Yesterday I talked about how sometimes we use language as Christians that only other Christians will understand. I promised that I’d follow-up with some more so here you go…
| CHRISTIANESE | THE BETTER WAY TO SAY IT |
| She went home to be with the Lord. | She passed away. |
| You must be born-again/get saved. | You need to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and take control of your life. |
| You need to repent. | You need to be genuinely sorry for what you’ve been doing wrong and stop doing what you want to do and start doing what God wants you to do. |
| I’ve been washed in the blood of the lamb. | I’ve asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins and He has. |
| I became a Christian/found the Lord | I started being a follower of Christ. |
| He shared his testimony. | He told us about what Jesus has been doing in his life. |
Obviously there are many more and I know some of you are screaming, “But Gilbert some of these words are from the Bible!” And you of course are right and so if you use them, make sure you explain them. For example, I still use the word repent in sermons, but you’ll also notice that I always follow it up by saying, “Now what that means is…” Again, make sure you use language people can understand.
One final thought. Notice that everything in the right column takes longer to say than if you used Christianese. Yes, it means more work for you, but if it’s the difference between someone understanding and coming into a relationship with Jesus, versus them not, don’t you think it’s worth saying a few more words? So listen carefully to the words you use when talking to people the next few weeks and see if maybe you don’t need to freshen up your vocabulary. Again, please comment below if you think of any others.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.