RE: So I spoke in tongues today!
September 28, 2014 at 9:19 am
(This post was last modified: September 28, 2014 at 9:25 am by Alex K.)
(September 28, 2014 at 8:21 am)DramaQueen Wrote: I want to go to a charismatic church and start insulting them and say obscene shit in Libyan Arabic
That raises an interesting point.
The funny thing about our dear friends, the American puritans, is that they think words have magical meaning that makes them intrinsically bad bad bad, and therefore God gets angry when one says them. The question to me is whether that extends to arbitrary languages. For example, I could invent a language in which "praise the Lord" actually means "jump on Jesus' face and receive a divine blowjob". Would this exclamation, which is perpetually made in all Sunday services, make God angry from that day forth then, and condemn all those congregations to hellfire?
Conversely, if I say terribly blasphemous things in a language no one uses or no one present understands, are they still offensive? What if I just made that language up (after all, all languages are made up)?
For example, I have just invented a language which is very much like English, except that the Phrase "what a beautiful flower!" means to "go bugger the messiah in forbidden places", and vice versa. Can I still say either? Can others?
Theology needs to address these problems quickly, or we may be in for a pleasant day in the park (*)
(*) ="eternal hellfire" in modified English
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
