Say What?

When eyes glaze over, you've got a problem.  It doesn't matter how passionate you are about what you are sharing if someone does not understand you.

I know a little about not understanding what people say.  I have Ménière's disease which, among other things, causes fluctuating, progressive hearing loss in both of my ears, usually in lower frequencies but in my case, my Ménière's disease is an equal-opportunity frequency discriminator.  Essentially, I have an inability to hear certain tones.  I can hear some people quite clearly; however, others, no matter how loudly they speak, sound like the adults in Charlie Brown cartoons: mwah, mwah, mwah.  This can be particularly frustrating with people who know I have trouble hearing them and still do not make accommodations for my disability.  One person actually told me I needed to work harder at hearing.  Really?  Oh, okay.

However, in kindness, I suppose it can be frustrating for those trying to talk to me when they think they are doing everything possible to be understandable and are not.  Christians can be like that.  We think we are communicating clearly and all others are hearing is mwah, mwah, Jesus, mwah. 

The urban dictionary describes christianese as, "A communicable language within the Christian subculture with words and phrases created, redefined, and / or patened that applies only to the Christian sphere of influence."  Wiktionary states, "The terms, catchphrases and theological jargon used by some Christians, commonly from Christian theology and influenced by popular translations of the Bible."  My favorite definition is on Word Spy which states, "A language or linguistic style that is understood only by, or appeals only to, practicing Christians."

Only appeals to practicing Christians.  Wow.  In a world that so desperately needs to hear about and embrace the love of God, are we speaking a language that someone not only cannot understand but is offputted by the very words we use?  Do they hear, mwah, mwah, mwah?  Or worse, do they hear a touch of arrogance in our words further alienating them from a message they desperately need to hear, whether they realize it or not.  Are we seriously asking them work harder at hearing?

Christian:  I felt like I was really backsliding, so I crucified my old man and put on my new man, and now the fruit of the spirit is evident in my life!
Non-Christian: Uh huh.  Hey, I got to take this call ...

Last year, when some brand-new born-again in our presence Christians joined our home Bible study, the no-longer-wet-behind-the-ears Christians in the group quickly figured out we needed to find new ways to explain eternal truths we hold self-evidant but cannot describe in clear post-modernal language.  We have become fluent in a primary language, which is not a bad thing, but we also need to be bi-lingual.

Seriously think about this.  If you can't explain it, how well do you really know it?

Let the learning begin.