Harnessing the Power of Words | Part 1 | You Don’t Say | Chris Voigt

You Don't Say
Harnessing the Power of Words
August 7, 2022

Fifty years ago this month, the Disney classic Bambi was released. In the movie, Thumper, Bambi’s little rabbit sidekick, says a line that’s become rather famous. In fact, it’s actually called The Thumper Rule. I’m sure you’ve heard it, even if you didn’t see the movie! Maybe your mom said it when you were squabbling with your siblings. “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.” Not bad advice, for a bunny!
 
But a 2005 study by Robert Schrauf, an anthropologist and professor of applied linguistics at Penn State, revealed that regardless of age or culture, people have far more words in their vocabulary that express negative rather than positive emotions. In his study, Schrauf says, "Half – 50 percent – of all the words that people produce from their working vocabulary to express emotion are negative... only 30 percent are positive and 20 percent are neutral." Apparently, though we’ve all heard The Thumper Rule, we haven’t figured out how to apply it!
 
I’m Chris Voigt, Lead Pastor at Dayspring Fellowship in Keizer, Oregon. This week we’re beginning a brand-new series called Harnessing the Power of Words.
 
The author of an online article wrote: Moment by moment we are interacting with ourselves and others using language. We take what we know from our upbringing, what we regularly see and hear in our lives, and the words from the media we ingest and it becomes how we are able to express ourselves.
 
Over the next five weeks, we will be looking at what the Bible has to say about our words and how we use them. I invite you to join us as we journey together to a deeper understanding of how to use our words to bless and encourage others, rather than to discourage or destroy them.
 
The writer of Proverbs 18 said that, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue...” If that is true, don’t you think we should know how to better use it?