How What We Say Affects How We Think

[makesends]

Scripture shows two things, almost like two sides of the same coin, concerning 1) how what we say affects how we think, and 2) how what we think affects what we say. Interesting video, in the Videos forum, under The Christian Walk board.

Thread 'How Language Shapes The Way We Think'

Tuesday at 1:15 PM

Interesting, (and multi-lingual people would confirm this).

• makesends

1) "...Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Matthew 12:34
2) "What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” Matthew 15:11

 

[Hazelelponi]

Good thread.

 

[John Bauer]

Good thread.

I liked your earlier version.

 

[Hazelelponi]

I liked your earlier version.

Do you get frustrated with me because you have to tell people what I mean all the time?

 

[makesends]

Not to move things off on a tangent, but somewhat related to the op, is the implication to what language will be like in heaven, when communication is pure and immediate and valid (at the least). Consider how God himself doesn't just speak meaning, but FACT into existence.

Backing away from that extreme, how often do we speak with hardly a thought? And worse, assume that what we speak is THE WAY things are?

I keep remembering CS Lewis' term, "the babble we think we mean".

 

[makesends]

On these forums, and elsewhere, I keep seeing people assuming their manner of thinking —the constructions in their minds that depend on their language— is altogether valid. Look how often we see people presenting what they take for necessary implications of a word or term or principle as though that implication is valid, then saying, "NO! THAT IS WHAT THAT WORD MEANS!"

 

[John Bauer]

Do you get frustrated with me because you have to tell people what I mean all the time?

I don't think I do that—do I?

I mean, other than that one time. But it was one time.

 

[John Bauer]

On these forums, and elsewhere, I keep seeing people assuming their manner of thinking —the constructions in their minds that depend on their language— is altogether valid. Look how often we see people presenting what they take for necessary implications of a word or term or principle as though that implication is valid, then saying, "NO! THAT IS WHAT THAT WORD MEANS!"

What if that manner of thinking is not theirs but rather God's? While it is true that the constructions in their minds depend on their language, it is also true that God has revealed himself to man in their language. While what God can tell us about himself is limited by the perspective and constraints of our language, surely it is also nevertheless true.