I have written about this before — “10 Christian Clichés to Avoid Like the Plague” and “Stop saying God Bless You” — but I keep running into more Christian Clichés that I wish Christians would remove from their vocabulary.
Please note that as I point these out I am not trying to be critical of Christians. Instead, I am hoping to make us real. The watching world is tired of empty answers to important issues, and instead wants us to engage them in real conversations about the pressing questions of our day. We can never do this if we always resort to Christian Clichés
So here are a few more Christian Clichés to avoid like the plague:
You’re Covered in the Blood!
Eeewww. That sounds … terrible. It sounds like a Freddy Krueger movie. I really don’t want to take a bath in blood.
Just Press In to God
Press in to God? What does that mean? How do I do it? Where is God so that I can press in to Him?
And won’t He think that’s a little strange if I press myself up against Him?
God is Good? … All the Time! … All the Time? … God is Good!
Lots of Christians include this sort of chant in their Sunday services.
But what does it mean? Is it even true?
Well, of course it’s true, but when a person is facing trouble and trials in life, does chanting this do anything to help? No. Not really.
Brother … Sister
This is when Christians refer to each other as “Brother” and “Sister” as in “Brother Bob here …”
It just sounds cultish. Don’t use it.
Jesus Saves!
He does? From what? See my post here on this: Saved: The Most Misunderstood Word in the Bible
Bless Your Heart
Unless I have heart problems, I am not sure my heart needs to be blessed.
It’s Good to Be in the House of the Lord
The house of the Lord? This building we’re in is God’s house?
Does He live here? Does He sleep here?
And what about the church down the road? Is that His House also? Why does He have so many houses? Does He really need them all?
Let Go and Let God
Let go of what? And let God do what? Are you saying I should just sit on my couch all day and let God run things for my life? I’m pretty sure that if I did this, I would lose my job, destroy my marriage, and die from starvation. So clearly there are numerous things God cannot do for me in my life. How can I know that God will actually do the things I am supposed to “Let go” of?
I’ve Got a Word for you from the Lord
Ironically, “a word” is usually hundreds of words. And the words are usually so vague, they could apply to anyone. They are often sort of like a fortune teller’s predictions about the future.
And even when the message from God is specific, it tends to benefit the person giving me “a word from the Lord” more than it benefits God or me. This makes me very suspicious that “a word from the Lord” is actually a word from you, and you are saying it came from God so that you can manipulate me into doing what you want.
Someone once told my parents “God told me to tell you to that you are supposed to give me your house.” My mother’s response was perfect. She said “Ok. As soon as God tells us the same thing, I will do it.”
Amen
I said this recently in a conversation with a non-Christian and he did a double-take at me and said, “Amen? As in the Egyptian Amen-Ra? Why would you say that?”
I had to explain that “Amen” is old way of stating agreement, and it means “Truly” or “That’s the truth!” A modern equivalent might be “Right!” or “Yes!”
He said, “Oh. Well, why don’t you just say that then?”
Amen!
The Spirit is Moving
He is? Moving where? Moving how? How can you tell? Does He need a U-Haul?
Isn’t God everywhere? If so, how can He move?
I’m going to lift you up in prayer
Lift me up? How? Do you need to touch me? Lift me up to where?
Lord, Put a Hedge of Protection Around Us
A hedge? Like … bushes?
And the bushes are going to protect me from what exactly? Maybe from The Knights who Say Ni!
I think a wall might be better, but with the things I’m struggling with, I don’t think even a wall will help. I’m not trying to keep out immigrants.
The Bible Says It. I Believe It. That Settles It.
Yes, well, the Bible doesn’t actually say what you think it says, which means you don’t actually believe it, and so nothing whatsoever is settled.
I wrote about this before as well: Nobody believes the Bible. not even you
A Cliché Sermon
There have been times when I have sat through Sunday sermons that were nothing but one long string of clichés like the ones above. The sermon went something like this:
Good morning! It’s good to be in the house of the Lord! Amen? (Audience: Amen!)
I’m Brother Bob! Wasn’t that song by Sister Mary just beautiful? Bless your heart, Sister Mary!
This morning, I’ve got a Word from the Lord for you. But before we get to that, I just want to say this: God is Good? (Audience: All the time!) All the time? (Audience: God is good!) Amen. Amen.
Can I get an Amen? (Audience: Amen!)
I am really excited about what the Lord has laid on my heart to share with you today. God just touched my Spirit this week, and I know that the Spirit is moving in this place today, and what I share with you is going to help you press in to God this week. Amen? Hallelujah!
What God wants you to do is just let go and let God. Whatever you’re facing in life, always remember that Jesus saves. That issue you are facing? That trouble, that trial? It’s covered in the blood! You’re covered in the blood. We’re all covered in the blood!
Can I get an amen? (Audience: Amen! Hallelujah!)
Now I got a Bible verse I’m gonna preach from today. But before I read it to you, I want to remind you that the Bible is the Word of God, and whatever it says, we can trust it. Remember, if the Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it.
Amen? Amen and Amen.
This past week I was walking through town, and I passed Brother Jim back there – everybody turn around and say hello to brother Jim! (Audience: Hello Brother Jim!) – you know, Brother Jim’s been having a real hard time in life, and I told him I would lift him up in prayer, and I would invite all of you to lift him up in prayer as well – just pray that God will remind him that he is covered in the blood and that no matter what he’s facing, Jesus saves and that he should just press in to God. Anyway, I was talking with Brother Jim, and hearing about his problems, and right at that moment, the Lord gave me a Word to share with Brother Jim, and after I shared it with him, I realized God wanted me to share this word with all of you as well, and it comes from a verse in the Bible.
Let’s turn to [Fill in the blank here for ANY verse in the entire Bible] and read it.
[The speaker then reads a random verse.]
Now what we see here is that God is speaking to us, and this is His very word, and we know that if God says it, it can be trusted, and we can believe it.
[The sermon goes on from here, basically repeating everything that has already been said.]
Now, did the pastor actually say anything? Nope. He didn’t say a single thing. Go back and read it and see if you can figure out what he is saying.
A REAL Blog Post I Discovered:
As I was searching for images for my blog post above, I came across the following blog post from another blogger. Go ahead and read it, and when you are done ask yourself, “What exactly did I just read? What was the message? What did I learn? What should I do? How can I put this into practice?”
I’m dressed in red today. On fire for the Lord; covered by the blood of Jesus. God, you can do anything but fail. Your purpose will prevail.
The minute your feet hit the ground the devil’s rehearsing your past. Looking for anything to distract God’s purpose. Look to God on purpose.
The devil can do nothing to you without God’s permission. He won’t win. He may come in like a flood. God will lift up a standard against him (Isaiah 59:19).
When storms are raging around you and it seems nothing is working out, God is with you. He will calm the seas. He’ll make everything alright.
Be encouraged. You’re covered by the blood. Put on the whole armor of God. Don’t look to the right or to the left. Look to the hills from whence cometh your help.
No matter what comes today, glorify God in it. He’s able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). Pray without ceasing. Walk by faith.
Devil you’ve been served notice today. God will have his way. No weapon formed against us shall prosper. Every assignment has been cancelled. It’s already done. We’re returning everything you sent signed, sealed, and undelivered! We are covered by the blood. In the name of Jesus. Glory. Hallelujah!
Be blessed!
I read through several other blog posts on the blog that this one came from, and found that every single one of them was just like the one above. In fact, as I read, I discovered about 200 more Christian Clichés that lots of Christians say but which are completely meaningless. Here are some more I found on the site:
- God is Working Things Out in Your Favor
- God Will Never Leave You Where He Found You
- Don’t Fit In; Stand Out!
- Preparation Before Elevation
- Your Breakthrough is Coming!
- New Year; New You!
- New Levels; New Devils
- By His Stripes, You are Healed!
- You Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens You
- No Weapon Formed Against You Shall Prosper
- Don’t Fight the Battle You’ve Already Won
Yes, I know that some of these statements come directly from Scripture. But when we just quote them without thinking about them and do not really understand what these statements mean, even Bible verses can become Christian Clichés.
Why do Christians use Christian Clichés
There are a couple reasons Christians talk this way.
First, Christians talk this way because … well, because Christians talk this way. There is no other reason. Nobody in real life talks this way, and the only reason some Christians talk this way is because they spend a lot of time with each other and learn the Christian lingo so that everybody talks this way.
Second, Christians talk this way because it makes us sound spiritual. Christian clichés make us sound like we know what we’re talking about even when we don’t, they make us sound like we care even when we don’t, they make us sound like we understand Scripture even when we don’t.
I have heard cliché sermons like the one above where the pastor says absolutely nothing for 30 minutes, but because he got the audience to shout “Amen! Hallelujah!” a lot, they walk out of the building thinking that they just heard a really great sermon.
The thing is, outside of Christian circles, talking this way just makes people think we’re crazy. It makes people think we’re shallow and empty. That we don’t have anything to say. They hear us talk this way and all they do is roll their eyes.
So give up on cliché Christianity, and start living real life with real people as we have real conversations using real words about real issues. Can I get an Amen?
McChurchianity… why so many people don’t go anymore? They want honesty, authenticity, not cliches, platitudes and fake enthusiasm…
That’s right!
Look at the songs of Fundamentalism: “That will be glory for me… I shall see Him face to face… My sins are gone… I’m so happy… I’m saved, saved, saved… Love lifted me… He holds my hand… Now I belong to Jesus… Safe am I… My Lord is real, yea, real to me…”
I was even taught as a child to sing that shameless chorus, “For me, for me, for me, for me.”
It’s like someone decided to set “original sin” to music.
Daniel Stevick, Beyond Fundamentalism
“Where are you fellowshipping ?” Makes my head explode
Amen! 🙂 Couldn’t resist. But seriously, that was a good post. I too have grown tired of the clichés. And I find they don’t help me at all.
Yes, it sometimes seems we have nothing left in Christianity but cliches.
There seems to have been a reduction in the number of sermons that focus on being “covered by the blood,” or “saved by the blood.” Today the phrase, “saved by blood” means receiving a blood transfusion, which does not change a person’s brain/soul. Even the phrase, “Jesus shed his blood for you,” simply brings to mind the image of someone’s blood dripping onto the ground, not doing much for anyone at all.
The Old Testament taught, “The life is in the blood.” But science teaches today that if the “life” of an intelligent organism can be said to reside in a particular organ, that organ is the brain and nervous system, not the blood. The blood merely carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain. The brain guides the body, and is far more intimately connected to each person’s “life or soul” than the “blood” is.
Even people with less than a high school education today recognize the priority of the brain over the blood, so much so in fact, that in the movie, Hannibal (about a cannibalistic serial killer), the thought of slicing out tiny parts of a person’s brain, cooking them in a pan, and serving the pieces to that person to eat has become in the public’s mind a more disturbing image than, say, serving a person a glass of their own blood to drink, which appears relatively tame in comparison. Because we know that a person’s brain doesn’t grow back like their blood, and we know that each person’s “life/consciousness” is connected far more intimately with the brain and nervous system. Some people even opt to freeze their heads in liquid nitrogen after they die in hopes of one day being revived (with the help of nano-bots).
Oh that’s not true! You also have futile culture wars, ostentatious shows of public piety, closeminded bigotry, widespread theological and biblical illiteracy, perversions like the prosperity gospel, constant violations of the separation of church and state, and more child abuse and molestation than you can shake a nailbat at!
Amen Brother Jeremy! When God closes a door, He opens a window. 😉
Ha! That’s a another cliche I hear a lot! Love it!
What about one of the most common cliche’s “It’s God’s will” or “Your not in God’s will”
And whenever a popular band creates a new kind of music (reggae, rap, or alternative rock), Christians copy it and market it, but only after “baptizing” it with simplistic slogans and syrupy sentimentality. In nearly all cases they hold it under the waters of baptism too long to cleanse it of the least bit of devilishness, and it emerges brain dead.
And when it comes to kitsch, it seems like Christianity has been kitsched by Satan. For instance, during Pope John Paul’s visits to the U.S., you could buy Pope-on-a-rope soap, a Pope watch (like a Mickey Mouse watch, only holier), a Let Us Spray Lawn Sprinkler (a spinning Pope with outstretched arms waters your lawn), and a T-shirt with George, Ringo… and John Paul on it. Other Catholic kitsch products include Rosary tapes, so you can drive around town and recite the Rosary accompanied by whichever background music you prefer (including jazz, classical, gospel, light rock, even country and western.) There’s even a “Jesus doll” that Nancy Pulte Rickard felt she was inspired to create (“One of the big things about the doll,” she says, “is it makes it hard for people to deny his presence. They look across a room and go, ‘Oh, there’s Jesus.’”) I am not making this stuff up.
Protestants on the other hand, have not only been kitsched by Satan, but I think he slipped them the tongue too. For instance, there’s a company called Living Epistles that sells a T-shirt on the front of which is a muscle-bound Mr. Universe Christ doing push ups with a cross the size of Kansas on his back (labeled “The Sins of the World”) and blood gushing from his crown of thorns. Beneath the picture it says, “Bench Press This!” (Yeah, like whenever I see an image of Jesus hanging from the cross, I can’t help but think, “Nice abs.”) Emblazoned on the back of the T-shirt is a picture of Jesus’s blood drenched hands pierced with railroad spikes, and the caption reads, “His Pain, Your Gain.” Another T-shirt reads, “His Blood’s For You.”
Cashing in on Power Rangers’ popularity with children, a Vermont toy maker in 1995 marketed violent Holyland Heroes sets (Samson & Philistine; David & Goliath, Moses & Ramses II, Joshua & Canaanite), featuring muscular, grimacing toys wielding spears, swords, and, in Samson’s case, the jawbone of a donkey–which the Bible says, he used to smite 1,000 men.
There’s also Christian toilet paper that has, “Get Thee Behind Me, Satan” printed on every sheet. I reiterate, I am not making this stuff up.
That’s laughable
Sometimes to say something is better than saying nothing, don’t forget we have all been there!
Terri Israel Simon The Lord never gives someone more than they can handle. ;-D
Amen! 😉
I will pray about it…
Terri Israel Simon That’s another good one… It usually means “No, and I don’t want to say no, so I’m going to pray about it so that I can say ‘I wasn’t at peace about it.'”
It’s not enough to pray, we have to declare in our voice out loud while also believing:-)
Generally coming from a good place most of these clichés do come across as redundant sound bites with no personal connection
Maybe people use clichés to compensate for a lack of biblical knowledge. Just a theory.
Thank you so much for this…..I just imagine talking like this in everyday conversations and it’s ridiculous. Why do we feel like we need to change the way we speak when we are in our ‘circle’? It’s called exclusion. “We get it. They don’t.” What a slap in the face. Even prayer…..why do we need to slide in the King James language now and then? Why can’t we be ourselves – and talk the way we talk to everyone else? Again – I see that as putting our God life and everyday life on differing levels. I think they’re supposed to be one in the same. This cartoon says it pretty well, I think:
“Well, thanks for calling, God bless!” click. Every phone call was ended that way, drove me nuts.
Oh, this way of praying bothers me SOOOOO much. I just want to scream! Thanks for posting this.
That is so good! This way of praying makes me want to scream.
WHAT THE PRIEST OR MINISTER SAYS (And what they really mean)
a) “I DON’T FEEL LED.” (“Can’t make me.”)
b) “IF IT BE GOD’S WILL.” (“I don’t believe God will answer this one.”)
c) “THE LORD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS.” (“I am clueless.”)
Sandra Allen, “Sounding Spiritual 101,” The Door, #146, March/April 1996
Thanks for the laugh. Although this post was funny, it brings home a very real problem with church and why I can’t bear it anymore. And the KJV prayers – I can’t handle them either – they actually make me feel sick. Church is no longer a place for me and religion stinks. I follow God in my own way. Thanks for your amazing blog!
Come on Jeremy Myers, you just need to let go and let God. 😀
Grin. Tim Hawkins has bits on several of these. Here is Tim’s hedge o’ protection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Le33lZaMOI
Examination will find both depth, shallowness, and misdirection in cliches. For example, in my experience among African American brothers and sisters, in #3 there are no question marks:
“. But God is good.”
“All the time!”
“Aaall the time!”
“God is GOOD!”
“Bless your heart,” often accompanies observation of foolishness or knavery, as in, “Bless his heart, little Timmy ate the whole rhubarb pie I baked for Sunday lunch and then threw up on the back seat.”
There’s gold here. Somebody should write a scholarly/funny book digging deeper into variants and origins of Christian cliches. Maybe somebody has. Then Volume 2 could explore denominational and regional slogans. For example, guess where I come from by the following. “Christians only but not the only Christians.” “Speak where the Bible speaks, silent where the Bible is silent.” “In essentials, unity; in opinions, liberty; in all things love.” “No creed but Christ, no book but the Bible.”
>guess where I come from by the following.
You are obviously
church of Christ (Upper Room)(One Loaf)(Olive Oil, Wheat, Water)(Wine)(One Cup)(One Handle)(A Capella)(Non Institutional)(Mutual Edification)(No Sunday School)(No Kitchens)(Preterist)(Widow’s Fund)(Baptize in the Creek)
Ha. Busted!
Praise the Lord for your impactful Word from the Lord, what a blessing.
Yes! Pastors get this all the time after a sermon. It’s what shows they weren’t really listening. Ha!
Or as one pastor wrote in the margin of his sermon before delivering it, “Weak point here, shout louder!”
Yes!! Couldn’t agree more.
I’ve been a big advocate of this for a long time…but I’m still guilty of falling into the cliches occasionally.
There are two reasons why I think Christians use these kinds of clichés: to take shortcuts, and to fit in.
“Let go and let God?” “The Bible says it and that settles it?” These are statements that people would use when they would rather not do the hard work of delving into a significant issue or disagreement. It’s a relational shortcut to just use a pat answer like “love the sinner hate the sin” instead of really working through a challenge with another person of faith.
The other, more common use of cliché is, I think, just speaking the language of that subculture. In this, Christians are no different than football fans or sci-fi enthusiasts — each subculture has its own subset of language that helps define itself. It’s part of what reinforces who is in and who is out.
The trouble with that is a statement I once heard: “the church is the only organization that exists primarily for the benefit of those who are not members” — when your language reinforces who is ‘in’, it is yet another thing that makes visitors fell uncomfortable or excluded. It is extremely hard (impossible?) to run a gathering of regular attenders where the visitor truly feels at ease — even as a Christian visiting other churches I often feel on edge.
So while I agree that use of clichéd language is something we should try to avoid, I don’t think you’re right that no one else talks this way — everyone talks in ways that are common to the culture they relate closely with. Recognizing this, I think the onus is on us as Christians to be counter-cultural by avoiding language that alienates the very people we’re trying to introduce to Jesus.
Very well said.
For me, I don’t mind some of the ‘cliches’. Not in terms of every day speech. As you noted, people in all walks use them. It’s an ‘easy’ way to say something quickly that you know someone else will understand. Sometimes it is exactly what someone else (within) needs to hear as a reminder or to be inspired etc. And sometimes it invites others to inquire. I wouldn’t agree with an entire sermon preached in that manner, different thing altogether in my mind. And there are those who will differ on whether a church sermon is intended for those within or those without….
Amen , from Brazil!! Sorry, I couldn’t resist too!!! Hahahahaha!!!
Now Jeremy Myers has your gospel preaching made a difference this week or the week before? Has it impacted anyone? Any lost soul added to the Kingdom?
Yes, that is definitely a cliche! (I hope you meant it as one?)
No Jeremy answer Ben’s question and don’t avoid it with this meaningless statement!!! Most of these statement that you call “clichés” are actually from the Bible. Do yourself a favour and start studying your Bible for a change!!!
Angel Dimitrov Did you even read the blog post? Of course I know that many of the statements are from the Bible. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t a cliche when some people quote them mindlessly.
Conservative religions of various sorts remain popular PARTLY because they allow people to project their fears, insecurities and frustrations on others, including threatening them with eternal damnation.
They provide a handy, ready-made vocabulary of contempt:
“Heretic!”
“Blasphemer!”
“Idolater!”
“Infidel!”
“Anti-Christ!”
“Apostate!”
“Schizmatic!”
“Demon Deluded Servant of Satan!”
“As Fit to Be Fried as Lucifer’s Lamb Chops!”
All without it ever going to court.
Oops! I was wrong about that last line, because it recently has gone to court. One woman sued her pastor in 1993 for writing a letter to the congregation that connected her with “Satan.”
I’m glad you made that statement. All through reading the post I was thinking that, while some of the “cliches” might be worn a bit, isn’t it really a matter of how they are spoken? Any verse in the Bible can be quoted, with insincerity, and it will mean nothing, while every verse in the Bible can be quoted sincerely and mean everything.
While I’m typing, I do have one additional comment. In the section where you talk about “Let Go and Let God” you make the statement “So clearly there are numerous things God cannot do for me in my life.” I believe that is an untrue statement. Clearly, there are many things that God may decide not to do for me, rather letting me do them for myself, through Christ, but there is nothing that God can not do. Except lie.
My point Jeremy is that no one has a perfect theology and God uses people at any stage of their Christian life to share the Gospel news thus my question on what do you do with all what you write?
To many, my opinion, try to revolutionize the Church and forget the commission to go to the poor, the lost,the prisoners, the widows and the orphans and love them as Christ did.
Ah. I thought you were sharing another cliche as so many others have in the comment section above…
Well … I won’t list here the things I’ve done this week (and even today) to help further the gospel and advance the kingdom. But my conscience is clear, and I have worked specifically with four of the groups you mention in your comment there.
As I came away from the Evening Service, walking home from that Sabbath adventure, some neighbors of mine met and passed me in their car, laughing. Were they laughing at me? I wondered uneasily; and as I sauntered across the fields I vaguely cursed those misbelievers. Yes, yes, their eyes should be darkened, and their mocking lips put to silence. They should be smitten with the botch of Egypt, and with the scab, and with the itch, and with hemorrhoids (Deut. 28:27). All the teeth should be broken in the mouths of those bloody men and daughters of backsliding; their faces should become as flames, and their heads be made utterly bald. Their little ones should be dashed to pieces before their eyes (Ps. 137:9), and brimstone scattered upon their habitations. They should be led away with their buttocks uncovered…
Logan Pearsall Smith, All Trivia
This is the Gospel in action and that’s fantastic. Keep it up
Just to chime in, I personally feel that even this idea that Ben is promoting has become cliché. The idea that it is our “job” to promote the kingdom is something I have a problem with for a variety of reasons. One reason is with the context of the “great commission.” Jesus was talking to his disciples and followers that, at that time, only numbered about 120. He told them to go out into the world and spread the good news. Today in our day and time this has essentially become irrelevant. The gospel has been spread over the Earth. Everyone has heard it and is aware of Jesus. So this idea that we are to “further advance the kingdom” has become another cliché. And if this is so important, where does Paul tell the Corinthians or Ephesians or any other church he wrote to that they had to get out there and win lost souls? This idea wasnt promoted by Paul. And more often then not, when Christians do “preach the good news” they aren’t sharing the true gospel. But rather some version of “look how great my church is.” And more is said along the lines of: We just added a new youth center/our pastor is a dynamic speaker (another cliché)/the worship “service” is powerful, etc. And it becomes more of a sales pitch for your church building and programs rather than actually sharing the gospel. As such most Christians can’t articulate what the true gospel is. Because all they are taught to do is tell people about “their” church. Funnily enough, this is not what the great commission says to do, but this is what most Christians do in their attempt to “obey” the great commission.
nailed it man !
Jeremy Myers I have read your blog yes and I find it completely overboard. One example is christians calling each other “brothers”. It has nothing to do with a cliche it is scriptural and this is how christians also called and addressed each other in the NT. I myself use it not that often but still do from time to time and only towards another christian and guess what I am not ashamed or bothered to what the world will say. A christian is not conformed to the world but the other way arround!!!
Thanks Michael Flud for your input to this discussion. My experience since becoming a Christian 25cyears ago is first I didn’t know Jesus, I didn’t understand the Bible which I found illogical and far too gruesome for my liking as I tried to read it from cover to cover and the Jesus ‘ business didn’t excite me at all. But woahhhh the day God changed my heart on the 27th of January 1991 at 17:00ish . It was incredible. I was a heavy smoker and drinker. I was healed instantly of 2 addictions. I knew nothing about Jesus apart from the stuff of my catholic upbringing which I had completely rejected. Secondly are the many people I have met since and are exactly like I was and didn’t know Jesus. Thirdly is the prisoners I visit weekly and they don’t know Jesus either until someone shares with them. So I believe in my heart that we are still to keep the great commission going in order to make the personal Jesus seen by everybody.
So you traded one set of addictions for another one. Nice.
And now you believe if you don’t kiss his ineffable ass he’ll barbecue yours for all eternity. You were better off on the booze and coffin nails; at least those only destroy your body, not your soul.
Hi Marissa van Eck.
Totally understand what you write however when you will experience God in a very personal manner you will know what I mean in my post.
Keep searching as his love is tangible to those who seek him with all their heart.
When I was a college student (many many moons ago) I remember seeing a plywood construction barrier on campus on which someone had spray painted JESUS SAVES. Below, in smaller letters, someone had added “Green Stamps.”
It still cracks me up.
If you aren’t old enough to remember green stamps, ask your mother.
You know, when I was around Christians in public, usually with a small group that did that, I always felt embarrassed, like it was wrong to talk like that. I could bring myself to adopt some of those, like calling them, brother or sister. I would say to myself when I was alone if things went well I would mumble “thank you Lord” or “Praise the Lord”. I would say to a Close friend he would ask me sometimes when we were alone, “Whats the good word for today”… and I would respond “God is Good”. That has been a long time ago. All I say to my Christian friends now when it is appropriate is “Amen to that”.
Thanks for this Article Jeremy, it really reinforces my thoughts on this and glad You said it.
“The watching world is tired of empty answers to important issues…”
So are many christians!!! 😛
“The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is NOT INDEPENDENT. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with him as a person, but with SLOGANS, CATCHWORDS (Judge Not…), and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.” (Parenthesis Mine)
http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/bonhoeffer-stupidity-led-hitlers-rise
Great article. I think that many times people are looking for answers when things don’t make sense, or when their faith has been stretched. Some of these cliches fit that bill. It’s like when someone has passed away and a cliche that is used is, “God needed another angel.” Baloney! However, we still want to feel like we have helped so we say something stupid rather than not say anything at all. My second point is that I have been in many church services where it seems that the worship leader or the pastor are just trying to hype people up (as your example in the blog). Maybe if we had a deeper understanding of God, we wouldn’t tend to use such shallow thinking.
My personal least favorite: “love on someone.” How about we just love them and not love on them?
So agree! It makes it sound like your latest pet project to “love on” another person 😛
(Thankfully it’s one Americanism which hasn’t caught on in Australia… yet…)
Jeremy I often get this thrown at me from the pulpit. ” All scripture is inspired by God!”……even if it’s just this one little verse that drives the whole sermon.
The other one, is the what I keep getting hammered with ……..”its not about you, it’s all about God “ (meaning supplied in the sermon just to make u feel valuable….we are only mist or vapour)
Praise da lawd amen brother… I am so with you. Speak like a human being.
Not only do many Christians throw cliches around, they constantly preach at each other. Why can’t they just be a caring, listening friend with some empathy instead of trying to fix everything with a cliche, a sermonette and/or unsolicited advice?
In times of difficulty/suffering most people just want to be heard and feel loved. They already know all the cliches and they don’t want to be preached at or given tips on how to be more spiritual in the midst of their pain.
I’ve found that non-Christians are often much better friends — better at genuinely caring and giving.
Sounds more like the age of Obama. God is no doubt an offensive word too.
Weird, I’m old and I grew up hearing that with some fire and brimstone thrown in for heat and guilt.
Is, ‘Judge not, that you be not judged’, a cliche? When I say ‘I will pray for you’, I really mean it? Our culture is full of such talk; my responsibility and challenge is being real all the time, your responsibility is to not judge. “Good luck”.
Agree most heartedly!
For many years I have had to tell people that GOD does NOT have A.D.D.
This is great. I had a terrible pastor when I was a kid that would say, at least 4 times per sermon, “…because God is the Alpha and Omega, the author and finisher of our faith.” I remember growing up in this AG/Pentecostal church thinking, “What?!”
To Will
I found the same to be true non believers often (but not always) make better friends who do really care. As sad as that is.
You must have had fun writing this. 🙂 Most of these sayings are “insider language” that makes people feel like part of the group if they know the language, and reminds me of the slang used by gangs and other similar groups. It does seem to be antithetical to “evangelizing” non-believers. My observation is that it repels more than attracts, which is strange indeed for groups whose modus operandi is attractional/institutional.
Mr.Myers, I appreciate the effort you’re putting into this, but there’s no rescuing the Abrahamic religions from their demon of a God. It’s not worth trying.
Yahweh is clearly demonic if he exists at all. And Jesus was 100% behind him, regardless of how fast and loose he played with the Law.
Didn’t we have this discussion on a previous thread? Or was that someone else?
I do reject the violence of the Old Testament as being an accurate portrayal of God. The way Jesus lived and acted is what God is like. Anything that does not line up with what we see in Jesus is not a reflection of God.
Gotcha…so a ranting racist who condemns his enemies to spend eternity screamin in agony on fire.
Who’s this you’re talking about? I have never read anything like this from Jesus.
“It is not meet to take the bread of the children of Israel and cast it before dogs” ringing a bell?
And you’re getting far afield here: Jesus was said to, at the age of 12, have astonished his leaders with how well he knew the Torah. The Torah has all that genocide in it. Yet at no point do we read of Jesus saying anything like “By the way, this never happened” or even “I don’t approve of this.”
He was fine with the Deluge. Fine with all the wars of extermination. All of it.
And you know what? Old Testament Yahweh is, literally, INFINITELY better than New Testament Yahweh. The Jews didn’t have a Hell before the Exile when they swiped it from Zoroastrianism. When OT Yahweh has a problem with you, he drops you right into Sheol, unburied, where you freeze out and stop existing. None of this eternal torture bullshit. No, that is entire NT and intertestamental.
Mr. Myers, I’m honestly not trying to bust your balls here. I’m glad you found a way to neuter Christianity, and if it stops you and your followers from voting Republican, that’s fine.
But “liberal” Christianity is self-defeating, postmodern drivel. It’s half word-lawyering and half willfully ignoring inconvenient bits of Scripture and facts about the same, like the ones I just posted above.
You already excel your God in morality. Why not just drop this pretense? If the thing exists it’s some kind of evil spirit; certainly not worthy of worship, which means Jesus, for all his supposed good qualities, was wrong about THAT too.
Marissa van Eck : I agree 100% with you. Mr Myers is trying to hold on to a core of Christian spirituality by sterilizing his version from all the abhorrent stuff in both the OT and NT. But what he’s left holding is a castrated carcass of a religion. When I de-converted from his flavor of evangelical christianity I tried to find something to hold on to, but it was unsatisfying and intellectually dishonest, so I just kept evolving into a full-blown non-believer.
What sucks is that he’s a really good person to have gotten this far with it 🙁 I don’t know how to word this without it sounding like a personal attack
Marissa and Fred … Feel free to criticize all you want … but it might be best to seek to understand my position before you criticize it. I am NOT like most other “Christians” out there, which is why many of them criticize me as well. Please be different from them and seek to understand what I believe and teach before jumping to conclusions and criticizing it.
Jeremy, that’s the thing, we KNOW you’re not like them. If you were I wouldn’t even be wasting the effort.
This isn’t about you as a person though. You’re a good person; that’s not the point. Please reread the post above about Jesus and his relation to Yahweh. This is a fatal flaw in liberal Christianity.
But that’s part of it. I am not a liberal. I agree with what you have stated as the fatal flaw. But I have a clear way around that fatal flaw that allows me to remain within conservative Christianity and follow Jesus in every way I know how.
…are you serious? What is that flaw then, and what way around it have you found?
None of this contradicts the fact that you have better morals than your supposed God, either, and I can show that Yahweh does not have the attributes any putative God would need to have in order to BE God, rendering your work, while helpful, moot.
I write about it more in my book “The Atonement of God” but the bottom line is that the violent portions of the Bible reveals to us what WE are like, NOT what God is like. We (religious people) like to commit violence and then justify it by blaming God for it, which makes it infinitely more evil.
That…is entirely unsupported. And contradicted by all the evidence.
Look around you! Look at nature! What kind of being that was even SANE, let alone good and just and merciful, would make…this!
I’m starting to lose respect for you. You can only keep this tissue of comforting delusion alive by walling it off from all the rest of reality, building it in a vacuum.
If you have not read the book to understand my arguments, then you have no right to say the position is unsupported or contradicted by all the evidence. I completely disagree. I think it is completely supported by all the evidence. This is what I am saying … you are criticizing me without knowledge.
It is fine if you want to criticize the typical Christian explanation to these things as you seem to have understood them properly. Also, I 100% agree with you on these criticisms. Such explanations make God out to be a monster worse than Hitler. I have said as much on my blog.
But don’t for a second lump me in with them. I do not agree with those explanations at all. My explanation, which is supported by lots of research and is in agreement with numerous other scholars, is a completely different explanation which you seem to know nothing about. It is fine if this explanation is new to you … It was new to me about 10 years ago as well…
But rather than tell us that we don’t know what we’re talking about, it would be best for you to seek to learn what we are talking about before telling us our position (which you don’t know) does’t make sense. If you don’t want to learn what the position is, this is okay … but then refrain from telling us the position doesn’t make sense.
A quick capsule summary would be appreciated.
And no matter what it is, I doubt very much it’s addressed the evidential problem of evil…or, even worse, the problem of “why the hell does anything except Yahweh exist at all if he’s actually self-sufficient and perfect?”
I already briefly summarized the book above, and you said my summary was unsupported and contradicted by the evidence… so I won’t repeat myself.
As for your other questions, no, they are not addressed in the book, but I have addressed them in other writings here on this blog (which I hope to put in a future book), and my answers to those questions are also not the typical answers found in the writings of most Christians.
I was told just yesterday by a Christian at work he was gonna cover me in the blood of Jesus. I responded, “Ew!”
Good stuff. Love the cartoon.
Great blog Jeremy.
Thanks! Would love to interview you for a future podcast episode or two if you are open. I interviewed Adam Ericksen last month.
Jeremy is a great interviewer, Michael. I had lots of fun with him. Highly recommend it!
This is so funny. As someone who was raised in the Independent Fundamental Southern Baptist religion while living in two smallish towns (FWB, Fl. and then Hurley, Ms. (population 900ish) this hits so close to home.
I’m not ragging on Southern folks, small towns, or Baptist churches (unless your Baptist church happens to be called Westboro, then we’ll have a problem.)
But anyway, I’m not picking on any of these things as I know some truly wonderful Southern Baptist small town people, but oh dear… I ccan’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that same sermon, nearly word for word, bless their hearts.
(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
But anyhow, I enjoyed this post and will definitely be reading the others regarding overused cliches. I hope WWJD made the list. A few years back you could not escape it.
It was eve. ry. where.
I think I forgot that one! It was everywhere, and sometimes we still encounter it.
Oh my goodness! This empty sermon made me just laugh! What is this pastor – a fraud? He sounds empty like… Gilderoy Lockhardt from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets!
At least our parish priests are doing the real deal sermon with real deal exegesis and thoughts about central quotes of the day’s readings.
That was an interesting example of a “cliche sermon,” North American style. But if you really want to laugh your head off, get the original cast album of the British satirical revue Beyond the Fringe” and listen to the track called “Take a Pew,” in which Alan Bennett absolutely skewers the type of sermon that Anglican vicars used to make. “Used to make” because they don’t do it any more. Apparently, Bennett’s parody sermon succeeded in laughing a whole style of preaching out of existence. (His text is, “For my brother Esau is an hairy man, but I am a smooth man.”)
Oooooooo. Marissa van eck, s staring to loose faith in you Jeremy. Lol. How will you get to sleep now man! I, m thinking cliche here. Wipe your feet on the map and get da fuook outta there. Some people are just plain unloveable. By us anyway. But John 3:16 is like the best cruise on offer. It, s all inclusive. No extra drinks bill or anything. I reckon clichés are just baby talk We all go through it. Until we get to a point we realise silence is more beautiful and sometimes says more. Melissa Van eck: grow up! Or move on. Lol. Jeremy: great post as usual. You can stay. Lol
Wow you sound like a person against Christianity, nothing wrong with christian cliches we don’t change our language for the world some of them are straight from the Bible, we understand what we are staying whether the world understand or not, whats wrong if you want to greet a sister or brother with Praise the Lord, nothing is wrong with that, we not using the Lord name in vain like the world do. Who are you what church you attend why would you come against against christian cliches, the world have there language like “what up” just asking how you doing,,please respond I like to know your reason, I totally disagree with you
Wow, a lot of bitterness in this post. I guess we are just supposed to shut up and say nothing “churchy.” Some of these “cliches” are used so frequently because they have become part of the language of the church. That doesn’t make them wrong, even though they can become trite if over used. Here’s one for you – This kind of attitude “heaps guilt and condemnation” on sincere believers who are simply expressing themselves to other believers in a way that is comfortable for them within the security of the presence of other believers. Oh, except that they have now found out that they do not have that security here. So they can just be quiet and stop embarrassing people.
God bless you, I am lifting you up in prayer, I hope God puts a hedge of protection around you. And, maybe, softens you up a little toward those who don’t sound modern enough for you.