An opinion piece ...
When I was a youngster. Ok, when I was MORE of a youngster, in a Christian elementary school, the school choir enjoyed singing, "... and we'll all be gay when Johnny comes marching home", a patriotic song from the Civil War era.
Nowadays that song is defunct, which is a shame, as it was a fun song with a lively tune. Why? Modern English usage has turned away from the definition of the term that was acceptable, to one which gives the song a vastly different and unacceptable meaning.
I propose for your consideration that a similar situation exists when describing human relationships, where a possessive, such as "my" or "mine" is used, and that it is particularly troublesome in modern usage when the word "property" is used.
IN MODERN USAGE, the word "property" carries the implication of being inanimate, or at least having no will or rights, no volition -- all such belonging to the owner, and the property being, at best, some sort of animal, such as a dog or goat or horse. Careful students of the Bible understand that the Bible's definition differs materially. Yet those to whom we generally speak are UNLIKELY to share our depth of understanding, such that if we use words which imply "property", mis-communication is almost certain to occur.
This holds true equally true when we refer to slavery. Biblical slavery bore much more similarity to signing up for a stint in a peacetime military than to that institution which stained America's national honor for so many years. Yet, referring to it favorably in general conversation causes mis-communication and even rejection of Christianity to occur.
So let me remind us all, while BiblicalFamilies.org DOES espouse the Bible and the Bible only (sola scriptura) as our rule of faith, we do NOT espouse unholy ideas created by technically accurate mis-communication due to the changing nature of language!!!
Now, most BF forums are wide open to the public. Anyone, including automatic cataloguing bots, can and do read them. This includes people of other faiths entirely, who will definitely NOT have the depth of understanding of the Bible to understand when these sort of terms are used.
Imagine that you are a Moslem or Hindu, religions in which the man has an absolute right to KILL his wife under various circumstances, and to hold Old American South style slaves. Now, imagine that you read about the need to respect a man's property rights regarding his wife. Or a lady referring to her husband as her "master". Will accurate or inaccurate communication occur?
If I'm the reader, no problem. If the reader is a BF member who has been around a while, and has learned about the Bible teachings, probably no problem, though if they are new to the author, they may check that his or her usage is Biblical rather than modern. And we do have private members only forums where it would be appropriate to expect that readers share the same clear understanding of concepts and usage.
But in the open, general forum? No such supposition is justified!
Worse, there ARE other PM friendly religious groups whose usage of the terms DOES more closely match modern rather than Biblical usage. AND they even call themselves Christian, as do we. At least some of the FLDS, for instance, accept their prophet's right to dissolve marriages and redistribute wives to other men, like so much, well, PROPERTY, as he sees fit! BF is very serious about NOT being associated with those ideas!!! To do so would be mistaken!
Do you see the issue and the concern?
And then along comes me, newly tasked with being a moderator, a job I did NOT ask for and dislike intensely, but it must be done. And I'm already waking up at 3:15 AM worrying about how to deal with issues like this where WELL MEANING friends, whom I truly Love, Respect, and LIKE, are inadvertently MIS-communicating our message; and what I have to do about it, and my ulcer acts up and I have to get up out of bed and chew on TUMS (vile things!) and then try to get back to sleep eventually just in time to have to get up.
So please, dear hearts, take pity upon me and my sleep! When writing on the open forum, consider what your wording will mean to someone who does NOT share your understanding of Biblical terminology, and write so that they will clearly and accurately understand your meaning. For example, that we are ALL free in Christ! Free to choose to submit or not. Free to follow or not. Free to live in families ordered according to Biblical principle or not. Free to make mistakes or not. None of us blind, unthinking chattel, inanimate property of another and without volition.
When I was a youngster. Ok, when I was MORE of a youngster, in a Christian elementary school, the school choir enjoyed singing, "... and we'll all be gay when Johnny comes marching home", a patriotic song from the Civil War era.
Nowadays that song is defunct, which is a shame, as it was a fun song with a lively tune. Why? Modern English usage has turned away from the definition of the term that was acceptable, to one which gives the song a vastly different and unacceptable meaning.
I propose for your consideration that a similar situation exists when describing human relationships, where a possessive, such as "my" or "mine" is used, and that it is particularly troublesome in modern usage when the word "property" is used.
IN MODERN USAGE, the word "property" carries the implication of being inanimate, or at least having no will or rights, no volition -- all such belonging to the owner, and the property being, at best, some sort of animal, such as a dog or goat or horse. Careful students of the Bible understand that the Bible's definition differs materially. Yet those to whom we generally speak are UNLIKELY to share our depth of understanding, such that if we use words which imply "property", mis-communication is almost certain to occur.
This holds true equally true when we refer to slavery. Biblical slavery bore much more similarity to signing up for a stint in a peacetime military than to that institution which stained America's national honor for so many years. Yet, referring to it favorably in general conversation causes mis-communication and even rejection of Christianity to occur.
So let me remind us all, while BiblicalFamilies.org DOES espouse the Bible and the Bible only (sola scriptura) as our rule of faith, we do NOT espouse unholy ideas created by technically accurate mis-communication due to the changing nature of language!!!
Now, most BF forums are wide open to the public. Anyone, including automatic cataloguing bots, can and do read them. This includes people of other faiths entirely, who will definitely NOT have the depth of understanding of the Bible to understand when these sort of terms are used.
Imagine that you are a Moslem or Hindu, religions in which the man has an absolute right to KILL his wife under various circumstances, and to hold Old American South style slaves. Now, imagine that you read about the need to respect a man's property rights regarding his wife. Or a lady referring to her husband as her "master". Will accurate or inaccurate communication occur?
If I'm the reader, no problem. If the reader is a BF member who has been around a while, and has learned about the Bible teachings, probably no problem, though if they are new to the author, they may check that his or her usage is Biblical rather than modern. And we do have private members only forums where it would be appropriate to expect that readers share the same clear understanding of concepts and usage.
But in the open, general forum? No such supposition is justified!
Worse, there ARE other PM friendly religious groups whose usage of the terms DOES more closely match modern rather than Biblical usage. AND they even call themselves Christian, as do we. At least some of the FLDS, for instance, accept their prophet's right to dissolve marriages and redistribute wives to other men, like so much, well, PROPERTY, as he sees fit! BF is very serious about NOT being associated with those ideas!!! To do so would be mistaken!
Do you see the issue and the concern?
And then along comes me, newly tasked with being a moderator, a job I did NOT ask for and dislike intensely, but it must be done. And I'm already waking up at 3:15 AM worrying about how to deal with issues like this where WELL MEANING friends, whom I truly Love, Respect, and LIKE, are inadvertently MIS-communicating our message; and what I have to do about it, and my ulcer acts up and I have to get up out of bed and chew on TUMS (vile things!) and then try to get back to sleep eventually just in time to have to get up.
So please, dear hearts, take pity upon me and my sleep! When writing on the open forum, consider what your wording will mean to someone who does NOT share your understanding of Biblical terminology, and write so that they will clearly and accurately understand your meaning. For example, that we are ALL free in Christ! Free to choose to submit or not. Free to follow or not. Free to live in families ordered according to Biblical principle or not. Free to make mistakes or not. None of us blind, unthinking chattel, inanimate property of another and without volition.
