We continue to be unamazed at the theological and spiritual depravity of Robert Jeffress, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas. We are unamazed because Pastor Jeffress has for an entire career displayed ignorance of the Bible, a startling lack of theological insight, and more care for power and prestige than befits any shepherd of one of Christ’s congregations. While unamazed, we are nonetheless troubled, because Jeffress has influence over many vulnerable sheep.
This time, Jeffress, perhaps the most ardent fan of Donald J. Trump among evangelicals other than Jerry Falwell, Jr, is worried about Trump’s penchant for “taking the Lord’s name in vain.” In particular, Jeffress is put out that Trump used the word “goddamn” in a recent rally with donors. As Jeffress puts it in the Washington Post, when it comes to off-color language, “There is a whole commandment dedicated to prohibiting that. I think it’s very offensive to use the Lord’s name in vain. I can take just about everything else, except that.”
For Jeffress, taking the Lord’s name in vain is literally about a set of words that to him are profane. He’s especially worried about the use of “goddamn,” spoken by a president who doesn’t worship the god Jeffress worships and who doesn’t believe in the hell Jeffress preaches. Whatever Jeffress or others say about Trump’s faith, we have it on good authority – the Scriptures – that Trump’s works and words tell us that he worships himself and that he has little fear of a hellish end.
But the more important point about Jeffress, and any Christian for that matter, is that we decry the use of ‘goddamn’ as a vain use of the Lord’s name, while we ourselves take the Lord’s name in vain in other, more profane ways.
We take the Lord’s name in vain when we say we honor Jesus Christ but . . .
In each case – and there are many others – we take the Lord’s name in vain when we claim to speak for and work for the Lord Jesus and not only turn our head from the kinds of injustices Jesus told us to confront, but we somehow justify our faithlessness by quoting the Bible. The practice of claiming the name of Jesus and then forsaking his teachings is the “empty” use of the Lord’s name that is at the heart of the command, “You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.” Robert Jeffress is confused about this, as he is about so much of the Christian faith. But we need not be confused like him, nor need we be unfaithful like him. It would honor the name of Jesus (that’s the opposite of taking that name in vain) for us to recover a truly Christian way of life that takes seriously the faithfulness to our fellow humans that Jesus requires of us.
This time, Jeffress, perhaps the most ardent fan of Donald J. Trump among evangelicals other than Jerry Falwell, Jr, is worried about Trump’s penchant for “taking the Lord’s name in vain.” In particular, Jeffress is put out that Trump used the word “goddamn” in a recent rally with donors. As Jeffress puts it in the Washington Post, when it comes to off-color language, “There is a whole commandment dedicated to prohibiting that. I think it’s very offensive to use the Lord’s name in vain. I can take just about everything else, except that.”
For Jeffress, taking the Lord’s name in vain is literally about a set of words that to him are profane. He’s especially worried about the use of “goddamn,” spoken by a president who doesn’t worship the god Jeffress worships and who doesn’t believe in the hell Jeffress preaches. Whatever Jeffress or others say about Trump’s faith, we have it on good authority – the Scriptures – that Trump’s works and words tell us that he worships himself and that he has little fear of a hellish end.
But the more important point about Jeffress, and any Christian for that matter, is that we decry the use of ‘goddamn’ as a vain use of the Lord’s name, while we ourselves take the Lord’s name in vain in other, more profane ways.
We take the Lord’s name in vain when we say we honor Jesus Christ but . . .
- Ignore the instruction to care for “the least of these” and to welcome the stranger while turning away those seeking asylum, separating families, and caging children
- Have conferences and make statements to oppose the notion of “social justice,” a fundamentally biblical concept, because we think it somehow undermines our concept of the gospel
- Fail to speak out against the racism that permeates our culture and fail to do the good work of forming a more just and equitable society
- Cheer on a president who bullies, insults, and denigrates people and whole societies (“shithole countries”)
- Endorse a president and other leaders who are chauvinists, misogynists, and who have serious charges of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and rape against them.
- Pursue winning a “culture war” that is more about defending a version of the USA than it is pursuing the kingdom of God whose Lord is Jesus. The two are not the same, and winning the culture war espoused by Jeffress et all likely means waging war against the kingdom that Jesus preached and died for.
In each case – and there are many others – we take the Lord’s name in vain when we claim to speak for and work for the Lord Jesus and not only turn our head from the kinds of injustices Jesus told us to confront, but we somehow justify our faithlessness by quoting the Bible. The practice of claiming the name of Jesus and then forsaking his teachings is the “empty” use of the Lord’s name that is at the heart of the command, “You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.” Robert Jeffress is confused about this, as he is about so much of the Christian faith. But we need not be confused like him, nor need we be unfaithful like him. It would honor the name of Jesus (that’s the opposite of taking that name in vain) for us to recover a truly Christian way of life that takes seriously the faithfulness to our fellow humans that Jesus requires of us.