Praise His Holiness

“Let them praise your great and awesome name- he is holy.”

Psalm 99:3 (NIV)



I recently watched a movie that was popular in our past. For the purposes of this entry, it shall be nameless. I have closed captioning on my television. As I watched and listened I found the language to be salty. Some of the words were vulgar. One particular term was only used in part but the innuendo was there. One of the characters took God’s name in vain or swore every other sentence.

I had seen this movie back when it was in the theaters in the late 1970’s. In a movie house, I might not have caught the words. I also saw it several times as our son grew up, minus the close captioning.

When did our society give approval of misusing the Lord’s name? Why do we Christians accept it?

Our drama ministry had a skit about our relegating His name to swear words. One of our drama people had written a skit set in a restaurant about the words people-Christians-use in public. The leader of our group asked me to expand on the topic and depict several areas of life where we fall short in this department.

Our pastor had earlier voiced concern about the subject and suggested we dramatize it. When I thought I was finished with the script, I made an appointment and took it to him. He had one change. He wanted a character to actually say the Lord’s name in an expressive, yet offensive way.

I actually thought about stating a disclaimer about the dialogue. In a recent drama meeting, one of the women said, because of that play, she stopped saying one of her pet exclamations.

What would it take for our society to return to praising God’s name instead of cursing with it? Or is it too late?