Tuesday, October 5, 2010

BEWARE OF THINK SPEAK

Once upon a time, there was a word for someone who sought and held onto the original teachings of the Bible, as best as could be ascertained.  It stood for someone whose faith wasn't swayed by fashion or folly. Slowly the word "fundamentalist" changed to mean a hard core, literal, intolerant interpretation of the Bible (or other sacred text.)  A couple dozen or so years ago there was small Christian revival in America.  Through the medium of television and radio, the message of Christ went out to millions in our country and around the world.  Unfortunately, the excesses of the televangelists have changed the term "evangelical" into a deprecatory term for someone who pushes their faith on others, money grubbing and intolerant of other faiths.  Recently the word "Christian" has gained the same negative connotation of a hateful, intolerant, bigoted zealot.  

You will see, before the year is out, the word "constitution" come to mean the same thing. Social architects are re-scripting our history and changing the meaning of our words.  For 200 years the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States with the Amendments and the Bill of Rights have been the bedrock of our country and a beacon of light to the world.  These amazing documents have been held in highest esteem and by searching out their original meanings (fundamentally) and teaching them to our children (evangelically) we have preserved a major portion of the freedoms bestowed upon our nation. 

Language limits or enables our ability to think creatively, expressively and accurately.  If the meaning of words changes, people's perspectives change.  The next word to morph will be "freedom." 

Isaiah 5:20
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

1 comment:

Spasticlizard said...

Whoa ... so true. We should all be ashamed of ourselves for watering everything down. Our language, our actions, and most of all, our beliefs.