Christian-eese

Something that's been bothering me lately is the way we talk about Christian "things." I hear people talking about their "faith story" or their conversion or their interaction with people and it's as if one now-cliche sentiment after another just rolls right off their tongues.

I get that all sorts of fields of belief and work and hobby have their own particular jargon or "talk" the participants use. This is understandable and makes sense, for it helps simplify and condense communication. However, I also have no doubt that some of the jargon we employ in our various groups can get watered down or start to morph in meaning. It can become flat out cheese ball (hence the title of this post), or, worse still, sometimes the jargon can become the full extent of the meaning it was originally intended to condense or simplify. Or it can take on an entirely different meaning--one far removed from its valid origin.

Here's an example. Christians will often ask "Have you made Jesus Lord of your life?" when they are "witnessing" (yet another term that has morphed in meaning). I've heard people ask something like this or refer to "making Jesus Lord of their life" at our chapel services, while those of us in attendance listen on, undisturbed or unperplexed.

But this phraseology is misleading and theologically inaccurate. If Jesus is Lord (and I'm fairly certain he thought and acted and was revealed as if this were so), then how do we make him so? We can't make him what he already is. Period.

Oh, you may be thinking, "Kent. Kent. Kent. You're nitpicking. What the person means is have they accepted him as Lord." Fine. That may be what people mean when they say this, but what is being said and what is meant don't jive. Eventually--and I'm sure we're already in this situation--eventually the inaccurate question or explanation is going to be taken for accurate. In this case, a person's claim to have "made Jesus Lord" reveals something far deeper than poor word choice. It most likely also shows that we think we're independent and that Jesus is of no concern or significance to us until WE make him have concern and significance.

But this just isn't the reality. While we may live and operate within this world as if we are independent, it doesn't mean that we are. What really happens is that we have the metaphorical scales removed from our eyes and hearts--our understanding is broadened or opened up--and we "see" that there is a God and that his Son is Lord. We don't then choose to make him Lord. He is. Rather, we accept that this is so. Or, to put it another way, we receive this as so. Both "accept" and "receive" are terms we use to refer to our coming to faith in Christ; both of these terms can be misapplied as can this "making Jesus Lord" phrase. However, these terms--as they are commonly defined--can also carry the ideas of admission of belief or understanding. In the dictionary, one of the definitions of "receive" is "to accept as authoritative, valid, true, or approved."

This way of putting things is much better than our casually uttered way of asking or stating something about making Jesus Lord. 

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Again, some of you may thin I'm just slicing at words. Maybe I am. But this is only because I DON'T want meaning to get sliced. The gospel isn't that hard to understand or explain, but somehow we've come up with overly-simplistic terminology or jargon to discuss it... and we're losing the truth behind our words. This is a danger. This is bothersome. And, I'm starting to realize that it's making some of our once-sound beliefs seem cheesy. People are being turned off by it--believer and non-believers alike. 

Eating Your Words

Today I want to announce the official release of my latest book, Eating Your Words: An Introduction to Reading Biblical Narrative. (Available on Amazon.com--click the cover for a link.)

"What's it about?" you might be asking. "Food? 'Cause I think of food when I look at the title."

It is about food, namely the word of God, which is food of the highest culinary transport. The Bible mentions in several places that God's word is food, a delight to the heart. For example, in Jeremiah 15:16, the prophet says  

Your words were found, and I ate them, 
and your words became to me a joy 
and the delight of my heart, 
for I am called by your name.

One can almost picture Jeremiah's exhuberance as he finds the word of God, the savor of the flavor in his mouth (pardon the rhyme), and the swelling delight of his heart.

King David mentions something similar in Psalm 119:103:

How sweet are your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!

In his lengthy celebratory discourse on the law of God in Psalm 119, he stops multiple times to proclaim his delight in God's word. Here he says the words are actually sweet to his taste, sweeter than honey.

And so it is.

And this is the starting point of Eating Your Words. The Bible is a feast, waiting to be tasted and savored, waiting to nourish and brighten our souls. But if we do not come to the table aware of what we're eating, we’ll surely miss some of the experience.  
 
Eating Your Words invites readers to remember the rich color and texture of the Bible, and to read it with eyes that see and understand the narrative art and craft of its stories. Why? Because grasping the biblical narrators’ literary form and technique allows us greater understanding of the Bible's meaning.  
So come. Come to the feast. Eat of God's words—as Jeremiah did. See that they are, indeed, sweeter than honey to the mouth. Hear and see and believe. Be saved and sanctified by the very active Word of God, as it pierces the innermost being. And yes, see that the true story—as story—is good.

A word... on panties

It is August, and for teachers and students alike, school preparations are underway. For my girls, this "preparation" includes work on multiplication tables, decorating lockers (yes, people do this AND they spend stupid amounts of money to do it, too, but thoughts on this are for another time...), and getting some new clothes. 

This is all fine with me. No problem. But, the thing is, this "new clothes" buying entails the buying of new undergarments, too, which isn't a big deal. However, the words for one particular of these "unmentionables" has been a big deal for us this year.

Why? Well, it has to do with sound. Now, I hesitate to call myself a poet, though I have written lyric poems and narrative poems (see the sidebar and the Words tab). As such a person that dabbles in poetry and fiction and ponderings as these blogs are, I am one that cares about how words sound. A word's sound isn't necessarily sacred (though all of us have certain words that we take great delight in and that we hold dear, no doubt) and I grant that there are various pronunciations and/or variations of pronunciations of certain words, though I can't think of ANY examples... because the word I'm thinking of that is grating on me is filling my head with it's SOUND!

What word is this? I'll tell you. It's "panties." Let me say that I'm not too squeamish about too many words. I'm not even squeamish about this word. But my daughter has found a way to say this word that some how slices open my eardrum and pokes the tissue of my brain like a partially chewed fingernail.

Here's how it should be pronounced (in case you don't know). The word is two syllables. Syllable one: "pan" sounds like "pan" as in, "I have a frying pan." It rhymes with "can," "tan," and "ban." Syllable two: "ties" sounds like the word "teas," as in, "There are various kinds of teas." It rhymes with "seas," "keys," and "bees." 

My daughter? She somehow makes this word into two and half syllables. She's got the "ties" part down, no problem. It's the "pan" part that somehow turns to dull, jagged, and broken blades in her mouth. She says it "pea" (as in "I love me some green pea soup."). Then she adds a "yan" to it. Yes. There is a "y" in her version. Somehow. So when she says this word, she has something like "pea" "yan" "ties," or "peayanties," coming out of from the barrier of her teeth.

It's all I can do to keep my face from ballooning, my spine from jelly-fishing, and my knees from going fetal when she says it. She has somehow pushed ALL the buttons and I'm heading into anaphylactic shock at the sound of it.

What's my point? Well, school is starting. I'm a parent and my wife and I are buying new clothes for our girls. I'm a teacher and it's time step in and step up and teach the subtleties of words and writing and the life they convey.

AND, when the new wears off, I won't have to hear my third daughter say "peayanties" anymore. I hope.

Happy Friday!