Myths of a Biblical proportion...

Hello, peoples. As was mentioned in the last post, this is actually being written beforehand, and hopefully being uploaded automatically on Monday. If not, I should be able to do it when I get back, but this should work.

Every now and then - not exactly regularly, but when I think it's about time to do another one - I'll attempt to tackle a few myths/concepts that have arisen regarding the Bible/God/Christians. Some of this will probably be a bit controversial, especially when I get a few more people looking at this, rather than just a couple of friends. (NB: Thanks for sticking with me, guys!)

So, for this first one, I'll just take on one misconception that seems to be reasonably common amongst other people, to start off with. Please note: my views do not represent those of every Christian, or even your average Christian. So have a go at me for what I say if you like, but not Christians in general.

Firstly, there seems to be an idea that all Christians don't swear. Period. At all.
This is partly true, partly wrong. Many Christians that you see will try to keep their swearing to a minimum, yes, especially anything that's just an 'add-on' between words, so to speak. But we're just as likely to let go a few choice words when we bang ourselves as you are. In some areas, there really isn't much of a thing against swearing at all. It's just how they talk.
And, in fact, if you look at the Bible, you'll see that Jesus himself said a few things you probably wouldn't want your kids saying. For example, he called the Pharisees (for those unfamiliar with the term, they were religious teachers) 'a brood of vipers'. Vipers are, hopefully evidently, snakes. A brood is the offspring - or in this case, the sons. So he was calling them sons of snakes. The phrase bears a resemblance to a commonly used insult of today, which I'm sure you should be able to figure out without my help. Admittedly, it was probably said in a slightly different manner that it is usually used today; but I wouldn't know, I wasn't there.

So, in conclusion, yes, your average Christian will probably swear less than most people, but it's not exactly a strict taboo across all Christians. We're simply encouraged to 'tame the tongue', or avoid angry outbursts - which is fair enough advice for anyone, really.