Friend, I offend someone in Christ when I use plastic bags at the grocery store, or when I use paper bags instead of cloth. I offend someone in Christ when I buy a Japanese car, and I offend someone else when I buy an American car. You have got a totally wrong view of how Christians are supposed to live in their community. Totally wrong. And someone needs to tell you this... I love you, so it might as well be me.
Some Christians have told me to remove the words for "garbage dump" and "excrement" from my website because they "offend" some people. Such people need to learn that Scripture never commands us to abstain from anything and everything that might offend someone somewhere in the culture. Yes, Romans 14 says, "It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. (Romans 14:21) However, this is another verse a lot of Christians are misunderstanding. They need to read the context to understand what Paul was saying.
Many think that means that it is best to abstain from wine (or cussing) because there are people out there somewhere that are somehow offended by it. That is not at all what Paul is saying. In fact, Paul doesn't limit this to alcohol (he includes meat "or anything else" that offends). That means the many Christians that avoid alcohol or cussing "because it offends people" should also be avoiding desserts, T.V., expensive cars, junkie cars, Japanese cars, American cars, plastic bottles, plastic bags, paper bags, poodles, and everything in the world that offends anyone at all.
No, that is not what Paul is saying. Paul's point has to do with when we *know*, specifically, about a specific person in our presence. If we know that specific brother of ours has told us He thinks drinking (or anything else) is a sin we should abstain in front of him. But that is not all we should do. Most importantly (and the part many Christians leave out) is that, in these types of situations, we are to correct our mistaken brother.
In Romans 14 Paul clearly says that such brother's faiths are "weak." Yes. Sorry if that offends you. However, when a you think something is a sin that is not a sin, that means you have a weak faith. Read Romans 14. That is what it says. If we love our brother, we should strengthen him in the faith. For instance, Paul says "let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths." (Colossians 2:16) We correct our our brothers when we see a weakness in their faith because we love them, just as God loves and corrects us.
What Paul is saying is that if our brother refuses our correction (he still thinks whatever is a sin), and we still do it in front of him, then we are encouraging him to sin. This is because "if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean." (Romans 14:14) If, in his heart, our brother sincerely thought doing the thing is a sin against God, then if he did anyway he would be doing something out of hate for God, not out of love for God.
Therefore, if a brother tells us he thinks something pure is a sin, we are not to flaunt it in front of him... but, most importantly, we are instead supposed to correct Him. The way I think of my website is how I think of my own house. I will speak freely, as I am, in my own house. I will use the full extent of the English language to make my points. If non-religious uses of slang words for excrement and garbage dumps offend you, don't go to my website.
Also, know that you are wrong... those words are not in any way, shape, or form inherently "sinful."
Some Christians think Colossians 3:8 (which instructs Christians to not use "filthy language" or "unwholesome talk") means we must not say words that offend some people. That is a complete misunderstanding of that verse. First of all, many experts interpret the original greek word translated as "unwholesome talk" or "filthy language" in some Bibles to actually mean "false doctrines." Others interpret to mean "slanderous language, lying words, insults, that which harms others." Either way, what language exactly is "unwholesome" is not specified in the passage.
The word for 'filthy language' in Col. 3:8 is made up of two Greek words: aischros (meaning 'disgraceful, shameful, dishonest,') and logia (meaning 'oracles') In every use in the NT, lovgia (logia) refers to 'oracles', or the revealed message from God. It is not like the word "logos", which can refer to actual words themselves (Matt 12:36), or a message (Matt 13:19), or speech in general (Matt 5:37). So, it appears that Paul is actually forbidding false prophesying in Col. 3:8, not "cussing."
The interpretation that the original greek word there means "those words that some in a culture find offensive" is most likely *not* accurate. For starters, even in one culture (this one for instance), different different words have many different groups of people that are offended by them. We can all think of words that one group of people might be okay with, and other words that another group might not be okay with. Indeed, there are some cultures that get offended if you *don't* use the word for "garbage dump" (hell) outside of the context of religion when they do, because they'll think you're being condescending and judging them.
Paul used a slang word for "fecal excrement" in one of his letters to the church, a letter explaining theology and the Savior. It is in Philippians 3:8, when Paul says all he had gained before was "fecal excrement" compared to the knowledge of Christ. Many translations translate the word as "dung" or "rubbish", but the original Greek word (skubalon) was probably more of a slang term, like "crap" or the infamous "s-word" (Oh NO!). Paul was making an extremely strong point with his language, and many modern English translations have attempted (and have succeeded) at toning down the very point he was trying to make.
If you think it is not possible that "filthy language" is perhaps somewhat mistranslated in many English Bible's, may I direct your attention to another verse where English translators have intentionally "toned down" the most accurate translation in order to not "offend" anyone with God's Words. See Isaiah 64:6. In many English Bibles the word there is intentionally mistranslated "filthy rags" because the word actually means, get this, "menstrual rags". I'm not kidding. Look it up for yourself. The Hebrew is "ed." Translators are totally unreliable. Many are governed by their own traditional rules of etiquette and beliefs instead of being governed by a desire to be as faithful to the original language as possible. We've got to read Scripture in the original language, or find someone who is able to and seek to learn from them. That is the only way to truly analyze Scripture to find the Truth.
Many "conservative" Christians have long been known for shunning all sorts of behavior considered by others to be morally neutral or enjoyable. Whether it’s drinking alcoholic beverages in moderation, playing cards, going to movie theaters, dancing, or even drinking coffee, many Christians have often put forth an image of a God to the world Who is a white-clad, frowning, 'Cosmic Killjoy.' Nothing could be further from the truth.
God's peace to you,
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