Taking the Lord's name in vain: What does it mean? What does it look like? And why do so many Christians take this command lightly?
Exodus 20:7 - “You shall
not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him
guiltless who takes His name in vain.
"in vain": in
an improper or irreverent manner
There is the obvious
application of this, when people use God's name as a swear word. Consider this explanation from an excerpt of an article written by pastor Darrell Ferguson:
When people say, “Oh my God!” as nothing more than an expression of
surprise or some other emotion, and God is really the last thing on their mind,
they are profaning the Holy One. That is a serious sin. The third commandment
is “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” The word vain
means “empty.” To utter the name of God when one is not actually referring to
God is to use His name in an empty way.
As a believer, it bothers me when I hear this (on TV or movies), as much as, if not more than hearing other cuss words. But what bothers me more is when I hear fellow believers use this type of language. I cannot count the number of times I hear a Christian say, "Oh my God!" or see someone who is a believer use the Lord's name in vain on their Facebook status. Now, don't get me wrong, I know Christians make mistakes and we all have sins that we struggle with, and I have struggled with my language at times too. That is not what I am talking about. I am talking about those who say it and don't even perceive it as doing something wrong. Why is that? Is it just something that has become so socially acceptable by our culture? Should we, as Christians, defend and uphold the holy name of God?!?
Pastor Darrell continues:
It is noteworthy that when even the secular culture, when they invent
expletives, makes them out of the most sacred and holy concepts. They are taken
from the holy Scriptures. When a person wants to be profane he does so by
taking the greatest realities and reducing them to a meaningless, empty
expletive. The naturalists claim to believe that the greatest realities in
existence are physical things, such as the stars. But when they hit their thumb
with a hammer you never hear them yell out, “Oh sun, moon and stars!” Or get
angry and say, “What in the name of Mt.
Everest Mount Everest , and the Pacific Ocean are not holy things. You can’t make them
profane, because they already are profane, temporal, earthly things. It is
interesting that even the world seems to know intuitively what is truly holy. If
you cut someone off in traffic, he might scream something about our precious
Lord being consigned to eternal hell. But you never hear someone yell out his
window, “You Buddha reincarnated as a toad!”
They will say things about Jesus Christ, but you never hear anyone say,
“Oh Mohammad!” In order for the
profanity to be profanity it has to start with something that is truly holy. (The whole article is worth a read. Here is the link: Pastor Darrell Ferguson's article page - Articles are listed in alphabetical order. Scroll toward the bottom and click on 'Swearing')
Is that the only way we can take the Lord's name in vain? I believe there are at least two other applications of this. Another way treat the Lord's name with emptiness is when we take on his name (by calling ourselves Christians), but don't act accordingly. As Christians we are called to do everything we do "in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Colossians 3:17). There are some who only use the title 'Christian' when it is convenient or live their lives in such a way that no one would know they are a Christian unless they said so. I believe this is also taking the Lord's name in vain.
The next thing I say may be controversial, and I don't mean to offend anyone, but I think we are taking the Lord's name in vain when we say, "God bless you" after someone sneezes. This is something that I have been convicted of recently (especially after reading Pastor Darrell's article). Now, before you just pass me off as some fundamentalist nut, consider the following:
- First of all, the practice of saying "God bless you" after someone sneezes has its origins in medieval superstitions when they believed that when someone sneezed their body was expelling evil spirits. So, they would respond with "God bless you," hoping that God would literally bless that person (although again the belief was deeply rooted in superstition).
- Secondly, most, if not all people say it as an automatic response to someone sneezing as if to say, "I want to acknowledge that you sneezed, and I want to give you some sort of polite response." Few, if any actually mean to pronounce a blessing of Almighty God on someone just because their allergies are acting up. This is taking God's name in 'vain' (treated with emptiness or devoid of meaning), because we taking the name of God and reducing it to a polite way of responding to a sneeze. I doubt anyone really has God on their mind when they respond this way.
