my mother felt perfectly fine back in the 60’s attending BYU to say “that party was bitching.”  This phrase, however, would no longer be accepted in today’s culture at BYU.  

So with the constant change in what society deems as profane, rude, or vulgar it can be difficult to determine what specific words are “swear” words.  Also some words that are currently deemed by society as “swear” words seem to be phasing out.  The wide use of the word “damn” in society and the lack of censorship is starting to make this word less of a swear word.  Now this may seem to represent how evil influences are debasing the values of society, but if that word loses the offensive connotation it once had then is that word still a “swear” word?Are we really conforming to the evils of society by using a swear word even in that word no longer carries the same meaning?

The LDS Viewpoint

                It’s interesting to note that under the Wikipedia page for “profanity” there is a specific section as to the LDS viewpoint of swearing.  Quoting from the Gospel Topics Library found on LDS.org it says, “Profane, vulgar, or crude language or gestures, as well as immoral jokes, are offensive to the Lord and to others.”  

So even with the LDS definition we shouldn’t use language that would be offensive to the Lord or others.  Language that is offensive to the Lord would include using the name of Deity in vain, (See 3^rd commandment).  Also speaking badly of sacred things would be offensive to the Lord.  But as to what is offensive to others is completely subjective as to what the others find offensive.  

Now I am sure some have heard of J. Golden Kimball and I feel I must at least reference him.  J. Golden Kimball, a seventy of the church, was known for his “colorful” speech.   When asked about his language he responded, “Hell, they can't excommunicate me. I repent too damned fast.”  To Elder Kimball these words were not offensive to him and had become a part of his vernacular.  Some members probably found his language offensive and he probably should have done a better job about using language that would not be offensive to them.

Within Mormon culture we use our own vernacular so as to not swear.  These are simple variations of swear words and are not unique to LDS.  These words include but are not limited to dang, darn, F, fudge, freak, fetch, heck, shoot, bi-atch, BS, gosh, and etc.  So how are we to interpret the appropriateness of these words that are used only to replace swear words?  Are they just as bad as the words they are substituting?

Elder L. Tom Perry said this about substitute words “. . . if you slip and say a swear word or a substitute word, mentally reconstruct the sentence without the vulgarity or substitute word and repeat the new sentence aloud.”   Also the New Era in March 2001 offers this interpretation of Elder Perry’s comments, “Many people try to substitute other words for swear words, but Elder L. Tom Perry warns that so many times those substitute words are so similar to the swear words or vulgar phrases that everyone knows what you meant to say and your vocabulary hasn’t really changed.”

A quote from Dallin H. Oaks from the May 1986 Ensign had this to say about the social influences of profanity. “For many in our day, the profane has become commonplace and the vulgar has become acceptable. Surely this is one fulfillment of the Book of Mormon prophecy that in the last days ‘there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth.’”  Elder Oaks seems to make the argument that what is profane is not determined by society which completely undermines the argument I just made earlier.  It seems to me though that Elder Oaks is referring to the profane use of the name of God and of sacred things.  Most of the talk is about using the name of God in vain.  He later says, “Profanity is profoundly offensive to those who worship the God whose name is desecrated.”  Elder Oaks though does make his case for profanity not involving the use of God’s name.

The Book of Mormon teaches us that when we are brought before the judgment bar of God “our words will condemn us … and our thoughts will also condemn us.” (Alma 12:14.) Let us recognize profanity and vulgarity for what they are; they are sins that separate us from God and cripple our spiritual defenses by causing the Holy Ghost to withdraw from us.

We should abstain and we should teach our children to abstain from all such expressions.

What the Scriptures Say

The scriptures speak a lot about profaning the name of the Lord but I am going to focus more on the scriptures that don’t specifically speak about that.  It has been argued that the canonical scriptures explicitly forbid or warn us not to swear.  These are the scriptures I have found that could connote this inference.

Matt 12:36 “But I say unto you, That every idleword that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”  This scripture doesn’t specifically mention swearing but it essentially cautions us to use our words wisely.

Matt 15:11” Not that which goeth into the mouthdefileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.”  That which cometh out can refer to our word choice and the way we treat the name of God.

James 5:12“But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any otheroath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.”  This scripture is interesting because almost all references in the scripture using any variation of the word swear is more referring to an oath.  This scripture does use the word oath too which makes me believe that this is what it is referring to rather than using a swear word.

Matt 26:74“Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.”This is the story of Peter at the time of when Christ was on trial.  As to what it means when it says he cursed and swore is a little ambiguous.  Peter swore he knew not Christ but he didn’t use a swear word.  Curse though has some interesting meanings.  In most references in the scriptures it essentially says, “and God cursed the land” or something to that effect.  I feel that cursing represents the doing or wishing of ill or misfortune upon another. 

1 Peter 3:10“For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:” Again simply put, use good language.

James 5:6  ”And the tongueis a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”

According to the scriptures it is blatantly clear that we should not use the name of God in vain but the scriptures don’t say that we shouldn’t swear.  It only tells us to refrain our lips and mouth from speaking evil or guile.  As to what is evil and guile in society is very subjective to the members of that society.  There is no mention of specific words we should not say because there is no universal and eternal list of words.

 Another Argument Made

One of the arguments I have heard made is that Christ would not swear and therefore we shouldn’t.  A friend of mine though made the point that we have so few accounts of Christ that it is hard to tell exactly what he would do.  This is true but has been pointed out to me before is that we can come to know Christ personally through revelation to know what he would say.The only problem I have with this is that there are so many people who claim to know Christ personally and yet they have different interpretations of who He is and what He would do.   A personal relationship with Christ and how one feels He would act may be sufficient for one to personally justify not swearing but others have different experiences and feelings that would say otherwise.  So as to what Christ would say, it is subjective to the feelings of each person who claims to have a personal relationship with him. 

Also going back to what profanity is defined as in Wikipedia, “a word, expression, gesture, or other social behavior which is socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, desecrating, or showing disrespect.”   Now would Christ do or say something insulting, rude, vulgar, desecrating, or disrespectful?  Christ was not the most popular character because he did and said things that were not accepted by society.  Openly rebuking people, eating with harlots, claiming he was God, denouncing the authority of others, casting out people and overthrowing tables in the temple, and etc. are some examples of how He was doing and saying things that were socially unacceptable, insulting, rude, and disrespectful.  Was this profanity?  Did it have the same effect as swearing? 

 I must mention though that I do not feel that the argument above about Christ being profane is a strong or sound argument.  Even if the logic of this argument were sound many still would not accept it out of principle.  But if we do hold to the premises of the argument we can draw the conclusion that Christ was profane.  That is not a conclusion one would want to accept especially since it would kill the argument that Christ would never swear.  Even if Christ was considered profane for his day, why should we care what society thought of him?  Wasn’t He only doing that which was right?  Can it be that doing the right thing could be considered profane, rude, disrespectful, or vulgar to the society around us?  Yet at the same time why should we feel like we have to defend Christ from doing things that others found offensive or profane? 

A detailed focus on words that we shouldn’t use might be missing the target when we should really be focusing on what words and phrases we should be using.   Focusing on how swearing is bad is like focusing on the Law of Moses.  Christ came and gave us the higher law.  He doesn’t command us to not use certain four letter words but he commands us to use clean and uplifting language.  Clean and uplifting language is for the most part universal but there is still some subjectivity to it.

The simple statement that swearing is bad and one should not do it seems to be polarizing the topic and making it simpler than it really is.  Many times it seems that people talk about there being a wrong and a right when in reality there is a lot of middle ground and a lot more to understand.  We can’t just rely on believing swearing and many other topics are black and white, when in reality there is a lot of gray area.  This is part of the reason I took the time to write an essay just to simply state my viewpoint on swearing.

In my case as a member of the LDS faith, I am taught to love God first and part of that would be to use language He would find acceptable, which means not taking His name in vain or speaking blasphemy.   I am then taught to secondly love my neighbors.  I should be looking to use words that are uplifting rather than looking to avoid certain words. 

People want to impress certain types of people and for the most part they try and use phrases and words that make them more acceptable around those people.  If one wants to fit in with those who use “swear” words then they use those words to be accepted.  If one wants to be more accepted of God they use words that God would find appealing.  If one wants to be more accepted by their boss then they use words that impress that boss.  If one wants to represent the Church of Christ then they must try their best to use language that best represents the values of that organization. 

Also people change their nature and the words they use based upon the people they are surrounding.  I talk differently to my boss than I do to my roommate.  I choose different rhetoric and act differently.  Is that a double standard? 

To be honest I am not entirely sure what I am trying to get at here.  I do feel that swearing is something that is subjective to society and therefore society is the author of what is a “swear” word is or not, with the exception of blasphemy.   As a believer of Christ I want to best represent Him as possible, and therefore use vocabulary that the society I am in deems uplifting, respectful, and courteous.  Do I always do this?  No, but I should at least be trying to become a better person in word and deed. 

 I do not feel that this is the best treatise about this subject or my best work.  There are many more topics and questions to be answered but those can be treated later.  Hopefully this makes sense to those who read this and has provoked some thoughts, ideas, or insights that deepen one’s understanding of this subject.