words should mean things
Mar. 24th, 2011 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deird1One thing that really bugs me when discussing random topics with Christians is when someone will say:
"[this thing I don't like] isn't biblical."
You know what else isn't biblical?
- karaoke
- railway trains
- electric lights
- sushi
- hairspray
- skiing
- kangaroos
- tissues
The problem is, they're using "biblical" as the ultimate trump card, without thinking about what it means. "The Bible is good, hence 'biblical' is better than 'not biblical'," with no further justification needed.
And if I try to define what "biblical" could mean, well, there's "this thing is mentioned in the Bible", "this thing is approved of by the Bible", or "the thing could be argued for, using the Bible as support", for starters. Which might be perfectly relevant to the conversation - but if you don't say which one you mean...
...well, if you don't say, then I'm going to assume that you don't really know, because you've never had to put more thought into it than "is it biblical?" Whatever that means.
"[this thing I don't like] isn't biblical."
You know what else isn't biblical?
- karaoke
- railway trains
- electric lights
- sushi
- hairspray
- skiing
- kangaroos
- tissues
The problem is, they're using "biblical" as the ultimate trump card, without thinking about what it means. "The Bible is good, hence 'biblical' is better than 'not biblical'," with no further justification needed.
And if I try to define what "biblical" could mean, well, there's "this thing is mentioned in the Bible", "this thing is approved of by the Bible", or "the thing could be argued for, using the Bible as support", for starters. Which might be perfectly relevant to the conversation - but if you don't say which one you mean...
...well, if you don't say, then I'm going to assume that you don't really know, because you've never had to put more thought into it than "is it biblical?" Whatever that means.