Ohio Scumbags

At last, we now have a scientific, objective explanation for potty-mouth pollution at Xenos. It is, perhaps, one of the most unique and controversial issues surrounding Xenos Christian Fellowship (XCF) – from Columbus to Northeast Ohio, Cincinnati, and everywhere else Xenos fellowships appear in the state – cussing seems to follow.

Please understand, this is not an effort to condone cussing, since it is a crass and ignorant form of expression, no doubt, and yet cussing somehow permeates our culture. From the Oval Office to the factory floor, people unleash foul language, and follow it with a standard apology: “Pardon my French.” So of course the dirtiness leaks into the informal, public prayers and – more rarely, but undeniably – in public teachings at XCF.

Before reading further, if you are under-age, please take note: don’t cuss! Underage people especially get in big trouble for cussing, since it is an adult-only activity. So whatever this article means, please do not read it as an endorsement for potty-mouths!

Now a national survey released last week can help us understand why Xenos is so dirty. In case you missed the glaring headlines blasting across the nation, Ohio was declared the “heart of it all” – but not as you might think:

• “The swearing heart of it all: Study finds Ohioans curse more than anyone else…”
• “Study finds Ohioans cuss more than anyone else in the nation”
• “Ohioans love their cursing”
• “What the #@$&!? Ohio Curses More Than Any State in America”
• “WTH? Survey shows Ohioans swear the most in the country”

This was big news coming from a vast survey, and many New Yorkers sighed with relief to learn about Ohio’s dirt. As one article explains it:

Marchex used data collected from 600,000 phone calls to business across 30 industries. The company scanned for curse words and linked the frequencies of these words to all states. They found that people in Ohio are more likely to curse…Ohioans curse more than twice the rate of Washingtonians, according to the data. Washingtonians curse about every 300 conversations whereas Ohioans swore about every 150 conversations…In second place for the state which cusses the most, Massachusetts. Third is Arizona, fourth is Texas and fifth is Virginia.

Christian groups are notorious for extreme censoring of any and all cusswords, or words hinting at such filth, like WTF or WTH, or words like “crap” which sound somewhat dirty (to be fair, there is controversy whether “crap” is a cussword). Yet Xenos was always exempt from the global Christian community, even going so far to print shirts proclaiming that “Cussing is not a sin” and wearing them at prominent Christian conferences (drawing more than a few stares).

Now that we know Xenos was born and bred in the most-cussing state in the nation, there may be reason for compassion from our more cussing-conscious brothers and sisters. If it is true that “cussing is not a sin” (as my previous blog on “Cussin’ for Christ’s Sake” demonstrates), then Xenos is in the same, uneviable position Paul found himself, at times:

1 Corinthians 9:21-22 (NLT) When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ. When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.

Since we live in the “most-cussing state” of Ohio, all our friends, neighbors and families are undoubtedly big-time cussers. It would be a shame if Xenos became holier-than-thou towards other, less-fortunate Ohioans suffering with potty-mouths. May it never be!