"I Think You're Going to Need a Better Dictionary."

 

“The worst thing one can do with words is to surrender them.” George Orwell 

  When Lewis Carroll’s Alice goes Through the Looking-Glass, she finds a world turned upside down, especially in regard to words. Trying to have a sensible conversation only makes her head hurt. Nowhere is this more apparent than in her meeting with Humpty Dumpty, who takes nothing she says at face value and loves a good argument: “There’s glory for you!” 

  “But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean a ‘nice knock-down argument,’” Alice objected.

  “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

  “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

  “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

   “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean…” Apparently, someone needs to get the memo to Steven Spielberg and the Discovery Channel that Jaws and Shark Week have been filleted. Two Australian states — Queensland and New South Wales — have softened their tone when it comes to the language of reporting shark attacks. From now on, sharks will “bite,” not “attack,” and when humans have a less-than-ideal meeting with them, even if they end up fish food, it’s now to be referred to as an “encounter” or an “incident.” Changing the meaning of a word doesn’t take its “bite away,” especially if you’re the one attacked. 

  Contemporary culture attempts to reshape and remold words as if they’re Play-Doh. They’re not. The Bible is a book made up of words – words that have a clear meaning. 

  Some years ago I had a conversation with a man about truth. My friend related that there was no such thing as truth and so the words in the Bible could have virtually any meaning. I replied that words have meaning. To which he responded, “Orange may be orange to you but it could be purple to me.” Yet even the biggest skeptic looks both ways when they cross a busy street. Words have meaning and you may redefine a speeding car but when you end up as a hood ornament, it won’t matter.

   Over the course of the last year, we’ve been inundated with “Trust the Science.” It’s ironic that many of the same “trust the science” advocates tell us that we’re on the wrong side of history to refer to pregnant women. The Atlantic recently had an article “The Culture War Over ‘Pregnant People’.” Even the ACLU is willing to sacrifice their own. A few weeks ago they altered the wording of a Ruth Bader Ginsberg quote to include gender-neutral pronouns. On the first anniversary of the Supreme Court Justice’s death, they tweeted: “The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a [person’s] life, to [their] well-being and dignity ... When the government controls that decision for [people], [they are] being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for [their] own choices.”

  Uhm, ACLU, trust the science. People don’t have abortions, women do. People don’t have babies, women do. Even someone as progressive as Ruth Bader Ginsberg knew that. This isn’t science, it’s sociology and insanity. FYI: It’s not “reproductive rights” when life is terminated not produced.

  None of this is new. Other societies drunk on their own self-importance and intellectual insanity attempted to alter the meaning of words. They failed. The French Revolution attempted to wipe out gender distinctions with the genderless term “citizen.” Incidentally, they also failed when they attempted to change a seven-day week to a ten-day one. The Communists attempted it by calling everyone the genderless “comrade.” 

  Because of a dictionary that is reputedly fluid, many today are skeptical of anyone’s claims to know the Truth. Some want to abandon the hunt for truth altogether, declaring a universal cease-fire on all truth claims. But can we really live without truth? Philosopher Roger Scruton rightly argues, “All discourse and dialogue depend upon the concept of truth. To agree with another is to accept the truth of what he says; to disagree is to reject it.” In other words, we can’t even talk to each other without a foundation of truth. Truth can’t be true if it’s true for you but not true for me. That makes words and communication an impossibility.

  Christians must be committed to clear definitions of words and truth. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” God is the Creator of words and gave them meaning. We must not surrender to cultural pressure or shaming. When we do, we lose our voice in the culture and dishonor the God of truth. Yet, there will be growing pressure along with the threat of being canceled.

  We must not alter words to be more acceptable. Even some Christians rightfully appalled at the horrors of racism declare that it’s only correct to say that “Black lives matter” and they do. Scripture though is our standard, not the values of the day. God had to rebuke the early church that had bought into only “Jewish lives matter.” Read the New Testament. It’s clear that “all lives matter” because Jesus died for all people. To discriminate or be prejudiced toward someone because of their ethnicity, disabilities or economic status is sin. It’s a falsehood to suggest, as some in the heat of the cultural disarray have, that “white people can never call black people racist.” Racism is evil whether it comes from the heart and lips of a white person, black person, Asian, Hispanic, etc. It may make good press but the glossing over of evil won’t stand before the throne of King Jesus.

  Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride had wise words for our culture and today’s Christian, “You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.” God is the Creator of life and language. What He says it means, it means…and that my friend is the final word!

 

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