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“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. (Exo 20:7)

For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.
(Heb 6:16)

What is it that responds so viscerally to the name of God? And surely this response only occurs in those who know the Word and its meaning. Once we learn His name, we become responsible for it. Once you know the Name of God, you can never go back. Once you’ve named that Thing you’ve always known, He can’t be ignored.

The Israelites became acquainted with the Name at the foot of Sinai. “I am the Lord (YHWH) Your God.” This God, the YHWH, had delivered them from Egypt, brought them through the Red Sea, given them manna in the desert. This was the God doing the impossible before their eyes. Is it possible to get used to something like that?

But once he had given out His special covenant Name, they were obligated to protect it, and not use it frivolously. Digging into the text a bit, we find that “take” means primarily to “lift” where vain means “empty”. Is this lifting your voice? Lifting up the Name? Offering false praise or empty praise?

It seems to me that the prohibition is two-pronged. First that all use of the Name be weighted accordingly, and second, all those who seek a place in the Name should live as such. They are not actually two, but since we are fond of separating our actions from our thoughts, we will do so here.

I have never heard hypocrisy addressed from this text but what if we considered this a prohibition against hypocrisy? I think it goes without saying hypocrisy is a cancerous corruption in any church. Recently I had opportunity to take in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. In the play, honest, God-fearing “covenanted Christians” are put on trial for witchcraft. The villain, the scorned Abigail, declares that the whole church is full of hypocrites, and her righteous mission is to eradicate hypocrisy in the church. It made me wonder why God allowed the original trials to take place, and good men and women hung on a gallows. Could Abigail’s charge ring true? Certainly it is not a new charge. Do “good Christian people” take the name in vain, offer vacuous praise and empty soulless prayers? Haven’t we often reduced relationship with Christ to ritual within Church and true Christian fellowship to “a friendly church”? If God did judge Salem for hypocrisy, then He must surely apologize to them today.

And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, (Isa 29:13)

Consider the church that bears the Name of God, but with none of the characteristics of God. A Church that is unloving, unkind, closed to all but the insiders, and is only concerned about itself. Is this taking the Name of the Lord in vain? The Lord hates lying lips, and surely the Lord hates a Church whose name is on their lips, but pray with blood-stained hands.

Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who act faithfully are his delight. (Pro 12:22)

Suppose taking the Name in vain is a prohibition against heartless worship. To take His name in vain is more than swearing or using His Name as a curse word. It speaks to the whole manner of life of a person covered in such a name. The Israelites were God’s covenant people. A people called by His Name. Moses alludes to this when God threatens to destroy Israel after her sin with the golden calf.

But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” (Exo 32:11-13)

But it is after this that we get the fuller expression of the Name of God as He passes over Moses in the cleft of the rock.

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exo 34:6-7)

It is not the bitter, vengeful God we are confronted with, but the merciful, kind, longsuffering God, who is holy and just. It is not a bitter, selfish God we offend, for in that we might be justified. But it is a loving, holy, and just God, who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and in all places at once.

This is why we never use our own name. We are weak and powerless. We might try someone else’s name, someone greater than us. (“Stop in the name of the Law!” or “In the Name of the King!”) but to call down the Name of the Almighty God makes everyone give pause. It makes a heart tuned to Him stop a moment, in the midst of a “god-damn” or a “Jesus H. Christ!” They are blasphemous, and they are wrong, but they get attention.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (Ecc 3:11)

If so, then we must be subconsciously aware of His power, since we automatically ascribe to Him all things beyond our comprehension and all things beyond our power and ability. We cry out to God for help when we can’t do anything else. As the old saying goes, “there are no atheists in foxholes.”

The danger of a “Christian” nation is that the ill-equipped and unchurched know enough to use God’s Name, and the power of the Name, to lace their expletives with it. The English words themselves carry no power, but they represent the Divine Being, and whether it is God, Gott, or Deus, they are all the Creator-God and Loving Savior of mankind. And God knew we would be both afraid of His power, but in our anger, would wield this power against our enemies, the most formidable power we know.

And so God laid out the boundary against the abuse of His Name. “Do not take the Name of the Lord Thy God in vain.” Do not abuse His mercy or His love. Leviticus 24:11-16 illustrates the point by calling for execution any who blaspheme the name, whether native or alien, among the congregation.

In Matthew 5:33-37, Jesus cautions anyone who misuses the name, saying, “let your yes be yes and your no, no.” That is to say, be honest in your every day conversation, and you wont’ have to swear by the Lord to convince others you are telling the truth.

It seems that Scripture declares a wide berth between the name of God and our ordinary language, unless our ordinary conduct reflects the character of God. Let your worship be authentic and your words reflect the glory and character of God. Don’t even try to use the words that pretend to blaspheme, like “golly”, “geez”, “gee-whiz”, or “What in the name of . . .?” Declare for yourself a wide berth between your language and the holiness of God.

The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 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.” (Mat 12:35-37)

bible.com/72/jhn.14.27.hcsb

I hope you’ve been finding these posts interesting. I been doing a lot of mining lately, into old articles that I’ve written, journal entries and whatnot, trying to build up this collection of blog posts and begin to generate a following. To be honest, I hadn’t intended on starting a blog, but once I got started, everything fell into place. I want to thank everyone who has been taking the. time to read thus far. I really appreciate you. I never knew how exciting it was to open my phone to discover someone new liked my blog. 

As I’ve title it, this is a place for my thoughts to ramble. Many of my posts are about things I’ve been thinking about about, or have written about. My interests are primarily with Christianity and Scripture, but have been known to wander into other areas. Because I’ve been used to writing sermons every week, some of my material will sound like that, and if some understand Christ a little better, then I shall not see my efforts wasted.

Going forward, I anticipate the impact this blog will have. I look forward to hearing from you. God bless you all!

God isn’t around where He isn’t wanted. O the consequences we suffer for pushing Him away. We may cry out to Him, as David, asking why He stands so far away, but He is away because we have pushed. God is always near for those with faith enough to perceive it. His power binds our molecules together, keeps the sun from blowing up, causes the warm breeze to blow across our face. God is always here. He always listens. Our failure to perceive it lessens not a whit. How dare we blame God for unfaithfulness, we who are as fickle as the wind. God is afar off because we have left Him behind. I know this, because I have done it far too many times. I have walked away many times, only to run back to His arms.

“O wretched man that I am, who will save me from this body of death?”

If there is any great miracle of Scripture, it is God’s ability to take my worthlessness and make me worthy. “Not many of you were wealthy, nor many of you wise in the world’s eyes” – one of my favorite verses in 1 Corinthians 1 because it is to true. I have often ignored my salvation because I wanted to do what I wanted. And I condemn myself. How can I be a worthy and faithful servant? I became worthy because of Jesus’ costly death on the cross. This is the price of grace, grace for sin shed upon that cross centuries ago, but just as effective today. I need to remember my sin and  shame, because it reminds me that I am not worthy of the gift. If I think I am worthless, then I need to remember I am costly to Jesus. My unworthiness leads to my gratitude. He shed the greatest price for me. If ever I feel insignificant, I need to remember I am His. And that’s all that matters.

If you don’t know what Lent is, it is a time of fasting and prayer preceding and preparing for Passion Week, traditionally the week of Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. It’s also a time to come to grips about what you believe. It seems our faith is under fire here lately, as this issue of Christianity in the workplace has become a thing. there was a bill in the Arizona legislature about Religious people refusing service for people they don’t agree with. Let me clarify what this is about, and why we should care about it.

The proposed law, Senate Bill 1062, represents the right of individuals with “sincerely-held religious beliefs” who own businesses to refuse service to one or more individuals whose behavior is sinful. Now this is a fairly broad brush, but it does reinforce the individual’s right to do with their things (like their business) whatever they want to (privacy rights) with whomever they want to (such as a customer) if their religion says they ought to do so.

The Supreme Court of New Mexico decided in favor of a gay couple against a Christian photographer who didn’t want to photograph their wedding because they were homosexuals. In this case, the government of New Mexico told Christians to keep their religious feelings out of the marketplace, and serve whomever comes through their door. Apparently, several states are trying to reverse this trend with similar new laws defending an individual’s rights from lawsuit over this kind of discrimination. Some are calling it bigotry, akin to segregation in the 50’s and 60’s. Others are calling it unfair, and homophobic.

I asked this question of the Bible Study group the other night. They were all old enough to remember segregation. One mentioned segregation was about being angry with the North for winning the Civil War. This anger was taken out on the blacks, who directly benefited. If true, segregation was about bitterness and resentment toward a situation that could not be won through force of arms. Very different then from discrimination against homosexuals.

Discrimination against homosexuals has up to this point been very specific. Christians who happen to be photographers, bakers, florists, and other associated with the marriage ceremony and tradition, have resisted serving specifically that one aspect of a some homosexuals’ life, the marriage. In other other aspects, these businessmen and women have been more than willing to make birthday cakes, take senior pictures, and prepare flowers for funerals and other things. Only in this one aspect, the wedding tradition, have these Christians declined to offer their services. Segregation against blacks was for all services and interaction. Discrimination against homosexuals has only been in regards to weddings.

All of this basically comes down to is this: do you have the right to be a Christian? Being a Christian isn’t just about going to church on Sunday. It’s about a lifestyle. I know that’s a dirty word these days, but Jesus makes demands on our lives. He says, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Our Christian walk is defined by our ability to follow His Word. You cannot be a Christian in your head and not one in your work or your play. “Faith without works is dead.”

So if you were that Christian photographer, and a gay couple asked you to take pictures of their wedding, do you take the pictures, or refuse to serve them? Honestly, this is a decision that you have to make yourself. But consider how working with them might be an evangelistic tool vs. avoiding their business. All of our decisions have consequences. You just get to choose which ones.

A common objection to avoiding Church is that “all roads lead to God.” This is the idea that sincerity itself is the measure of a “true” religion. All one really needs to do to be saved is to pick the religion that best suits themselves, and then sincerely practice that religion (even if it is Atheism) and they will be fine when the god(dess)es come for them. This is a dangerous mix of “your truth is your truth, and my truth is mine” (moral relativism) and “everyone is going to be fine” (universalism) at the end. There is a lie common to both. It is the lie that says “all roads lead to God.”

First, let us establish that there is such a thing as truth (epistemology). There are truths about life that are true regardless of where you live or what you believe. 1+1=2. This is always true, whether here or Timbuktu. If you want to test it, try it with your checking account. Try telling the bank you have more money than you have deposited. They will remind you of the truth of this right away. $100+$0 does not equal $500. If it is possible to know absolute truth (something that is always true) in everyday life, isn’t it just as likely that there is absolute truth in spiritual things?

To this end, not every religion says (as a statement of truth) there is a god. Wiccan, for example, leads one to mother earth, or nature herself, which can be manipulated through spells and witchcraft, if properly appeased through sacrifice. Buddhism doesn’t even worship a god, since Buddha himself was only a spiritual guide, not a god. Atheism, though not properly a religion, tries to answer the same questions, and ends up with the Universe as the mother and Time as the father. Worshippers must deny their uniqueness and manufacture their own purpose in the accidentally random landscape of (the god of) Chance.

Other religions depend on a number of gods. The Ba’hai is the best example of this, since they believe every god is legitimate. They have eight doors and eight altars to honor eight different gods. All are equal in Ba’hai. They will tell you they are all emanations of the same god, but this is certainly a god with multiple personality disorder, since no two agree. Others, like the Latter-day saints, believe in One God, but also in other, lesser gods, like Jesus and Satan. Jehovah’s Witnesses also believe that Jesus was a lesser god, if not a Man that God glorified. But believers in these religions hold these statements to be true.

Biblical Christianity, however, states that God is a Trinity. God is Three, yet One. He is same in substance, but different in person. This God is the Creator of the Universe in the Father, Savior of the World from Sin in Jesus the Son, and Provider, Counselor, and Sustainer in the Holy Spirit. The Three agree as One, exist as one, but work as three. Multiple personality disorder? Only if you can find a case where all three exist at the same time in the same space, and all agree on purpose. But then we get ahead of ourselves here. This is best a subject for an article all its own.

The point is, if all religions are equal, then we are truly insane. The rules of logic dictate that two facts that contradict each other cannot both be true. It is impossible, and at least one of the two is a lie. If a murder suspect says he was at the bar at 1:00am on Thursday night, the police check his alibi. Only if it’s true will they dismiss him. Why? Because he cannot be at the bar and at the scene of the crime at the same time. Those two facts contradict each other. [FACT – a statement that can either be proven or disproven, not by definition “true.”]

If one religion states there is no god, another states that there are many gods, and a third says there is only One God. At least two of the three religions are lies. They cannot all be true. Because if there must be a God (and I believe there must be due to a preponderance of evidence (Creation, Morality, The Bible, Jesus Christ, etc.), not merely by blind faith), then two of these statements have to be false, and therefore discarded. Not all paths lead to God because not all paths are true. Most are false. As a human being, you must make a decision as to which path is true. You cannot embrace them all or you’ll end up in the nut house.

Science is working very hard at making our lives easier, and along the way, has come up with some profound insights about our origins, and perhaps even our future. Science has helped saved countless lives through medicine. Science has given us better homes, the internet, the ability to talk to people on the other side of the world. We owe much of our standard of living to science. But when science starts to tell us about where we came from, or tests those things that we call “miracles,” the science begins to break down. Let me tell you why.

True Science is based purely and simply on the scientific method, developed by Rene Descartes about 500 years ago. The Method is as follows: 1) Develop a theory about how the world works, 2) test that theory through experimentation and observation to see if it holds true (generally), 3) either confirm your theory with your observations, or revise your theory in light of them. Note that the theory, once confirmed, can become a Law (of nature) like gravity, but only in a general sense. If you can apply 50,000 lbs of rocket thrust, you can refute gravity in near-earth orbit. These Laws, once confirmed describe what “normally” occurs, under normal circumstances.

Science requires observable phenomena. Science cannot occur if you cannot measure the results of your experiments or observations. For example, I could theorize that Green Men live on Pluto. I have no way of discovering this, and thus no way to observe or experiment. Thus, it remains a theory. This is also why experiments always have a “control,” one part of the experiment that represents normal, in order to measure the effects of the abnormal. If you were testing a new drug, you would have one lab rat that would be given no drug whatsoever (the control) in order to test the effects the drug has on other rats (the experiments). In any case, in order for your results to be valid, they must be observable. Any scientist who said to the FDA, I “believe” all the rats lived from taking this new drug, rather than presenting physical evidence, would be rejected. Fantasy evidence or imagined results (how things should have done or ought to be) is no substitute for real evidence in science. And any scientist that pretends or imagines evidence for his theory will be laughed out of the lab, except in one special case.

There is one theory that has been around since the 1800’s that still plagues us today. Its implications are so appealing that it probably will not die. That Theory is Evolution. It tries to explain everything from the origin of the universe to the origin of man, and yet, there is no evidence, no experiments, not even the lab rats themselves that can tell us whether it’s true. Why? Because you cannot repeat it. All attempts to repeat it in the lab have fallen short. And those scientists that have declared their proof cannot repeat their experiments. Evolution is a Theory without evidence, and yet, it is branded as Law. Why? Because of the numbers of scientists who “believe” it. Science is not determined by majority vote, but by majority experiment and observation (the evidence). If 1000 of your neighbors believed you smoked marijuana in your home, would that be enough to convict you? Or would rather let the evidence decide? If the majority believes in something that has not been proven true by the evidence, does that make it true anyway? This isn’t science. This is faith.

And what about faith? Science makes statements about miracles (they couldn’t happen) that science simply cannot address, because by definition, miracles are not repeating events. They are SUPERnatural. Science can neither prove nor disprove miracles, including the miracles of Jesus, the Creation of the Universe, or the Resurrection of Christ. But there is a secondary source of evidence often relied upon in the courtroom to determine truth, eye-witness testimony. Science cannot invalidate what a person witnessed, nor can it validate it. It is a completely different kind of evidence, but trustworthy nevertheless.

Therefore, if science makes truth claims about miracles, especially the origin of the universe, or the resurrection of Christ, they are lying to you, making a statement from their own brand of faith, because science simply cannot make statements about non-repeatable events, whether they were true or false.

We believe in Christ based on eye-witness testimony of the Apostles. We believe in Creation based on the testimony of Genesis. We believe in Miracles because the Bible records them, and we have no reason to doubt the truth of the Bible. Science has some of the answers, but true science never contradicts the Scriptures. That may sound like a brainwashed cult, but rather than a cult, we believe because of the EVIDENCE, not in spite of it.