Unholy, hurtful words have consequences. My definition of unholy, hurtful words are ones that inflict pain on people because of race, religion, or gender. Some of the consequences are violent ones as people are assaulted. Some consequences are emotional ones as people continually strive to maintain dignity and worth in the continual bombardment of degrading speech.
In my opinion, unholy, hurtful words reveal a soul stained with loathing towards others. I believe these stains are learned from other adults or from a personal experiences that generalize a specific race, religion, or gender.
In short, unholy, hurtful words are not pleasing in the sight of the Lord.
I think it is unreasonable, if not impossible, to unlearn or nullify an experience. They are what they are.
In my opinion the way to address the issue is be an imitator of Christ. Be an imitator of Christ by being clear, gracefully, that we do not accept their use because of the indignity and pain they cause another child of God to experience.
We can be imitators of Christ by letting people know plainly and clearly that unholy, hurting words are in opposition to the faith on which we stand.
As imitators of Christ, we can also point out that there are choices as we confront these situations. One choice is awareness through education and conversation with people experiencing unholy, hurting words. Another choice is to apologize and commit to compassionate behavior towards people whose life experiences we don't understand. Another choice is to remain silent thereby perpetuating the use of unholy, hurting words.
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