The Name of God

        Living in the Spirit
Light a Candle for ChildrenGod's name
      September 30, 2014 

Scripture Reading: Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. —Exodus 20:7

I guess I was taught it as a child, but for a long time this verse meant that I was not to use God’s name as a swear word. While I still believe that to be wise counsel, I now think this verse has much deeper and broader meaning and that the NRSV’s interpretation, wrongful use, gets to the heart of my transition in understanding. For example, I do not think it is appropriate for candidates for office to use God’s name as sort of a reference. One’s life and actions should speak for themselves. I also cringe when I see God’s name or Jesus’ being used as part of a sales pitch. In both instances I become immediately skeptical of the candidate or business.

I wonder though, if the misuse of God’s name goes even deeper than that. Is this verse also saying that we need to be very careful about assigning theological interpretations of ways of being and doing to God that are more from our cultures than they are from God? For example, the way we deal with our children is an amalgamation of how our parents were raised and their parents were raised, the events happening in the world at the time, communication styles, and dozens of other factors. I grew up being afraid of Russians, whatever they were, and routinely having drills at school where we would sit under our desks with our heads down to protect us from nuclear bombs. While there was some overkill in those actions, they did address the fears of this world in the years following World War II. Had my parents or my church tied such actions to God, we would most likely still be doing them.

We who call ourselves Christian are called to the difficult task of ferreting out what is of God and what is not. I may oversimplify this process, but I believe that the primary test that must be applied is asking the question: does this pass the test of love? I believe that if we use this as our foundation for life we will much more easily learn what is really important and what is not. So in our culture today, how do we deal with the threat of terrorism, changing sexual mores, or the value of people? What do we need to teach our children about living and being in our world today that is true to God in this time and this place?

 Oklahoma Fact: In 2010 in the US, 78.4% of people identified themselves as Christian.*

Prayer: God, help us discern what is of you and what is not. Help us reflect your love to our children and to the children of our world. Amen.

*http://religions.pewforum.org/reports#

 

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.