We are free to choose the words we use, yet we use the same word to describe God as we use to describe ice cream, do we not?
Is something wrong with us?
We are not incapable of distinguishing between goodness of character and goodness of taste, yet we choose not to do so habitually. Instead, we just hand-wave it away with a “You know what I mean.” And we do know, when we think about it.
But even so, do we not continue to use that word, good, for ice cream, even though we know the ice cream is bad for us? So, it’s good, but it’s bad. And we’re fine with that, it seems.
And you can object and tell me that to say “the ice cream is good” is really just shorthand for “the ice cream tastes good”. And in so doing, you prove once again that we are capable of making such distinctions. And you also prove that though we can do it, we don’t seem to be interested in doing it all the time.
But why would we be uncomfortable being clear all the time about what we mean? What is it about us that’s so adamant about taking such shortcuts? Why not rather be clear than to be at ease?
And I can hear the miffed reply now: “Oh, whatever, Jack!” Even so, I think I am following the advice of God, who is on the record with various statements like:
Give careful thought to your ways…
Haggai 1:5. NIV.
And I suppose there’s a meaningful difference between the dispositions of a human who can be bothered to think about such things, and of the one who can’t.
