G-d D-mn (Darn) It!!

I have a confession to make. I recently stubbed my toe on the corner of the wall while walking full stride across my living room. The immediate shock of the impact sent me to the floor, writhing in pain. Before I knew it, the evil angel on my left shoulder screamed out, “G-d Damn It!!!”. Immediately, the good angel on my right shoulder screamed, “Don’t use the Lord’s name in vain, you idiot!!

I’m sure this has happened to most of you as well. Sometimes, things just come out, especially when we’re in pain or angry. This made me think about the real meaning of God’s admonition to not take His name in vain.

Did God really give us a whole commandment simply telling us not to use His name as a demeaning expletive when we are upset about something or someone? 

As always, I first went to scripture to find an answer. 

The third commandment is found in Exodus 20:7, which in the King James version says,  “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.” 

We often use the word vain to describe someone who is self-centered or full of themselves.  

These are people who walk by you with their noses raised as you lay on the floor in agony after you stub your little toe, muttering under their breath, “I look much more fabulous than you after I stub my toe!”

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “vain” as “having or showing undue or excessive pride in one’s appearance or achievements (conceited); marked by futility or ineffectualness (useless); having no tangible value (worthlessness).

So, how did this word become synonymous with “cursing”?

Most translations of Exodus 20:7 use the word “vain.” However, the NIV translation interprets the verse as follows: “You shall not MISUSE the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who MISUSES his name.”

The word “misuse” broadens the meaning of the commandment and opens up a whole new avenue of sin for us to consider.

So, other than using the name of God as an expletive, what are some different ways that God’s name is misused in our society today?

In my opinion, the most prevalent misuse of God’s name is not using the name of God in salty speech in moments of stress, pain, or anger. Rather, it is using God’s name, image, and word to justify the unbridled pursuit of wealth, social status, and political power at all costs. 

Name It and Claim It

The  “Prosperity Gospel” movement is a perfect example of how God’s word has been warped and misused to justify worldly greed and unchecked ambition by conflating the pursuit of wealth with the will of God. 

We’ve all seen or read about celebrity prosperity pastors asking for money to support their luxurious lifestyles, including mansions, expensive cars, and even private airplanes! Come on now, you know Jesus would never lower his standards to fly coach after all!

This false gospel proclaims that God’s primary and most important goal for your life is to be as wealthy and successful as possible. This implies that wealth is the primary indicator of God’s favor or lack of favor in your life. 

The theory is that if you have a lot of money, you must be living according to God’s will and are therefore “blessed.” Conversely, if you are poor, you must be acting against God’s will and, thus, have lost his favor. 

Its adherents also claim that all you need to do is remind God of a promise to “bless” you by repeating an out-of-context verse of scripture and using it to “claim” what you want.  

I’m sorry, but I just can’t wrap my head around telling the creator of the universe that He owes me something, and He better pay up! The audacity of this has to be amusing to God, if not downright offensive. 

We know intuitively as Christians that this is a false gospel. Jesus did not die for us on the cross and ascend to heaven to establish a giant ATM at the foot of the throne of God to dispense worldly manna in measure based on the number of prayers and petitions received. 

Jesus clearly emphasizes that the treasure we should pray for is spiritual in nature. It can only be obtained by doing God’s will and pursuing His goals, not our own. 

Jesus makes this plain to us in Matthew 6:19-21 where he talks about the nature of the treasure we are to pursue: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

John tells us in 1 John 5:14-15  that rather than praying for worldly riches, we are to pray for the true blessing of  God’s will:  “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

James further adds that in addition to praying for the right things, we must pray for them with the right motives. “You do not have because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3). Notice that he identifies the wrong motive as “to get your pleasures” instead of God’s will.

Scripture clearly shows that whether or not we are blessed materially is inconsequential to determining one’s standing with God. 

No matter our economic status, we always win by doing His will, even if the “win” is not realized as treasure until we reach heaven. 

The Wealth of Health

Many followers of prosperity theology also believe that the blessing of good health and healing is a measure of an individual’s belief and standing in God’s eyes. 

God will bless you with healing and good health if you have faith and lead a moral life (and donate money to the private jet fund!). 

Conversely, if you don’t have enough faith and lead an immoral “lifestyle” (or don’t donate enough money to the private jet fund and your pastor has to fly coach!), you will be “cursed” with bad health and not eligible for God’s healing. 

This theology echoes the Pharasitical system in Jesus’ time, which considered the physically challenged or those with diseases such as leprosy as cursed by God, either by their sin or the sin of their ancestors. 

However, Jesus stood in stark opposition to this treatment of those considered cursed by his society. We see an example of His scandalous compassion for the “unclean”  in Mark 1: 40-45: 

“A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”  Immediately, the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.”

The scandalous part was not that he healed the man. It was that he touched him. The Jews believed that just touching a leper would transfer God’s curse to them along with the disease. 

Paul tells us in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose”

All good things, including good health,  do indeed come from God. However, we live in a fallen and broken world that operates under the grace of free will given to us by a Creator whose love is uncontrolling and unconditional. Because of this, bad things will happen to us, but not because God wishes them so.

God’s love is uncontrolling because He does not force us to love or even believe He exists.

His love is unconditional because He still loves us despite our rejection of His love and disbelief. 

As Paul puts it in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This scandalous sacrifice at the hands of enemies is called grace. 

This free will also applies to nature and our bodies as well. Sometimes they cooperate with God’s goodwill, and sometimes they don’t.

Emperor Christ

In 312 AD, while preparing for the Battle of Malvern Bridge, the Roman emperor Constantine noticed a cross-shaped image in the sky over the battlefield. 

Feeling this was a fortuitous omen, he ordered that the Roman eagle be replaced with the symbol of Christ on his army’s banners and shields.

The victorious Constantine attributed his army’s victory over his rival for the throne, Maxentius, to Christ’s direct intervention. 

For the first time in recorded history, the blood of an enemy was shed by a nation in the name of Jesus rather than it being shed FOR an enemy as commanded by Jesus.   

Shortly thereafter, in 313, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which stated that Christians were free to practice their religion throughout the realm without persecution. 

Finally, in 380 AD, Emperor Theodosius I issued the Edict of Thessalonica, which enshrined Christianity as the Roman Empire’s official religion. 

This marked the official beginning of Christendom, transforming the church from a powerless, persecuted minority to an all-powerful ally of the state. 

For the next few centuries, the church embedded itself with the governing powers of the Western world, declaring that the decrees of popes and the kings they chose had the authority to speak for and rule in God’s name.  

History is littered with examples of how this conflation of God and government justified all kinds of evil committed by leaders and societies under the guise of a mandate from heaven to carry out God’s will as interpreted by those holding the political reins of power.

The thousands of Jews and Muslims killed in the Crusades and the torture and slaughter that took place during the Inquisition are a couple of examples in the history of the church where the name of God was misused with devastating consequences. 

Modern Political Idolatry

Today, we see the ugly head of Christendom rising again in the form of a theocratic form of political ideology called “Christian Nationalism.” 

Christian nationalism is a movement that stands for replacing secular forms of government with a Christian theocratic system that aims to impose a particular brand of Christianity on the nation.

It is perhaps the worst misuse of God’s name and image because it attempts to confer God’s power on our political leaders and systems, transforming them into idols (also in violation of the second commandment). 

Like an idol, it confers the power of God onto something that has no real power.

Paul warns us about this in 2 Timothy 3: 1-5. He tells us that there will be those who “will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”  

Of course, most agree that on an individual level, none of these attributes are good, and they are certainly not in accord with the fruits of the spirit, yet we tend to overlook them when selecting our leaders. 

This amnesia of character occurs because we often confuse the fruit of the spirit (heavenly treasure) with the fruit of the world (worldly treasure). 

The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5: 22-23). These are not just the means to an end. They are the end.

Practicing them will not always result in worldly wealth, health, and treasure. They are the indicators of a life lived as an image bearer of Christ.  

However, the world seeks a different end, measured by wealth, power, beauty, social status, and many other surface attributes that are not considered worthy of pursuit according to God. 

The means to achieving these ends are often at odds with the spirit of God but are ultimately justified as long as the goal is achieved. This creates a society where the means, even evil means, are judged “good.” How much evil has been committed because of this “any means necessary” philosophy?  

Moreover, as Paul says, conflating God’s will with these political leaders and their agendas gives them an artificial appearance of godly power. In doing so, we deny the real power that comes from God alone, which ironically can only be perfected in weakness instead of the overbearing might of empire. 

The Myth of a “Christian Nation”

This movement also contradicts the very nature of the kingdom of God as proclaimed by Jesus and the apostles because it declares that the United States is the “new Israel.” 

Its adherents often imply that all the promises made to Abraham and the prophets apply to our nation and its people just as they did to ancient Israel.  

However, the Old Covenant with Abraham pertained exclusively to his descendants, who lived in a specific region and time defined by the borders of a particular land God had marked out for them to inhabit and rule. 

Under the Old Covenant, this was the “Nation of God,” the last nation with borders considered as such. 

In contrast, Jesus came to usher in the New Covenant, which was (and is) an inclusive agreement extended to all who believe in and follow Him regardless of race, gender, nationality, or any other man-made societal or political group. 

Paul clearly states this in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

The family of God consists of all believers, or as Paul calls it, the body of Christ, which is the new real estate in which the spirit of God lives. 

Paul clarifies this in 1 Corinthians 12: 13-24: “We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people.”

In 1 Peter 2:5, Peter further says, “You are also living stones. As you come to Christ, you are being built into a house for worship.”  

Again, Peter makes it clear that God does not reside in one specific building or “holy” piece of real estate but in each of us, individually and corporally, as the nation of God, represented by the body of Christ.

“Warriors” for Christ

Finally, followers of this movement believe that the goal of the “Christian Nation” is to use any means necessary to force others to follow Christ through government and even military power if required. Is this the way Jesus did it? Is this what Jesus has called us to do?

Jesus certainly told us to go forth and make disciples of all nations. However, He did not ask us to go into all nations and make people become disciples through force or fear.

This is a newer version of the Christendom of the Middle Ages, precisely the opposite of what our Lord instructs us to do. 

We do not follow a God of war who expands His kingdom through violence or force. We follow a humble and merciful God who invites us to join Him in bringing His kingdom into the world as His ambassadors by reflecting His love, grace, and mercy into a world of hate, condemnation, and unforgiveness. 

However, our mission can never be accomplished if we let our allegiance to any earthly kingdom or leader become a form of idolatrous religious patriotism that supplants our allegiance to the one and true king.   

Remember that God did not send an emperor, president, general, or pastor to save us. The only one he has sent and will ever send is His son, Jesus Christ, who came to us in human form as a poor Palestinian Jew born in the backwaters of the Empire, far from the seat of power. 

To say that he has sent someone else “in his name” by “providence”  is idolatry at best and blasphemy at worst. 

A New Way

These are just a few examples of the misuse of God’s name, word, and likeness in today’s world.

I realize that some of my ideas may be challenging to some traditional mainstream theology taught in many churches.   

My own conclusions about these issues come from my reading of God’s word guided by the Holy Spirit as well as my own life experiences.

My hope is that all of you do the same. You might just discover a new way of thinking about old ideas that will bring you closer to God’s calling in your own life. God Bless, and be careful when walking barefoot!