Crappy Christian Clichès Hurt Believers

We explore the significance of authenticity versus conformity in spiritual expression. The episode emphasizes the necessity of embracing one's unique faith journey, highlighting the limitations of clichés while advocating for genuine testimonials.

• Discussion on pressure to conform to spiritual clichés 
• Importance of unique expressions of faith 
• The role of testimonials and emotional authenticity 
• Critique of scripted versus genuine testimonials 
• Exploration of the biblical context of clichés and their relevance

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sometimes the things we're saying make people feel
bad about where they're on intheir spiritual journey.
Oh yeah, I'm actually up hereon my spiritual path.
You're down here.
I've accepted Christ into myheart, so I'm living up here
Until I'm hearing you say thingslike that.
You haven't succeeded in thiswhole Christian enterprise.

(00:23):
Sometimes we're turning peopleoff.
Sometimes we're turning peopleoff, Sometimes we're frightening
people away.
Sometimes we're putting the bartoo high.
Sometimes we're just speakingin a different language than
what that person's familiar with.
So what I would leave you withis have you ever felt pressured

(00:44):
to conform to some of thesecliches of the faith?
Or are people trying to get youto express yourself and your
walk and your journey inparticular terms that maybe
sound more like them, or likethe preacher on TV that they
listen to, or like your pastoror your prayer leader?

(01:04):
And I'm not saying thatinspiration from other
Christians or other believers isinappropriate.
It's necessary.
We need to see other peoplewalking out their journey.
The answer isn't to take thataway journey.

(01:29):
The answer isn't to take thataway.
But we need to be more mindfulto not try to smash people into
this little box, Regardless ofwhere you're at right now with
God or Christ, or your faith, oreven outside of Christianity.
No one likes to be pushedaround right?
If you're seeking help, ifyou're seeking a new kind of
light in your life, for that tofeel true to you you need to be

(01:54):
able to express that in your ownwords.
In the church that I belong to,people would get up and give
testimonials.
What's a testimonial?
Nowadays, we think oftestimonials as something that
sells toothpaste, a car, a localchiropractor, the divorce
attorney.
Look at the testimonials fromsatisfied clients.

(02:15):
If you're not familiar with achurch or a Christian
testimonial, what I believethey're supposed to be are
unique, individualized accountsor expression or stories or
tidbits, or even just tears.
Tears are one of the mostpowerful testimonials you can

(02:37):
offer.
Most of us encounter times inour lives when we really are
broken.
We're on the edge of tears,we're on the edge of crumbling.
Somehow he's intervened andanswered our prayer.
That's just such a profoundrelief.
We feel so loved.

(02:58):
We can just breathe a sigh ofrelief.
This incredible tension, thisburden, this catastrophe that
was going to fall on us has beenremoved and that can just leave
you in tears, and that's apowerful testimonial.
But you can see how crazy itwould be, and I've actually seen

(03:21):
this, so I know this exists.
Some places you go to give atestimonial.
They're very formulaic.
If you're sitting in theaudience and people are getting
up to give testimonials, it'slike they're reading off a
script.
It seems artificial becauselife isn't a script.
So everybody that's getting uptalking about what they needed

(03:42):
help with or what God helpedthem with if it's true, it
should all sound and lookdifferent.
If you had kids and they snuckout to a party and got caught,
they've worked on their story.
They all have this scriptedstory and you're just like dude,
you guys all sound like youwrote up this script and all

(04:06):
tried to memorize it and thencome and sell it to us.
People have a sense of whenthey're being sold to or when
they're expected to presentthemselves a certain way.
I would encourage you not tobow to that type of pressure,
because when people try to getyou to conform to a certain type
of relationship with God, thatoften leads you away from God,

(04:30):
because only God knows what yourunique path is to be.
So your path is going to lookdifferent, it's going to sound
different, it's going to proceedat a different rhythm and at a
different pace.
We're going to be differentplaces at different times.
Sometimes you're going to betalking about what God's done.

(04:52):
Sometimes you're going to betalking about what he hasn't
done.
Sometimes you're going to becrying because of the mercy that
God's shown you.
Sometimes you're going to befurious that God let you down.
When we look at this biblically,what role do cliches play in

(05:14):
the Bible?
First of all, are there clichesin the Bible, or is it
something about just somethingwe're messing up as humans and
the way we're applying them?
One of the challenges isseparating a cliche, a repeated
truth or a point that's madeemphatically and seems like

(05:35):
something we need to be saying,something we need to be calling
upon, versus a worthless groupof words.
What I would say is was Christmore interested in what you said
or what you did?
Do you think Christ is moreconcerned with what you say or
what you do, or what you say youbelieve, versus what in your

(06:00):
heart?
You know you believe ordisbelieve?
The way Christ is depicted tous, and indeed the way he's
depicted in the Bible and basedoff the things that he said and
did and taught, Christ wasn'treally a superficial person.