Hallowed Be Thy Name

Recently, I've been hearing the Lord's name taken in vain more frequently. That, or I'm just becoming more sensitive to it. Either way, each time I hear it I cringe. Something within me wants to scream out against it. I find it completely and totally offensive. I guess I've just been thinking a lot lately about the ironies of "human nature." We talk about the serious evils our children face in the world today - sex, drugs, pornography, dangers of the internet, etc. - and the constant barage of it all to them; and I'm wondering when profanity became less important or more accepted.

I admit, I have used my share of swear words and the thing is, I never feel good about myself after I say them. Is there really no other word I can use in the moment? Can I truly not find a better way of expressing myself? I have always prided myself on the fact that no matter what swear words might slip off the tongue, at least I haven't used the Lord's name in vain. Oh what a rationalization!! Isn't ALL profanity a form of taking the Lord's name in vain? Why is it so commonplace?

In November 1987, President Gordon B. Hinckley explained that using profanity, "it lessens our respect for holy things and leads us into the society of the wicked; it brings upon us the disrespect of the good who avoid us; it leads us to other sins, for he who is willing to abuse his Creator is not ashamed to defraud his fellow creature; and also by so doing we directly and knowingly break one of the most direct of God’s commandments ... stay out of the gutter in your conversation. Foul talk defiles the man who speaks it."

Oh how true! And again, reiterated in Robert L. Millet's talk in March 1994, "To be called upon to speak or act in the name of God is a sacred trust. It is deserving of solemn and ponderous thought. We would preach gospel doctrines more diligently and bear more fervent testimonies if we kept fixed in our minds the weighty fact that our words or our deeds can be the words and actions of our eternal Head."

Too often, when we say we are disciples of Christ and that we follow Him, we speak in reference to our actions. Why not our speech? I know for myself I am going to be more mindful of my language and more dilligent in refraining from profanity.