Lost In Translation

Have you ever heard a phrase spoken among a group of people and you had no clue as to what they were talking about? You know, like certain phrases or words that only the in-group understands. It almost works as if they were speaking in code so that no outsider could infiltrate their system of communication. I've often felt this way around people who speak Spanish. It makes no sense really when you look at me because based on the color of my skin I should be able to handle the dialect. But to much chagrin I cannot (insert sad face). However, that is not the only place I've felt left out. I remember when I first began to place my faith in Christ and attend a church. There I was pelted with phrases and words that meant absolutely nothing to me at the time. Some of those words included: born again, salvation, saved, sinner, new birth, justification, fellowship, testimony, evangelical, assurance, redeemed, redemption, reconciliation, saved, mission, outreach, repentance, witness, backslidden (that one still bothers me), blood of the Lamb, and spiritual warfare to name a few.

Here me out, I'm not advocating Christians should change these words to make them more palpable. On the contrary, I'm advocating two things: Firstly, Christians should take it easy on these overly used terms unless they explain what they mean (imagine someone speaking only to you in a foreign language and not being told the translation); but secondly, those who are new to their faith should also make a concerted effort to gain understanding because many of these words have great and powerful meaning.

Just the other day I was reading a book titled, Scandalous by D. A. Carson. It' a fairly small book but loaded with depth that I had to slow my pace for comprehension sake. In his book, Carson explains the implications regarding the "blood of the lamb" daubed on the doorposts of the Israelites during the plagues in Egypt. If you're not familiar with this time in history, God has sent plagues over the land of Egypt because of Pharaoh's resistance to God's command of releasing His people from enslavement. Some of those plagues afflicted only the Egyptians, but some of them over the whole land. This particular plague (the angel of death) was going to kill the firstborn of every living thing (animal and human). The only way to avoid this affliction was to daub your doorpost with the blood of a sacrificed lamb. Carson inserts a fictitious dialogue between two different, yet obedient followers of God. Both men having children of their own, Carson imagines a conversation between these two where both men are obedient (daubs his doorpost with lambs blood) but one man is confident in God's promise of protection and the other scared witless. Towards the end of this dialogue after the angel of death passes through the land of Egypt the author asks the reader, "Which one of these men loses his son?" The answer, of course, is neither. Why? Carson asserts that, "the reason is based not on the intensity of their faith nor on the joy of their obedience but whether they hid under the blood of the lamb."

I believe many people hear phrases that make absolutely no sense until they are translated or given context. Like I previously stated, I'm not advocating Christians should rid themselves of their language, but that we should never utter foreign phrases without explanation. Until terms like "blood of the lamb" had a context for me, it was nothing more than a foreign language void of any meaning. But when meaning is put into context as plainly as the author has done, it gives it power and purpose. Not only that, but it teaches assurance and the truth of God's promises.

My point in sharing this wasn't to talk about the importance of understanding Christian terminology, but to emphasize that little conversation buried in Carson's book. When I read the part about how one of those men were obedient yet scared witless, it reminded me of someone.............me. It reminded me of times when I'm scared to step out in faith, when I'm not completely confident, when I doubt God's power, when I second guess His will, and when I've convinced myself that the basis of God's grace in my life is dependent on the amount of faith I exhibit. The difference between those two men in the story was not that one had more faith than the other, but the fact that they were obedient........and in that obedience (however it looked), they were both covered.