Our by Our
by R.C. Sproul Jr.

The Power of Possessive Pronouns

There I was, giving my first public lecture. I was speaking on biblical economics to a somewhat captive, though hardly captivated audience. They were all students at the old Ligonier Valley Study Center. It was July of 1981, and gas prices were high. The solution of the day was for the feds to require auto makers to hit miles per gallon targets. I explained why that wasn’t such a grand idea. Someone in the audience objected, “But what will become of all our gas?” I don’t remember who it was, but I’m pretty sure it was neither of Rockefeller (the fellers that own Standard oil) or a Pew (the stinkers who own Sun Oil Company). I smiled at the young man, and reminded him that it wasn’t “our” gas. What I should have done was taken “our” money out of his wallet.

There is an appropriate use of the first person plural possessive pronoun. There are things we can say “our” about. When I say, “At our church…” I’m not claiming our church is a commune, but that there is a body of people who are members of this body. But that’s not an “our” of ownership.

I wonder which is meant, and neither is good, when people, including professing Christians speak of “our” schools. It certainly can’t be an our of ownership. The schools are under the control of school boards, state bureaucrats, union members and federal bureaucrats. While they may be financed by what the government perceives of as “our” money, I have no ownership.

That leaves the “our” of identity. This is worse still. How could any Christian be true to their school, when it, by definition, doesn’t acknowledge the Lordship of Christ? How can I be loyal to an institution that denies the very relevance of Jesus Christ?

Maybe I’m called to do this, to identify with “our” school, because this is the best we can come up with for “our” children. Before you melt in the warmth of the idea that you can shape the future of “our” children, remember that there are boodles of folks out there melting over the thought of seeing your children as “our” children, and teaching them to adopt “our” worldview. Who are these folks? School boards, state bureaucrats, union members, and federal bureaucrats.

Let’s learn to mind our pronouns. Or better yet, I’ll mind mine, and you mind yours. Do it for our children.

Our by Our by R.C. Sproul Jr.

The Power of Possessive Pronouns

Our by Our
by R.C. Sproul Jr.