Understanding Christianese
Every group of people has their own lingo that they use. CEOs, mechanics, doctors, lawyers, sports fans, and engineers all have their own sets of jargon that outsiders don’t understand. This can be a problem when they are trying to communicate something to a person who is not part of their group. Christians, too, have a language that others don’t understand. Therefore, Christians sometimes have to get past a language barrier in order to effectively communicate the truths of the Christian religion. The following is a (tongue in cheek) guide to Christianese.
The Lord – God or Jesus (Christians believe that Jesus IS God)
Witnessing – the act of trying to convert a nonchristian to Christianity. When someone is good at witnessing, he or she is a good witness.
Got Saved – Converted to Christianity. This is usually accompanied by a “sinner’s prayer.” In some denominations, this can happen to a child who is growing up in a Christian home. In this case, it has to do with “accepting Jesus into your heart as your Lord and personal savior,” or to put it in English, believing on your own, rather than just because your parents say it’s true.
Blessing – something good
Curse - a word that I’m not allowed to say
The Holy Spirit is leading me to tell you – I’m more in touch with God than you are, and I think you need to hear this.
That sermon really blessed me – I fell asleep, and I don’t know what you preached about, but I still want to comment so I sound spiritual.
A mighty time of fun and fellowship – Party
These should help the average person understand what the heck Christians are talking about. There are, of course, more, but these should help.
Tags: Christian, Christianese, jargon, Outreach
Filed under: Outreach, Religion, Tongue in Cheek
“The Holy Spirit is leading me to tell you” = Don’t blame me for this, I didn’t think of it. If you have a problem with what I’m saying, bother God about it, not me.