Do you use the name of God in vain very often?

I try not to do it and when I do I usually feel bad about it. Religious standpoints aside, I believe that the usage of “god” as an expletive only demonstrates a poor vocabulary.

I say god dammit constantly

I say “god” in an exasperated kind of way often, and that doesn’t bother me a bit. When I (rarely) say “god damn” I do feel bad about it, and sometimes I even say “sorry God”. Which is very strange, since I’m agnostic and very nearly an atheist!

@augustlan yes, that is very odd indeed… just the fact that you would recognize, address, and even apologize to an entity in which you have no belief. lol.
“G.D.” in my book is VERY bad. It’s just an ugly thing to say..that’s just my perspective.

I say god damn or jesus christ fairly often which is kind of odd since i dont believe in either. Ah well.

I’m about in the same situation as @live_rose

I try not to. I don’t say ***damn at all. It’s the most disrespectful thing imo.

What does it mean to use a name “in vain?” It suggests some sort of failure. If I say “please God, save my sick child,” and the child dies—have I used His name in vain?

i worked with a Jewish woman who said “Jesus Christ” constantly. Which is kinda like a Christian woman saying “Flying Spaghetti Monster”.

@ratboy “If I say “please God, save my sick child,” and the child dies—have I used His name in vain?”

Absolutely not!! If you are actually addressing God then that is a prayer. It is in vain when you use Gods name in an indirect manner…not really speaking to God, but demeaning his name.

@eponymoushipster HA!

No, it is seldom in vain – it usually has the effect that I expected.

No, I occasionaly use the word “god” out of habit, but it doesn’t belong to any specific “God”.

I probably do, I just don’t know… :(((
How do you use the name of God in vain?

i say “oh my god”, “jesuschrist”, “goddammit”, etc pretty regularly. i’m not religious in the least, but i mean no more disrespect to God or Jesus (if they exist) than a person who says “oh my gosh” means to Gosh.

I rarely swear (I say things like “sugar cubes”) at all.

If I do, and end up using “god’s name”, I say either of the following:

“Jesus H. Christ in a handbasket.”

“Jesus mother-fucking Christ.”

Both are said as exclamations. Admittedly, the second one is for extreme cases.

As an agnostic, I’m not too concerned.

My father-in-law says: “Christ on Rollerskates”! It is as bad as he gets.

I guess I do say it a lot, mostly in the form of goddamn. I don’t consider it taking it in vain because I don’t subscribe to your silly religion rules. It’s no more offensive to me than saying any other word.

In what language? If He still speaks Hebrew, I’m cool. English, though…

I say “oh my god” or “god dammit” pretty often. My not even two year old says “oh god” from being around me so much lol

All the time. And no, I don’t feel bad about it. I just think it’s odd that I use it at all when I don’t believe in the concept of any god.

@tinyfaery same here.

@Myuzikalsoul: How does one demean a name, especially a generic name?

Lols I try not to use Gods name in vain ! Mainly try to say goashhh intead of God ! When I say honest to god I don’t lie. And if I end up saying God dammit I always say sorry lols. Or even Jesus Christ when I realize I say Jesus Christ praise the lord amen ! Lols what can u do I’m Christian and therefore respect god :)

@Normskiiz then why not capitalize God?

Hey what u going on about ?

Try not to swear too much, but it happens…....when it does, I do feel really bad! I’m a Christian so I try my best not to demean the God I believe in!

Actually “taking the Lord’s name in vain” does not refer to swearing. It means to use His words falsely to twist them and use them out of context to make one’s point.

In vain
1. excessively proud of or concerned about one’s own appearance, qualities, achievements, etc.; conceited: a vain dandy.
2. proceeding from or showing personal vanity: vain remarks.
3. ineffectual or unsuccessful; futile: a vain effort.
4. without real significance, value, or importance; baseless or worthless: vain pageantry; vain display.
5. Archaic. senseless or foolish.

People have always used the name of gods or God as an expletive or a kind of prayer/curse. “Jesus H. Christ” is really a kind of prayer asking for the strength to deal with a situation or really difficult person. “Damn you” is a curse like “Eat dirt and die”

In my opinion the people who use the Bible, the Torah or the Koran to justify their political or personal agendas or to make money like televangelists are the ones “taking the Lord’s name in vain”

@galileogirl hey, I do think that makes sense! and yup, I’m also a firm believer in the fact that God these days is becoming too commercialized and is ‘sold’ too freely.

@ratboy lol..that’s just it.The name of God is not a generic name. His name is Holy and is supposed to be used to call upon Him. If you just carelessly throw it around, then you are demeaning the object of it’s purpose. It’s kind of like if everytime you stubbed your toe you picked up the phone and called “911”. It’s illegal to abuse that number bc it is a service for people who are REALLY asking for help.

I imagine that if I were God, and I heard everytime someone called out my name… like some celestial pager went off inside my mind…I’d be pretty pissed too if it kept going off for petty, “vain” reasons…especially if the person paging me wasn’t really trying to speak to me at all!

@Myuzikalsoul I think you are making the common mistake of giving God human characteristics. Is God so “busy” smiting and making miracles that he doesn’t have time for a stubbed toe? lol God is in the eye of the beholder, I guess your God punches a timeclock.

@galileogirl The stubbed toe is in reference to a ludicrous “911” call. Of course God is omniscient. I’m simply making an analogy that I hope might help someone to better understand why taking God’s name in vain is, in fact, demeaning. Sometimes giving human characteristics to something inhuman helps us to relate to a concept. :)

Nonhuman not inhuman. Taking God’s name in vain has historically meant lying about His words-misquoting him-not calling on him. Using his name in conversation being a sin is a result of poor translation.

*thanks for the correction. I’m a little rusty. :)

And I definitely see your point. And I agree. However, I also believe that it is also a sin to use “God” or “Jesus” or anything Holy as an expletive. That’s just my perspective.

Jesus Wept.