The book of Judges, chapter 12, verses 5 and 6, tells the story of one of the original passwords: shibboleth. In this instance, some warriors on the losing side of a battle had a particular accent that caused then to pronounce this word as "sibboleth" rather than "shibboleth," thus bringing about their discovery and elimination when they tried to escape by disavowing their identities.
As a result of that story, we have the occasionally-used term "shibboleth" which refers to saying something in a certain way to show that we're part of an "in group." A good example of this in some parts of Protestant Christianity would be sprinkling one's prayer language with the word "just" as in "we just ask that you would just heal..." Clearly, there's no biblical or other requirement for the inclusion of this word when praying - it's even absent from the Lord's Prayer, though one can easily imagine where it might be overzealously inserted.
Interestingly, recent history has given English-speaking Protestants something of an un-shibboleth - let's call it a sibboleth - that causes many well-meaning Catholics to be judged as non-Christian because they're seen as breaking one of the Ten Commandments - the one that says not to take the Lord's name in vain. (This is the third commandment for Protestants and Jews, but the second commandment for Catholics - more about that in another blog entry or chapter.)
Of course, the original intent of this commandment was to not misuse the name of God (also known as the Tetragrammaton, which, out of respect, I will not type in this blog) through acts such as swearing by it and then not keeping that oath.
Over the centuries, many references and terms have come to be used to refer to God, including the English word "God," and while they aren't God's name, they certainly also deserve respectful treatment due to their meaning.
But here's the problem: sometimes, when we are praying, we just want to say as succinctly as possible, "Help me God" - particularly when we encounter some unpleasant and unexpected circumstance that we're not prepared to deal with on our own.
In languages such as Polish, one way to do this is the Polish expression "O Boże" which translates literally as "O God" (as distinct from "Oh God") and is among the briefest possible invocations of God's assistance in a time of trouble.
The problem here is self-evident in the preceding paragraph: you can't hear the difference between "O God" and "Oh God" - and it is such a brief expression that any tones of reverence can be missed.
Sadly, the result is that, while many Catholic Christians may use the invocation "O God" as a brief prayer in times of need, other people, including some fellow Catholics who may not have picked up on the difference, may take this as implicit permission to say "Oh God" as an exclamation of surprise or disapproval, leading to other similarly inappropriate exclamations such as using the name of Jesus Christ as an expletive.
A perfect example of this confusion in my life was at a University Pastoral Council meeting I attended once. Various chatter was happening before the meeting began, when the priest, a sociable and friendly fellow, suddenly said, "O God" and a number of the people giggled, thinking he'd said, "Oh God" until he continued with the rest of his opening prayer, which brought the giggling to an immediate and embarrassed end.
So, are Catholics in the cultural habit of taking the Lord's name in vain? Not precisely - there are many who are scrupulous not to use any reference to God or Jesus in an exclamation, and also many who only use these as a brief prayer. Sadly, there are also some who do give a bad example by using these as expletives, thus demonstrating that, like every other Christian, they are imperfect and need Christ's redemption. However, I don't recall ever hearing a Catholic actually use what is known as God's proper name as an expletive, let alone swear by it to do something and then fail to come through.
To my Protestant brothers and sisters - particularly those who, like myself, scrupulously avoid any reference to God or Jesus in their expletives - I ask that you understand this distinction, not to overlook an offense, but to recognize it for what it actually is, and not let it become a barrier to sharing Christ's love with fellow Christians.
(Copyright (c) 2011, Reg Harbeck, all rights reserved)
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