Taking God's Name In Vain?

[StephenG]

[janovick]

Of the Commandments God gave us, probably the most frequently broken is the 2nd one, "You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. For the Lord will not leave unpunished him who takes His name in vain."

To use God’s name in a curse is a natural habit for a lot of people, but according to the 2nd Commandment, it’s a good habit to get out of. Movies and TV shows are big offenders in breaking this Commandment. Movies in which our children watch their favorite actors talk with a fowl mouth, is not endearing these actors to eternal life in Heaven.

When a child or young teenager hears the famous "F" word being used repeatedly by some actor in a movie, its makes quite an impression. But as bad as that is, I believe it is a bigger sin to use God’s name in vain. You will notice the 2nd Commandment states "For the Lord will NOT leave unpunished him who takes His name in vain." This is a statement by God Himself, telling all of us, there is a big price to pay when you make vulgar statements, either casually, in anger, in jest, or otherwise.
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[wahedmenelnas]

anyway
its not the deal
oh my gosh ,, og my god
its not the great problem
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[asusreviews.com]

I totally agree with you marinaroz. I say "O my gosh" when I say that, I have no intent of it meaning "Oh my God." Some people do not like it when you say "Oh my Gosh" and therefore I try to say "Oh my goodness." I figure maybe it is a little lighter?
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[Xtreme]

I think perhaps one of the points of not blurting out "Oh my God!" in everyday situations is that God, in His almighty splendor and glory, does not will for Himself to be directly referenced in a crass or trifling manner.

Basically, we should reverence and set God above other things rather than tossing Him about like it is meaningless to speak of Him.

And so, this in mind, I think it might perhaps be theologically acceptable to say "Oh geez" or "Oh my gosh" sometimes. Still, it doesn't indicate particularly wonderful conversational skills, in my opinion.

I would personally suggest disciplining oneself to avoid using even watered down phrases like these, but I'm somewhat more hard-pressed to quickly come up with a decent scriptural or theological reason.

[wellingtonboots]

I don't think saying "Oh my gosh" is taking God's name in vain. The whole point of not saying "oh my God" when ever something doesn't go your way is because you are intentionally blaming God for all that is wrong in your life. Also the name of God is holy and therefore you shouldn't really drag it out everyday or you will lose your reverence for him.

I find it perfectly fine to say "oh my gosh" as long as you are not blaming God in anyway. It's like saying "sugar" instead of "Sh**". So don't worry people don't go to hell for saying oh my gosh. Neither I think will people go to hell just for saying oh my god too many times as long as you don't mean any harm by it.
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[Myst]

I'm going to disagree with most of you and say that it probably is, but my reasoning is a little round-a-bouty (much like my languages is apparently).

So say I say "Oh my gosh" or even "Oh my goodness." Surely both of these are variations of "Oh my God." Now, you may say that you don't think about God when you say those phrases. But are you really thinking about God when you say "Oh my God"? So I think that the reasoning that saying "Gosh" or "Goodness" in its isn't any better.

This follows on to other swear words as well. By saying "sugar" or "fudge" instead of other swear words, you are still not changing your meaning. Sure it might not be the same as words that people think are swear words, but you are still using the words to the same purpose, which surely is just as bad?

[Xtreme]

Perhaps not JUST as bad. But still not good.

Most people will not accept this, though, simply because it's easier to baselessly argue your point of view rather than change a habit that has been years or decades in the making. Not to mention that the habit is essentially universally accepted and has no apparent immediate physical dangers.

So yes, I, personally, think that "Oh my gosh" is not AS EVIL as "Oh my God," but is still bad and surely not the best thing to say.

And again, it certainly isn't reflective of good conversational, social, and speaking abilities, if nothing else.

[Grimoire]

[dylan2xs]

Well I ahave to agree.. it's offensive,but what can we really do ? I think I have lived almost all of my life saying 'Oh my God' when annoyed and not thinking anything of it... i know it's wrong but it would be hard to break a habit like that... what should I say? gosh ..WOW! .. that's awesome but Isn't "oh my gosh" the same as "Oh my God"? At least I think it is. I know Gosh have no meaning and is just an exclamation but everybody ise it refering to God so it's just a substitute word i think.. you are not actually using the Lord's name, but you were aware of the connection, as well as thinking it. The Lord will judge your thought life as well as your carnal life here on earth.

[ThreeCubes+Duck]

Even as a Christian, I acknowledge Grimoire makes a good point. (Though his last line is a little uncalled for.) It may be worth pointing out, however, that there are some that still stick with their religion even when it does have 'apparent immediate physical dangers'. Also, we need to agree on what constitutes a baseless argument. I agree that there is no scientific base for Christianity, but then I don't think that there is any against the existence of a god either (Occam's Razor, yes, but I personally think that the existence of God is 'simpler' than any other explanation I've come across).

With regard to the OP, I believe that intent is far more important than the actual word - simply because the meaning of a word comes from its intent rather than sound. Sarcasm is a clear example of this. Thus, if one takes gosh to mean what you would if you said otherwise, it is still an unwarranted and disrespectful reference to God.

[clpo13]

If you think about the reasons for saying things like "Oh my God" or "Oh my gosh," it's not a really that disrespectful. Those are generally expressions of shock or horror. It would make sense to see them as a call for God's attention or something of the sort. A man gets hit by a bus and you instinctively call out "Oh my God!", perhaps subconsciously hoping God will take pity on the man. In that respect, replacing God with gosh seems kind of silly, considering there have never been any deities named Gosh, and I highly doubt a deity with a name like that would really care about people getting hit by buses.
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[egedge]

Although gosh isn't as bad since you aren't exactly saying god, both have the same meaning so could be taken and referred to as the same way. Whether or not you meant to say gosh on purpose, gosh is what people seem to think is a nicer way of saying "oh my god". Still, gosh is meant to be meaning as god. I think people just think its a better way of saying it.