The Name of the Lord

In a talk about 30 years ago, President Hinckley quoted the very dramatic story found in Leviticus 24.  In the story a man who is the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian father fights with an Israelite and then “blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed” (v11).  The Lord revealed to Moses that the punishment for such was death, and the man who had blasphemed was indeed killed.  President Hinckley commented, “While that most serious of penalties has long since ceased to be inflicted, the gravity of the sin has not changed.”  The scriptures first gave us the command in the ten commandments: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7).  Modern-day scripture affirms its importance.  In the Book of Mormon both Nephi and Abinadi quoted the commandment (see 2 Nephi 26:32, Mosiah 13:15).  To Brigham the Lord said, “Keep yourselves from evil to take the name of the Lord in vain, for I am the Lord your God, even the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob” (D&C 136:21).  Another verse reads, “Wherefore, let all men beware how they take my name in their lips—For behold, verily I say, that many there be who are under this condemnation, who use the name of the Lord, and use it in vain, having not authority” (D&C 63:61).  Clearly the Lord is serious about this commandment and holds us accountable for how we use His name. 

               One poignant story about this commandment comes from President Kimball.  He related, “In the hospital one day I was wheeled out of the operating room by an attendant who stumbled, and there issued from his angry lips vicious cursing with a combination of the names of the Savior. Even half-conscious, I recoiled and implored: ‘Please! Please! That is my Lord whose names you revile.’

There was a deathly silence; then a subdued voice whispered, ‘I am sorry.’”  This shows the kind of powerful love that President Kimball had for the Savior to be able to respond like that while laying in a hospital bed, and surely that’s the kind of feeling that we are to strive to have.  It can be hard, though, in our day to have the kind of reaction to those who abuse God’s name since the use of the word is so frequent in our society.  I have to wonder if at least part of the reason that the scriptures don’t speak of a heavenly Mother is because the Father would not want that name to be profaned as well.  What the world has done with the name of Diety surely is an indication of what it would do with the mention of “a Mother there” if that was in the Bible.