Khari > Recent Status Updates

Words do effect our cognition, absolutely, but they do not shape it. If they did shape it, then we would be incapable of understanding anything unless a word existed for it. But we have all had the experience of a sensation, or a thought, or a flavor, or a thing that we understood but had no word for it, and then when we came across the word for it (or invented one) felt it slide into place like a perfect glove.

That is because words are arbitrary symbols that stand in for real concepts or real things. In English we say a pen is...well, a pen. But in Spanish it's esfero, because I have changed the configuration of sounds coming out of my mouth has the reality of what a pen is changed? No.

Because leftist ideology has said that racism must include the idea of power, does that mean the disenfranchised cannot be racist? No.

"Words matter. And we are living in a world that has become a war of words. Christians are called to be peacemakers, not passive dupes in this war. Words do more than communicate ideas; they shape our imaginations. Change the words, and you change the world."

Uhhhhh. No.

Words do matter. That is true. Words change in meaning. That is also true. But changing the words does not mean the world changes.

We must stand in our union with Christ and against the idea that sexual identity encompasses personhood. Personal identity is not in the eyes of the beholder. Our humanity is not in our feelings. Our sense of self is not in our sin. It is in Christ.

Although all believers have this union [with Christ], if you do not exercise your faith-build it up, make it strong, depend upon it, engage in all the means of grace as often as possible-the blessings of it might not flourish as God intends. when union with Christ is not enjoyed, the cares of the world sneak up and steal our joy in the Lord and weaken our faith."

"Miyazaki demonstrates how the students use pronouns to index a multitude of pragmatic meanings that concern not only femininity and masculinity but also levels of formality, power, and solidarity."

"[Lesbian] speakers shift speech styles [in pronoun usage] depending on the context (e.g., interlocutors, speech act types)."

"They examine actual speech data closely with regard to the use of linguistic features that are normally associated with gender, such as self-references and address terminology....The results reveal impressive variation and extensive 'deviations' from normative or stereotypical usage, suggesting that 'deviant' uses are meaningful choices rather than mere exceptions or anomalies."

"I don't think most people want to do what's right. That's what makes doing the right thing so noble. It's a conscious choice. A hard one. If it were easy, then why would we respect it so much?"

"The doctrine of sanctification does not mean that I am a passive recipient of grace. No true believer is. Sanctification is a gift of God's grace, but only when we participate in our own sanctification are we renewed in the image of God. Our obedience then reflects the integrity and authenticity of our faith."

"Being owned by Christ does not mean that once you declare yourself a Christian, everything you think feel say, and do is magically baptized with God's approval."

"The biography of my life as a lesbian is from the short and early chapters of my life, and there is no reason in heaven an earth for me to keep reliving and rereading those chapters. Progressive sanctification is real."

I needed to grow in sanctification-just like everyone else in the church. I learned that we repent of sin by hating it, killing it, turning from it.

"The power of words is not located in our individual intentions."

Yep. She's right.

The meaning of words is not imbued by individuals, the meaning of words is a semantic cloud the users of the word agree on. That doesn't mean words have no meaning, or that meaning can be changed willy nilly. I may decide the word cancel means to place a can in a cell, but unless people start using it that way, it doesn't mean that

We can't agree to disagree, and we can't split hairs because unconfronted lies work a little like air pollution: we breathe it in, and we never realize that we are ingesting it until it's too late.

There is reason to believe that voluntary activity, more than highly developed intellect, distinguished humans from the animals which stand closest to them.

Huh. I would never have thought of it that way, but it's kind of true.

According to old rabbis, the reason God created humans is because he is unlimited and he desired limitations, so he made limited creatures.

God is immutable, so he made us to be mutable. But homosexuality claims to be immutable, and this is taking on a godlike character, since humans are inherently mutable.

That's an interesting analysis.

Homosexual orientation, a nineteenth century Freudian invention, is an unbiblical category of personhood and an antagonist to the creation ordinance because it redefines sinful desire as something that defines who you are rather than how you feel.

I would quibble slightly, because I think this is just as true for heterosexual orientation. It too has come to define who you are rather than how you feel.

Preface:
In fact, being wise in scripture and ignorant of twitter may be the first step.

Lol.

"...young women or young men into the discursively constructed "magazine community"- and to attact, thereby, a regular subscriber and purchaser base."

"Nakamura asks how a specific gender identity not preestablished...in gender ideologies is "invented" in discourse practices. Her argument starts with the magazine writers' and producers' need to construct a specific identity for a specific set of targeted readers as they are imagined to be. Using speech styles that are, again, imagined to appeal to targeted readers, magazine discourse attempts to draw real...