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LIQUIDTHINKING IS: Stephen Zedler Jimmy Doyle Andy Mullins Current Sountrack
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Thursday, August 25, 2005
Why Words Matter "Grammar goes deep, and grammar shapes conception, even perception. --Thomas De Zengotita in his book Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It The word "church." My wife calls me a legalist about the subject. Just about every comment left by Blake for the past month or so has made light of the importance that some of us put on words. So why does it matter to me? Disclaimer: The views expressed below are held solely by the poster and do not necessarily reflect those of the rest of liquidthinking. Happy? So, why does it matter? If DeZengotita is right (and there is ample evidence, in our media saturated culture, that he is), then it matters immensely. What words we use to describe our relationship to Christ shape the way we view them and the way we respond to those views. But is DeZengotita correct? I recently watched a Frontline documentary by Douglas Rushkoff called "The Persuaders" about the advertising industry, and how their techniques are extending out into other areas, like politics. They specifically talk about consultant Frank Luntz, who many credit as being one of the chief engineers of the Republican takeover of Congress back in 1994, and, most recently, has advised the Republicans on everything from tax policy to the military. What does Luntz focus most heavily on? Words. Remember the recent flap about the overturning of the estate tax? For years, most people supported an estate tax. Luntz encouraged Republicans, who fought for its repeal, to begin calling it the "death tax." Within months, the tax went from having the support of the majority of Americans to being opposed by over 70%. The War in Iraq? Not if you listen to Luntz. It's "the War on Terror." Global Warming is now "climate change." Does it matter? Aren't they talking about the same thing? Yes and no. In details, you may be talking about the same thing, but the words you use reflect everything from how you perceive the circumstances around that topic to your philosophical approach to responding to it. Especially in a media-dominated culture, words are of extreme importance. So why make a big deal about the word "church." Because use of that word, as with any other word, brings with it all the baggage and connotation that hundreds of years of use has built up. I began writing an extensive history of the word, but this post is already long, and here's the point: At some time in it's history, the term became bastardized... removed from its theologically and historically proper meaning. "Where do you go to church?" "When is church?" "Why didn't you go to church today?" "When will you become a member of the church?" All of these, in their very use of the word, display a fundamental lack of understanding of what the church is (assuming that it's a place you go and, ergo, that there is another place where you can go to get away from it... or that there is a time when it starts and stops... or that it's actually something that, as a Christian, you can choose not to engage in... or that you have to actually do something other than be a child of God to be "in the club"). Ultimately, it leads to one of the biggest problems in the American church today: compartmentalization. I have my sacred life and my secular life. I have my "Christian" friends and my regular friends. Finally, and most unfortunately, there is the "church" me and the regular me. Is all of this the necessary outcome? Perhaps not, but it's difficult to deny that your words do betray your perspective on things more often than we'd like. For me, the understanding of what it truly means to be part of the church was life-changing. I felt as if I, at one time, had been a divided person, but was now whole. I didn't need to have a "church" Stephen and a regular Stephen. There was just me. At the same time, it made me take my role as part of the church more seriously. If the church is my identity, not a place I go, then what I do every day matters. And I'm not talking about in that phony-balony "don't want to make others stumble" way. I mean that what I do every day can now be an act of worship (and don't get me started on the way we've shredded the meaning behind THAT word). Personally, it doesn't sound at all unreasonable when someone else suggests using other words besides "church" or "Christian" which are so loaded with unnecessary baggage. Their use may be utilitarian, but when I say those words, other people hear things that I do not intend. So I guess you could say that it makes me a legalist. I choose to think that it's because of my desire to be an effective communicator. Oh, okay... and it's fun to rattle the cage sometimes.
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Jimmy Doyle is a dad, husband,
teacher, friend, and other things. Currently he's just trying to figure out what it means to follow Christ and be in community with others. He enjoys having conversations with fellow pilgrims on the journey.
Stephen Zedler has a wife and three kids who he loves very much. He has been called by God to study and teach history, particularly U.S.
history. He also believes that God has called him to reform the way children are educated in America.