--As we discussed yesterday, blasphemy is any use of language to dishonor or defame God. And the reason it’s so awful is in part because God is so deserving of honor and respect and in part because language is such a unique and precious divine gift give to express this glory. Hence using that gift to attack the Giver is a supreme perversion.
--Thus, the most serious forms of blasphemy would involve willful and deliberate verbal defamations of God.
--For example, someone who denounces God or reviles Him would be engaging in blasphemy. This might entail saying God is not good or that He does not exist, or that he is not Almighty or something of this sort.
--But someone who claims God has done something terrible or who denies the glorious things He has done would also be engaged in blasphemy. And since the single greatest thing God has done in human history is the Gospel, that means that denying the Gospel or its goodness or that God did it out of love for us by denying the Resurrection or the Deity of Christ, etc. would all be forms of blasphemy.
--Equally, many of the things said by the Westboro Cult are blasphemous precisely because they bring disrepute upon God falsely attributing to Him evil things. When people who claim to be acting in God’s Name or on His behalf say what is contrary to His Nature, they blaspheme Him by sullying His reputation.
--In short, anything which lies about God or makes Him sound less worthy than He is would be blasphemy. Detracting from or denying His due weight, reputation, acclaim, or praise.
--And this raises the question of whether phrases like “Oh, my God!” constitute blasphemy. I’ll answer that tomorrow.
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