The Ten Commandments: The Name of God

"Thou Shalt Not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain." Exodus 20:7

"It's not God's fault if you stub your toe."

As God continued to reveal The Ten Commandments, He shifted his focus from who his people worshiped to how. As their law giver and Father, God instructed the Israelite people not to use His name lightly, with the ominous warning that those who did would not be held guiltless.

Jesus Christ further explained this Commandment during His Sermon on the Mount. Referring to practice of swearing by God's name, He said: "Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool... Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." Matthew 5:33-37.

Today, it is growing more and more difficult to find somebody who won't take God's name in vain.

Why Is It So Bad to Disrespect God's name?

What we say changes who we become. It influences our behavior, our feelings, and our thoughts. The words somebody could say about us may upset us and bother us, but the things we say about them can affect us so much more. As the Savior once said, "...that which goeth into the mouth [doesn't defile] a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." We can defile our opinion of others with sarcasm, criticism, and speaking badly of them. This is why I feel that this commandment is so important.

God wants to have a loving relationship with us. He wants us to not only obey Him, but to love Him and be loved in return. When we say disrespectful things about God, we damage our relationship with Him. We hinder our desire to know Him and to follow Him. A lack of respect for God's name makes every single commandment more difficult to obey, and so we often loose the blessings we should have received!

In addition to God's name, we should be very cautious in using biblical terms such as Damn or Hell. If we use these words to condemn others, how can we expect God to not use them to condemn us? We must also never use vulgar terms which degrade the Human body, for when we do, we are also degrading God's body in our eyes. In short, we should avoid saying anything that can create disrespect towards God, our body, or our fellow man.

"You said what? To whom? That's Disgusting!"

Ideas to Follow This Commandment

I wouldn't recommend starting a swear jar. That leads to an awkward moment when you're able to pay off debt because of the money you saved swearing like a sailor.

Give Ourselves time to think before reacting
Sometimes swearing comes in when we react to something, like a stubbed toe. If the time comes when we find ourselves on the verge of dropping bombs, we need to clamp our mouths shut. If we can give ourselves at least five seconds to think about what we're going to say, we'll be able to correct our language before it escapes our mouths.

Think about what we're actually saying
I think a lot of the time, we use swears "just for emphasis" without actually considering what we're saying. If we think about our language, we may realize that we've been saying some creepy, gross stuff. That horrible realization alone could straighten up our talk.