To wish people would stop saying 'Jesus' all the bloody time

[Sortyourlifeout]

I can't read a thread on here without someone saying "Jesus Christ" or "Jesus wept" or similar.

I'm not a prude AT all and I have no issue with people swearing but as a Christian I find it highly offensive when people throw Jesus' name round in a negative way, without a thought for others' feelings and religions.

Most people wouldn't dream of using words that were offensive to other religions so why is it acceptable when it's 'Jesus?'.

This is a genuine message to ask people to PLEASE think before they post/speak.

I do find it odd how much respect we are supposed to show people’s belief that there is some kind of all-knowing being out there forgiving people, testing them by killing people etc etc.. and on top of that actually worshiping it too.

Allah literally means God in Arabic. Christians in Arabic countries call God Allah. So your issue is that on a mainly english speaking forum people are using the english word rather than the Arabic one?

Is it okay if I say Diw because I am Welsh? Is it just which language we are speaking that's the issue?

Why do your rights as an atheist trump hers as a Christian? A tolerant society is always paradoxical to some extent, in that it doesn’t tolerate intolerance.

My dad says 'Jesus wept' and I don't like it, or any use of 'Jesus' as a negative exclamation because he was a real person and it's disrespectful

Is this a joke? You’re worried about offending a carpenter from 2000 odd years ago? Jesus Christ on a bike etc etc etc

@SimonsCow me too. I went along with it until I was a pre teen, then I was forced to carry on, be confirmed and continue attending weekly until I left home at 18. I am very logical, about to be diagnosed with ADHD it seems. Once I had seen how batshit it is, I couldn't unsee it.

I would suggest that is because Christians are not so stupid that they go around murdering people who say things they find offensive towards their God. We live in a time in which followers of religion are becoming less prevalent. The UK is no longer considered a Christian country. Personally I am not a believer and I find it truly annoying as a nurse with a scientific back ground when I see loads of posts on facebook next to a child who is dying with cancer beseeching the Lord to save this child. Considering how many people Ive nursed with cancer, many of whom were religious and still died, along with all the people who are killed in wars, I dont understand how anyone thinks praying will help. For me, when I hear people saying The Lord will take care of us..., its not only an easy way to shift responsibility from ourselves to an unseen entity but a rather misplaced sense of safety.

I'm not the OP but as a Christian, I find it offensive because I believe that Jesus died an excruciating death so that I can get to heaven. I'm not going to argue the doctrinal aspects of my faith, but generally people dont use Jesus's name as a way to invite him into a situation. Its used as a swear word, or in place of one. When I think about what Jesus did on the cross, I feel a deep sense of respect and reverence, and using his name in a way which isn't prayerful or conversational about him, generally isn't borne out of respect for him. If my next door neighbour died for me, I would make sure that I only ever spoke about them in the most glowing, respectful terms. I feel the same about Jesus. I dont say Oh my God, or even OMG unless I'm actually speaking to God.

In saying that, I also believe in free speech. A Christian friend asked me to sign a petition to get a certain song off the radio as it had really crude lyrics about Jesus in it. I didn't sign it because free speech is important to me and everyone is on their own journey and has their own beliefs and perspectives. When I hear people using Jesus' name as a swear word, I cringe, very deeply actually, but people are free to say what they want, whether I like the content or not. My non Christian friends know not to say 'Jesus Christ' around me, but I didn't ask them to. They just understand that I would find it almost hurtful and don't. Ultimately, it feels horrible to hear when you love Jesus but everyone has their own conscience to look after, and it's not on mine.

In reality no christians alive today follow the teachings of Jesus.

At the time of Constantine there were essentially two sets of christians, the Paulines that ended up as the basis for the new Roman church and the others were the original christians that were related to Jesus and his apostles; e.g. James the Just.

The original lot were all jewish and believed it wrong to allow gentiles into their religion. So that, along with Constantines concerns about the Desposyni (descendants of Jesus) being a threat to his authority led to Constantine creating his official version of christianity by merging some of the contemporaneous religious christian texts with practices of the Sol Invictus cults of the time (such as Mithras where the christian bishop mitres come from).

You can’t be a true follower of Jesus without being jewish, despite the lies of Paul (the man of lies described in the dead sea scrolls).

Cheese and rice! Gosh darn it!

I'm partial to a cheeky 'flip' when things are getting tense

Because "SANTA!" just doesn't have the right feel.

Oh, and Jesus didn’t die on the cross either, he and the cross were taken down in less than 24 hours; no wonder he could continue preaching for 11 years as told in the dead sea scrolls.

His “death” was allegorical for his “excommunication” by his jewish “superiors”.

But I know most christians are loony literalists with no interest in real actual historical research or a greater level of understanding. Sheep indeed.

Yes, I was going to say this. So technically it is blasphemy, but so removed from modern day offensiveness that I think it's fine.

I do use OMG but when my children were younger I tried to stop them saying Oh God, or Jesus, because I do find it slightly offensive and especially from children. But although I consider myself a Christian and we do sometimes attend church (which is mostly empty these days....), I accept that language evolves and most people don't give a stuff. On a hiding to nothing I'm afraid, OP.

Almost every credible historian would disagree with you.

Yep Paul was causing trouble and division from the get go. The best source for any Christian is the Gospel of Thomas.

‘Human’s’ who?

I'm not a Christian, but would never say Jesus or some of the other more ridiculing phrases using his name or 'Christ'.

You'd say it on an occasion where you are frustrated or else a different, most likely offensive phrase, could be substituted, so it's different to the more generic 'Oh my God' mostly used to express surprise.

Just because I don't believe, doesn't mean I'm not sensitive to the fact that others do... So what's the harm in using an alternative phrase to respect their belief? And just because something is commonly done or part of the culture doesn't automatically make it right or acceptable.

I say Jesus Christ, Jesus wept, Jesus tonight & oh my good god fairly frequently in an attempt (successful) to stop saying fuck, shit, fucker & so on as I have a little girl.

I didn’t think these would be offensive.

As a person of faith I don’t like it either OP, and hearing or reading JFC really makes me wince.

But I also prize freedom of speech very highly and therefore think it’s unreasonable to ask people to modulate their language to avoid giving offence.

I don’t think anyone has a right not to be offended.

I asked ChatGPT if, in non Christian cultures, there are terms in common use, equivalent to ‘Jesus Christ!’ Or ‘oh my god’. Unsurprisingly:

Yes, there are equivalent terms to 'Jesus Christ!' or 'Oh my God' in non-Christian cultures that are commonly used as interjections or expressions of surprise or shock.
For example, in Arabic-speaking cultures, it is common to say "Ya Allah!" (Oh Allah!) or "Astaghfirullah!" (I seek forgiveness from Allah) as expressions of surprise or shock. In Hindi-speaking cultures, it is common to say "Ai Bhagwan!" (Oh God!) or "Haye Ram!" (Oh Lord Ram!). In Japanese culture, "Kami-sama!" (Oh God!) or "Buddha!" are commonly used as interjections.

I agree. There was a post upstream that actually made me feel a bit sick but people are free to say it, whether i like what they say or not.

Some years ago I read something that said in English we swear sexually – fuck, cunt, bollocks and so on – whereas in Scandinavia they swear religiously, so “The Devil!” is as emphatic to a Swede as “oh fuck!” is to us. (I have no idea whether this is actually true).

Interestingly, times have changed since I was a child. Now the really offensive taboo words are the racist epithets. You can say fuck and shit on TV now but if you use the n-word or the p-word you’ll be in trouble.

Bet those making comparisons with Islam also claim that "we aren't allowed to call it Christmas anymore"....

Can I just point out that (99% of) the same people who get offended by this 'blasphemy' seem to disregard the bit in the Bible where it tells you not to swear on the Bible, if they ever need to give evidence in court?

That’s an interesting point how what is really offensive has changed.prob for the majority of British people the terms mentioned by the OP are just not offensive any more.