Taking God's Name in Vain
by Tom Neven on 09/14/2007 at 4:30 PM
Reading Motte's recent blog, God Wanted You to Read This ,touched on something that has bugged me for some time, but not precisely for the reason Motte blogged.
Quoting Tim Challies, Motte speaks about the tendency of some preachers and writers to claim that you are listening to or reading said person at that precise moment because God willed it. "Bludgeoning with providence" (Challies' term) is certainly a good name for it, but I have a different one: taking God's name in vain.
Now I realize this isn't the standard definition of taking God's name in vain. Most if not all people generally consider the use of God in anything other than a reverent or descriptive way as taking His name in vain. Even my capitalizing of the pronoun His, which is Focus on the Family policy, is an attempt to avoid using God's name in vain. (Never mind that most Bible translations, including the NIV and KJV, do not capitalize pronouns in most cases.) Combine an irreverent or flippant use of God's name with a certain word that begins with d and you've really done it.
In fact, some people mistakenly think the d part of that epithet is the bad word. R.C. Sproul tells a funny story in which he was having lunch with a non-churchgoing man, who let slip a G**d***. Knowing that Sproul was a preacher, the man quickly apologized. "Sorry," he said, "I meant God darn."
But really, now, is this usage what is being referred to in Exodus 20:7? "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name."
Let's look at the context of God's commands in Exodus, Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Many were intended to set His people apart from the pagan culture they'd just left and the pagan cultures they were heading into. Those polytheistic societies had gods for this and gods for that and many priests speaking on behalf of those false gods.
I believe the command not to "misuse the name of the LORD your God" (take the name in vain, according to the KJV) is, first and foremost, a command against falsely ascribing to God something that is not His.
Think about it: Any time someone tells you that God told him to tell you something or God caused something to happen, do you automatically believe that to be the case, or do you, like me, attribute it to just a bit of hyperbole? How about someone telling you that God wants you to be rich? Or successful? Or maybe just that God wanted you to have that particular parking spot? Is God capable of all these things? Of course. But to credit God with everything that happens, down to the minutest detail, is, I believe, taking God's name in vain, because it's based on a misunderstanding of God's will. As Challies says:
These men would have you believe that they know and understand God's will-that God has so ordered providence to show that it is His will that you read the book and learn what the author wishes to teach. Their logic is simple: God is in control; nothing happens without God's prior knowledge; you are holding this book; God must have orchestrated life in just such a way that you could read the book; ... But in interpreting events this way, they are stepping beyond the bounds of what we can know as mere humans.
Yet our Christian subculture is full of such misuses of God's name. I know a man who works at a large Christian ministry who is hypersensitive to any use of God or G**d***. Yet this same man dismisses the heresies of a famous health-and-wealth preacher, who ascribes to God many unscriptural things, as mere "quirks."
So am I saying there's no problem with misusing God's name in the traditional sense? No. My concern is that we're good at straining out gnats while we're swallowing entire herds of camels. We're hypervigilant for bad language in movies but accept casual blasphemy and downright heresy from people claiming to speak God's will. What's wrong with this picture?
1. Jen said the following at 7:50 PM on Sep 14:
Would you then have dismissed Isaiah, or Ezekiel, or Joel? David? Daniel? John? God spoke through each of these people. While I understand Challies' point, and yours about certain kinds of preachers, we ought to be careful about dismissing those who say they're speaking what they think God is saying to them. Instead of mentally writing them off, it would behoove us to be like the Bereans and double-check what they say against God's Word. There are health & wealth preachers, and there are also still prophets and watchmen in this world. "My sheep hear My voice."
Furthermore, I'm not so sure why everyone is so eager to write off His sovereignty and omnipotence about the "little things". Perhaps He DID want you in that parking spot because as you unlocked your door and got into the car, you were in clear view of other people, preventing you from being raped or mugged - not that you'll ever know. As "they" say...the Lord works in mysterious ways.
I'd much rather give Him glory and credit for something, even small things, instead of writing it off as coincidence. Some of these authors are clearly overblowing things, but it's not fair - or wise - to lump everyone who says God has something to say into the same group.
2. Jennifer Thomas said the following at 9:01 PM on Sep 14:
A hearty AMEN to Jen's comments!
3. Rich said the following at 11:37 PM on Sep 14:
"Perhaps" is a long way from saying that God actually DID will something.
Secondly, the problem for giving him unwarranted credit for something is that it ends up being the ol "boy who cried wolf." If you keep saying "God did X," or "God did Y," without sufficient warrant (that phrase is important...I'm not cessationist or deist by any means...God moves and communicates today), people will stop listening to you and start blowing your testimony off. That is not honoring to God.
Thirdly, it looks like Tom isn't doubting God's sovereignty...He's writing against men and women presuming to speak for God (and read God's will) *without proper warrant/justification... Seems to me he's talking about throwing God's name and authority around willy nilly, not legit prophecy and not God's sovereignty per se.
Finally, just because God spoke through credible prophets in the Bible (and through credible prophets today) does not give us permission to say God did this or that and God wants you to do this and that with the frequency and lack of care that many today do. Making a prophecy and writing Scripture is a totally different thing from what Tom's addressing.
4. Caleb Salmon said the following at 12:46 AM on Sep 15:
You are correct about the issue of the use of God's name covering more territory than just swearing. But why do you feel the need to repeatedly set up health and wealth preachers as posterboys for this transgression? It is not the acquisition of finance that is the problem, it is in the use. Our master is a prime example. Jesus was born into an upper middle class family (carpenter/craftsman) worth over a million in today's dollars (thanks to certain Magi) who ran a ministry that supported at least 13 men full-time with so much money that they needed a box for it, not just a bag. He wore such fine clothes that they were worth casting lots over. His ministry also tolerated corruption, because Judas stole from the box.
Perhaps you are right about the abuses of some health and wealth preachers. I would readily admit that there are abuses, but I can also guarantee you that a huge reason the gospel is now winning around the world is because of multi-million dollar missions contributions from these very ministers. For example, when the Berlin Wall fell down in 1991, health and wealth preachers poured millions of dollars worth of Bibles and missionaries into those countries. The rest of the church was completely unprepared and didn't have the resources ready because of their poverty mindset. So in 1992 Metallica came to Moscow and converted the entire country to Satanic worship through metal music in a day. 500,000 people who had never heard heavy metal came to a concert and it swept the country overnight. Riots broke out and hundreds of people died. What if Christians had been ready with finances and there had been a gospel crusade instead? The fruit that is in Russia now will go up to the credit of those prosperity ministries.
I could tell similar stories about Africa, China, and India. And if I know God, He is very appreciative of those who take the gospel to the most broken places of the earth...and it rather gives me chills to hear their work dismissed as heresy.
5. Peter Webb said the following at 12:52 AM on Sep 15:
Tom.
I find it difficult to say how deeply I agree with you.
With reference to Jen's objection, there is a huge difference between stating that something "may" be the will of God or the word of God .... and insisting that it "must" be. Accepting reasonable doubt is not - in Jen's words - being 'so eager to write off His sovereignty and omnipotence about the "little things"' . On the contrary, it is seeking to know the difference between the baby and the bathwater. You don't throw out both, but you don't keep them both, either.
One of the problems with comparing your pastor, visiting speaker or favourite author with the Old Testament prophets, is that they do not have to pass the tests which applied to the prophets. How many popular authors have been stoned recently because what they prophesied did not come to pass?
Attributing everything to the will of God and His providence, leaves no room for free will, virtue, and the exercise of wisdom. That available parking spot in front of the shop we need to visit is not *just* the result of God working behind the scenes, but of a cascade of our own decisions and actions. If all of those decisions and actions are the result of God's choice, then there is no such thing as sin, because none of our choices are truly independent of God. Likewise, the wisdom the the scriptures require us to seek is rendered irrelevant, because our decisions are not ours to make.
As I understand scripture, the inference is fairly clear. God does not manipulate us from outside like puppets, not does he over-ride our free will, but He works *in* us, as "WE work out our salvation....." (Pardon the emphasis)
Finally, I refer to Job. Job's friends were so utterly convinced that everything that happened was the will of God, that it was logical to them that Job's suffering was the direct will of God as the consequence of some sin of Job's. Job disagreed, and God justified Job's position. When we know the background, we find that what happened to Job was part of God's permissive will, but not the result of God's specific will. God did not kill Job's children. God did not inflict pain on Job. The important point for this discussion is that Job did not know this at the time.
Not being outside of time as God is, we cannot know the consequences of what is happening now, yet we are required to make choices. If we accept that the martyrdom of the apostles, the enslavement of Joseph and the suffering of Job were God's specific will, then we have no direction or incentive to seek life, health or freedom. In effect, we become fatalists. Yet God does not seem to work that way. He makes us responsible for our choices, and seeks people who will make the right choices so that He can work through them.
Our interaction with God is often a seeming paradox, but the reality is that He has chosen to limit his own sovereignty to the extent that He has given us free will and the ability to do good or evil. If peole can choose to do evil, then the results cannot and should not be blamed on God.
Jan does well to mention the Bereans. They accepted the responsibility to test everything, but to only accept what is good. Not everything that comes to us comes from God.
Regards.......... Peter
6. David at free Chrsitian resources said the following at 1:14 AM on Sep 15:
I have no issue crediting God with everything good that happens, no matter how minute. At the very, very least He is keeping us alive (as He holds our life in His hands) - so when these small things happen we can be grateful for that. Also, His common grace, available to all, is something we should give glory to Him for. Yet often this common grace is simply the smallest things!
It is sad indeed when people proclaim things that are not of God and ascribe them to Him (e.g. a prophecy that was actually just a thought, or a health and wealth preacher). This (I feel) is a much greater misuse of God's name than thanking Him for all good things in our lives.
7. Seth said the following at 6:59 AM on Sep 15:
Even if God does not sovereignly predestine every minute aspect of our lives, we have to admit that He certainly gives divine allowance. Every atom of this universe is in His control.
We can't say God makes us do everything, because obviously when we sin, that goes against what is pleasing to God. He demands obedience, yet He is merciful when we fail.
As Jen wrote, we should not write off the fact that God might use the little things to protect us from evil and harm.
By the bye, welcome to the blog, Mr. Neven.
8. Jo said the following at 9:42 AM on Sep 15:
Caleb Simon -
I don't think anyone is arguing that having money is a sin, Jesus said the LOVE of money was the root of all evil, not money itself.
But as I understand it, 'Health & Wealth' proponents preach a message that says we as Christians are entitled to material riches and perfect health, that by giving money to ministry etc we obligate God to give us far more money in return, that God wants us all to have far more, financially, than we could ever really need, that none of us should be ill and if we are it's because we haven't 'claimed our healing'. Scripture doesn't support any of this, it says when we give we will be blessed in return, but material possessions are never specified. Scripture says the world will hate us, it says we will suffer as Jesus suffered, it says all kinds of things that these preachers conveniently ignore in favour of the more appealing 'become a Christian and all your earthly problems will be solved' theology.
As far as I can see, this is a more common heresy (yes I do think it is heresy) in America than over here in the UK, although it is beginning to catch on here - so I'm not an authority on which preachers and which ministries go in for this idea - and I'm not saying they have nothing valid to say. But I agree with the post, that we shouldn't and mustn't ignore such twisting of scripture if we want the word of God to remain clear. It's up to Christians to challenge wrong teaching, we can't just sit back and say 'Oh but they do good stuff too'.
9. Katie said the following at 12:06 PM on Sep 15:
OK, Metallica led the whole country of Russia to be Satan worshippers through a concert? Where did you hear that? Just wondering.
10. JT said the following at 3:03 PM on Sep 15:
"But to credit God with everything that happens, down to the minutest detail, is, I believe, taking God's name in vain, because it's based on a misunderstanding of God's will."
Actually, if we have a sovereign God, He IS sovereign over everything, down to the minutest detail.
The point Challies was trying to make, is that these authors were saying that because God has so ordered the universe that John Doe is reading their book, that John Doe should therefore accept what that author says in the book on the authority of God. No, perhaps God wants you to read Rick Warren's book and to discern which parts of his theology are or are not acceptable.
11. Charles H. said the following at 5:44 PM on Sep 15:
The problem with health and wealth preachers is that they're simply, in many cases, wrong! God calls some of us to be healthy and some others to be rich. He also gives health and wealth to many non-believers, in His mercy. But this inevitably leads to the notion that the rich and healthy are God's chosen people, or the people that were the most faithful to Him.
Whom does the Bible extol as good and faithful servants? Missionaries fare pretty well, Jesus Himself honored the faith of a child, and simple homemakers also came in for great praise. By the standards of those who preach the gospel of prosperity, God should shower wealth on those groups. Aside from pulling verses like the notorious Jabez prayer mercilessly out of context, where does the Bible say that God wants us to be wealthy? My fiancee and I pray that God will *not* let us become wealthy, because we've seen the corrosive effect it has on people...
Caleb: Number one, heavy metal existed in the USSR long before Metallica. Decades. It exists as a voice of alienation, and tends to thrive in areas where there's a lot of depression and hopelessness -- which certainly described the communist Soviet bloc. I'm not advocating that we go out and buy Metallica CD's, but if we're looking for someone to blame for the atheism in the former Soviet union, Lenin and Stalin would be a good place to start! And number two, you're looking only at the converts made by the prosperity ministries. How about the people who are lost because of them? How about the people who try the Gospel out of desire for wealth, don't get rich, and give up? ... and who then hear the Gospel again, this time in pure form, and dismiss it as something they've already tried? I personally think the prosperity preachers will have a lot of explaining to do.
12. Kathryn said the following at 8:06 PM on Sep 15:
I believe that God is sovereign over the smallest detail. But how we choose to interpret certain things is clearly our own responsibility.
And to clarify: God doesn't want me to sin, but he's sovereign, so he works through and despite my sin to produce his good and perfect Will.
13. Chris B. said the following at 5:51 AM on Sep 17:
While I do agree that a pastor who says "God willed you to hear this sermon," may very well be speaking from ignorance or a desire to manipulate his congregation, we should not forget that there is a biblical way to speak in this manner.
In the book of James, the author exhorts his audience, "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that'" (James 4: 13-15). In this passage, the invocation of the belief in the Lord's sovereign will seems to be unnecessary; however, the point of referring to the Lord's will in this instance is to honor God with our speech and worldview.
Saying that God willed something can be an expression of submission to and recognition of almighty God; but, you are correct to point out that claiming always to know why God willed something is the height of presumption.
14. Vanessa said the following at 8:47 PM on Sep 17:
My last serious relationship ended over basically this concept. His pastor at the time was a "health and wealth" type preacher who had some serious sin issues in his personal life (extramarital affair and eventual divorce and then co-habitation with his fiancee before the wedding). While my boyfriend did not initially condone the pastor's actions, he tried to "love" him back to the faith. He ended up brainwashed and following the man halfway across the country.
I wish that more people would really think about what they are allowing to influence their lives. I tend to err on the skeptical side which has saved me a lot of heartache and false starts. I believe that the best antidote to this spreading problem is to truly study and pray to learn who God really is, who God really is NOT, and not just let some flashy preacher make their twisted beliefs your own.
15. RJEllie said the following at 10:14 AM on Sep 19:
Absolutely in agreement!
I think this is very evident outside the "direct" Church, too; i.e. politics, in all ideologies, parties, etc.
16. Frank Martens said the following at 8:53 AM on Sep 21:
JT's comment is exactly what I was thinking.
Those writers are taking God's SUPREMACY in vain.
17. mrpages said the following at 11:59 AM on Sep 21:
David said: I have no issue crediting God with everything good that happens, no matter how minute.
Does God cause only the "good" things? Just before the bad things he turns off the switch so he's not responsible? How do you determine which is which? Does something have to seem good to us to be Good? Or does it only have to seem Good to God?
Everything is as he willed it, so it is therefore good, by definition. Even suffering is a gift. Your point is therefore correct, but the perspective is wrong. To say "only the good comes from God, and not the bad" is to know the mind of God and determine on our own which is good and which is bad. If it all comes from God, then it is all good, no matter how we see it.
If something seems "bad" then it is because we don't see it correctly (and we likely are incapable of seeing it correctly).
In all things, thank Him.
18. Jo said the following at 2:26 AM on Sep 23:
mrpages - you make a very good point, but i think you take it too far. i don't agree at all that everything that happens to us is a gift from god and every bad thing is really good.
the below is my understanding of what god's will entails - it's not infallible but it's my view at the moment.
i believe god has more than one will. take salvation for example - he wills that all are saved, but he also wills that we have the freedom to choose him or not. these wills appear in contradiction, but they aren't equal wills. god's will that all are saved is overridden by his will that we are free.
in the same way, god's will, his original plan, does not include sickness, suffering, sin, death, injustice, etc etc. he willed only good things for us. but each was overridden by his will that we should be free, and we chose wrong. hence we live in a fallen world where not everything that happens is god's will for us.
the bible says through all things god works for our good, and that is true. it doesn't mean all things are themselves good. it means god in his wisdom and glory can bring good from bad. it is bad that i have a serious illness. but through it god has helped me to grow spiritually and personally, to be stronger and more able to endure hardship, to have more of a heaven-focused perspective, etc etc. my illness is bad. god uses it for good.
yes, we should praise and thank god in all our circumstances. but we don't have to thank him FOR every circumstance. sometimes we have to trust him and praise him despite our circumstances. there is good and bad in this world, but god is able to use both for our ultimate good. that's worthy of our praise even in the worst times.
19. Ted Slater said the following at 12:28 PM on Sep 24:
An aside ...
Jo -- I think you explained before why you're unable to use the "shift" key to capitalize certain words. Could you remind me? Thanks!
20. Jo said the following at 10:23 AM on Sep 27:
sometimes i get lazy. :) i don't think it invalidates my points.