Words matter, words can minimize - Divorce Minister
“See, it is I who created the blacksmith
who fans the coals into flame
and forges a weapon fit for its work.
And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc;
no weapon forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.-Isaiah 54:16-17a, NIV
Recently, we are dealing with a local issue in my township. A land developer is trying to drop a mega data center in the backyard of our small, rural town next to residences. We are not happy about it.
However, what makes me so particularly annoyed is how language is being used to manipulate the public and obscure the issues. Words are chosen as euphemisms to avoid using plain language exposing this project as for what it is–namely, to potentially build one of the largest data centers in the world next door. Words matter.
It wasn’t just “a mistake.”
Rather, it was chosen sin followed upon by a host of other chosen sin leading to the deed, which God describes as evil (see Deuteronomy 22:22).
It wasn’t an “exit affair.”
It was adultery. This label minimizes the damage adultery causes to marriages. Just because your marriage was “sick” does not make it morally acceptable to shoot it through the heart as opposed to nursing it back to health.
They aren’t just “a friend.”
No, they are a sexual partner, and staying in relationship with them is a violation of your solemn wedding vows to “forsake all others.” It is both evidence of betrayal and utter disrespect to keep such “a friend.”
Many people struggle with facing the ugliness of adultery. It isn’t pleasant or polite to actually sit for what it is–namely, evil.
Yet, we need to start talking and seeing it as such. We need to stop using euphemisms to minimize how damaging such relationships are to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
