[Composed as an example of the exercise for my writing students. The "commonplace" gave a student the skills to manipulate an audience's pathos, or emotions, and provided training for conclusions of full speeches]
[Prooemion] Christians are called to use our words
with care, honor, and respect. This applies clearly to the name of God, our
Maker and Creator.
[Contrast
with the opposite]
We
serve a God who does not merely use words, but is the Word Himself,
whose name is the foundation of all existence. He has given that name to his
greatest creation, mankind, and he has told us to carry it with honor in the
third of the Ten Commandments. Those who follow Him in this will be blessed in both
word and deed. Their words will be precious pearls, found in the least likely places.
[Expansion]
Who,
then, are those who break this commandment? They are men, women, boys and
girls, who take the most sacred word known to humanity—the one God gave us to represent himself—and trample
it in the dirt. Taking the Lord’s name in vain is not only the frivolous use of
cursing, bringing the name of God out to cover a stubbed toe or a hammered
thumb. This is evil, but it is not the highest evil under this commandment. No,
it may be seen in anyone who claims to bear the name of the Son of God, a Christ-ian
(or we may say a “little Christ”) who does not live every moment as though this
was true. This is hypocrisy, high-handed lying about God; the kind of lying that men do even while claiming
to be one His people. Any man who does not tell the whole truth about who God is
(and who he is) every second, of every day, is a breaker of this commandment: a
blasphemer! They are sinners, and not small sinners, but sinners flirting with
hell-fire itself.
[Comparison
with something less bad]
A
thief is a terrible thing. He uproots prosperity and strikes at the very pillar
of civilization. But one who takes God’s name in vain is often far more guilty
than any thief ever could be. A thief steals from men; a blasphemer steals from
God. A thief may commit his crime at most a few times in a day; a blasphemer’s
every word may betray him. A thief’s crime is easily measured, but who can
quantify a personal slight against the infinite Ruler of Heaven and Earth and
all within them?
[Maxim]
Few
men will dare to insult a great man in his presence. But thousands easily scoff
at the vast majesty and glory of God; they speak words with no thought of their
meaning or outcome. What else can this be but true madness? As Cicero said,
“What so effectually proclaims the madman as the hollow thundering of words—be
they never so choice or resplendent—which have no thought or knowledge behind
them?” And what else can be uttered in frustration and anger, empty of meaning?
This is truly the path of the insane, chasing death and destruction not just
with their feet but with their tongues.
[Wicked
Intent/Origin]
Of
course, their wicked path may have started long before this moment. A
high-handed blasphemer does not wake up one day and decide to curse God to His
face. They sin gradually, first becoming content with not telling the whole
truth, but only part of it. They tell themselves they are doing it to help
others, to spare them pain, to shield them from “the real truth.” Then they
move on to deliberately obscuring their words and actions. They grow in
deception and darkness with every lie about God they utter. Finally, they
become true hypocrites, vipers with poison under their tongues, the sort all
Christians should fear becoming!
[Rejection
of Pity]
So
often we hear that this is “just a little sin.” Using the Lord’s name in vain
is “just an accident” or “a tiny habit” or “an unfortunate slip-up.” These
people ask us to excuse them because their sin is so small. But is this what
God thinks? Hear what he says: “You shall not take the Name of the Lord your
God in vain, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His Name.”
If God will not absolve them, if He considers it important enough to list
before murder and adultery, than who are we to pity and ignore this fault? We
must stand against these blasphemers with all the strength we can muster!
[Final
Appeal]
We
condemn those who take the Lord’s name in vain because it is just; the Lord
Himself wrote it into his law. He does not change, and so why should we by
ignoring this fault? Further, it is most beneficial to the health of the Body, for squashing this sin early will
prevent many others from fouling our churches, the beautiful Bride of Christ.
If we do not wish for murder or covetousness to be our topics of conversation,
then we must begin with our smaller words and actions; we must live as those
marked with the insignia of Jesus: bread and wine and water. It is
appropriate for us to do this—for we follow Christ, who condemned in the
strongest terms those who blasphemed the Holy Spirit. Though it may be
difficult to convince others in our corrupt and lewd culture to be careful with
their mouths and deeds, yet we know it is possible, for “with God, all things
are possible.” So let us put these men and their filthy mouths in the dust bin
of history—where they belong.
