The Word

R

ecently, I posted an entry stating my love for words. And indeed I love them. I love to write. I love to play with words. I love to manipulate words. Not that I'm good at it, but I try to relate things in as interesting a manner as possible. Most stories are told by a combination of content--what the story is about--and how it is told. Is it straight forward? Is it twisted? Is it vague--intentionally or not?

Words often seem to have a life of their own. You hear a word and it demands attention or consideration. A word can make you laugh or cringe. Indeed the power of the word(s) can change history: Give me liberty or give me death. Indeed, THE Word seems to have something of the divine in it. Take the Gospel of Johh.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

What are the implications of this passage? John states that the "Word was God" and ultimately, the Word becames flesh, which suggests that the Word was his Son, Jesus Christ. Given the power of the Word, many will look to the Bible and see it as a reflection of the Word, or at least as the Will of the Word. In so doing, the Word--or in the case of the Bible, Words--is absolute, unchanging.

Or at least this is how it seems to me. I had a discussion with an intelligent graduate astudent today who insisted that the Words in the Bible are divine and therefore must be followed to the letter.

So are words absolute to you? Or is it only confined to the Bible? And if so, how do you seperate the divine in the bible, from say, the Koran or a Buddhist Sutra--since they are sometimes at odds with each other?