Seek. Love. Serve.

I didn’t grow up in a Baptist household.

So when I started hanging around Baptists — and then married one — I was introduced to a new vocabulary.

Interesting words like dadgum and pea-picker made their debut in my life.

People who were of no relation started calling me brother. And my wife was sister. How weird is that?

Terms and phrases like “hug your neck” and “bless your heart” and “right hand of fellowship” were heard.

(I’ll be honest. I still get a little freaked out when I hear “hug your neck.”)

At first, these words and sayings were completely foreign to me.

They were about as foreign as the first time I learned the Christian meaning of the word saved.

I was in high school. Some friends invited me to a Bible study, and while we were sitting in a circle discussing the lesson, people kept throwing around that word. Saved.

Every time I heard the word, I imagined someone throwing a life preserver to someone who was drowning. But that didn’t make any sense to me because Jesus and all of his buddies were in the dadgum desert!

I was frustrated.

Finally I asked the group: “What does it mean to be saved?”

You know fer dang sure I didn’t leave that room until I understood the meaning!

Now, as a Sunday School teacher in the Baptist Church, I regularly use words and phrases like:

“saved”

“born again”

“ask Jesus into your heart”

“tribulation”

“testimony”

“witness”

“rapture”

“tithe”

“baptism by emersion”

“intercessory prayer”

There’s a small danger in that.

If someone visits our class and, like me many years ago, doesn’t understand the vocabulary, they could probably be very confused.

Or, frankly, they might never come back — especially if we start talking about being raptured, Christ’s return on the clouds, trumpet blasts, locust attacks, and such.

When Christ came, he changed the world — and created a whole new vocabulary. I love the verses in John 3 when Jesus explains to Nicodemus the term “born again.” It’s a tender moment when Christ, the Savior of the World, takes the time to speak to a man one-on-one to help him understand a heavenly concept.

We need to take special care to do our best to explain some of the things we say. We need to encourage people to ask questions freely. They need to feel comfortable to ask those questions. And we need to do all we can to answer them.

Afterward, we can hug necks and call it a day.

What are some words and phrases that regularly stump non-Christians and new Christians? How do you explain those?

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