I think this makes a solid point, as far as it goes:
I agree with the basic “don’t strain at gnats while swallowing camels” thing.
But (and you knew there would be a but), I also dislike gnats in my soup.
As somebody whose whole life and work in the world is bound up with the use of language, I have always had a strong aversion to using the Name of God or Jesus as a form of profanity, for much the same reason I would not turn the names of my wife or children into code for “idiot” or “asshole”. So I wince at (and would never say), such common expletives as “Jesus F****** Christ” or OMFG. Indeed, I strongly avoid saying even “Oh my God!” or even OMG. Names refer to persons and the Name of God and Jesus refers to the most important Persons there are. To diminish them to mere expletives is to insult them, precisely because it drains these Names of and words of all meaning beyond “satisfying glottal fricative”.
So while I have no particular issues with the use of Anglo-Saxon words for various bodily functions and organic matter and think them perfectly acceptable means of communication when you are trying to make certain points to certain kinds of morally deaf people, I think it a sin against God to take his Name lightly and I think it a grave moral evil to so much as think “God damn this person”. Calling down God’s damnation on sins is, I think, perfectly fine and sometimes vitally necessary if the threat from the sin is grave enough. Likewise, calling down God’s damnation on certain structures of sin, whether intellectual, political, sociological, economic or even ecclesial is perfectly appropriate at times. But persons? Never! So we can and should say “God damn the NRA” since it is a structure of sin that eminently needs to be burned to ashes and be consigned to eternal oblivion. But it is a sin of speech second only to cursing the Holy Name of God to say “God damn Wayne LaPierre (or any other human being).” That is because the first and greatest commandment is to love God and therefore the greatest sin we can commit with our tongue is to curse him, while the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor and therefore the second worst sin we can commit with our tongue is to curse the creature made in his image and likeness.
Moreover, we can commit a sort of photo negative kind of blasphemy by blessing the things of Hell in the Name of God (as, for instance, white Christian Nationalism does). Calling God as witness to your filthy God-damned lies is precisely why Jesus warns us not to swear (Matthew 5:34-37).
So while I agree that big examples of taking God’s Name matter much more than the little ones, I also think casually invoking the Name of God as a mere expletive is a small, but real, form of hardness of heart to God and I regard the few times I have done it as matters for confession. I live by my words and so the way I use them when speaking about my Lord really matters to me, including in the small things.
We’ll talk more about this tomorrow.
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One Response
A strong stance I am unable to match. As a sailor I have a sailor’s vocabulary and count it a blessing that I am usually able to keep it in check. But I God damn a lot of things and people, usually because they annoy me, not because they deserve it. Will try to substitute “a–hole,” “bloody hell,” “jackass,” “bloody bastard,” and other gems. I’m not so great at the love everybody stuff. Hate is the root of profanity and we’re not supposed to cave to either one.
Now, I have two cats currently curled up beside me. There is no point God damning them as all beloved animals go to Heaven. And I love them very much.
As a very crummy Catholic with sporadic Mass attendance and confession ducking, I am probably taking God’s name in vain by calling myself a Christian. A believer, yes. A faithful practicer, no.