“Gospel””Faith in Christ””Salvation””New Covenant””Saved””Atone”What do these words mean to you? What do you think they mean when others say them? What are your favorite Christian Buzzwords?Many of these terms manage to be just nebulous enough to allow Christian leaders to talk about things without saying anything in particular… or arousing questions or disagreement in their audience. [Because a questioning Christian is about as welcome as tuna salad accidentally left in your car over a 4-day weekend in July]For example, if a leader says “Salvation only comes through Faith in Christ.” Then you may or may not agree, but at least you have to work a little before you can object. What does he (likely a he, it is, after all, a church leader we are talking about) mean by “salvation”? What does he mean by”Faith in Christ”?If he defines salvation as “goes to heaven” and defines “faith in Christ” as “Believes only Jesus can save me from Hell” (not the only options, of course, but somewhat common ones), then it’d be a lot easier to think about the question and decide if you agree or not.For example, how does that relate to Christ’s description that several ancient Jews [who certainly could never have “believed in Christ” in the way the term is being used here] will most definitely go to heaven:
I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline {at the table} with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;
[Matthew 8:11]And how does that statement relate to Christ’s advice given to the Jewish expert in Luke 10:28. It seems to me that Christ would have said something different unless He was willfully misleading the expert.But instead of saying what we mean, we use these vague terms to keep everything fuzzy… because fuzzy things are harder to pin down or question.
So, what’s your favorite Christian Buzz word?