Theft of Language

For many centuries secular institutions have stolen words from religion.  I say stolen rather than borrow because once the word has been changed to have a secular definition, the original meaning is often pushed aside as irrelevant and in a few cases, religions have even been barred from using them by law (see note below).  Here are some examples:

Logic (from Logos) -
    Original meaning -  Divine knowledge obtained by revelation, epiphany
    Secular meaning - The conclusion of an intellectual debate, with yourself or with a group

epiphany -
    Original meaning - The awakening of the Soul thought the Holy Spirit giving knowledge of the spiritual
    Secular meaning - a solution that suddenly pops into the mind, often in the middle of the night

University-
    Original meaning - a spiritual or religious school that teaches universal truths rather than intellectual pursuits
    Secular meaning - a big college with a lot of departments and degrees.

Note:  In some states purely religious schools have been banned from using the word University.  In Nevada, my church, with the help of lawyers, got an exception to the law for our religious school, but with some restrictions.
   

 

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