http://theyomen.com/2006/10/26/the-power-of-language/ Reflection on ancient and contemporary worship and literature. Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:15:25 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 http://theyomen.com/2006/10/26/the-power-of-language/comment-page-1/#comment-33 Adam B. Thu, 02 Nov 2006 16:59:56 +0000 http://theyomen.com/?p=6#comment-33 You raise a good point. If we are always looking to influence non-Christians we are not truly free to express who we are as believers. Evangelism has its place of course, but so does teaching and worship. All teaching cannot be summed up under "evangelism training" and all worship cannot be considered "a chance to show the world how good Jesus makes us feel." Holiness, one product of sound teaching, has intrinsic value whether is leads others to Christ or not. The same is true of worship. In order to adequately teach and worship we cannot be always pandering to the uninitiated or we will never get past the basics. We are encouraged to move past the foundation into the deep things of the faith and this cannot be done using words that any non-Christian would understand. You raise a good point. If we are always looking to influence non-Christians we are not truly free to express who we are as believers. Evangelism has its place of course, but so does teaching and worship. All teaching cannot be summed up under “evangelism training” and all worship cannot be considered “a chance to show the world how good Jesus makes us feel.” Holiness, one product of sound teaching, has intrinsic value whether is leads others to Christ or not. The same is true of worship. In order to adequately teach and worship we cannot be always pandering to the uninitiated or we will never get past the basics. We are encouraged to move past the foundation into the deep things of the faith and this cannot be done using words that any non-Christian would understand.

]]> http://theyomen.com/2006/10/26/the-power-of-language/comment-page-1/#comment-32 Stephen Thu, 02 Nov 2006 08:43:29 +0000 http://theyomen.com/?p=6#comment-32 YES I love theological words. They are in our bibles in fact - so we better define them in our Christian communities. There is still a place for totally plain speech in a gospel presentation - but not necessary in any Christian teaching context. The main problem may be that we think every Christian get together is nothing more than a chance to evangelize. YES I love theological words. They are in our bibles in fact – so we better define them in our Christian communities. There is still a place for totally plain speech in a gospel presentation – but not necessary in any Christian teaching context. The main problem may be that we think every Christian get together is nothing more than a chance to evangelize.

]]>