Violating the Third Commandment

This is What it Means to Take God's Name in Vain  Erin Hill, Baptist News Global

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.  Exodus 20:7 NRSV

My mother was big on the Ten Commandments.  She left a lot of the Bible instruction I got growing up to the Sunday School teacher at the Baptist church I attended every week, but what I got at home from her was a strong foundation in the 20th chapter of the book of Exodus.  So to me, "taking the Lord's name in vain" meant not using curse words with the terms "God" or "Christ" or "Jesus" in them.  She was particularly sensitive to the more casual references, like the occasional "Oh, my God," that my Aunt and Grandmother would use frequently.  She never corrected them but if she caught my eye after they'd said something like that, I could tell from her facial expression that I'd better never say that. 

But as I've grown older, I have seen that this commandment means far more than just avoiding using curse words.  It's a sign of respect for God as a person and presence in my life, and an acknowledgement that all things related to him, and to his triune nature which includes Christ and the Holy Spirit, are sacred. It is a guardrail on my conduct, since I claim to be a Christian, 

In this week's revisiting of the January 6th Trump Insurrection at the Capitol in Washington, I noticed, in the footage taken by a documentary writer who was actually embedded with the Proud Boys, a flagpole on which there was a Christian flag, a symbol I recognized immediately from my childhood Vacation Bible School days, during which we said a pledge to it, being carried by a rioter into the Capitol and then, at some point, either that flag or another one, was being used to stab at a police officer as the insurrectionists forced their way into the building for the purpose of disrupting Congress.  

There is no justification anywhere in any Christian doctrine or theology for the use of violence, either for the purpose of advancing the Christian gospel, or for a Christian to be involved in it for any reason.  I've come to accept conscientious objection to military service as a Christian directive, because of the very words of Christ himself.  And that includes being discerning in the event that I choose to become involved in a political protest, since I believe it would go against my faith convictions to be involved in anything advocating violence.  

The pledge to the Christian flag says, "I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the savior for whose Kingdom it stands."  If the flag is a symbol of the Kingdom of God, through Christ his son, and savior, then carrying it into a violent insurrection that has nothing to do with Christian faith at all, and then sharpening the bottom end of the pole on which it is being held for use as a means of stabbing another human being is most definitely wrongful use of the name of the Lord.  And the consequence for that, according to the commandment, is that the Lord will not acquit them of their guilt.  

I see many similarities between doing something like that, and the white supremacists who showed up in Idaho at the Pride Week event, to, in the words of Baylor student Erin Hill, who wrote the editorial in Baptist News Global that I referenced at the beginning of this piece, "cause hurt and violence, whether physical, emotional, spiritual or psychological" to the people who were there for the event.  Those protesters sang a verse from the hymn "How Great Thou Art" as their identifying mark.  Tacking a hymn on to what was otherwise a hateful attack doesn't convert it, or make it Christian.  

What Christian purpose is served by showing up to attack, protest, cause hurt and commit violence against those who were gathered in Idaho for Pride Week?  As Americans, they have the right to live as they choose, protected by freedom of conscience and religious liberty. And why drag the name of the Lord and the Christian faith through the mud with behavior that is inconsistent with biblical teaching?  It's almost as if an evangelism doesn't matter, that those who showed up to protest and attack aren't interest in the integrity of their own character and testimony.  

Christians Have Been Warned.  Do they Understand the Warning or are they Ignoring It? 

For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.  Jude 4

You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come.  For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power.  Avoid them!  2 Timothy 3: 1-5 NRSV

What Ideology is Infiltrating Some Churches?

Right wing politics is a secular ideology.  It has perverted the gospel of Christ by attempting to get church leaders, denominational leaders and televangelists to use the power of politics to achieve its mission and purpose, rather than relying on the spiritual power that was given to it on the day of Pentecost.  And the particular brand of it that is having influence among Evangelicals now is led by a man who proclaims his worldliness, opposite of godliness, as his trademark and as his means of making the gains he's made and acquiring the wealth he has acquired.  Bragging about adulterous affairs, paying off stars of the pornography industry, cheating and lying through business deals, is the m.o. of the leader of the latest right wing political faction.  And both Paul and Jude describe that kind of infiltration and the immorality that accompanies it.  

These two passages from the Bible are often worked into sermons these days to be critical of all of the "mess that is going on in the world today," meaning those who don't share the same political perspective or party affiliation of the one doing the preaching.  But I'm talking about the people who have infiltrated the church and who would participate in an insurrection aimed at subverting the constitution or overturning a legal, legitimate election.  I'm talking about the marriage of politics with some brands of Christian faith which has turned them into political warriors rather than peacemakers and who are trying to use political power to advance a pseudo-Christian religious agenda rather than rely on the spiritual power and strength of God himself to advance their faith. 

I'll leave it up to the readers to decide how similar are the descriptions of the infiltrators in Jude, to the influences of secular right wing politics on some branches of Christianity which have attempted to change church doctrine and deny it the use of its spiritual power.  Christians who don't get with the political agenda, and try to hang on to the spiritual nature of their faith are called "suckers" and "losers."  On more than one occasion, at rallies and gatherings pushing the Trump agenda, keynote speakers have said that "turning the other cheek" and "loving your enemies" may be nice things to do, but practicing those principles keeps Christians out of influential places in worldly institutions.  

But, there's this third commandment, against the wrongful use of the name of the Lord.  The Bible is very clear that the advancement of a secular political agenda is very much misusing the name of the Lord.  

So is carrying a Christian flag, a Bible, and wearing a Christian t-shirt into a mess like the Trump insurrection of January 6th.