Thinking Out Loud with Alan Shlemon - Christians, Speak Clearly and Not in Christianese

Episode Date: July 3, 2024

Alan explains the importance of not speaking in Christianese when you're sharing your Christian convictions.

If you had to explain to someone how to deactivate a bomb, well, you'd probably strive as hard as you could to communicate that information as clearly and carefully as possible. Well, the information that we Christians are supposed to share about the pardon that God offers the world is even more important. But for some reason, we don't put the same amount of effort to communicate that information as clearly and as carefully as we should. And so that's what I want to talk to you about in this episode of my podcast, Thinking Out Loud with Alan Schliemann. Now, commercial airplanes are extremely safe these days. But still, right, sending 100,000 pounds of metal into the atmosphere at, you know, 600 miles per hour demands attention to safety. But when a flight attendant starts the safety briefing, I typically ignore it.

In fact, all I hear is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know? And by the way, I'm not the only one, right? I can see people put on noise-canceling headphones, they turn to chat with their neighbor, or they just start to scroll through their social media feed on their phones, right? Now, why is that? I mean, isn't the safety briefing full of vital information? Wouldn't heeding the advice that they are giving us potentially save your life in an emergency? Well, the answer is obviously yes. Well, then why does no one pay attention?

And I'd say it's because probably people have heard it before. They think they know it. And honestly, nobody really cares. And so that's why many airlines today have tried to develop different approaches to keep passengers attention. And a lot of them have incorporated videos that are more interesting and draw the passengers into the video. So they're paying attention to what's being said. For example, many years ago, I'd be traveling a lot on Turkish Airlines. And I remember seeing they hired a very famous YouTube personality and digital magic artist. It's probably the best way to refer to him. His name was Zach King. And so Turkish Airlines had their safety video include Zach King performing illusions to keep the passengers engaged. British Airways also did something as well.

They added comedy by incorporating Mr. Bean, right? Rowan Atkinson into their video. Korean Airlines featured the Korean pop sensation BTS in their videos. Air New Zealand uses characters from The Hobbit, right? And so basically what you're seeing is that airlines have learned how to keep people's attention focused on the important safety information that they want to convey to their passengers. And so airlines have learned their lesson, but the question is, is have Christians learned their lesson? I believe we believers face a similar problem because we try to tell non-Christians valuable truths about the Christian

faith. You know, like, hey, Jesus died for your sins. Put your faith in him. He alone is holy, and so on and so forth, right? But all that non-Christians hear is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And unlike on an airplane, they're at least looking at you, but they're still not understanding what you're saying, though. Why? The answer is, is because you are speaking Christianese. It's parlance that they are unfamiliar with. Now, Christianese is the language that Christians speak at church and to other Christians. And it has two general characteristics. First, it's churchy. And by that

I mean it contains theologically loaded lingo that's understandable to Christians, but largely incoherent to non-Christians. And the second thing about Christianese is that it's full of cliches and idioms. You know, Christians use phrases that take very little effort to articulate, but actually end up requiring a lot of effort to apprehend. And so non-Christians end up doing what everyone does on an airplane. They turn off their attention. So consider like single words like faith or holy or sanctify. I mean, their meaning is often clear to a lot of Christians, but it's

unclear to others. Or take certain phrases that Christians use like sin nature or lack of fruit or I'm struggling with. Again, these mean something to us, to Christians, but often mean something very different to other non-Christians. And so even the common message that we tell non-Christians, which is, Jesus died for your sins, which we think, by the way, is like super central to God's message. That sounds straightforward to us, but it leaves non-Christians wondering, okay, who is Jesus? What is a sin? And how does someone's death thousands of years ago affect me? And so this is why we need to think carefully about how we are communicating. We want non-Christians to understand what we're saying.

After all, we're ambassadors for Christ. We're called to tell other people about God's message of reconciliation. And so therefore, we need to attend to the craft of communicating clearly. We're called to tell other people about God's message of reconciliation. And so, therefore, we need to attend to the craft of communicating clearly. And listen to how Paul admonishes the Colossians, right? In Colossians 4, verses 3 through 6, Paul says, Pray that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned, that I may make it clear in a way I ought to speak.

And he continues, he says, conduct yourselves with wisdom towards outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. So notice there Paul's emphasis on being clear or using wisdom or knowing how to respond to each person. An ambassador must master the craft of communication so that the message they're trying to communicate is understood. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying there's anything inherently wrong with using theological language. There is a place for shorthand terms or using a single word to capture a large concept.

For example, atonement or incarnation. These communicate complex ideas in a very concise way. I'm also not suggesting that we water down or simplify to the point of miscommunicating an idea. that we water down or simplify to the point of miscommunicating an idea. Rather, the goal is to communicate important theological truths so that people understand. So therefore, when talking to non-believers, try to make an effort to find fresh and clear ways of communicating common Christian concepts. So for example, instead of inviting people to put their faith in Christ, ask them to put their trust in him. Or instead of saying theology, try to use the word Christian convictions. Or instead of warning them, you're going to be judged for your sins, maybe say something like, hey, you'll be punished for your crimes.

Almost any Christianese term can be replaced with a much clearer equivalent. Remember, as an ambassador for Christ, a key role for you is to tell people God's message of reconciliation. So therefore, make sure people understand what you're saying in words that are clear to them. Stop speaking Christianese. You want people to understand God's message to them so they can respond. Well, that's all I have for you today. If you've enjoyed this episode, I encourage you to share it with a friend. Also, don't forget to subscribe to my podcast so you don't miss an episode when it's released. And thanks for listening.

I look forward to thinking out loud with you next time.