Profane Swearing | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 1, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 27.

Profane Swearing.

Of all open infractions of the Ten Commandments, profane swearing is said to have as little excuse as any other conceivable. For in the commission of most sins the devil presents before the sinner some apparent gain. It may be unlawful, but it has profit of some sort in it for the sinner. For instance, a man steals in order that he may get plunder; he drinks to satisfy a perverted appetite; he indulges in lust to satisfy passion; he tells falsehoods to avoid punishment; he kills for money or revenge; but swearing is said to be biting at the devil's hook without any bait upon it at all, or anything to tempt the soul to do it. It has been well said that it satisfies no desire, gives no pleasure, acquires no property, makes no one happier, wiser, or better. Many times, of course, it is the result of an outburst of anger, but in many other cases it seems to be purely mechanical. Let the words be choice words.