Proper Punctuation

I have always thought we need more punctuation marks. One to show sarcasm for instance. As it is, we really only have three ways to end a sentence. Even those are fairly new. The question mark came about in the middle ages when scholars would write the Latin ‘quaestio’ at the end of a sentence to show that it was a question, which in turn was shortened to QO then to ?..

Yet a lot can be said with those. For example, when Victor Hugo wrote his publisher about the sales of his book Les Misérables, he simply wrote”?”. They responded “!”.

Years ago, I hear someone proclaim “never put a question mark where God has put a period”. That’s very good advice. Also, we might say don’t let what the Bible says is an Exclamation point become a question mark. Too many times we know what the Word says but our reaction to it puts a different spin on it. We react as if the Good News isn’t that at all.

As it is we would do well to remember the word of James 1:22, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves”. Our words might be right but they can be useless if we don’t punctuate them with action.

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