Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Labels. They are dangerous.

Liar.

Evil.

Whole grain.

Multigrain.

Lazy.

Wicked.

Sell-out.

Fat-free.

Ball hog.

Liberal.

Conservative.

Moderate.

Gay.

Homophobic.

Married.

Extremist.

Obese.

Illegal immigrant.

Baptist.

Catholic.

Christian. (for you BG)

How about this one?  "Fundamentalist Christian."  That's the latest label for Anders Behrin Breivik.  While no fundamentalist (of the Christian persuasion) advocates murder in any form or fashion, that's what they're calling him.

That's dangerous because labels can make words lose their meaning.  And when words lose their meaning, there's not a channel for communication.  And then there's no community, no togetherness, no belonging nor a chance for it.  Disintegration of relationships and personhoods spirals and keeps spiraling.

Words matter.  Let yours and mine matter today.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...

1 comment:

  1. “I love words. I rarely think of them as efficient, but as precious. God made them (words) to carry the freight of truth and beauty. Nothing is more valuable than God’s truth and beauty.” -John Piper

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