Profanity by Definition

by Adam Willingham

“O my God!” “O Lord!” “Good God!” “Jesus Christ!" These words are good and pure when used properly but profane and vulgar when used to express nothing more than surprise or amazement. A person might utter the precious name of the Lord when he merely steps on his shoelace, stumps his toe or hears a piece of juicy gossip. There is even a magazine/website entitled OMG, devoted solely to celebrity gossip. Even serious matters are no excuse to abuse the Lord's name, let alone trivial matters. But every day, everywhere we go, it is being done - whether it be at work, in town, on television, on the internet or even in our homes.

When the Lord’s name is not specifically abused it is often replaced with euphemisms that have their very origin in the words Jesus or God. I will never forget as a young boy while watching a television show at my grandmother's house, every now and then she would scurry in and turn the TV down for about two seconds. There was a song on the show with one of these euphemisms, and she wanted to make sure that word did not enter my ears. Isn't that wonderful?

Sadly, many of us have grown comfortable with hearing the Lord’s name in vain and perhaps find it less offensive than other vulgar language. You may not even notice when somebody uses it. How often do you turn the channel when you hear a "cuss word" but not when you hear the Lord's name in vain?

Do we not realize that profaning God's name is the worst language possible? It is profanity by definition. Profane simply means blasphemous or obscene, taking something holy and using it in any other manner than holy. The Lord’s name in vain should be to Christians utterly disgusting, repulsive and offensive.

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Exod. 20:7). This is the third of the ten commandments. Although the main point is to never use God’s name to confirm a false oath, a natural progression of that thought is to refrain from any trivial or irreverent usage of His name. Jewish scribes were so reverent with the name of the Lord that before they wrote His name they would dip their stylus afresh in new ink every single time. They did this so that God’s name would not fade with the rest of the words. We should strive to have this same regard for the holiness of that great and awesome name.

Although we are no longer under the Old Testament, the concept of reverencing God and Christ is unchanging, replete in the New Testament. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ..." (Eph. 1:3); "He is also head of body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything" (Col. 1:18); "Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe" (Heb. 12:28).

Blessing. First place. Reverence. Awe. This is how our holy God deserves to be treated. Why should we treat His holy name any differently? “Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever” (Psa. 113:2).  

 

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