Taking the Lord's name in vain?

[Catholic555]

If in regular conversation a person uses common, lesser phrases such as “jz" or "jper’s creeper’s” or “oh my g*sh,” do they count as taking the Lord’s name in vain? I try not to disrespect God out of love for Him, but I do occasionally blurt these things out. Could they be serious enough to be mortal?

 

[Lief_Erikson]

Jeepers and oh my gosh are not taking God’s Name in vain. At least I really don’t think they are. It’d be rather ridiculous if God’s Name was “Jeepers” or “Gosh.” I’m sure glad those aren’t some of his Biblical titles .

As for “Jeez,” that’s one I’ve been wondering about too, because it seems to be short for “Jesus.” Because I suspect that that’s true, I don’t use it. But it may be okay. I don’t know the etymology .

As for these being mortal sin, you don’t have to worry about that. No one commits a mortal sin accidentally. No one ever has or ever will, because part of the definition of a mortal sin is that it has to be deliberate and premeditated, not an “act of passion.” Even if you accidentally said, “Oh my G*d,” this would not be a mortal sin. It would be venial. It would have just slipped out and a mortal sin has to be deliberate in order to be a mortal sin.

You could say, “Oh my G*d,” Saturday night and still receive Communion on Sunday if you took the Lord’s Name in vain in the heat of the moment or by accident rather than premeditatedly and deliberately.

This doesn’t give us license to say that. It’s still a sin of grave matter, something we don’t want to commit. However, I think it’s very unlikely you will ever commit a mortal sin by taking the Lord’s Name in vain. Taking the Lord’s Name in vain is something people do by accident, as a rule. It would be rare for someone to deliberately and premeditatedly do this with full knowledge of how evil it is.

On the other hand, someone who has a habit of doing this, knows it’s gravely sinful and makes no effort to reform their habit could very easily be committing mortal sin, because then, even though each time it happens it’s by accident, there appears to me to be a certain premeditation because the person knows they’ll do it again and take no effort to prevent it.

The main point I wanted to make with this, though, is that for anything to be a mortal sin, it must be both premeditated, deliberate and committed with full knowledge of its evil.

 

[Catholic555]

Thank you very much. I’ve been really serious about growing in my faith (second year in college) and I’m really examining where I tend to stray off the path. This is just one of those areas that bother me because I am still trying to get it under control.

 

[Lief_Erikson]

Sounds great! Keep the questions flowing.

But knowing what makes a mortal sin is critical. It’s committed with full knowledge, with premeditation and it’s committed deliberately. So that’s much harder to commit than is often thought.

Unless it’s habitual and you’re at the point where you aren’t even trying to resist.