My Pet Peeve

The other day while driving alone in the car, I heard people on the radio giving their pet peeves. Some were interesting, some funny, some ridiculous, etc. Then I read Ann's on her blog. If you want a good laugh, read what Ann has to say every now and then. Okay, for my pet peeve: the incorrect use of the apostrophe, which is very wide spread. I guess most people were absent on the day it was taught in grammar. Or maybe, as in our area, grammar was not really taught. When we put up a sign-up list asking for names of those attending some event, someone usually will write something like "White's." (We don't have any Whites in our church.) I always wonder the White's what? The apostrophe denotes possession. If Jack White is coming, it would be "Jack White." If Mr. and Mrs. White and their three children are coming and poor Mrs. White doesn't have time to write all their separate names, then the Whites (no apostrophe) will attend. If you are talking about the dog which belongs to the White family, it is the Whites' dog (plural, because there are several of them, then apostrophe). If it is only Jack White's dog, then it is apostrophe s. It seems pretty easy to me.

More importantly, I have a pet grief. It is when "Christians" take God's name in vain by using euphemisms. Look them up. (gee , gosh, darn, heck etc.)
It is a grief to hear the lovely Lord Jesus Christ's name taken in vain or used lightly by anyone, but especially by someone who professes to be His child. Recently an unsaved person used an off-colored word and then said, "Pardon my language." However a Christian said the same thing and saw no harm in it. Exodus 20: 7 reads, "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." Breaking one of the 10 commandments deserved the death penalty. Obviously they are very important to God.

Several years ago, a godly friend and I pointed out this very thing to another friend. She said, "It's a habit!" But II Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Perhaps we can't break bad habits ourselves, but we can with the Holy Spirit's help when we acknowledge our sin and turn from it. And if God says it is sin, we cannot explain or argue it away.

My little pet peeve will never affect anyone for eternity. My pet grief may. "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." II Corinthians 5:20 My desire is to be a worthy ambassador for Christ. In a standardless society, who will stand for right if not the Christians?