“If someone is caught up in an immoral lifestyle, should we seek to help them? Well, of course, but in the same way we would want to help someone out if they had fallen into a sewage lagoon. Gingerly.”
No Such Thing as Bad Words, p. 49
The Rest of the Word
“I used the full text of the n-word just now because it is one of the words that is being used as an ideological slug, as evidenced by its banishment from real literature and its mandatory inclusion in rap music.”
No Such Thing as Bad Words, p. 45
An Appropriate Curse
“So of course the expression should never be used because the guy in front of you on the freeway is driving too slowly. But if a false teacher is spreading soft buttery lies about LGBTQ and + . . . then God damn that guy.”
No Such Thing as Bad Words, p. 39
The Sin of Not Swearing
“There are many occasions where it would be unrighteousness to swear. The prohibitions are in Scripture for a reason. But we must also keep in mind the fact that there are many occasions when it would be unrighteousness not to swear.”
No Such Thing as Bad Words, p. 31
Carry the Concept With You
“It is not legalism to understand the principle and apply it in new territory.”
No Such Thing as Bad Words, p. 19
One or the Other
“Jesus says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matt. 12:34). Is our speech a fresh water spring or a sewage pipe?”
No Such Thing as Bad Words, p. 18
Four Challenges
“That said, let’s break down inappropriate speech (in English) to four basic categories. These are vulgarity, obscenity, cursing, or swearing. The problem for the Platonists is that there are godly examples of all four categories found within the pages of Scripture. The problem for the libertines is that the Bible prohibits speaking in all four categories. The upshot is that we need to become far more disciplined in how we speak.”
No Such Thing as Bad Words, p. 13
Virginal Daughters
“Christians are called as parents to bring up virginal daughters, not so that we may delude ourselves into thinking that this is what we are by nature, but rather that we might understand through faith that this is what we are all becoming. Virginity and chastity among a Christian people are a glorious type, not of what we are, but of what we will be.”
Gunfights and Blonde Trouble
“If you see a movie with a desolate Western town around midday, with shopkeepers peering out their windows, and tumbleweed blowing down the street, you know there is going to be a gunfight. If you see a man in an office with a ceiling fan, smoking, and a translucent pane of glass in the door, and he has his feet on the desk you know instantly that he is a private detective, and that some blonde trouble is going to come through the door. Given the motif, you know the setting. You are oriented.”
The Scarlet Cord
“The scarlet cord of election was transferred—from Zarah’s wrist to a prostitute’s window. This is so that we might never forget that everything God gives us is always all of grace, nothing but grace, grace to the uttermost.”