guage. This problem in turn relates to a larger problem: the Chris tian's isolation from those of his peers who could benefit so greatly from hearing and understanding what the Christian can share of Christ and the Word of Cod. Language of course is the key to reaching the non-Christian world. But what does the unthinking repe tition of certain spiritual phraseol ogy contribute to the outside world's impression of Christians? It says they are interested in keep ing their own little clubs alive by means of their own secret lan guage. If a Christian is going to branch out and expose himself to the world—to the uninitiated—and if he is to relate Jesus Christ to the needs all around him, he must be able to express profound spiritual truth in understandable words. Some Christians can communi cate perfectly well in conversation about sports, business and the weather, but it is a different matter when they switch to spiritual values and concerns. They feel handcuffed linguistically because all they can use are technical doctrinal words. These words do not appear techni cal to the Christian because he is used to them. But to most people who lack biblical orientation these words are incomprehensible. Another barrier to communicat ing truth about Christ is erected when Christians use mostly a King James Version type of English. Certain expressions (very precious ones to all who have discovered their meaning) tend to lose their impact by overuse, sometimes so much so that even the users of these expressions fail to under stand their meaning.
Add to this the fact that in the Christian's prayer life and his wor ship experiences he may fall into a pattern of rather specialized terminology. Some of the same clichés are heard often in the cor porate worship of the church. This compounds the Christian's prob lem of communicating to his non- churchy friends. General cultural changes also lead us to resort to clichés. Words themselves change in usage and meaning. No word stands still. Words are susceptible to deterior ation. For example, it used to be suf ficient to say that something was a fact. No longer. Now we find ourselves referring to true facts or really true facts. "What is a fact if it is not true?" I ask, but because of a good word's deterioration we now sometimes have to shore up the word with modifiers. People also change. The lan guage of the King James Bible was once the everyday language of the people. It no longer is. On top of that, the general public is woefully illiterate when it comes to Scrip ture. The Bible itself, in any lan guage, is not the cornerstone of household reading and conversa tion that it deserves to be. To illustrate the foregoing, let us be arbitrary and choose one good Bible word which in itself is full of rich meaning but which cannot de liver its meaning to everyone who needs its message unless you find the right other words to use with it. Take the word saved, which oc curs again and again in the Bible, not only in the King James Version but in scores of modern transla tions as well. Why has such a basic doctrinal Page 17
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