Christians Are Not Weird
O.K., I admit it. The word “weird” is one of my pet peeves. And before I continue, I have to admit that even knowing what I am about to tell you, I still slip up and use that word wrongly!
I have had the happy privilege of owning a Webster’s 1828 dictionary for several years now—you know, the original Webster’s dictionary, by the devout Christian, Noah Webster, who put Bible scripture verses into the definitions of a lot of the words.
One fine day, a few years ago, I had the notion (which I have since believed to be totally from God) to look up the word “weird” in that dictionary.
This is what I discovered. It means “skilled in witchcraft”. That’s it. That’s the only meaning in the 1828 dictionary. Oh, in the modern dictionary it also means odd or strange.
Since most of us are usually trying to convey the meaning of odd or strange when we use the word weird I thought, “what would be a good alternative word to use for that?”.
Well, I believe I have found the perfect alternative, again with the help of the Holy Spirit. Here it is: peculiar. Peculiar in the modern dictionary means odd or strange. But here’s the best part, peculiar in the 1828 dictionary means “belonging to a person and to him only” or “exclusive property”. We belong to God and to Him only! We are the exclusive property of Almighty God!
For you King James Version readers that word may look familiar to you. In the KJV, peculiar is used two times in reference to believers, first in Titus 2:14 and again in I Pet. 2:9. Even better is the fact that the KJV interpreters picked exactly the right word, as the Greek number in Strong’s Concordance for the word peculiar here is number 4041, which means a people selected by God from the other nations for his own possession.
After all this, I hope you will agree that Christians are not weird, but we are peculiar! Comments welcome.