Basic HTML Version
2
AP
G
od’s Word tells us that “Death
and life are in the power of the
tongue, and those who love it
will eat its fruits” (Prov. 18:21).
Presumably what we write is of equal
importance. Words can be like
medicine or like bullets. Those who use
words often – like journalists, teachers,
politicians, and pastors – have a
particular responsibility to be both
truthful and judicious. In 1625 Ben
Johnson’s play,
The Staple of News
,
appeared, which has one of its
characters say: “Though it be ne’er so
false, it runs news still.” This could well
become the motto for any number of
Editorial
Jesus Himself says something very
frightening: “I tell you, on the day of
judgment people will give account for
every careless word they speak, for by
your words you will be justified, and by
your words you will be condemned”
(Mt. 12:36-37). Words are so precious
before God that we are made culpable
before Him for how we use them.
With this issue,
AP
moves into another
stage of its existence. It will remain a
worthwhile journal only as long as it
seeks to be faithful to God, truthful
with reality, and useful to His people in
teaching, challenging, comforting,
correcting, inspiring, and building
them up in God’s Word. Many pundits
are saying that the Age of Google has
replaced the Age of Gutenberg, so pray
that AP will fulfil its godly commission
to the printed page.
Peter Barnes
our television programs, especially
those which purport to inform as well
as entertain.
The Christian has a vocation before
God to love words and to use them
well. God speaks to us in words. For
example, He spoke words to Moses,
these were written in the Book of the
Covenant, and then read to the people
(Ex. 24:1-8). These are not camp fire
stories, or myths and legends, but
God’s inerrant truth. In using words,
we are imitating God; we seek to do
what He does.
After Augustine became a Christian in
386, and gave up his job as professor of
rhetoric at Milan, where he wrote
panegyrics (i.e. lying press releases) for
the emperor, he dismissed all his carefully
constructed speeches as “so much smoke
and wind”. However, he did not lose
his love of words. Rather, he referred to
them as “precious cups of meaning”.