Small but Powerful

By DagoodS

It is amazing what power a few words can have.

“This means war!”
“Will you marry me?”
“You’re Fired!”


“I have a dream…”
”Fourscore and seven years ago…”
“One small step for man…”


“I’ll be back.”
“You had me at ‘Hello.’”



























Because if these ARE just words…



Micah Cowan said...

DagoodS, you have a way of writing that is delightful to read. I think I'm becoming a fan. :)


Reminds me of something I wrote in a comment on "The Love of the Bridegroom" (excerpt:)

I mean, Christians feel vaguely guilty about the poor amounts of time they typically spend in the Bible or prayer, but why should anyone feel guilty over symptoms? If every time one spends time reading the Bible, one suddenly gains new insight into his life and is able to apply them for immediate improvement, who would need to make themselves read it?

Jamie G. said...

Great post.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
TheCapetonian said...


Excellent post. Most definitely, I enjoyed your analogies and also the power of your writing.

Anonymous ?

What are you talking about? If you are not inclined to comment on the post, do us all a favor and keep your unrelated, stupid comments to yourself!

Theresa Frasch said...

Great post DagoodS. Thanks for the insights.

Jim Arvo said...

A quick note about the Anonymous (formerly known as "Shirley"):

He/she has been spamming this web site like a petulant adolescent ever since his/her assertions had been rebuffed/refuted in another thread. He/she is clearly angry, and is looking for a way to exact revenge. I'm sure this person rationalizes his/her actions as somehow standing up for god or Christianity (or some such claptrap). To me what is interesting about this is that he/she never once produced anything even resembling a cogent argument for his/her position, and simply turned hostile rather than attempt to reason along with us. That reveals more about this person's beliefs than any number of exchanges could.

Well, this is precisely why we cannot allow religious dogma to go completely unchallenged. I'm all for civil discourse, and for accepting that people have differing views, but such indoctrination must be called out when it leads to such contempt for others.

(And by the way, there is nothing even remotely troubling about "Shirley's" accusation which, I trust, will be scrubbed.)

religionkills said...

Hey Jim! Is this the one that a update came into my email about? If this is the spammer, then I hope Webmaster rips them a new ass. Isn't it just like a crispie to get so pissy when an point hits home so well that it puts just that least little bit of doubt in their mind and heart? To use one of the phrases from their little book, "Do not throw your pearls before swine lest they turn and rend you..." And, they WILL turn on you faster than a rabid dog. HAH! So much for the luv of jeezus in his/her heart.

Anyhoo, DagoodS, this is one of the best posts I've read. Delightfully succinct and straight to the point. I hope to read more of your writing soon. I think you said it best when you quoted Chief Joseph.

.:webmaster:. said...

You addressed Jim, religionkills, but I'll take the initiative to answer.

Yes, that was one of the posts. I deleted them, but every post is archived in several places, and the server logs are being analyzed.

Anonymous said...

This is a beautiful piece of writing. I truly wish that I could vocalize these words with such eliquence in a heated debate with Evengelists that have been trained to answer the usual questions. I'm looking forward to more. Thank you!

infidel666 said...

Great Post!
For as much as Christians say they believe the Bible. Why is it that most have never read it? The most important book to a Christian yet they prefur to read the Davinci code or something from Sam Harris. Personally I think inside their head they kinda know the Bible is bullshit. And they can't handle the truth.
Also why weren't these books of the bible written by eye witnesses? Because it never happened! period!
Fundies want us to believe God waited till everyone was dead and then had a few people write down his words? Har Dee Har Har.
Really the Bible is nothing more then stories written down by nut cases like Joseph Smith.

Steven Bently said...

Great Post! At an early age we associate words on how we view the world, we tend to associate words with absolute truths, we get scolded and warned by words, if we do not behave, then we are warned of consequences, if we are warned not touch a hot stove, and do not listen, hopefully we just suffer a slight minor burn, so we soon see that warnings have meanings and consequences.

We often hear people say my parents were much smarter than us, well they had more time to experience and to test those warnings than we have because they have lived more years than us, but what they have been told to believe does not make them smarter nor wiser than us.

Then we get warned with words by the high priest, that we will suffer a burning hell if we do not believe as him, we presume he knows what is best for us because he has been lectured so we have been told, by the Holy Spirit, surely the preacher knows more than us, because they adamantly say they do.

We are all just a product of our culture, so we tend to associate words with truth, when will we learn words do not necessarly represent absolute truths, words represent ideas, concepts and beliefs, words also represent falsified ideas and envisioned concepts.

So people have mistakenly associated words written down by ancient peoples to be somehow less corrupt and more true than words written down today, not so, in fact, things written down thousands of years ago, is much less reliable and much less acurate than what is known today.

What people believed thousands of years ago, should be dismissed and disposed of as being totally false.

DagoodS said...

Thank you all for your kind comments.

I like to write. I enjoy the topic. To have others have a moment of pleasure in it is just frosting on the cake.

Micah Cowen, I was stunned to see on your blog you pulled out some old blog entry of mine from last year. There really ARE people who read archives? Hmmm… better clean up my act a bit.

Religionkills, my wife is Native American. Thus I like to quote ‘em.

Nvrgoingbk said...

Yes Dagwood, fine post, indeed.

Perhaps the most abhorrent word that has ever been devised by man is the word: "Hell".

The concept of Hell has driven many a man or woman to commit suicide rather than live in some "sin" that would cause them to go there. The concept of Hell, has driven many a nation, army, or religious group to justify heinous crimes against humanity.

The word, "Hell" conjures up terrible images of torture and endless pain, and has caused men and women to live in mind-numbing fear all their days.

It is this word that makes my skin crawl up like the burnt skin on a chicken leg every time I hear it.

"Hell" is the word pastors and priests toss around every Sunday to keep their followers in line and to keep their pockets filled. It is the concept of Hell, that prevents many from seeking out the truth for themselves so that they can find freedom, and instead remain tethered to self-loathing and trepidation, lest they be guilty of the deplorable act of apostasy.

The power of words can not be underestimated, but it goes both ways. With our words we can help to enlighten and subsequently free the masses.

Thank you, Dagwood for another insightful and inspiring post.

Epicurienne said...

DagoodS, you are a powerful thinker. Please write more!

Pete said...

From your article:




I was interested to read that because the version of the Bible that I'm most familiar with (the NIV) says:

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching..."

A subtle difference from the version you quoted but a significant one. Yours implies that not all scripture is God-breathed but the NIV implies it is. Thus, according to that translation there's no difficulty in determining which scriptures come from God because they all do. (I'm tempted to say even the ones that contradict the other ones!)

Strangely, I did a Google search for the phrase "All scripture that is God-breathed" and it returned precisely 7 results, all from posts in blogs and forums. A search for the phrase "All scripture is God-breathed" on the other hand returned 65,800 results. On checking a dozen different versions of that verse at, only one - the American Standard Version - gives your version of the quote whereas all the others (even the New American Standard version) agree with the NIV.

If the NIV and the others are right (assuming you put any faith in the Bible at all), at least it would remove the problem of determining which scriptures are God-breathed and which aren't. Was there a particular reason you quoted a version that seems to be the only one that translates that verse in the way you describe? I'm just curious.

.:webmaster:. said...

Pete, you missed the point entirely. The point isn't whether it is all scripture, or some scripture, but what does the writer mean by the word "scripture." Surely he didn't think his little letter was the very scripture he was writing about, did he?

When the writer uses the word "scripture" does he mean the first five books of the Old Testament? Does he mean the entire Old Testament? Does he include the Apocryphal writings? Is he thinking about the Gospel According to Thomas?

What does he mean when he uses the word scripture?

Keep in mind that the writings that were eventually chosen to be combined into today's New Testament were democratically picked at a council meeting ordered by the Roman Emperor Constantine, hundreds of years after Jesus' death and burial.

Pete said...

Hmm you're right...that meaning had gone completely over my head. In my defence (hehe), I have been and still am a member of a fairly fundamentalist church where every word of the Bible is officially considered to be divinely inspired and therefore useful for teaching etc as that verse implies. However, I've had a lot of long standing issues with this and many other teachings of the church although I've only recently become a regular visitor to this site, which I find very useful and informative btw. Anyway, I had never stopped to think that the logical extension of that particular doctrine is that it would mean that Paul was writing about his own letters and others which may not even have been written yet at that time. I know that the books of the Bible weren't collected together in their current form until hundreds of years after Jesus' death and I've always questioned why certain things were considered divine and were therefore included while certain other things weren't. It all seems a bit too convenient. I just never made the connection with that particular verse in 2nd Timothy.

I'm still fairly new to this skeptic business but I like to think I'm learning all the time.

.:webmaster:. said...

I'm learning all the time.

A sincere welcome to the club!

Jim Arvo said...

Hi Pete, I like the way you think. Hope you stick around.

Dave8 said...

DagoodS, thanks for the writing, it was enjoyable and a very good read. Words are powerful, because they are so easily created and flexible as to assign them to the object of one's thoughts/ideas.

My wife is Native American as well; her middle name is "dawn" as in morning rays of life. Hope to hear more from you, take care.

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