O.M.G. TORTE
- theologeat
- May 4, 2025
- 6 min read
Updated: May 4, 2025
Eat
Yields 12 Generous Slices
Ingredients
8 large eggs
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup butter cut into ½ inch pieces
¼ cup room temperature strong brewed coffee
2 teaspoons orange candy oil (these are more concentrated than essential oils - this is the brand I have used)
Optional: decorative items such as dried or candied orange peels, chocolate covered espresso beans, etc.
Instructions
Adjust your oven rack to the lower-middle position and pre-heat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8-inch springform pan, then line it with parchment paper. Wrap the outside of the pan with aluminum foil and set in a roasting pan. Set aside. Bring a kettle of water to boil.
Bring an inch of water to a low simmer in a small saucepan. Over the simmering water, melt the chocolate, butter, and coffee together by placing the bowl over your simmering saucepan and stirring occasionally. Once smooth and very warm, remove from heat and stir in orange oil.
Meanwhile, using a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip eggs on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes or until doubled in volume.
Using a rubber spatula, fold in whipped eggs one third at a time until a homogenous mixture has been formed. Pour batter into prepared springform pan, smoothing out the top with your spatula
Set roasting pan on oven rack and pour enough boiling water into roasting pan to come about halfway up sides of springform pan.
Bake 30-40 minutes. It is done when the batter is set and slightly risen with a thin brownie-like crust.
Place the springform pan on a wire rack and allow to cool completely before serving.
Run a thin knife around the edges of the cake and the remove the sides of your springform pan. Invert your cake onto a sheet of waxed paper and discard the parchment before replacing the cake right side up on a serving plate to slice and serve. Serve when cooled and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Theology
Inspired Word
Exodus 20:7
Thou dost not take up the name of Jehovah thy God for a vain thing, for Jehovah acquitteth not him who taketh up His name for a vain thing.
Young’s Literal Translation (YLT)
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.
King James Version (KJV)
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. New International Version (NIV)
No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.
The Message (MSG)
Bite Sized Theology
Blasphemy is when a person disrespects God’s holiness, through word or deed, by showing Him less reverence than He is due or by associating His name with evil.
The Main Meal
Imagine a moment of shock, surprise, or distress... what do you immediately say in response? Perhaps the words “Oh My God” rush forward before you have even thought what that means to you. Did you just blaspheme and break the third commandment by taking the Lord’s name in vain? Many Christians have this concern and, so, have trained themselves to use alternative expressions such as “Oh My Gosh”, “Oh My Word”, or simply “OMG”. Taking a closer look at this easily misunderstood commandment may shine some light on whether God is four letter word or if we are instead avoiding His name in vain.
Shakespeare (through his titular character Juliet) once pondered “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet...”. The profundity of this observation is not restricted to two warring households in fair Verona, but instead gets to a point in all of language. Words hold only the meaning that we have agreed to give them. As languages evolve, words gain and lose meaning so that their use in one context may differ from use in another. This is a constant challenge for Bible translators who seek to respectfully preserve God’s ancient Word while making it readable – and understandable – for modern readers all around the world. Some translators do this by translating each word as literally as possible while others find what they think is the essence of the verse or passage and paraphrase that. Each has their merits, but the end results can be VERY different.
Exodus 20:7 is a verse which shows these differences across varying translations. How the verse is translated will not only drastically change the words a person reads, but also how a person understands and applies the commandment. One such example is how one defines the name of God based on their chosen translation. Is the Judeo-Christian God’s name God? Is it Lord? Or is it Jehovah/Yhwh (typically elongated to Yahweh and pronounced like yaw-way). The simplest answer to this is yes. Because all three words hold shared meaning for Christians as words which symbolize the person of God, all three are now appropriately considered names for God. That we have decided this is recognized by the fact that there are times when Christians will capitalize these words, as proper pronouns, and times when they will not. We recognize that god refers to any deity rather than the specific personal name of an individual God. Likewise, lord refers to a person of power and authority. The same is true of the Hebrew el(ohim) (god) and adonai (lord); these words could be used in reference to any appropriate divine or earthly being, or they could be used as a placeholder for the proper – and sacred - name of God. That proper name, as given to Moses, is Jehovah (written in Hebrew as Yhwh) (Exodus 3:13-14). While titles are helpful for telling us something about the person, they also separate us from the person behind that title. It is telling then that our relational god chose to let the Israelites know him by name. Yhwh desires a personal closeness with his people. His name is lovely to use when it is spoken with love, and there is no commandment against it.
Another seemingly small word in the verse plays a big role in understanding the point of this commandment: nasa. This word is translated take in the KJV and is likely the one with which most English-speaking people are familiar. The NIV and MSG instead choose use or misuse to express the Hebrew nasa. These would certainly make more sense in the way this verse is typically applied – which is that one ought not SAY God’s name in an irreverent way. With that said, it is difficult to imagine a modern English speaker using the word take to mean say outside of the context of this specific commandment. In English, to take a person’s name would be more likely to mean marrying that person – as when a newlywed bride takes her husband’s name as a demonstration that she now belongs to him in marriage. This, and the YLT translation take up, get far closer to the original intent of this verse. Nasa (or nasah) is found elsewhere in scripture with several other English words such as accept, bear, carry, and contain (see Genesis 4:13, 32:20, and 45:27 for example). Nowhere does the word suggest speech. When Yhwh gave the ten commandments to the Israelites they were a newly formed people group, led out of Egypt with a mission to represent Him. They were tasked to (metaphorically) carry his name like a lamp on a lamppost for all the surrounding people to see and come near to Him. This could not be taken lightly. If they bore his name and then behaved in a way which dishonored him – making his name detestable to the people he sought to attract - then the mission would be lost. This verse was a reminder to think twice before accepting the mission and to understand what was at stake. This commandment is a stark warning to Christians too, as we have taken on another name of God: that of Christ Jesus, our savior. While carelessly saying “oh my God” neglects the necessary reverence due to our God, Yhwh, it is nowhere near the blasphemy of claiming to be a Christian while living a life that makes his name odious to those around us.
References
Bible Hub. “Exodus 20:7.” Bible Hub NASB Lexicon. Accessed April 2, 2022. https://biblehub.com/lexicon/exodus/20-7.htm
Bible Hub. “5375. nasa or nasah.” Bible Hub Strong’s Hebrew: 5375. Accessed April 2, 2022. https://biblehub.com/hebrew/5375.htm
Brown, Aaron. “What It Actually Means to Take the Lord’s Name in Vain.” Crosswalk. May 4, 2021. Accessed April 2, 2022. https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/what-does-it-really-mean-to-take-the-lords-name-in-vain.html
Drane, John. Introducing the Old Testament: Fourth Edition. Minneapolis, MI: Fortress Press, 2019.
Erickson, Millard J. The Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology. Wheaton, Ill: Crowssway Books, 2001.
Guthrie, D. ed, J. A. Motyer ed, A. M. Stibbs, ed, and D. J. Wiseman ed. The New Bible Commentary: Revised. Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970.
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