The Right Word

The scriptures referred to are Isaiah 50:4-9a and James 3:1-12.

I am reading a fascinating book called Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell. The title is in part a play on words for languages like English and Spanish. The book is an examination of the special vocabulary developed by not only religious cults but also multilevel marketing companies and fitness movements and social media gurus, all of which can be described as somewhat cultish, the other meaning of the word. And she makes a good case that not just inventing new words but changing the meaning of existing words is one of the tools that charismatic leaders use to create a group that sees itself as different from other people. The insider jargon gives a sense of identity as well as supposed insights into the world and reality that are at variance with how the average person perceives them.

Part of the reason Montell takes this approach is her education in linguistics and part of it is the difficulty of defining a cult. Most mainstream religions started as cults, she says. But today the term cult, once an objective term for adoration of a god, has come to have a purely negative connotation. Say the word cult and people think of “charismatic leaders, mind-altering behaviors, sexual and financial exploitation, an us-versus-them mentality towards nonmembers, and an ends-justify-the-means philosophy.” But some cult-like groups may not be evil. Think Weight Watchers. It is a group with rituals and jargon and rules intended to change people's thinking and behavior but the goal is to lose weight and eat in a healthy way. So it is a little bit cultish but it's not destructive.

There is a difference between benign groups or clubs or churches and destructive cults like the “People's Temple” or the “Children of God” or the Waco “Branch Davidians” or “Heaven's Gate.” In a destructive cult they not only try to control how you think and act, but also cut you off from family and friends outside their group and either literally fight to keep you from leaving or go after you with everything they've got if you do leave.

Though Montell emphasizes that you create a destructive cult through language, she does admit it takes a charismatic leader delivering it in a compelling way. Nowadays Hitler's style may seem over-the-top when seen in close-up but he managed to get stadiums of people excited about his hate-filled ideology. And today there is a way of doing this that does not require an exciting speaking style or even speaking at all: social media. And I can't wait to see how Montell dissects that.

What intrigues me is the use of social media like Twitter, which is chiefly words, to do what destructive cults do: include people into a chosen group or excommunicate them. Today celebrities, especially those known for actually doing things like writing, acting, singing, playing sports, etc., can cause a great stir by what they say and more importantly how they say it. God forbid they use language with less than surgical precision, or else they might say something that would pass muster a year ago but now is considered heresy. Language always changes but whereas in the past you might get laughed at for using an old-fashioned phrase, today you can get hounded off the internet for not referring to people or issues using this year's proper terminology. And if you ever said in an interview 10 years ago something deemed terrible now, even if you were joking then, you could lose your present job.

Now on the one hand, I want people held accountable for saying things that denigrate classes of people by race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation or the like. But if the person shows they understand why it was wrong and that they have actually changed, they need to be forgiven. Hopefully all of us are smarter than we were a decade or so ago.

But if someone simply hasn't updated their list of acceptable buzzwords or if they sincerely and intelligently question the latest form of orthodoxy, they shouldn't be buried under a pile of invective or death threats. Let's have a calm discussion of what may be an innocent mistake or a legitimate question, not call in the Spanish Inquisition.

For this reason I no longer believe the old saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Because it's obvious that words can in fact do great harm. And if people had taken seriously what James said 2000 years ago in our passage from the lectionary, they would know that.

I am not going to go line by line through the passage because a lot of it is just metaphors. But his point is clear: for all that words are just shaped vibrations of air, or squiggles on paper, or symbols on screens, they can be tremendously destructive.

But what makes them so is really their intent as revealed in their contents. What bothers me about the habit of media to jump on anyone who misspoke is the assumption that they did so on purpose and to cause harm. It's as if those criticizing had never had anything come out of their mouths the wrong way. There is a famous edition of the Bible called the “Wicked Bible” because one commandment came out “Thou shalt commit adultery.” Funny, yes, but obviously a typo. That's not what the publisher intended to print. But if a prominent Christian did that on Twitter, within seconds people would be questioning that person's morality. Others would be making jokes and only a very few would be saying, “Guys, it was a mistake. Lighten up!” But even fewer would simply chuckle and scroll past it, understanding it was a slip and resisting the temptation to pile on.

Good reading and good listening require 2 things: being able to observe the exact way somebody expresses a thought and being able to discern what they actually mean. Ignoring the context is a good way to twist isolated words or sentences into something other than was intended. People do it with the Bible all the time. It's intended to bring us closer to God but some folks use it to do the opposite. That's why Paul tells Timothy that a false teacher will have “an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt minds...” (1 Timothy 6:4-5) That sounds like social media, doesn't it?

James points out the paradox of how we use our tongues. “With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.” James is referring to the fact that how we treat human beings is how we also treat God. When God makes his covenant with Noah, the father of the rebooted human race, he prohibits murder precisely because people are made in God's image. (Genesis 9:6) Killing a human being is symbolic deicide. And then when Jesus came we literally killed God.

Jesus taught us that we do or do not do to the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned, and the immigrant, whom he calls his siblings, we do or do not do to him. It stands to reason that when we insult and denigrate others we are doing it to him as well. In fact in his Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “...whoever insults a brother will be brought before the council, and whoever says 'Fool' will be sent to fiery hell.” (Matthew 5:22) Just for saying something hurtful?

Words are powerful. Anne Frank and her family were sent to the concentration camp, because someone used words to tell the Nazis about their hiding place. Pope Urban II started the crusades by giving a speech, which said of the inevitable killing and destruction “God wills it!” The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon began with Bin Laden and his followers discussing how to hurt the US. Ideas become words which become actions. We all have silly or unChristian thoughts from time to time. As my wife often tells me, you don't have to say everything that pops into your head.

Christians should control their tongues. James warns us that the tongue is a fire. And Christians should definitely avoid inflammatory talk. If it will probably generate more heat than light, keep it to yourself.

Which means avoiding insulting others, as we've seen. But the Bible also condemns gossip and the passing on of rumors. (1 Timothy 5:13) Such things might be true but they might not, and the Bible definitely condemns lying and falsehoods. (Leviticus 19:11; Psalm 34:13) But even if a rumor is true, the real question is whether passing it on does any good or whether it just makes someone look bad. (Proverbs 20:19)

You shouldn't shout “Fire!” in a crowded theater falsely, of course. But when there is a fire...well, you still shouldn't shout it and cause a panic, but you should go and tell someone in charge so they can get people out in a safe and orderly fashion. Warning people of actual danger is not a negative form of speech. But be careful how you do it.

However, what we should be concentrating on is using speech in a constructive way. Yes, a fire can burn down your house if used carelessly. But used properly it can heat your house, cook your food, and give you light. In the same way, like anything powerful, words can do a lot of damage if misused but they can do a lot of good if used to help others as God intended. Paul says, “You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for building up the one in need, that it may give grace to those who hear.” (Ephesians 4:29)

Again this doesn't mean never criticizing something that is wrong or harmful but do it constructively. “I like this! Did you notice this one thing, though? I can see how this feature could cause problems. How do you think we can avoid that?” Focus on fixing the problem, rather than trying to fix the blame. Don't attack the person; attack the problem together.

We could all use words of encouragement and appreciation. Most people are doing the best they can. Let them know you see that and you appreciate what they are doing. So that you can, as Isaiah says in today's passage, “sustain the weary with a word.”

But also let them know that you like or love them for themselves, and not just when they are useful. We are not like the trains in the Thomas the Tank Engine universe, where useful is the chief measure of one's worth. As individuals created by God in his image, and redeemed by Jesus Christ on the cross, we have inherent worth. We are not merely what we do.

Of course, there are times, when comforting someone who is suffering an unspeakable tragedy, that the best thing to do is not speak. As it says in Ecclesiastes, there is a time to speak and a time to keep silent. (Ecclesiastes 3:7). Words are powerful but they are not magic and they cannot replace a look, a clasp of the hand, or a hug. Nor do words replace necessary actions. As James said last week, if someone is hungry, don't feed them a line about having faith: feed them food. At such times, actions speak louder than words.

We live according to God's Word. But even God thought that it would be much more powerful if his Word became flesh. And the gospels do not just record what Jesus said but also what he did. What Jesus did speaks volumes about what God is like. And while Paul gives us a great definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13, I don't think it would mean as much if Jesus hadn't shown us what love looks like by dying for us.

There are lots of dead religious figures and philosophers who left us a legacy of words. What is significant is that God did not let death have the last word when it came to Jesus. He raised him again. And once they saw and touched and ate with Jesus and were breathed on by him and sent out with his words ringing in their ears, the disciples couldn't shut up about him. They proclaimed the good news of Jesus, the living expression of God's love. And that's what should be on our tongues at every opportunity.