If you haven’t noticed, the “Word Police” are actively looking into your conversation. This week marked another series of culturally approved words while dispelling the formerly offensive ones. As you might imagine, we are in a hypersensitive society where appropriation can result in loss of jobs and friends. It’s also a time ruled by people who seek to smear the once accepted fact of gender separation. Even marital terms seem to be offensive, i.e., “husband and wife.” For some reason these words cause people pain and are said to be found too exclusive. Instead we are told to use the words, “life partner” or “them.”
Maybe these things have become so common that the church no longer feels outraged. I do wonder sometimes if the creeping world has numbed us toward sinful advances. The greater concern is the encroachment against The Word: God’s Word. While all words matter, His Word is the only word that will ever matter. So while we contend with the antics of a secular culture, we need to consider the root of the aggression.
Modern language is being turned as a weapon against the Holy Scripture. Paul told Timothy: 2 Tim 3:15 “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Paul said that the Scripture was God-breathed and that it was profitable. He declared that through this inspired Word, “the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
If the scripture will make us “wise unto salvation” is it any wonder that the motivation to manage our words will eventually lead to a rebuke of the Bible altogether? These days are filled with great spiritual unrest. The devil is fighting the church on every level, but specifically against the Bible. So as we concede that some words and statements are insensitive and should be changed, the management of words is leading to an assault on Bible verses, scriptural concepts and moral truth.
Given this premise, if you share such a thought, we must be vigilant to maintain The Book; it’s authenticity and authority in our daily lives. Nothing is more critical than the Bible for in it we find hope, salvation, direction, and our knowledge of God.
Pastor Jeffrey Harpole
