Radical Terms
Why the Strange Terms?
In this series on “The Revolution” we are avoiding some terms which are easily misunderstood, or downright inaccurate. This may seem strange, but Radical Revolution means rethinking some cherished traditions, especially with traditional language. The language we use will either hinder or spread the Jesus Revolution.
Church
See Why Bother? A blog addressing the C-Word.Church is the most glaring example of a word which never belonged in the Christian vocabulary. The Bible uses the Greek word ekklesia, which was a common term meaning “an assembly”, like a High School “assembly” or “town meeting.” Why stigmatize Christian gatherings with this “church” label, especially when the Bible simply calls them assemblies? More important, “church” carries cultural baggage which blocks many from attending a Christian gathering. What is the advantage of the “church” word anyway? Does anyone know?
Christian / Christianity
Christianity and Christian are also polluted terms today. They make it impossible to distinguish between the Bible and those inhumane bureaucracies which were part of the Roman empire, and arose later in Europe as various monarchs created personal, patriotic organizations. Each dynasty created another brand of “Christianity” which became yet another branch of government.
The Bible, on the other hand, uses clean terms: we are “the disciples”, and our faith is “The Lord’s Way” (or just abbreviated as “The Way” — see Acts 6:1,2,7; 9:1,2,19,26,38; 11:26, 29; 13:52; 14:20,22,28; 15:10; 18:23,25, 26, 27; 19:9, 19, 23, 30; 20:1,30; 21:4, 16; 24:14, 22). It was non-Christians who first coined the term “Christian”, because they were ridiculing followers of Jesus Christ: the word means “little Christs” (see Acts 11:26).
Unfortunately, Christianity and Christian are entrenched deep in our language, and we’ll never get away from the tarnished labels.
Who wants to defend the Christianity created by King Henry VIII in order to justify executing his wives? (The monarchy still remains the "head" of the Church of England today.)
Kosmos/World System
Kosmos is the Greek word used in the Bible to describe the “World System” which governs human affairs on this planet. Irregardless of the form of human government, from God’s perspective it’s all different shades of a spiritual Counterfeit Kingdom ruled by “the god of this world.” (More to follow…)
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But now we’re using an even more accurate term for what Jesus did in His own time and what we are doing now: disestablishment–to undo or change something that has been established for a long time, aka the whole church theory and its traditions.