O my God.
Have you noticed how much this little "O my God" phrase is used nowadays? Did you know that God forbids us to use His name in vain? "In vain" means without effect. Using His name without really meaning to... abuse of His name... is also known as blasphemy. This sin used to carry the same punishment as adultery and it becomes apparent why, when one thinks about it.
The essence or heart of all true religion is the love of God. How can we claim to love God and yet use
His name without even being aware of it? Think of someone you love dearly. Could you use their name without even thinking of them? No, it's impossible.
It's interesting that most of the people I know have developed sufficiently by now to know intuitively that to use for example "Jesus Christ" as an expletive is unacceptable by all standards. I've never heard a Baha'i say "Bahá’u’lláh" disrespectfully, and yet, the name of God, is continuously abused all the time, in our conversations. Bahá’u’lláh, our Most Beloved, is a Manifestation “of God”, not of
Himself. So how can we use the name of God so loosely and without due respect?
How can this be? I don't think the average person intends to disrespect God when they use the
OMG! Yet most lack the awareness to realize what they are doing. I think what has happened is that our society and community has developed a collective blind spot to this serious ailment. Only awareness will bring it back into view so that we can sort it out.
I think of it like smoking. Smoking never killed anyone. I've never seen anyone fall over dead from smoking a cigarette. But we all know, all too sadly, the lethal and awful effects it has on one.
Generally, society now has the awareness of the dangers of smoking and when people smoke they generally do it conscious of the consequences. Sadly there is not yet a general awareness of the serious dangers of blasphemy and the insidious little OMG!
Every time we speak these words, in this vain way as is common practice, we are holding a mini
"anti-devotional" meeting with whoever is within hearing. A devotional meeting is designed to enflame and enkindle our love and devotion for God. This love for God unites us instantaneously with true "lovers" from all religions. But if the love of God is not there, we find an ugly religiosity taking its place, which causes disunity. Every time we say OMG! in vain, as is common practice, we kill a little bit of the love of God in us, and others. This happens whether or not we realize it, subconsciously it happens all the same. We've allowed ourselves to become agents of the Dark instead of being agents of Light.
So why is this little treacherous saying so popular? Just last night I was listening to an interview on the radio, and a young world famous pop singer was telling of some or other experience, every second sentence ending with the ubiquitous little OMG! People obviously think it’s cool. Trendy.
Peer pressure and example are the main reasons, I think. It hides a poor vocabulary and low selfesteem too. Unfortunately this thing is just