No matter how much I prefer not to post the same message over and over - there is one that I cannot fail to post often. In 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2017 I posted a blog titled "Using 'OMG' And The 'F' Word On Public Forums." Yet the frequency of seeing those words/phrases on public forums continues to increase - even among Christians.
Maybe that is because it has become so common in commercials and in television shows and movies. It seems to be almost more common that saying, "Hello." And, sadly, much to my dismay and heartbreak, I see it very often used by Christians.
Folks, I suppose I will just keep posting this message until someone believes me and I start to see results. I would much rather you slander me and my name - instead of casually using my God's name to add emphasis and color to your conversation.
"Okay, Bill, what is your complaint now?" Glad you asked. At least I know you have read my first few paragraphs.
In September 2010, I was posting on Facebook Notes, the TimesDaily Religion Forum, the Faith & Family Section of The Conservative Voice eNewspaper, the Bill & Dory Gray Christian Ministries blog site, and in my Friends Ministry eNewsletter. At that time, I became especially burdened for two reasons.
First, I saw a Facebook post from a young lady, whom I knew grew up in a very strong Christian family, casually posting the "F" word as though it was like saying, "Hi, how are you?" ~ and ~
Second, my frustration reached a boiling point seeing folks, even Christian believers, casually using the abbreviation OMG as an exclamation point or to add emphasis to their writing. Many times I have responded to them, "Please, go ahead and finish your prayer - for I am sure that when you start with 'Oh, my God' you must be praying!"
Starting in 2010 I posted the blog below on all those venues (and I have posted it several times since) - and I received the expected response on the TimesDaily Religion Forum and on Facebook - where both were populated with many atheists, agnostics, and plain old vanilla-flavored non-believers.
In response, folks on both venues began to compete, each trying to see how many times they could post OMG to frustrate Bill Gray. I suppose, in their secular-world-oriented minds they never even considered that they are offending someone infinitely greater and more important than Bill Gray. They are offending God, the God who created them and all the universe.
Just think of that, they are offending the God who was powerful enough to speak the entire universe into being - and they think it is a joke. That is somewhat like playing with a small electrical spark generator - while standing beside a nuclear bomb. But, praise God, the young lady whose "F" word posts initiated my writing - never repeated that kind of post again.
Let me share my initial 2010 blog:
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
In the past few weeks, my heart has been burdened. I am seeing a proliferation of people, mostly young, but some not so young, who I know to be Christians and who I know come from good Christian families - flagrantly posting two very offensive words/phrases on Facebook. What are these words and phrases that I find so offensive? First is the initials "OMG" and the second is the "F" word.
Why are these so offensive to me? Well, OMG is texting shorthand for "Oh, my God!" - which is taking God's name in vain. God takes His name and His glory very serious. That is why He wrote in the Bible, "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, . . ." (Exodus 20:7). So, just because it is abbreviated; makes it no less offensive - to God and to all Christian believers.
Creating slang versions of His name is the same, i.e., saying "Geez" or "Jeezus" - is just as bad as using, "Oh, Jesus!" or "Jesus Christ!" as exclamations of anger or aggravation, or to add color and emphasis to your conversation.
Most of the people I have seen writing these offenses have relatively good educations - and I am sure that, if those people try just a little, they can find more appropriate words to use in venting their frustration, to highlight their point, or to make an exclamation.
And, what does surprise me the most - is that 95% of the people I have recently seen using these offensive words on public forums - are female.
When we, especially we Christian believers, post on public forums such as Facebook - we are representing all Christian believers. And we are representing our Lord. We are told in 2 Corinthians 5:20, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."
When I read this Scripture verse, I am reminded of a story my good Friend and mentor, the man who led me to the Lord in 1987 and who began my Christian education journey, Pastor Sam Lacanienta, told us many years ago. When Pastor Sam was a young pastor in the Philippines, one Sunday a relative who was also the Philippine Ambassador to England, came to the worship service. After the service, Pastor Sam asked him what it meant to be an ambassador for his country. He told Pastor Sam, "My main job as an ambassador to England - is to not embarrass my nation while doing my job."
As Christian ambassadors for Christ, when we write on public forums and even when we are in private discussions - we should be very aware of not embarrassing our Lord.
For my young Friends, when you post such words on Facebook and other social networking channels - keep in mind that you are representing first your God - then yourself - and, very important, you are representing YOUR FAMILY - your mom, your dad, your siblings - all your family.
So, please, I know that you do not purposely want to be offensive, especially to God. And I know you do not want to embarrass your family or yourself. Therefore, when you write on Facebook or other networking channels - write your message as though you are writing it to your mother. Write messages you would not be ashamed to have your mother, father, and siblings read. Write messages which will glorify our Lord.
The following dialogue with an atheist Forum Friend is excerpted from my initial 2010 post on the TimesDaily Religion Forum and I have added it here in my initial blog to further explain why these abbreviations are offensive to God and should be to all believers:
And, to my non-believing Friends, while you may or may not find these words offensive; keep in mind when you post on any Forum or social network channel - that those things are offensive to we Christians. So, as a courtesy to us, please do try to find other words or phrases to use. For that consideration, we thank you.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
My Friends, I posted this in 2010, 2013, 2016, 2017, and now in 2018. And I will keep posting it as long as the secular world, and some unaware Christian Friends, continue to offend my God by taking His holy name in vain. Only God or the Rapture can stop me - and I know He will not.
Please feel free to share this with all your FRANs (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors) for they may not be aware of the offensive nature of such posts or comments.
Thank you and God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
Maybe that is because it has become so common in commercials and in television shows and movies. It seems to be almost more common that saying, "Hello." And, sadly, much to my dismay and heartbreak, I see it very often used by Christians.
Folks, I suppose I will just keep posting this message until someone believes me and I start to see results. I would much rather you slander me and my name - instead of casually using my God's name to add emphasis and color to your conversation.
"Okay, Bill, what is your complaint now?" Glad you asked. At least I know you have read my first few paragraphs.
In September 2010, I was posting on Facebook Notes, the TimesDaily Religion Forum, the Faith & Family Section of The Conservative Voice eNewspaper, the Bill & Dory Gray Christian Ministries blog site, and in my Friends Ministry eNewsletter. At that time, I became especially burdened for two reasons.
First, I saw a Facebook post from a young lady, whom I knew grew up in a very strong Christian family, casually posting the "F" word as though it was like saying, "Hi, how are you?" ~ and ~
Second, my frustration reached a boiling point seeing folks, even Christian believers, casually using the abbreviation OMG as an exclamation point or to add emphasis to their writing. Many times I have responded to them, "Please, go ahead and finish your prayer - for I am sure that when you start with 'Oh, my God' you must be praying!"
Starting in 2010 I posted the blog below on all those venues (and I have posted it several times since) - and I received the expected response on the TimesDaily Religion Forum and on Facebook - where both were populated with many atheists, agnostics, and plain old vanilla-flavored non-believers.
In response, folks on both venues began to compete, each trying to see how many times they could post OMG to frustrate Bill Gray. I suppose, in their secular-world-oriented minds they never even considered that they are offending someone infinitely greater and more important than Bill Gray. They are offending God, the God who created them and all the universe.
Just think of that, they are offending the God who was powerful enough to speak the entire universe into being - and they think it is a joke. That is somewhat like playing with a small electrical spark generator - while standing beside a nuclear bomb. But, praise God, the young lady whose "F" word posts initiated my writing - never repeated that kind of post again.
Let me share my initial 2010 blog:
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
In the past few weeks, my heart has been burdened. I am seeing a proliferation of people, mostly young, but some not so young, who I know to be Christians and who I know come from good Christian families - flagrantly posting two very offensive words/phrases on Facebook. What are these words and phrases that I find so offensive? First is the initials "OMG" and the second is the "F" word.
Why are these so offensive to me? Well, OMG is texting shorthand for "Oh, my God!" - which is taking God's name in vain. God takes His name and His glory very serious. That is why He wrote in the Bible, "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, . . ." (Exodus 20:7). So, just because it is abbreviated; makes it no less offensive - to God and to all Christian believers.
Creating slang versions of His name is the same, i.e., saying "Geez" or "Jeezus" - is just as bad as using, "Oh, Jesus!" or "Jesus Christ!" as exclamations of anger or aggravation, or to add color and emphasis to your conversation.
Most of the people I have seen writing these offenses have relatively good educations - and I am sure that, if those people try just a little, they can find more appropriate words to use in venting their frustration, to highlight their point, or to make an exclamation.
And, what does surprise me the most - is that 95% of the people I have recently seen using these offensive words on public forums - are female.
When we, especially we Christian believers, post on public forums such as Facebook - we are representing all Christian believers. And we are representing our Lord. We are told in 2 Corinthians 5:20, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."
When I read this Scripture verse, I am reminded of a story my good Friend and mentor, the man who led me to the Lord in 1987 and who began my Christian education journey, Pastor Sam Lacanienta, told us many years ago. When Pastor Sam was a young pastor in the Philippines, one Sunday a relative who was also the Philippine Ambassador to England, came to the worship service. After the service, Pastor Sam asked him what it meant to be an ambassador for his country. He told Pastor Sam, "My main job as an ambassador to England - is to not embarrass my nation while doing my job."
As Christian ambassadors for Christ, when we write on public forums and even when we are in private discussions - we should be very aware of not embarrassing our Lord.
For my young Friends, when you post such words on Facebook and other social networking channels - keep in mind that you are representing first your God - then yourself - and, very important, you are representing YOUR FAMILY - your mom, your dad, your siblings - all your family.
So, please, I know that you do not purposely want to be offensive, especially to God. And I know you do not want to embarrass your family or yourself. Therefore, when you write on Facebook or other networking channels - write your message as though you are writing it to your mother. Write messages you would not be ashamed to have your mother, father, and siblings read. Write messages which will glorify our Lord.
The following dialogue with an atheist Forum Friend is excerpted from my initial 2010 post on the TimesDaily Religion Forum and I have added it here in my initial blog to further explain why these abbreviations are offensive to God and should be to all believers:
She (an atheist Forum Friend) tells me, "Bill, I will not have my speech censored due to your belief. I am sorry that you took offense to it, but it was in no way directed at you or what you believe in. I will not use it to be purposely offensive, but if the mood hits me and I feel an 'OMG' is appropriate, then you will see it again. I am intelligent enough to see the difference in someone being offensive for effect and someone just using a term or phrase for emphasizes. I would hope you are also."
My Friend, I fail to see when the use of a phrase which is considered offensive to so many people - is appropriate. And, I know that most folks, if they give it a wee bit of thought, can find an alternate phrase or word to use which is just as effective and not offensive to anyone.
I am not asking to censor your speech. I AM asking for mutual respect. Even though you were not purposely trying to offend me and other Christian believers - taking the name of our God, in whom we do believe, in vain - is offensive to all of us.
And, as I said, I KNOW that you are an intelligent person and can find other exclamations to use in lieu of that.
You tell me, "I am intelligent enough to see the difference in someone being offensive for effect and someone just using a term or phrase for emphasizes. I would hope you are also."
I realize that you were not purposely trying to be offensive. And, even among Christian believers, there are many who do not realize that they are offending God when they write OMG in a post, or use it in a conversation. Many folks, especially young Christians, think they are just using a cute exclamation.
To be honest with you, I was not aware of the many ways we had been taking God's name in vain until about 20 years ago when our senior pastor, Pastor Sam Lacanienta, used a Sunday School class to explain it to us. I had often heard, and probably been guilty of doing it myself, the use of words like "Geez" - which is just a shortened form of Jesus - or "Gosh!" which is just a disguised form of God, i.e., "Oh, my gosh (God)!" - as exclamation points.
But, since that Sunday, I have been very aware of the different forms of taking God's name in vain. And, it sincerely does bother me to hear others do it so blatantly, even when it is not done purposely to offend another.
Because at one time I was not aware of the offense - now, when another person does it, I realize that they, too, may not be aware that what they are saying is offensive to most Christians. So, as a Christian Friend, I will point it out to that person and let him/her know that I find it offensive. If that person then continues to do it, I realize they are intentionally trying to offend me.
And, to my non-believing Friends, while you may or may not find these words offensive; keep in mind when you post on any Forum or social network channel - that those things are offensive to we Christians. So, as a courtesy to us, please do try to find other words or phrases to use. For that consideration, we thank you.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
My Friends, I posted this in 2010, 2013, 2016, 2017, and now in 2018. And I will keep posting it as long as the secular world, and some unaware Christian Friends, continue to offend my God by taking His holy name in vain. Only God or the Rapture can stop me - and I know He will not.
Please feel free to share this with all your FRANs (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors) for they may not be aware of the offensive nature of such posts or comments.
Thank you and God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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