christianeasy peasy lemon squeezy‏

Christianese is Christian slang and short cuts to address broader concepts without the need to entirely rehash the entirely doctrinal substance and Biblical evidence for or against a particular belief and/or practice.

But it is these short cuts that often make weeds very comfortable among wheat and wheat even more comfortable with weeds.

Ever met someone who knew what to say and how to say it in order to get the approval of those they were trying to woo?

Ever been either a teenage boy or girl or in an over-sexualized culture?

So, you know then.

Christianese is fine for reducing the length of conversations among mature believers. It is like a contraction that saves you the “no” of “cannot” by replacing it with the ‘ in “can’t.” Not a great time saver, but over time and if used enough, you can see it’s utility. (not “it is” utility. “it’s” is not a contraction. seriously, English is nutzo!)

But I challenge you to really define your terms when speaking and request additional information from others who use terms like “fleecing it out,” “quiet time,” “Gospel,” “sanctification,” etc… Think about how you would define these terms if your hearer was not an inner circle Mafioso all secret-handshake equipped with kung-fu grip.

It is easy to hold easy things.

It is difficult to grapple with difficult things.

A man cannot express what he does not understand.

Oswald Chambers said it this way,

“If you cannot express yourself well on each of your beliefs, work and study until you can. If you don’t, other people may miss out on the blessings that come from knowing the truth. Strive to re-express a truth of God to yourself clearly and understandably, and God will use that same explanation when you share it with someone else. But you must be willing to go through God’s winepress where the grapes are crushed. You must struggle, experiment, and rehearse your words to express God’s truth clearly. Then the time will come when that very expression will become God’s wine of strength to someone else. But if you are not diligent and say, “I’m not going to study and struggle to express this truth in my own words; I’ll just borrow my words from someone else,” then the words will be of no value to you or to others. Try to state to yourself what you believe to be the absolute truth of God, and you will be allowing God the opportunity to pass it on through you to someone else.”

Yeah, so what he said.

Do that.

Now.