The "Good" of Blasphemy?!

The unintentional witness of the world.

Photo by Xavi Cabrera on Unsplash

I remember a friend of mine sharing a story about his family driving in the van one day. It was just an ordinary day driving through town, nothing special about it. As they meandered their way along familiar streets - their young children in the back - the mundanity of it all was ripped away as an ambulance went screaming by.

The sirens jolted all of them out of their stupor, but created a specific amount of resonance with his youngest daughter - I’m guessing she was around 5 or so. As the ambulance went flying by, this daughter screams from the back of the van, “What the hell was that?!”

Words Matter

For Christians, the significance of words cannot be overstated. The earliest account we have of God, displays the fact that he is a speaking God and he created all things by using words. He also gave us a book (filled with words) to graciously reveal himself to a people that constantly turn their backs on him.

When it comes to teaching our children that there are some words that are good and some words that are bad, this can be an awkward conversation. I’m not sure what you think of the above story, but I think it’s pretty funny. While most of us would agree that we don’t want our five-year-old throwing the world ‘hell’ around with their classmates during story-time or while they chum-it-up with their buddies during arts and crafts, it’s often humors when a young child lets a bad word fly out of their mouth.

I think the humor lies in the fact that it’s shocking. That’s part of what makes anything funny, the shock of it. And that’s part of why we find some bad words funny, they often shock us.

When Good Words Become Bad

Without a doubt, Christians will wrestle over what words are off limits. This will vary from people to people as well as culture to culture - geography plays a factor in this. For example, I’ve heard that “fanny” is very offensive in some European contexts (To my UK readers, feel free to let us know in the comments).

What shouldn’t be of question is misusing the good name of God and the variety of titles we attribute to him, like ‘Lord’ or ‘Christ’. It should be a shock to our soul, when his good name is thrown around.

While the Bible is clear that we aren’t to take the name of the Lord in vain, the depth of this command isn’t always straight-forward. I heard a pastor say that we can take the name of the Lord in vain when we use his name in a thoughtless manner. For example, when we mindlessly recite the Lord’s prayer during a church service, giving little thought to actually addressing, ‘Our Father, which art in Heaven…” Simply saying those words out of habit, without a thought that they aren’t mere words, but a loving title we are allowed to attribute to the God of all creation.

Thoughtful consideration over the vast ways we need to consider how we misuse the Lord’s name is important for Christians to reflect upon. While it’s important to think of this caution in nuanced ways, we also need to take the command at face value. Simply using God’s name in an exclamatory manner that isn’t out of thanksgiving or in a context of giving him the worship he is due, is something we should avoid.

What About Atheists?

I’ve watched plenty of movies with my children where a character misuses God’s name; whether it’s ‘Jesus Christ!’ or ‘Oh my God!’ or a variety of other combinations. Typically, one of my kids will look at me with shock over someone using this exclamation. I’m glad that it shocks them, but there’s part of me that’s glad movies misuse God’s name. Please hear me out!

If I’m honest, I don’t like to hear my God’s name being abused in any fashion. I don’t get joy from that. What I ‘like’ about it, is the fact that the world is exclaiming there’s a God.

Consider this scenario. You’re watching a movie and something horrific happens to a specific character. In response, another character screams, “Oh my Gandhi!” Or, instead of saying, “Jesus Christ!” someone screams, “Mother Teresa!” That never happens, but have you consider why?

Earlier I said that God has graciously revealed himself to us through the Bible. Even though sinful humanity isn’t looking for him, he pursues them by giving them a book telling us of his love for rebellious people like you and me. He also pursue them by revealing himself through creation. In the beginning of Psalm 19, we read, “The heavens declare the glories of God…” Theologians refer to this as general revelation.

While I don’t condone anyone misusing the name of the Lord, I’ve started seeing blasphemy in movies as a form of general revelation. While I still want my children to have an appropriate shock over the misuse of God’s name, I try to get them to see this as a way God is being revealed to the world. If you really think about it, it’s quite humorous when an atheist exclaims, “Oh my God!”

Sincerely, step back from the offense of blasphemy and reflect on it a bit. Why does the world exclaim ‘Jesus Christ’ as an expletive and not any other historical figure? It’s because - deep down in their being - they know that they will bow the knee to him one day.

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