Stop With the OMG Already!

We hear it almost every day, on television, in movies, on the radio, from adults, from children.   “Oh, my God!” used as an exclamation of surprise.  OMG used as an abbreviation or shortcut in texting and e-mails.  It is used by many people who never give God another thought.  The name of the Lord is used in a casual, thoughtless manner; a practice which many Christians consider to be blasphemous.

Historically, the Jews have had a deep reverence for the Name of God.  In much Jewish literature God is written as G_d.  Christians sometimes seem a little too "familiar" with God.  We are allowed, as individuals, to approach Jesus Himself without the need for intercessors.  This does not mean that Jesus is our "buddy." He is The Word of John 1:1.

The reverence for the name of God is even the origin of the name “Jehovah,” which is a well-intentioned error.  Jews placed the vowel points for “Lord” (Adonai) onto the name JHWH, making the name unpronounceable in Hebrew. Jewish readers would substitute the word “adonai,” “my lord.” Most scholars believe that the mistaken pronunciation as Jehovah was adopted by many Christians about the year 1100 AD/CE.


"Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." Exodus 20:7

"...put me on a cross ..."

Kristen Stewart, the star of the Twillight series of films is quoted about her fans in US Weekly for 28 June 2010 on page 14.

"I ... hope that I don't run off at the mouth and say something stupid they'd put me on a cross for."

Ms. Stewart meant no disrespect to Christianity. That was probably never in her mind. What her statement does reflect is the casual way in which our modern culture views religion and the sacred. There is little or no understanding of the holy.

In contrast, to the ancient Jews, the very name of God was too holy to even pronounce. When they came upon it in the uninterrupted strings of consonants in which their scriptures were written, they said "Lord" instead. When, later, vowel marks were devised and added to the texts, the vowels for adonai ("Lord") were added to the consonants HWHJ (Hebrew is read right to left, so we would see this as JHWH, the Tetragrammaton, commonly pronounced today as "Jahweh"). This combination of consonants and vowels was unpronounceable in Hebrew and was spoken as "Lord."

Centuries later, German translators misunderstood and transliterated the name as "Jehovah."