 What the f**k is up guys and welcome to the f**king program. I'm just kidding, I didn't cuss, I just said flip, but would it have been wrong if I did cuss? That's what we're going to be talking about today. I know a lot of you have asked this question before, so today is the day we answer it. Hey what's up guys, my name is Isaac David and this is The Daily Disciple, where I help you find Jesus and follow him daily. Once again, a huge shout out to everyone on Patreon. It is because of your support that this ministry keeps going and growing. Our goal is to reach 300 patrons by the end of the year, so if you want to help support what I'm doing, my mission here head to the link in my bio, patreon.com slash daily underscore disciple. And you can also check out our newly released merch. There's a couple designs on the website. Check the link in my bio to take a look. Patrons get a discount code. Now on to the video. For those of you who know me in person, you know that I don't cuss ever. I grew up in a Christian homeschool household, so cussing was not something that was looked upon very fondly. So I just didn't do it. I thought the F word was like a frick for a long time. One time I was at my grandma's and for some reason she was having a conversation with my mom about the F word and I piped in with, oh my older sister, she says the F word all the time. She didn't actually, she just said frick, but that's what I thought in my heart, in my mind. That was the F word. You live and you learn. All that to say, I was pretty sheltered up until the point I joined a recreational basketball league when I was introduced to all sorts of new vocabulary. I did go through a stage though when I was kind of in my later teens that I felt like curse words were kind of edgy and cool. So I began introducing a couple into my vocabulary, generally only in sport, sports context. I didn't, you know, do it in everyday life, but in that kind of context, I don't know, it slipped in there every once in a while. All the way around and get back to my story in a little bit, but for now I want to get in the nuts and bolts of, should we be using curse words as Christians and three questions I want you to ask yourself. So the first idea here is that we should be set apart as Christians. In 2 Timothy 221 it says this, therefore if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. We are called to be set apart from the world, often one of the biggest arguments for using curse words in your language and incorporating that kind of thing into your vocabulary is this idea that we need to be like the world in order to reach the world. We need to dress like them, we need to operate that, like them, we need to think like them, and we need to speak like them. That's how we're going to reach people for the gospel. Let's just see this play out. Hey man, what the f*** is up? You know nothing much man, work's been okay, it's been tough but you know it's all right. I feel that man, I feel that f*** to my core. Thanks man, yeah thanks. What did you want to talk to me about anyway? Jesus actually, he's the f*** best. So I know what you're saying, you're like, Isaac what if it's just somebody that became a Christian and that's just the world they lived in and now they're trying to share the gospel, isn't that something that we should support? Absolutely yes, but we should not be changing ourselves or conforming to the world in order to reach the world. No, we should be continuing to transform into the image of Christ and that means letting our speech be coated with all that he is, the goodness, the life that he is. We need to realize that speech is a powerful thing and Ephesians 4.29 says this, do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building up others according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen. In Proverbs 21.23 it says, those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity. We need thoughtfulness in speech. In Proverbs 13.3 it says, whoever guards his mouth preserves his life, whoever opens his lips wide comes to ruin. So thus far I haven't made an argument that specific words when you use them that is a sin in and of themselves, but as we dig into these three questions I think we're gonna get more and more into why I think it's probably best that you stay away from using words in your particular culture that are understood as crass, that are understood as explicit. Just a quick disclaimer, this is not something you should be forcing on unbelievers, like you should be trying to monitor their speech or judging them, oh, you're using that language, you need to stop that, right? This is the kind of behavioral modification that a lot of Christians try to impose on unbelievers that just doesn't make any sense. They need inward transformation first and then letting that overflow into how they behave. So it's not something that you go around saying, you shouldn't use that cuss word, that's a bad word. No, it's like how can I actually help you encounter Jesus and have your insights transformed so then you want to be discerning about the kind of language that you use and the context that you use it? So I've put it off for too long. Here's the first question that I want you to ask yourself. If you find yourself using cuss words more than you'd like, or maybe you're just using them and you're okay with it, but here's a couple questions that I want you to ask. So the first one is, is it going to enhance or detract from your witness? Do you think it's gonna enhance what the kind of message that you're trying to share or is it going to detract from it? And I haven't seen any context where it enhances your witness. It always either is like, well, neither here nor there, or it detracts from it. And so if there's a possibility that by you using these words, you will give Christ a bad name or give people a bad idea of what Christians are or lead people away from following Christ or wanting to pursue him because they think you're a hypocrite or they think it's wrong or whatever. Like if any of that plays into it, then why wouldn't we want to just stay away from that kind of language, right? Like if it's gonna take away from our witness, then let's just not use it. Second question, are you exemplifying modesty in speech? Oh my goodness, Isaac, modesty, what? I thought this is only had to do with girls and bikinis. What's going on? It's like, okay, well, chill, bro. Like actually modesty is a lot more about what we're exemplifying in our behavior, how we're talking. Yes, our exterior as well, for sure. That plays a part in it as well. People often use cussing and explicit language in order to draw attention to themselves. They want to be the center of attention, so they're not afraid of offending other people or they're not afraid of becoming, you know, coming across as too loud or whatever. It's like, no, all the attention needs to be on me. So the question we need to ask ourselves is, am I using this language just to draw more attention to myself? It's a question you should ask. The third and last question that we should be asking ourselves is, is it worth it? Okay, maybe certain words, right? They're not bad in and of themselves, right? Okay, it's like, it's just a word, it's just a couple of letters put together in a cultural context that people see as, okay, maybe a little bit edgy. Not a big deal, okay, we'll use it. Well, it's like, is it worth it? Because in this cultural context, when people see you swearing up a storm, what does that say about Jesus to them? That's something that you should think about. Is it really worth it? At the same time, I know a lot of you want to stop using this kind of language and your vocabulary and you're working on it and sometimes you still slip up and I'm there too, like I was in my journey, I began incorporating some of this language into just sporting events and stuff like that and just kind of trying to pull back on it more recently in the last couple years and I've kind of taken it out of my vocabulary. It's a process though and it's gonna take some time but in the long term, I do think it's worth it. And ultimately, I implore you to use your own discernment skills. I don't think we should be listening to any certain bodies of people that declare certain words to be bad and certain words to be acceptable. I think you should use your own discernment based on your own context, what words are gonna be appropriate and not take away from your testimony and what words are okay. And I think at the end of the day, if you have a clean conscience before God, you have made your mind up and what words you're okay with using and what words you're not okay, well then great, that's awesome. But also don't be so afraid to change or be corrected if other people come to you and are saying, hey, like you're using this word a lot, I just don't think it's appropriate. I don't think it's a good look on your witness. Be open to correction, be open to change because we wanna be continually moving towards Christ in everything. Thank you so much for watching this video, guys. If you enjoyed it, give it a like down below and subscribe because I'm putting out new videos all the time. I will see you guys next time if I can still talk. God bless, see you later.