I had an atheist friend recently talking about how he always thought that using God’s name in vain was saying God’s name as a curse word. He said he found out that it actually meant in the old testament to not use religion to maliciously attack someone because that is what another atheist on the internet told him. Using the Merriam-Webster dictionary’s definition of vain, I told him that both are examples of using God’s name in vain. Using God’s name as a curse and claiming God’s name for an evil purpose are both sinful uses of God’s name. They are both examples of using His name in vain. He replied, with the agreement of others, “yeah, I’m not buying that.” If I as a Christian used the same style of argument as my atheist friend did, I would be told my brain is full of mush (something I have been told before). Before making my point, I would like to point out that what my atheist friend has shown is that deep down he realizes that the Bible has authority. If it didn’t, this conversation would have never happened. Deep down he knows there is a God, and so he tries to satisfy his consciousness with his own definition of blasphemy.

If I as a Christian said, I thought evolution meant one thing, but a Christian helped me see it as another, my atheist friend would tell me that I was being biased. If I further then went on to say that I do not believe in Webster’s definition of a word, I would be considered an idiot. The world would hold me and you to that standard, but will not hold other beliefs to that standard. We see this everywhere for Christians. We are told to be tolerant, but bashing “backward” Christians on issues they do not actually support is not condemned as intolerant. The world will call the pastor a biased individual, but will take the generic title of scientist, professor, or stranger on the internet as reputable in comparison. The idea that these individuals may have a biasness is inconsequential. Christians are the first on the field when it comes to reaching those in need, but we are the first to be labeled as indifferent. Christian beliefs are called religious and bias, and yet evolutionism and other unfactual religious beliefs are taught in the classroom.

People are often all for tolerance and for freedom of speech when they hear their own opinions coming from other people’s lips. Any casual scrolling of social media will show you that. We see how one group is misrepresented by another so that it is easy to tear down that group. This behavior is very destructive in nature, and there is no larger target for our country than to make fun of the Christian. We see in the Simpsons it is okay to make fun of someone who has Christian faith, yet the news rightfully shows us that it is harassment when we ridicule other faiths, people of color, or those with an identity crisis. Christians tend to be an all around good group to attack. The same sense of value and worth that groups demand to receive, will not be given to Christians. We are told that we are not inclusive, by groups and individuals who will want to bash our beliefs and use our God as a curse in their speech.

As Christians, we are to be different from the world, and we see that the world is quick to recognize that we are different. We also see that they find our uniquely defined group as an easy target. We can see this from our friends sharing a meme about our Lord being a zombie, while also calling Christians ignorant and intolerant. We can see this in the larger capacity of governors cracking down on churches during the early coronavirus by saying on twitter that they will be tracking license plates of those who gathered and stayed in their vehicles to worship, while agreeing Home Depot could allow hundreds inside the stores and it be just fine. We see states say that restaurants can allow 50% of their occupancy inside while telling churches to allow only 10 people, if any.

As Christians, we are not to be like the rest of the world and we are to be defined by our love for one another. We do not offer paltry empty words, but go out to help those who are hurting. Macarthur says that modern nursing is a result of the Christian faith. This is why we will setup tent hospitals in the hardest hit areas of the coronavirus to provide free medical help to all who need it, while major politicians will call it a disgrace to need our help and major headlines will have phrases like “Homophobic Evangelical Group.” National Review as the Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse setup their volunteer field hospital in New York released an article on the group and Christians in general titled “Evangelicals are the Real Virus.¹⁵” The New York Governor spoke out against the charity's help and said that he would send these out of state volunteer health workers a state income tax bill.²⁵ Meanwhile this same governor says churches should be limited to 10 or less individuals or face criminal prosecution, yet praise massive protests that were happening at the sametime. Both had legitimacy.

Christians, individually and collectively, have an enemy that attacks anything he can find. When a field hospital is set up at no cost to save a city, the headlines of the city ignore the charity and focus on our view of marriage being between one man and one woman, and defining that view as hateful. Instead of looking at this act of love of hundreds of individuals, the world tries to paint us as a group full of hate, even in our act of love towards it.

So why do I include this, what does this mean to you our Christian reader? It means at least two things, first is that we should be careful in what others say about our Christian brothers and sisters. Like with Job, Satan wants to discredit us in any way he can. This means that no matter our actions, we will not be described well by the world. Jesus said that as the world hated Him, it would hate us. Secondly, for us, this means that we must repent of any sin and be fully turning to Christ each and every day. If we are caught in any sin, that is likely what the world will try to define us by.

“The number [of coronavirus cases] is down because we brought the number down. God did not do that. Faith did not do that.” - 2020 New York Governor Andrew Cuomo