Cultural Conventionality vs. Christian Morality

This is a follow up to my wee memo to family about joining me in this blog, which included a diatribe about internet slang such as OMG (oh my god) or OMFG (oh my fucking god) or even LOL. If you are limited to thumb typing on your cell phone it might make sense (unless of course you are driving down the highway risking life and limb of all around you.) Slang shortens even lend themselves to the minispeak arenas such as Facebook. Two problems come to mind: first, it’s lazy, and second in of case of OMG and OMFG is that it’s blasphemy; you know, taking the Lord’s name in vain (commandment number 3 to be specific.) It is pretty common for folk to blaspheme today. We are more likely to invoke the name of the deity when we smash of finger with a hammer or if someone cuts us off on the highway that we are to pray; a rather sad commentary on the state of our society.

Strangely I am less upset about obscenity than I am blasphemy when the opposite seems true for most others. Take the OMFG for instance; God’s name is special and should be respected and the use of God’s name in such a casual and demeaning way offends me. “Fucking” in the slang OMFG, while offensive is less upsetting to me. Fuck comes from the Latin, “to do, or make” and has been become a crude expression of folk with limited vocabularies to express a variety of emotions. George Carlin practically made a career of such offensive words to people who wouldn’t even blink of the blasphemous use of God’s name. If you feel the need for such expression say it like the Irish, “Fock”, it somehow sounds better, but that’s just me.

The real point of all this is as the title of this tidbit says, “Cultural conventions versus Christian morality”. Despite protestations to the contrary, we live in a very secular society. Thus, demeaning God’s name is not seen as a great offence even among those who call themselves Christians (and likely are) but not very adept practitioners of it. A typical parent today is less offended, if offended at all by their child saying, “Oh my god” or “OMG” but can be exceedingly upset if the child says: fuck, shit, crap, damnit, asshole, or any other verbiage that seems in bad taste by current cultural conventions. The same is true of the parents or adult role models in their lives in their daily speech. An occasional “god damn it” or “Jesus Christ” (not in a religious context) seems the same or even less offensive that a “son of a bitch”, “rotten bastard” or “motherfucker, or other non creative obscenities.

If you use obscenities a few folk may look down their noses at you for awhile. And you would think God, with all eternity to remember our demeaning words about God’s self but is probably less offended. God is weird that way. God is a great forgiver. But not acknowledge God’s name as holy is still in far worse taste than a dumb obscenity. At least it would seem that way for believers.

But I suppose, who gives a rodent’s backsides anyway?

Post Script: This whole piece has been done from the perspective of Christian morality and a small portion of it as well. There lies a whole new discussion between social convention versus morality in and of itself. Morality can be based upon a multitude of beliefs.