The Most Broken Commandment

Everyone knows of the Ten Commandments, so even atheists can guess which one they think is broken most often.
What do you think it is? More importantly for non-religious people, why should you care?

Well, God damn it, it’s the third commandment, and if you follow my thinking you’ll understand not only why it’s hands down the most broken commandment, but why I didn’t just break it.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

The normal interpretation of the third commandment is that one should not use bad words before or after God’s name as in “God damn”, or just speaking God’s name with a non-worshiping intent as in saying “Jesus Christ” as a form of exasperation.

Hypocritical use of God’s name also falls under this prohibition, e.g., professing to love God, but your thoughts, words, and actions don’t align. Caleb Suko explains this well in 10 Ways you might be breaking the 3rd Commandment.

The problem is: what we think God’s name is—is not. God, Christ, Jehovah, and LORD are how we refer to God, but they are not his name. God told Moses his name is …

I AM THAT I AM

When Moses asked the flaming foliage, “Who shall I say sent me?’

The well-known answer is “I am that I am.”

It’s curious that Christians who maintain that everything in the Bible should be taken literally don’t apply that rule here. Instead, religious authorities have actively discouraged common use of God’s name as “I AM”, encouraging “He who becometh”—the meaning of Yahweh—as the accepted name of God.

I AM is the literal name of God

But what if God didn’t want his name to be converted into the third person and that His name is literally “I AM.” To a non-indoctrinated reader, this would seem to have been his intention, as he doubled down on the “I AM” in the very next sentence. In Exodus 3:14 God replied to Moses, “… Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.”

“I AM has sent me to you.” How much clearer could He be? His name is literally “I AM”.

And, about “THAT”

The word “THAT” or “WHO” (as some translations have it) smack between the two “I AM”s would signify possibility—infinite possibility—because I AM could be any “that, (any thing), or any “who” that I AM chooses.

The second “I AM” affirms the chosen “THAT” or “WHO”. But regardless of the translation, there is no avoiding God’s name as “I AM”.

Bible littered with clues

Traditionalists are uncomfortable with equating our use of “I am” with God’s name because it implies either blasphemous arrogance, or that we are in a very literal sense manifestations of God, and this opens a whole can of worms for those whose interests depend on a third-party God who resides in Heaven 90210.

But just look at the many biblical references to mankind—us, you and me—with a seeming equivalence to God.

• We are made in the image and likeness of God. Genesis 1:26
• We are children of God. John 8:16
• Jesus’ common reference to himself as the “Son of Man” not the “Son of God.” john 3:13 Luke 5:24, 19:10, Mark 14:62
• The Kingdom of heaven is within. Luke 17:20-21
• On earth, as it is in heaven The LORD’s prayer
• Forgive us as we forgive those … The LORD’s prayer.
• If you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. Matthew 21:21
• …whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. John 14:12

Scholars analyse these and God’s name as clues to what they mean about Him, when, more likely, they’re clues about us, about …

who WE ARE

And there are enough “clues” for any good Sherlock to infer that The Book is telling us God and we are one, in the same way that Jesus said, “the Father and I are one (John 10:30)”.

Blasphemy?

Maybe.

But If we really are made in the image of God, doesn’t it makes sense that the “I AM” who spoke to Moses is the “I AM” we speak to ourselves. OMG!

This means that the power to create (and destroy) lies within us, and the power to solve all of our problems or destroy ourselves is literally coming from us, or perhaps more accurately through us.

One with the Greater Being

This doesn’t mean there is no greater being—“for the Father is greater than I (John 14:28) —only that it’s not separate from us, and we are manifestations of that being. It’s like how the air in our lungs is connected to all air in the atmosphere, or how breaking a holographic image into a million pieces does not destroy the image — the complete image remains in each of the million pieces.

If we really are manifestations of God, and we are made in His image, then it logically follows that the way we treat ourselves and our fellow man is the way we treat HIM.

(Matthew 22:36) Master, which is the great Commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. 40 On these two commandments hang ALL the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:36-40

Translation: Love yourself as Him (you are “I AM”) and since your fellow brothers and sisters are also Him, (we are all made in His image), it follows you should love them as yourself.

This is why the third commandment is the one most broken: because we place no reverence in what we say after the actual, literal name of God.

How we break the 3rd

Every day, several times a day, we say something negative, destructive, despairing, fearful after the only name God gave us as His: I AM. And given that we are all made in the image of God this would apply to any use of the verb to be as how we speak about ourselves and others, would be how we speak about God.

In other words, whatever you substitute for “That” as in “I am that I am” either glorifies and uplifts God’s name or uses it in vain.

See how we’ve been routinely breaking this commandment? Imagine if we all, not just Christians, but everyone —including non-religious people—respected this commandment? If not heaven on earth, at least a nicer world than we have now.

It would be great if Christians stopped breaking the third commandment, but the good news is you don’t even need to be religious to follow and reap the benefits of not saying negative things about yourself and your fellow man.