We Christians often use phrases and terms in church and with each other that make little to no sense outside of our circle: born again; washed in the blood; cleansed by the Lamb; death is like sleeping; the dead shall rise again. When you have no context for those phrases, we sound like some dangerous cult. At that point, no thanks, I don’t think I want Jesus to have my heart! What’s He gonna do with it?
If those phrases sound scary and weird to you, know that they’re actually very good things. The parts about being washed in blood and cleaned by the Lamb don’t mean you’re literally dipped in lamb’s blood, those are symbols with rich history behind them. All of these things have wonderful explanations, all of which come from and tie into what Jesus did with His birth, death, and resurrection. Please ask if you’d like to know!
For those of us who do know these “Christian-ese” terms, when explaining the Gospel to people who don’t have the “Christian language” translation, this is something we need to take into account. We don’t need to use these phrases. People will pick up the phrases eventually so it’s not important for them to understand them fully right now, they need to understand the point of the Gospel – of Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection – first.
For both Christian and non-Christian, once you understand and believe in what Jesus did through His birth, death, and resurrection, these phrases will begin to make sense. The more you read the Bible and study what it means, the more things will fall into place.
More on Christian weirdness:
Christians Are Weird
Some Explanation Required
Just Someone Else’s Opinion