Horse Sense: Word Up

The wonder is that there should be anything at all. Why not nothing, instead? Then you wouldn’t know to know the difference. The existence of a rock may as well be nothing to the rock, but not so to man. There is manifestly not just nothing. Even if life were a dream or illusion, whether mist or concrete, there is still at least something to conceive and to contend with. What it was that called the something out of nothing was simple and complex as a Word. In Greek, Word is called Logos, and it means the controlling Principle of the universe: a first, last and ultimate logic or reason to what is. St. John says that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Comparing St. John to the first verse of Genesis, it is easy to see the correlative nature of the text and consonance in meaning. “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). God literally spoke and it was done. No ifs, ands or buts about it. His Word contained inestimable power and supreme command. And while man flatters himself daily about how clever he is, and fancies himself quite the inventor and creator in his own right, God is the only One who creates something out of nothing. Moreover, unlike man, God’s Word never returns void; rather, it has its intended effect by the very nature of the universe in which we live.
Still it occurs to me, that we do pattern the divine. Hence there may be something in this Word business to think about. Man is not God, but scripture tells us man was made in the image and likeness of God. Our life in so many odd ways seems to be the material metaphor for an underlying, overlying spiritual reality. We don’t love as perfectly as God, but we do indeed love; likewise, man’s justice is sometimes terribly flawed, but we try to practice perfect justice nonetheless. Our highest concepts involve approaching the divine, and sometimes if briefly, we touch the hem of Truth’s garment. Virtue goes out of Him and blesses an enterprise of man. It could therefore be that our words are like small caplets of power. Better to say encouraging words, to speak truth as best we can know it, to say things with kindness, and to hold words at bay when angry or excited to quick reaction. We all know the kids’ jingle, that ‘Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words can never hurt me,’—isn’t exactly true. Words can be and are among the most hurtful things in the world, especially when uttered by a loved one or person we look up to. “Word up,” however, they can also be among the most healing things in the world. In this regard, 2 Timothy 3: 16-17 gives us extremely good advice: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” Timothy tells us what words we should use for a good, intended effect. They are the words of the Bible. That’s why scripture used to be taught in school, because it is quintessentially appropriate for such instruction.
It is a shame that there are leaders now, who traffic in words carelessly or selfishly, who either never received the proper instruction or never let it sink in. They use words to hide and obscure true meaning, to create confusion amongst the people. They question what the meaning of is, is. In so doing, they metaphysically take the verb for “to be” and throw existence itself into question. The wonder is that there should be anything at all, indeed—least of all a great nation, when the politicians (one cannot call them statesmen anymore) fail to learn the responsibility that comes with words in a democratic Republic. If it were only our leaders, we should get it right at the next election, but that unfortunately is not all there is to it. There are also far too many citizens and voters, who give themselves over too easily to words, without discernment and without examination. Perhaps the people are no longer listening to what is said at all, any more than the speaker presumes to be saying anything worth listening to. This is a very bad situation for our form of government, especially as we head towards mid-term elections. Our form of government rests on foundations that are fixed, to wit, on a written constitution made up of words that mean what they say. The Founders, who wrote them, were themselves immersed in a culture that conceived of the Logos in Western, philosophical tradition; as well as the Word, in Christian theological tradition, meaning both the law of God and of Jesus Christ when “the Word was made flesh” (John 1: 14). The freedom they enshrined in the Constitution was entirely consistent with the natural freedom God breathed in us, starting with His Word, which we have quite literally heard from the beginning.
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Wesley Allen Riddle is a retired military officer with degrees and honors from West Point and Oxford. Widely published in the academic and opinion press, he ran for U.S. Congress (TX-District 31) in the 2004 Republican Primary. Email: wes@wesriddle.com.