23 May, 2013

Christian Clichés that Grate

I have a problem with clichés Christian phrases like
When Christians pray, we tend to throw cliches around.
Disclaimer: this is just a photo of people praying, I'm not
pointing my finger at anyone of them.

  1. "God showed up"
  2. "God is good."
  3. And when praying, "God, be with that person..."

They roll off people's tongues easily, but they aren't really theologically correct. Now you don't often get me talking theology, but really these make me cringe.

  1. God's omnipresent: He's always there. This is an oxymoron.
  2. God is always good, even when bad things happen. I don't think it is right to say, "God is good," when something good happens. Maybe "God's blessed me." or "God's given me something really good today." would be more appropriate.
  3. Again God is never absent, He can't "be with someone" more than He already is. Perhaps we mean, "Help them to feel your presence." or "Strengthen them, give them your power/wisdom."?
Do you have Christian phrases which get on your nerves?

I talked to someone on Sunday who has problems with a church worship leader saying, "Today's going to be awesome." I mean, what if you're having a rotten day? What then?

What clichéd Christian phrase annoys you?


2 comments:

Sarah said...

You read my mind. I'm planning a post called '5 Annoying Things Christians Say'. Stay tuned... ;)

Ken Rolph said...

All of them. If it wasn't for Jesus I probably wouldn't have much to do with "Christian" culture.