One of the more clear-cut vices in the\u00a0fighter pilot culture is profanity\u2014including the use of God’s name in vain\u2014which is rampant in the fighter pilot community. \u00a0Profanity punctuates the hyperbolic bravado of every fighter pilot’s speech.\u00a0 Some consider it a requisite to being a fighter pilot, much like the Navy clich\u00e9 of “cursing like a sailor.”\u00a0 Fighter pilots who do not curse do exist, though they are a rarity.\u00a0 In several cases I even knew fighter pilots who attended church regularly with their families but still used vulgar language.\u00a0 The temptation for any fighter pilot to use profanity will be strong, particularly if it was present in his past.\u00a0 Also, refusing to use profanity is difficult even for a strong Christian for one significant reason:\u00a0 constant exposure.\u00a0 Regardless of a Christian’s personal actions, the fighter pilots around him will still use profanity in their language and casual conversation.\u00a0 The continuous, daily bombardment of profanity leads to the greatest threat to modern Christianity:\u00a0\u00a0desensitization.\u00a0 When the words cease to be shocking it is only a short time before they don’t even seem to be wrong\u2014when they no longer seem wrong, it is easy to accept and then start using those words.<\/p>\n
One key way to prevent desensitization is to not be silent while others curse up a storm.\u00a0 Remaining silent conditions a Christian:\u00a0 The first time he hears profanity, he wants to say something but doesn’t.\u00a0 The second time he notices but doesn’t feel the need to say anything.\u00a0 The third time, he doesn’t even notice.\u00a0 Desensitization to a point that he no longer feels offense or embarrassment at sin is not a good thing; this same lack of shock and shame was listed by God as a reason for His punishment of the nation of Israel (Jeremiah 3:3, 6:15).\u00a0 Silence condones the actions of others, but worse, a Christian may inadvertently learn to accept the language he hears.\u00a0 Sometimes it takes a new Christian showing up and expressing shock to make an accepting Christian realize he has become desensitized to sin.<\/p>\n
While not all situations will be appropriate for a response, a quick reproach is a good way to communicate displeasure with profanity and prick the conscience of those who use it.\u00a0 For non-Christians, a brief and witty conversation that critiques profanity may establish the foundation of a relationship.\u00a0 For Christians, I’ve liked the pithy quote that “profanity is the sign of a weak vocabulary,” but the Biblical ordinance that praise and cursing should not come out of the same mouth is supreme.\u00a0 James says,<\/p>\n
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.\u00a0 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.\u00a0 My brothers, this should not be.\u00a0 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?\u00a0 My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? \u00a0Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water (3:9-12).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
James points out that profanity and vulgarity are inherently inconsistent with a Christian character.\u00a0 Profanity from a Christian is inexcusable.\u00a0 Under no circumstances should a Christian allow himself to use profane language or make excuses when he does.\u00a0 As James said, Christians should refrain from profanity because they praise their God and “kiss their mother” with the same mouth.\u00a0 More importantly, they should refrain from profanity because it’s incompatible with their Christian nature; profanity should be no more a fruit of a Christian’s life than olives the fruit of a fig tree.\u00a0 The Christian fighter pilot’s lack of profanity is often the single greatest distinguishing factor between him and other pilots\u2014and it is frequently the first doorway to the opportunity to witness.<\/p>\n
Return to<\/em> God and Country<\/a>.
\nGo to<\/em> ChristianFighterPilot.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the more clear-cut vices in the\u00a0fighter pilot culture is profanity\u2014including the use of God’s name in vain\u2014which is rampant in the fighter pilot community. \u00a0Profanity punctuates the hyperbolic bravado of every fighter pilot’s speech.\u00a0 Some consider it a requisite to being a fighter pilot, much like the Navy clich\u00e9 of “cursing like a sailor.”\u00a0 Fighter pilots who do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[2],"class_list":["post-72","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fighter-pilot","tag-military"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}