Now, there may be only a few of my good friends from high school who might remember this--Mike, Clint, and maybe even you, Jesse. There was a time in either my Junior or Senior year that I decided I wanted to do something about some of my friends casually taking the name of the Lord in vain (not the above mentioned friends, by the way), and suggested that they substitute my name for God's. They were both three letters, I reasoned, and both started with "G." And besides, I remember telling them, my wrath is pretty small and weak compared to the Almighty's.
It became a joke, of sorts, and a few people started going around saying, "Oh, Guy!" or "Oh my Guy!" instead of the other. We had a few laughs back then, and all was good.
As I get older, and my children enter those very impressionable years, I am appalled at the frequency at which the name of diety is use on children's programming. We no longer watch it, but one of their new favorite Nickelodeon shows uses that word in nearly every scene in one form or another. Since when did that become OK? When did breaking one of the "Big Ten" become acceptable and encouraged for children? Or adults, for that matter. This is just another small evidence that we do, indeed, live in a world where men "call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness" (Isaiah 5:20 and 2 Nephi 15:20).
So, if you are tempted to exclaim, in either joy or pain, and use the name of the Lord in vain, you have my permission, even my encouragement, to substitute my name for His--I don't mind. In fact, I'd be grateful if you would.
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