Taking the name of the Lord God in vain, blasphemy, is not a matter of words as much as a matter of the heart. It is all in the context.
Oh my God!
Contrast the use. See this phrase here, Psalm 59:1, where the Psalmist says it to God [and Psalm 83:13 in a prayer], or hear it in the market as someone casually takes God’s name in vain. Two contrasting effects.
The words are perhaps the same. But the effect is quite drastically different. Words in and of themselves are not evil. The heart that says them can be. And words can be used for evil. The context changes the meaning.
Your heart changes the words and makes them blaspheme, or not. Your heart affects (changes) the meaning and the resulting effect.
Irreverence and disrespect, or lack of respect – results from the use of “Oh my God” in a casual context: using it as an interjection, being flippant, taking-out the divine “God” and making it a disrespected “god”.
What difference does it make? Imagine Jesus, who is God, standing there with you as you flippantly use His name. “Oh my god, what a crock!” That is disrespectful of God. That is blasphemy. Imagine that. That works for me.
OMGjesus.org uses this phrase as a respectful prayer directed to God. 1 Our prayer:
Oh my God
Jesus!
YOU are incredible, oh Lord.
May this site
help answer questions
and lead a few folk
to accept you
as their Lord and God.
FOR MORE:
See the term in the dictionary. blasphemy:
Babylon/Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary:
1 a : the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God
b : the act of claiming the attributes of deity
2 : irreverence toward something considered sacred or inviolable
Babylon/Community created content:
1 blasphemous language (expressing disrespect for God or for something sacred)
(hypernym) profanity
2 blasphemous behavior; the act of depriving something of its sacred character; “desecration of the Holy Sabbath”
(synonym) profanation, desecration, sacrilege
(hypernym) irreverence, violation
Footnotes
- as found in Psalm 59:1.
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