Misuse of God's name

[Jay3gsm]

I may be in the wrong forum here, I couldn’t really decide which would be best. Feel free to move if necessary.

I have a problem. Recently I have become very intolerant to people who abuse/misuse the name of God. It really, I mean really, bugs me. For purpose, I’m going to list a few now. Which, if any, would be acceptable? How do you deal with this when you hear it? I interrupt whoever is talking and tell them they shouldn’t misuse the name of God. I use it as an evangelization opportunity, (Hence why I chose this forum) an opportunity to witness the faith. But I sometimes feel I am overbearing, and maybe a little too pedantic in my constant picking people up on this point. The things commonly said are:

“For God’s sake!”
“For Christ’s sake!”
“Oh my God!”

These are just a few of the abuses, probably the most common I hear. Now the first two, I think clearly, are an absolute no no. The name of God, of Christ, is being used in place of a curse or swear word.

The last, is usually used in exclamation of surprise. I said to a work colleague at lunch that saying it was wrong, and another colleague who was sat at the table asked why. I explained about the misuse of God’s name and the reply I got was that used in exclamation that phrase was not a blasphemy, was not unacceptable.

What do you think? Am I being overbearing in constantly bringing this to people’s attention?

 

[MSParrott]

“For God’s sake!”
“For Christ’s sake!”
“Oh my God!”

These are just a few of the abuses, probably the most common I hear. Now the first two, I think clearly, are an absolute no no. The name of God, of Christ, is being used in place of a curse or swear word.

I feel the same way, but I have unfortunately been guilty of saying all of the above. (The middle saying makes me cringe, though ) But now that I am trying to have a closer relationship with God I find that I am less tolerant of people who say them and am really trying to be careful of what comes out of my mouth.

I remember one of my sister’s telling me that everytime you say the Lord’s name in vain it makes Jesus cry. Now I try to remember that all of the time since I would NEVER want to do that(!) and it seems to help.

What do you think? Am I being overbearing in constantly bringing this to people’s attention?

I don’t think that is overbearing at all - it is not only your right to tell someone that it is offending you, but also necessary to defend God and perhaps make the other person stop and think.

 

[AnnaRose]

Unfortunately, many people are ignorant of the fact that they should not use the name of Our Lord disrespectfully. If one doesn’t speak up, how are they to know they are doing wrong?

I have relatives that use His name and I say…“eh,eh,eh,…we don’t say Our Lord’s name like that”. …Say, “Oh my goodness or sassafrats”.

With it being one of the 10 Commandments …I believe God is very serious about this.

Know Christ, know peace. No Christ, no peace!

 

[patg]

“For God’s sake!”

Why not assume the person is saying “For gods sake”? “god” is a generic term for any deity, real or imaginary or pagan or whatever. You are the one capitalizing it, not them.

“For Christ’s sake!”

“Christ” in not a name at all, it is the English term for the Greek word Χριστός (Christós), which literally means “The Anointed One.” The word may be misunderstood by some as being the surname of Jesus due to the frequent juxtaposition of Jesus and Christ in the Christian Bible and other Christian writings. There is nothing particularly sacred about it.

“Oh my God!”

Once again, why not assume it is “Oh my god!” There have been countless gods created by humans, what’s one more? If you are capitalizing it when you say it, that is your problem!

What about just saying “Jesus”? Jesus was a common name throughout history, especially in the first century and is not in itself sacred at all.

Obviously I am being somewhat tongue in cheek here but this sort of thing might be helped by a reality check like this.