Why Can't Christians Speak "Normal"? by Pastor Peter Bloomfield
A few years ago I came across the article titled above and enjoyed it so much that I immediately printed it.
Since then I have pulled the article out a few times and re-read it and today I decided to search for the orginial, but couldn't find it. So, I'm going to take the liberty of re-printing the article from my printed copy. But, if anyone out there knows Pastor Bloomfield and can let him know about this or if anyone can find an original source for the article please let me know and if it is so desired I will be happy to take it down and just link to the original. As best I can remember Pastor Bloomfield is an Aussie pastor and this came from a column called "From the Pastor's Pen."
I'm in agreement with his basic point - that the over-spiritualized, pious language we often use is unnecessary at best, harmful at worst. There's a few examples here where I wouldn't have connected the dots exactly as he did, but I am in basic agreement. This was spurred on most recently by the sermon I worked on last week and preached on Sunday on Matthew 5:33-37. And, I was more particularly interested in verse 37, which says:
Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
It seems to me that Jesus is insisting that our talk be plain. Jesus says that anything beyond this plain speech comes from the evil one. The USB Handbook on Matthew says this about the words "anything beyond:"
The words anything more refer to adding to your declaration any confirmation or guarantee beyond your own word. The feeling that you need to do this comes from, that is, “is inspired by,” “is caused by,” or “has as its source” “the Evil One.”
That seems to me to be the essence of what Jesus is saying here - adding "God-talk" to our speech to confirm or guarantee what we are saying is that which is of the evil one. So, with that, I offer these words from Pastor Bloomfield.
Why Can't Christians Speak "Normal"? by Pastor Peter Bloomfield
"It is more dangerous to tread on the corns of a live giant than to cut off the head of a dead one: but it more useful and better fun". C. S. Lewis is right, so here I go treading on corns, not for fun, but to be profitable: to make the giant more friendly. You see, the 'giant' (church) can't speak normal speech. He has adpted a new language called "God-Talk", full of cliches and stock phrases, which either betray wrong views of Bible teachings, or act as pompous 'sacred' ways of saying something fairly ordinary. Worse, this 'God-Talk' raises needless cultural barriers between Christians and those we seek to evangelise, so they are stumbling blocks, gospel barriers that need to be removed. Let's do some eavesdropping on the giant!
Some of his "God-Talk" is due to his liking for archaic words: "thee, thy, thou, sitteth, saith, verily, ye, froward, us-ward, filthy lucre, twixt," and many more. But this Neanderthal really comes into his element in Presbyteries, where we hear him grunting out his Paleolithic "God-Talk" words: "anent, sederunt, in-hunc-effectum, pro-re-nata, seriatum". Enlightening isn't it!
On those occasions when he visits the twentieth century, this giant puts on a pious voice. Instead of reading his Bible prayerfully, he has a "quiet time". This is when he is "a prayer warrior", "wrestling with God", "waging spiritual warfare" (all very quietly of course!). Instead of "I'll carefully consider it" this giant says "I'll pray about it", as if the Bible doesn't tell him enough and God will send a telegram (extra revelation) to inform the giant about what to do in every decision. And when all the members of the giant's family meet on Sunday (to hear the "intimations"), they apply "God-Talk" to the mere bricks and mortar: "House of God", "Sanctuary", "House of Prayer". I presume that's why the giant's offspring are frequently told "don't run in the church". it's not holy to run. (The real reason the little darlings should slow down indoors is to avoid smashing their skulls on solid timber). When people sneeze, the reply in the "God-Talk" language is "Bless you!" (based on the pagan idea that God has blessed you in allowing you to sneeze out a demon). What "chapter and verse" is that again? (There I go with more "God-Talk"). And the giant shows his agreement with something by the customary "Amen" or "Allelujah" or, if he's into dynamic equivalents, "Praise the Lord"!
When the giant has an idea, he never calls it an idea, or plan, or suggestion. No, much too normal, those words." he goes to his "God-Talk" dictionary and uses much holier words and phrases, like "I have a vision", "I have a burden", "The Lord laid it on my heart", "I felt led", "I feel called of God", or the very authoritative "God told me". That man has "words of knowledge". When he describes the nitty-gritty of daily life it is never as normal as 'acting according to Biblical principles': rather it si the highly mysterious "being open to the leading of the Spirit". Though the giant still doesn't know what this means, it hopefully indicates that he "has an anointing", he has the "unction of the Spirit". Giant folk-lore has it that "if you talk the talk you've got to walk the walk". There is some neat "God-Talk" to cover everything. Problem soliving is simply a matter of "let go and let God". Facing persecution is simply "turn the other cheek" (i.e. let the wicked walk all over you). The complex matter of Biblical interpretation is simple in 'God-Talk'; "God said it, I believe it, that settles it". Bearing testimony to a watching world can be silent (the sign of the fish, or, in advanced cases, a fish plus the Greek writing icqus), or it can be audible ("honk if you love Jesus"). the profound depths of the gospel are reduced in 'God-Talk' to "Smile, God loves you" or even worse "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life (please address further enquiries to P.O. Box 666, Gomorrah).
The 'God-Talk' dialect is well suited to guilt-tripping. Any believer contemplating a cigarette is told "your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit". Strange thing that (quite apart from the complete misuse of I Cor. 3:16 & 6:19). Agreed that cigarettes don't help your health, what about living in Port Kembla or Dusseldorf or Chernobyl? The toxicity of the air breathed in those places makes cigarettes a preferred option. Should Christians get out of there? Is living there also defiling the 'temple of the Holy Spirit'? Moreover, presumably non Christian smokers are free to smoke, being "non temples"! A very telling phrase in 'God-Talk' (listed under 'G" for guilt) is "what if Jesus returned right now while you are doing that"? There is a real potent stimulant for depression and introspection. It is of course no problem if Jesus comes back praying or in church. But what if you are not so conveniently situated? What if you are in the shower? Urgently seeking a toilet at Central Station? Digging up blood worms as fishing bait? Feeling bloated after a smorgasbord? Bashing the daylights out of a savage dog trying to maul you?
A current and rampant form of 'God-Talk' implicitly denies both the sufficiency of Scripture and the cessation of inspired word revelation beyond the 66 Books. Instead of using normal speech to say "there is something I'd like to say", the Giant resorts to 'God-Talk', saying "the Lord laid this on my heart", or "the Lord has placed this burden upon me", or "the Lord gave me this text, this vision, this calling". This is emotional blackmail. Instead of two parties sitting down on equal terms discussing their opinions, we now have class distinction. The ‘God-Talker’ has taken the high spiritual ground and is playing ‘Prophet’. The other (normal) person must sit with baited breath waiting for the pearls of inspired wisdom to drop from the lips of God’s hand picked messenger. Instead of a rational debate where both opinions can be challenged and improved or discarded, we have schism. How can I disagree with any opinion which God has sent? "I felt led" is 'God talk" for "I want to do". "The Lord gave me this text" is a pompous way of saying "a certain Bible truth really struck home to me". "I have a burden" is a pious way of saying "I have a genuine concern". So it is a fair question: can't Christians speak 'normal'? Let's finish as we started with an astute word from C. S. Lewis. "As words become exclusively emotional they cease to be words and therefore cease to perform any strictly linguistic function. They operate as growls or barks or tears . . . They die as words not because there is too much emotion in them but because there is too little - and finaly nothing at all - of anything else".
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