OldPaths

This discussion is really a bit of a non-starter. And for two reasons.

1. As Steven points out - "My house - my rules" applies here and there is no constitutional expectation of free speech rules in privately held communications forums.

2. We're Christians. Logically, therefore, we are looking to conform our lives in all areas to the practice of Jesus Christ. I don't recall him ever telling a pharisee to 'f-off' and I've never seen in my Bible "And he spake unto them, saying "**** off, Satan" using the 'star method' advocated earlier.

As Christians, we're subject to the authority of God. He has made it abudantly clear in His Scripture that we should "not let any unwholesome talk come out of [our]mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." (Eph 4:29) to cite just one verse. I don't think we can construct any argument that profanity is 'wholesome' or builds anybody up - and the desire to use it - especially as it has been communicated in this thread - is far more to make the speaker feel better than the hearer - where God directs our emphasis to be.

LFJC

I think any form of censorship, excluding perhaps hate speech, is reprehensible. Words are just words and they have no power over us except what we imbue them with in our own minds.

By censoring "profanity" (I'll sidestep the fact of having seen the site owner use it hundreds of times elswhere ) you empower those words just a little bit further. By allowing them, you take away their shock value. By banning them - you give them power .

Having said all that, however, it IS Eric's site, and if thats what he requests, then I for one will comply. Yes, even if I think its foolish, and I do, he owns it, he sets the rules.

I *may* have already cursed elsewhere on the boards - if so, my apologies. I'll use substitutes going forward like "frak" or something.

Eric

As I've stated, there is no doubt I used profanity excessively before I was saved. I used the F word in particular at least once per sentence before, and have used it up to 10,000 times on my previous site. But I stopped using it when I was saved, and to the best of my knowledge haven't used it since then.

I used the F word so often for so many years I had to ask God in the name of Jesus to modify my subconscious so I would stop using it as a matter of habit. And that happened, just as I asked.

I don't think it's that big of a deal not to use profanity here. I don't know a single born-again Christian who curses, at least not that I've heard, although I imagine everyone slips from time to time. If you just type out the words you want to use, they will be replaced by ********** if they are included in the profanity filter. That is ok on this site. You can do that without modifying your speech in any way.

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Celebration

For what it's worth, it bothers me when anyone is really self-righteous about language (not saying the profanity rule is self-righteous), especially when they are finding other, less obvious ways to abuse another's spirit. I would rather deal with a post littered with the F bomb than read a politely phrased letter that drips with passive-aggressive or pedantic tones.

It's really hard to moderate where someone comes from when they post though, especially when people are being abusive and they have convinced themselves that they are not (because they typed it nice).

Regardless, I like to think of forums as similar to being someone else's home. For example, some of my friends want everyone to take their shoes off before entering, so I do it. If we can't cuss here, then fine. But I also assume the spirit of that rule to be: Don't inspire people to want to cuss at you by being hurtful to them in subtle ways that can't be moderated. : P

Just my 2c. I know it probably doesn't help much, though.

Eric

It is my goal for this to be a free speech site to the maximum extent possible.

I've only had to ban one guy here so far, who chose to come here and write gay soft porn stories and spam/heckle people trying to engage in conversation.

There are about one dozen words in our profanity filter. People can still use those when they write if they want, it's just that the rest of us will see asterisks instead of those words. I feel that is the fairest compromise between the rights of an individual and the rights of everyone else on a Christian site.

Thank you for your thoughts.

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Celebration

I think that's fair because you aren't banning someone if they do use the words, you are just filtering them.

Dandi

Lol, I agree...

People use profanity for different reasons. Limited vocab. For emphasis. Venting because of frustration or anger.

I was reading the opinion of one language expert who said that people who swear tend to have a nature that is disagreeable, angry, cynical, argumentative, and critical. On the other hand, the expert said that people who don't use profanity tend to deal with annoyances better and have a calmer, more mature nature... I just thought that was interesting.

Colossians 3:8 says "But now really put them all away from you, wrath, anger, badness, abusive speech, and obscene talk out of your mouth."

Romans 15:2 says "Let each of us please his neighbor in what is good for his upbuilding."

So, yes, generally, Christians should want to avoid profanity.