I just started a new Critical Thinking class yesterday. This week's lesson is on language and reasoning which is right up my alley, so to speak. One of the lectures is on ambiguity. One of the types of ambiguity we discussed is semantic ambiguity. This is where words have more than one meaning. We might better understand this as semantic" figures of speech". Most every English speaker knows that "pulling my leg" means that someone is joking. The teacher gave several cases of ambiguity that came from the newspaper headlines. Consider the following:
Iraqi head seeks arms
Drunk gets nine months in violin case
Toilet seat stolen. Police have nothing to go on.
While these are pretty funny, I couldn't help but think how ambiguous we can be in a church service. Those of us who have been around any type of evangelistic church are used to such things as "praying through" or "getting right with God." What exactly does "praying through" mean anyway? Praying through what? Does it mean to pray until I receive an answer? My personal explanation is that it means praying until I have peace in my own mind about what I am struggling with internally. But does my unchurched friend realize that?
We are all prone to use church speak on occasion. Who can help it? As Christians we spend a lot of time with our church "families". This is wonderful but we must remember that not everyone has had the opportunity to spend time in a church environment. When new people come they probably already feel uncomfortable at first. We don't want to make them even more uncomfortable by using language they are unfamiliar with. I think it behooves us all to try and make things as plain as possible for the newcomer. The fact that our lifestyles are often so different from unchurched people is a big enough bridge. Let's not make the bridge harder to cross by using language that people can't relate to.
Church speak is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, it displays our emotions which is what language is supposed to do. I'm sure I will continue to use it, as will we all. But will you join me in trying to think about some of the things we say that visitors to our church might not understand? Maybe we can express somethings a little more plainly. It might mean the difference in someone's salvation.
Yours in Christ's Service,
Rev. Sullivan Jones
Iraqi head seeks arms
Drunk gets nine months in violin case
Toilet seat stolen. Police have nothing to go on.
While these are pretty funny, I couldn't help but think how ambiguous we can be in a church service. Those of us who have been around any type of evangelistic church are used to such things as "praying through" or "getting right with God." What exactly does "praying through" mean anyway? Praying through what? Does it mean to pray until I receive an answer? My personal explanation is that it means praying until I have peace in my own mind about what I am struggling with internally. But does my unchurched friend realize that?
We are all prone to use church speak on occasion. Who can help it? As Christians we spend a lot of time with our church "families". This is wonderful but we must remember that not everyone has had the opportunity to spend time in a church environment. When new people come they probably already feel uncomfortable at first. We don't want to make them even more uncomfortable by using language they are unfamiliar with. I think it behooves us all to try and make things as plain as possible for the newcomer. The fact that our lifestyles are often so different from unchurched people is a big enough bridge. Let's not make the bridge harder to cross by using language that people can't relate to.
Church speak is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, it displays our emotions which is what language is supposed to do. I'm sure I will continue to use it, as will we all. But will you join me in trying to think about some of the things we say that visitors to our church might not understand? Maybe we can express somethings a little more plainly. It might mean the difference in someone's salvation.
Yours in Christ's Service,
Rev. Sullivan Jones
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