Awesome and Amazing
What most captured my attention while watching the New Year’s Eve festivities on TV was the number of times I heard the word amazing. According to Miley Cyrus, the crowds were “amazing”, the weather was “amazing”, indeed, the whole night was just “amazing.” I wondered what happened to “awesome” as the catchword of the day. Not to worry, someone else threw out “awesome” as well as “amazing”.
Since I am convinced that our use of language guides our thinking, I thought how odd that these words, previously used to describe God, were now used to describe purely secular things and events.
Popular worship songs continually refer to our Awesome God in direct reference to many Bible passages, with one of our most enduring gospel songs being Amazing Grace, of course. So how did a rather neutral slang expression such as “cool” come to be replaced by two words that, more often than not, previously were used to refer to God? Could this be another clear indication of our society replacing God with the things they think we should really be worshipping?
If our shoes and dresses are awesome and a crowd of people gathered for a secular event is amazing, then what words do we have to describe God? We still have the old standbys such as “all knowing”, “all-powerful”, “holy”, and “righteous”. Except most of those words have also been usurped. Oprah and her ilk tell us we can “know” and “have the power.” And “righteous” has been a slang term used to describe an “ok” person for quite some time.
What most captured my attention while watching the New Year’s Eve festivities on TV was the number of times I heard the word amazing. According to Miley Cyrus, the crowds were “amazing”, the weather was “amazing”, indeed, the whole night was just “amazing.” I wondered what happened to “awesome” as the catchword of the day. Not to worry, someone else threw out “awesome” as well as “amazing”.
Since I am convinced that our use of language guides our thinking, I thought how odd that these words, previously used to describe God, were now used to describe purely secular things and events.
Popular worship songs continually refer to our Awesome God in direct reference to many Bible passages, with one of our most enduring gospel songs being Amazing Grace, of course. So how did a rather neutral slang expression such as “cool” come to be replaced by two words that, more often than not, previously were used to refer to God? Could this be another clear indication of our society replacing God with the things they think we should really be worshipping?
If our shoes and dresses are awesome and a crowd of people gathered for a secular event is amazing, then what words do we have to describe God? We still have the old standbys such as “all knowing”, “all-powerful”, “holy”, and “righteous”. Except most of those words have also been usurped. Oprah and her ilk tell us we can “know” and “have the power.” And “righteous” has been a slang term used to describe an “ok” person for quite some time.
Those of us who believe in an all-powerful and all knowing God also know we have no words to adequately describe the indescribable. Yet, because we are mere mortals, it is through our language that we must attempt to convey to others the greatness of God. George Orwell knew this when he wrote “1984.” Change the language and you change society. The emptiness of the secular world is mirrored in the language they use and they clearly have no use for God.
9 comments:
Interesting observation.
You forgot "Aweful" as in full of awe, now it means extremely bad...
Auntie Adrienne-
Please! Can we substitute the name Oprah with Oger and still refer to the same person? I'm soooo tired of the "Winfrey" that her mere name is revulsive to me. So from now on we'll call her Oger Winfrey. Okay? That way at least her initials stay the same.
As for the worship music and Awesome God, give me (only) Palestrinas, Allegris, Victorias and Morales and I'm a happy (and contemplative) man. Their music expresses the incommunicable to me.
Tom - since hearing Tomás Luis de Victoria on your website I have put 3 cd's on my wish list. It is indeed the music of angels. I was only nominally aware of him as a composer and I have you to thank for the expansion of my education.
Also - Oger is good but I think Ogre would even be better. Don't worry - I had to look up that spelling as I was having a brain you-know-what!!
AA - I remember singing "aweful, aweful, aweful God" as a little girl and wondering why someone would want to call God "awful." But I also wondered why Mary was "full of grapes." Out of the minds of babes!! LOL
Ah Terry - the strong silent type!!
Victoria is the best!
Don't miss his Mass "O Magnum Mysterium."
And that was an amazing post.
Truly awesome.
I am over the moon about it.
We are completely thrilled.
;)
Adrienne, if Bia from La Dolce Vite does not contact me by the end of the day today, the items in my contest will go to you. please drop by my blog and email me under my profile so i can stay in touvh with you as i will need your mailing details incase she doesn't claim the prizes. God bless you and your dear readers! i would also like to add you to my blog list so please get back to me. thanks adrieene.
Oh man! I used the less favorable spelling of oger- I mean ogre. I am NEVER going to hear the last of this irregardless of how much explaining I do. I think, however, that it's pretty awesome that I got a way with just a "don't worry" from the taskmaster:0)
:-D You might be reading too much into it. Even Freud said "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!"
Karen
Miley is just a kid she deserves a break. A 40 year old woman talking the same way would be horrid though...
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