"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7 NASB)
I am finally starting to realize that I must be getting old. I have said and thought a few times recently something I believed reserved only for the elderly. I thought (and quietly verbalized) the infamous phrase “I wonder if that punk can hear that stinkin’ music” as his car thumped by. Irritating music, albeit disruptive to my fragile and tenuous thought process at times, doesn’t irritate me nearly as much as blasphemy...the violation of the Third Commandment. As we continue my perusal through the Commandments of Exodus 20, I would like to look this one over closely. If I sound a smidge on the Pharisaical side, pray about it...you’ll come around. In an understatement tantamount to calling my public speaking skill only slightly less intelligible than Ronald Reagan’s, I think God hates sin. This sin of Blasphemy may be the most popular one of our time. More than irritating God like a thumping subwoofer, I believe God becomes righteously furious at blasphemy. Briefly, I would like to point out a few ways we commit this sin, and then discuss its remedy with you today.
We all know examples of using the Lord’s name in vain. “Oh My Gxx” or “Gxx Dxxx!” are only scratching the surface. O.M.G., Holy Cow, Heck, Gosh, Golly, Dang, Jeez, Jeezo-Pete, Criminy, Lord, and Gahhh are some substitutes for Jesus, God, or religious themes we commonly sub for the real thing. I could go on all the way to the sports section of the paper with a complete list. These words are a natural part of our vocabulary. We piously use them as Christians, thinking that the action is what counts, not our intention. Luke 16:15 (NASB) states this clearly saying “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” Ray Comfort, in his television show “Way of the Master”, explains it this way. “Blasphemy is substituting a four letter filth word of disgust with the Holy name of God.” Rather than spouting out an angry synonym of excrement, we insert the Holy name of God. Have you also noticed that no one screams “Buddha!” or “Mohammad!” when they hit their thumb with a hammer?
Another manifestation of this sin in our culture is our willingness to watch blasphemous movies and television shows. Visit www.pluggedinonline.com for movie summaries including a count of times God’s name was used in vain. Examples... Evan Almighty used blasphemy 9 times (in a “family friendly” movie), and “Momma Mia!” does it 18 times. Rated R movies are infinitely higher. Would you pay $25 to watch a movie that called your Mom crude swear words? Why then would we pay to watch as people slander the Savior and Creator of the world? Interestingly enough, censors on television shows will often leave the God part and bleep the Dxxx part out. This example is amazing yet insightful commentary on the misunderstanding of blasphemy. The website www.hollywoodandgod.com is another excellent, and quite persuasive, website relating to this subject.
So...why on Earth do we do this? I believe it is clear to me the more I look at it. You can boil it down to two possibilities. Either we don’t fear God or we don’t believe in Him. I challenge you to find me a different spin. The early Jewish scribes of the Bible were so concerned with not spelling Yahweh’s name right that they spelled it YHWH, hoping that by abbreviating it with reverence, perhaps God would not hold it against them. Incidentally, these same scribes would destroy copies of the Law that were less than 100% perfectly written without “typos”, stray marks, or anything that would bring shame to God. Today we only care enough to slightly veil the word with a similar sounding word, and then pat ourselves on the back for our devotion to God. My... have we come a long way?? We show the extent of our true devotion to God in the little stuff like this. As for me...guilty again! I am zero for eight on the Commandments we have looked at thus far. I don’t use the really bad versions of the words, but the substitutes fly off my tongue with ease. I watch movies that freely blaspheme as well. Amazingly, Jesus Christ died for me anyway! What a Savior! I am thankful for the Ten Commandments as a gazing pool to see and dispose of self-righteousness. I need all the help I can get!
It is time for all believers to revere the name of the Lord. Join me in correcting this inadequacy in ourselves. God is Holy and deserves better. Be intentional this week in what you say. Take inventory and make corrections, for His name’s sake! Email comments or suggestions to markapplegate@alltel.net.
Diet update: Currently 216.8 lbs... I have lost a total of 119.2 lbs. God is good, all the time!
Verse of the week: Psalm 86:11.
I am finally starting to realize that I must be getting old. I have said and thought a few times recently something I believed reserved only for the elderly. I thought (and quietly verbalized) the infamous phrase “I wonder if that punk can hear that stinkin’ music” as his car thumped by. Irritating music, albeit disruptive to my fragile and tenuous thought process at times, doesn’t irritate me nearly as much as blasphemy...the violation of the Third Commandment. As we continue my perusal through the Commandments of Exodus 20, I would like to look this one over closely. If I sound a smidge on the Pharisaical side, pray about it...you’ll come around. In an understatement tantamount to calling my public speaking skill only slightly less intelligible than Ronald Reagan’s, I think God hates sin. This sin of Blasphemy may be the most popular one of our time. More than irritating God like a thumping subwoofer, I believe God becomes righteously furious at blasphemy. Briefly, I would like to point out a few ways we commit this sin, and then discuss its remedy with you today.
We all know examples of using the Lord’s name in vain. “Oh My Gxx” or “Gxx Dxxx!” are only scratching the surface. O.M.G., Holy Cow, Heck, Gosh, Golly, Dang, Jeez, Jeezo-Pete, Criminy, Lord, and Gahhh are some substitutes for Jesus, God, or religious themes we commonly sub for the real thing. I could go on all the way to the sports section of the paper with a complete list. These words are a natural part of our vocabulary. We piously use them as Christians, thinking that the action is what counts, not our intention. Luke 16:15 (NASB) states this clearly saying “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” Ray Comfort, in his television show “Way of the Master”, explains it this way. “Blasphemy is substituting a four letter filth word of disgust with the Holy name of God.” Rather than spouting out an angry synonym of excrement, we insert the Holy name of God. Have you also noticed that no one screams “Buddha!” or “Mohammad!” when they hit their thumb with a hammer?
Another manifestation of this sin in our culture is our willingness to watch blasphemous movies and television shows. Visit www.pluggedinonline.com for movie summaries including a count of times God’s name was used in vain. Examples... Evan Almighty used blasphemy 9 times (in a “family friendly” movie), and “Momma Mia!” does it 18 times. Rated R movies are infinitely higher. Would you pay $25 to watch a movie that called your Mom crude swear words? Why then would we pay to watch as people slander the Savior and Creator of the world? Interestingly enough, censors on television shows will often leave the God part and bleep the Dxxx part out. This example is amazing yet insightful commentary on the misunderstanding of blasphemy. The website www.hollywoodandgod.com is another excellent, and quite persuasive, website relating to this subject.
So...why on Earth do we do this? I believe it is clear to me the more I look at it. You can boil it down to two possibilities. Either we don’t fear God or we don’t believe in Him. I challenge you to find me a different spin. The early Jewish scribes of the Bible were so concerned with not spelling Yahweh’s name right that they spelled it YHWH, hoping that by abbreviating it with reverence, perhaps God would not hold it against them. Incidentally, these same scribes would destroy copies of the Law that were less than 100% perfectly written without “typos”, stray marks, or anything that would bring shame to God. Today we only care enough to slightly veil the word with a similar sounding word, and then pat ourselves on the back for our devotion to God. My... have we come a long way?? We show the extent of our true devotion to God in the little stuff like this. As for me...guilty again! I am zero for eight on the Commandments we have looked at thus far. I don’t use the really bad versions of the words, but the substitutes fly off my tongue with ease. I watch movies that freely blaspheme as well. Amazingly, Jesus Christ died for me anyway! What a Savior! I am thankful for the Ten Commandments as a gazing pool to see and dispose of self-righteousness. I need all the help I can get!
It is time for all believers to revere the name of the Lord. Join me in correcting this inadequacy in ourselves. God is Holy and deserves better. Be intentional this week in what you say. Take inventory and make corrections, for His name’s sake! Email comments or suggestions to markapplegate@alltel.net.
Diet update: Currently 216.8 lbs... I have lost a total of 119.2 lbs. God is good, all the time!
Verse of the week: Psalm 86:11.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment