Cursed Cursing

Guest Post by John Unger

Everywhere and in almost every conversation that one might hear these days, whether in public discourse or on social media, the F- word appears. A generation ago, this curse was rarely employed, and when used publicly, would not only astonish and appall the hearers but also bring shame and dishonor on the speaker for his brazen vulgarity. In the passing decades, the employment of this curse became more common and in vogue, its use coming to be called “dropping an F-bomb”, which startles the hearers with its bold force and brashness.

In the last several years however, the F-word has become more commonplace, permeating daily life and discourse. Rather than a “shock and awe” megaton shell falling from the sky, it has morphed into constant, random, rapid gunfire, read and heard in social media interaction, public television, and casual discourse. On streets, in stores, restaurants, buses, malls, etc., it matters not the age, sex, region, race, sexual orientation, education, status, title, ad infinitum: the F-word truly is an equal-opportunity curse word. In print, the oft-attempted replacement of letters in the word – #### – fails to mask our cultural comfort level with this once-shunned curse word, and its near-ubiquitous use at present. Even our President in a recent speech employed the F-word, in an overtly macho attempt to communicate the high stakes involved in attacking America.

Historically (in the Christian West at least), the cursing of someone or something usually contained a reference to God and the eternal realm, as in “God damn ***!”, or “Damn ***!”, or someone might pronounce, “Go to hell!” upon another, or simply invoke the name “Jesus Christ!” in expressing their anger at a situation, thing, or person. The employment of “hell”, “God” or “Jesus” in cursing demonstrates that even in our folly and anger, we intuitively know and have sense enough to call upon a heavenly God and Jesus Christ as the Sovereign Lord and Creator, Who owns and judges all men and all things. Even in suppressing our knowledge of God (Rom. 1:18), we invoke Him to vindicate our personal cause and make things right for us – however twisted and wicked our desires might be, in our moments of anger and pride.

Our cultural departure from invoking the sovereign God, Jesus, or hell in our imprecations is a striking testimony to how far we’ve fallen, and how cursed even our cursing has become. Our postmodern culture has tragically and disastrously rejected not only the Person, but even the idea of God. There is no more sovereign God – or any god – whom we recognize as overseeing us and our lives and affairs, and our world has no more reference to anything transcendent.

Devolved from being an image-bearer of God into a primitive beast, our invocations and oaths are thus essentially humanized, and as such have become carnal, sexualized, base, and satanic. Our curses no longer represent a call for a transcendent Lord or Savior to do something and act on our behalf. Instead, we reference man, and man’s earthly power and authority, which is understood as being preeminently brutish and inherently sexual. Consequently, rather than referring to and calling upon a Sovereign God, and asking Him to judge or curse someone/something, the imprecation has commonly become “F- you” or “F-that”, as human power in the form of sexual relations and acts are the means of judgment and cursing. The F-word is no longer merely a vulgar reference to copulation, but has evolved into a call for violent acts of piercing, degradation, humiliation, and power over another person.

Having denied the God who is above, modern unbelieving man has no one and nothing left to resort to except that which comes from beneath. As R.J. Rushdoony wrote,

“Power from below…[is] very much a part of modem man’s faith…The result of such a faith can only lead, as it already has, to a greater faith in raw and primitive violence as against reason… Power from below means that normal sexuality is regarded as sterile and inhibited, and violence, rape, and perversion are thus regarded as raw and true power in the sexual realm.”

(“Power From Below”, JCR, Vol.1, Winter 1974).

In rejecting a sovereign Creator, man transmutes from being God’s image-bearer into a mere brute, existing only for temporal, earthly, bestial activities. Violence and cursing thus are normalized and sex is perverted, transformed from a means of communion, procreation, and fulfilling the calling of a loving God into a means of self-realization, power, and pleasure. By disavowing the biblical “marriage bed” (Heb.13:4), sexual intercourse ultimately becomes an act of exercising authority and domination – both physically and verbally – over another, who is only a means of our own personal gain, as we extract from them what we lust for.

Rather than dominion gained through loving service to our Creator and our fellow men, power – namely, sexual power – now is both the means and end of success, dominion, and cultural transformation. To quote the poet and composer Mark Heard, in his insightful song “How to Grow Up Big and Strong”:

Strong man take no prisoner, favor no plea;

He leave no gold in teeth of enemy.

He fit and dominant, he rise above,

He not have a word that mean love.

And the world keep on turning,

And the sun keep on burning,

And the children keep learning

How to grow up big and strong

But apart from God and His authoritative Word, we are not “fit and dominant”: in fact, we have no dominion, and our words and actions – including our F-bombs – only reflect our impotence without Him. “As a flitting bird and a flying swallow, so a curse without a cause will not alight” (Prov. 26:2). As James declares regarding those who are lustful, striving, and envious, “This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic” (James 3:15).

Imprecations without God’s divine sanction are ultimately the devil’s tools. When we pray, “Deliver us from evil” we entreat the Lord to save us from the wicked one, and his wicked works and devices. May we as believers never resort to the devil’s methods and words, seeking power from below with such base and wicked tools of dominion. God grant instead that we seek the wisdom from above, and think His thoughts and speak His words after Him, even – when necessary – in our cursing.

John Unger is currently the Executive Committee Chair of the Joint Eastern European Project (JEEP), and a former elder of Reformation Covenant Church in OR. John and his wife Teresa recently relocated to eastern WA, where they attend Trinity Church in Coeur d’Alene, ID; they have five adult children.

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