“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” Exodus 20:7
“Oh my G-d!"
A dear friend of mine recently brought to my attention that she often hears “Oh my G-d” said aloud in the lobby of our church building. This exclamatory phrase, perhaps used by all of us at one time or another, greatly disturbs her, and rightly so. It should disturb all of us. By biblical command, we should treat God’s name with utmost reverence. If we sing on Sunday morning, “Lord, I lift your name on high!” Then on Sunday afternoon we exclaim, “oh my G-d!” in casual conversation, then you’ve just lifted the name of the Lord down low. You’ve reduced it to a common, trivial expletive.
Let's together admit that we can do much, much better with revering God’s name. Put the stones down. Let’s not persecute anyone who casually uses this phrase and hasn’t really given it a thought. Let’s confess it as sin and move on. Commit to treating God’s holy name with the greatest care. Eliminate from your vocabulary “oh my God” as an exclamatory phrase. And no, “oh my ga”, “gosh”, “gee”, “Geesh”, “Geez” aren’t suitable either. Why? For the same reason I try not to say "freakin". Thanks for asking, though.
Remember, you can’t change yourself on your own power; allow the Holy Spirit to renew and transform you, every detail of your life…even your exclamations! He will give you the grace & conviction you need to gradually change your language into the God-revering vocabulary you've always wanted.
The Magnificat
1 year ago
6 comments:
Hey there, Murray-bob. Glad to know you're blogging. Will we see you in a few weeks? I hope so. Hug your sweet wife for us. Blessings to you!
That is such a good reminder -- I get really frustrated with a co-worker who claims to be a Christian, but that is absolutely her favorite phrase. Of course, I am guilty too. So, thanks for the reminder to just let the Spirit work on me.
I bet the lady in the foyer heard ME. I love to say the name of God, both as expletive and in reverence. I figure David was using it as an expletive many times in the Psalms. That's my take on it anyway. My fear is when the day comes that I no longer care to say it, or when I have alzheimers and don't remember it, or the day comes when the law no longer allows me. My friends used to smuggle Bibles into the USSR back in the day. All anyone could do was whisper God's name. The hungry people would offer $20 wanting nothing more than a single page ripped out. It's nice to be able to say OH MY GOD out loud and mean it and not have to hide. I always figure God smiles. I just can't believe he's that picky you know. Hey, thanks for your blog, and God continue to bless!!!!
You know I was NEVER allowed to say "gosh", "jeez", "sucks", etc. when I was growing up. It is hard to remember such things now when you become so desynthsetized (sp?) becuase you hear all of that and worse everywhere you turn.
I agree that we need to be more mindful inside the church building and in our everyday lives, but also remember that we, the church, are a hospital to the sin-sick. It is our responsibility to encourage them to look at their verbal usage and make it more pure to bring honor to God. We need to be careful not to shoot our wounded.
So maybe the person saying taking the Lord's name in vain is one who needs the Lord as much as we do!
You are right! We need to band together. It only takes a spark to get a fire going.....hee hee...like my song reference? Just for you Murray!
Murray - very well said! The "Oh my G-d" phrase is used so often, it seems people say it without realizing that they have. Worse than hearing an adult? Your three-year old son say, any combination of these phrases...unfortunately in context! TV, conversations at the store...it's hard to protect little ears all the time.
Blessings!
Donna Wright
I remember when I first met carl. He was working in the video lab and I was making a video. i knew he was Christian so I made a point to control my sailor-like tongue in the video. At one point, you can hear my start to say, "Oh, my G-d" but half-way through the G word, I switched it to Gosh. I thought I was doing so good, now I have to get rid of "Gosh" too?
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