Pastor Ed Young, who once told his congregation to sex it up for a week, doesn’t like pastors who swear just to be “cool”… (Hello, Pot. Meet Kettle.)
The reference is to people like Marc Driscoll, a guy known as “The Cussing Pastor.”
Young’s examples of swearing include such horrendous words as:
- Sucks
- Pissed
- Screwed
- Hell
- Damn
Umm… right.
He wants pastors to use “encouraging” and “healthy” words. (Like “Hell” and “Damnation”?) He says you can more effectively communicate this way.
He’s wrong.
First of all, you are a more effective communicator when you use language your audience understands. If they use “bad words,” you may get your message across more powerfully if you do the same. (At least when you want to be seen as “one of them.”)
Secondly, those aren’t the swear words people use these days. They’re just a regular part of the language. The pastors who use them may not be “trying to be” anything. They’re just talking the way they normally do.
As George Carlin reminded us, there are no bad words. Bad thoughts and bad intentions, yes. But words are not bad. Why not ask church members to think carefully about their negative thoughts instead of worrying about how they express it verbally?
To quote Kevin Hendricks at Church Marketing Sucks:
Ed Young may think “sucks” is a swear word and be offended I use it. But my grandmother would be offended by a seven-day sex challenge…
… Perhaps the church needs to be less judgmental of one another and get worked up over more important issues.
One more quote seems apt here, this one from evangelical Tony Campolo (speaking to Christians, I presume) :
“I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a shit. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.”
(via Church Marketing Sucks)
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