My Answer By Billy Graham
Q: What's wrong with cussing once in a while? My wife gets after me and says I shouldn't do it, but I find it's a pretty good way to let off some steam when I'm upset. Anyway, you hear so much profanity on TV and in movies today that no one thinks anything about it. — L.S.
A: Dear L.S.,
Sadly, you may be right; our society has become so saturated with profanity and coarse language that we seem to have grown almost indifferent to it. We have become like the people of Jeremiah's time: "They have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush" (Jeremiah 6:15).
But that doesn't make it right in the eyes of God—and He is the one you should be seeking to please. When we use the name of God thoughtlessly or blasphemously, it shows that we don't respect Him or love Him as we should. When we angrily condemn someone in God's name, it shows that we are trying to put ourselves in God's place—for only He is the true judge. Our language also reveals our hearts—and if we constantly use filthy language, it demonstrates the impurity of our inner lives.
This is why one of the Ten Commandments says,
"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name" (Exodus 20:7). The Bible also says, "Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place" (Ephesians 5:4).
The real issue is this, however: What place does God have in your life? Have you committed your life to Christ—or have you left Him standing on the outside? Face your need of Christ today, and then open your heart and life to His cleansing power.
Q: Is it wrong to have questions about God? I am a Christian, but sometimes things happen to me that make me doubt my faith, and I begin to wonder whether or not I'm really on the right track. — F.G.
A: Dear F.G.,
God wants us to trust Him completely and totally—and when we doubt, we aren't trusting Him as we should. The Bible warns that the person who constantly doubts God and fails to trust Him "is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does" (James 1:8).
At the same time, God understands our doubts, and the most important thing I can tell you is that He wants to take them away and increase our faith. Do you remember Thomas, who was one of Jesus' closest disciples? When others told him that Jesus had been raised from the dead after His crucifixion, Thomas refused to believe it. He declared, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it" (John 20:25).
How did Jesus respond? He didn't rebuke Thomas or tell him just to have more faith. Instead, Jesus came to him and showed him that He was alive. The response was immediate: "Thomas said to him, 'My Lord and my God!'" (John 20:28). Tradition says Thomas became an evangelist and preached the Gospel as far as India.
When doubts come, don't let them take root in your soul. Instead, turn them over to Christ. Most of all, saturate your heart and mind every day with the truths of God's Word, the Bible. Satan will try to turn you away, but in Christ "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19).
Q: My wife and I come from different church backgrounds, but it never bothered us until last year, when we had our first child. Now we're having to think about which church we'll want her to grow up in. How can we decide? — L.McC.
A: Dear L.McC.,
Elsewhere in your letter, you admit that one reason this hasn't bothered you before is because neither of you has taken your faith very seriously. Is God perhaps using your new daughter to remind you of your need for Him—not just for her sake, but for yours as well? I suspect so.
In other words, our faith shouldn't be something we just keep on the shelf (so to speak) until we face a crisis, when we take it down and dust it off and hope it might do us some good. If that's all God means to us, then something is missing, and we ought to face up to it and remedy the situation. After all, if God means very little to you, can you honestly expect Him to mean very much to your daughter as she grows older?
This is why I challenge you first of all to open your own hearts to Christ and make Him the foundation of your lives and your family. God loves you; He loves you so much that His Son was willing to give His life for you. Respond to His love today by confessing your sins to God (including your sin of ignoring Him), and then asking Christ to come into your lives.
Then ask God to lead you to a church where His Word is taught and lived. This may be a church you came from, or it may not; don't be bound by the past. The most important thing is your spiritual unity as a family, so you may "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18).
