labeling

It is so easy to label someone isn't it? This past week, radio host Rush Limbaugh was labeled a racist because someone read something that someone said that Rush said, yet no source can be found. Of course that never happens in the church, right?

Today, we use the word liberal as someone we do not agree with. The first one to say "liberal" has successfully labeled another person. This poisons the well of discussion because now everything the labeled person says is suspect. It is meant by the labelor to cause this to happen so people will not listen to his point of view. Other words that have become useless by bad use are conservative, legalist, traditionalist, and progressive. With all the baggage found in these words, the only reason people use these labels is to raise questions of those labeled.

A friend and I were talking about this once. He said that he just wanted to be Biblical and go wherever that led. For some this is a good thought; wanting to study the Bible and realize that we might see things differently from our previous understandings and traditions. Others find this frightening for the same reasons.

I doubt that this will change but it is a sad state of affairs that good people now have to live with false labels all for the sake of maintaining control.