the lord in vain

[neko_no_baka]

I had this imagined conversation where I "took the Lord's name in vain", a bad no-no. It's in the Ten Commandments, eh

Comments

[cinnamon_digory]

the really important thing is to have a relationship with God :D

He's cool!

[neko_no_baka]

recently, yes, that's been the new line of thought in Christianity. Notice, though, that it's not consistent in Christianity. Certain sects of Mennonites and other orthodoxy Christians are firmly rooted in the belief of being good people, standing witness and so on, to get into heaven. (in the general case of Mennonites, we're just waiting for our suffering on earth to end for the joy of heaven. cheerful lot, aren't we?)
It's mainly us youngsters who's rooting for the relational bit. (jokingly, I blame televangelism)

He's cool, eh? So God has a gender now, eh?

[cinnamon_digory]

no, just He was a guy when He came to earth, and it's SO much easier than S/He... or however that would be written...

[christinaathena]

The Lord's name is Yahweh. That's how he's referred to in the Hebrew bible, though most translations render it as "The LORD". (That command, for example, actually said "Do not take Yahweh's name in vain"). The use of the Divine Name fell out of use in the later books of the Old Testament, as people feared the consequences of misusing it, and also, as the notion of Yahweh as not just the God of Israel but the ONLY god took hold, it became seen as redundant to refer to God with a name, as there were no other gods to distinguish him from

[neko_no_baka]

I always thought it was silly for the Bible to say to have no other God when it claims that there is only one God. (Which I therefore figured that names didn't matter when refering to the "Ultimate Reality", as my world religions textbook says

[christinaathena]

Well, as I don't believe there is actually a god, I would say that the name the Hebrews gave him is, by definition, his name. The people who invent a character get to name him. :-) I suppose one could argue that that was simply the name he adopted when speaking with the Hebrews (in fact, the author of God: A Biography argues that, in fact, the scene in which God gave his name to Moses actually described God inventing a name for himself)

If the Biblical God does exist, he seems more like bipolar than multiple personality ... *G*

The -im in Elohim is actually a plural suffix, although I believe the term was treated as a singular noun in Hebrew.

[darthmoyle]

To quote a play we read in high school to go along with /this/ thread, "God made man in his own image. Man being a gentleman returned the compliment"

[bookish_nerd]

According to John Shelby Spong, in his book Why Christianity Must Change or Die, "taking the Lord's name in vain" has nothing to do with saying "Oh my God" or other similar expressions. The commandment only means you're not supposed to break promises you make "in the Lord's name

[christinaathena]

Heh. Yeah, a lot of people do seem to attribute rather petty things to God. I doubt that the Creator of the Universe is really concerned with the outcome of a football game, for example. :-)

[darthmoyle]

Besides, I'm saying "Oh MY God", not Oh YOUR God", right? You don't necessarily know for 100% certainty my God is the exact same as yours. As there are many different people in the world, our /concept/ of God is different anyway. Plus, we don't actually say "oh my God" nowadays and expect from the sky a voice to say, "YES, WHAT IS IT?" NO, it is used now as an expression of shock or disbelief. and I am writing these comments at 2:45 in the morning when I should be asleep. Go me.

[noyer2]

Funny enough, was having a similar discussion with one of my sister's friends the other day on this very topic.

My understanding has little to do with the use of language and more about what people DO in the name of the Lord, the abuse of such uses. Case in point: the Crusades. A bunch of people killing innocents "in the name of the Lord" so that they can be "saved." If that isn't using it in vain, I don't know what is. It's about the misrepresentation of God and the Lord's commands (I'll keep from assigning gender here).

Of course, we can never know the Lord one hundred percent. But there are some clear actions taken in the Lord's name that I'm pretty damn sure are not what he inteads, such as the idioctic "fundamental Christain" right which claims God hates homosexuals. Did these people even read the whole bit about God loving EVERYONE?

[wisling]

The physicality of people really makes those physical reverberations in the air that become an interpretation in someone's mind actually matter. Putting something off as 'just words' is comparable to viewing murder as simply a halting of electrical impulses in a biological machine. Words matter, but I like everything else you said.

[darthmoyle]

This is what happens, Darth Moyle calls you a freak.

FREAK!

[neko_no_baka]

I laugh at you, that's what happens!!