FALDERAL

I Was Just Thinking About - - - -

With technological advances, the public is subjected to a continuous and seemingly endless flow of words, including idioms and nuances. Terminology is expressed that is oftentimes disconnected from reality or fact. Definitions are altered that confuse and the so-called talking points of politicians and pundits can easily blur one’s understanding and confuse the one hearing or reading the designed remarks. While one is tempted to relegate this form of communication to politicians or attorneys, it does manage to infiltrate the areas of philosophical theology in general and religion in particular. If one accesses any number of religious groups on social media, there will be many instances of opinion offered rather than clear exegetical fact. That which causes one to receive an opinion offered rather than the fact of the matter depends upon how the words make one feel. It rests upon how it resonates with one’s personal opinion or desired and chosen lifestyle. 

What then is Falderal? It is defined as: “mere nonsense, foolish talk or ideas; trifles.” In other words, it all depends subjectively on the one who spends little time in regular reading and studying to determine that which is real and true versus that which imagined and false. Proverbs 17:27-28 (KJV) shares this word of wisdom and guidance for one’s understanding: “He that has knowledge spares his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted wise: and he that shuts his lips is esteemed as a man of understanding.” The NLT renders these verses: “A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered. Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.” A similar thought is shared in Ecclesiastes 5:2, “Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.” There is another valuable principle regarding one’s use of words. It is given in James 1:19-20 (NASB), “But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” One of the most difficult lesson one has to learn, especially those who are part of the collective clergy, is to be known as one who is “quick to hear and slow to speak (or respond).” 

James has offered good counsel in his epistle in terms of words used and the accompanying falderal, emptiness and meaningless. For instance, in James 2:14-15, “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?” Another illustration is given in James 3:5-10, “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet  it boasts of great things…And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell…But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.” James is addressing the hypocrisy of one’s words and how often a person is complicit in that which is falderal.

Are you an individual whose words are meaningless and empty? Are you a person who is preoccupied with trifles rather than with that which is substantive? Are you one whose talk is valued because  your walk is consistent with what you have said and expressed as your belief? In James 1:22, we read: “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” Jesus had previously made a similar point in Luke 8:21, “My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.” Are you a genuine doer of God’s Word? Consider these things with me.