One of the casualties of our post modern culture is that people make words mean whatever they want, and we've walked away from the power of language. That is, we let sense-making inform us of what words mean rather than let the meaning of words inform our sense-making. This constrains our ability to understand each other and universal truths that guide our reality.
For instance, what does it mean when I say "I love you"? There are four different words in Greek, the foundational language of the New Testament. One form of love is friendship, another is family love, still another is about sensual desire for another, and still there is God's love or unmerited favor. There are three words for "life" and depending on which life form we are referencing, we get a different understanding. Bios means the natural order from physical birth to physical death, psyche references that which makes us who we are that the doctor cannot discover with x-rays and blood tests, sometimes referred to as our soul. Lastly there is zoe which is our spirit life or the life we receive from God (eternal life). The word "world" can mean the earth, the inhabitants of the earth, or the system by which earthly beings operate (culture). There are over 20 Greek words translated into the word "suffer" and three meanings of "to judge."
In my blogs I will opine on words in which I have found many people have "stinking thinking". That is to say these are words with powerful implications on our sense-making that our culture has allowed to be diffused to confuse us. Words like sin, righteousness (justice), self-esteem, motivation, and trust.
ENJOY!!
No comments:
Post a Comment