Oh my god !

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phil_at_dayboro

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Several times today, step daughter said the words oh my God .
I asked her why she kept saying oh my God, and in general, why do people say it,
While they have little if any faith at all…
Her response was that people say it when faced with an unbelievable situation,
Because the existence of a God is unbelievable ,
So I asked her did she believe , even though she has a Christian upbringing, and said no…
How would you respond to her opinion ,and by people in this in general ,with this quote ,
 
I teach the kids not to use such expressions casually and flippantly. It is probably ok to say “Oh my God!” when one sees a traffic accident, but not ok to say “Oh my God!” because a new pop song has just been released. The litmus test is whether it is an expression of prayer.
 
phil_at_dayboro said:
Her response was that people say it when faced with an unbelievable situation,
Because the existence of a God is unbelievable ,
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Tell her that’s completely illogical. Why would you say “my” anything that you don’t believe in?

That would be like me saying “Oh, my Zeus!”
 
phil_at_dayboro said:
Several times today, step daughter said the words oh my God .
I asked her why she kept saying oh my God, and in general, why do people say it,
While they have little if any faith at all…
Her response was that people say it when faced with an unbelievable situation,
Because the existence of a God is unbelievable ,
So I asked her did she believe , even though she has a Christian upbringing, and said no…
How would you respond to her opinion ,and by people in this in general ,with this quote ,
Click to expand...
You could ask why she doesn’t believe God exists and than go from there if you wish to try some apologetics.

Another suggestion would be to say straight after her taking the Lord’s name in vain “Blessed be thy name.” and leave it there, in any case it will show her that you believe in God and love Him very much which may also give her some pause for thought. I believe there are some people who are so desensitized to taking the Lord’s name in vain that sometimes they don’t even know they are doing it, it was very good of you to bring it up for her in a charitable way. 👍

God Bless

Thank you for reading
Josh
 
agnes_therese said:
Tell her that’s completely illogical. Why would you say “my” anything that you don’t believe in?

That would be like me saying “Oh, my Zeus!”
Click to expand...
That’s a good one 👍

And in any case he could say “If there is no God, why use the name in vain at all? and if your not sure, why risk it?”

Thank you for reading
Josh
 
I don’t think that most people who use that phrase do so with any specific intent or thought process behind it. It’s just a phrase to them when something incredulous happens. When my students use it, I try to inform then that many people find the phrase offensive and ask them not to use it at school for that reason. I tell them that it’s sort of like a fake prayer. When I was a kid, that sort of utterance was considered bad language and disrespectful. Now, kids are so used to hearing it, it’s just part of their language. They usually have no idea that it bothers anyone.
 
During lent I said I need to stop doing something.So I prayed about it and it was saying omg.Now I say oh my goodness.When I slip I say God forgive me.I really like the idea of saying Blessed be the name when some one around you says Gods name in vain.Thank you and God Bless you!
 
Allegra said:
I don’t think that most people who use that phrase do so with any specific intent or thought process behind it. It’s just a phrase to them when something incredulous happens. When my students use it, I try to inform then that many people find the phrase offensive and ask them not to use it at school for that reason. I tell them that it’s sort of like a fake prayer. When I was a kid, that sort of utterance was considered bad language and disrespectful. Now, kids are so used to hearing it, it’s just part of their language. They usually have no idea that it bothers anyone.
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Yep.

OMG is everywhere these days and most young people don’t have a clue that people could be offended by it.
 
Perhaps adding more prayer to it would wake her up to how often she says it or what the context is.

Oh my God…
holy is your name (or whatever you decide on)

I work in a job that has a public service side. One day I wasn’t able to do what someone wanted and he got very upset. He yelled “JEE-SUS CHRIST” (like a curse or swear word if you know what I mean). I responded with “have mercy on us.” He looked at me like I had grown another head and walked away.
 
phil_at_dayboro said:
Several times today, step daughter said the words oh my God .
I asked her why she kept saying oh my God, and in general, why do people say it,
While they have little if any faith at all…
Her response was that people say it when faced with an unbelievable situation,
Because the existence of a God is unbelievable ,
So I asked her did she believe , even though she has a Christian upbringing, and said no…
How would you respond to her opinion ,and by people in this in general ,with this quote ,
Click to expand...
I can’t really give a good answer as to why people say it generally, however, I think it’s because people don’t realize what it actually means today. I personally believe that phrase is meant to be an invocation, if that makes sense. When we say, “Oh, my God”, I take it as we are asking Him to help us with whatever situation we’re in, or if we’re trying to thank Him for all He’s done. It shouldn’t be used like the word “whatever” is. It should be used with care and gentleness.

As for the second part, if she doesn’t believe in God, why would she say that? Why would she call out to Him knowing He “doesn’t exist”? I would ask her that. I don’t mean that in a bad way or anything, but maybe she does believe and is afraid to say anything, especially if she went through a time where she didn’t have any faith at all.
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
Perhaps adding more prayer to it would wake her up to how often she says it or what the context is.

Oh my God…
holy is your name (or whatever you decide on)

I work in a job that has a public service side. One day I wasn’t able to do what someone wanted and he got very upset. He yelled “JEE-SUS CHRIST” (like a curse or swear word if you know what I mean). I responded with “have mercy on us.” He looked at me like I had grown another head and walked away.
Click to expand...
👍 I like that. You turned it into a prayer.
 
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