CHANGING THE CONVERSATION
by: Dr. Allen Domelle
The recent political cycle has revealed the American disgust for political correctness. I’m humored as I watch the news pundits squirm at how Donald Trump is so politically incorrect. They said all throughout the primary that there is no way he would win with his offensive talk. Now I’m not defending his cursing, but it is evident that the American people are fed up with the news media and the left pushing their politically correct agenda.
I say that it is an agenda because they are trying to change the conversation so they can condone their wicked lifestyle. Those who hold their mouths by how some of us are so politically incorrect are more vulgar in their private speech and immoral in their lifestyle than those of us who refuse to cower to the pressure of this politically correct agenda.
One must never underestimate the power of a word. God shows the power of one word throughout the Scriptures. He says in Psalm 119:89, “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.” It wasn’t thoughts there were settled in Heaven, but it was each word that is settled in Heaven. God emphasized the power of a word in Proverbs 30:5 when He says, “Every word of God is pure…” The power of one word can truly change the conversation. This is why God says in Revelation 22:18, “…If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:” God takes the power of each word in the Scriptures seriously because He knows that changing one word can change the conversation.
Look at how Satan changed the conversation with Eve in the Garden of Eden. He asked in Genesis 3:1, “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Satan accused God of not allowing Adam and Eve to eat of any tree, but that is not what God said. That question caused Eve to change what God said when she said in verse 3, “…Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” God never said they couldn’t touch it; He just said they couldn’t eat of it. By changing the word, they changed the conversation.
It was how something was said that helped identify who people were fighting for in Judges 12. The Ephraimites went to battle against the Gileadites because they didn’t ask them to go to battle with Jephthah. The only way they could identify who belonged to which tribe was by how they pronounced a word. Judges 12:6 says, “Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.” By simply keeping one letter out, it changed how a word was pronounced and it changed the conversation.
For years, the politically correct agenda has been trying to change the conversation. They like to say that they don’t want to be offensive to people, but that just isn’t the case. They offer words or phrases that they want everyone to use so that they can negotiate what is right and wrong.
For instance, years ago society started saying a woman was pregnant, but from the beginning God never used that word. God said in Genesis 16:11, “And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child…” Notice that God said she was “with child.” There is a big difference between being pregnant and “with child.” There is nothing wrong with the word, “pregnant,” but this word never tells us when life begins. If Christians had never changed God’s terminology, we would never be in a battle about when life begins. Society’s agenda was to change the conversation so they could justify murdering innocent children in the womb of their mother.
The sodomite community has changed the conversation by getting Christians to use their terminology instead of using God’s Word. Look at how strong God’s Word is in Deuteronomy 23:17, “There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.” God didn’t say a man who was immoral with another man was gay or homosexual; He called them a “sodomite.” The whole reason the sodomite world wanted to be called “gay” or “homosexual,” is because they wanted to change the conversation so they could eventually say that it is an alternative and accepted lifestyle. Their political correctness was an agenda to change the conversation.
Friend, the world is always trying to change the conversation by changing the terminology. They don’t want to call someone an adulterer or adulteress; they want to say they had an affair. They don’t want to call someone a liar; they want to say someone stretched the truth. They don’t want to call someone who enjoyed the pleasure of marriage before marriage a fornicator; they simply want to say they are experimenting. Friend, God’s Word always carries more conviction and power in how He chose to call sin.
Don’t mistake the politically correct agenda as an effort not to offend people; it is an effort to put sin as a discussion on the table. If they can change the terminology, they can get us to discuss whether what is said is really that important, or if it can be said in a less offensive manner. Christian, there are times when we need to be shocked with truth. God used powerful, pointed words to bring conviction. God knew exactly what He said, and He intends for every Christian to use His terminology so that we don’t change the conversation.
My admonishment is to stop worrying about being politically correct and be concerned with being scripturally correct. Certainly, the world’s words may not be bad in and of themselves, but their purpose is to change the conversation and outlook of the true depravity of sin. Most of the societal sins we face today are because we allowed the terminology to change; thus, the conversation of the sin was changed. We would not be fighting same-sex marriage, abortion, immorality, sodomy, and gender-neutral bathrooms, had we kept God’s terminology and called these sins what they are.
Remember Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” God never changes, which means He never changes His terminology. Let’s not be guilty of putting sin on the table of conversation, and let’s call sin exactly how God calls it. If using God’s terminology offends someone, so be it. Instead of getting offended, they need to get right. The politically correct agenda is incorrect because it wants us to forsake God’s Word for societal terminology which condones sin. Let’s stop worrying about offending people, and let’s start being more concerned with pleasing God.
Christian, sin will always turn your world upside down. Many families have seen their world turned upside down because one person chose to live a life of sin. Many people have seen their life turned upside down because the payment of sin finally came due. You can’t live a life of sin and not expect your world to stay the same. Sin always turns a world upside down. Sin always takes a peaceful world and turns it upside down into a world of conflict. Many people who lived a blessed life saw their world turned upside down into heartache and sorrow because of sin.