This is our final installment in the Redeeming Words series. Along the way, we have been asking and answering a simple question: How are world-shaping words defined differently in the Bible and in our post-Christian world? We have looked at words like Faith, Truth, Heaven, Tolerance, and Compassion and have seen how the Bible defines such words in a very different way than our world. This search has led us to ask some other very important questions: What do these different definitions reveal about the Biblical worldview against a secular worldview? How can we build bridges of communication to this world and help highlight the truth that our dark world desperately needs? What is the price of misunderstanding?

 If we care about reaching our world, then we must care about these words. Why is this? Because language is the lens through which we understand life. Language brings definition. Definition brings clarity. Clarity defines perspective.

 Each morning, I wake up and my world is a blur. Without my glasses, I am nearly blind. When I am at home, this is not much of a problem. I know my way around my familiar bedroom and house. But when I am in a hotel room or staying as a guest at someone’s home, it can be a little disconcerting. I reach for my glasses to bring resolution to the world around me. When I put them on, the blur becomes distinct, defined, and manageable.

 Words do the same thing for us. When we misunderstand language or use poorly defined words to describe our experience, our world becomes blurry. Our words about the world can confuse our understanding of it.

 Our last word in this series may be the most important, most practical word that our culture constantly misunderstands. That word is Authentic. It is not that our culture fails to grasp the basic meaning. We all know that “authentic” means “real, true, not counterfeit.” The problem is this: Our world fails to realize what makes a thing authentic rather than counterfeit. This is especially true when it comes to being an authentic person.

 Which is what we all want to be, isn’t it?

In our world, authenticity is gained by looking inside ourselves, checking our feelings, and living up to our deepest desires. “Discover who you are.” “Do what you want to do.” “Find the real you and become that person, no matter what the world says.”

Currently, we are seeing this perspective played out in all sorts of ways. Perhaps the most obvious is in the current debates about gender and sex. The idea that gender is in no way defined by sex at birth, far from being the fringe perspective it was less than five years ago, has become the dominant perspective in most major academic and political conversations. It is working its way into curriculum, policy, and everyday life at a speed no one could have predicted.

At the heart of this movement is a conviction: People must be allowed to be their authentic selves no matter the cost. This authentic self might contradict biology. It might contradict religion and societal norms. It might buck the system and make waves. If so, then the prevailing society must pay the price and make adjustments.