Wordsmith

Some who know me have called me a wordsmith, partly because it's a play on my name (Smith) and partly because I appear to have a larger vocabulary than some. Big deal. Some say it simply because I'm so wordy, at least on this blog. Okay. But I've read recently in Scripture to beware of people who wrangle with words. Paul wrote to Timothy to remind his congregation of the truth an to "charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers" (2 Tim 2:14). In parallel to this, Paul tells Timothy about "anyone [who] teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness" (1 Tim 6:3). Paul says, "He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain" (1 Tim 6:4-5). Being one who wants to conform myself to the Word (rather than the more common approach of making the Word conform to me), I wanted to discover if that was me. I don't want to do that.

I do spend a lot of time in this blog dealing with the changing of the language. Many common words have evolved in our language. We know that. There are "dead languages" -- languages from civilizations that no longer exist -- that don't evolve because they're dead. But if humans use words or any other tools, those things will change over time. It's the way it works. So am I quarreling about words?

At first blush it looks like it. But I don't think I am. I concur that words change and I'm generally okay with it. It's the function of the words that concern me. Words are not ... real. They are not substantive. Words are the tool we use to take a concept from my brain and transmit it to yours. You pull out the word "bleevil" and tell me I need to be careful of it and if I don't have a clue what "bleevil" is I cannot heed your warning. Lewis Carroll wrote, "Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe." Well, now, look at that ... words. Huh? It was, of course, nothing but nonsense. And "non-sense" is what I'm talking about. You may read Carroll's sentence and even get a sense of what he said, but it's a mistake because none of those words actually convey any common meaning. And my big concern is meaning.

I'm concerned about the principle of the union of one man and one woman for the purposes of making a family, for mutual support, for procreation, for union. We used to call that "marriage," but the word has been hijacked. Okay, fine. But some of us still use the word to mean that and others use the word to mean the new thing (whatever that is) and when we talk we are not communicating because we've lost the idea, and that is what concerns me. And it's not just those evil gays like some might think I think. It's everyone, me included. We used to have a word intended to refer to those who follow Christ, who reflect Christ, who are followers of "the Way" (Acts 24:24-15). It is "Christian." Now I have no word with which to convey that concept. It's not the loss of the word that disheartens me; it's the loss of the concept. Just two examples there.

As I read my Bible or listen to teachers, I often fall under conviction of sin and error. "What you're doing (or not doing) is wrong" or "What you thinking (or not thinking) is wrong." I don't want to do that. So I seek to correct my own errors of word, deed, and thought. I want to follow Christ without reserve, without protecting my own actions and ideas as sacrosanct. So maybe I need to be more careful here when I appear to quarrel over words. It's not the words. I don't want to be a wordsmith that argues over words; I want to be one who defends the truth. It's the concepts, the principles, the ideas. Because even though words can and do change, these things remain. And words don't need my defense; God's principles do.