How to Explain the 3rd Commandment

​Have you ever been in a church where you accidentally let out a darn or one of the less considered curse words and one of the older members of the congregation derided you and say that you are breaking a commandment? Someone needs to look at the Ten Commandments again….
Now, do not get me wrong because the vile tongue is covered in Scripture (39 times in fact) and is a big no-no for us, but it is not part of the Third Commandment. Before we go on, let us look at the NKJV translation of Exodus 20, Verse 7:
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. (NKJV)
Reminder, the first four commandments are specifically covering God and worship. The other six are the short but concise morality laws from which come the 672 Mosaic Laws.
As you can see it says nothing about using vile (curse) words which are demeaning in nature. It isn’t meant to address the use of words, phrases, and even gestures that may be socially uncouth or vulgar. The Third Commandment is specifically addressing the misuse of God’s name.
The fact of the matter is that God didn’t want the Israelites to say that He’d said something that He, in fact, had not. This makes sense doesn’t it? God has a reputation to protect. He doesn’t want anyone saying, “Thus saith the Lord”, if the Lord has not spoken. From a legal standpoint do not commit perjury for God opposes it. If you make a vow in His name, KEEP IT.
We hear people today say that God told him or her this or that. Did He really say it? Supposed prophets or seers today use this for emphasis and getting people’s attention. All those dreamers on You Tube who swear up and down that “God said to me that the rapture will take place on such and such date.” The time passes and oops. Many are using God’s name to say that some disaster will happen on specific dates, the day passes and oops, wrong. These are just the minions of the false prophets that will come (some of which are already here).  Misinterpretation of Scriptures that turn into gospels (i.e. Prosperity Gospel and others) are examples of misusing God’s name.
Some of the conversation starters to look out for are:

• “Thus saith the Lord…”
• “God told me to tell you…”
• “I have a word from the Lord…”
• “God says that if you send in this much money, you will be blessed.”

How about, for safety’s sake of souls, we hear the key terms like “I think” and others followed by interjections as afore mentioned; therefore taking the verbiage out of God’s mouth and into our own. That way God’s reputation is safe and we are not committing sacrilege against God.
Now, this is not a license to use vulgar language (even young children now a days use OMG in their texts and social media). We still need to do right by the Father and keep our minds, hearts, and mouths clean from all forked tongues.      
So what does this mean for us??
We are to be on our guard not to make false claims or promises we know we cannot keep in God’s name. If a vow is made in God’s name keep it (Ordinances, Sacraments, and Covenants). Tread lightly but understand we do not always walk on pins and needles, we will make mistakes.