this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2025
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Asklemmy

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When examined, or just because it's weird on its own.

Example: Beat a dead horse

  1. You whip a horse to go faster
  2. It dies from being whipped too much
  3. You still want the horse to go faster
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[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (4 children)

Taking God's name in vain

  1. You invoke God on some topic you're wrong about.
  2. God appears and sees your worthless comment.
  3. ????
  4. God punishes you, or he backs away, or he learns to not listen to you anymore in boy cries wolf type situation? Its really not clear what the repercussions are.
[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I thought it was stating that something is God's will for your own purposes. AFAIK it's not just using terms for God as a curse.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

https://www.etymonline.com/word/vain

The expression comes from the phrase "in vain" which restores the original meaning of the noun vain away from the conceited meaning and more towards the vacuous sense. So if you're taking God's name in vain, it's using God's name needlessly.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

I think the idea was that he could be invoked by his name, but they couldn't have people going around saying "Jehova" (or whatever) randomly without any cool powers happening, so they made up the rule to discourage people poking holes in their flimsy story.

[โ€“] [email protected] 17 points 6 days ago (2 children)

No, no, it was originally "Taking God's name in vein," as saying the name of God out loud would allow Him into your blood. If you say the name of God, you allow him to inhabit your blood, gain your power, and become even more mighty. The ancient Hebrews feared God gaining too much power, as He would be able to destroy the world. Then Christians figured out that if they took Communion and instead drank the blood of Christ, they could reverse the Hebrew God's power and slowly increase their own until they could ascend to the heavens and do battle with the Almighty, empowered by His blood in their veins, rather than weakened by taking His name in vein. In this seventeen-part essay, I will describe how we can defeat God by

[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago (2 children)

This is mind blowing if true. Is this real? What's going on here? Are you serious?

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

yes everything you read on the Internet is true.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Thank you. I thought so.

But seriously. I thought this might be another Tower of Babylon incident. I could definitely see this playing out early on during the vestiges of the mythological era. I was also feeling asleep.

Note to self. Don't comment when falling asleep.

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

Not real, but certainly creative.

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This lore makes more sense than the bible.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

The bible is a collection of thousands of years of oral history and societal laws put to paper generations after the fact, allegory and letters to random fuckers and varying accounts of a Jewish cult leader who was executed for crimes against the state. It's gonna have a potted narrative.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

That's one that always bothered me too. When I say "Jesus fucking Christ" I mean it. Which is it's own weird ism when you think about it...