Read:
The Second Commandment
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.
What is this? or What does this mean?
We are to fear and love God, so that we do not curse, swear, practice magic, lie, or deceive using God’s name, but instead use that very name in every time of need to call on, pray to, praise, and give thanks to God.
Now read Exodus 3:13-15
13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’:
This is my name forever,
and this my title for all generations.
So, what might it look like to misuse the Lord’s name? Well, let’s watch one example in this clip from The Simpsons. In this clip, Homer does at least one thing right, according to Luther’s explanation, but he clearly doesn’t quite get everything:
Don’t use God’s name for the following:
- Curse,
- Swear,
- Practice magic
- Lie
- Deceive
Read this, from Martin Luther’s Large Catechism:
“The greatest abuse [of God’s name], however, is in spiritual matters, which affect the conscience, when false preachers arise and present their lying nonsense as God’s Word.”
Luther says that the worst of all the ways that God’s name gets misused is when preachers lie about God! This makes sense, because if preachers make God out to be something other than the true, loving God, people will have a hard time trusting God–it is dangerous to faith!
Watch the video below. Is this pastor misusing God’s name?
Now, click here to take a short quiz.