Taking the Lord's name in vain

[MontereyMatt]

I have a question about what constitutes taking the Lord’s name in vain. I know that it is wrong to use those phrases which include the Lord’s name along with curse words. But what about saying such things as “God knows I tried…” or “Good God Almighty” or “Oh, God, I’ve had enough of this”? What about saying “Oh, Jeez” (which I assume is an abbreviation of Jesus’ name)? I hear them said quite often. I wonder about the first two examples in particular. Nothing bad is being said, it seems to me; the first is acknowledging that God is all-knowing, and the second is words of praise. It seems a better thing for an exasperated person to say than certain other words and phrases. Is it a sin to say these things which I have mentioned? What does “taking the Lord’s name in vain” involve?

 

[SMHW]

If the examples you give are being used as exclamations rather than trying to convey some idea to or about God so I think they most likely are sins against the commandment to refrain from taking God’s name in vain. How serious a sin probably depends on the context.

Actually context is quite important. The sentence, “God knows I’ve tried,” could be a truly informational statement regarding God’s knowledge of one’s actions. But it can also be used as a cry of exasperation in much the same way an expletive would be used. And then there are all the shades of meaning in between. In my opinion this particular statement is a borderline oath.

As far as words like “Jeeze”, I don’t know if there is an official Church teaching but I think it’s a good idea to stay away from those that are rather obvious euphamisms. But words like “gosh” which is actually a euphamism for “God” seem to have lost the connection to the original meaning.

 

[kaymart]

I heard the term “Jeeze” use a lot in my area (NJ) but I never connected the two. I thought it was poor pronouncation here…either “Jeeze” or “Geesh” for Gee. I don’t think I ever heard it used in that way.

 

[Melissa]

To take it from another angle–since we’ve just been going over the first three Commandments (I homeschool) …

What is required by the second Commandment is that any time you use the Name of God, you do so in a respectful manner. I’d include the ‘disguised’ usages–the idea here is to try to stay as far away from the line (taking the Lord’s Name in vain) as possible–that God’s Name is used only in a reverential manner, and by so doing, one can avoid breaking the second Commandment.

Sure, it’s difficult, because it seems like these days, one is likely to be surrounded by people using God’s Name in all sorts of angry, disrespectful ways–and by hearing it so often, it becomes easier to let that language slip into one’s own usage. However, it is still very important to try to control one’s tongue, and it’s better to stay as far away from the cliff edge as possible than to see how far one can dangle one’s toes over the edge while keeping the heels on solid ground.

 

[Aaron_I]

Perhaps the most important reason to avoid using God’s name is to keep its reverence intact. For example, consider someone deciding that they don’t need to genuflect with both knees for adoration or that they don’t need to fast before receiving the Eucharist. Overtime their actions will seep into their thoughts and they will have a reduced respect for the Blessed Sacrament. Of interest is that the Israelites only said the name of the God one day per year, The Day of Atonement. If you put forth the effort to avoid using the Lord’s name in vain, you may just find that the Lord’s name holds a certain reverence to it when you use it for a proper reason. Remember, at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bend.

 

[paramedicgirl]

MontereyMatt:

I have a question about what constitutes taking the Lord’s name in vain. I know that it is wrong to use those phrases which include the Lord’s name along with curse words. But what about saying such things as “God knows I tried…” or “Good God Almighty” or “Oh, God, I’ve had enough of this”? What about saying “Oh, Jeez” (which I assume is an abbreviation of Jesus’ name)? I hear them said quite often. I wonder about the first two examples in particular. Nothing bad is being said, it seems to me; the first is acknowledging that God is all-knowing, and the second is words of praise. It seems a better thing for an exasperated person to say than certain other words and phrases. Is it a sin to say these things which I have mentioned? What does “taking the Lord’s name in vain” involve?

This is covered by the second commandment**You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.**This commandment commands us to always use God’s name with reverence & respect, as well as the saints’ names and all things holy. By this commandment, we must always be truthful and faithful in taking oaths and vows.
This commandment forbids us to swear using the holy name of God or Jesus; it forbids cursing & calling on God to witness a lie. It forbids blasphemy, which is insulting language that expresses contempt for God. Nor can we use God’s name casually, as in the expression of surprise or anger.

 

[Honoria20]

paramedicgirl:

Nor can we use God’s name casually, as in the expression of surprise or anger.

This is the part that I have been guilty of in the past and never gave much credence to it till I was convicted myself, felt guilty after I have said Oh God or Jeez causally and with a little contempt. I think that Jeez*** is*** a shortened version of Jesus.

When I get really angry sometimes it starts to slip out and then I’ll say " Jesus, Mary and Joseph, give me strength." I really have to check myself on my sometimes irreverence in using the name of God , YHWH.

 

[ChristianWAB]

Taking the Lord’s name in vain is probably one of my biggest pet peeves. I actually avoid saying things like “jeez” as well as the obvious ones, but in my humble opinion, I say that it’s moderately comforting to know that those who say “jeez” and “gosh” instead of “Jesus” and “God” as exclamations are at least making an effort to eschew blasphemy.

Things like, “God knows I tried” are fine in my view as long as you’re really talking about God’s knowledge of your efforts. My wife told me not to use the Lord’s name in vain the other day after saying, *“God as my witness…” *

I explained that I was asserting the truthfulness of the situation I was describing by emphasizing that even God almighty could attest to it. Then I remembered Matthew 5:37 and agreed that my saying “God as my witness” really wasn’t necessary.

My nephew (27 years old) is big on blaspheming with no regard to how others feel about it… and he is just horrible with it. Not too long ago, he had come to me looking for advice about his girlfriend problems.

During the conversation, he used the word “Christ” in the middle of a vulgar euphemism for having sex and I just lost it (I can’t even bring myself to quote it – that’s how bad it was). I screamed, *“Is that really, truly necessary?!?!” *

I apologized later for losing my temper, but not for my stance on blatant blasphemy. It’s everywhere and I just can’t stand to hear it.

 

[trumpet152]

In reality the commandment states “Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH in vain.” It’s a specific name. Now, we don’t typically call God YHWH when when we pray, or even think of the name. But if YHWH hears the prayer of one who calls him by the name “God” and respects that as a name to be known by, than we should not use it in vain either.

As for “Jeez, Gee, Gosh” and so on, who cares? These are not the real name; we don’t call YHWH “Gosh” or “Jeez.” There is no sin in these words.