“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)
The Raleigh (NC) News & Observer had an article several years ago that caught my attention. The headline read, “Southern Accent in Danger?” It went on to report that regional accents in the southern United States are changing, largely due to urbanization and in-migration from other regions of the country. In short, southern accents in the southern United States are becoming less noticeable because those of us, who were born and have lived in the south our entire lives, are now growing up around people who have no accent, or at least not one like ours.
I have always been proud of my southern heritage. I realize sometimes that the words and expressions I use may make me sound as if I have less formal education. But it’s a part of me, and I choose to hang on to it regardless of how others perceive me. Intelligence is more about how I think, not how I speak. Besides, in the circles I frequent, I have found my accent and southern expressions to be an asset. It tends to be disarming because it invokes a friendly, folksy attitude to others. People find it easy to speak with me…not such a bad thing, if you live and work in the people-oriented world in which I live and work.
There was an interesting comment in the article, however, that gave me the idea for today’s column. A life-long southerner interviewed for the article commented on the change in the southern accent that he has noticed over the years. “The speech changes to the degree that you don’t really sound like you’re from (the south) anymore,” he observed. It did not really bother him, but he pointed out: “You can’t lose your heritage, just because your speech changes.”
I thought about his comments and realized that while our accents may be changing or disappearing altogether, our heritage is not. The same is true for Christianity. We live in a world where religions are becoming increasingly “homogenized”. While the Gospel will always offend some, we work very hard in our churches to minimize it when really we shouldn’t. Consequently, we avoid discussions and sermons that deal with some issues such as race, sex outside of marriage, the responsibility that comes with wealth, evolution vs. creationism, etc.
There are many in my own community who would say I am unenlightened because I don’t believe in evolution. Even though the fossil records don’t fully prove what Darwin believed, it is now generally accepted that we came from the ape. I don’t believe it, and the Bible doesn’t say that either.
Why is so hard for people to believe that God formed man the way the Bible records it? Frankly, I find it more unbelievable that the world was formed from some “big bang” that just randomly happened. How could such order come from something so random?
In the southern United States where I grew up, it was not uncommon to hear the elders refer to each other as “cuz” (cousin). We don’t hear that label much anymore in our greetings to each other, but it does make a point. The truth is we are all related to one another. We started with just two people, Adam and Eve, and now we have billions that have come from that first couple. We need to remember that fact when it comes to issues that divide us such as race, poverty, famine, religion, etc.
Jesus told us in the New Testament, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35). We really are family and I think Jesus’ point here is that we should treat each other that way.
See you around, “cuz”.
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