Many have written about it. Great philosophers have addressed it. I do not want to say what has already been said nor could I. Being an ex-member of a cult and speaking to fellow ex-members, it would not be beneficial to attempt an exhaustive exposition of the topic but to focus on what we experienced in our small group years ago and, more importantly, talk about our use of language as Christians in the world today.
When it comes to secret societies, closed groups, cults, and cultures, language is employed generally for simple communication and specifically, in some cases, for devious purposes. Before I start, I would like to once again state that my writing is primarily an exercise for myself. I do not pretend to know the “one truth” or pen near-scripture-status knowledge that cannot be contradicted. I also do not begin to believe that what I discuss here has not already been threshed out somewhere by someone who in all likelihood is much more precise and knowledgeable than I am. I hope to learn more as I go and so your emails and messages to me are welcome.
I think it is a very important to look at and listen to what is being presented today to us as Christianity and decide consciously what is of God and what is some human’s approximation of spirituality based on his or her understanding of the Holy Bible. I have already talked about Church, Fellowship, and Evangelism. I want to speak now about the words we use and the possible reasons for our choice of words. I intend to guess openly. This should invite confirmation or correction from the more learned among us; those who have formally studied the phenomenon of language. Language transports meaning. We get the words of God in scripture and are taught by the Spirit. But we also get someone’s words of teaching about scripture and we derive our understanding of God and ourselves from this process. Those who study the Bible alone, without teachers or outside reading, have other considerations to evaluate. Christians in America today buy into the language of the popular Christian culture which misrepresents the things of God and their meaning and they end up supporting the created Christian society as though it is what God intended for them.
Let me with start with what ticks me off. For years the language used by Christians, in the pulpit, and in the American Christian culture, has irritated me. When I say “American Christian culture” I mean what Christians today in America have crafted and agreed upon about what they consider to be a correct expression of Christianity: our lives lived as Christians. I am not speaking of the founding of this country, America. Nor am I critiquing the early expressions of faith in the American colonies. I am directly talking about the popular Christian culture embraced by evangelical churches in America in the last 50 years and propagated in Christian media: radio, television, internet, etc.
Some of my examples of this language and culture are dated and some are current. For instances, my Christian brother does not want to tell me something; he wants to “share” something with me. Christians don’t help each other out; they “come along side.” For a while the buzzword was “excited.” “I’m excited about what God is doing.” “I’m excited to share this with you.” “If you are hurting, then I will come along side you and share with you what I am excited about.” This would not be a problem if the person really talked like this. Thing is, you can hear this language used on the radio, down the road at the local church, and on both coasts. Why do Christians talk like this, use the same words? Who or what inspired or taught them these expressions? Mind you, these Christians are not quoting scripture which one would expect from a believer, wherever he or she may live. No, these Christians are “excited” to “share” in churches throughout the United States. This goes to language and culture. Language leads, informs, and shapes culture.
Are we Christians separate from the world? Yes. Did we separate ourselves or did God separate us? God did. God send His Son into the world to save the world. Those who believe in God for salvation through Jesus, who receive His Spirit, are immediately “transferred from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” We are spiritually made holy and separate from the world. Humans with “religion” and practice piety have also sequestered themselves from the world and formed groups with a distinct culture. The subtle but unmistakable difference is who is doing the separating and why. False teaching, counterfeit faith, false christs and false prophets: imitations of faith and spirituality by humans for their own purposes. They bear a resemblance to the gospel life but even the devil disguises himself as an angel of light. So we either are holy and separate from the world because God made us so by His Spirit or we undertake sequestration ourselves in the name of God. The Pharisees are a good representation of this. We continue to be made holy through the sanctification of the Spirit or we make ourselves holy by our own efforts. The fruit of the Spirit is in the Bible. The fruit of the culture we create is superficial.
Language plays a significant part in our Christian life and, if misused, can damage our understanding of God’s will, impair our vision, and cloud what should be clear to us about Him. Today’s Christian music, I think, also has the same misleading effect on believers, especially young ones. Let us now look at the language of some American evangelical churches.
Where did you learn to speak like that?
Where does Christianese come from? What is the inspiration? Why do Christians buy into a common lingo only used by other Christians? Just guessing here but I think I know some of the places of origin for this created language. First, I think it comes from the pulpit. Pastors in their effort to “become all things to all men”, to be “seeker friendly”, or to have their speech be “seasoned with salt”, endeavor to use language to teach, to persuade, to liven up their sermons, or to entertain the bored in their flock. Speaking as a former schoolteacher and also as one who sits in a church service every Sunday in America, I can understand the human reasoning behind what some of our pastors do. They are contending for Americans who are constantly plugged in to unnatural sights and sounds, at unnatural speeds, young people especially. What can a pastor do to attract and hold an audience with just his bible? Of course there is the biblical answer for this problem and it is terrible and boring. Christians in America need to reduce or eliminate sensual stimulations AND pastors need to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to instruct and convict the believer. Just last Sunday I saw a mother and father coming into the service with their Starbuck’s, leading their kindergarten-aged son, who was holding his I-pad, game already on screen, ready to play. We accept rationales and reasons for doing what we want and allowing others what they want but we contribute to a culture that confines God to one of many channels, even in church.
I think Christianese also comes from the business community. These words we use; they seem to come from focus groups and from the podium of a motivational speaker. Christianese, remember, is a kind of mixture between biblical concepts, sales “pop” words, and poetic/psychological euphemisms. We know the gospel. We know the truth about ourselves, that we are sinners. We are capable of, or have done, unspeakable evil. Jesus died on the cross for us. He took the punishment for our corruption, our wickedness, and our filth. He died a shameful death for us. The gospel is dramatic, stark, and truthful. For some, the message of the cross has become boring to them because they have heard it all their lives and, in the age of high-speed multi-channel entertainment, Jesus on the cross is a rerun. Remember when Jesus told those who followed him that unless they eat his flesh and drink his blood they have no part in him? This wouldn’t fly in most American churches today. It’s not seeker friendly. Now, it is true that a pastor need not go too far the other way and plant church–goers waist-high in mud every week and leave them there. That’s not the whole gospel either. Pastors who do not listen to what God wants to teach through them have no choice but to come up with something of their own invention. This is a shared problem though. Pastors need to stop pandering to the congregation and the congregation needs to unplug and stop expecting a show on Sunday. Too often our church leaders choose what sells, what comforts, what consoles, and in the process they create or contribute to a culture that bears little resemblance to the early Christian church or Jesus Himself. They can only represent Jesus by the Spirit of Jesus and allow the Spirit to teach through them.
Motivational speakers pick their words, present them lively, and cause everyone listening to “be motivated” to act. I went through a 6-week sales training and, aside from the lying and deceiving, I learned that certain words were more pleasing to hear than others when talking about money, spending, and prices. I learned how to greet someone, how to open the sale, how to get them to the product, how to address the negatives, how to accentuate the qualities of what I was selling. We’ve all heard words like, “a very nice price point” or “savings from 69.95.” Sometimes sales talk defies grammar to accomplish its intended goal. I am guessing again here and ask you, the reader, to consider what I say as one of many possible reasons pastors choose to speak the way we do.
The pastor wants to teach God’s word. It is his job. It is his divine vocation and responsibility. Is the pastor under obligation or pressure to grow and keep an audience? If the answer is yes, then what is a pastor to do? God is not interested in numbers. God is not honored or pleased when someone comes in His name with His word and waters down or softens the edges of truth in order to keep and grow a flock. Perhaps if evangelical church leaders would shift from a business model to an early church model, they would be less likely to succumb to using sales tactics.
There is also a pop-psychological influence on our choice of language. Rather than learn the mind and heart of God from scripture and from the Spirit, we employ human psychology as a valid lens on scripture. We sometimes impose and promote psychologically “healthy” thinking on scripture even when other scriptures contradict our “new” teaching. The “self-esteem” movement makes a major part of the gospel message hard to preach: we are sinners. Pastor Schuler in his crystal cathedral sometimes said more in church about the book he had just written than preach from the word of God. Christian radio that features “Christian” psychologists and counselors lend their psych-language to the culture which, for some, has an equal footing with scripture in their lives. The other day I heard “Christian” psychologists referencing the Pixar movie “Up” as a good illustration of a lasting marriage. I thought the idea was somewhat helpful but I could hardly bear the chatter of the panelists. There are pastors and teachers who will not speak about sin, the devil, or our depravity, all because it might be a turn-off to newcomers or church members.
The problem music ministers and pastors have is that their goal, while well intentioned, is wrong. I find music ministers not calling the congregation to worship the Lord but, in truth, calling the assembled to wake up, get amped up, and get their blood flowing. The clapping after every song sounds more like appreciation for the minister’s success in ramping everyone up rather than a praise to God.
Why does the opening of a Sunday service in some churches seem like a mini rock concert? The justification for such grand productions is that the ministers are trying to appeal to the unbeliever and to keep the attention of those who already believe. Language is crafted and modified by some ministers for this reason. Softening the language, sanding the edges of the gospel sword certainly feels better to the believer and the unbeliever but it does harm to our spiritual commission and dulls the Spirit’s conviction for true repentance.
Another aspect of language misuse is when a pastor incorrectly paraphrases scripture in order to present some “new take” or teaching. This goes back to the question of “who is doing the separating.” In this case, “who is doing the teaching?” I think the right approach to biblical teaching is to first allow the Spirit to reveal truth. Then the pastor or teacher should confirm this revelation in scripture and with other Christians who are trustworthy. I understand the reason for anecdotes and flair in language when presenting God’s word. Some pastors tell stories to illustrate what they are teaching. Others make up stories to make a point. Years ago, I suspected one well-known pastor of actually lying about a story in order to authentic his teaching and get a laugh. Choice of words, choice of what we say, and how we say it: no wonder James wrote about the tongue and also said that not many should become teachers. Taming the tongue is not just the words we use but also the restraint from speaking. What we say and how we say it is crucial in the pulpit because what is being conveyed is either true or it is error concerning the things of God and God Himself. Pastors are shepherds and they are charged with leading their flocks. Their language and by extension the meaning of what they say to the congregation influences what people believe about themselves and God. We are either becoming more Christ-like, day by day, because the Spirit is teaching us or we are becoming what is acceptable in the Christian culture as taught by those who have bought into the current, popular Christian view.
Leadership, Language, and Living
I live in a city that is host to an internationally known charismatic church. Christians from all over the world move here to attend this congregation and to go to its school of ministry. What I found out very quickly was I could identify members of this church by one, their public behavior, and two, the language they use. If someone stops a complete stranger at a mall or in a parking lot, speaking rather loudly he is mostly likely a member of that church, evangelizing. If you have a conversation with a person in this city and they tell you that they will “pray on it” or are going to so-and-so’s house and “love on them,” there is a good chance you are talking to someone from that church. “This might be a move of God” is another phrase.
This church makes problems for itself primarily because its pastors either teach error and use language to transmit error or they do not speak up or out to the congregation when members adopt words and phrases that convey a quasi-biblical mist but no real truth from the Spirit. One pastor opened a service at this church by saying “I think God is in a good mood tonight.” I was online with one of the members of this church and she put out on Facebook that she was in the mood to give out prophetic words. Fellow members cued up before her “mood” changed.
Where is this young sister in Christ learning this idea that God is moody? This same sister was selling her prophetic paintings on line. I remember attending a service at this church. It had on stage, musicians, dancers, and painters during the worship music portion of the service (usually 45 min. to 1 hour in length). I’m guessing that the painters were painting prophetically and that whoever buys such a piece would be blessed with some “word” from God every time he or she looks at it. Could there be some spiritual transmission from God through the artist to the canvas and finally to the viewer? I am not criticizing, painters, musicians, dancers, or artists. I am addressing “their” meaning of what they do. They are attaching “spiritual” significance to their talent and expression. I see “do all to the glory of God” in scripture but I do not see prophetic painting, prophetic dancing, or prophetic guitar solos.
This is also the same church that allows “holy laughter.” One time I went to an anti-room off the main sanctuary where about 75 members were listening to music, walking the circumference of the room, praying, some laughing, and some holding each other up as though drunk. I asked what scripture supports such behavior and was quoted the verse in Acts, “For these men are not drunk as you suppose since this is only the 3 hour of the day…” Christianese and worse, false teaching stems from some portion or concept from the bible. Someone, not the Spirit, is teaching our Christian brothers and sisters error and they, with their words and actions, create a subculture that resembles Christianity.
What is also interesting about this church and its members is that because it is known throughout this country and the world in charismatic circles, the language they use and the teaching and meaning of this specific language is recognized by other Christians who belong to this movement. I know an ex-cobu member who lives in Florida who speaks the same language I hear here in Redding, CA. They share the same language and culture. I point out that I do not think they are engaged in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ but in a subculture they created. The Toronto Blessing, the Pensacola outpouring, the talk of “revival” are linked in this culture which has its own language. How scriptural this is has been a long running debate among Christians in and out of the movement.
By allowing a culture to form, based on teaching from the pulpit, language created from the teaching, and meaning attached to the language, a congregation will indeed separate from the world but also separate from the body of Christ. Enter the Bible-based cult.
Cults
“Robert Jay Lifton was one of the early psychologists to study brainwashing and mind control. He called the method used thought reform, and offered the following eight methods that are used to change people's minds.” I want to show what Lifton wrote about language.
Loaded language by Robert Jay Lifton
”New words and language are created to explain the new and profound meanings that have been discovered. Existing words are also hijacked and given new and different meaning. This is particularly effective due to the way we think a lot through language. The consequence of this is that the person who controls the meaning of words also controls how people think. In this way, black-and-white thinking is embedded in the language, such that wrong-doers are framed as terrible and evil, whilst those who do right (as defined by the group) are perfect and marvelous.
The meaning of words is kept hidden both from the outside world, giving a sense of exclusivity. The meaning of special words may also be revealed in careful illuminatory rituals, where people who are being elevated within the order are given the power of understanding this new language.”
Words can be used to control. We ex-members of Cobu know this. Much has been written about cults and their use of language to control a group of people. We who were in Cobu learned from Traill, his take on the bible, his take on “how to be a Christian.” Stewart never revealed what influenced his thinking, lending to the idea that “God was showing him” all that he taught us. I got a report from some who visited ST’s Princeton house that there were piles of psychology magazines in his basement. From Traill we learned a language. I could write some of his phrases here and we ex-members would all laugh about it but we would be the only ones enjoying the joke. Non-members even non-cobu Christians wouldn’t know what we were talking about. This is a testimony to Traill’s invention and ownership of the language we used in Cobu. What is more insidious is that Traill took pieces of scripture and manipulated the meaning and language for his own private use with us. The self-fulfilling prophecy of never fitting in or belonging to another fellowship or church was secured by Traill’s ability to isolate us with ideas born on words and phrases that became our language and culture in his cult. He separated us from the world and from other Christians. He gave us a specific and unique identity and language which would enable us only to “really” live and relate in his group. I remember talking to someone who was in the Forever Family and had left. I just got saved and was out “witnessing.” The young man commented that it was funny that I sounded like I was from Pennsylvania and that I seemed to have a Pennsylvanian-Dutch affectation. Instead of saying “you” I said “youse.” Where did I learn this? I heard this from the members of Traill’s group, the Forever Family. Traill was also in the habit of saying “praise God” after nearly every sentence or paragraph he uttered. I have a recording of ST at a meeting where someone was smoking pot in the hallway of the building. On tape you can hear Traill asking what the smell was and asking what was going on. When he was told that someone was smoking in the outer hall, he acknowledged the report with a tag of “praise God.” His followers imitated him. They took on Traill’s language, mannerisms, even wore bible pouches on their belts. I did. After a few days, weeks, or years of detoxification, we ex-members realized that we were in a cult. We did find life with God outside ST’s group. We abandoned the teaching and language of Cobu and either found our own individual voice and personality with God or we joined another Christian culture to replace the one we left.
Today’s Christian Culture
One can see churches at large behaving in similar but less dramatic ways. Language can be used as a gateway for acceptance. Using the current Christianese gets you “in” with those who are also “in.” It’s the same at schools, college campuses, in the media, or in politics. Humans use words to show a “buy in” to whatever the “now” thing is. Society accepts those who speak the language and it shuns or rejects those who for some reason don’t conform. I don’t use Christianese. I don’t “share.” If I am excited about something, I don’t say it, I show it. I don’t “come along side” anyone unless I am square dancing. Like I said, for the evangelical Christian church member who has a pastor who listens to or reads Christian media, there is a strong temptation to adopt the current language, magic words or phrases, in order to be accepted by other Christians in the culture.
What is a more serious problem is that some use the language they are taught because they believe it is based in scriptural truth. They think and believe that by using these words they are “being a Christian” and those who do not use the language are not being faithful to God. The fruit of the Spirit is not the indicator of what kind of person, but the whitewash of language.
What To Do
It is easy to criticize or complain about the current state of things. I’m old enough to be cranky. I’m old enough to have a past and therefore possess my own little traditions, likes, and dislikes. The mistake a pastor, a teacher, or an author can make is when he rails at the obvious failings of Christian society and then argues for a return to what really amounts to his own preferences.
How do we pull out of the Christian culture? Some do not see this subculture as wrong, sinful, or ungodly. They believe that the Christianese we speak is the accepted, pastor-approved, verbiage and we all should align our language with it. What language did you use before you became a Christian? I’m not talking about profanity. I mean, how did you speak, what words did you use, how did you say things? Go back to that. I am not saying return to the flesh. If you think that then you betray your own belief and trust in what you think this “Christian lingo” is and does. We Christians have the Word of God. We are able to read it, refer to it, and speak it. And we can do all this as the person God saved and regenerated. Think about this. You and I are Christians living in America. Suppose we take a plane to Scotland right now and meet with Christians there. We have some things in common. We are Christians. We believe in the same God. We speak English. We have the same Bible. Now I will not pretend that the Scottish Christian does not also have linguistic habits or shared phraseology. I am trying to get the American Christian to snap out of their phoniness and away from the fake biblical language they learned in this culture. Take a plane to a non-English speaking country and see how fast you go back to the language you were raised to speak. You would even go to broken English if necessary but I doubt you would hold in to the American Christian lingo you learned in the subculture.
God is not pleased when we “say it” right. God is pleased when we are honest and true. For me, after being a Christian for 39 years, to start using the accepted cultural “Christian” language would be smoke to God’s eyes. If I flew down to Dallas right now and put on a “country” accent and tried to use the local vernacular with Christians there, they’d call me a phony. Why would I start speaking Christianese? Goodness, I just thought of something. What if Christianese goes back a generation or two? What if a child grows up in the church and is taught it all his or her life? I think that for most part Christianese is a taught “put on” language and parents and pastors can unteach the language by dropping the lingo themselves.
We Christians must pull out of this created culture because it is replacing what God has really called us to. I wrote before and will say now that when we accept teaching that is unsound and the attending language in order to belong, we are moving away from true fellowship in the body of Christ in order to be part of a club. We use language as an acceptance tool. We use language as a magic wand. We change the meaning of our relationship with God, the meanings of actions of actions, of how we ought to live. We Christians must examine what is being taught in the pulpit, what is being broadcasted, published, and sung. We then must accept or reject what is being offered as either the truth or error.
I think what I am talking about is idolatry. Our language, our music, our teaching, everything that makes up a life and a relationship is either from God or it is before God and in between us and God. What we believe and how we believe is either of God or in the thing that resembles God. I am writing a piece on music and it is turning out to be more difficult than I anticipated. With music and with many other subjects one must consider the heart and reveal it. We then get into judging someone, what they meant or intended when doing such-and-such. The only one I can reveal in such matters is myself. I can put myself out there and then ask the reader if he or she can relate. I can look at the fruit of a tree then test, judge, and know what kind it is. I think that we who are Christians in the body of Christ, who live in America are being offered teaching, language, music, and a society who some sell as Christianity and I say that this is a created culture that puts one’s own will above or before God’s will.
Just Say the Magic Words
I thought about this one, off and on, for a long time. I forgot to put it here. We Christians seem to use some words like they were magic. I used to hear some charismatic christians "release the spirit of ..." and "loose the blessing of ..." while "binding the spirit of ..." I'd like to know if that is what is really happening. I mean, do we as Christian have the authority to bind and loosen? I know the scriptures about it. Did just the Apostles have this authority and if so, did they pray and say these magic words? Some Christians are under this impression. They also believe that they also can bind and loose on earth. We will leave that for now. I want to address the broader problem that seems to exist throughout this culture.
In Jesus' name, Amen! You have heard this, right? Can I question this practice? I have been taught about it and have said it myself but not anymore. I know the scripture, "If you ask anything in my name, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name I will do it." I understand this but I don't think it means tagging every prayer with "In Jesus' name." If I use this phrase, will God listen to me and respond to me more than if I do not say "In Jesus' name" at the end of my prayer? I think our hearts matter here. Words proceed from our hearts. Words should not lead but follow what is in our hearts. If I used the "In Jesus' name" now in my prayer God would know me as false to Him. Jesus spoke about the hypocrites who heap up empty phrase for they "think they will be heard for their many words." What is the difference between us and them when we mechanically or dramatically cap our prayers with "In Jesus' precious and holy name, Amen" Only God knows what is empty and what is real in prayer and we also know what we are doing and why. I do not judge others' hearts but I do question the teaching and belief about some practices in the church today.
The Original Language
This is something that I dread to write about because I think it means work. When I speak about pulling out of the Christian culture, I think I mean pulling away from what is accepted and acceptable in the created “church” society. What if everyone got a pickle jar and every time they use Christianese they put in a dollar? How about the pastors in churches rebuke their music ministers and penalize them if they, in any way, act like a rock star? How about the music ministers pick songs that directly worship God in music and lyrics? What if Christian radio stops operating like a business? In my piece on Music, I will pose the questions, “Is there such thing as a ‘music ministry’ in the bible” and “should we have ‘music ministries’ or the Christian music industry?”
”My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.” Would Jesus come to our churches and turn over drum sets and amplifiers, pull down light racks and take an axe to the soundboard? Does He want us to dismantle what we have created? My answer is I think He wants each of us to return to listening to His Spirit. He wants pastors, musicians, church members, all in the body of Christ to be truthful about themselves and then be led by the Spirit in what the Spirit says is pleasing to God. There is a “good” reason for everything we do but we are not called to do our own will and follow our own insight about what is “good.” Administration and logistics are important for a local body of believers. I think administrators in the household of God also need to listen to the Spirit when organizing the congregation.
Pulling out and away from the “Christian” culture is only possible by the Spirit. But I did not have this in mind when I spoke about the “work” I dreaded. The original language of the bible, Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, ugh! I think of translations. I think of accuracy. Up till now I have relied on linguists and translators, pastors and teachers to bring to me the closest thing to the original text and its meaning. My current pastor is a PhD. and he handles the original Hebrew and Greek when teaching on Sunday. Some of the things he has brought to the pulpit is new to me, simply because he is coming from the original language. This made me question many other things I have learned when studying the Bible. It scared me. Without Christianese or regional dialect or any other cultural filters, my pastor was showing understanding, to the best of his ability, of the original written language of the bible and the cultural context of the same.
What am I to do? What are you to do? Not everyone has the ability to go to seminary. Not everyone who goes to seminary is able to approach the original language of the Bible. Not everyone is a writer or a teacher. The Jews before the advent of Christ Jesus had the Torah, the Prophets, and the writings in their own language. The Jews in the New Testament also had the holy scriptures of the Old Testament. Paul and the Apostles in their own language taught the Gentiles. As far as I know, the Jews of the Old Testament and the Christians of the New Testament did not have a language problem; we do. So I ask, what do we do? What does God want us to do?
Here I will have to guess. I think that part of the answer is to do what most of us have done and are doing: listen to and be taught by those who demonstrate understanding of the original language. Now, if you go to a church with a pastor who is not skilled in this area; I’m not saying you should bolt. I have a definition of what “church” is and what it should be in another piece and I do not think one should leave a church because the pastor is not a scholar. What I am saying is that each believer in Jesus should secure for himself or herself a source for teaching of the original languages of the Bible. There are blue-letter bibles online. There are interlinear Greek New Testaments and translations from the Greek text available. I just got one myself. Am I saying that everyone needs to be a scholar? Yes, in a way. Each to the best of his or her ability needs to read and study God’s word and get the best, most accurate representation of what is being said. Let me say that most of the work has been done and we do have sound teaching in the church today because of the work of those who have examined and treated the original text to various publications.
What if yer dumb? What if you took enough drugs before getting saved by Jesus that you are kind of dim? I would say praise to God for His mercy and for His all-knowing attribute. God knows our hearts and He knows what we are aware of. All Christians need to be in the light with God. All Christians need to be truthful about their own condition, their abilities, their failings. God knows everything about us. We need to stop lying to ourselves and be honest with ourselves and others about what is personally true. Not everyone should know everything about us but our prayer to God and our confession to another needs to be truthful. The effect of this honesty is that we will be in the light with God and we will not “put on airs” with our fellow Christians when we speak to them. We become the person and are the person God loved and saved and is now caring for. The fake and phony mirage of the Christian culture will become hopefully a juvenile phase in our walk with God. Please start looking and listening to what is being promoted today as Christianity and then go to God and allow the Spirit to winnow out the chaff.
What to Do?
Here are some bullet points, counsel and tips about what we should do about language and the culture. Be yourself and talk like yourself for now on. If you are "doing" the bible or being influenced by scripture, say so. Your are not a bible thumper or a nerd for quoting scriptures. Don't just accept music, language, teaching, events, or products because they have a Jesus sticker on them. Lastly, do not settle for simple definitions for what you are doing and saying. You will find true fellowship with real Christians when you listen to the Holy Spirit and walk in Jesus' Spirit each day. You will naturally separate from the christian culture when you walk in the Light with God.