Growing up, many of us were instructed that the Fourth Commandment, “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain,” was a prohibition against using certain curse words, not all of them confined to four letters.
But that misses a much larger situation: those who arrogantly claim to know or do what God wants, even when that harms others or runs counter to Scripture.
Faithful action, from all I’ve seen, requires humility and compassion. As humans, any of us can be wrong or fail, especially when we mistake our egos for divine guidance.
Newer translations of Exodus 20:7, I sense, capture this difference by using “misuse” instead: “You shall not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, for Yahweh will not leave unpunished anyone who misuses his name” (New Jerusalem Bible). The New International version, meanwhile, finishes the line with “not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”
Everett Fox, in his close-to-the-grain rendering, presents the passage this way: “You are not to take up the name of YHWH your God for emptiness, for YHWH will not clear him that takes up his name for emptiness.” In a footnote, Fox explains “take up … for emptiness” as “Use for a false purpose.”
I can’t help but think of this in light of the continuing news reports involving the cablevision series 19 Kids and Counting.
We’ve heard their lines of argument.
Now listen for the “will not leave unpunished” part of the commandment. Who’s standing up for the alleged victims? And where’s the true, full submission in place of arrogance? Let the tables turn rightly.
For now, the words fly. And fly. Can we ask how many are empty?
Jnana's Red Barn 
1000 likes on this post. I have struggled a long time with that show’s popularity because I saw what the movements (quiverfull, ATI, and extreme patriarchy) did to families around me. I was home schooled from 6th-10th grade and a lot of the families in our home schooling group were part of one or all of those movements. While my parents were and are rather conservative baptist the message of these groups didn’t sit well with them mostly due to the over done focus on outward rules that tended to neglect the truth of the heart. I think the Duggars are a prime example of this. Things looked great to the causal observer, but underneath there was a festering secret. Anytime a system is elevated above the welfare of a person or persons, there is a major issue. Not only were the girls neglected, but the son was as well since he wasn’t sent to proper counseling. That type of behavior form a boy that age is very often though not always a sign that they were also abused. Christ is about true healing not white washing over things in order to protect our images at the sake of victims. I could say a lot more, but I’ll stop here.
Say more whenever you want. There’s some powerful preaching in your brief reply here. I love the insight, “Outward rules that tended to neglect the truth of the heart.” And, yes, we can cite passages where Christ decries the acts of white washing over festering secrets.