Profanity
I'e been surfing lots of other blogs lately. There seem to be two main types: those that collect news and comment on current events, and those that are personal journals.
Mine falls into the latter category, of course. :) But, within the category itself are different types of bloggers; many use the space as a place to rant and vent their emotions. Unfortunately I see too many blogs using profanity, especially the "F" word, as parents euphemistically call it.
Henry Sloane Coffin wrote, "Profanity is a sign of an impoverished vocabulary; its users have no command of expressions for their strong feelings." Do you think this could be true?
Tonight at cell group (which is a small group of church members) we were discussing the third commandment, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain", or, as another translation puts it, You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God." (Exodus 20:7)
Angela told us about a comic strip she once saw: Jesus -- who was a carpenter before He began traveling around the country, teaching -- had accidentally hammered his thumb. Reacting to the throbbing pain, He swore, "Me!" I nearly fell off my chair laughing!
But there's more to misusing God's name than merely using it as a swear word. Angela pointed out that many times, we use His name to criticise or blame others ("How could you behave like that! You're a Christian!" -- does that ring a bell? *wince*); at other times, we use His name as an excuse. Like when we are asked to help out with something at church, and we don't want to, sometimes we say, "I'll pray about it and see what God says." In actual fact we have no intention of praying about the issue at all!
It was food for thought. Having been brought up in a very strict Christian family, I try very hard not to swear using God's name. Growing up, Mom forbid us to say, "Oh my God!" Even "gosh" and "gee" were forbidden because to her, "gosh" was a variant of "God", just as "gee" was a short form of "Jesus". Nowadays I find myself saying, "Oh my God!" more and more, but each time I do, my conscience kicks me in the you-know-where. :) So I don't have much of a problem when it comes to using God's name either for emphasis or as a swear word.
But I probably balance it out by misusing God's name a lot in the other two ways that Angela mentioned. Oh, dear. Time to re-think and change!