Some say the letters OMG stand for Oh my gosh, but I believe they are skirting the truth.

We hear more people verbally express “Oh my G**!” than “Oh my gosh!” or “Oh my goodness!”  And when texting became the norm, abbreviations were formed to hurry the typing process, which brought on OMG overload. Called acronyms, these abbreviations are made so we can type our messages faster. Many trendy typed conversations to your BFF (Best Friend Forever) might also include:

• BRB – Be Right Back
• BTW – By The Way
• TTYL – Talk To You Later
• LOL – Laugh Out Loud
• GTG – Got To Go.

When we speak Oh my gosh! as a form of exasperation, it is definitely not the same as speaking Oh my G**!  Some believe gosh stands in for God in this phrase, so therefore they feel the first statement is equally wrong. I believe just the opposite. If you really want to communicate to God, it’s good to know Who you are talking to. Please note gosh is not our diety.

The phrase Oh (followed by a comma), my God!, addresses God and therefore calls to God. No matter our situation is praise to Him or a cry for help; we are calling to Him. Biblical history reveals from the beginning that G-O-D was revered and should never be a word used as an exasperation. We have to remember G-O-D is the title name Christians use when referring to YHWH, the true name of God.

Israelites of old believed so strongly in recognizing the power of God, that they would not even pronounce His name. When reading from the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible written by Moses, the reader would insert the word Adonai. Adonai means lord or ruler.

I have read that gosh is a “euphemistic alteration of the name God“, as if this were a bad thing. I believe the opposite – isn’t this a good thing? The title name of our holy Creator, God, should never be used in vain. So replacing the title name, God (which never should have been used incorrectly in the first place),  with the non-holy exasperation word gosh should be looked upon in my opinion, as very acceptable. When we replace G-O-D with gosh, we acknowledge that title name to be sacred.

We are also taking out the coma, so there is no address to gosh. The word God has history of being holy. The word gosh is not found in the Bible, has no holy meaning and does not relate to our LORD, the Creator of the universe in any way.

holy –

adjective : exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness

Exalted, worthy, perfect. These adjectives do not describe the word gosh.

By definition, God verses gosh is very different.

God –

noun : the Being perfect in power, wisdom and goodness, who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe

gosh –

interjection : used to express surprise or mild anger

I would never pray, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray to gosh my soul to keep.”  This statement has no meaning and would give me no comfort. Gosh is not a noun, but an interjection. An acceptable way to express your surprise, good or bad.

“Oh my G**!” offers our omnipotent supreme deity no glory and the phrase needs to be recognized for what it is—verbal sin.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. Hebrews 13:15

Christian worship leader/recording artist, Matt Redman, wrote and sings the ASCAP Christian Song of 2013, 10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord):

Your rich in love and Your slow to anger Your name is great and Your heart is kind…

These lyrics describe just four of the 10,000 Reasons we need to worship His holy Name!

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