Holy?

In translating for deaf people poetry does not come through. The deaf have no idea that words sound alike and signs can mean a variety of words. There is no easy way to ensure the person reading the sign gets the precise word the person signing intended. Church words have a similar issue.

Most church words have a variety of meanings and without clear a definition there an excellent opportunity that the person hearing the word understands a different meaning than the person speaking.

On various occasions I have asked people for definitions of blessings, church, sermon, grace, holy and others and most of the time they people say they either do not know or are not sure. They have a picture in mind but no definition.

In a recent class I wondered how many people had the same meaning the teacher was thinking about and what they had pictured. I wonder how many had the image of a monk or priest (specifically the Pope) or were wondering about the holy kiss. The Webster Dictionary meaning for holy is:

• Dedicated to religious use; belonging to or coming from God; consecrated;
• Sacred spiritually perfect of pure; untainted by evil or sin; sinless; saintly
• That which is held in deepest religious reverence or is basically associated with religion.

Using words such as consecrated, sacred, reverence is interesting since many do not have a clear definition of those words either.

Strong's Concordance gives the base word as meaning separateness, withdrawal and is associated with purity and righteousness and suggests a meaning of righteousness and purity. I do not find much to hang my hat on.

The term hallowed is defined as made holy or sacred; sanctify; consecrate; venerate; more good words. It is like going in a circle.