Introduction
“Stepped out in faith.” “God laid it on my heart.” “Ask Jesus into your heart.” All of these are what we call “Christianese” phrases. UrbanDictionary.com defines “Christianese” as “A communicable language within the Christian subculture with words and phrases created, redefined, and / or patened that applies only to the Christian sphere of influence.” Another example of this sort of sub-cultured speech is the term “witnessing” or “being a witness.” Now, I have absolutely no problem with this particular “Christian term.” In fact, I think it is quite helpful (contrary to most ambiguous Christian lingo). I also believe it can teach us something incredibly vital to our Christian life. However, as with all “Christianese,” confusion can also accompany its use.
What I would like to do with this article is present to you some popular Gospel clichés, as I like to call them, and provide some rather brief thoughts on each—-nothing exhaustive or too in depth, but just some thoughts to make you think about them, their use, what they seem to be saying, their accuracies and inaccuracies, etc.
Kirk E. Miller 