The Day Ronald Turned Bad
I am in Taipei as I write this post. The McDonald's store near my hotel is packed with people. Not everyone speaks English but the universal language of marketing make customers believe that Ronald and his fries are goodI mean, "bad.-
When Bad Becomes Good
The picture of Ronald above as "the Joker- (courtesy of HD Wallpaper) reminds me of my observation that these days "bad- means good and good can mean bad. I wonder if the shift in meaning began when Michael Jackson released his album entitled "BAD.-
Jackson's album sold over 30 million copies. It was nominated for 5 Grammies and won two. At one point, five of the songs garnered the no.1 spot on Billboard's Charts. It seems "Bad,- turned out to be good!
When I was growing up, the word "bad- meant bad, and the word "good- meant good. Nowadays, "bad- can mean good, if not great. For example, Le Bron dunks and you hear the sportscaster exclaim, "that was baaad!- ‚ meaning really good.
Stoners and Rock Bands
Language matters, because it is the way people connect with each other. And as we can see, words can change their meaning over time, and make for a confused language and world, just as it was at the construction site of the Tower of Babel.
Take the word "stoned.- Early on, it meant getting hit by a stone, something not very cool. But growing-up as a teenager, to be "stoned- became very cool, because it also meant getting "high.-
Does that mean Stephen was "high,- when he was stoned by Paul and his rock band? Obviously, he was not. Connecting with others can get confusing as words and languages change their meaning.
Connect to God, Connect to Others
The good news is that God's language never changes. More significantly His language is LOVE. A language that He backs up not just with words but with actions. Connecting with God gives us the language to connect to others.
Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever. He never changes. When we put our trust on Jesus and His Words, we can be sure that like Paul we will turn from bad to good. We are assured that despite our changing circumstances our eternal destiny will never change.
Using His unchanging language of love, there will be no confusion when we connect with others. Whether they are Ronald's fans in Taipei, athletes who dunk or chart busting music makers, this language will make us connect well with others.
And that is very good.
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