Family Forum

Re: Christian ese Humor

divorce in church — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:42:18 GMT

Bob'sRib:

.....and then there are those who use certain phrases to express their love of God and their trust in God and their concern and love for others.

I do know the phonies but I also know the genuine hearted...... it's not that hard to tell the difference, even if they use the same words.

The translations are funny, but while they are true for some, I can't mock those that use the same phrases with no falseness.

I don't think we need to come up with one more thing christians need to apolgize for.

Im not sure anyone thinks there need be an apology. There was no accusation. In fact the phrases that are used "on purpose" as in the false ones, are not even phrases that , when used truthfully are phrases that express love of God or others. 'I dont feel led"...being used in place of a simple "no", doesnt express love of God or others even when its used genuinely.

The phrases that do express love of God and others, and can be used as cliche....in my opinion are not used falsely...intentionally....they are just used with little depth or thought. Its not intentional at all. I think the point is to stay sharp AND deep, and not give into reflexive reactions.

Im only saying this to be clear that I didnt post that to accuse folks of being untruthful, but rather to encourage us to all REALLY say what we mean, exactly, rather than rely on reflex that we pick up by repitition...AND to be sensitive to the listener.

It was a sad story that was related, about a young family who hosted a back yard party for the young kids on the block along with their own kids. This family was Christian, and living in an area where they were the "light" on the street...a secualr dominated area...so they intended to witness. This shows you who we are witnessing to. When the notion of Jesus raised from the grave was mentioned, and eternal life, the other kids had no clue how to process that the way it was presented and they kept getting off into the zombies of the video games.

It shows that simply stating "Jesus died for you, rose 3 days later....etc" even that, as straightforward as it is.....isnt catching some ears. Throw in some Christian ese and imagine what those kids told their parents.

"Hey mom, some guy dies and came back to life and the Johnson family said he was leading them around to make testimonies and led them to us where we could also be a witness and mommy Im scared cause he is trying to go inside my heart" absurd but not so much

Re: Christian ese Humor

Bob'sRib — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:28:33 GMT

.....and then there are those who use certain phrases to express their love of God and their trust in God and their concern and love for others.

I do know the phonies but I also know the genuine hearted...... it's not that hard to tell the difference, even if they use the same words.

The translations are funny, but while they are true for some, I can't mock those that use the same phrases with no falseness.

I don't think we need to come up with one more thing christians need to apolgize for.

Re: Christian ese Humor

divorce in church — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:42:29 GMT

There is the Chritian ese for the sake of jargon...which can be offputting, then there is are the words/phrases that intentionally mislead, or offer the speaker cover for something. We can all likely find times we've done that....used a phrase to mask the WHOLE truth about not serving, or gossiping or whatever.

But that masking etc. can happen even if you choose less cliche language....to me thats less about the specific words, than the intent. The Christian ese harming one's witness is an issue I am concerned about.

Re: Christian ese Humor

Gabby50 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:31:36 GMT

chaz345:
JaneFW:
A lot of these made me LOL, but with a sense of unease!

Unease probably because of the bits of truth there are in those translations. At least that was the case for me.

Ditto for me also.

BTW, there is a book called Growing Up Born Again that has similiar comments in it. Have any of you read it? It's a humorous look at Conservative Christianity, 1970's style. A bit dated, but still funny for those of us who remember that era.

Re: Christian ese Humor

shimmylicious05 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:28:25 GMT

ditto

Re: Christian ese Humor

chaz345 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:27:07 GMT

JaneFW:
A lot of these made me LOL, but with a sense of unease!

Unease probably because of the bits of truth there are in those translations. At least that was the case for me.

Re: Christian ese Humor

divorce in church — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:19:44 GMT

It is problematic that we have this language of our own. It also, as I failed to finish, segued into an article about cliched faith, where instead of Biblical and real Godly responses, we have responses based on repititious cliche. Thats a bigger problem to me than just the Christianese.

But yea its funny. It ranges from the surreal to the archaic, as in "used OF God instead of used BY God....the former being archaic usage that conveys the thought, but is a "seperate-ish" manner, when its so easy to just say "used by God" and be perfectly clear.

They talk then about prayer styles too, and we all know how that can go with entire archaic language, as well as saying "Father" every fifth word...followed by "just ----------and just -------and then just ______"

Interesting stuff anyway

Re: Christian ese Humor

JaneFW — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:11:45 GMT

A lot of these made me LOL, but with a sense of unease!

Christian ese Humor

divorce in church — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:10:00 GMT

The Evangelical Press Association (EPA) website recently shared the following: Christianese is a language used in the Christian subculture and understood easily only by other practicing Christians. As Christian communicators it's important to avoid words in our writing that could be misunderstood or fail to communicate — terms that have meaning only in the Christian subculture.

As a public service, here are some common phrases used in the church, along with their English-language equivalents:

Christianese: "If it be God's will."

Translation: "I really don't think God is going to answer this one.

Christianese: "Let's have a word of prayer."

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Translation: "I am going to pray for a long, long, long time."

Christianese: "That's not my spiritual gift."

Translation: "Find someone else."

Christianese: "Fellowship"

Translation: "Organized gluttony."

Christianese: "The Lord works in mysterious ways."

Translation: "I'm totally clueless."

Christianese: "Lord willing . . ."

Translation: "You may think I'll be there, but I won't."

Christianese: "I don't feel led."

Translation: "Can't make me."

Christianese: "God led me to do something else."

Translation: I slept in instead of going to church.

Christianese: "God really helped me with this test."

Translation: "I didn't study but I guessed good, so I'm giving God credit in the hope that He helps me again."

Christianese: "She has such a sweet spirit!"

Translation: "What an airhead!"

Christianese: "I have a 'check' in my spirit about him."

Translation: "I can't stand that jerk!"

Christianese: "I'll be praying for you."

Translation: "There's an outside chance I'll remember this conversation later today."

Christianese: "Prayer concerns"

Translation: "Gossip"

Christianese: "In conclusion . . . "

Translation: "I'll be done in another hour or so."

Christianese: "Let us pray"

Translation: "I'm going to pretend to talk to God now, but I'm really preaching at you."

Christianese: "You just have to put it in God's hands."

Translation: "Don't expect me to help you."

Christianese: "God wants to prosper you!"

Translation: "Give me all your money." (Author Unknown)

I'd be interested if anyone had ones to add.

I dont have some translated ones, but do add, the constant use of "annointed" seems to not be very clear if you are speaking to a non Christian. "that was an annointed time" "He is annointed"..."the music team is annointed"...etc.

Maybe I'll come up with others.

There was an interesting other article about this and how