Back at Uni one of my friends once said to me that, ‘Words are just words.’ Whilst I deeply love and respect this friend, I believe that she was very wrong.
“You’re mother and I are getting a divorce.”
“I’m sorry, but the cancer has not responded to treatment.”
“You need to wait till the traffic signals are green before you can cross the street.”
All of these phrases are not simply ‘just words’. Words are highly important, words communicate truth, it is through Words that God chooses to communicate through us.
I’ve been realising how important, then, it is to be reading words with a renewed mind. So much of what we read (and hear) needs to be filtered through the right sieve in order to determine what is factual, biased, mere opinion or persuasive argument. It’s not enough, as one person recently commented to me, to say an article is biased and therefore reject it. Tell me why you think it is biased. What is the bias against? There will always be bias in written forms (despite the goals of wikipedia!).
When you read God’s word you’ll note that God has his own bias. It’s hard not to pick it up! But unlike our own biases, God’s bias is not influenced by sin – it is influenced by his glory and holiness.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.
(Isaiah 48:11)
It is through this lens that we must read our world.
So I thought that these two posts recently listed by Al Mohler have been highly insightful. Not only for the content of his argument, but the manner in which he reads our culture and responds to our cultures arguments. You can find his posts here and here.
Of note is his second post dealing with a newspaper article. Take note of how he is able to read between the lines of the report and his corresponding thoughts. It’s a brilliant article not just for its content, but as an example of how to critique our culture and worldview. I think there is great value in learning from Al’s writing style in order to help develop our renewed minds.
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