"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." (Exodus 20:7)
After a thorough study of the scriptures, the Reformers summarized what the second commandment means in this way:
"We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks."
The first thing most people want to know about this commandment is this: "What does the word 'vain' mean?" People wonder if "vain" means "self-obsessed." But it is best to understand "vain" as "hypocritical" or "without true depth or "in appearance only."
You see: If you claim to be a child of God (i.e., you invoke His name on yourself by calling yourself a Christian and seeking His favor thereby), then you cannot at the same time treat that name lightly. He is your God! And if He is Your God you will not use His name for such empty or false things as cursing, swearing, using satanic arts, lying or deceiving. When you do these things "in His name," you "drag His name through the mud."
In fact, if you claim the one, true God as your God, then you will act towards Him and live before Him as if He is just that. You will call on Him in trouble, because only God is strong to save. You will pray to Him and Him alone, because why pray to anyone or anything less? ... they are not powerful like Him and He is your God! You will praise Him and give Him thanks, because - as your God - every good thing in your life comes from Him and you know it
Ben: What is your opinion about kids and adults using "OMG" or "gosh" instead of God's actual name?
ReplyDeleteBen: I wish we would stop doing it. That's the short answer. Here's a slightly longer one. When Christians use "alternatives" so they don't "speak the word," we are still calling the phrase and its fuller meaning into everyone else's mind. In other words: Even when we "substitute" alternative words, We are STILL treating the name of God lightly, vainly. Instead, we should want everyone in the world to think as highly of our God as we supposedly do. And we should do whatever we can to encourage that! If that means sacrificing a few commonly-used keywords and phrases... that's a small price to pay. Wouldn't you agree?
ReplyDeleteBen: I agree with you. I don't use those alternatives either.
DeleteI do want to remind everyone, though, that the phrase: "Oh my God!" has a VERY admirable origin. "Oh my God!" was once an expression of surprise and shock in situations where we have no other person to appeal to. For example: If you were around on 9-11, some of the video clips that showed the airplanes striking the twin towers featured the voice of the videographer saying, "Oh my God!" Rightly said! In a tragedy like that, an appeal to God as our only help and deliverer is completely correct. However, since so many people have come to use "Oh my God" to mean nothing more than "Wow!" or "What a surprise!", I encourage Christians to learn and use a different phrase: "Lord, have mercy!" (You will find people who abuse this phrase, too, of course.)
ReplyDelete