In episode 97 we focused on cussing and it was one of the most played episodes of 2013

over a 30,000-placed date. Cussing is a big issue in life and increasingly in the church

and recently Philip Yancy, a best-selling author, read several memoirs and nonfiction

books written by authors he called Hipster Christians. And at the end of his experiment

he said the common essential ingredient in all of the books he read by those so-called

Christian hipsters is the presence of cussing, words forbidden by the FCC from being broadcast

on network television. This is not new, of course, just back in 2009 Derrick Webb released

a song about the AIDS epidemic with the S-word in it. It was bait to get Christians angry,

angry about the cuss word so the conversation could get spun around to ask, well, what

makes you more angry? A four-letter word from a Christian artist or 50,000 people dying

of AIDS every day. Now AIDS is obviously a massive tragedy today, but the language

raises a legitimate question. Pastor John is someone who aims to provoke people with

strong language yourself. Is it ever appropriate for a Christian to use cuss words and sermons,

books, music albums or online or anywhere in order to provoke others towards what appears

to be a noble and good ends? And maybe first I'll ask this, is this a new phenomenon in

the church? Well, it's not a new technique to use crude or offensive language to upset

an audience and then spank them that they are more upset by the language than the injustice

that was being lamented. So Tony Kompala did this 40 years ago, I remember it, and I felt

then and I feel now that it's manipulative. I don't like it. For those who think it's

a good idea they should ask this, would you approve of addressing a crowd of liberal

leaning Christians by referring to the sinfulness of being a practicing fag or queer? And then when

they get really furious over that language which they should, you say, oh, see, you're much more

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