How Importan are Words?
How important are words?
Mind your P’s and Q’s! I did a little research and found a variety of origins and applications for this phrase. Some sources mentioned the printing world; as a reminder for those using the old-style type-set printers not to confuse the P’s and Q’s as they set the type. Some sources mentioned the area of manners; reminding us to pay close attention to proper etiquette at the table or while we were in social settings. One source pointed to the origins of this phrase as being from the world of English Pubs, as the barman would keep track of how many pints (P’s) or quarts (Q’s) a customer had consumed (often marking it on a chalkboard).
A large portion of the written word in our society bears more resemblance to the spoken word and “common usage” than it does to any measurable standard. It is not uncommon to read an article or blog and have it come across in your mind more like a spoken monolog than a thought-out or carefully composed piece of literature. Our carefulness with the English language has deteriorated to the point of teachers finding such things as: u, r, w/o, etc. in term papers in place of real words!
Historically, we find the basic structure of communication was far more complex than it is today. Paul was not afraid to challenge our minds with long, longer, and very long sentences (cf. Ephesian 1) that are logically ordered, but require our attention for us to digest their meaning. The Reformers wrote long and layered sentences with many supporting clauses so they could convey the heart and soul of Biblical doctrine. We are fortunate in our day to get one clause in a news article sentence, and even more fortunate if an electronic communication we receive uses the correct punctuation or even capitalization!
The words we write or speak and the way we present them have real meaning and importance. Why is this so important? Because our Heavenly Father has chosen to reveal to us His Son through the written word – and God never wastes words! In generations past He chose to reveal His will through dreams, visions, prophets and finally His Son. We now have the written Word of God in the form of the Old and New Testaments which are the most carefully documented manuscripts of any ancient writings of their age. Are they trust worthy? Secularly speaking they are the best. Spiritually speaking they are the words of eternal life. Mind your P’s and Q’s! More importantly mind the words of eternal life!
The sermon of August 14th deals with this. Download it off the church site or from iTunes – this last little bit is strictly shameless self promotion!