How do I swear?

I have always thought it especially strange that Jesus Christ and God became swear words right along with damn and hell, since they are supposed to be polar opposites. Really, even people who don't 'swear' use these words. Isn't Jeeze and Jeesh just an abbreviated Jesus and Gosh a nicified God? How did the name of everything holy turn into something bad? Why is it such a big deal not to use these names as explicatives?

Some people trace this word fetish back to the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20. “Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain.” Or, according to the NRSV, “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misused his name.”

Does this mean that God gets really mad when someone spits out a, “Oh my God!” or “Jesus Christ” when they are mad, upset, excited, startled, etc.? After all, we call using obscene language ‘swearing.’ It’s a term I never really understood. After all, ‘swearing’ means to make an oath. When you swear in court you swear by God that you will tell the truth. It gives more weight to what you say, because you do it in God’s name and He will punish if you go back on that word.

So what does that have to do with the use of dirty language? Nothing, as far as I can tell. The third commandment doesn’t have anything to do with that.

And does using OMG or JC as a ‘swear’ word really mean anything? I think that more people profane the name of God and his Son every day who use the name in worship than as a dirty word. They dirty the name of God when they call themselves ‘Christian’ and act with greed, lust or pride. They sully the word of Jesus when they claim to belong to him, yet read without mercy on the poor and destitute. They obscure the name and vilify it when they withhold forgiveness and grace in order to hold onto their hate and revenge.

A name is more than a label, more than a word. A name is who and what you are. I have come to the point where it no longer bothers me to hear swear words. The people who use them throw them around as empty syllables, nothing more. They don’t mean anything against God specifically, they are simply expressing frustration, fear, pain, and anger.

I heard on a Christian radio station once, in response to a debate about taking "Under God" out of the pledge of allegiance, one of the announcers claimed she wouldn't stand up if her own rights were being violated, but when God's name is vilated, that's different. I say it's the exact opposite. God stands for truth and justice and our rights are part of that. If I am experiencing injustice, chances are someone else is, too, and I need to fight that injustice for me and for them in the name of God. What we say in the pledge of allegiance...well, we're hardly a Christian nation, so what does it matter if we use the name or not? It's our actions, not our pledge, that tells who and what we are as a country.

It’s something to think about, another one of the strange ironies of our culture clashing with our Christian history and conservative mores. Don’t put the fish bumper sticker on your car or wear a cross necklace or WWJD bracelet unless you mean it. Unless you are ready to represent God and Jesus’ name by all that you do. Because that is far more important than the expressions of discontent and annoyance that you choose.