Definitions matter! Recently, I was involved in a discussion where a person referred to a certain church as a cult. Now, I am familiar with those churches and have friends who minister in them. But that is the problem with words. This person felt the term “cult” applied. I always play the philosopher part and ask for a definition. You see, “cult” can mean so many things. Anthropologically, all religious practices are cults. Historians refer to the cult of Second Temple Judaism. This is not meant to be negative but is a term covering the collection of their ritual practices. I hope it is obvious that this shows just how much nuance there can be to our language and words.
In another conversation, a person used a term to describe a mutual friend. I pointed out that the term had a negative connotation they neither picked up on nor intended. “Definitions matter” is another way of saying “words matter.”
Why do I bring this up? Our nation is divided. But even more depressing is the state of the Church (by this, I mean the entire Church of our Lord). We are too quick to label. In politics, people throw around words like Nazi, Fascist, Liberal, Socialist, Commie, etc. Of course, the church has its own form of this. We label people with terms like Liberal, Heretic, Demonic, and Satanic. Those in political battles do this because there is no need to compromise with someone holding an extreme view—like fascism. This label puts the enemy beyond the pale of dialog. It gives us permission to cut them off. By doing this, we are no longer required to treat the other as a reasonable person. This excuses us from being reasonable. When the church follows this labeling tactic, it serves the same purpose. We don’t dialog or discuss with Satan or his minions! They are the enemy. Heretics are to be avoided. Paul spoke quite harshly about those deemed heretics—they were anathema.
The problem is that we too often misuse these terms. We label what we don’t understand so we can excuse ourselves from looking deeper. It can be hard enough to treat someone with love and respect. Hearing people question our most beloved thoughts and ideas makes it harder. Now, don’t misunderstand. I am not and will not encourage you to give a good listen to things that are obviously antibiblical and plainly heretical. But I do mean that we should still treat the person with respect and love. Hopefully, we can turn them from their error. Perhaps by listening we might discover their view is not what we thought. Perhaps we will find it is worse. But we won’t know unless we have the conversation. We also won’t know for sure if we don’t do the hard work of making sure we are speaking the same language: “How are you using this word?”