What Did You Just Say to Me?

I have ranted in the past about how I can't stand spiritual jargon (A.K.A. Christianeze). I think the purpose of talking is to communicate and one of the main purposes of the church should be to communicate the gospel. The problem is that communication can't happen when you are using words the other person can't have any hope of understanding.

I don't even think that the problem is the words we use themselves, most of the words I associate with being Christian jargon are actually very good terms for spiritual things. I think the issue lies with how we over use these terms or use them out of context. When used too much or in the wrong places words can lose the original thrust and meaning that they are meant to convey. Then words that are meant to communicate truth just end up sounding silly or meaningless.

So since you all know how much I love a good list, here is my list of the Christian words and phrases I can stand the least:

1. Amen? - No, I don't mean when it's said at the end of prayer, I mean when it's stated as a question. Simply put, amen means "true."Pastors will use this sometimes to get a response from the congregation when they want them to acknowledge something to be true and that is fine, but many times I have heard people ask this for things I can't confirm as true like, "God has given me a great wife. Amen?" What am I suppose to say to this? His wife might be horrible for all I know, let's remember God gave Hosea Gomer as a wife.

2. Praise Jesus - This is kinda of weird to me. I think we should praise Jesus, but it seems like people think that saying, "Praise Jesus" is the same as praising Jesus. Now you might say that Paul says this all the time in his letters, and that's true, but he was actually telling people to praise Jesus and not just to say, "Praise Jesus." This would be like me saying "Love Autumn" every time I felt love for my wife.

3. Crusade - It amazes me how many Christian organizations use the word crusade either in their names or to label their outreaches. I know the word has noble orgins, but doesn't anyone realize that this word brings up images in the minds of people of these little events in medieval history that weren't the best examples of Christian piety? What, was the name "Inquisition" already taken?

4. I want to speak into your life - Depending on your denomination, you may or may not have heard this one, but I've heard this tons and it makes me cringe. Where did they even come up with this one? This isn't even used in the Bible anywhere that I know of. Is it so hard just to say, "I'd like to give you some advice." Somehow does this make what you are going to say to me any more legitimate? I don't know what these people think they are speaking into, but I know what most of them are talking out of.

5. Fellowship - I think this is a great word when used in context, but what most Christians call fellowship is little more than a hand shake and a cup of coffee. Why do we feel the need to give hanging out with people a spiritual label anyway? Do we feel guilty when we are doing something with people that doesn't involve a Bible or prayer? When the Pharisees complained that Jesus was hanging out with too many sinners and eating and drinking too much He didn't say, "No, you don't understand, I'm fellowshiping." He just seemed to ignore their complaints for the most part. It seems that being super spiritual and extra religious doesn't get you much attention from God.