What counts as "taking God's name in vain"?

[BlaineTog]

Jimminy Cricket is so far off that IMHO, there is nothing wrong with that expression. However, the expression used by the Catholic priest Father Greeley in his novels, “Jaysus”, IMHO, would constitute blasphemous use in vain of the name of Our Divine Lord. We hear such contradictory things these days from Catholic priests, that it is sometimes confusing. For example, one good priest gave a sermon recently on the necessity for respect and careful use of holy names. And why Catholics should use decent language in their speech. On the other hand, we have the novels of Father Greeley, where he has people using the name “Jaysus” as an exclamation.

As I said in my first post, “When the term used has become completely disassociated with God in general use and the only people who are aware of where it came from are linguists, I really don’t see the harm in it.” Obviously, “Jaysus” isn’t far enough from the mark to count.

But I don’t think having a character use God’s name in vain in a novel is necessarily a sin. I don’t know if it is, actually. It’s a question I would like answered.

 

[bobzills]

But I don’t think having a character use God’s name in vain in a novel is necessarily a sin. I don’t know if it is, actually. It’s a question I would like answered.

Why then do we hear sermons concerning how bad Hollywood is with the profanity we hear on TV and in the movies?