The unhealthy arguments over words
“He is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in disputes and arguments over words.” (1 Tim. 6:4 CSB)
The unhealthy arguments over words
When I was a kid, a popular saying was, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me!” Children were taught to say this if anyone called them something. It was to show that the words being thrown at them are harmless and should simply be ignored. Not any more! Today, words are very powerful, and you must watch how you use them carefully to keep from being accused of hate speech. And you never can be sure what that is. If you refer to someone with a pronoun they don’t like, such as he or she, rather than they or them (now one of hundreds of possibilities), they can accuse you of hate speech. Teachers have been fired and entire restaurant chains have been blacklisted over this stuff. Comedians, and their tv shows, have been “cancelled,” as in “erased” (as in “cancel culture”), and/or they can no longer tell jokes in their standup routines for fear of using words now regarded as hate speech. Old movies and TV shows with wrong words in them are now removed. You must scrub any conversation you use on a YouTube video or on social media platforms because search engines will spot them and your programs will be banned. The list of examples is endless, and free speech is gone!
Why is this happening?
The answer is that ungodliness is becoming more prominent in the land as we continue along the path of removing God from everywhere in our lives. From our schools, from our government agencies and courts, from our homes, and even from churches (most progressive churches have become “woke”). The verse at the top says that anyone who doesn’t agree with the sound teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ “understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in disputes and arguments over words.”
Read it in its entirety
“If anyone teaches false doctrine and does not agree with the sound teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the teaching that promotes godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in disputes and arguments over words. From these come envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions, and constant disagreement among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth,” (1 Tim. 6:3-5 CSB)
What to do
“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Tim. 4:16 ESV)
“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Tim. 4:2-4 ESV)
“He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” (Titus 1:9 ESV)