Christianese

Last week, Channel 11 news had a story, “Experts: Don’t Assume Everyone Can Speak Christianese.” At least the newscast did say that the terms questioned were biblically based.  Such as:

Washed in the blood of the Lamb. That’s from John’s Revelation:

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:13-14 KJV)

The Lamb referenced is Jesus. My favorite reference – think of the Behold as being strong, loud and John’s arm pointed to Christ:

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29 KJV)

Born again.  Yep – third chapter of John covers that very well in Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus.  I don’t understand why anyone would find that questionable, if they read this one verse:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3 KJV)

Peter backed it up later in a letter:

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:23 KJV)

Blessed. That should be easy.  Bless or Blessed is used 96 times in 91 verses in the King James New Testament, and the dictionary tells us it comes from a Germanic root “to sprinkle, mark or hallow with blood”, and is defined now as: Having divine aid or protection; held in veneration, revered; worth of worship; holy. I like what David wrote:

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. (Psalms 103:1 KJV)

Like Jabez, I call upon the Lord for His blessings, and believe I have received many:

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested. (1 Chronicles 4:10 KJV)

Other words apply to a biblical concept, but the word itself it not found in the Bible.  Rapture and Trinity, for example.  Knowing what is and isn’t in the Bible is very important.  It used to be easier.  A CNN article quoted: 

“If you quoted the Bible and got it wrong then, people were more likely to notice because there was only one text,” he says. “Today, so many different translations are used that almost no one can tell for sure if something supposedly from the Bible is being quoted accurately or not.”

That’s why I always ask that you pick up your Bible and verify what I write here.  As you can see, I prefer the King James Version, the one I memorized from as a child.

Today’s multiplicity of versions tout that they are easy to read.  Do the editors/translators believe that we’ve been dumbed down so much in the last generation that what I understood as a child cannot be understood today?  I would hope my readers retain sufficient intellectual skills that every one of the above verses can be understood here – and when read in the Bible, in context, too. 

If not, please – let me know.