Validating Vulgarity?
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© 2012 by Stacy Lynn Harp, M.S.
A few days ago someone calling himself a pastor bought my Fiverr gig with the intention of promoting a website that discusses following Jesus and how difficult it is. I’m not going to name this “pastor” or his website because he doesn’t deserve the publicity, that I know this post will bring him. However, I wanted to share this with you because I think it’s extremely important to understand why some people look to be validated for vulgar and divisive behavior.
What is Validation?
According to the dictionary, validation means the following:
1. to make valid; substantiate; confirm: Time validated our suspicions.
2. to give legal force to; legalize.
3. to give official sanction, confirmation, or approval to, as elected officials, election procedures, documents, etc.: to validate a passport.
Please note - in order to be validated, someone has to either MAKE it valid, or GIVE something to make it valid. What a person who is looking for validation wants to receive is generally APPROVAL.
So, in a nutshell, to receive validation is to receive approval.
Should We Validate Vulgarity or Immorality?
I know the answer to this question may seem obvious, but the reason I ask it is because there are multitudes of people who would absolutely say unequivocally YES to this question… and that’s the problem.
The answer to this question is NO. Under no circumstances should we, especially as Christians and the people of God, validate anything that is vulgar or immoral. Yet, we live in a day and age when the lines are blurred between what is considered right and wrong.
When I have a “pastor” trying to buy a service from me, which would have directed people back to his website, which has the vulgarity of a sailor written all over it, and that man thinks that I’m the problem because I don’t want to validate his vulgarity, as a fellow Christian, then we know we’ve fallen down the proverbial sewer.
When we see laws being passed that promote murder and because it’s considered legal, and we try to warn people about the destruction and heartache that comes with that “choice”, again, is it any wonder why abortion is the bloody stain on America that it is? Of course not….yet, in America we have validated that choice. We have said, as a country, that it is valid to kill preborn infants.
How Do We Know What to Validate?
We know what to validate because God gave us a conscience to show us what is right and wrong. People who have a seared conscience that has been hardened, don’t care whether or not they violate God’s rules. People like this “pastor” I mentioned, completely disregard God’s rules even though he knows what those rules are.
To put it another way, we naturally know what is right and wrong because God put that ability within each one of us. When we choose to go against that “little voice in our head” and act out on whatever action it is that we know is wrong, we get mad at people who correct us, God and the world.
I believe that this is why there is so much anger from people who practice things they know they shouldn’t. In the case of abortion being legal, we still see rage from people who hate pro-lifers because those who “choose life” are standing for what is right, even though the law says the pro-lifers are wrong.
When this “pastor” tried to get me to promote his vulgarity through my social media network and I told him that he was an embarrassment to the name of Christ, he got mad and wrote about it on his blog because he wanted someone to valid his vulgarity and say it was okay. Unfortunately, others in the church did validate him, but even though they did, God’s word didn’t.
True Validation Comes from God Alone
True validation can only come from God. I realize that’s a bold statement, but I believe it to the core of my being. The bible gives very clear directions for us concerning what is right and what is wrong. This is why the Ten Commandments are such a volatile issue. People who want to violate those commandments, want those commandments removed from the public square. Why? Because those words prick their conscience and convict them of their sin.
On the other hand, if we try our best to abide by the laws that God has given us, then we are not only happier people, but we aren’t so eager to go out and get validation from others.
Galations 1:10 asks the question, “Am I seeking the approval of man, or of God?” How you answer that question will determine how you live your life. It will also determine how much you hide your behavior from others and where you seek your approval.
In the case of this “pastor” who insists that vulgarity is cool and acceptable under the guise of authenticity, we found our answer. He is seeking the approval of man and shows us that his priority is the approval of man, over the approval of God. How we know this is that when confronted by the words of the Bible, where it clearly teaches us in Ephesians 4:29 and numerous other passages, to be careful what we say, he ignored it.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment.
Comments
HI Kent,
Thank you for agreeing with me. 
You make a great point about the media and how bad the language has gotten, and it's interesting because I think the media has influenced the church more than the bible in some cases. Thanks for commenting!
I'll let Jude comment for me. "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." OR should I let Paul? "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:1-2
This old codger believes that even on a navel vessel there is no need for vulgarity. Cussing and other nasty talk must surely be a product of satan. The spell checker here wants me to give satan a capital S but I refuse to do it. He doesn't deserve it.
So, I agree with Stacy. Vulgarity is down right embarrassing to be around it in person or in the movies. My movie hero, John Wayne didn't need to use it to get to the top of his profession and win the Oscar as best actor, and I don't think vulgarity is appropriate in any movie.
People bring filth into their living rooms via their televisions and subject their little ones to it. That is down right wrong. These little ones will grow into adults thinking that kind of talk is OK and they will continue the cycle with their own little ones. And so it goes.
I have known many preachers/pastors who cuss as good as anyone when they are not behind their pulpits. I've seen it first hand. Some I have confronted about it and more than one replied that surely Jesus talked that way when he went in among the wicked to preach to them, sighting prostitutes. So we have church jumped a lot only to find more preachers bathed in sin.
I have my doubts about the Jesus idea. These vulgar preachers used that approach to validate their own filthy speech. So here I have come full circle to agree with Stacy's line of reasoning.