The Word "God" Is Not A Name

"God" is not a name, just as "human" is not the name of an individual person and "dog" is not the name of an individual dog--unless someone actively named a being by the term for its species.  The word "God" is a title that specifies which type of being something is.  Of course, the ultimate concept of a deity is a thing that exists without having been created and that has the power to create other logically possible things.  The names of God in the Bible and in groups that have an interest in understanding the Biblical deity (whether they do so rationally or misconstrue many doctrines of the Bible in the process) range from Jehovah to Yahweh to Elohim.  God is not among these names, as they are names of God.  That God could be and is frequently used as if it is a name does not actually make it a name in an ultimate sense.

One thing that follows from this is that no one could use God's name in vain in the strictest sense by exclaiming "Oh my God!" anyway.  Of course, someone could still use the word God as if it is a name for a specific deity, but it ultimately denotes a title or metaphysical category that an uncaused cause falls into.  When used in a conventional manner, "mother" and "boyfriend" are not names.  These words might be used as if they are names for the sake of informality, affection, or some other reason, but unless they were truly assigned as actual names, they merely reference the kind of person someone is with regard to someone else.  With the uncaused cause, the word God has a similar function.  The name and nature of a being are far from identical.

This has ramifications for how some Christians describe the sin of blasphemy, with some thinking that uttering "God!" like profanity or a slang exclamation is actually the same thing as blaspheming Yahweh.  Not only is this idea nothing but a mere assumption, but it is contrary to what the Bible does and does not say.  When Jesus is falsely accused of blasphemy in Matthew 26, he was misperceived to have committed a grave offense against God by identifying himself as God's son.  Even the accusers of Jesus in this case did not try to misrepresent using the word God like a slang expression as if it equates to blasphemy or using God's "name" in vain.  It is clear that the evangelicals who define blasphemy in any other way are imbecilic legalists.

There is a law in the Torah somewhat comparable to the law prescribing execution for blasphemy that helps clarify what the latter entails.  Compare what Leviticus 24:15-16 says about cursing God being blasphemy with Exodus 21:17 or Leviticus 20:9--people are only to be executed for cursing their parents, not using their names or titles in slang exclamations.  Blasphemy is a capital crime in Biblical ethics and goes far beyond simply saying "Oh my God" in response to something surprising or frustrating.  Shallow, irrationalistic Christians like Ray Comfort, inevitably from evangelical circles, have insisted otherwise, but forsaking assumptions for the sake of wielding reason was never part of their worldview.  Continuing the delusions and contradictions of collective church traditions is the norm for them or else they would not identify with evangelicalism whatsoever.

No Christian needs to worry that they have even started to approach the capital sin of blasphemy when they use the word God alongside profanity or as if it is an example of profanity.  Moreover, words mean whatever the user means by them, so anyone who does not intend to belittle the title or nature of God by saying "Oh my God" has by default not cursed, trivialized, or scoffed at God himself.  If they had truly used God's "name" in vain by using the word God, they would have ascribed incoherent or otherwise slanderous attributes to him or used his title for personal gain instead of for the sake of truth.  If they had truly committed the severe offense of blasphemy, they would have cursed God with malicious motives (even though God cannot be harmed by humans).  A vast gap is present between true blasphemy and using a word that denotes God's category as slang without having any intentions of disrespecting him.