“Words Mean Things”

Because words have meaning, words ultimately change opinions.  Words are positively powerful in the mouths of the wise, but to the foolish, words are an opportunity to deceive, trick, manipulate, and destroy. 

Words are the avenue by which people honestly communicate their values, desires, likes and dislikes, passions and pains, victories and triumphs.  But what if the one communicating wishes to change opinions by hiding the truth, manipulating the data, bending the facts, or twisting the reality?

Case in point:  we should be disgusted with the poacher who broke the rules to kill a big game lion in Zimbabwe.  Our moral compass tells us so, but should we sympathize with the killing of Cecil the Lion because the media humanizes his lion cubs by calling them his children?  And that his children are now fatherless?  Does the media intend to communicate the truth of the story by turning Cecil the Lion into a sympathetic human figure instead of presenting him as the animal he is? Cecil, the animal, rules his large harem of lioness’ with brutal selfishness, kills rivals with grotesque force, and would pounce on any human being crossing his path by going straight for the jugular.  That’s hardly humane, probably pure animal.   Beware of the Lions, who are the media.

Case in point:  When a doctor, in his own words, talks about harvesting aborted babies body parts and selling them, the alarm on our moral compass goes off.  When a doctor, in his own words, talks about removing the fetus in such a way that it stays intact so that the worth of the parts are more valuable to sell, our moral and human sensitivities are awakened.  Describing a growing life inside the womb as a fetus and its tissue as fetal matter only disguises the truth and facts of what’s really happening.  Doesn’t science and technology in the 21^st century now give us a clear picture into what’s happening in the womb?  Are the pictures from an expectant mother’s sonogram not clear enough?  Do mini-cameras inside the womb not tell the story accurately?  Doesn’t the value of the body parts being sold speak to the value of the life itself?  When a doctor delivers the “aborted fetus” so that it stays intact don’t we call that intact fetus outside the womb “a baby”?  Words mean things.  They change opinions.  Don’t be fooled by those wishing to deceive you. 

Shame on the media for taking an animal and portraying him as a human while taking a human baby and portraying him as mere fetal tissue.  Words are powerful.  Be on guard.  Choose your words purposefully.  Listen carefully to others.  Be wise with your words if you want to positively change the world.

So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.

See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!   James 3:5