The Bible offends everybody — that’s the wonderful thing about it! To the strong it says, you’re weak. To the proud it say, what you’re most proud of is worthless. To the self-righteous it says that only Jesus is righteous. To the vain it says that beauty passes. To those that claim that we please God by doing “more” it says that we please God only by doing less. And so on.

In this case, it offends those who feel good by attacking the word choices of others. The Bible tells it like it is, all right, and that offends some American Evangelicals who want their Bible to be a tame rulebook.

Thanks for the comment!

I certainly am not advocating the use of filthy speech, especially not for shock value. I see this essay as a corrective reminder to those who adopt arbitrary standards of vocabulary and then treat them as if they are God-ordained. Word are generally just words; it is the ideas we communicate that are most important. Jim Herriot can use “the S-word” matter-of-factly in his delightful books about his life as a vet without offending any reasonable person, while most people would be very offended if I said “You’re full of poop!” to them.

The Bible, as it happens, has a little of both.