Should a Christian Avoid Euphemisms for God? Avoiding Vain Repetitions in Prayer. Chronic Headaches and Pork Tapeworms.

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Should a Christian Avoid Euphemisms for God?

“What is a euphemism? What euphemisms should Christians be concerned about? Do euphemisms for God’s name break the Third Commandment, taking His name in vain?

What is a euphemism?

Webster’s Dictionary has this definition of euphemism: “The use of a less direct word or phrase for one considered offensive.”

Some examples of English euphemisms include “powder your nose” for go to the toilet, “negative cash flow” for broke, and “passed away” for died.

Examples of euphemisms in the Bible

The King James Version says King Saul went into a cave “to cover his feet” (1 Samuel 24:3). This is a euphemism for, how shall we say it, to powder his nose? The New King James Version says “attend to his needs,” which you could say is another English euphemism for defecation.

Many times the Bible describes someone who died as being asleep. For example, Jesus told His disciples, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up” (John 11:11). Since they misunderstood, He had to tell them plainly, “Lazarus is dead” (verse 14).

Though sleep is a euphemism for death, we also learn that from God’s perspective, death is like sleep since the dead person is unconscious and God has the power to wake the dead through the resurrection from the dead.

Types of euphemisms

Some euphemisms are considered polite. Some are funny. But some can just be a way to try to say something considered wrong or offensive without being punished.

Alternative swear words, while seeming less offensive or even funny, can still, at their heart, be profanity, swearing or taking God’s name in vain.

Christians and euphemisms

There are many categories of euphemisms, but the two Christians are most concerned with are those that violate the Third Commandment and those that ask God to condemn others. Unfortunately, many who claim to be Christian unknowingly use these types of euphemisms that disobey His instructions.

Euphemisms misusing God’s name

The Third Commandment states, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11).

“In vain” literally means to use God’s name in an empty or trifling way, without appropriate reverence for God.

In our modern world we hear this commandment violated overtly and frequently all around us, with “God,” “Jesus,” “Christ” or “Lord” uttered merely as filler words, exclamations, expressions of anger or contempt or in conjunction with cursing or profanity. One of the most pervasive abuses of the name of God is the phrase “oh my …!,” which has become so commonplace it now has its own abbreviation (OMG) for text messaging.

In addition to blatantly saying God’s names, there are euphemisms that have modified the same names into less explicit or softened forms; but because they are merely modifications of God’s name(s), they likewise are violations of the intent of the Third Commandment.

The euphemism list below is provided to help you identify common euphemisms for God’s name, in order to avoid inadvertently making irreverent references to God’s holy name. (You can find more information in many dictionaries that include slang words and euphemisms.)

Euphemism list:

Direct Word       Euphemisms

God                    Gol, Golly, Gosh, Gad, ye gad/s, by George, by Jove, Almighty

Jesus or Christ  Geez, Gee, Sheez, Gee-wiz (Jesus-wizard), cripes (Christ), Jeepers, by Jingo, Jeezers, bejeezers (by Jesus)  initials of Jesus Christ, Jiminy Cricket, Jiminy Christmas, Jumpin’ Catfish, Jeepers Creepers, Jeezy Creezy, Judas Christopher, Jason Crisp, etc.

Lord                    Lordy, Lawd, Lawdy

Holy                    Holy is a word that refers to God’s nature, works or anything God is present or involved in. Any use of this word in conjunction with any other word (outside of its correct and proper context) is a violation of the Third Commandment.

Euphemisms for eternal judgment

Another category of euphemisms that is inappropriate for Christians to use is those asking God to condemn (“damn”) a person or thing. Euphemisms for condemn include darn, durn, dang, doggone (a euphemism for both the words “God” and “damn”) and any other combination of these words with euphemisms for God.

Are the words we speak important to God? Jesus Christ said, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37). While the Bible teaches that Christians should learn to discern good from evil (Hebrews 5:14), it also teaches that we should not condemn others in the sense of trying to determine their ultimate fate. God the Father has given the judgment of mankind to the Son (John 5:22; 2 Corinthians 5:10), and it is His prerogative to judge—not ours.

Referring to this ultimate judgment, Jesus said: “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37).

Jesus also cautions us: “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you” (Matthew 7:2) and “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7).

Every idle word

Are the words we speak important to God? Jesus Christ said, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37).

Euphemisms that were coined to utter God’s name without proper reverence or to judge another’s ultimate fate are inappropriate for a Christian. “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification” (Ephesians 4:29). As lights in a dark world, we are to set the example not only in our conduct, but in pure speech as well.”     From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/10-commandments/profanity-third-commandment/euphemisms/     LEARN MORE ABOUT 10 COMMANDMENTS

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Avoiding Vain Repetitions in Prayer 

Matthew 6:7

“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”

“God does not give us prayers to memorize and repeat mindlessly as a ritual. He is not interested in babble and hearing certain syllables intoned repetitiously, as it seems the pagans believed their “gods” did. He wants His followers to “avoid meaningless, repetitive prayers offered under the misconception that mere length will make prayers efficacious” (Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary on Matthew 6:7-8).

God is interested in us having an actual conversation with Him, listening to what He says in the Bible and sharing our thoughts, requests, cares and praise with Him in a focused and meaningful way. Repeating someone else’s words over and over again can’t help but become rote and ritual rather than building the relationship God desires.”    See more about the communication God desires in our articles “How to Avoid Repetitious Prayer” and “How to Pray.”  From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/avoiding-vain-repetitions-in-prayer/?

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Leviticus 11   Clean and Unclean Food

“11 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² “Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: ³ You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud.

⁴ “‘There are some that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, but you must not eat them. The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is ceremonially unclean for you. ⁵ The hyrax, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. ⁶ The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. ⁷ And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. ⁸ You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.”    From: NIV Bible, but the other Bibles all say the same thing!

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Chronic Headaches and Pork Tapeworms

Transcript of video at: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/chronic-headaches-and-pork-tapeworms/

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

“Chronic headaches such as migraines or “tension” headache symptoms may be a sign of pork tapeworms in the brain.

Neurocysticercosis is the infection of the human central nervous system by pork tapeworm larvae. Little baby pork tapeworms invading one’s brain “has become an increasingly important emerging infection in the United States,” and it is the #1 cause of epilepsy in the world. It is the most common “parasitic disease of the human brain,” and used to only be found throughout the developing world—”with the exception of Muslim countries,” of course. That all changed about 30 years ago, and now it’s increasingly found throughout North America.

Besides seizures, the pork parasites may actually trigger brain tumors, cause an aneurism, or psychiatric manifestations, like depression. But, who wouldn’t be depressed, having worms in their brain? It can also result in dementia. But, the good news is, with deworming drugs, it’s often reversible. Only rarely do you have to open one’s skull, and extract the larvae surgically—once they get into your eyeballs, though, you really do have to remove them, dead or alive.

I’ve talked about pork tapeworms before, but what’s new is that we now know that they may present as chronic headaches—either migraines or so-called tension-headaches—even when the worms in your head are dead. What they think is happening is that our body tries to chip away at their calcified bodies, and it may release bits of them into the rest of the brain, causing inflammation that could be contributing to headaches.

Now, it’s still rare, and even if you live in an endemic area, you can avoid getting infested with an adult tapeworm in the first place by “cooking pork thoroughly.” But what does that mean, exactly? Well, first of all, it’s found in some parts of pig carcasses more than others. And, you can freeze the little suckers to death, no matter how infested the muscles are, by storing pork, cut up into small pieces, for a month at subzero temperatures. Then, cook the meat for more than two hours. That is one well-done pork chop.

The New England Journal of Medicine recently featured a case of some guy who must have had thousands of pork tapeworm larvae wriggling through his muscles. See all those little white streaks? Each one is a baby tapeworm. But that’s why you can get infected by pork, since they get into the muscles. So, cannibals might want to cook for two hours, too.

Not all parasites are associated with meat, though. “An anxious but healthy 32-year-old male physician presented to the family medicine clinic with a sample of suspected parasites from his stools, which had been retrieved from the toilet that same day.” And here they are. They look to be about an inch long. He had previously traveled to India; had Chinese food the night before—who knows what they were. Maybe it was hookworms? “The sample was sent to the microbiology laboratory for analysis. Later that day, the microbiology physician called to report positive identification of Vigna radiata (previously known as Phaseolus aureus) in the stool sample.” Or, “[i]n common parlance,…a bean sprout.” They were bean sprouts!

“The patient was called and gently but firmly informed of the diagnosis. Given the nature of the identified specimen, the information was presented in a non-judgmental, respectful manner so as not to offend the sensibilities or sensitivities of the patient.”

“[Their] parting advice to fellow physicians in cases of this nature would be as follows:…as comical as the findings might seem, try not to laugh!”  From: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/chronic-headaches-and-pork-tapeworms/

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Should We Be Concerned About the Effects of Ochratoxin?

“Ochratoxin was detected, for example, in 44 percent of tested pork.

Read article at: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/should-we-be-concerned-about-the-effects-of-ochratoxin/

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Ochratoxin A in Slaughtered Pigs and Pork Products

“Pigs are the most susceptible animals to OTA exposure as compared to other productive animals [14,15]. High OTA occurrence has been recorded in feed ingredients and finished swine feeds in various countries [16,17,18,19], highlighting the pig exposure to the toxin. OTA can accumulate in several pig tissues, with the highest concentrations found in blood, followed by the kidneys and liver, whereas lower concentrations have been found in muscles and fat [20,21,22,23].

The contamination of pork meat/edible offal with OTA is mainly derived from the consumption of OTA-contaminated feed by the pigs [24,25]. Additionally, the presence of OTA in pork meat products (ham muscle, cured meats, salami or dry-cured ham) could be derived from the direct growth of OTA-producing fungi, such as Penicillium nordicum and Penicillium verrucosum [26,27,28,29,30], or from the addition of OTA-contaminated materials such as contaminated spices [31,32].

Pork meat and meat products are amongst the important sources of chronic dietary exposure to OTA in humans [14]. Nevertheless, the EU has not established maximum OTA levels in pork meat and pork-derived products. Some European countries have adopted regulations or guidelines on OTA concentrations in meat and/or meat products, such as Denmark, Estonia, Romania, Slovakia and Italy [33]. No binding limits on OTA in meat and meat products have been set in the USA, Australia, Canada and Asia [34,35].”  From:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8876995/

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