Article September 17, 1910 Issue

TAKING GOD'S NAME IN VAIN

EYRE CARTER.

Once, while reading the twentieth chapter of Exodus, I was struck by the narrowness of the limit within which most people confine the meaning of the third commandment, "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." The great English thinker and writer, John Ruskin, partly tore aside the veil of human misconception when he said, "If we hear a man swear in the streets, we think it very wrong, and say he 'takes God's name in vain.' But there's a twenty times worse way of taking His name in vain than that. It is to ask God for what we don't want. He doesn't like that sort of prayer. If you don't want a thing, don't ask for it; such asking is the worst mockery of your King you can insult Him with; the soldiers' striking him [Jesus] on the head with the reed was nothing to that. If you do not wish for His kingdom, don't pray for it."

Such an interpretation of the third commandment is indeed a voice "crying in the wilderness," but those to whom Christian Science has revealed the inner meaning of the Bible, realize that the behest given to Moses means even more than this. They realize that it means, Thou shalt not in thought, word, or deed belittle God's allness. We break the third commandment if we "ask God for what we don't want." Why? Because to do so is to treat God as if He were at the beck and call of the human will, whereas we know that He is "the King of kings," who, "since He is unchanging wisdom and Love" (Science and Health, p. 2), meets our every need.

But the taking of God's name in vain includes still more than this. Once we acknowledge that God is All, that He is the only power and presence, and all orthodox Christians do acknowledge this, is it not belittling our concept of God to believe in the power or presence of anything unlike Him? If we for one moment admit that error, whether mental or material, has a real existence and is able to control man, we are attempting to set up an entity in opposition to Deity, we are attempting to lessen the infinite. Every time we do a wrong action, every time we say a wrong word, every time we think a wrong thought, we are taking God's name in vain; whereas, the scientific understanding of God's allpower and a silent or audible declaration of this great fact, honors God and delivers us, thus proving that God's law is our sure defense.

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