There are so many movies that are great, epic movies…movies that are on every “Greatest 100 Movies Ever Made” list…movies that everyone knows quotes from even if they never saw the movie…movies that you can’t believe your friends or spouse or family members have never seen.

A few of these movies would be “The Godfather”, “The Untouchables”, “Taxi Driver”, “Midnight Cowboy”, “Pulp Fiction”, and “Good Will Hunting”. The list goes on and on. I, admittedly, have not seen all of these movies, but I do know some of the best lines. Who doesn’t know “Hey, I’m walkin’ here,” from “Midnight Cowboy”?

What I find with so many “great” movies is that they have an incredible amount of foul language in them. “Good Will Hunting” was an great screenplay but I couldn’t focus on it because of all the bad language. We just watched “Silver Lining Playbook” and again, a really good screenplay, but so much unnecessary bad language. Both movies would have been perfectly good without it.

So why is it there to begin with? Why do we use them. I suggest that “bad” words are used to describe or give emphasis. But who said those words were “bad” to begin with?

That made me think about other words we use, like awesome, glorious, great, majestic. All of these words are used to describe God. I use them to describe Him and things in everyday life. For example, I might tell Paul he took an awesome picture or if I have something really good to eat I might say it is glorious. But these are words used to describe the God of the universe. The One who is holding me together as I type these words. Why would I use the word glorious to describe food in one breath and in the next use it to describe Him?

Maybe it’s that I don’t know the definition of these words. Let’s define them.
Awesome – Expressive of or inspiring awe. These leads one to define “awe”, which is an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime. 
Glorious – possessing or deserving glory; marked by great beauty or splendor
Great – notably large in size; remarkable in magnitude, degree, or effectiveness; eminent, distinguished; chief or preeminent over others
Majestic –  having or exhibiting sovereign power, authority, or dignity 

It seems simple to me to call a wave totally awesome now. Not that I do that, but I am sure somewhere in the world there is a surfer on a beach who has called a wave totally awesome today. Does it undermine the word glorious when I use it in reference to God and a slice of pie?

What would it look it if we did the same thing for words that describe God that we did for “bad” words at some point in history? We made “bad” words have a “bad” meaning. Why not have “Godly” words have a “Godly” meaning again?