OMG
I won’t let my daughter use the acronym OMG.
I know that it can mean “Oh, my gosh!” or “Oh, my goodness!” but just because she might mean it that way doesn’t mean that others will take it that way. I don’t even like to hear people say “Lord,” “Good, Lord,” or “Lordy,” because the word Lord is used about 8,000 times in the Bible and most of the time it is referring to God, (living in the South, I know many disagree with me on this point).
Although I’m used to saying things like “Holy cow!” I’ve been trying to not use the word “Holy” carelessly either. One of my favorite scenes in Alone occurs when Tanner picks Laci up for the prom:
“Holy crap, you look good,” I said, once she was standing before me.
“Tanner,” she chided. “Don’t say that!”
“I can’t say ‘Holy crap’ now either?”
She thought about it for a moment . . . honestly thought about it.
“You can say ‘crap’,” she finally decided. “Just not ‘holy’.”
“Why not?”
“You know,” she explained, shrugging her shoulders uncertainly. “Holy is . . .”
She hesitated, obviously unsure how to word what she wanted to say.
“Well, it’s holy,” she finally said.
I looked at her for a moment in mild disbelief. Somehow, “Crap, you look good,” didn’t quite have the same ring to it.
Not taking the Lord’s name in vain was one of the ten things that God commanded: You shall not misuse the nameof the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. Deuteronomy 5:11
He is holy . . . His name is holy. To fully revere God, I feel the need to fully revere His name as well. It's something that's very, very important to me.
And yet I’ve had my characters say “Oh, my God.”
Greg says it when they arrive at the landfill in Mexico, Samantha says it several times casually, and David says it when he talks to Laci after first seeing Kyle. I’ve been told by some that this is wrong . . . that it is wrong for a Christian writer to ever, ever have their characters say, “Oh, my God!”
In answer to that, I would say that in the instances of David and Greg, they were not taking God’s name in vain, but were so upset that they were calling out to Him (as Tanner realizes Laci is doing when she says the same thing over and over again in Alone ). And Samantha and David discuss whether or not saying “Oh my God!” actually constitutes taking the Lord’s name in vain. One of the things I am happiest about is a review on Teen Lit Review (Real Reviews for the Christian Parent) of Chop, Chop which states in part: “I especially liked how the author explains that the exclamation “O_ M_G__,” used often as an accepted way of taking the Lord’s name in vain, is in fact wrong.”
In vain means useless . . . without purpose.
I had a purpose.
I know that it can mean “Oh, my gosh!” or “Oh, my goodness!” but just because she might mean it that way doesn’t mean that others will take it that way. I don’t even like to hear people say “Lord,” “Good, Lord,” or “Lordy,” because the word Lord is used about 8,000 times in the Bible and most of the time it is referring to God, (living in the South, I know many disagree with me on this point).
Although I’m used to saying things like “Holy cow!” I’ve been trying to not use the word “Holy” carelessly either. One of my favorite scenes in Alone occurs when Tanner picks Laci up for the prom:
“Holy crap, you look good,” I said, once she was standing before me.
“Tanner,” she chided. “Don’t say that!”
“I can’t say ‘Holy crap’ now either?”
She thought about it for a moment . . . honestly thought about it.
“You can say ‘crap’,” she finally decided. “Just not ‘holy’.”
“Why not?”
“You know,” she explained, shrugging her shoulders uncertainly. “Holy is . . .”
She hesitated, obviously unsure how to word what she wanted to say.
“Well, it’s holy,” she finally said.
I looked at her for a moment in mild disbelief. Somehow, “Crap, you look good,” didn’t quite have the same ring to it.
Not taking the Lord’s name in vain was one of the ten things that God commanded: You shall not misuse the nameof the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. Deuteronomy 5:11
He is holy . . . His name is holy. To fully revere God, I feel the need to fully revere His name as well. It's something that's very, very important to me.
And yet I’ve had my characters say “Oh, my God.”
Greg says it when they arrive at the landfill in Mexico, Samantha says it several times casually, and David says it when he talks to Laci after first seeing Kyle. I’ve been told by some that this is wrong . . . that it is wrong for a Christian writer to ever, ever have their characters say, “Oh, my God!”
In answer to that, I would say that in the instances of David and Greg, they were not taking God’s name in vain, but were so upset that they were calling out to Him (as Tanner realizes Laci is doing when she says the same thing over and over again in Alone ). And Samantha and David discuss whether or not saying “Oh my God!” actually constitutes taking the Lord’s name in vain. One of the things I am happiest about is a review on Teen Lit Review (Real Reviews for the Christian Parent) of Chop, Chop which states in part: “I especially liked how the author explains that the exclamation “O_ M_G__,” used often as an accepted way of taking the Lord’s name in vain, is in fact wrong.”
In vain means useless . . . without purpose.
I had a purpose.
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