To express in words
By Sarge Friday, January 21, 2011 CanadaFreePress
I’ve been challenged by people occasionally and they start telling me off because of the way I write. “Man, I like what you write and what you have to say but every time I turn around I have to stop, get a dictionary and look up the word you used!”
Sorry about that.
No.
Wait a minute.
I’ll apologize when you can tell me how learning something new has endangered you, made you feel smaller as a person or physically hurt you. I write to bring a possibly advance a new thought. It’s to cast light into the darkness cloaking people’s poorly conceived attitudes, prejudices and preconceptions. I write to challenge people’s minds and drag their complacency into the light to learn what they didn’t know. If they choose to ignore what I indicate may be a problem needing exposure, then they’ve made an informed intelligent decision to remain ignorant. Ignorance is the condition of being uninformed or uneducated or of lacking knowledge or information. It’s not a sin.
But it’s shameful to knowingly remain ignorant. It can prove detrimental, dangerous, foolish and potentially deadly in some instances.
I don’t consider myself smarter than anybody. I understand some people’s embarrassment when they determine they don’t know something they feel they should know. We develop this feeling of diminished awareness and perceive it as a status of being less than equal.
It’s not true.
There’s a misconception all people are equal. They aren’t. They’re equal in rights to life and a quality of life they wish to pursue. But I’m going to tell you, as much as I’d like to be a Special Forces Operative, there’s no way it’s going to happen. I’ll never hold any NFL passing and running records nor will I climb Mount Everest.
But, most of the aforementioned have never won writing competitions or been voted one of the Best Writers in a category by their peers. I know for a fact they’ve never seen my son look at them with love and proclaim “that’s my Daddy!” I’ve got them beat there.
Words are important because of their impact, their inherent power to enliven, to embolden and to elevate the human spirit. They can also hurt, degrade and impugn the dignity of individuals as they try doing anything they feel important. The importance travels to the choices we make when we speak or write.
Communication by words, spoken and written, is a privilege reserved for the human race; so far. We do know Gorillas can use sign language but don’t have the ability to string words together in complex sentences to express complex thoughts. There are instinctive calls and mating sounds in the animal kingdom assuring the extension of the specie. Physical postures and stances signal for the purposes of initiating mating rituals in the animal kingdom.
Mankind uses words in addition to complex societal rituals to ensure the survival of the specie. We entice, allure and attract the person of our desires. We persuade, cajole, coax and seduce our choice of paramour or whomever it is we want to enchant with our presence by using words.
Knowing more of them enhances the ability of a person to get the message across efficiently.
Years ago I saw a man step in a puddle of manure (figuratively). A car salesman, he was trying to explain something to his prospective customer and referred to the man as a “master of the obvious”. The customer was insulted and came unglued emotionally. He wanted to know why the man would say such a thing to him. The salesman was aghast at the man’s response and the last I saw of them the salesman was literally running for cover under pursuit of the customer who continued to demand an explanation as to why he was spoken to in such a way.
Do you understand why?
When the salesman called him a “master of the obvious” he suggested the man was too dense to appreciate the subtle eccentricities of the product and was therefore stupid.
It’s never wanted to demean anybody. I just want to be informative.
Views: 200
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Comment by Dave Gosse on January 21, 2011 at 6:58pm -
Words are divine. They are the language of God, his chosen means of communicationg with us, and are incarnated in His Son. Learning to use words well is to pursue the knowledge of God.
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Comment by James Robertson on January 22, 2011 at 5:51am -
Matthew 12:37
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Comment by James Robertson on January 22, 2011 at 6:35am
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Comment by James Robertson on January 23, 2011 at 3:24pm
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A very great part of the mischiefs that vex this world arises from words.
- Edmund Burke
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Comment by James Robertson on January 24, 2011 at 8:15am
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"'Do everything without complaining...'" – Philippians 2:14 Isn't complaining really just about words? No, it's much more than that!
First, complaining hands your power over to the people and circumstances you complain about, making you feel like their victim. It diminishes your ability to think of solutions, conditions your mind negatively and blunts your ability to receive creative ideas from God.
Positive outcomes don't grow in negative soil! You can't complain and create simultaneously. "Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring...can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?..." (James 3:11-12)
Complaints are verbal expressions of negative beliefs. They cancel positive intentions and confessions, rendering you powerless to reap the gains God offers. Complaining focuses on a past you can't change. It keeps you scavenging in yesterday's debris, searching for evidence about "who did what" and "when" and "why," while your present slips fruitlessly away.
Second, complaining is toxic to your relationships. "...Do you not know...a little leaven leavens the whole lump?‘ (1 Corinthians 5:6) Complaining invites others to complain. Injected poison toxifies every part of the body.
Subtly, your relationship, your family, your workplace, your church and your environment become polluted. Complaining polarizes relationships. People who don't like stress, anxiety and negativity begin to distance themselves from you.
"The tongue has the power of life and death..." (Proverbs 18:21) – your life and death, and the life and death of others. So pray, "Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord...‘ (Psalm 141:3); help me to avoid complaining.
From Awakenings
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Comment by James Robertson on January 24, 2011 at 1:57pm
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Comment by James Robertson on January 25, 2011 at 12:29pm
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Comment by James Robertson on January 27, 2011 at 2:25pm
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First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.
- Epictetus
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Comment by James Robertson on January 29, 2011 at 3:09pm
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There is only one way to degrade mankind permanently and that is to destroy language.
- Northrop Frye
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Comment by James Robertson on March 3, 2011 at 9:59am
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All the words we use, whether biblical or otherwise, should be offered as seasoned speech made useful for the edification or admonishment of others, for God’s ultimate glory. But what we must understand is this: words have actual meaning, and are therefore not innately modified by our own subjective thoughts, feelings, or affections. Now I should qualify this point as follows: a person’s thoughts, feelings, and affections (or lack thereof) can redirect the impact that a word might have on the hearer. A man can say to his wife: “I love you,” but with a drab spirit of indifference such a regurgitation will have no appeal. However, we must affirm, once again, that the innate meaning of his words are not at all changed by the subjective reality of his indifference. Therefore, the good news within this illustration is that God’s meaning and definition of love (H. ‘ahab; G. agape) stands as an objective reality despite the subjective corruption of men. This distinction is crucial, but it is often lost within the world of subjective religion. With little or no objective anchor in God, the soul of man is lost within the morass of his own, ever changing, subjectivism and feelings. Paul addresses some of these issues when speaking of our use of words when he says – “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” (Ephesians 4:29). We should note that Paul does not say “Let no word be spoken unwholesomely” as if to place the emphasis on the way in which we speak. This would be a mere repetition of his earlier instructions in Ephesians 4:15 and 25 where Paul addresses the importance of the manner, intent, and affections of our communication. Verse 29 however, presses a distinct focus on the very words that we use. In fact, the nominative/adjectival construct is unmistakable: logos sapros (unwholesome words – or words that are rotten) vs. those “words that are good for edification.” Paul’s instruction is quite clear – it is not just how we say things that is important, but it is also what we say that is key, knowing that there are some things of which we should never speak:
Ephesians 5:11-12: 11. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12. for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
Some words and concepts are simply known to be aischros – utterly dark and disgraceful. Now imagine a member of the modern culture entering Paul’s world for a minute: he might insist that Paul stand up, be a man, and talk about these dark and dirty things as a display of Christian maturity and stability – insisting that he is free and clear to do so on the grounds of a subjective innocence, replete with good intentions and affections. Paul’s response would not change for a minute. He would simply respond by indicating that things which are rotten (sapros) belong in the waste-bin of language, and that it is disgraceful (aischros) – even ungracious (Ephesians 4:29) to allow such filth to pass the lips – no matter how we say it. To deny this is to play a rather dangerous word-game. Now, is there a subjective realm to this discussion? Are there not words that are somewhat “borderline” on the issue of unwholesome speech? Certainly. But remember, even the world knows (for the most part) what profanity is. If you are in doubt of this, try reading a movie review sometime, and you will find that even the inhabitants of Hollywood understand the theology of unwholesome speech well enough. Clearly, Paul didn’t give his audience a list of things that are “disgraceful even to speak of” – such an act would be a self-contradiction within his own letter. Nor did he give us a Mishnaic listing of unwholesome words – he clearly understood that this is not a matter that can be reduced to a superficial legalism. As the children of God we must be so invested in learning the things (objectively) that are pleasing to God (Ephesians 5:7-10) that we will walk in the light of God’s wisdom and grace. Therefore, we do not walk about with lengthy lists of prohibited words, instead, we are called to exercise sound judgment, self-control, and discernment in this matter of the use of our tongues, knowing that we will at times stumble and err as mere men (James 3:2). But if we are invested in this matter of speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), then all of these other conflicts will diminish beneath the weightiness of God’s immeasurable grace (Ephesians 4:29).
It is crucial that we consider our own subjective affections and attitudes when speaking, for “the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Matthew 12:34). But our subjective thoughts and feelings cannot be our chief end. Instead, we must look objectively outside of ourselves, and remember that the very words that we use have meaning – some good; some bad – and that our intentions do not transform the innate reality of such meaning. Overall, our heart matters; our words matter; and everything ought to be laid before the Lord for His ultimate glory.
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