Calling Things What They Are Not

"Does anyone have a band-aid?"  A fairly common request from mothers of young children.  And what we mean is, "Does anyone have a bandage?", not "Does anyone have a Band-Aid brand bandage?".  Somewhere along the way, Band-Aid became synonymous with bandage.

Or how about Coke.  "Do you want to go have a coke?"  Somewhere in time, Coke became the catch all word for soda.

In these instances, I don't see any harm in calling an item something it is not.  Whether it is a Band-Aid bandage or some other brand, the point is made and whatever brand that is available is handed over.  But some things should be called exactly what they are.

I heard a story from someone telling me about a couple that weren't married but living together and had a kid.  This person said that after a while, people just acted like they were married.  It got me to thinking about how things get labeled something they are not.  After a while, we get so used to the erroneous label, we don't necessarily think about the fact that it isn't what we are labeling it.  Living together as though married, but NOT married does not equal married.

I had someone else tell me about someone they knew that was Christian, but living together and having kids with someone.  What?!  We know from the Bible that God teaches against sex outside of marriage.  If we knowingly and willingly choose to live differently to what the Bible teaches, how are we living a Christian life?  We should be working toward correcting our sins, not ignoring them.

So calling (or acting as though) a sinful behavior something that is not sinful is de-sensitizing us to the sin.  When we choose our entertainment, are we choosing true entertainment, or watching/reading about people committing sin?  Another form of de-sensitizing.

When we are not recognizing and treating sin as a sin, we potentially open the door to more sin.