JESUS CHRIST!
How you read the title of this post says a lot about the current state of our culture. When you read it, did your inner voice make it sound like a curse?
JESUS CHRIST!
As a man who has worked in the trades in a variety of fields my entire adult life, I am no stranger to cussing. Mostly it doesn’t bother me, in its proper setting. But I am thankful that I have always been fearful of blasphemy, and I am always surprised when others aren’t. Especially people who claim to be believers. I often feel like scolding people who use the Lord’s name in vain, but I never do it. I’m too much of a coward.
Of course, the fully secularized modern heathen has no compunction whatsoever in using His name as a curse. They don’t worry about offending a God that they don’t really believe in anyway. Besides, it’s not like people are getting struck by lightning or anything, so they must figure “Why not?”. I mean, eternal damnation is such an alien concept to our modern sensibilities. Our entire reality involves going to sleep every day of our lives, when our brains go into a dreamstate stupor for awhile, then typically wake up with a bit of a different outlook. So for most people the process of contemplating our own deaths involves seeing it as purely an ending to the Great Drama that is each of our lives. It’s actually very comforting to think that when we die we simply…. go to sleep, permanently. So much more comfortable to hold these ideas than allowing yourself to imagine an endless life of eternal damnation. It’s too terrible, and most people see themselves as essentially “good”, and certainly not deserving of that fate.
But for the Christian, we aren’t allowed to indulge ourselves in such fantasies. The Day of Judgment comes for us all, and this life is but a blip; a precursor for our real life in eternity. Have you ever truly comprehended what it will be like to live for trillions of years? It’s almost too much to seriously consider. Easier to think like the heathen in anticipation of a Long Slumber in oblivion. If you attend a LoveBunny church you likely will not have heard any sermons on these verses>>>
UNFORGIVABLE SIN
Ooooooo, that’s a tough one. Not many Christians enjoy talking about unforgivable sin, or blasphemy. It’s so much more comforting to utter soothing platitudes about God’s supposed “Infinite mercy”, and read bumper stickers like this one I saw the other day >>>
I might be sinning for thinking this, but I must be honest and admit to you all that my first thought when I saw this bumper sticker was “Does He though?”. Think about it. Does he love the unrepentant sinner? The blasphemer? Maybe, but go back and read those verses from 3 different New Testament books.
“He who blasphemes the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven”.
YIKES!
So what does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit? I don’t think there is a singular answer to that question, but I do believe that blaspheming the Son of God fits into that category. Saying the Lord’s name in vain is also a violation of the 3rd Commandment. Remember that Jesus didn’t come to change or diminish any of God’s Commandments; he simply prioritized 2 of them over all the rest. Because if you Love God with all your heart you will not violate any of His laws.
If you consume any kind of modern entertainment - movies, series - you will be absolutely drenched in blasphemy. The casual use of “Jesus Christ” as a curse by whoever writes, directs & acts in these productions would be shocking to Christians for the past 2,000 years. But it doesn’t seem to be shocking to any Christians today. In fact, Hollyweird decided somewhere along the lines that it would add even more to our entertainment to add the F-word right in the middle of our Lord’s name. I remember having a very negative visceral reaction the first time I heard that on screen. Now it seems to be in every single rated R or M movie they make.
Like, what’s the deal!?
Look, if you are not a believer that Jesus was the Son of God who gave His life for the sins of humanity, then rose from the dead to join our Creator, I get it. Not everyone is gonna make it. It;s sad, but true. But why do they keep saying His name? Why does it have any power with them? I don’t think many atheists hate the historical Jesus. They hate Christians, obviously, but you won’t hear the badmouth Jesus; because He was a pretty cool cat, you know, like a really chill hippy who was into feeding hungry people and being all non-judgmental and stuff. Peace, bro.
So knowing that the world of unbelievers holds no animus to the man that was Jesus, why do they insist on spitting his name out of their mouths in such a disgusting fashion? Isn’t it strange? Why don’t they do that with any other historical figures, particularly ones that can be judged by all modern reasonable people as truly evil? Like Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Ghengis Kahn or even Jeffrey Dahmer?
I think we know why. It is because His name DOES hold so much power in this world.
Matthew 12:36-37 – “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
The Bible speaks on the destructive power of the tongue through many verses, so we who profess Christ as Lord would do well to change the way we think about blasphemy. We need to accept the idea of eternal consequences of Unforgivable Sin. This is no small matter.
So what can we do in the real world, in our world?
Well, obviously we can commit to NEVER blaspheming the name of the Lord. Never use His name out of frustration or anger. Only use it in admiration and holy worship.
But we can go and should go one step further. I propose that we ask those people in our life bubble, those whom we interact with personally, to respect our most deeply held beliefs and refrain from using blasphemy in our presence. It won’t be easy. Particularly for those of you who have been brainwashed by the “Judge not” cult into believing that anything goes and we would be guilty of some sort of sin by setting boundaries in behavior. But we need to take blasphemy more seriously than we have allowed ourselves to as a society. It’s time we reclaimed the name of Jesus.
Let us tell the heathen that He’s not their curse word to throw around any longer.
Who’s with me?
Whenever I hear someone use the Lord's name in vain, I feel sad for them and remember Jesus on the cross asking God to forgive them because they don't know what they are doing.
When my younger brother would lose his temper and swear, I never let it "slide". Instead, I would ask, "Why do you pray that God/Jesus would damn or destroy what you are working on?" or "You don't want to get God involved because when he damns something it stays cursed."
On one occasion my brother was working on his dirt bike that would not start. My brother proceeded to lose it and threw his wrench down onto the concrete in rage while yelling, "G.. dammit!". The wrench deflected off the concrete and cracked the case of his motorcycle. Me being young and annoying, asked my brother, "Why not ask God to bless it instead? You may find life goes much better if you do that." I left him to think about it.
Another time, my brother responded with, "What are you talking about? I am not praying!"
I would continue, "When ever you use the name of God or Jesus, you are praying. Instead of asking for destruction, why not ask for God to bless it instead or give you patience & help find the problem?"
As we grew up, I noticed he stopped using God or Jesus name in anger.
A winsome response has worked well for me over the years: the reply to the cursor: oh! That’s my Lord and Savior! Do you know Him? It has opened doors to share the gospel and closed embarrassed mouths more often than not.