Words

Monday, September 7th, 2009
Many years ago I heard a Pastor in the province who barely spoke English preach a sermon that it was the will of God for children to suffer  because.... and he quoted the King James version  "Suffer the little children to come unto me".  We may all smile at this, but how sad. I hear the same thing today as pastors use modern definitions of a term to define a bible word to proof text their own thoughts, rather than allow thoughts to flow from the scripture.  A good example of this is the word 'wine.'  Now I know, this is not popular to say, but it does need to be said. To say that Jesus drank wine, and to allow people to think that it meant the same thing then as it does now is just not honest exegesis.  To make Jesus look like He 'knew how to party' because He created an abundance of wine at the wedding of Cana, and to allow people to think that Jesus facilitated a drunken feast is just not honest exegesis.   To use the wine served at the last supper as a validation for putting a "bar" in the church lobby is beyond comprehension.  What is called wine today and what was called wine in Jesus' day are very different subjects. Words can be used to communicate or to manipulate truth. Jesus taught with integrity. He used words accurately.  Maybe when we start to look at a controversial subject we should start with better definitions? Some things must be understood in the cultural context. Often language separates not because we do not know the word but because the definition has changed. For instance who would have ever dreamed that the terms "cool" and "hot" would be terms of appreciation and not a description of temperature?