The third commandment of the summary of Torah (the Ten Commandments):
You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
In the list of the Ten Commandments, this one, more than any other, seems a bit out of place - particularly in its most used context. However, when examined in the light of its full context in scripture and its originally understood context, I think there is a lesson for all of us to grasp.
Vows and Oaths and Empty Words
Probably the way this verse is most often interpreted is that we should not use God’s (or Jesus’) name as an expletive, or otherwise extraneous manner. This is very wise, and I am sure a part of what is covered by the command. However, if we stop there, we completely miss the heart of this command.
To ‘misuse’ God’s name, or to take in vain (i.e. to ‘make it nothing’) is to attach it to something that to which it does not belong. It is claiming that God has blessed or cursed something, someone or some activity based on your own purposes. Or, as Andy Stanley notes, “the original intent of this command was to prevent people from attaching God’s name to purposes that are not His.”
To take God’s name in vain - to make it nothing - basically is man’s way of pitting God against Himself. Read more
If you want a perfect little case study on why America is failing today - and far into the foreseeable future - look no further than Beachwood, OH:
Beachwood has cancelled its annual 4th of July Rec League All-Star Game for 9 to 12 year olds.
In a letter to coaches, Assistant Recreation Supervisor Frank Vicchiarelli announced that the decades old tradition would end because certain kids were being singled out as better players than others.
You’ve gotta be kidding me. Newsflash - some kids ARE better players than others, and to bench them in favor of the precious little snowflakes who are more interested in the flowers growing in center field than the ball hurtling toward them at 60 mph is just asinine.
It’s no wonder that the Millennials now entering the workforce, after years of ‘everybody gets a trophy’ and ‘there are no losers’ and ‘we don’t keep score, because then someone would lose’, are such a pampered, demanding lot who cry and quit when they don’t make CFO three years into their first assignment.
It’s the little things that matter - and you know what? Little league all-star games are just one of those ‘little things’ that end up teaching life-lessons: both to the kids on the field (who learn that hard work and talent will be rewarded) and the kids watching from the stands (who learn that hard work and talent will be rewarded, and that it’s probably best to work hard at something in which you have talent).
A couple years ago, while I was teaching at an art & music camp on the Rez in North Dakota, several of the other volunteers and I (particularly the guy who hosts this website) decided to put together a music video in our spare time (primarily an evening break).
The song we chose was from a disc of songs submitted to Word Records by amateur acts (see this story for links to several of them) that never made it (if you listen to them, you’ll understand - particularly this one, whose chorus will put you in stitches).
While it contains a whole lot of ‘in-jokes’ from the week (which are never nearly as funny when explained), it served its purposes as some funny entertainment, and it also reminded us that sometimes we take ourselves way too seriously. (For anyone wondering, I’m the dude in the pool with a guitar)
As I get ready to head out to do another camp with this group of brothers and sisters - along with some more I’ve not met yet - and as I dust off the ‘demo album’, seeing the video was just another reminder of how sometimes it’s just good to take the time to laugh at yourself…
Apparently, “scientists” have determined that sarcasm is an evolutionary survival skill. Now, why they needed to take time out of looking for something practical, I don’t know (or why we call such folks “scientists” in the first place…)
But hey, apparently my ancestors passed on serious survival skills to me…
Like many conversations, there are certain subjects which rise to the surface from time-to-time, often (and hopefully) becoming clearer over time. One such subject that probably bears another go is that of the language we use - words and sentences.
Setting the Stage
As part of the baseline for this discussion, I would like to borrow and briefly touch on some concepts from this article last fall. Specifically, there are three ways of classifying behavioral beliefs:
Absolutes - those things which are cross-cultural truths, which are demanded or forbidden. To do (or not do) such things is sinful, regardless of the cultural context.
Convictions - those things which are personally convicting, actions which a person believes they should (or should not) do. To do (or not do) such things would be sinning against one’s conscience, and therefore would be sinful. However, convictions are limited to the person or faith community (as with binding and loosing) and cannot be demanded cross-culturally.
Preferences - those things which are personally preferred, based on traditions or likes and dislikes.
Legalism occurs when Preferences or Convictions are raised to the level of Absolutes. This is the sin of the Pharisees. Relativism occurs when Absolutes are lowered to Convictions or Preferences. This is the sin of the Pagans and Hedonists.
Both are to be avoided.
The Words We Use
The Bible has a number of things to say about the words we use. Just a few relevant examples: Read more
I’ve had a couple videos referred to me in the past week that I’ve found moving - for more than one reason. Interestingly, as a past ‘theater geek’, I have not historically been a big fan of the use of dramatic elements in corporate worship services. I think this is primarily because of the quality of thought, writing and performance, though I’m not sure.
However, I found both of these presentations compelling.
The first is a depiction of confession and living testimonies:
I thought this comment by new commenter over at CRN.Info, Chad, was rather insightful, demonstrating a truth I’ve tried to convey in the past, though much more ham-handedly than he has elegantly phrased. In answer to the question “what would you consider ‘heresy’”, he writes:
Making works necessary for salvation. I would qualify this, though, by saying that our Roman Catholic friends are not heretics in this regard. When I say “works as necessary for salvation” it is to say that grace is being denied as free gift (or more to the point, that there is no need of grace), that God in Jesus has not done something to open the door to heaven.
I am quick to point out that many of my protestant brothers and sisters are no different than our RCC brothers and sisters - they have simply changed the system of “works” from one of penance to one of mental assent to a set of propositional truths or doctrines. While not “heresy” I consider it to be a departure from orthodox understandings of grace (gift!).
In the early church, particularly those with a Jewish background, the separation of “works” from “faith” was inconceivable. In this mindset, one physically cannot have a belief system that is not demonstrated. Sin, itself, is a demonstration of a belief that God cannot provide. As most of the world, and the church along with it, was Hellenized it began creating abstract compartmentalizations which separated ones “faith/belief” from one’s “actions”, leading to the church schizophrenically pitting one against the other.
We see the seeds of this already planted in the book of James, and the schizophrenia fully realized in Luther’s desire to strike it from the canon, since it appears to stake out ground somewhere between legalism and sola fide. To paraphrase James, “faith” (mental assent) really isn’t faith (mental assent) unless it is demonstrated.
And all of this is independent of grace, which is freely given.
As you survey the online landscape of Christianity (in which the relative percentage of Evangelical vs. Reformed vs. Catholic is skewed far differently that represented in living, breathing human beings), you can’t help but wonder why so many people are busy defending a 450-year-old church split, looking for the devil in the other party. One need only examine the wailing and gnashing of teeth anytime a Protestant church reintroduces a Catholic tradition. What you end up seeing is extra-biblical whining in condemnation of extra-biblical tradition (noting that I used ‘extra-biblical’ and not ‘unbiblical’ or ‘anti-biblical’).
It’s no wonder Jesus’ criticisms were almost exclusively about the religious class, always eager to demonstrate their righteousness while condemning anything that didn’t fit their own narrow traditions.
So, one of the books I’ve been (re)reading lately is Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. In one section, Gladwell outlines the Coke vs. Pepsi fight, which led to the debacle that was New Coke. In short, here’s what happened:
Pepsi started an ad campaign in which people were shown consistently choosing Pepsi over Coke in blind taste tests. This led to Coke looking for a new formula which, when released, flopped like televised bowling. As it turns out, though, the test itself is systematically flawed - a ’sip test’ (where you drink a mouthful of a drink) will give markedly different results than a ‘home test’ (where you drink the entire can or case) for taste preference. So, Pepsi, which is sweeter, wins ’sip tests’, but loses ‘home tests’ against Coke, because the sweetness is overwhelming in larger quantities.
Now, let’s fast-forward to 2008: I would contend that in the David vs. David battle on American Idol, that while everyone seemed to be favoring David Archuleta, the actual winner - David Cook - was almost inevitable, based on a decision made before the competition even began - publishing weekly live and/or studio recordings from each week’s competition on iTunes.
Like with the Coke vs. Pepsi competition, casual observers were basing their predictions on ’sip tests’ - the weekly competitions. David Archuleta, despite some missed words (which weren’t always obvious), was probably the most ’smooth’ singer with the most pitch-perfect voice. Unfortunately for him, he was tightly pigeonholed into a tight band of musical style - ballads and teen pop. David Cook, on the other hand, despite having a less trained voice, opted for a wider range of styles with unique (or less common) arrangements. But iTunes was the kicker.
By putting the songs on iTunes, American Idol enabled the ‘home test’ to compete with the ’sip test’. As most music producers will tell you, the best selling artists and albums are able to widely vary their styles and arrangements. A majority of people typically won’t buy an album full of ballads, but they will buy albums which contain ballads, interspersed with other styles of music. So, it was not unexpected that Cook was consistently winning the iTunes sales battle behind the scenes. While AI had its songs removed from the overall iTunes sales-rankings, it was possible to do a sales comparison of all of the AI songs against one another. When doing so, David Cook had 8 of the Top 10 songs - by a wide margin!
So, while David A might appear to ‘win’ week after week on the ’sip test’ (the show), thousands more were paying real money to download David C’s music - which they listened to all through the week. So, as the season progressed, David C’s entire body of work was constantly being compared to a single David A (and Syesha, Jason, etc.) performance.
Now, since AI doesn’t publish the actual vote totals, we can only rely on third-party estimates, of which Dial Idol is probably the best (with 90-95% accuracy throughout each season, and 95+% in the final weeks). When you examine David Cook from week-to-week, you can see him rise early in the Semi-finals around Week 7 (Mariah Carey week), and consistently finish well above David Archuleta from there on out.
From watching the data on iTunes and DialIdol, I was not at all surprised by Cook’s win - I was confidently predicting it the weeks prior to the final, and then even after the brutish treatment Cook got from the judges on Tuesday night.
So, what does this tell us? I would say that the right David won, and in fact, that adding iTunes to the mix will result in a more commercially successful winner in each of years to come, just as it did this year.
P.S. It should be noted that on May 22, David Cook’s first single, The Time of My Life, was released on iTunes at about 8 a.m. It took over the #1 download of the week spot 2 hours later.
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The third commandment of the summary of Torah (the Ten Commandments):
