In defense of clean speech in Christian fiction

I'm big on leaving vulgar language and curse words out of Christian fiction. It just seems so obvious that they don't belong in it, but it is amazing how many people aren't bothered by it and defend it. It is also amazing how many Christian authors and publishers are putting it in their books. The publishers can be understood somewhat. Some of the biggest offenders are owned by secular companies, but still... what are they thinking?!

I had one man respond with derision to a post I did about it. He said something to the effect that they are just words, and we make of them what we want to. He was trying to make the point that it doesn't matter if there are curse words, because they are just words and words don't mattter. I'd like to see how he'd react if someone called his wife and/or daughters a few really bad words. Would he stand idly by and think "those are just words, and only mean bad if I choose to think that way"? I highly doubt it.

I even had a woman say she would have no problem with sex scenes in Christian fiction. Really?! How much cursing and sex can you put in a Christian book before it ceases to be Christian? And excuse me, but there isn't much difference between sex scenes and pornography! Not all pornography is pictorial, it can be literary also.

It amazes me that these same authors would most likely not use these words in real life, but find it fine to subject their readers to them. Adam Blumer, a great author in his own right, and a guy I consider a friend, has done a series of blog posts about this. They are excellent, well thought out, and worth reading. I am linking to them all here, and advise anyone who reads Christian fiction to read them:

In Defense of Clean Speech In Christian fiction:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5