Oh it’s not a language issue. It’s more related to the abuse of words. I was born and raised in the USA and we have been under the grip of Edward Bernays since the late 1920s. Emotional marketing, appeal to emotion, getting words and phrases to ‘stick’ in our heads as catch phrases / jingles / now memes and viral ideas – he started it, teaching business leaders and politicians and religious leaders how to make ideas “stick” using basic psychology.
So if it’s for show and an appeal to demonstrate outwardly one’s faith, then it’s a marketing ploy for other humans to give human praise. 9 out of 10 times. “see my virtue! I am kneeling at the cross everybody!”
And it extends even to places like this. If I start talking about or trying to measure, it cheapens it. Maybe i have none! Maybe I have only a little or a lot. Doesn’t matter. How could I judge anyway? Not my place.
apophatic theology – describing God by what God is not – some call it a “god of the gaps” view but it works for me